GLOBALIZATION, CIVILIZATION, AND AFRICAN VALUES: THE IMPERATIVE OF A CRITICAL SYNERGY

Résumé

The phenomena of globalization and civilization are undoubtedly born out of man's natural quest for auto-transcendence, self-actualization and the establishment of a world order. Their merits are obviously enormous. Indeed, civilization and globalization are essential correlates of development as far as the human society is concerned. However, the heterogeneous nature of the human society obviously poses a great challenge to their prospects. The effort at integrating or combining the socio-cultural, political, economic, religious, and technological elements of regional human societies into an international economy, without an objective assessment of their peculiarities, may not yield a satisfactory result. An uncritical adaptation of the values and variables associated with globalization and civilization to the African context would either vitiate the project of achieving a world order or undermine authentic African values. The basic concern of this discourse is to critically assess the imports of globalization and civilization especially in relation to the task of fostering an objective and positive development of African socio-cultural values. The paper expresses an advocacy for a more critical approach to this project. In fact, it is only through objective assessment and adaptation of the positive values of civilization and globalization to the African value system that the prospects of achieving an authentic synergy can be guaranteed.