By Dan Amor
Culture is the artistic and other activity of the mind and the works
produced by this. It is also a state of high development in art and thought
existing in a society and represented at various levels in its members. But
culture as a thematic focus in this piece, concerns the particular system of
art, thought, custom, beliefs and all the other products of human thought made
by a people at a particular time; in short, the way of life and identity of a
people. This essay is therefore informed by the urgent need for a new sense of
national identity and character in Nigeria
What special qualities would distinguish the
citizens of this country considered to be the largest and most populated black
nation in the world? For instance, under the influence of Montesquieu, Abbe du
Bois, and others the eighteenth century placed great emphasis on delineating
national character. The Spanish, for example, were said to be brave, mystical
and cruel; the English practical, phlegmatic shopkeepers; and the French
refined, artistic, and immoral. Each nation was thought to have a special
significance, a character, evident in its history, the impression made on
travelers, its climate, and in the features of its land. Most nations possessed
a long, mysterious past from which its character had simply come into being.
The United States of America
