WHat you say links back to Nebsen's OP. If there is a spiritual dimension to be explored,
shouldn't the associated ritual artifacts and items be made, or at least sourced for the most part,
(there may be some exceptions), from or by the members of the faith community/ethnic community?
THat the problem I see with this "China rush" on the part of some African elites. The deals
they sign for mines, damn and roads come with another set of problems. One book I read said that
Namidia issued about 25,000 passports to CHinese nationals as part of some deal the elites signed,
and spoke of Chinese vendors selling cheap individual smokes on the streets of Mombasa, undercutting
even that modest market from the poor African small-timer trying to earn a few dollars.
CHeap CHinese goods will further undercut what Africans could be sourcing for themselves. We ain't talking
bulldozers or computer chips here, nor even cheap, bulk textiles, or mass produced ready to wear
cottons and footwear. Such is being dominated by the Chinese in the US too. But in things that
related closely to a cultural framework, shouldn't indigenous cultural vendors be allowed to control
that market? Some of this would have to be by exhortation, some by special rules etc a mix. But we
can;t go to Japan and say we are selling Shinto paraphernalia. We would be seen as inauthentic.
The Japanese would want to source from their own cultural people. An extreme example I admit
but just to bring home the point.