Youth-driven woke culture redefines social landscape
The nationwide euphoria that engulfed SA after the transition to democracy in 1994 soon gave way to the grim realisation that the attainment of political freedom is, after all, a hollow victory for the majority of South Africans who continue to live in deprivation and abject poverty.
The continued deprivation, coupled with the prevalence of social injustices, albeit subliminal, have laid solid foundations for the emergence of the woke culture.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines being politically woke in the black community as someone who is informed, educated and conscious of social injustice and racial inequality.
The growth and uptake of social media platforms have also served to incubate the woke movement and provided its proponents with the ideal platform to raise awareness about social injustices. Social media democratised broadcasting and communication, and it came as no surprise that iterations such as “Black Twitter” emerged and gained traction.
Long-held beliefs and cultural practices have become a topic of discussion and their relevance in the modern era has been questioned, to the chagrin of the older generation. To Generation Z, those born in the 1990s and 2000s, no subject is beyond reproach and no topic is sacred enough to be engaged and challenged. The promise of 1994 is increasingly viewed with cynicism.
As a brand that seeks to preserve and celebrate African culture and practices, an initiative aptly named Castle Milk Stout Black Conversations was launched in response to these winds of change and in an effort to encourage South Africans to openly discuss what others deem as taboo subjects on “Blackness”.
In the face of cultural appropriation, the woke movement, which is generally driven by influential black media personalities, leading artists and a growing class of black academics, is reviving the philosophy of Black Consciousness and making it applicable to the socioeconomic challenges facing SA today. Black Consciousness founder, Steve Biko, said: “Black Consciousness… It seeks to infuse the black community with a newfound pride in themselves, their efforts, their value system, their culture, their religion and their outlook to life.”
Culture is not cast in granite. In every generation, young people are the agents of change and disruptors of the status quo. Today is no different. Some may view the challenge to long-held beliefs as an affront, a corrosion of our moral fabric and dishonourable disrobing of what makes us African. I disagree. As the black community we need to be mindful that our cultural practices should be agile and evolve, otherwise they run the risk of being rendered redundant by the changing social landscape. The younger generation are not passive recipients of culture and social norms. Their preservation is dependent on them finding relevance in their everyday lives.
We need to take stock of the words of Dr Martin Luther King Jnr: “One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.”