Editorial

When prejudice stifles reality

by Alfonso Alfonsi



The thorny issue of the modernity of most societies in Sub-Saharan Africa involves many

"Tumezalina tumbo moja usione rangi mbali mbali", 1998, acrilic and flatting on wood, cm. 61x61; Georges Lilanga (Masasi, Tanzania - 1934) Source: Spazia - Galleria d'Arte

controversial aspects and almost unlimited interpretational difficulties, which currently tend to remain unsolved, above all because they become confused with the problems of development and underdevelopment in the world as a whole. It must immediately be said that this is not the place for a review or thorough examination of the subject of modernity in Africa, although the positions at various levels of public opinion should be highlighted. In this regard, the issue is perceived and dealt with through emotions that are anything but indifferent. The importance of what is at stake - and the reasons underlying this enormity will be explained later - ensures that the emotion involved is on average rather high, on average, not only among resident Africans in their respective countries, but also - and perhaps above all - among those living in other areas and that look to Africa with strong and differently motivated interest. Including the Africans from the Diaspora. This magazine also wishes to come to terms with its own emotions - or, rather, the emotions of its writers, collaborators and supporters. African Societies is psychologically based on a legitimate "state of rage" deriving from the damage inflicted on the image of Sub-Saharan Africa by Western cultures - both through the mass media and in everyday language. At the heart of what we consider a misdeed lies the deeply-rooted idea that Black Africa is a pre-modern, strongly traditional, rural and assisted, at the best of times, but also wretched for its ungovernableness and its inability to cope with environmental, economic and social dangers and risks. This image is the basis of appalling errors made in cooperation policies, undermines international relations and condemns an entire continent to unfair isolation. There are undoubtedly other things that should - and do - cause indignation, perhaps even more so; however, this aspect of the image involves an element of perversity since it is, so to speak, gratuitous and "unnecessary". In other words, it adds suffering to suffering and, above all, causes damage that could easily be avoided with just a pinch of good will and attention.

A particularly harmful effect from all this is a deficit in qualified human resources, which makes the formation of the governing process classes in Africa extremely difficult. Fleeing from Africa is connected also to the progressive loss of the "appeal" of African countries as far as their more intellectual sons are concerned. An inversion in this trend is hoped for, and also probable, in connection with institutional policies and personal decisions relating to the return of qualified emigrants - in their many interpretations, including the one leading to the "Diaspora option". However, at the heart of this complex system of meanings there is a problem that needs to be resolved: namely, the modernity of Africa and thus of an interpretation of societies that are currently excluded - and not only cognitively so - from the contemporary world, to which they have supposedly contributed nothing and with which they therefore have nothing - or supposedly nothing - in common.

Department of Information Systems, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of the Western Cape, South Africa Source: University of the Western Cape (www.uwc.ac.za)

And yet… And yet numerous individual biographies and just as many family histories have been - even the pre-colonial age - and are still indisputably modern. With regard to the past, we need only remember the urban development mentioned by historians such as Ki-Zerbo and Cissoko, the promotion of schools, universities and research centres, the vast labour forces used for public buildings, services for the general public (railways, aqueducts, transport, ports, hospitals, etc.), industrial activities not only in the mining sector, trade, technological innovation - above all in handcrafts -, creation of a class of technicians, white-collar workers and intellectuals, actions by trade unions, associations and religious groups and the presence of communities of middle-class or upper-class immigrants from Arab countries or others such as India, Lebanon and China. For better or worse, of course. According to a number of scholars, colonial policies aiming to dominate entire populations were more responsible than tradition for the spreading of ethinic-based distinctions and divisions. Not to mention the terrible experience of armed conflicts that have occurred over the last few decades, inevitably followed by invasions, mass exoduses, refugee camps, droughts, hunger and sickness. And yet this too - unfortunately - is modernity, and not just that. The extraordinary advent of decolonization, or rather the liberalization of Africa that occurred in the Fifties and Sixties, is a positive element in the history of modern democracy in general, and not only for Africa. This process found its full realization in the, so to speak, atypical events that lead to the democratization of South Africa and made an undeniable contribution to solving a number of problems common throughout the world. Problems such as the democratic creation of a multiethnic and pluralist society or the economic and social efforts to achieve decent levels of independence and well-being, despite the fact that they began from an "underprivileged" position. However, it is in the present that the social destiny of human groups is at stake. The present offers considerably ambiguous aspects to many African countries, which coalesce around the issue of modernity in that they are to do with great strategies for development.

Family having a meal outdoors, Kenya. Source: Sammy Ndwiga, Photoshare

The fact that modernity has been the subject of both philosophical and scientific inquiry by European intellectuals for the last two hundred years does not mean that it is a solely European or Western issue. It also does not mean that modernity is a univocal concept and, above all, a mono-morphic process or political project. This of formulating the problems can help clear up the ambiguity of a modernity that is often considered a product exported from the West and, on the other hand, a product imported by every other human area throughout the world. The cultural and political effects of this ambiguity are known to all: Western domination, opposed in vain, and its effects on the process to create the world of today and tomorrow; a falsification of the real situation in many countries, considered estranged from - and still to be "admitted" to - the solidarity-based responsibilities for governing the planet and thus isolated and declassified.

In conclusion, how can we define modernity? Perhaps a precise conceptual definition cannot be made since there is an uneliminable gap between the concept of modernity and the concrete processes involving vast social areas.

Furthermore, the concept of modernity involves too many variations and versions (depending on variables such as time, regimes and cultures) for it to be dealt with in an editorial. We shall therefore limit ourselves to making a few suggestions, which may be more useful for leading to further discussion than for providing a conclusion.

First of all, we think we can say that the various concepts and different definitions involved in modernity still refer to a number of stable recurring coordinates such as knowledge, technology, individual rights, politics, social stratification and rationalization of social and economic life and state institutions.

This is also why no human group appears able to ignore the challenge of modernity and there are no historical populations without strong traits of modernity or that are not acquiring them.

Crowd at Stadium Kinshasa for Football (Soccer) Match, Kinshasa, Congo Source: Ellington John, African Studies Program

It may therefore be useful to distinguish between the concept of modernity - in terms of a set of characteristic traits found in the most varied of societies and cultures - and that of modernization - considered in terms of a process leading to modernity. This process may be mainly exogenous, with extensive acculturation or deculturation, or it may be connected to endogenous dynamics and create original syntheses with tradition, as Shmwel Eisenstadt suggests, which is the only way that modernity can possibly become deep-rooted.It may therefore be possible to speak of various "waves" of modernity in Africa that spread in different ways and at different times in the various regions, through various social groups.

On the other hand, various waves of exogenous modernization may be taken into accout, as deriving from at least three great political strategies, colonialism, de-colonization and globalization, that have often had de-culturing and somewhat devastating effects.

In conclusion, we cannot avoid bringing up another point. The discourse on modernity in Africa is made even more difficult by the fact that European and Western modernity is currently undergoing a severe crisis; thereby leading many authors to talk about post-modernity with reference to a social and cultural situation characterized by phenomena such as social fragmentation, identity nomadism and minimalism.

This is the framework that we feel should be used as a basis for discussions on modernity in Africa and, above all, on the different roads to modernity of individual African countries.

The third issue of the magazine focuses on Africa as a modern continent. The intention is to illustrate above all the phenomena that are symbolic of this modernity, today, as well as in the past. Dealing with such a vast subject has led us to look at some of the surrounding issues in greater detail, for example, African society, as the place where many modern events occur and the image, one of the principal causes for the delay in considering Africa a modern continent.

In his editorial Alfonso Alfonsi attempts to investigate the reasons why up to now Africa has been only as a primitive and timeless continent, and he then analyzes the prejudice that surrounds the image of Africa, suffocating its modernity, which is one of its fundamental characteristics.

Tana Worku Anglana in a report on modern developments in Africa, making a review of the considerations and suggestions - taken from the theoretical production of scholars in various disciplines in different geographical areas - regarding the African continent’s place in the modern world and Africa’s contribution to building it.

One of the scholars taken into consideration in the report is Olufemi Taiwo, author of the essay “Prophets without honour”. Particular importance is given to this essay to highlight the originality of his arguments in support of Africa as an endogenous modern society that can boast illustrious fore-fathers.

The famous anthropologist, Harris Memel Fotê suggests reinterpreting the history of modern democracies analyzing them from a transnational point of view and he also mentions some great historic figures (the so-called “heroes of democracy”), some of which are African, who have contributed so much towards the building of the modern world.

The article by Daniele Mezzana treats the issue of reconsidering traditional African religions, which should be placed on equal standing with other faiths and whose development and link with the modern world should be taken into account. This article is introductive to the part devoted to the examples of a modern society, found in the history of the continent and in its current situation.

The interview conducted by Ilaria Carnevali (UNIFEM) with Amolo Ng’weno is a first-hand description of the work carried out by a Kenyan businesswoman engaged in diffusing ICT throughout the African continent. It also underlines the importance of future possibilities involving gender in solving the problem of the digital divide.

The strength of civil society in Africa is the theme of the Report – kindly forwarded by the United Nations Special Office for Africa and the less developed countries – which focuses attention on the active role of civil society in the growth process of the modern African countries.

Alain Dominique Zoubga is the author of an essay regarding Health in Burkina Faso. It stresses the current importance of the quality of health services in a context which usually has to deal first with emergencies.

After taking into account these phenomena as indicators of a modern society, the widespread approach towards the African countries, or what the literature calls “Afro-pessimism” should probably be reconsidered from a more critical point of view. This is the topic of the article by Attilio Massimo Iannucci who stresses the destructive power of misjudging African reality.

The second part of the essay by Maliq Simone on the extent of urbanization in the African countries is also published in this issue.

On this same topic, Sékéné Mody Cissoko proposes a journey into Africa’s urban tradition. He shows how important the development of cities has been in the continent’s history and how the roots of this modern phenomenon are part of its cultural heritage.

Completing this third issue of the magazine is the usual Internet page. It explores the phenomenon of the traditional religions on-line and then there is the column devoted to the working world where new job opportunities in and for Africa are mentioned.