National Identity vs Cultural Differences | Clarissa's Blog
There’s definitely such a thing as an organic culture, but it doesn’t necessary have the boundaries one would expect or propose, for instance along ethnic lines, or even socioeconomic. There can be a shared culture that crosses these lines. For instance, when I was doing my thesis, it became evident to me how some interpretations of Marechera that came from the industrialized world were simply wrong. For instance, it was suggested that Marechera’s anger at his publishers was related to his low return in royalties, However, that seems like a much too narrow interpretation of the author, suggesting he was motivated mostly by financial issues. In fact, his demeanor was, in many respects, that of an Old Testament prophet, using his body and wild actions to demonstrate his sense of frustration with the overall direction of the societies he entered. He really didn’t care so much about money since he prefered to live under a bush or on a park bench, rather than in a hotel suite, if he felt he was compromising his artistic integrity by going along with a producer’s vision.
Even though I am not black and not similar in other ways to Marechera, I could still see and simply understand that his roots were in an organic, African sense of Christianity, rather than in market economics. We had enough of the same background for me to make these observations, whereas those from other cultures have tended to make altogether different assumptions.
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