The inaugural panel of the National Culture Week (SNC) 2024 conference was moderated by the full professor of contemporary history, Magloire Somé, on Monday April 29, 2024. The moderation of the panel was was provided by the president of the scientific conference committee of Professor Salaka Sanou.
Participants in the conference of the 21st edition of the National Culture Week (SNC) attended the inaugural conference moderated by the full professor of contemporary history, Magloire Somé, on the theme ‘Culture, historical memory and patriotic surge for a Burkina new’, on the morning of April 29, 2024.
For Professor Somé, it is clear that Africa and Burkina Faso find themselves in this situation of acculturation where its sons and daughters have internalized Western and Eastern cultural domination and are facing a problem of loss of identity.
‘We have the impression that nowadays, there is a quest for history which comes down more to a quest for memorial stories far from the concern of the national moment,’
said the historian.
This is why it seemed important to clarify the concepts of culture and historical memory.
Magloire Somé thus noted that according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), culture is considered to be the set of distinctive spiritual and material, intellectual and emotional traits which characterize a society or a social group.
It brings together, in addition to arts and letters, lifestyles, fundamental human rights, value systems, traditions and beliefs.
As for the concept of historical memory, Magloire Somé affirmed that it refers to the memory of an important fact for history.
‘For historians, the memory narrative is loaded with emotions and subjectivism. Taking into account that memory is both individual and plural. It can lead to conflicts because within the same group, there can be several tendencies,’ warned Mr. Somé.
The teacher-researcher considers that cultural dialogue reveals the richness of cultural expressions.
‘It is a source of
tolerance because it attenuates the feeling of superiority when observing the relative nature of one’s values. He recommends favoring scholarly history which aims to be objective and rather allows us to understand the political and social functioning of a people,’ he indicated.
Source: Burkina Information Agency