WEEK 5

Siti Noor Amira binti Mohammad Johari

1) Based on your reading of "Things Fall Apart",what aspects of the Igbo culture allow the British to take over?

2) Since Sarawak has also undergone colonisation, how has this affected aspects of culture in our society?

3) Are there any changes brought about in the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak ?

     Based on my understanding, one aspect of Igbo culture that allows the British to take over is when the missionaries try to persuade the Igbo people by using many strategies, and they are easily fall to it. In this novel, we can see missionaries tried to convince by giving them the "iron horse" or bicycle and the other was the use of rhythmic singing and clapping to draw attention to their message. These show that their allegiance towards their belief is not totally strong. Besides, one of the villagers that converted to Christianity was Nwoye, Okonkwo's son. Okonkwo was not satisfied with Nwoye's attitude. He was always complaining about Nwoye who was not possesses manliness as he was. So, Nwoye felt he did not belong to his father and he also questioned himself about the killing of Ikemefuna and the twins. These make Nwoye converted to Christianity which this religion teaches them that everyone was brothers and sisters. Other than that, Igbo people also believe on the Evil Forest was filling with evil spirit which men that killed themselves, ogbanje and twins. Then, when the missionaries came to the village, they gave the forest for the missionaries to build a church. They believed when the missionaries built up a church there, they will be destroyed. Unfortunately, their belief was wrong instead the church made the British more powerful as they could spread their religion easily. 

     In Sarawak society, there are some aspects from colonisation of British that affected in this culture. One of them is their language which still maintaining the English language. As I know, the older still use English words in their daily communication. Such as, ball is 'bola' but they still call 'bol' and also resident is  'pejabat daerah' and they still call 'residen'. Other than that, in that time majority of Sarawakian are influenced by the attire of British. I saw in the picture of the wedding of my parents's friend, they wore coat,necktie,gown,and etc as their wedding attire rather than wearing traditional dress. This shows how British have influenced them indirectly. Besides, in the social perspective, in that time way of life of Malay-Muslim community began to be absorbed by the Western elements. For instance, they built many entertainment center such as Kampung Tanjung Kesenangan Club (1926), Sarawak Malay Tennis Club (1929), Sinjan Music Club, dan Surabaya Jolly Minstrels (Zulkiple Abdul Gani & Juanda Jaya, 2003:643). Besides, from the perspective of eating manner and etiquette, some of Malay Sarawakian rather to use spoon and fork when they eat. It is different from most of the people in West Malaysia which we tend to use bare hand to eat. It is a way for us as Malay Muslim in eating informally. 

     There are many changes that occur in the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa such as they were not consulting Agbala when they had problems. They converted to Christianity and this made Jesus as their god. Besides, I think there was development in their life. They will go through modernization as the missionaries will help them in developing themselves. It can be seen in the novel, when the Igbo people didn't know the bicycle but they called it 'iron horse'. When the missionaries came, they will teach the Igbo people about technology. Other than that, they also will believe that everyone is the same. There is no more “title” among them because in Christianity, everyone is same. Meanwhile in Sarawak, there are many changes that we can notice here. When there is a colonisation in a country, it makes the country starts to be strong to fight for their right. They will arise to protect their own land and not only see it will be taken by other parties. Thus, this spirit makes them stronger and good enough to fight on. Besides, the colonisation also makes them to be thrived in the technology as well as highly moral standard. When the colonisation takes place, they will introduce new technology and as they go back to their own country, they will leave the knowledge to residents. So, in indirectly the people can go through modernisation by their help. So, we can see from this aspect, not all colonisation will cause bad effects but they also give us some advantages. From the cultural aspect, I believe the indigenous tribes have been influenced by the colonisation. They still maintained the used of west attire in their wedding. Besides, from the political aspect, Malaysia practised Parliamentary Democracy. This system is based from the Westminster System which was totally from British. British brought it to Tanah Melayu and until now we still practise it.