ninehillsRAMBLE in the JUNGLE
Systems & culture
By Wanaku Verdzekov · · Global
Date note: Undated Facebook note, written between 2011 and 2014.
Tags: justice-systems, culture
We are hanging on a cliff here.
In parts of the world, systems have been deliberately created to dispense justice fairly, to the point where it is impossible to separate these systems from the culture of that region. Culture? Yes. And that is a whole dissertation to ponder. Even the Bible is a collection of stories connected to the culture of its time.
The Negro-African dilemma is this: trying to retrofit an amalgam of foreign cultures (or cultural artefacts) onto the dismantled cultural foundations of its people.
Expecting this to happen automagically is like expecting to hear a loud voice from the clouds. It needs raw brain power.
— Wanaku Verdzekov
Reading & grammar
Reading level: Gr 10–12
Understand
- What link does the author see between justice systems and culture?
- What is "the Negro-African dilemma", as the author defines it?
- What does the author think is needed instead of expecting change "automagically"?
Grammar focus: coined words. Automagically blends automatically and magically: something expected to happen by itself, as if by magic. Coined words like this add humour and irony, but they belong in informal writing.
Try it: Find a more formal way to say "expecting this to happen automagically". Then write your own sentence using a coined word.
Discuss: Can a country borrow a justice system from another culture and make it work? Argue with an example.