"Let Africa be seen from the outside, but let it also see itself."

While I did not get out of the Plateau today (central Dakar) and therefore took fewer photos, I enjoyed a most thought-provoking day and sit now at an outdoor cafe listening to some terrific music on the waterfront with folks from the conference.  My students have completed their history exam, so a big shout out to any of them who are reading (at least Arjun and Emmett :)  I am dedicating this post to my students.    What comes with this dedication?  not much...lol...except my love and felicitations for a year of energizing conversation and imaginative work.

Cynthia (WARC), Mwenda (whose book on E Af Hip Hop I use in the class), and Lanisa (Smithsonian)
--my conference buds

I attended remarkable sessions today that helped further articulate what we mean when we talk about transformation in Africa.  The conference is focusing on Africa futures and transformations, but it is clear that neo-liberal economic policies continue to absorb too much of the decision-making space, leaving marginalized groups (like women and transgender citizens) silenced...and poor.  The ever-present tension for me as a teacher is to defy western stereotypes about the bright continent even as I expose students to the deep inequalities (globally and regionally) Africans experience as a matter of course, deepened, undoubtedly, by the north-south divide (which is racial as well as economic). Our closing sessions offered some ineffably dark observations that I cannot ignore, even as I seek (and seek to share) local stories and beauty here, in Africa.

1.  Gender

• women:  Even though most African nations enjoy strong economic growth rates, the wealth is distributed poorly.  That is not surprising, I mean, it is basic truth....everywhere.  What is surprising is that women in Africa tend to suffer GREATER inequality when growth rates are high.  Huh?  As prevalence rates for the extremely poor (those living on less than $2/day) drop, the incidence of women living with poverty increases in real terms.  The increase in the number of Africans qualified as "high net worth" has grown by 145% since 2000.  Not one of them is female.  And, worse, the increased growth raises interest rates on small loans, which disproportionately impact women (who rely on small loans to gain access to market stalls and cooperative businesses in crafts and agriculture).  Moreover, illiterate women, even as they gain rights in the household, are witnessing reduced power in public spaces as conservatives seek to cover them up (literally), reduce their access to economic capacity, and point to victories (real as they are) in formal political arenas that are shaped heavily by northern agendas--leaving women with local issues little space to affect changes relating to land rights, personaly safety, or resources.  The best way to support women remains the creation of intersectional (here, that means across religious & class lines) empowerment organizations.  In Africa, women do the best work when it comes to protecting the rights and interests of women. One exciting example of this is a terrific planning session I enjoyed with three women from a new school in Gabon who are seeking to educate for the future!  Mamadou--thanks for putting me in touch with them!

 

• trans, wsw, msm identities:  So when it comes to sex and gender identities, the news on the ground if so much better than the headlines suggest.  It is true that Nigeria and Uganda have passed laws in the past two years to criminalize the sexual intimacy outside of normative heterosexual relations, there is no area of life where people have been better at circumventing and navigating formal oppression.  I am not suggesting it is easy to be gay or trans in Africa. Generally, Africans see homosexuality as an aberration and a product of western intrusion.  It is just that the explosion of social media in the past 10 years have created unqualified spaces for people who identify as gay or trans.  In one market in Cape Coast Ghana is run almost exclusively by gay and trans vendors....who look out for one another, protect one another, and have created a network to offer support beyond their region and nation to other West Africans. 

2.  Slavery
Biram Dah Abeid, leader for the Initiative for the Re-Emergence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), gave some closing remarks.  The son of a former slave in Mauritania, Abeid has devoted his adult life to anti-slavery activism (dangerous work) and anti-racism (something one finds only in northern Africa, where Berbers dominate "black" Africans).  In 2014, the government jailed Abeid for burning some books (well, the Quran) in a public square as a protest against the government's refusal to free two young, enslaved girls who brought legal action against their owner.  The government released him in late May, and he spoke to us today with such humility and passion about he fights FOR his country even as he fights against it.  Mauritania was the last country on earth to legally abolish, in 1987, slavery.  It did not pass any laws to prosecute those who violated the ban until 2007. Isolated by poverty, enslaved people have few tools with which to resist their life-long servitude.  Some lucky ones flee to Senegal.  Maxi-Crazy, the Senegalese rapper I wrote about yesterday and sat with much of today, has been using rap to raise awareness here about conditions for black Africans in Mauritania.  I was unable to capture their greeting today...but it was powerful to see the two men embrace in typical fashion...hand to heart.

Biram Dah Abeid--"Freedom Fighter"
for more, see:  http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/08/freedom-fighter

3.  Religious Conservatism
Fundamentalism is on the rise and Africa is home to three fiercely violent fundamentalist groups (Boko Haram, al-Shabhab, and the Lord's Resistance Army...if you don't include the tangle of groups in the Kivus region of DRC).   The growth of these conservative forces show up in mundane ways (a Christian taxi driver who will not drive a Muslim fare) and at the level of national policy (Nigeria just passed a law that reduced the age of consent to ELEVEN years old).  Sigh.  And, if you link this to news on gender above, it is important to note that NOWHERE is the growth rate higher than in Nigeria, which has officially secured the spot as Africa's largest economy (surpassing, in 2016, South Africa).


I am asking those of you who read this to "hold the tensions."  All of the above is true, but so is it true that Africans are indisputably good at innovating, negotiating, building capacity, celebrating life, embracing humanity & hope, and building COMMUNITY.

Maxi Crazy and I have plans for his upcoming album release in DC!

 

Scholars from the west are also getting better at listening and sharing.  One closing speaker remarked that, for example, there has never been a conference of this scope ABOUT Africa IN Africa until this moment. I guess I have a hard time grasping WHY.....but that is why I left the academy.  I would rather barter in hope ;)  And, there is no place I would rather be here than on the continent....but, hey, what do I know?! ;)