Growing up in Jamaica, it is accepted as a given that nothing ever starts on time and that people will always be late. We advertise an event to start at 9:00 a.m. but feel no embarrassment at being two hours late. In many work places, it is after you clock in that you go to get breakfast. Unless you are placed in a cross-cultural context, you could go through life not even thinking that any other option is possible.
My time-awareness was first sparked when I was a student at the City College, City University of New York. In my Senior year, I had a party to which I invited not only my Jamaican/Caribbean friends, but also some white Americans who worked in the lab I did for the Psychology honours programme. I sent out written invitations which all identified the time of the party as “From 10:00 p.m. – Until”. On the night in question, I completed most of the preparations and decided to get a shower at about 9:55 p.m. Through the sound of the running water, I detected the incessant ringing of the door bell. I donned a towel and tracked a trail of water to the door wondering who could this be at this time? To my surprise, the five white persons that I had invited were standing at the door. What was even more shocking was the fact that they did not come together. They had all independently programmed their travel plans so as to arrive at my home for 10 p.m. I asked them what they were doing at my door at this time. They all produced their invitations, showing me the time specified and pointing to their watches. This was my rude awakening to the fact that white people did not understand that when you say that a party starts at 10:00 p.m. you really mean any time after 11:30 p.m.!
The Origins of The African and European World Views
This dramatic divergence in the perception of time motivated me to investigate the forces shaping these behaviours. Examination of man’s origins in Africa, in what is called the ‘Southern Cradle of Civilization’, shows that we were hunters and gatherers. Life existed in the perpetual present where food was never far away. The men hunted game while the women gathered berries, nuts, tubers and fire wood. In the ‘Northern Cradle of Civilization’ Europeans had a different existence as nomads. They largely moved with the season in search of food. The Europeans had to learn at a much earlier time in history to source and store food for the long dark winters during which nothing grew. Those who did not plan for the future when the land became barren would have nothing to eat. They would die or exist at the mercy of those who had planned and prepared for the future. The future became indelibly etched into their psyche.
This led me to the writings of persons like Wole Soyinka who shows in his work that the past, present and future are all woven together in the Yobuba world view. They do not exist as abstractions as in the west. He states that:
“The Yoruba is not, like European Man, concerned with the purely conceptual aspects of time; they are too concretely realized in his own life, religion, sensitivity, to be mere tags for explaining the metaphysical order of his world. If we put the same thing in fleshed-out cognition, life, present life, contains within it manifestations of the ancestral, the living and the unborn. All are vitally within the intimations and affectiveness of life, beyond mere abstract conceptualization. ” (Myth, Literature and The African World, 1976, page 144).
John S. Mbiti explores more of the differences between the source of the African and European views of time.
“The question of time is of little or no academic concern to African people in their traditional life. For them time is simply a composition of events which have occurred, those which are taking place now and those which are immediately to occur. What has not taken place or what has no likelihood of an immediate occurrence falls in the category of “No-time”. What is certain to occur or what falls within the rhythm of natural phenomena, is in the category of inevitable or potential time. .. The most significant consequence of this is that, according to traditional concepts, time is a two-dimension phenomenon with a long past, a present and virtually no future. The linear concept of time in Western thought, with an indefinite past, present and infinite future, is practically foreign to African thinking”. (African Religions and Philosophy, 1970, page 21)
I hope you see how these deep structures are still present today. Our writers dramatically demonstrate the lasting results of these cultural foundations. White writers claim and define the future in everything from Comic Books to Science Fiction. Black writers are largely stuck in the past, be it the distant or the recent past. How many Black writers can you name that have bodies of works shaping, charting and defining the future? We can count them on one hand, with fingers to spare. Our politicians are no better. They constantly compete as to who best revise and re-interpret the past with very little vision of the future. For most Black people, as is consistent with the traditional African world view, the future does not exist.
Time Today
A few years ago I was facilitating a Strategic Planning retreat for a financial institution in Trinidad & Tobago. Each day of the three days scheduled saw an on-time start. This surprised me very much. On the second day, the T&T Minister of Finance was the Guest Speaker. In his presentation, he reminded the gathering of the Trinidad & Tobago’s Vision 2020. I asked someone sitting next to me about the reference. He explained that T&T intended to be a First World country by the Year 2020. The Minister went on to remind the gathering that one way in which the Government was working towards that achievement was to ensure that every event at which a Minister of Government would be a presenter must start on time or else the minister would leave without speaking.
They were breaking with the past and taking charge of time. Can you imagine if we applied this principle in Jamaica? If we do not ask likewise in our country, in our businesses and all our other institutions we will be stuck in the past - literally and figuratively. You cannot ‘save’ time, you must either use it constructively or waste it forever. Jamaicans are usually late because they are still working/living within the structure of an African worldview. This was viable when cultures were self-contained and physically separated but not in a global village. We have three (3) options for creating the future.
- We can do it ourselves or
- We can leave it to others or
- We can leave it to circumstances
I, in a very un-Jamaican manner, chose the first
