Djibouti: How Culture in the Horn of Africa is Influencing Global Interests

Culture plays a paramount role in our lives. “It is what shapes who we are and how we view the world” (Thorp & Sanchez, 1998,

Culture is one of the most relevant elements that can define not only a society but also a country’s cumulative beliefs and system. Often noted as the origins of a country, culture is definitive in the sense that it harbors all the elements that can provide justification on the traditions and norms set by the society for its members. More often than not, the society members follow norms in order to create a harmonious community, and the beliefs and the traditions serve as the poles or grounding rules for each member to follow. Culture is very dynamic in the way that it can change over a variety of foreign influences but what is permanent about it is that original elements about it often lingers with the influences, therefore making it multi-faceted and broad. More importantly, culture serves as an individual and unique trait each society has, and therefore sets it apart from other countries and other societies.

Since the inception of human civilization there have been countless cultures and societies which have helped shape the current world today as we know it. The modern human race dates back more than 200,000 years and in that time frame many cultures have risen to great virtue and success only to deteriorate or cease to exist altogether. First before examining one of these cultures we must know what culture truly means. The Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Culture Center defines culture as a “dynamic social system,” containing the beliefs, behaviors, values and norms of a “specific organization, group, society or other collectivity” learned, shared, internalized, and changeable by all members of the society (Watson, 2010). In

Defining the meaning of culture is paramount to understanding how it can affect and shape a nation. Culture is defined by a set of customs, skills, courtesies, habits and lifestyle choices that develop as a result of a person’s environment. There are several characteristics that make up a nation 's culture, and set it apart from others. Geographical location greatly influences culture because it can determine profession, diet, as well as interaction with other individuals. Key infrastructure helps define a citizen’s access to resources such as clean drinking water, medicine, and trade items from other areas. Weather can take a monstrous toll on civilized nations, preventing them from expanding or limiting agricultural growth. Lines of communication throughout a nation are critical to ensuring that borders are maintained and cities well governed. Military conflicts often times determine government influence and can even destroy a nation’s way of life. Most notably

When a larger culture meets a smaller culture, the larger culture decides how to react to the smaller culture. The larger culture can leave the smaller culture alone, it can co-exist, or it can force the assimilation of the smaller culture trying to destroy it. The leader of a culture whether the smaller or larger, can abuse their power even though they mean to strengthen or simply maintain their people and culture. A smaller culture’s leader can misuse their power accidentally by trying to maintain the survival of their people, at the expense of their culture. In addition, a larger culture’s leaders can abuse their power over the smaller culture by forcing assimilation, and justifying their abuse of power. The article “From Rez Life” authored

Some argue that globalization will, on the long term, bring all cultures as a unique Western, if not Americanized, culture, while others argue that some cultures will persist in order to keep their own essence and therefore avoid the homogenization of all cultures. Alongside pure tradition, global conflicts, contradictory political regimes and the diversity of economic systems, some cultures are bound to face issues when trying to fully fit in a global western culture, and that is why cultures are adaptable to one another, but with some limits that we will express in this essay.

In closing, Djibouti was sundry, thankfulness toward its deliberate geographic location, which has been a crossroad of doing business and trade. The country’s traditions were extremely subjective by its ethnic cluster, with the leading groups being the Afar and Issa-Somali. The Issa Somali formulate up to 60 percent of the Djibouti people, although their language was not considering an official dialect. This group was mainly Muslim and about a quarter of its residents lives a nomadic everyday life, reside in small hut that can pack and move using camels. The Afar people reside in the desert and mountains, and formulate up 40 percent of the country's residents. They are classifying into two subgroups, the Asaemara and Adaemara. Cultural

Culture is defined as the learned and shared behaviors or perceptions of a group which have been transmitted from generation to generation through a shared symbol system. Many factors such as the physical geography, weather, and foreign intervention can all change and shape a regions culture over time. This is no truer than in the region of the world known as Chechnya. Chechnya has seen some of the fiercest conflicts and violent unrest and these events have had a massive impact on the people who live there. This paper will analyze several different areas that make up the culture of Chechnya as well as the impact military conflict has had on the people.

There are several countries which are located within the Combined Joint Task Force- Horn of Africa AOR. This paper will discuss the cultural influence of the Republic of Djibouti as well as its influence on bordering countries within its region. Additionally, this paper will portray Djibouti’s global significance and its effect on United States interest within the AOR. Historically, Djibouti’s strategic location and status as a free trade zone within the Horn of Africa has played a major role in this country’s importance throughout the globe. Hence, Djibouti maintains relationships with numerous countries and to date openly welcomes negotiations with other countries that can contribute to the country’s economic development. Continued

Djibouti is a quite globalized country because of its international ties, although in terms of technology it is not so much, therefore I would rate Djibouti a 7/10 on the globalisation scale. Per BBC.com Djibouti speaks four main languages; French, Arabic, Somalia and Afar, all of Djibouti’s media is controlled by the state, apart from a few media outlets from other countries which are closely monitored by the authorities, making much of the population disconnected from the outside world. Djibouti’s internet also costs a large amount of money which can’t be paid for by most families so most users use cyber cafes. The port of Djibouti’s port is its main source of economy and jobs because it lies at the gateway to the Suez Canal, one of the world’s

Unlike today, The Mali region was once thriving with huge empires encompassing most of West Africa, such as Ghana, Mail and Gao. While running major trade routes through the Sahara Desert they were able to obtain great power and wealth. In the 15th century the Malian empire was overthrown by the Songhai who held power for a century. The Songhai period was the last time the region thrived as a center of trade. The Europeans had taken to the sea and no longer had to use the routes through the desert to transport goods for trade. After the Songhai Empire fell, the French colonized the area and Mali was known as the French Sudan. On September 22, 1960 The Republic of Mali gained it’s independence from France. In the book Socialism and Nation-Building in Africa I found that after Mali split ties with France they were trying having trouble finding what would work better, socialism or capitalism. Since social and material elements were lacking for a future of capitalism, “Socialism was chosen as the only means of achieving economical development, raising the standard of living and increasing the material wealth” (Megahed 6). Since their independence Mali has had it hard. They have been hit with drought, disease, famine and

I have lived in Djibouti, Africa for a cumulative for two years. It is also the place where I met my wife so my in-laws are Djiboutian. While living there I have seen the trials and tribulations of the Djiboutian people and county. Djibouti faces social and economic issues on a daily basis due to their lack of resources they rely heavily on the port of Djibouti for income and supplies. They claim a mask of a democratic government but have had the

The ‘Djibouti School Access and Improvement Program’ is a application that is designed to improve the educational sector of Djibouti while at the same time increasing the quality of average education. This program went from 2000 to 2005 when the educational aspect of Djibouti was grossly underinvested and ineffective. This program tackled an important part of Djibouti’s system in the sense of trying to increase the development of the nation. (World Bank, White) The educational system in Djibouti is divided into 5 separate levels of educational growth. In terms of the primary schools at Djibouti, attendance at the schools were at an all time low at around a 25 percent average compiled between males and females. In 1999, only around 4.8 percent of Djibouti’s total GDP put money towards education while the government of Djibouti only put in about 15 percent of their total expenditures towards education. Enrollment during that time was

Cultural individuality and distinctiveness is the pride of every nation. All communities rejoice in the richness and exoticness of their own cultural symbols, be it dressing, architecture, language or way-of-life. With the dawn of globalization, however, cultural variety and distinguishing characteristics are vanishing; giving rise to a monoculture common to all. While this may be a harbinger of unity and relatedness among all people of the world, it also damages the unique cultural identities they once took pride in. This paper discusses the effects of globalization on culture, along with its positive and negative effects. Since the effects of globalization on culture are non-exhaustive, it is attempted to incorporate a few of the most

The concept of culture is something that defines many aspects of one’s life. From physical objects to different ways of thinking, culture adds significance to human life and makes groups of people distinct from one another. Culture is essentially a group of people who come together with similar interests and points of view. According to the Center for Advanced Language Acquisition of the University of Minnesota, “culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization.” From a more sociological perspective, culture is a way in which people come together in order to fulfill their needs. These shared patterns and ideas identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.” Culture is one of the things that sets the United States apart from the rest of the world. Not that the rest of the world is not cultural, but the circumstance here is different. Many people of different cultural backroads come to this country in search of a better life. As a consequence, the United States has become a place where many cultures merge together like a colossal pot soup.