MANAGING CHANGE IN CHILD UPBRINGING IN A GLOBALISED WORLD: THE IGBO CULTURAL HERITAGE EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Globalization may mean different things to different people. No matter how one conceives it, globalization is a process of spread of practices, relations, consciousness and organizations of social life. It affects virtually all aspects of life – culture, politics, family, transportation, information technology and so on. It is a process of quick move into a more inter-connected world in which we live with our ideas, thoughts, culture, economy, politics etc. Globalization, therefore, can and has influenced almost the totality of the cultural heritage of the Igbo race such that one may begin to ask the faith of the Igbo culture in this rapid interconnection of the modern world. The fear is that the erstwhile cherished Igbo cultural heritage may be dominated by westernization. The danger is that we are in the brink of losing our cultural identity. The paper therefore, aimed at exploring the heritage, Igbo people have preserved for the upbringing of a child, weighing the implications and adhering strictly to the cultural values, however, without losing sight of the fact that no nation is an island.  Theoretical Framework of Giddens  (1990) ,The Juggernaut of Modernity, was adopted.  It was, however observed that the wave of globalization is very forceful in its effect and changing pattern, therefore Igbo people should not fold their hands, but accept the good aspects of globalization while at the same time guarding jealously the good aspects of their cultural heritage by preserving and maintaining them, for posterity.