#APostADay Day 1 – Homogeneity and Heterogeneity of our Society.

Hello!

So I’ve been off for a while, not for lack of things to write but because I have failed to Overcome Inertia .

However, this is about to change as for the next week, I and Saatah Nubari (@Saatah) have challenged ourselves to #PostADay. His posts would be on http://www.nubby.wordpress.com.

I hope our posts turn out to be worth your while. Cheers!

I have written earlier on Society: The Foundations, please note that this is not the sequel I have on my computer for it. Think of it as an aside dwelling on one point: the Structure of our Society.

Homogeneous Society

The word Homogeneous is defined simply as “of the same kind; alike”. In terms of society, I’d like to refer to the basic unit – the individual – as being of the same kind as a representative majority when he exhibits or possesses any of the following:

• Same Background: One is of a homogeneous society when he can find similar ethnic or/and religious background with a majority of his society.

• Same Culture: In a homogeneous society, culture is similar. Elements of culture include food, dressing, language etc. This could be by adoption or natural.

Now, Nigeria is one of the most diverse nations on earth. With over 700ethnic groups, one would think we are easily not homogeneous. But, is this the case all around Nigeria? No!

There are what I’d like to refer to as large blocks of homogeneous sub-societies within Nigeria. Think of it, when going to the South-West, South-East, they all appear to be the same don’t they? This is because in spite of some differences, they share a background.

It is not uncommon to hear a language apart from Nigeria’s official language, English, accepted as the official language in those parts. As a matter of fact, I briefly viewed NTA this evening and an event in one of these zones had over 6minutes (before I changed channels) in Igbo. Such cannot happen in my mother or father’s home states because homogeneity is lacking there.

Heterogeneous Society

The word Heterogeneous is defined simply as “of diverse kind; different”.

Heterogeneous Society has the following traits:

• Different Background: People of these societies may be from different backgrounds. Common in societies built by migrants.

• Different Culture: Language, food, dressing etc. may be different.

I grew up in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. I grew up amidst people from all parts of Nigeria. One cannot speak a language in public and expect another to hear, same goes for Warri, Delta State. This is because of the heterogeneous nature of both societies. Most of the South South is largely heterogeneous as well as the North Central.

Now, I’ve come under fire all my life for not having a “Nigerian Accent”. Where a Nigerian Accent is one with a Nigerian language undertone. This is especially because many are brought up in a Homogeneous sub-society and do not consider that in a Heterogeneous society things are different.

Observations

From my observation of both sub-societal structures I have this few observations:

• Homogeneous sub-societies form the majority in Nigeria, and vice versa.

• Heterogeneous sub-societies struggle with recognition as part of Nigeria.

• Products of homogeneous societies sometimes bully products of heterogeneous societies.

For Nigeria to move forward, I believe a lot more ought to be done as regards managing our Homogeneity as well as our Heterogeneity. Building a Nigerian Identity is indeed a Herculean task but it is necessary.

I am really tired, and this article was written at a go. Please bear with me. I’d go through and edit sometime soon. Thank you.

As always, I’d like your thoughts and comments. You can drop them here on Twitter (@ATamsSokari). Cheers! Oops…Goodnight!