This being my first ever blog, I am not exactly sure how I should begin, or for that matter, how I should go about writing it. However, a topic considered and discussed in class that I found thought provoking was Kwanzaa. For this blog I will explore how the principles of Kwanzaa can be incorporated as a learning process within my family unit.
To start I must admit the fact that I knew very little about Kwanzaa or its seven principles until I attended a demonstration that the two youngest girls in my household were involved in over this past Christmas break. Here I learned many of the customs and traditions that Kwanzaa includes. While taking in all of this new information, I was also thinking about the ways in which my family could incorporate the principles of Kwanzaa into our family’s holiday customs, while also keeping my Christian concepts of Christmas at the forefront.
As the busyness of the holiday season overcame any other prior thoughts, Kwanzaa was something that just slipped my mind. Coincidentally, the topic of Kwanzaa would soon be reintroduced into my life through the film, “The Black Candle” and through my peers within this course (GSLL 6201-80). As I sat watching the film, “The Black Candle” and listening to class conversation about what Kwanzaa meant to the families of my classmates, I contemplated what it could mean to me. These are some thoughts that came to mind.
First, Kwanzaa does not have to be a replacement for Christmas and nor should it be. Although Kwanzaa takes place in close proximity to Christmas in terms of time, it does not have to be an alternative. Christianity has long been a withstanding tradition in the black communities of Nova Scotia and in North America as a whole. Kwanzaa should not replace Christmas, but should enhance it. Uniting the Christian Christmas tradition with Kwanzaa combines Africentric idealisms and Christian idealisms to form new meaning.
Second, the principles of Kwanzaa should not only be reflected upon from the 26th of December through to the 1st of January. It should be a yearlong awareness and a lifelong learning process. Nguzo Saba’s principles can be used throughout our day to day lives and should not be forgotten about after the holiday season but should continue on throughout the entire year.
For example, Kwanzaa can be used in the process of learning on a number of different levels. Ujima, Kwanzaas principle of collective work and responsibility supports the idea of cooperative learning in a way that the traditional Eurocentric notion of learning tends to exclude. Often the traditional method of learning is individualistic. Ujima would suggest that we learn as a collective, working together to achieve educational goals. It may prove to be beneficial to take this idea of cooperative learning and apply it to our everyday learning experiences.
After reading the prologue of Wenger’s “Communities of Practice”, I have been able to make strong connections with the concept of Communities of Practice and my thoughts of uniting Christmas and Kwanzaa. Identifying that my family unit is one of my communities of practice now enhances the concept of using the virtues and ideals of Kwanzaa to create a new learning process for my family. The fundamental ideas set forth by Wenger around the connectedness of the social learning theory and communities of practice; we can learn to shape these virtues within our family unit by creating a tradition which includes our identity of self and our identity within the world. Also, by learning to practice how we use these virtues in our everyday lives and larger community. This new tradition will also create a new meaning for us of our values and how we as individuals can make change within our other communities of practice.
For my family and I Christ will continue to be the main focus during the Christmas holidays; however, I feel that the principles of Kwanzaa will be something that we will begin to include. Although this year my family did not incorporate the seven principles of Kwanzaa within our holiday festivities, I believe that incorporating the principles of Kwanzaa into our family’s practices will not only enrich our holiday season but will also enrich our day to day lives.
