Writing and re-writing Africa

Because of its weaknesses in the economic and political sectors, the immediate impression is often that Africa’s contributions in the areas of arts, sports, and information technology have remained consistently minimal. But, this has not been the case. Indeed, Africa has always been recognised as a source of global socio-cultural-influences. Museums across the world have evidences of historical artefacts forcefully taken European raids that were euphemistically termed expedition. ¹ The transportation of several millions of Africans to other parts of the world through Slavery also contributed to the spreading of some African culture to other parts of the world, especially America. Again, as noted in the introduction, African music and culture have always attracted people to the continent and Africans, both within the continent and the diaspora have celebrated a number of global festivals of African arts and culture, including the 1966 First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar Senegal, the 1969 Pan African Cultural Festival in Algiers, Algeria, the 1977 Festival of Arts and Culture in Lagos, Nigeria, the 2009 Second Pan African Cultural Festival in Algiers, Algeria, and the 2010 World Festival of Black Arts Festival in Dakar, Senegal. But despite these, political instability and economic weakness prevented the continent from fully manifesting all the potentials. With considerable changes in the political and economic spheres, there has been a major increase of Africa’s global influence in the socio-cultural sector. In the last few decades, there has been an explosion of African cultural assets and creative industries both within the continent (creating authentic African brands/icons and raising consciousness of about them amongst Africans), and globally. The improved portrayal of a new Africa has added a significant dimension to the transition from problem to be solved to a voice to be heard. But as with other aspects of the transition from Problem to Voice, progress in this direction also needs to be cautiously measured.