Joseph O Fashola

It is almost impossible to conceive of a people without culture for this would mean that such people do not experience or have any knowledge about the world. Culture determines the perspective or purview through which the world around a people is understood. It shapes their values, practices, behaviours, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, and conduct. There are variations in the way Africans view the world but within these variations, several common themes are evidently visible giving room for unity in diversity. Some of these themes include the notions of motherhood, respect for constituted authority, belief in the sanctity of human life, life in the hereafter, dignity in labour, moral uprightness, need for inter-subjective living, and close-knittedness with nature. The goal of this paper is bipartite in nature. It argues on the one hand that these cultural practices which are deeply rooted in African worldview, when extended globally would contribute to global harmony. On the other hand, it observes at the same time that this present age and civilisation have lost touch with the cultural practices that are fundamental to the unity and harmony of Africa and by extension, the world, hence, the need for a reawakening of African cultural practices that are germane to global harmony. The paper intends to achieve this by cashing in on the numerous values in the practice of kinship in Africa that encourage shared values and discourage cultural prejudices as kinship is conceived to extend beyond one’s immediate family to the community and embracing the whole of humanity. However, in a paper of this length, one cannot obviously fully explore how each of the aforementioned themes will influence global harmony. Consequently, focus is here only directed on a few.