Is culture a hindrance to progress?

By Cherelle Jackson

During a recent visit back to Samoa, one of the family elders, in his 80s and losing a grip on our reality, made some decisions about the extended family home.
“Cut down all the trees in the front of the house, I want to see the cars on the road,” he proclaimed.
One, worn out chain saw, two machetes and four tired cousins later, his wish was granted, the trees were gone.
“Uproot all the grass from around the house and replace it with pebbles from the river,” he said on another visit.
Twenty or so tired hands and feet later, this order was also done.
“Dismantle the outside kitchen and move it a meter from where it is,” he said on another visit.
The untitled men and women moved before he finished the sentence.
The elderly relative holds a Chiefly Title, he is the second last remaining of his generation in our family, so all respect is owed to his wishes, regardless of how insane they are.
This, in essence is the Fa’aSamoa.
Our elders are the higher authority and what they say goes, regardless.
Because of this respect for our elderly relative, the family cannot really develop or progress in terms of landscaping or infrastructure as long as he has the last say.
This is a hindrance to small scale progress.

Progress
But what is progress?
Sometimes we misinterpret progress as becoming something we are not, but progress is just improving and developing on the existing, the present so that the future, in a sense is made easier.
Perhaps better to explain this concept is Ronald Wright, the author of A Short History of Progress who argues that our modern predicament is as old as civilization itself: a 10,000 year old experiment we have participated in but seldom controlled.
According to him the twentieth century was a time of runaway growth in human population, consumption, and technology that placed an unsustainable burden on all natural systems.
Interestingly he suggests that the twenty first century represents our last opportunity to succeed where our forefathers almost without exception have not.
Wright wrote: “We still have differing cultures and political systems, but at the economic level there is now only one big civilization, feeding on the whole planet’s natural capital. We’re logging everywhere, building everywhere, and no corner of the biosphere escapes our haemorrhage of waste. The twentyfold growth in world trade since the 1970s has meant that hardly anywhere is self-sufficient. Every Eldorado has been looted, every Shangri-La equipped with a Holiday Inn. Joseph Tainter notes this interdependence, warning that "collapse, if and when it comes again, will this time be global. ... World civilization will disintegrate as a whole." ”
A somewhat dark prediction.
But perhaps it is important to note this holistic view of progress before looking at our local situation in regards to the Fa’aSamoa.

Culture
So is our culture a hindrance, and will our civilization as we know it, disintegrate with the introduction or the unco ordination of progress?
Well only time will tell.
According to Abidjanov Alisher, writer of the essay The Human Person as Object and Subject of Culture
the problems of human existence and culture are becoming very important, especially now, in times of socio-economic transformation and political reform.
“The modern period is characterized by the transformation of nature, society and human personality, the struggle for peace and mutual understanding between states and people, and the common movement of humankind toward democracy and real humanism.”
Alisher says that building a new society in such young states such as Samoa means rebuilding the economy and the complex of social relations and human consciousness.
“The deep transformation in economic, political and spiritual life is founded on common cultural values and ideals,” he wrote.
This is true for Samoa, but how can progress occur for our people in the face of some archaic cultural beliefs?

Compromise
During a UNAIDS press conference recently, regional experts spoke about the study of HIV/AIDS in the Pacific and its status in the region.
According to them there are challenges, the usual, especially in regards to surveillance, counselling and awareness involved in the study of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).
Asked if culture was a hindrance to their work, Warren Lindberg, a member of the Commission on AIDS in the Pacific said something very interesting.
“I don’t think that we should ever say that culture is a hindrance. It doesn’t matter what health issue you are trying to address, the way in we look after our health is part of our culture. Every culture has ways of looking after its health and what we are looking for is synergy between the issues we face in HIV/AIDs and the culture of each place,” Lindberg said.
The statement encompassed progress and cultural consideration that is overlooked in a bid for development.
Perhaps the answer lies in a compromise between culture and progress, that progress can occur perhaps with the assistance of cultural values.
For like anything, it is stronger and more effective when it comes from within, if the culture sees a value in progress, of any type, then surely it will occur.
Samoa however has done this well, just listen to the words of former Deputy New Zealand High Commissioner to Samoa Malcolm Millar who said: “I have never seen a place which manages a perfect blend traditional life with modernity and development.”
Perhaps we are doing it right after all.