CULTURAL RESILIENCE AND FILIEL RESPONSIBILITY AMONG AFRICAN DIASPORA: TO BE OR TO BELONG

Abstract

Throughout the world, scholars of history and allied disciplines continue to reminiscent on the impact of the slave trade. This inhuman activity which lasted for centuries, forcefully ensured that young Africans of working age were bundled out of their natural environment and transplanted to different locations. Their culture, self-worth and dignity were denied them as they were barely seen as good working tools. Among the slaves, issues of identity, cultural reconstruction and human dignity were some of the challenges which confronted them. The study noted that whether at home or in the diaspora, every dark coloured person is an African. This paper focused on the identification and practice of some African cultures outside the shores of Africa. It examined the factors which influenced their migration and how they survived in their new found land. The work identified how African diaspora applied their rich African Heritage to establish their route. To facilitate the discussion, this paper applied the symbolic interactionism theory by Carter and Foller (2015) as the lens. The paper adopted the ethnographic and phenomenological methods of data collection in the discussion. It observed that among African diaspora, the resilience of African culture contributed to establish the unique identity of the Africans. It concluded that every individual or group, should strive to identify what makes them different from others and amplify it.