Document Culture & Heritage Starting With Language – Museologist Sogbesan

Architect, curator, museologist and founder, Asa Culture Heritage Foundation, Dr Oluwatoyin Sogbesan, has urged culture enthusiasts and filmmakers to document Nigerian culture and heritage on films, but starting with language.

Sogbesan emphasis on documenting culture and heritage beginning with language, lies in the fact that indigenous languages are fast going extinct and if not recorded, the people will miss out on the changes or variations that occur in our languages and culture over time.

She further noted that because culture is dynamic and constantly evolving, if not recorded can be lost. Likewise, in the case of cultural assimilation arising from population culture a product of globalization, if culture is not recorded there will always be the question of who owns what? Or where did what come from? As seen in the case of the Nigeria and Ghana Jollof Rice war.

Language engenders understanding, connection and exchange. “When you go to the market and speak Hausa to a Hausa trader, he is happy to sell to you cheaper. He may go further to ask how you know the language if you are not Hausa. It is language that brought about the connection before any question of your geographical background comes in.

“But we have a lot of young people that will tell you, “I am Igbo but I don’t speak Igbo. I am Yoruba but I don’t speak Yoruba. It is important that we start documenting languages first.”
Languages can be documented in written, audio (voice), and audio-visual (film) format. The latter two Sogbesan said holds a lot of authenticity.

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“(with audio-visual) You can see all those speaking the language. If a grandparent is speaking the language. If a grandparent is speaking a language, it is unique because that way you can document it saying, “this is what my grandparents said something is called, but this is what it’s called now.”

Language can also be documented via recorded storytelling told in indigenous language. The latter, Sogbesan said it helps in detecting the changes or variation that occur in the stories and language between one’s parents and grandparents’ time.