CHALLENGING CULTURAL STEREOTYPES IN THE RIGHT PLACE: A Lefty's Ordeal

The Bus Ordeal 

Some days ago, I lined up to board a BRT to work like I do every morning. When it got to my turn to enter, I stretched my hand to give my card to the conductor who would swipe it so I could be charged. Immediately he saw me using my left hand, he protested loudly asking why I gave him the card with my left hand. Actually, I am a lefty and unlike other African parents that I know and hear about, mine left my hand as it is and did not try to force me to switch my dominant hand. They went any length also to protect me from the elders, especially my nursery and primary school teachers who tried to bully, talk down on me or change my hand usage. I did everything and ate every kind of food with my hand.

However, my mum taught me how to use my right hand in the toilet and instructed me to pick dirt with it as well. She explained to me that it was unhygienic to eat with my left hand and also use it in the toilet, so my right hand was my toilet-wiping, dirt – picking hand. Apart from this, my parents also taught me to give or collect things from people, especially older ones, with my right hand, explaining that it showed respect and reference. That is to say that I was well aware that I should give people things with my right hand. 

Moreover, I get carried away sometimes especially when my mind is not very settled, so I unconsciously use my left hand. Honestly, the unconsciousness began setting in when I started getting rebellious and internally demanding justice for the left hand. As I grow and understand things clearly, I have come to question the idea behind the narrative about the left hand and why our culture, especially the Yoruba culture, considers its use a taboo. 

 So, on that day, I was holding my lunch bag in my right hand and used my left hand to pick the BRT card from my bag, which I ended up using for the conductor. When he asked loudly why I used my left hand, I showed him my right hand, implying only my left hand was free at the moment. He continued to question my act but I did not say much. After swiping my card, he gave me back and I headed inside to take a seat. Just about to leave his sight, I asked, “what is wrong with my left hand?” I did not wait for an answer, I did not look back, I just went my way. He replied anyways, saying, “do you know what you are saying like this?” and muttered some insults which were inaudible to me.

For a moment, I wanted to confront him and maybe spit one or two insults on him as well but I calmed down. Few minutes after we took off, the event played on my mind and these questions emerged:

Who exactly made these rules about the left hand?

What measures did they use in concluding that the left hand is a taboo?

What would it take to influence these ideologies?

Did I stand the chance to lecture them at the moment?

Southpawism

According to Ayanniyi B Alhasan in his publication on ‘Left-handedness and Stigmatization in Africa…’; Southpaw was a name crafted for left-handers in medieval times. They were considered to be aides of the devil who himself was considered a southpaw. While the right hand was associated with men, left was associated with women, right was equivalent to good, left was considered inferior and equivalent to bad. Right was connected with good luck, left, with misfortune. This shows that the discrimination against the left hand has long been in existence even in other continents and not only in Africa.

The Cultural Context Behind Left-handedness in Nigeria

Culture, as we all know, is the way of life of a  people. A people’s culture cuts across every area of their life, including their arts, customs, lifestyles, background and habits. Values on the other hand, according to the English dictionary, is that which is highly esteemed, such as one’s morals, morality or belief system. Nigeria, like many other African countries, is deeply rooted in its cultures and traditions. These traditions are bequeathed to us from many years back by our ‘forefathers’. According to Ayanniyi B Alhasan, ‘the human hand has long carried cultural baggage.’ In Nigeria, and especially among the Yorubas, left-handedness is associated with bad manners and disrespect. They even called a left-handed child who gives direction with his left hand, an ‘omo ale’ (a bastard), because only a bastard would describe his father’s hand with the left hand. The cultural narrative that surrounded left-handedness majorly stemmed from societal ascription where being left-handed reflected bad-luck, uncleanliness or impurity, disrespect, and so on, leading to discrimination of people born left-handed.   

Research confirmed that most people were right-handed in the past and we can also agree that even in these days and times, the population of right-handed people overwhelms that of the lefties with an approximate percentage of 90% to 10%.  It was almost rare to find left-handed people. When they were found, it looked strange and abnormal and they concluded that left-handedness was a taboo, it was unclean, and should not be dominant. It was unclean because since right-handed people were in the majority, then eating was with the right hand while the left hand was used for cleansing. Anyone seen using the left hand was automatically seen as the one who uses the cleansing and irritating hand.

What Would It Take to Influence this Ideology?

We can agree that in these recent times and era of inclusivity, the narrative surrounding left hand is fading slowly, and many people have started speaking out and condemning the act of discriminating against left handers. For me, if research is conducted on the number of people that were originally left handers but forced to be right handers from infancy, there is the possibility of having the ratio of 70%/30% where 70 is the population of right handers, and the latter, left handers.

This is to say that people these days hold different perspectives about southpawism. Past and recent research have also helped to understand left handers better. Clinical psychologists, neurologists and neurodevelopmental therapists found that one's use of the hand is programmed with the brain and attempting to forcefully switch a dominant hand may be detrimental to the child’s development. This for me has influenced a lot of parents against the changing act, and has paved the way for many left handers to boldly come out without fear of judgment. Apart from the research, Nigeria has also adopted the celebration of international Left-handers Day on August 13th and has been marked by some organizations such as First Bank of Nigeria. These have influenced the ideology so far.

The Importance of Context

The confrontation with the conductor was not shocking, as I have gotten used to people who could not fathom my parents’ decision to leave my left hand dominant. However, it was surprising that in this age and time, some people still hold the old cultural value concerning left hand to heart. It was therefore a realization to me that while the world has gone ahead in many areas of life, some people are still literally in the past. I do not condemn this in any way though, it only shows that our cultural values might not diminish completely as we think it would. 

Moreover, we must also agree that some cultural traditions are faulty because the people that shaped  them were also humans capable of making mistakes. Being in existence since years back does not make it right. They developed these traditions based on their own views and perceptions and as naturally different beings; we tend to have different perceptions of things. This is to say that some of these traditions were forced on us based on their own views and perceptions.

Should I have argued and tried to lecture the conductor that time is different and some ideologies about the left hand have changed? For me, definitely not. Not because I was timid or afraid of speaking for myself, but because at that point it would be a wrong place and time to argue such. I was going to work and trying to get there early. Many people were waiting in line behind me with the same plight. Also,  the man started off rudely and sounded like one who still holds the ideology firmly and could only be changed if sat down and lectured gently. This is also a call to know when to argue some issue, when not to, when to react and when to let go at that point.

Can we Permanently discard the ‘do-not-use-your-left-hand-for-me' concept?

While it might take years to permanently erase the concept, I feel it should be erased even sooner. If the whole idea behind condemning the left hand was because many people use their right hand to eat while they use their left to wipe their bums and do other irritating stuff, should it not even be the reason why lefties should start giving people stuff with their left hand?

Like I expressed above, since my left hand is my dominant hand, I  use my right hand inside the toilet instead. This I believe many other lefties also do. So if people want to  use the uncleanliness narrative to avoid contact with other people's left hands, then they should know  they are the  ones being made unclean with a lefty’s  right hand. The narrative should be maintained for people with dominant right hands instead.

The point is, The world has changed vastly and people are trying to find balance in who they are and what they do. In all, people should try to be open minded.