You might have read that Madonna has started the process of adopting a baby from Malawi... And while her motives might be genuinely compassionate - depends on how cynical you are ;) - it raises some fundamental questions about culture, and wider questions about modern day-imperialism...
Culture: by which I mean that the child is to be taken out of the culture it has been a part of, something people have commented upon...
From VOA news: "A childrens' rights specialist with the Plan
Malawi group, Martin Nkuna, expresses a feeling common among child
advocates that a child grows best within the environment of his or her
own family...'Look at the psychological effect of taking a child out of his or
her cultural environment,' he said. 'Just taking the child to another
culture would raise a number of issues in the development of the child.' "
Modern-day imperialism: Now please hear me on this one - I am NOT criticising people trying to help those less fortunate than themselves... and I'm aware that Madonna has promised to give away money to help alleviate suffering and enter into talks with Bill Clinton to find ways of helping (see this news item)...
I'm raising the question of how, now with globalisation, 'reverse imperialism' is a danger that we need to be aware of... Whereas old imperialism (and indeed some, though not all, missionaries) went out to 'conquer' countries with the attitude of 'we're here to show you our way of living which is better than yours' (an oversimplification I realise, and I'm not denying the benefits that some good compassionate people brought to suffering we can only imagine)... reverse imperialism seems to be taking people out of their culture/letting them live in our culture but still imposing our cultural values and way of life upon them (see recent debates about integrating Muslims for example)...
I grew up in Birmingham, and as many will testify, I really enjoy going out for a curry... But I have wondered at times how this fits with reverse imperialism ideas i.e. 'come and cook your food for me which I can enjoy, but I won't attempt to enter into, or even understand, your culture, and while you're here in England cooking your food for me, I expect you to live the way I live'
Obviously this happens in some Christian circles too (suspend or change your culture/way of life before you can belong), but culturally it worries me that some things best left in the past are simply being re-interpreted or reversed to fit into the world in which we live... imperialism being one such example...
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