The kola nut is not eaten for nutritional value, instead it is considered a culturally significant food. The people of West Africa developed traditions that established unity with the kola nut as the central element. It was used in most commonly in ceremonies but also as a healing herb. The increasing necessity for kola nuts expanded the trade in West Africa to keep up a steady supply. In the 1500’s, the Portuguese were the first begin developing trading relationships with Africans. The Europeans on the continent were more occupied with the gold resources to initially acknowledge the other commodities available. Once Westerns found out about the kola nut, demand increased exponentially which in turn stimulated the Trans-Saharan Trade as well was the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
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This act effectively gives them credit and erases the larger part that West Africans played. It also diminishes the significance that the kola nut held in the Igbo culture. There is the persistent Western ideology that excuses and approves of resources to create a capitalist pursuit. I argue that the kola nut serves as an example of this phenomenon. Ruth Benedict describes racism as, “Systemic violent oppression directed against a racialized group allowing the dominate group to strip them of their assets and stigmatize them.” This is certainly applicable to the relationship between Europe and Africa. Using this definition, one can see how far back racism goes. My research question focuses on examining how the kola nut trade was cultural unifier for the Igbo people in Nigeria but then it was extracted by the European and American powers to make profit off of it. This is a case study of the Western tendency to take cultural products of another and make it theirs by ignoring any cultural
This act effectively gives them credit and erases the larger part that West Africans played. It also diminishes the significance that the kola nut held in the Igbo culture. There is the persistent Western ideology that excuses and approves of resources to create a capitalist pursuit. I argue that the kola nut serves as an example of this phenomenon. Ruth Benedict describes racism as, “Systemic violent oppression directed against a racialized group allowing the dominate group to strip them of their assets and stigmatize them.” This is certainly applicable to the relationship between Europe and Africa. Using this definition, one can see how far back racism goes. My research question focuses on examining how the kola nut trade was cultural unifier for the Igbo people in Nigeria but then it was extracted by the European and American powers to make profit off of it. This is a case study of the Western tendency to take cultural products of another and make it theirs by ignoring any cultural