The Archbishop Emeritus of Bobo-Dioulasso Monsignor Anselme Titianma Sanon moderated this Monday, the inaugural conference of the symposium on literature which is being held on the occasion of the 20th edition of the National Culture (SNC) Bobo 2023.
The Archbishop Emeritus of Bobo-Dioulasso Monsignor Anselme Titianma Sanon led the inaugural conference which had as its theme “Cultural diversity, community melting pot and vector of peace and social cohesion”.
He gave three definitions of culture. The first is culture seen as cultivating one's field, the second is culture as life skills and know-how and the third is the culture of peace.
He indicated that each society has its culture and each culture has its cultural traits which are among others the language, the economic production, the political organization, the art of dialogue with the wood to make a mask, the art of working with clay to make something useful to society, the art of taking cotton to make clothes with different colors.
Monsignor Anselme Titianma Sanon (2nd from left) led the inaugural conference
Culture for Monsignor Anselme Titianma Sanon is “humanity is humanism and it is the meeting of cultural traits that make Africa multiple and one”.
He felt that “this multiplicity in unity shows that we exist for ourselves and for others and it brings something more to our identity”.
When you learn a new language, you are strengthened
"When you learn a new language, you are strengthened, you find new strengths, you have another vision of the universe that you did not have," said the Archbishop Emeritus.
For him, diversity through cultural traits is found in all areas, especially the way of eating. "Some eat with their hands, others with forks which can be made of wood or iron and still others with chopsticks," he said.
According to him, accepting cultural society means accepting the cultural traits that make each of us have a cultural identity that he carries and that allows him to present himself as a vis-à-vis.
In his opinion, the encounter with the other allows us to be ourselves and to show our capacity to bring something to the latter.
He noted that it is the acceptance of difference and belonging to the same land, the sharing of the same values that allow us to say that we exist in the same way as others. "No one is too much on this earth," he noted.
On the cultural history of Burkina, Monsignor Anselme Titianma Sanon recalled that the promotion of culture in Burkina Faso which has been materialized for 40 years by the National Culture Week (SNC) was carried out during colonization by Voltaic people like Lompolo Koné, Kargougou Moussa and others.
In his opinion, President Thomas Sankara has given a second wind to the promotion of culture with the creation of the National Week of Culture and the launch of the Institute of Black Peoples.
For Monsignor Sanon, the Burkinabè and African culture and the instruments for its valorization like the national week of culture will be tomorrow what the Burkinabè and Africans will decide.
“Our Africa of tomorrow will be the work of our hands. The Burkina Faso of tomorrow, we will mold it with our hands with its forests, its savannahs, its minerals. Each generation must contribute its share,” he said.
"Our generation can wonder if it has played its role and in what area", he wondered, citing the areas of culture, politics, morality, living together.
Make the SNC an instrument of reconciliation with the world
The Burkinabè prelate advocated the creation of a cultural radio and television channel for all of Africa so that all African cultural aspects are seen and heard by Africans and even beyond the continent.
“We need a chain through which all the peoples of Africa find themselves,” he stressed.
Dr. Doti Bruno Sanou moderated the conference
Monsignor Anselme Titianma Sanon ended his presentation by affirming that culture is both a monumental and precious instrument in our hands.
"Our generation did what it could," he said. He invited the current generation to make the SNC an instrument of unity for all of Africa, an instrument of reconciliation with globality and dialogue among peoples.
Source: Burkina Information Agency