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RAMBLE in the JUNGLE · Textbook · Unit 4: Kom: Tradition, Identity and Education

Issue 4.2

Does Self-Esteem Come Mainly from One's Culture and Community?

YESWanaku Verdzekov, Understanding Self-Esteem (2013) and Broken Self-Esteem? (2011)
NOEditorial counterpoint, Self-Worth Starts Within (written for this book)

Learning outcomes

After reading this issue, you should be able to:

Define self-esteem and identify its main sources.
Explain the author's view of self-esteem rooted in Kom culture.
Compare individual and community-based explanations of identity.
Evaluate the risks and benefits of group pride.
Write a reflective piece on the sources of your own confidence.

Introduction

If you are new to Kom. The Kom Kingdom is one of many traditional kingdoms (sometimes called fondoms) in the grasslands of north-west Cameroon. It was founded in the 1700s, has around 300,000 to 500,000 people today, and is led by a king called the Fòyn (or Fon), who is both a political and a spiritual leader. Kom tradition traces the people to a founding mother, Nandóŋ. The Kom language is itaŋiKom. Traditional kingdoms like Kom continued to exist under German, British and then Cameroonian rule, and their rulers still hold authority in many areas of daily life, such as land, customs and disputes, alongside the modern state.

Several readings use Kom words. You do not need to learn them, but the vocabulary list and Appendix C explain the most important ones.

Self-esteem. Psychologists define self-esteem as a person's overall sense of their own worth. The American psychologist William James wrote about it in 1890; in 1965, the sociologist Morris Rosenberg created a questionnaire still widely used to measure it. Researchers disagree about how much self-esteem depends on the individual and how much on family, community and culture. Some cultures, often called individualist, stress personal achievement; others, called collectivist, stress belonging and duty to the group.

The author, Wanaku Verdzekov, is a Kom writer. Text A defines self-esteem and links it to Kom identity. Text B responds to an incident in Bamenda, a city in north-west Cameroon, after the 2011 presidential election: a car was burned by a crowd gathered to see the opposition leader John Fru Ndi, after its owner asked, in French, "Fru Ndi, who is that?"

As you read, ask: Where does your own confidence come from: inside you, or from the people around you?

YES

Understanding Self-Esteem (2013) and Broken Self-Esteem? (2011)

By Wanaku Verdzekov

Text A: Understanding Self-Esteem

Most people think they know what "self-esteem" means. No dictionary needed. But if you ask me, that assumption falls short. The word goes deeper than that.

So what is self-esteem?

Simply put, self-esteem is how you assess your own worth. You look at yourself and estimate your value: not in money, not in things, but in your own immeasurable worth. In fact, it is realizing that you are worth more than anything money can buy. For those who know itaŋiKom, the phrase is "Kuo nɨ chuo wi wul": an agreement on a human's immense value.

Each person's road to self-esteem is different. What matters is the destination. The process keeps going, but when you reach a point of quiet confidence in your own worth, that is when self-esteem takes root and grows.

Watch a person whose self-esteem has been boosted. S/he is transformed. Self-esteem can change individuals, communities, even nations. It raises our consciousness and shapes how we move through the world.

And here is the other side: if you rely on others to do what you can do for yourself, you become dependent on them. That dependence eats away at your self-esteem.

Self-esteem, Kom style

For a Kom person, self-esteem is rooted in cultural identity. Kom is not just a place to live. It gives life a deeper meaning, and that sense of worth stands on:

a strong kingdom with shared values that guide life and decisions;
physical symbols and objects that belong to Kom and no one else;
our own language, signs and symbols, which tell us where we belong;
a flexible culture that can absorb influences (from neighbouring tribes, from Western civilization, from neo-colonial elements) and still keep its essence.

The core of Kom culture is still intact. But here is the question: how long can it hold out against the pressure from outside before it morphs into something we cannot recognize?

In today's global world, where cultures shift all the time, how a Kom person feels about themselves inside the bigger global culture directly affects their self-esteem. Someone could even study it and come up with a "self-esteem rating", from 10 (excellent) down to 0 (no sense of self-worth at all). Until someone does that study, this ramble is just to get us talking about self-esteem: something invisible, but crucial to being human.

So, how is your self-esteem? How do you see your own worth? You tell me.

Let's keep thinking, sharing and building each other up. Self-esteem is the foundation of a strong community.

Text B: Broken Self-Esteem?

Just yesterday, a few days after the results of the presidential election were announced in Cameroun, someone's car was set on fire in the town of Bamenda (in the North West Region) by an angry crowd gathered to see the top opposition leader, Fru Ndi, who had come to town.

Various reports confirm what sparked the rage. When the car owner was told the crowd could not make way for him, because they had gathered to see Fru Ndi, he replied: "Fru Ndi, c'est qui?", meaning "Who the hell is Fru Ndi?"

Growing up in a Camerounese culture where you are told in several ways (in words, in policies, through systematic "abrahamism", corruption…) that you are a nobody can be very damaging to one's SELF-ESTEEM. It takes a lot more energy to fix a broken self-esteem than to build one from scratch (when a baby is born). It is something to think about.

Kom Kingdom

If the pride of our people (the Kom people) is not instilled and cultivated in our young, it will disappear before they become real men and women in such an abusive environment.

In my humble opinion, it is the kingdom's responsibility to ensure that all mukomangoh can walk tall anywhere on the globe and speak their minds freely, knowing that they speak no evil of anyone, but only want the preservation, survival and development of the Kom Kingdom for the children of tomorrow.

Every human being comes from somewhere: mother, father, family, community, tribe or kingdom. It starts to get murky when Western-style pseudo-states (created by Western cartographers) come into the picture. From then on it is a slippery slope. Before the West came into the picture, there was Kom. After the West is gone from the picture (if it ever goes), there WILL be Kom.

This is a message to all mukomangoh: walk tall, straighten your backs, and do not bow to anyone who treats you with disrespect. The pride of being a mukomangoh is a self-esteem booster. And there is ample supply for everyone.

A broken system is like a broken calabash: it cannot carry any water. Compare this with a broken self-esteem. Repairing a broken calabash takes grandma's expertise and the precision of the kingdom's expert weavers. In the West, it could cost a fortune in psychotherapy sessions.

iBoisɨ
~wv

— Wanaku Verdzekov

Text A dates from 2013; its only surviving copy had been polished with an AI tool, and this version restores the author's voice. Text B was written in October 2011. Both lightly edited for this book.

Self-Worth Starts Within

Editorial counterpoint Written for this book, not by Wanaku Verdzekov.

This essay was written for this textbook to present the opposing side fairly. It is not by Wanaku Verdzekov.

Wanaku Verdzekov writes movingly about the pride of being Kom, and about how a culture that tells people they are "nobody" can break their self-esteem. Culture and community clearly matter. But the claim that self-esteem comes mainly from culture leaves out much of what psychologists have learned, and it risks leaving some people out altogether.

Self-esteem has many sources

Research on self-esteem points to many sources: the love and acceptance a child receives from caregivers, success at tasks that matter to the person, friendships, a sense of control over one's life, and the ability to learn from failure. Culture shapes all of these, but it is not the only thing that matters. Two children raised in the same village, with the same language and traditions, can have very different self-esteem because of their families, their abilities and their experiences.

Cultures can lift people up, or hold them down

Every culture has values that support some people's self-worth and threaten others'. A tradition that honours elders may leave young people feeling unheard. Customs that give men authority may leave women feeling less valued. People who are different (in ability, belief or personality) may find their community a source of shame rather than pride. For them, self-esteem may depend on finding worth despite their culture's expectations, not because of them.

Pride in a group can turn against others

When people rest their worth mainly on belonging to a group, they may come to feel superior to other groups. History has many examples of group pride turning into contempt, exclusion and violence. The author wants Kom people to "walk tall" and "not bow to anyone", which is a healthy message. But self-esteem that depends on the group's standing can also depend on others looking smaller.

What about people between cultures?

Many young people today live between cultures: children of migrants, children of mixed families, students educated far from home. The author's own life crossed cultures. If self-esteem comes mainly from one culture, these young people might seem to have a weaker foundation. In fact, many build a strong sense of self precisely by combining parts of several cultures and choosing their own values.

The author's own advice points inward

Text A itself says that each person's road to self-esteem "is different", that it reaches "a point of quiet confidence" within, and warns that depending on others erodes self-esteem. That sounds less like a gift from culture and more like an achievement of the individual. Culture can provide tools and encouragement; the person must still do the work.

Conclusion

A strong culture can be a wonderful source of pride and belonging, as the author shows for Kom. But self-esteem is built from many materials: love, achievement, relationships, choices and resilience. The most secure self-esteem may be the kind that can survive even when one's community does not approve, because it rests, finally, on the person's own sense of worth.

— Editorial counterpoint

Vocabulary

Word or phrase	Meaning in the readings
self-esteem	how a person values themselves
intrinsic	belonging naturally to something; built in
affirmation	a statement that something is true or good
consciousness	awareness
dependence	relying on someone else
erode	to wear away slowly
opposition leader	the leader of the main party not in government
cartographer	a person who makes maps
calabash	a dried gourd used as a container
resilience	the ability to recover from difficulties
collectivist	valuing the group above the individual
individualist	valuing the individual above the group

Comprehension questions

Literal (find it in the text)

How does Text A define self-esteem in simple terms?
What Kom phrase expresses a human's immense value?
What four things support a Kom person's sense of worth, according to Text A?
What does the car owner's question "Fru Ndi, c'est qui?" mean?
Name three sources of self-esteem mentioned in the counterpoint.

Inferential (read between the lines)

Why does Text A say dependence can erode self-esteem?
Why does Text B say a broken self-esteem is harder to fix than to build?
Why does the counterpoint say group pride can "turn against others"?
How does the counterpoint use Text A's own words against the YES side?

Critical (evaluate and respond)

Which reading better explains where your own confidence comes from? Give an example.
Can a culture harm some of its members' self-esteem while lifting others? Discuss with care and examples.
Young people who live between cultures: is that a weakness or a strength for self-esteem?

Is there common ground?

Both writers agree that self-esteem is precious, that it can be damaged by being told you are "nobody", and that culture and community can be powerful sources of pride. The counterpoint grants that "a strong culture can be a wonderful source of pride"; the author says each person's journey is unique.

They disagree about the main source. The author roots self-esteem in Kom identity: kingdom, language, symbols and shared values. The counterpoint roots it in many sources, and ultimately in the individual.

Common ground: a healthy community gives every member reasons to feel valued, and a healthy individual builds a sense of worth that does not depend on anyone else's approval. Both are needed.

Debate and writing prompt

Debate motion: This house believes that a strong culture is the best foundation for a young person's self-esteem.

Divide the class into proposition and opposition. Each side must use at least two pieces of evidence from its reading and answer the other side's strongest point.
After the debate, hold a vote, then discuss which arguments changed minds.

Writing task: (400–600 words) Write a reflective essay titled "What makes me walk tall". Describe two or three sources of your confidence (family, culture, achievements, faith, friendships) and explain which matters most to you, using ideas from both readings.