CMS 340/Steen
Values Paper: Nigeria
11/30/11

Culture is a pattern of learned behaviors and attitudes that are shared by a group of people as far as shared languages, beliefs, and values that are transmitted from generation to generation. Values are things that are important to you; the most deeply felt beliefs shared by a cultural group. They reflect a shared perception of what ought to be and not what is. (Martin & Nakayama) The relationship between values and behaviors of a culture is that they are intertwined. Ones values and behavior is influenced by their culture in some way if not all. The culture also influences your communication in which determines how you communicate what values are important to you. I would identify myself as a part of the African American culture within the dirty south. I say dirty south because through a bit a traveling, I have found that African Americans in the north, east, or west parts of America are a little different than me. Within my culture as an African American, I identify as a woman, minority, Christian, middle class, a democrat, and a single parent. I wouldn’t say that I fit into the mainstream culture because when I think of mainstream I think of what’s popular and I consider myself mutual because I can always see or find a way to agree with someone else side of the story or point of view.
Personally I value family, friendship, and respect of others and individuals. Some values that I might share with the mainstream society are education, determination, and security. I say this because although receiving and using your education throughout life has always been a norm for me in my family it is now a part of the mainstream to have an education. You can’t turn on the television or listen to the radio with hearing an ad about going to college and you can’t surf the internet without pop up ads about different online colleges showing up in an effort to encourage people to go to college. I’m determined to have a comfortable life and believe I can receive that by receiving a good education and in return will be secure. The main stream also pushes for security although it may be a higher level of security than what I’m reaching for. One value that I can think of, that I would consider different from the mainstream is the value of technology. I believe in having a cell phone and a computer because in this time these things are necessary. However, unlike mainstream, I do not value the “Newest, Hot of the Market” technology. Currently everyone is going crazy over the new IPhone 4s while I’m still using a blackberry that I just got about one and a half years ago. Normally by the time I get on the boat of getting the “New” item, the mainstream part of the world has already moved on to something else.
I chose to analyze Nigeria as my target culture. Nigeria is a part of Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Benin and Cameroonis. (Kwintessential) it has a population of about 152 million people whose religion consist of Muslin, Christianity, and Indigenous African. (U.S. Department of State) Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, and it accounts for over half of West Africa's population. The variety of customs, languages, and traditions among Nigeria's 250 ethnic groups gives the country a rich diversity. The dominant ethnic group in the northern two-thirds of the country is the Hausa-Fulani, most of whom are Muslim. Other major ethnic groups of the north are the Nupe, Tiv, and Kanuri. The Yoruba people are predominant in the southwest. About half of the Yorubas are Christian and half Muslim. The predominantly Catholic Igbo are the largest ethnic group in the southeast, with the Efik, Ibibio, and Ijaw comprising a substantial segment of the population in that area. Persons of different language backgrounds most commonly communicate in English, although knowledge of two or more Nigerian languages is widespread. Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani, and Kanuri are the most widely used Nigerian languages. (U.S. Department of State)
Along with South Africa, Nigeria is considered a super-power in the African continent and consequently Nigerians are generally proud of their country. It has the largest population in Africa and the land is endowed with vast quantities of natural resources. It is the sixth largest oil-producing nation and has a well-educated and industrious society. They are fond of the expression, "When Nigeria sneezes, the rest of the African nations (with the exception of South Africa) catch cold." (Kwintessential)
Extended families are the norm and are in fact the backbone of the social system. Grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers and in-laws all work as a unit through life. Family relationships are guided by hierarchy and seniority. Social standing and recognition is achieved through extended families. Similarly a family's honor is influenced by the actions of its members. Individuals turn to members of the extended family for financial aid and guidance, and the family is expected to provide for the welfare of every member. Although the role of the extended family is diminishing somewhat in urban areas, there remains a strong tradition of mutual caring and responsibility among the members. (Kwintessential)
Nigeria is a hierarchical society. Age and position earns, even demands, respect. Age is believed to confer wisdom so older people are granted respect. The oldest person in a group is honored. In a social situation, they are greeted and served first. In return the most senior person has the responsibility to make decisions that are in the best interest of the group. (Kwintessential)
Due to the ethnic make-up of the country, communication styles vary. In the southwest, where the people are from the Yoruba tribe, people communication includes proverbs, sayings and even songs to enrich the meaning of what they say. This is especially true when speaking their native language, although many of the same characteristics have been carried into their English language usage. The Yoruba often use humor to prevent boredom during long meetings or serious discussions. They believe that embedding humor in their message guarantees that what they say is not easily forgotten. (Kwintessental)
Nigerians living in the south of the country tend to speak more directly. You may also find their tone slightly louder than elsewhere. They may raise their voices even more and become emotionally excited when they feel passionately about a topic. At the same time, a harsh tone is considered unwelcoming and even hostile. Nigerians prefer facial expressions that imply empathy and believe an indifferent facial expression indicates that a person is ignorant or obnoxious. (Culturelink)
Generally speaking, Nigerians are outgoing and friendly. Social attempts go a long way with them; therefore, foreigners who take the time to get to know a Nigerian as a person are considered friends and welcomed into a Nigerian’s inner circle of family and close friends.
Nigerian communication can also be indirect and may rely on non-verbal cues. Many of them use gestures when communicating. They may smile to mask their true feelings, especially when disappointed or confused. Many employ indirect eye contact to demonstrate their respect for the other person. It is common to gaze at the forehead or shoulders of someone they do not know well. Very direct eye contact may be interpreted as being intrusive unless there is a longstanding personal relationship. (Culturelink)
At the same time, there are some Nigerians who are extremely direct communicators and have no difficulty stating what is on their minds. Therefore, it is a good idea to observe the situation carefully before determining what behavior is appropriate in their culture.
I chose this culture because I remembered that I had a male friend who was from Nigeria when I first came to school at USM in 2003. I went out on a date with him once but couldn’t really see the relationship going any further so we remained friends. I hadn’t spoken to him in 2 years but I called him up and oddly, realized I had never had a conversation with him about his culture. However, he seemed very happy to talk about it and was open to all sorts of questions and basically led the conversation without me hardly asking any questions. His name is Eno-obong Ekpro and he is 26 years old. Eno told me that unlike in America, where when people ask you where are from, that person would normally reply with the city they were born in or where they grew up, but in Nigeria it doesn’t matter where you were born or grew up because if you are asked where you are from you must respond with the place your father is from. So although he was born and raised in a town called Calabar, when asked where he is from he says “Akwa Ibon” because that is where his dad is from.
Since Eno has been in America since he was 18 he brought up the fact that it was his first time experiencing racism upon arriving in Mississippi because in his city everybody is black. He also discussed the fact that his granddad was a chief of a village in Nigeria. Because he was the chief he had five wives at one time and they all lived on one compound. In Nigeria, the Muslim religion allows four wives and the Christian religion allows one wife but because he was the chief he had the right to have five even though their religion was Christianity.
Because his granddad had many wives, his father had many siblings but didn’t possess a relationship with all of them b/c the wives didn’t all like each other and kept the kids separate. Eno’s dad “coined” changed their last name to Ekpro from Akpon because of this. He didn’t want to be associated with his granddads decision to have so many wives anymore.
We then moved on to talk about politics because Eno’s father made his fortune by selling and investing in real estate, and he was also a politician. Although his father was a politician, Eno despises that particular career choice and stated “politics is a corrupt way of making money, because politicians steal money”. He said that he knows for a fact that they take money from the villages and keeps it for themselves and that he’d be a hypocrite if he didn’t include his father in such doings.
Eno considers his family social and economic status as upper middle class and compared it to a family of income from two doctors in America so that I could understand it better. He is the 1st child, in which he said was very important to his father because every Nigerian man wants a son really bad because it is important to carry on their family name. Along with his father, he lived at home with his mother and two younger sisters. His oldest sister is attending a college in England named Ekomobong and his younger sister named Anibiet is attending college Maurious, which is close to Madagascar.
Eno said that after college he was expected to return back to Nigeria and work for his father. Even if he wanted to stay in America he would not have been able to if his father requested him back. But, since his father passed he was able to plan out his own future and decided to stay in America, however he is still expected to help finance his sisters way through college. That is his responsibility.
Next, I asked Eno what were his values. I was surprised that like me, he had to stop and actually think about what his values where. For some reason, I expect other countries to be really strict and knowledgeable of their values because I consider them to be stronger than those of American families. After thinking a moment he stated that he valued “family and respect for elders”. Then stated, “Although I value respect for elders, I don’t really like it because in my culture elders have an absolute respect, meaning they have a mentality that they are always right and I am not allowed to challenge that without disrespecting them”. He then recapped that he loved his country and his culture but there were some things that he didn’t agree with.
Then, he started to explain to me that most of Nigeria was poor and corrupt but the actual country is rich. The country is rich because it is one of the top oil producing countries, has a telecommunication industry, and a government industry that all brings money into the country. However, according to Eno, when we see that aid is being sent to the Nigerian people, the people never see the money because the government keeps it for themselves. He really doesn’t like the government or the politicians of Nigeria. In identifying the values of my African American culture and my friend Eno's Nigerian culture, ironically, I found that our values are not that different and we actually hold very similar values such as family and respect. Although his respect was directed towards his elders, I value respect from myself towards others and their own respect towards me. I considered a hypothetical situation where as I was to marry Eno and asked which culture would he prefer to raise his children in. Of course he said Africa as I expected but said it wasn’t a big deal to him and that if his wife wanted to remain in America he would remain in America with her so that would be something we could agree upon. However, one challenge may be that in respect to his culture, Eno said it is very important to him and his family that his kids have African names. As a part of my culture it is normal to take on the last name of your husband so that wouldn’t be the issue but when he says that the kids must have African names he means their full names. So I wouldn’t be able to have a little India, Jessica, Dylan or Tyler and instead would have to name my children names that I could barely pronounce because it was a very important factor within his culture. According to him that all goes back to carrying the family name and making sure his children are educated about their African culture and always remembering and staying true to their culture. There are so many more customs and cultural aspects we could have discussed about Nigeria but in the limited time we had we stuck to his immediate family.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this assignment and it has given me a desire to want to explore other cultures and learn about their values and customs. It also made me see that I could have come across as self-centered or arrogant in all the years that I knew Eno and never once really asked him about his culture other than where he was from and why he chose to come to Hattiesburg MS of all places. This assignment reunited me with a friend that I may have otherwise forgotten about and he too may have also forgotten me. Now we have made plans to keep in touch and he’s planning to make the trip to see me graduate.

Reference:
Bureau of African Affairs (2011, October 20). Background Note: Nigeria. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved November 21, 2011 from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2836.htm
Kwintessential.(unknown). Retrieved November 21, 2011 from http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/nigeria.html
Adams, D. (1996). Culture Link. Cultural Policy in Nigeria. Retrieved November 21, 2011 from http://www.wwcd.org/policy/clink/Nigeria.html
Martin, J.A., Nakayama, T.K. (2010) Intercultural Communication In Contexts 5th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill
Interview between myself and Eno-obong Ekpro?