Stakeholders have restated need to protect and promote cultural heritage.
This was part of discourse during the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Centre for Arts, Culture and Humanities maiden International Conference, in Awka.
In the era of globalization and meeting of cultures, the threat of dominance of a culture over another seems to have become a reality to deal with and it was in the light of examining this emerging challenge that the center held its maiden conference with the theme “Emergent Intercultural Realities in Contemporary Africa”.
Governor Chukwumma Soludo in his remark, revealed that the state government, through the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Entertainment, is a partner in the conference.
The Governor, represented by the Commissioner for Culture, Tourism and Entertainment, Comrade Don Onyenji, said that government will sustain efforts to promote core Igbo cultural values , especially through crafts by encouraging youths to embrace handwork .
In his keynote speech through zoom, Professor Edwin Etieyibo of University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, opined that no culture is superior to another as no monocultural society can sufficiently exist on its own even as he harped on the need for the decolonization of foreign languages such as English.
Declaring the conference open, the Vice Chancellor, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Professor Charles Esimone, explained that culture encompasses the totality of the people’s way of life, noting that movement of people to different locations impacts on cultures and social systems , which the conference theme is apt in examining.
The Director of the Center, Professor Nkechinyere Nwokoye, said it is important for people to identify with their culture which she described as their root, noting that despite the fact that some religions relegate culture to the background, the positive aspect of Igbo and African cultures which unite people together must be identified and preserved.
Some academia and guests, who attended the event, including, Chief Ifeanyi Okoye, Reverend Father Professor Bonachristus Umeogu, Dr. Nkechi Udeze and Mr. Uzor Ekemezie, emphasized that people should be proud to identify with the positive tenets of their culture.
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