Africa Happening! Bits & Pieces
The paper below was written on October 1, 2010
It is an attempt to conceptualize African Independence, its challenges,
breakthroughs, contemplation on the future, particularly for Nigeria and the 16 other countries
that were 50 in 2010. Artisticexplorations of these questions were done by three young Nigerian artists, Stephen Adéyemí Folárànmí, Gbóládé Omidìran
and Elohor Urhiafe-Bobson, all graduates of the Fine Arts Programme, Obafemi Awolowo University, in the City of Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Mojúbàolú Olúfúnké Okome, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science, African and Women's
Studies
Brooklyn College, CUNY
“Africa is Happening! Africa has been
Happening! Africa will continue to Happen!” (Steering
Committee, Modern Africa Group 2010)
Introduction
This
exhibition kicks off the Africa Happening! series of events this fall. It features the work of Stephen Adéyemí Folárànmí and Gbóládé Omidìran, both graduates
of the Fine Arts Programme, Obafemi Awolowo University, in the City of Ile-Ife,
Nigeria. Africa Happening! was born out
of an effort to envision and plan a multi-university event around the theme of
“Africa at 50: Looking Back, Looking Forward”.
At the time, the idea was to bring as many New York City metropolitan
area colleges/universities and institutions together to plan joint events that
would foreground celebrating 50 years of 17
African countries’ independence, as well as consider challenges and
breakthroughs experienced and ongoing issues. The discussion in
this essay reflects the discussion at the first meeting as well as my own
observations. It embellishes on our
objective of re-theorizing and
re-conceptualizing the continent (Allan 2010).
The first
meeting of the Modern Africa Group was in the Summer of 2010 at Baruch College,
CUNY. It included faculty from Baruch
College, Hunter College, Brooklyn College, all part of CUNY, as well as Seton
Hall University and Metropolitan College; alumni from the Graduate Program in
Political Science at Brooklyn College, and newly minted Ph.D. from the History
Program at St. John’s University. There
were also a film-maker, a retired ambassador, independent scholars and
activists. After much discussion about
the theme, we agreed on the title: “Modern Africa: Turning Points,
Promises, Challenges.” Subsequently,
Columbia University’s African Studies Institute expressed interest in
participation, as did faculty from Adelphi University, Central Connecticut State
University, New Britain, and new Ph.D.s from University of Connecticut at
Storrs. The members of the group also include faculty from Sarah Lawrence
College, Bronxville.
The 17 African Countries at the 50-year mark of Independence
Particularly important in thinking
about Africa at this historical juncture is the record of the seventeen African
countries that gained their independence from colonial rule in 1960. Below is a list of the 17 African countries
for whom this year is the 50th year of independence, with their
dates of independence, and the metropolitan country from which they gained
independence, as well as their Human Development Index (HDI) rankings. HDI draws on the idea that "Human
development is about putting people at the centre of development. It is about
people realizing their potential, increasing their choices and enjoying the
freedom to lead lives they value" (UNDP 2010). When considered in light of what ought to
constitute development, and why we should question orthodox/conventional
understandings, the African predicament evokes a determination to contribute to
envisioning a better future for succeeding generations, and ought not to
generate despair.
1. Republic of Cameroon, 1 January 1960
France HDI: #149, Score--.497
2. Republic of Togo, 27 April 1960
France HDI: #142,
Score--.512
3. Republic of Mali, 20 June 1960
France HDI: #175,
Score--.333
4. Republic of Senegal, 20 June 1960
France HDI: #158,
Score--.458
5. Democratic Republic of Madagascar, 26
June 1960 France HDI: #147, Score--.499
6. Democratic Republic of the Congo
(Kinshasa), 30 June 1960 Belgium
HDI: #168, Score--.385
7. Democratic Republic of Somalia, 1 July
1960 Britain (NO HDI figures)
8. Republic of Benin, 1 August 1960
France HDI: #163,
Score--.431
9. Republic of Niger, 3 August 1960
France HDI: #178,
Score--.281
10. Popular Democratic Republic of Burkina
Faso, 5 August 1960 France HDI: #176,
Score--.317
11. Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, (Ivory
Coast) 7 August 1960 France: HDI: #164,
Score--.42
12. Republic of Chad, 11 August 1960
France HDI: #174,
Score--.341
13. Central African Republic 13 August
1960 France HDI: #172,
Score--.355
14. Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville),
15 August 1960 France HDI: #142,
Score--.512
15. Republic of Gabon, 17 August 1960
France HDI: #124,
Score--.635
16. Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1 October
1960 Britain HDI: #159,
Score--.453
17. Islamic Republic of Mauritania, 28
November 1960 France HDI: #153,
Score--.477 (UNDP 2010) (About.com n.d.)
Development and Structural Violence
In the Social Sciences and Humanities,
one of the measures useful for evaluating change is development, and I would
like to contemplate the question of the extent to which Africa has developed in
the last 50 years. There are very
complex and complicated statistical indicators devised to present this
information, and considering the Human Development Index for example, one finds
that Africa lags behind other world regions.
But as I see it, development cannot be conceptualized in a vacuum. The emergence of the concept: “development”
is also indicative of a determination of terms of engagement with formerly
colonized countries by their former colonizers.
Essentially, shifting the discourse blithely from domination and
exploitation to development ignores structural violence—the overwhelming
military power and exploitative economic hold of the Global North on the Global
South as the basis of the Global North’s dominance and the Global South’s
marginalization (Galtung 1971, Rajagopal 1999). Any talk of development without structural
change on a worldwide scale then seems to be an exercise in futility. However, conventional development discourse
refuses to entertain structural systemic change and focuses on phenomena
produced by warped structural relations.
Also, development goes beyond figures that record and document Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) but is more in line with Amartya Sen’s conceptualization
of development as freedom: Amartya Sen
explains:
Development requires the removal of
major sources of unfreedom: poverty as well as tyranny, poor economic
opportunities as well as systematic social deprivation, neglect of public
facilities as well as intolerance or overactivity of repressive states… Development
has to be more concerned with enhancing the lives we lead and the freedoms we
enjoy. Expanding the freedoms that we have reason to value not only makes our
lives richer and more unfettered, but also allows us to be fuller social
person, exercising our own volitions and interacting with – and influencing –
the world in which we live... The issue of inequality relates centrally to the
disputes over globalisation. A crucial question concerns the sharing of the
potential gains from globalisation, between rich and poor countries, and
between different groups within a country (Sen 1999).
Since
the Human Development Report tries to do what Sen suggests in terms of
measuring development, we can consider the fact that the countries that bring
up the rear in the most Human Development Index (February 2010) are African. The very last of the countries is one of our
17 that are 50 this year: The
Seychelles, which is not on the list of our 17 50-year old African countries
scored highest in Africa, at number 51, with a score of .821. Central African Republic is number 172, and
it has a score of .355. Numbers 124-172
are African, with scores ranging from Morocco’s .631 to Ethiopia’s number 171
and a score of .367. If you know
anything about statistical trends, you probably suspect that the top 10
countries with the highest HDI rankings are European and the US.
Focusing on the 50 year mark, it is legitimate
to consider African independence from colonialism in a manner that is somewhat
limited to the experiences of the 17 countries listed above. This is not to underestimate the need for
holistic analysis inclusive of all African countries but to acknowledge that 50
is symbolic in human life as a time when most people begin to retrospectively
consider how they have lived their lives and make plans on how to correct old
mistakes and resolve to do better. This
is particularly important if they have missed the 40 year mark where they have
endeavored not to be a proverbial “fool at 40, (who) is a fool forever”. So, what do we see in Africa? It is important at the 50 year mark to
consider the challenges and breakthroughs that the continent and its peoples
have encountered in the last fifty years (Eshetu 2010). To do so, the record of African countries in
the period after independence should be considered.
The Paradox of Age and its Multidimensionality
It is a paradox that Africa is the world’s
oldest inhabited territory, and yet, in 2010, 17 African nation-states have
been independent for only 50 years. Their
experience of the possibilities of liberation from colonial rule is significant
because they are the largest number to experience independence in any single
year. Considering their experience
presents a special opportunity for reflection on the nature, form and meaning of
Africa’s journey since the end of formal European colonization. We also see this as a unique opportunity to encourage
the envisioning what ought to happen, using the medium of the fine arts.
Due to the disparity in power between Africans and the Europeans who colonized
them, the struggle against colonialism and imperialism was necessarily
waged piecemeal, evoking the theme: Bits
and Pieces. Independence too was granted
in Bits and Pieces, and the struggle for development proceeds in Bits and
Pieces.
On Bits and Pieces
Many struggles were waged, lives
given, sacrifices made for emancipation from the explicit racialized
subordination of formal colonialism. However, “decolonization” was only
partial and imperialism did not end with formal independence. What have 50 years of independence from
colonialism meant for Africans? What were the key mistakes made after
inheriting the colonial state? What breakthroughs have been made?
What challenges remain? “Bits and pieces” constitutes an attempt to
contemplate some of the possible answers to these questions.
“Bits and pieces” suggest fracture,
splitting up and fragmentation, possibly from a catastrophic encounter. But the phrase also evokes multiple positive possibilities—collage,
mosaic, quilt, appliqué, montage, tableau, pastiche, installation,
juxtaposition, piecing together fragmented bits and pieces to make a beautiful
collage, a gorgeous mosaic, a magnificent quilt and imaginative appliqué
through the application of human imagination to creating a new and different
whole that is more than the sum total of its parts. It is a historical fact that the fracturing
of the continent’s peoples and pre-colonial states into bits and pieces of
European-created nation states resulted from the imperialistic designs of late
colonization that began with the Berlin West Africa conference (1884-1885) sliced
and diced, distorted and torn asunder Africa by European powers around a
conference table where there was no African presence, but aspiring world powers
like the United States of America had observer status. It is also an incontrovertible fact that some
pre-existing states survived the assault.
Ethiopia for example did not experience formal colonization, albeit this
was not for lack of European design.
A Bits and Pieces conception that emerges
out of the understanding that humans make history but not under circumstances
that they create or control could also express the hope that Africans can put
together the Bits and Pieces created through European imperialist design as a
gorgeous mosaic/beautiful quilt/magnificent installation/imaginative montage.
The ongoing destructiveness of Colonialism
Colonialism is one of the prime
challenges that the African continent has faced. But we should also be mindful that it was a
very short period—approximately two generations on the average (Rathbone
2007). And although it would be much too ignorant to
begin Africa’s experience of modernity with the colonial era, it would also be
very wrong to totally dismiss colonialism as a watershed period in the
continent’s history. Indeed, the
missionaries and traders preceded the colonialists to the African continent,
and according to Taiwo, modernity, expressed as the desire to “civilize”
Africans through the introduction of Western education and Christianity came
first from the missionaries (Barnes 2009), and these
missionaries were not just Europeans, but also included African recaptives,
freedmen, and converts who never left the continent (Taiwo, How Colonialism Preempted
Modernity in Africa 2010).
In the late 19th Century,
colonialism was suddenly, forcibly, and unpredictably imposed on the African
continent in a catastrophic and phenomenal manner, that was the more shocking
given the tremendous progress and far-reaching revolutions experienced in the
first eight decades of the 19th Century. As a matter of fact, A. Adu Boahen tells us
that
An overwhelming majority of the states
and polities of Africa were in full control of their own affairs and
destinies…and by 1880 was in a mood of optimism and seemed poised for a major
breakthrough on all fronts. By 1880 old
Africa appeared to be in its dying throes and a new and modern Africa was
emerging (Boahen 1987)
African Resistance against Imperialism and Colonialism
Africans resisted, and we all have
heard of the valiant efforts of Samori Toure, the Ndebele and Shona, the Nandi
in Kenya, Chief Mandume of the Ovambo, the Sokoto Caliphate, the Ashanti, the
Baoule of Cote d’Ivoire until 1911; the Igbo of Nigeria until about 1919; The
Dyula of Senegal until the 1920s; the Dinka of Southern Sudan until 1927;
Muhammad Abdille Hassan of Somaliland until 1920; the resistance of the Bedouin
against Italian colonialism via a guerilla war until 1931; Algeria resisted
French domination for 17 years from 1830 to etc. We also are familiar with the Ethiopian
exception. In the end, so few Europeans
were able to maintain the jackboot of colonialism on the African continent, and
it is a mark of the success of colonialism that the map of Africa that was drawn
during the Berlin conference of 1884-1885 remains very much reflected in the
Africa of today. It is also a mark of
its success that Europe quickly followed up with the Scramble, a move that
legitimized the abstract map-drawing in Berlin through the trading of, and
dickering over territories in London, Paris, Berlin and other European capitals
by European leaders who knew next to nothing about the continent; demonstration
of “effective occupation” and the process of brutal pacification (Meredith
2005). So little did the Europeans know in fact,
that Lord Salisbury, British Prime Minister of the time said: “We have been
giving away mountains and rivers and lakes to each other, only hindered by the
small impediment that we never knew exactly where they were” (Meredith 2005, 2).
We all know the problems created by
the arbitrary ways in which Europeans drew the African map, jumbling together
various ethno-linguistic groups while dividing others in an equally arbitrary
manner. Approximately 10,000 African
polities were converted into 40 European colonies and protectorates at the end
of the Scramble for Africa. Through
treaties and conquest, Europeans established their rule on the continent and its
peoples. The French made out like
proverbial bandits, with 3.75 million square miles of land, the British closely
followed with approximately 2 million square miles (Meredith 2005, 2). The first and second World Wars saw Africans
used as cannon fodder in European wars, and the continent’s territories
shuffled between victor and vanquished among the Europeans. Various Indirect Rule schemes were used to
maintain European domination over their colonial territories. African chiefs were co-opted or created where
they did not exist. We all know this
story very well. An unintended
consequence of both wars was the radicalization of Africans and the
solidification of their resistance to European colonization.
Despite its coercive, racist,
exploitative and traumatic nature, colonialism represented threat for some
Africans and opportunity shortsighted for others. One must indeed be shortsighted to sell one’s
heritage for a veritable “mess of pottage” or a mere pittance. Its impact was far from homogeneous but
highly varied and uneven on men and women, different colonies, at different
points in time, as well as on the young and old (Rathbone
2007, 91). The European Scramble for Africa involved
some countries that had successfully begun to trade with Africa since the 15th
and 16th Centuries such as Portugal, Holland, Britain and
France. Germany, Italy and King Leopold
of the Belgium joined the party. Spain
also tried to secure what little it could.
But this was not the only scramble going on, Africans too scrambled for
territory, using the aphorism: “the
enemy of my enemy is my friend” as rationale in choosing alliances. The grab whatever you can and “the devil take
the hindmost” rationalization for predatory behavior ensured that whatever
gains were made were mere Bits and Pieces.
For the kind of extraordinary gains to be made by Africans that could
have had transformative effect in the era of colonization required a level of
unity of purpose and concerted action that could not be achieved given the
circumstances prevalent in those times.
The Invention of Africa
The invention of Africa is an idea
about which VY Mudimbe and others have written extensively (Mudimbe 1993). Rather than engage in deep analysis of how
the invention began and thrived, I observe that the invention could not be said
to have begun during colonialism but it was helped along by the process. It is clear that the occupants of the
continent did not consider themselves as “Africans” before the advent of
colonialism, but beginning from the 15th Century efforts of the
Portuguese during the “age of discovery”, when the territory was dubbed thus,
it was regarded as such. The forcible removal
and enslavement of 12-20 million Africans and their transportation to Europe
and later the new world from the 16th to the 19th
Centuries, meant the fusion of the notion of racial inferiority with
African-ness in the European imagination.
Literature, Politics, economic relations and popular culture contributed
to the negative invention. So did
European-derived Christianity and its Hamitic theory. But even in the dreadful circumstances
produced by slavery, people of African descent rejected the vilification of the
continent and its peoples.
Pan-Africanism is one of the expressions that demonstrated this
rejection. Ghana, Mali, Songhai, the
Great Zimbabwe, Egypt and other examples of what could be termed the “African
genius” even in the acephalous communities of Africa, there are notable
contributions to human progress. Precisely
because colonialism was so onerous, independence could be considered a
revolution (Boahen 1987).
Independence
Africans
struggled for independence with valor and vigor. They had great aspirations for freedom and
self determination politically, they sought economic development. by 1945, Liberia, Egypt, South Africa and
Ethiopia were free from colonial rule (Ethiopia free from Italian domination in
1941). Egypt was a British protectorate
and South Africa ruled by a white minority government. By mid 1950s, most of North Africa was
independent. Algeria was the
exception. By the mid 1960s, most other
African countries were independent. The
Portuguese however hung on for dear life, and the peoples of the areas they
colonized fought long wars of national liberation.
Even in the countries where
independence resulted from negotiated settlement, there was militant trade
union action, demonstrated by general strikes and work stoppages, (Dakar, 1946;
Mombasa, Dar es Salaam in 1947; French West Africa 1947-8). There was also a peasant rebellion in
Madagascar in 1947, there was widespread urban uprising in Gold Coast in 1948
to demand self government, leading to its grant in 1951, and demand for full
independence; in Kenya, the Land and Freedom movement whose Kikuyu word for an
oath taken by adult men but generalized as requirement for all members was
distorted by the British into Mau Mau (Elkins 2005), had armed uprisings
from 1952-1956; Cameroon experienced the same in 1956-58; Algeria in
1954-62). Of course, harsh colonial repression
was the response to all this resistance.
Nationalist resistance against
colonialism was fueled by a refusal to succumb to domination, and it was
manifested in many different ways, which luckily, have also been carefully
documented. While we have many laments
of enduring African proclivities toward disunity, it is actually possible to
see the resistance by ethnic nationalities of the embrace of the states created
only through European imprimatur as alien and unacceptable, in spite of their
seeming permanence. Anti-colonial
resistance also yielded multiple defeats.
Samori Toure was captured, he died in exile. Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh was deposed and
sent to a near-thirty year exile.
Lobengula of the Ndebele lost his life while escaping from the Maxim
guns of the British South Africa Company’s forces in 1894. Unfair taxation, use of forced labor, drives
to increase commodity production and anti-African economic policies were
hallmarks of colonialism that left deep marks on the continent.
Seek ye first the political kingdom and all other things shall be added unto you –Kwame Nkrumah
Euphoria
and great optimism followed independence with high hopes of life more abundant
for all. The desire for quick advancement and to catch up with the global North
was pervasive in all independent countries.
As just one example, more schools and higher education institutions were
established. These include University
Colleges in Ibadan and Legon in 1948. In
1951, Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda had universities. More universities followed. These contributed to the development of
African historiography and “the decolonization of the African past”. The challenge of elusive legitimacy for
African leaders meant that those who led independence movements did not last as
leaders committed to the well-being of their people. Independence did not produce immediate uhuru the
challenge of unity versus diversity.
From
a 20-20 hindsight perspective, we can now excoriate the nationalists of old for
seeking political independence first and failing to realize that economic independence
is equally important. However, the Yorùbá
have a saying that is germane to illuminating the dilemma of being “caught
between the devil and the deep blue sea” or facing a Hobson’s choice: Bí owó ènìyàn kò bá te èèkù àdá, kò leè béèrè
ikú t’ó pa baba rè, meaning: if you do
not have the hilt of a sword in hand, you dare not investigate your father’s
death. This in essence means that if if
one is not well equipped, it is difficult to meaningfully investigate and
avenge an injustice. One may need to see
the decision to fight for political independence first and hope that economic
liberation will follow in this light. An
accurate reading of Fanon’s statement about the duty of each generation says as
much, as I will indicate later.
While
yesterday’s colonization was experienced as physical presence of imperialists
on African soil, today’s colonization is pushed by international capital.
Dates are important. They compel reflection about trends, currents,
processes. 50 is a watershed year that most human societies consider
significant, and African Historiography informs us that the first wave of
African nationalism could be taken as stretching from the late 1930s, or one
could date it from the mid 1950s to mid-1960s. The independence movement
from the 1960s to the 70s constitutes a second wave (Iweriebor
2010).
The third wave came subsequently. We
could also consider a Modern Africa that existed for 40-50 years. But we
should avoid the danger of conceding that African history is externally
induced, since this plays into a racist assumption of intellectual thought that
Africa is not autonomous. Africa is our continent first and foremost, but while
we know this intellectually, the dilemma is that Africans tend to accept
others’ definition in all instances. We should deliberately refrain from
going along with outsiders to downplay our continent’s contributions to human
experience, knowledge and learning. Doing
this contributes to a “Bits & Pieces” conceptualization of the
continent. This is done for example,
when we decapitate North Africa from Africa and maintain that North Africa is
Arab. It is also done when we separate out Sub-Saharan Africa from
Southern Africa. It is our
responsibility to resist others’ attempts to define us and to define ourselves
in a positive manner.
Economic
challenges abound as another paradox of an Africa that is the richest continent
in natural resources. Yet, there is no
mystery about poverty, and the ingredients for self development are also not a
mystery. Serious societies put development at the forefront of their
struggle but Africans have accepted colonial characterizations to define
themselves. Ideological backwardness leaves room to being ruled from the
outside. It is indicative of the failure of independence that Africans
are being dictated to by non-African countries.
It is tragic that endogenous development processes are ignored due to
being ruled by the agenda of neoliberal ideology through the “assistance” of
World Bank and IMF advisors (Iweriebor 2010).
One of the
tragic consequences of Africa’s economic downturn from the mid 1970s to the
present is the infrastructural decay of the educational apparatus and flight of
the intelligentsia to countries that are more economically buoyant both in the
continent, and especially in Europe and North America. How do we revive declined African tertiary
institutions? (Fasehun 2010, Williams 2010) Exchange
Programs are a newly popular medium.
Philanthropy flowing from the Global North is another avenue. For Africans in the old and new diaspora, a
willingness to give both material and intellectual assistance is key (Rowser 2010, Hudson 2010). In this respect, remittances have become the
new buzz word, and many are understandably impressed by the size of these
financial flows and especially by their proportion as a percentage of GNP for
each African country. However, no amount
of private philanthropic effort, and no manner of remittance has the capacity
to take the role of a state in the economy.
If this were not the case, states of the Global North would not have
stepped in to offer stimulus packages to their people when the World Economic
Meltdown struck. Were it not so, these
states would not engage in any economic planning or policymaking whatsoever. Philanthropy may have its place, but so does
effective and thoughtful policymaking and close attentiveness to the interests
of citizens, primary of which is well-being in all respects. Instead, a disjointed Bits and Pieces
strategy is pursued that is ultimately damaging.
Some
elements of Bits and Pieces are evoked when one considers some of the
strategies devised to solve African problems.
For example, African
Union (AU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and UN efforts
exist and there are many brilliant ideas that have been generated over the
years but there is little evidence of their implementation. Some of the problem is created by inadequate finance.
An example is UNESCO’s 35 year effort to write an 8-volume history of Africa
finished in 1999 but there was no interest to use these books in all African
countries. Only in 2009 was a program funded by Libya to teach African
history on a common platform. History and culture are foundational but
there are no takers yet to actualize the teaching of African history as
conceived above. In addition, the AU has established many organizations,
for example, African Academy of Languages in Bamako, Mali; Centre for
Technology, Lagos, Nigeria; Centre for Oral History and Tradition, Niamey,
Niger. The AU is looking for
opportunities to synergize with the Diaspora. AU has defined the Diaspora
as its 6th region due to the resources, finance, expertise and
experience that reside there. Some African American organizations
are already connected, e.g. World Africa Diaspora Union (WADU), which got
together to work with AU. WADU however is dominated by African Americans
and does not include other African Diasporas. The recent African Diaspora
is riddled by the same fissures, linguistic, regional, etc. (Williams
2010)
Some wonder how we can bring down the
barriers in the Diaspora and Africa, especially those created by colonial
dependency and linkages. They wonder
whether people in the Diaspora can help to overcome the challenges. But
how is this to be done? What does the Diaspora gain from this
relationship? Many studies exist, some sponsored by the ECA, and it’s important
not to work in a vacuum. There are many centers in Africa for a
variety of subjects. The MDGs also incorporate several issues that have
been with us as challenges. We should determine the issues we want to
concentrate on and make an impact. We should also think of how to build
synergies that take into account what others are doing. We need to
further reflect to pinpoint where, when, and what we would like to concentrate
upon. One possible area is the educational system in Africa. In the
rating of universities worldwide, most of the top 500 in the world are in South
Africa. Association of African Universities in Accra documented
this. What can be done to help? How do we get the Diaspora to collaborate
in the transfer knowledge? (Williams 2010).
One answer is that rather than trying to do
everything—an overwhelming process under any circumstances, we should be
specific and garner theoretical foundations from what’s been said so far, and
then look to practical and pragmatic concerns. There are myths from
geography, history, economics, about power and powerlessness, poverty and
wealth. What is the point of intervention? We should pay attention
to the core issues and how to transform these compelling problems. Sierra
Leone is an example of a country that went from a promising state, especially
concerning human resources to becoming a basket case. In the academy, one
observes also the decline of Africa as organizing principle, and rise of the
Diaspora as a concept (Allan 2010).
African autonomous responses to economic crisis.
We also tend to ignore or be unaware of the
multiple developments created and sponsored by Africans independently of the
dominant external governments. However, thinking about the meaning and
essence of independence requires that past activism of African countries should
be noted. The African Priority Program for Economic Recovery and Development
(APPAERD) was developed to foreground an Africa agenda for development.
It was distorted and the United Nations Program for African Development (UNPAD)
was substituted. The Lagos Plan of Action (LPA) was also focused on prioritizing
regional development. Its writing was led by Professor Adebayo
Adedeji. Instead, the Structural Adjustment Program SAP was pushed by the
West. IMF and World Bank development experts on Africa recommended some
bad programs that caused numerous problems and the reversal of development but
they neither apologized nor acknowledged their role in causing problems.
Their emissaries see themselves as some kind of Ambassadors-at-Large who would
rather liaise directly with Presidents and Prime Ministers rather than bureaucrats,
and they have had the opportunity to do this. We should think of annual
events to focus on African challenges and bring policymakers and academics
together (Fasehun 2010).
As
Africans, we also must look forward. What lies in the future? Africans
should envision what they think should happen in the continent. We should
strategize about how to realize their aspirations and dreams in the
future. Now, fifty years after “the Year of African Independence” we take
time to share, to learn and to educate, to
mobilize and organize, in our own interest to create positive change for all
Africans. There is a need for increased awareness and attentiveness
to the representation of Africa in the popular imagination with a view to
countering Anti-African representations (Steering Committee, Modern Africa
Group 2010). Negative representation is also pervasive in political
analysis, and it is not a luxury for Africans to develop our capacity for
political analysis in order to not only challenge negativities but to produce
in a proactive way, our own autonomous analysis of our politics in a manner
that enhances our independence from colonization. We should do this while imagining a better
political future that is truly free of colonial domination. (Steering
Committee, Modern Africa Group 2010).
Today, Globalization seems to be
colonialism in a different garb, and Africa is still laboring under colonialist
domination of multinational capital and its proxies, often with the cooperation
of states that are insufficiently responsive to the needs of their people. Many observers have also claimed that one or
the other of Africa’s post-colonial governments is more akin to its colonial
precursor than to the people with whom it shares common origin.
As
Africans, we also need to realize that all is not lost. The artists in the “Bits & Pieces” exhibition
were trained at the Obafemi Awolowo University, and they graduated during the
dark days of Structural Adjustment. They
are skilled, they are talented, they are hopeful, they are optimistic. One of them is here in the US, while two
remained at home. Both have become a
part of shaping and preparing the youth for careers in the Fine Arts, one as a
University lecturer, and the other as a Studio Artist. The third trained as a teacher in Art
Education. All three have pursued their
passion and dreams and are practicing artists.
All three, including the two who remained in Nigeria are successful professionals
whose work can be categorized as part of the avant garde in the corpus of
contemporary African art. Their work is
at once beautiful and thought provoking.
It is decorative and inspirational.
It is expressive as well as contemplative. They use manifold media in very imaginative
combinations. They give us hope that
there is much to be excited about in Africa.
They inspire us to know that there is a generation of Africans who value
the culture and capture it in a manner that is visually arresting. While we should zero-in and look at what made
others develop, we should also attend to how we can re-create ourselves to
achieve our own dreams and aspirations. The fine arts are one means of
doing this, particularly in an inspirational manner.
Gender
equity, conceptualized as the norm of complementarity between men and women,
was a part of pre-colonial African society.
Our imagined future should therefore engage and foreground gender equity. Many of the works in this exhibition present
both the male and female form, engaged in work, leisure, and the activities of
daily life. We focus on practical and
pragmatic concerns. There are myths from geography, history, economics,
about power and powerlessness, poverty and wealth. We should pay
attention to the core issues that we must engage and imagine how to transform our
lives in a more positive direction.
The 21st
Century can be seen as the New African Century. But while China’s
presence in Africa is making the US more concerned about its Africa policy, we who
have always been engaged in envisioning African independence should take stock
of what this means for the future (Brown 2010). What do the
50 years mean?
Some meaning
can be derived from a reading
of Fanon:
Each generation must discover its
mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity. In the underdeveloped countries preceding
generations have simultaneously resisted the insidious agenda of colonialism
and paved the way for the emergence of the current struggles. Now that we are in the heat of combat we must
shed the habit of decrying the efforts of our forefathers or feigning
incomprehension at their silence or passiveness. They fought as best they could
with the weapons they possessed at the time, and if their struggle did not
reverberate throughout the international arena, the reason should be attributed
not so much to a lack of heroism but to a fundamentally different international
situation. More than one tribe had to
rebel, more than one peasant revolt had to be quelled, more than one
demonstration to be repressed, for us today to stand firm, certain of our
victory. For us who are determined to break the back of colonialism, our
historic mission is to authorize every revolt, every desperate act, and every
attack aborted or drowned in blood (Fanon 1961).
According to Basil Davidson in an
epilogue titled “African Destinies” in The
African Genius, a book written in 1969,
In the end it will be a matter of
knowing how the civilization of the past can be remade by a new and bold
vision. The Africans sorely need their
modern revolution: profound and far reaching in creative stimulus, unleashing
fresh energies, opening new freedoms.
The world’s experience may help.
But the structures that are needed will have to stand on their own soil. Perhaps this is only another way of saying
that these new structures, as and when they emerged will be nourished by the
vigour and resilience of native genius, by all the inheritance of self-respect
and innovating confidence that has carried these peoples through past centuries
of change and cultural expansion (Davidson 1969).
Rather than engage in the easy exercise of
denouncing past and present actors, we should consider what we are doing to
change Africa. Are we repeating the Africa is incapable discourse?
It is the responsibility of every conscious element of every generation to
contribute to progress. We should mark major turning points and design a
common agenda and vision. What is lacking now is an Africa-thought out
agenda for its own self-development and rallying forces around it. It is
part of our defeat that we coalesce around others’ agenda. We should
reflect on the past and identify “where the rain began to beat us”, where we
need to go on. Superficially, all you hear about Africa is
negations. There are subjective perceptions that differ from objective
reality. Sierra Leone from the 19th Century to the present is
an example of painful nation building. We need to learn from our own history,
but we don’t. Every society must go through defining moments. There
is no mystery about solutions. Neither Afro pessimism nor Afro optimism
is relevant; these are externally created concepts and are classical examples
of Western binary thought. African thought is different since it’s
multi-linear and does not focus on the conflict of binary opposites. What
is the objective reality in Africa? What is actually happening? We
can look at the example of Nollywood: an example of African autonomous
capitalism for self-development. It belies everything said about Africa
and Nigeria, and has become the third largest film industry in the world (Iweriebor
2010).
Conclusion
The Art exhibition, Africa Happening! Bits & Pieces shows us that
Nollywood is by no means an isolated phenomenon. It also enables us to consider many of the
issues germane to African independence via the lenses of artistic expression, featuring on the beautiful, challenging
diversity of Africa as well as continuity and change, from the imagination of
some of the continent’s young artists.
What we see in this exhibition is all the more exciting because these
artists were trained in the continent and their work is infused by their
cultural knowledge and experiences.
Attempts
to solve problems in the African continent, particularly by the international
community and development experts reflect a dismissive attitude toward Africans
and a valorization of non Africans, particularly in the quest for expertise,
nanalysis, evaluation, explication of problems and proposal of solutions. Thus, where there are two similarly matched
persons in all respects, including training, experience and expertise, one
African and the other from the Global North, the Global Northerner is likely to
be privileged over the African as a source of knowledge, information, cutting
edge analysis, and insight. Where the
two are African, the person with training in an institution located in the
Global North is privileged, even if the subject matter is Africa. Where one of the two Africans is male and the
other female, the male is likely to be considered more expert. Until the structural conditions that make
such decisions routine are eradicated, and conventional power and gender
considerations are rendered irrelevant, we would be doing serious disservice to
all of humanity. More importantly,
considered from the perspective of Africa’s 50-year independence, it is about
time that its peoples took the lead in autonomously thinking about, or really
re-thinking the solutions to its problems, and leading the efforts to implement
policies to actualize the well-being of all. Thus far, independence is yet to yield
autonomy. When the nation states in the
continent have encountered the normal problems such as ethnic, religious,
communal and civil wars, and any number of challenges, the expert pool
consulted tends to blame the victims and abstract the African experience from
the proper context—some experiences are human, even if they are
undesirable. Human beings rarely learn
the lessons of history, and old mistakes are made over and again. Africans need to take the Bits and Pieces of
our history after colonialism and create objects of beauty that inspire us,
encourage us, and make our lives better.
This exhibition encourages us to consider these possibilities.
Present at the first meeting were:
Professor Tuzyline Jita Allan
|
Dr. Fahamisha Patricia Brown
|
Ms. Iman Drammeh
|
Ms. Amrotae Eshetu
|
Dr. Orobola Fasehun
|
Dr. Fredline M’Cormack-Hale
|
Ms. Nicole Hudson
|
Professor Ehiedu Iweriebor
|
Professor Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome
|
Dr. Candice Rowser
|
Gen. Ishola Williams (Rtd.)
|
|
Joining the efforts later, and helping to further
conceptualize in the Steering Committee are:
|
|
Ms. Bosede Adenekan
|
Dr. Nkechinyelum
Chioneso
|
Ms. Iman Drammeh
|
Ms. Nicole Hudson
|
Ms. Divine Muragijimana
|
Dr. Dolapo Niell
|
Dr. Chaka Uzondu
|
|
Dr.
Lynda Day participated in some of the Steering Committee meetings and in her
capacity as Endowed Women’s Studies Chair, will organize some events in the
Spring under the auspices of the Women’s Studies Program.
Other
members of the group are:
Dr. Rashidah Ismaili AbuBakr
|
Bandele Adeyemi
|
Dr. Kwame Akonor
|
Dr. Ousseina Alidou
|
Dr. Melanie Bush
|
Dr. Roderick Bush
|
Dr. Yuusuf Caruso
|
Mr. Kunmi Demuren
|
Dr. Mary Dillard
|
Mr. Cervat Dargin
|
Dr. Darling
|
Dr. Orobola Fasehun
|
Ms. Nosarieme Garrick
|
Ms. Binta Hassan
|
Mr. Wuyi Jacobs
|
Dr. Aderemi Ogundiran
|
Ms. Khady Seck
|
Dr. Toks Sofola
|
Ms. Bukola Shonuga
|
Mr. Ekerete Udoh
|
We are grateful to
Professor Joseph Wilson, Director of the Brooklyn
College, Department of Political Science’s Graduate Center for Worker
Education, for offering us the exhibition space at 25 Broadway, NY. This location in the Wall St. area, at the
heart of the city’s financial district, and opposite the iconic bull sculpture makes
it possible to have a central location. We also thank Professor Juan
Carlos Mercado Dean of the City College Center for Worker Education, who
graciously gave us an extension up to the end of the month of October for the
exhibition. Finally, we thank Annie
London, Yoshi for their support and assistance.
Bibliography
About.com. "A Chronological List of
Independence Dates for Africa." About.com: African History.
http://africanhistory.about.com/library/timelines/blIndependenceTime.htm
(accessed August 7, 2010).
Allan, Tuzyline. "First Meeting of the Modern Africa
Group." New York, 2010.
Barnes, Andrew. Making Headway: The Introduction of
Western Civilization in Colonial Northern Nigeria. Rochester, NY:
University of Rochester Press, 2009.
Boahen, Adu. African Perspectives on Colonialism.
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987.
Brown, Fahamisha. "First Meeting of the Modern Africa
Group ." New York, 2010.
Davidson, Basil. The African Genius. Oxford: James
Currey, 1969.
Elkins, Caroline. The Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story
of Britain's Gulag in Kenya. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2005.
Eshetu, Amrotae. "First Meeting of the Modern Africa
Group." New York, 2010.
Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. New York:
Grove Press, 1961.
Fasehun, Orobola. "First Meeting of the Modern Africa
Group." New York, 2010.
Folaranmi, Stephen A. Art is good. Ile-Ife: Self,
2111.
Galtung, Johan. "A structural theory of
imperialism." Journal of Peace Research 8 (1971): 80-118.
Hudson, Nicole. "First Meeting of the Modern Africa
Group." New York, 2010.
Iweriebor, Ehiedu. "First Meeting of the Modern Africa
Group." New York, 2010.
Meredith, Martin. The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty
Years of Independence. New York: Public Affairs, 2005.
Mudimbe, V.Y. The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy,
and the Order of Knowledge . Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
Rajagopal, Balakrishnan. "International Law and the
Development Encounter: Violence and Resistance at the Margins." 93RD
American Society of International Law Proceedings. 1999. 16.
Rathbone, Parker&. African History: A Very Short
Introduction. NY: Oxford, 2007.
Rowser, Candice. "First Meeting of the Modern Africa
Group." New York, 2010.
Sen, Amartya. Development as Freedom . New York :
Anchor Books, 1999.
Steering Committee, Modern Africa Group. "Concept
Paper." Brooklyn, NY, July 30, 2010.
Taiwo, Olufemi. How Colonialism Preempted Modernity in
Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010.
UNDP. "Economy Statistics > Human Development Index
(most recent) by country." Nationmaster.com. February 2010.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_hum_dev_ind-economy-human-development-index
(accessed August 31, 2010).
—. "Human Development Report 2010." 20th
Anniversary Edition. 2010. http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2010/
(accessed August 31, 2010).
Williams, Ishola Gen (Rtd). "First Meeting of the Modern
Africa Group." New York, 2010.
Comments