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– “We mimic men of the New World…” V.S NaipaulBy Kiana WilburgWith its wonderful blend of six races, Guyana has a rich history and a culture that is still virtually untapped and still to be fully exploited. However, we have now drifted to an era where we seem to be struggling,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, more than ever, to hold on to our personal identity,Cheap Jerseys From China, partly due to a flood of foreign influences that reach us mainly through television and the internet. And partly, due,Throwback Jerseys, it also seems, to a feeling that ‘our thing’ is somehow inferior.Artist Dave Martins has long commented, in his unashamedly Guyanese way, on the West Indian man’s penchant to ‘copy-cat’ everything foreign,Cheap Sports Jerseys, whether good or nonsensical, while failing to honour his own. (‘Where are your heroes, Caribbean?’ he laments in one song).Sadly, we seem to have taken our ‘copycatting’ to an even more nauseating level. Local advertisements feature announcers with American accents. Our deejays and even some singers try to sound Jamaican. The abundance of local plays at the National Cultural Centre seems to be a thing of the distant past.Artist and writer Barrington Braithwaite: “We have become the land of the great mimic men…”How did we come to this sorry state? Some have heaped the blame on a Government that seems to be indifferent to things ‘cultural’ or ‘local.’Is this accusation valid? Have we really become, the undisputed ‘mimic men of the New World?’Minister of Culture Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony doesn’t think so.The Minister said that contrary to what many believe, his Ministry is doing a lot to educate the Guyanese populace on the importance of our culture. But he regrettably expressed that this is not readily accepted or welcomed by many.The Minister said that the fact that foreign holidays and cultures like Halloween seem to be taking over is not surprising. But this, he said can be attributed to globalization and strong western influences through various media.“In the end, regardless of the influences, we can’t ignore our own and people need to understand how important it is to hold on to our culture, but sadly, people are not too attached to it.“For example; masquerade bands are very rare in Guyana at this point. There were hardly any bands for the past three years and due to this we were unable to hold these competitions. But to change this, we have the National Dance School going out to schools and teaching the history of the dance, its moves and the meaning of the techniques involved.”Dr. Anthony also said that the big issue is getting people to be receptive and that is the challenge that his Ministry faces. He said that there are a lot of cultural workshops and, “we hardly have people coming to them and that says something. We also partnered last year with the Guyana Cultural Association Inc. of New York and it was a beautiful symposium which dealt with the history and importance of masquerade and it was free and not a lot of people came.“Folklore concerts are being held every year which teach the stories of our history. I wouldn’t say that we have lost our identity but the society is being influenced by the western culture but in spite of this, we are doing a lot in our power to ensure that our identity, our history is preserved. I acknowledge that there is room for improvement, but it should be noted that we are working on it.”Guyana Prize winning playwright and Communications Specialist Dr. Paloma MohamedRegarding the country’s apparently lax copyright laws, Dr. Anthony said that people simply want to “pick and choose which part of the legislation must be enforced.”He said that there are measures in place for anyone to be tried before the court if they violate the exclusive rights someone may have to their work.“The copyrighting law is a very complex piece of legislation. There have been extensive discussions. But people cherry pick too much by saying that they want this part of the law and not that part and that is not right. We have to accept it in its entirety and while we have a comprehensive piece of draft people are simply divided over the issue.”Nonetheless, Dr. Anthony believes that one way to help curb this perception that our culture is dying is by incorporating cultural programmes into the education system.Others see things differently. Barrington Braithwaite, artist, cultural activist and creator of the ‘Jaguar’ graphic series firmly believes that Guyana has lost touch with its cultural identity and that “we have become the land of the great mimic men.”To support his claim, he made reference to the fact that research shows that more than two thousand citizens countrywide celebrated the adopted western holiday “Halloween” this year.Braithwaite,China Jerseys Cheap, who has a wealth of folklore knowledge, said that Halloween in its present state in Guyana is simply a costume festival. “It is exciting and it’s taking us over but nobody cares that we are not lending the same attention towards celebrating our own.He even made reference to the way Mashramani has become a complete duplicate of “Carnival” which is celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago.“We have an imbalance in this area and it is not that we don’t have the resources,Deion Sanders Falcons Jersey, but we have a lot of political obstacles in the way. There is a need to encourage our local writers to document our history as Guyana is on the brink of losing its cultural identity.”Guyana Prize-winning playwright and Director of the Centre for Communication Studies, Dr. Paloma Mohamed, also shared her thoughts on the topic.  “I don’t share the hysteria of many traditionalists about what can be seen as the loss of culture.”Mimicking a foreign culture? Guyanese celebrating Halloween“This is because of my own conception of culture as the normative ways people negotiate their lives in relation to their environments and histories. I see culture as dynamic and responsive to changes in the general environment.”In fact, Dr. Mohamed believes that, “societies which do not demonstrate this high adaptability tend to fall or decay. But alternatively, if we lose the connection to our roots and history, we lose the understanding of why and how we do what we do. This is important to strengthening of practices and institutions. What we want is really, a balance between reverence and mindfulness of history and being adaptive to changes in life.“I don’t think that we are losing our culture but I think we can do a lot more to record, preserve and propagate those things that are distinctly ours. We can do more through training, provision of grants to practitioners, media programmes, competitions, festivals, documentation, etc. In particular, the formal and informal education sectors are critical.”“I am in favour of an infusion model. This is to apply and relate cultural content in a conscious way in all subject areas in the education system.”A bit of Guyanese drama