Professor Abiodun Salawu: Memory in our Collective System

Every human society is a system, and the functionality of a system relies on very specific factors, the chief of which is the memory. This is underscored by the awareness that of all the components of a system, memory provides general substance used to determine the progress, effectiveness and the potentiality of a particular system. This becomes an inevitable condition in light of the discovery that achievements of the past are necessary indices that propel us to evolve and create new initiatives that would transform humanity or the system itself into something more functional, very integral and generally fundamental to everything that we do. To that extent, we can argue that the memory is accumulation of everything which are encountered in the past and can stimulate us to reconsider our steps and compels us to think productively in our current or future engagements. Examined very closely, memory can be likened to history in that, as history, memory is what we run to when we need to understand a complex situation, and since there is every tendency that such experiences encountered today are only recycled and not particularly new, we can argue comfortably that memory helps to guide us in taking decisions, creating ideas and formulating initiatives that promise to bring lasting development. In essence, referring to Professor Salawu as a memory in our collective system means that the man himself is seen as the component of a society as a working system which provides us all the motivations and support needed to transform our future to something meaningful and outstanding. Why he remains a viable one would be laid bare in what follows.

As a communication expert, one of the major responsibilities is to educate us about the critical approaches through which information can be handed down to humans, because not only is the approach to communication an important factor to facilitate changes that we need as a collective, it also helps us to travel into the minds of others who already have towed the same path. Meanwhile effective communication itself does not have a conventional framework as the ways and attitude towards communication from a place to place, culture to culture, and identity to identity differs. As will be discovered eventually, this Professor has invested in understanding the communicative methodologies of past African peoples so much that we can never cease to learn from him how pre-Western African civilization achieved the greatness associated to them today. Of course, this may not be obvious for academics whose environment of interest does not border with arts, history, and or philosophy. But it remains indisputable that communication experts have the talents to project the philosophical positions and paradigmatic approaches of the past so that they can remind us of the ways that things are done in the past. In the past, it is often the case that the aspect of communication is hugely invested into by the people and they almost all the time ensured that they artfully passed across their intentions through the power of communication. It is a relic of history retrievable even in the ancient Greek and Roman practices. To talk very effectively is something highly invested in. But with Professor Salawu, the task is more than to talk.

For one, this Professor of inestimable values has been a core advocate for decoloniality and decolonization using the undergarment of communication and language as viable systems. He believes for instance that much of the African values and contents are often lost during the process of translation, transliteration and transformation of cultural ideas through the agency of another language, and that nearly all human society has the unique ways through which they pass their efforts and ideals to successive generations through their language use. In essence, when expressions which are meant for the enhancement of a particular behavior are used indiscriminately in another language, they fail to perform their very responsibility for which they are meant to. This occurs because behind every expression, witty saying, axioms and all forms of condensed communication substances, there is a floodgate of history that is usually unaccounted for using external languages. Meanwhile when such external languages now take the front seat position in people’s engagements, it cannot be overemphasized that they could have lost a chunk of their history, philosophy and values all of which will signal the gradual but consistent erosion of their value and essence. To individuals like Professor Salawu therefore, it is hugely important that we understand the ways through which people of the past maintained their sanity and protected values of theirs for generations. This is inevitable in light of the understanding that any misuse of an expression can lead to very daring consequences when examined further. As such, individuals who keep such archives are very instrumental to the transformation of their societies.

Among many other things, this individual has stressed in his publications how the appropriation of different language has made development more difficult to court in the real sense of the word. He has argued for example that many of the people in the society have always remained distant from the activities of their leaders precisely because they are not equipped with the necessary tools to understand the codes that are passed to them through communication. The problem persists owing to Africa’s and African intransigence to keep external languages in their domestic affairs. For that reason, democracy has been an elusive commodity, true development has been difficult to accomplish and lasting transformation has been almost impossible. It cannot be overemphasized how far Africa would have accomplished in the occasion that they give priority to their communicative power which was deployed in the past. The refusal to explore these items of the past has come to challenge them in usually unimaginable ways which they often cannot immediately link to their current predicament. It is believed that the manifestation of progress lies in how leaders can establish a communication with the led, who would eventually go to practice what is given to them by their leaders. We cannot be doubtful of his academic positions when we understand for example that it is difficult to come across civilizations or groups that have attained any level of development today without them keeping their ancestral communicative power.

The domino effect of using indigenous languages as instruments of conscientization cannot be overstated. For one, it is often the case that conflict resolution occurs very effectively and immediately when the language of communication during the process of intervention is an indigenous one. People tend to participate actively in such an engagement with the tacit understanding that they cannot be shortchanged and undermined for whatever reason. All of these relies on the fact that people have access to the linguistic wisdom deployed by their ancestors by merely functioning as members of a society. I cannot but state how marveled I am by the understanding that linguistic materials which are often derived from the past can ultimately be deployed for the enhancement of a better society. Through his works for example, I have come to the realization that what we often dismiss as irrelevant and inconsequential has been very fundamental to any and every form of advancement which we conceive as humans. After all, he has successfully established that when the form of transformation which occurs in a place proportionally relates to their deep-seated immersion in language and expressions of the past. Such linguistic devices and evidence are retrieved to facilitate changes and bring about desirable transformation that a community desperately wants. Businesses, politics, social life and mental infrastructure of people are often determined by the fecundity of the language in use, and once indigenous communication tools are jettisoned, it comes with its multidimensional consequences.

We cannot underplay how immensely important this intellectual has been. He has accomplished tremendously in the environment of his intellectualism, and beyond that, he has made himself very pivotal for the transformation of every place where he finds himself. In South Africa, Professor Salawu has made an indelible mark in the sand of time where people have always found succor and safety by relishing his input. This man is a success and has also encouraged a hoard of individuals to take promising routes in their career. He has developed a number of other vibrant intellectuals and has made impressive contributions to humanity in his own best ways. It cannot be overemphasized how well such an individual be celebrated as a recognition of what he has been to the human family. Individuals such as him deserve glistering remarks because they have performed remarkably to improve the conditions of humanity in their own best ways.