Is globalisation detrimental to African morality? Discuss

This
question is difficult to answer because its terms are somewhat vague. "Globalization"
is a popular term most frequently used to describe the expansion and integration of the world
economy beginning in the final decades of the twentieth century. However, economic connections
between different parts of the world can be said to date back much earlier, to the days of the
transatlantic slave trade, or at least to the European colonization of Africa in the nineteenth
centuryto name two historical events of profound importance to African life.

While Africa is simply too large and diverse a geographic area to be said to have a
single moral system, it is possible to make at least some preliminary statements about the
relationship between the moral ideals of a society and major trends of history that have
impacted that society. Colonialism, for example, certainly had effects on all aspects of African
civilization, in the realm of ethics and morals as well as politics and economics. Similarly,
the political shifts of decolonization and national independence that African societies
underwent in the decades after World War II, as the continent undertook its own leadership in
the form of modern nation-states, shifted the frames of reference for both powerful elites and
millions of ordinary people in many regions of Africa. Some traditional societies remained
largely untouched by these trends, while others saw drastic changes to their ways of life,
structures of governance, and cultures. Economic globalization, bringing the material goods and
mercantile values of the Western world more deeply into the day-to-day life experience of
individuals (at least in the continent's urban centers) may simply deepen this long-term
displacement of cultural traditions.

By taking note of the historical context
described above, it may be possible to answer the stated question by attempting to define one's
understanding of "African morality" and relate it to the broad changes in the
contemporary world invoked by the phenomenon of "globalization."