1. Based on your reading
on “Things Fall Apart” what aspects of the Igbo culture allow the British to
take over.
In my opinion, the
main aspects of the Igbo culture that allow the British to take over is their
belief. In Igbo culture, they practiced sacrificial ceremony to cleanse their
land and as a offering to their God. For example, the killing of Ikemefuna who
was sacrificed in order to bring peace after the war. Besides that, the
scarifies of the twins who was considered as an abomination. This indirectly
has caused many people who are silently disagree with the culture. This can be
seen when those who have been alienated by the Igbo society because of they
have offended their belief, actually accept the Christianity brought by the
British. They have seen hope and opportunity to live a better live in
Christianity. Thus, the conversion of the Igbo society to Christianity has
indirectly made the British to take over the belief of the Igbo society.
2. Since Sarawak also has undergone colonisation, how has this affected aspects of culture in our society?
Colonialism, I believe, is a practice by which a powerful
country controls another country or other countries. Here, Sarawak, my
birthplace, also used to be colonized. It was probably in the time of our
great, great grandparents. Luckily, they managed to give birth to my
grandparents during the dark time. This happened a lot of time throughout the
centuries in many countries. And this had affected the native’s culture. It
also happened in Sarawakian’s culture. But what is culture? It is the custom
and beliefs, art, way life and social organization of a particular group. What
can I observed is that, colonialism really has affected the aspects of culture
in Sarawakian society. It brought many changes, for example, most of them now
received education where if you can see, those grandpas able to speak English
fluently. This will decrease the usage of their native language in their daily
life. Since the colonialism, people were converted to Christian by European
missionaries. Absolutely, it had affected their original culture and taboo.
Lastly, people were united. Overall, I can see that the coming of the colonist
to Sarawak which began the 18th century until the 19th
century, basically it is intended to monopolize the wealth of the land here,
the British especially.
3. Are there any changes brought about in the lives of the
indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak?
My answer is, YES. This is
because the British has brought a lot of changes in the lives of tribes in
Africa as well as in Sarawak. In the novel Things Fall Apart itself, we can see
how the British colonist has changed the African lives. The British builds the
school for the African whereas they can attend it for free without any fees.
They even bring the teachers who are actually paid by the British government itself.
All that the African have to do are spending their time in this school. The
British also create the law system in this society. Things that were allowed
before in the Africa society such as killing the twin is no longer permitted.
According to the British law, this is considered to be a very serious crime. They
build the Magistrate which they can use to judge and identify the suitable
punishment for the one who committed crime.
While for the tribes in Sarawak,
there were quite changes happened to be there. But unlike the Africa, Sarawak’s
school is not build by the British government. Basically, it was the idea of
the Sarawakian itself. The scholar and the leader contribute their own ideas
and effort in order to give a suitable education to their people. At this
stage, they focused more towards the children and the teenagers. This is
because the British didn’t want them to be educated and united. While for the
law, the tribes in Sarawak already have their own society rules and regulation.
However, whenever the British came, they begun to change the law according to their
own ways. So overall, the British has brought changes towards the indigenous
tribes of Africa and Sarawak.
