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Re: Museums Are Not Pagan Shrines, Commission Reassures Wary Nigerians—The Sun News

Feature Article Re: Museums Are Not Pagan Shrines, Commission Reassures Wary Nigerians—The Sun News
MAR 23, 2014 LISTEN

We can certainly agree with the Director-General that the museums are not " pagan shrines" as many people, including unfortunately, highly educated persons who have absorbed vicious propaganda from non-African religions that African religions are pagan and therefore backward. These people have not even examined the history of the foreign religions or distinguished what belongs to those religions and what belongs to the culture and social practices of the societies from which the transmitters of those beliefs came from. Ignorance of African religions is wide-spread among our elites who wish to bring up their children in the image of foreign religions. The task is tremendous and requires efforts from all sectors of our societies, including the press but above all, from our educational systems which should teach our children about African religions, emphasizing their pacific nature and tolerance , not having any missionary zeal that often leads other religions to seek to impose their beliefs on others.

See Sun News Online: http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=57099

The museums are or should be depositories of our traditional cultures which have carried us through slavery, colonialism and still provide for many of our peoples explanations of the world. Without our traditional religions are societies could not have survived the trials and obstacles that African societies have faced in the course of years of aggression from other continents.

The problems facing African museums in this respect are much deeper and wider than may appear at first sight. They also relate to the basic question facing African societies: do we want to be ourselves, establish our own values and standards ,use our own languages or follow others, especially the colonial models and remain forever second-class societies and second-class citizens? I have even met Africans who did not want to dance to African music because they considered our dances and music to be against their religions.

Have any of our museums provided information in our languages or do they expect all to know English, French and Portuguees as the case may be? Tourists are no doubt important but our museums should primarily cater for our people. This would also make our people understand why tourists visit our museums.

Parents and children will visit our museums if they understand and believe that such visits would help them to understand our history and ourselves better. The grip of foreign models on our societies is much stronger and more wide-spread than some would acknowledge. This only benefits others but not African societies.

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