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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Ivory Coast
Index
Sculpted door from northern Côte d'Ivoire showing
Senufo symbolic figures
CULTURAL DIVERSITY is impressive in Côte d'Ivoire. Urban
and
agricultural workers, herders, traders, and fishermen;
matrilineal
and patrilineal organizations; villages and chiefdoms; and
progressive and conservative political tendencies
contribute to
this national mosaic. Added to this indigenous variety,
French,
Lebanese, and African immigrants and visitors live and
work
throughout the country. This complex nation is changing,
however,
and attitudes toward change vary among and within these
groups.
During the 1980s, the pace of change was affected by the
numerous
oppositions that characterized Ivoirian
society--rich-poor,
urban-rural, modern-traditional, and south-north. Côte
d'Ivoire was
developing its own balance of these tensions, with a
result far
more complex than a simple combination of indigenous
cultures and
colonial legacies.
Religious systems have changed in ways that reflect
other
social trends. In this nation of "miraculous" economic
development,
as it is so often dubbed, with its clearly privileged
elite, people
have on the whole retained traditional African religious
beliefs.
Usually combined with Christian or Muslim precepts, or
both, local
religions nonetheless permeate views regarding the nature
of cause
and effect. The syncretisms emerging from these strains of
continuity and change are, like the nation itself, unique,
despite
similarities with other African states.
Political systems, like religions, reflect elements of
modern
and indigenous values in their development, and in Côte
d'Ivoire
these influences were especially evident in the practice
of
justifying authority in personal terms. The patrimonial
style of
President Félix Houphouët-Boigny indelibly marked
political
development through the early decades of independence. He
crafted,
although not single-handedly, a nation that exemplified
moderation
in some respects, resisting political trends and social
extremes.
Social development was generally steady and gradual rather
than
abrupt or catastrophic. The resulting society was marked
by a
general optimism regarding the possibility of benefiting
from the
system. The lure of affluence fostered an individualism
that was
absent in traditional cultures, as materialism "caught on"
but did
not obliterate traditional beliefs about the nature of the
universe. Alienation was moderated by the hope of
participation in
the nation's material growth.
Efforts to improve educational opportunities were
important in
this changing social environment, both for individual
advancement
and for social control. The government placed a high
priority on
schools, adapting the system inherited from France to
advance local
interests--but still relying heavily on French assistance.
In
health care service delivery as well, Côte d'Ivoire made
substantial improvements in the system it inherited from
colonial
times, raising material standards of living, at least for
some.
Like many benefits of development both before and after
independence, however, these advantages were most readily
available
to those who were already able to exploit the changing
social
system to their own advantage.
Data as of November 1988
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