African novel Congo: Heart of Diamonds

Dave Donelson’s new novel, Heart of Diamonds, is in
stock and ready for shipment by Amazon.com. It’s an exciting romantic
thriller about scandal, love, and death in the Congo. As the book cover
copy reads, “Amid the bloody violence of the Congo’s civil war, TV reporter
Valerie Grey uncovers a deadly diamond-smuggling scheme that reaches from
Africa to the White House”

You can see more details at
http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Diamonds-Novel-Scandal-Death/dp/1601641575. It
will be in bookstores September 1 as well. Just ask your favorite
bookseller for ISBN 978-1601641571. Heart of Diamonds was published by
Kunati Books, named Independent Publisher of the Year at the 2008 BEA.

I had a great time researching and writing Heart of Diamonds, highlighted by
the two research trips Nora and I made to Africa. I hope you’ll find it a
good read. Your friends might like it, too, so don’t hesitate to pass the
word along.

Mali : Sahara Hostages -Handover failed? Austrian hostages update 16-8-2008

Contributed by Christiane Lauschitzky

Sahara Hostages: Handover failed?

Alledged exchange stopped last minute. The Austrians have been hostages for about half a year now.

According to an Algerian newspaper, the handover of the two Austrian hostages failed recently because the high number of Malian soldiers in the vicinity scared off the kidnappers.

As always, this kind of news has to be taken with a grain of salt. But some facts do speak for that story. In July Malian government officials met with Touareg rebels and Algerian security people and concluded an arrangement. They were talking about stopping fighting in the North of Mali as well as about water rights and mining laws. There was also an agreement of freeing the hostages until August 15.

Until now the Austrian foreign ministry claims there are no new developments, which is not really surprising as there has been an agreement between the kidnappers and the Austrian negotiators agreed on keeping silence on the hostages. That is why even on the Islamists website there have been no more references to Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloibner.

Fact is that the two Austrians have been in the hand of the ‘Salafists’ longer than the Austrian hostages in 2003. They were freed after 177 days whereas the two people from Hallein (Salzburg) have been kidnapped for 180 days.

Support comes from the US who repeatedly released satellite pictures of the kidnappers. They now froze the bank accounts of four high-ranking members of the “Al Kaida in Mahgreb” . No US citizen is allowed to do money transactions with these people.

Announcements about the kidnappers’ demands remain contradictory. Allegedly, the originally demanded sum of 5 Million (Euros??) has been brought down to 2 Million. The foreign ministry in Vienna denies that there have ever been such demands.

Demands

There were also political demands on the other hand: the release of captured Al Kaida fighters (both in Austria and Algeria) as well as further mining laws for mineral resources. Lastly news has come out that a deal was concluded with the Austrian main negotiator, Anton Prohaska and that they are negotiating a (new?) place for the actual hand over. If this is true it could indeed mean the liberation of the two, as has been so often announced by popular newspapers.

Article by Dominique Schreiber, Source: www.kurier.at

Numeral systems of the Languages of the world

Numeral systems of the Languages of the world, newly updated with data for about 150 Bantu languages, and some other small languages in the world.

http://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/numeral/

See also http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/resources.php for more resources

Eugene Chang would be glad of any help African linguists can give him to update this data base. Please cut and paste the following questionnaire and send it to euslchan@yahoo.com if you can help.

Counting Concepts and Numeral Systems Project

(African Languages) SIL IPA93 fonts

Questionnaire for a project on cardinal numeral systems, including traditional numerals with tones (if any) and loanwords, or base forms, used in general counting.

Language name and location:

Linguist providing data and date:

1.	21.
2.	22.
3.	23.
4.	24.
5.	25.
6.	26.
7.	27.
8.	28.
9.	29.
10.	30.
11.	40.
12.	50.
13.	60.
14.	70.
15.	80.
16.	90.
17.	100.
18.	200.
19.	1000.
20.	2000.

If you are able to provide the relevant data, please fill in the data with IPA symbols or their equivalents with tones (if any). If possible, it would be helpful if you could also attach the phonetic chart for the language. Thank you very much in advance for your help!

If you are working on Mac / Windows Vista or use different sets of phonetic fonts, please kindly send me a PDF. The free PDF creating software pdfFactory can be downloaded from www.fineprint.com . The SIL Encore IPA93 and Charis SIL Fonts can be freely downloaded via SIL website: www.sil.org Other comments:

Ghana : When you learn Akan - whose language do you learn?

Anything to do with ‘Akan’ seems popular on this blog. But have you ever thought about what exactly is meant by the term? There is a great article on abibitumikasa.com which appeared as a forum comment by Akyeame-Kwame. It delineates the difficulties in defining languages.

The name ‘Akan’

When you learn Akan - whose language do you learn?
The word ‘Akan’ designates quite different groups of people depending on the period of time at which it was used and on the context in which it was or is being used. Roughly, we can distinguish between its traditional native use, its use as a scientific classificatory term, and its (modern) socio-political use.

Read the full article

African book review : Benin Kings and Rituals - Court Arts from

Via H-AfrArts list

H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-AfrArts@h-net.msu.edu (July 2008)

Barbara Plankensteiner, ed. _Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from
Nigeria_. Vienna: Snoeck Publishers, 2007. 535 pp. Map, illustrations,
bibliography. $50.00 (paper), ISBN 978-3-85497-114-6.

Reviewed for H-AfrArts by Kate Ezra, Department of Art and Design,
Columbia College Chicago

The New Encyclopedia of Benin Art

The exhibition _Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria_ ,
organized by Barbara Plankensteiner, is an extraordinary opportunity
to see hundreds of masterworks of Benin art together in one place.  It
will be on view at the Art Institute of Chicago, its only American
venue, from July 10 to September 21, 2008.  The colossal exhibition
catalog provides a permanent record of this remarkable exhibition and
will soon become the essential reference work on Benin art, culture,
and history.  The first half of the book _Benin Kings and Rituals:
Court Arts from Nigeria_ edited by Barbara Plankensteiner consists of
twenty-two essays by a world-class roster of scholars on a broad range
of topics and themes related to the history and art history of Benin
up to the present.  These essays, which constitute a veritable
encyclopedia of information about Benin art, have already been
discussed in a review by Jean Borgatti for the journal _African
Arts_.[1]  Therefore, I will restrict my remarks to the copious
catalog entries that constitute the second half of the book.

This section of the catalog features 301 objects discussed in 205
entries by 19 authors. The objects, all illustrated in full color, are
drawn from twenty-five museums in Europe, the United States, and
Nigeria, and also include several works privately owned by Oba
Erediauwa and High Priest Osemwegie Ebohen of Benin City.  Most of the
international team of authors who wrote the catalog entries are
renowned Benin scholars; the others are Africanists who serve as
curators of collections that lent objects to he exhibition.  A full
half of the entries were written by Barbara Blackmun (forty-nine) ,
Kathy Curnow (twenty-six), Paula Ben-Amos Girshick (fourteen), and
Joseph Nevadomsky (thirteen).  These entries, on a wide variety of
object types, stand out for the breadth and depth of knowledge gained
from decades of work in the field of Benin studies.  Also of special
note are the entries by Flora Edouwaye S. Kaplan, Osarhieme Benson
Osadolor, Adepeju Layiwola, and Ekhaguosa Aisien.  The catalog is not
limited to works in brass and ivory, which are the mainstays of
exhibitions and publications on Benin art, but includes numerous
examples of more rarely seen utilitarian objects, garments, and bead
ornaments.  Commendably, the catalog includes many objects created
after 1897, the year of the conquest of Benin by British colonial
forces and often wrongly considered the _terminus ante quem_ of Benin
art.  The contemporary objects attest to the same skill, iconographic
and stylistic innovation, and engagement with the kingdom’s history
and rituals as seen in the catalog’s pre-1897 objects.

The catalog entries are arranged thematically into twelve sections,
based both on the political and ritual contexts of the objects and the
historical periods of their creation or subject matter, each with a
short introduction.  The first section, “Prologue” (cat. nos. 1-4),
provides a brief look at objects from Ife, Owo, and Ijebu, kingdoms
that interacted with Benin and whose art traditions are interrelated.
One of the new ideas put forth here centers on the current belief by
the Benin royal family that brass casting was not introduced to Benin
from Ife, but rather the opposite (cat. no. 1).  The objects in the
second section, “City and Palace” (cat. nos. 5-25), are meant to evoke
Benin’s architecture and city planning, although not all (e.g. cat.
nos. 6-13) directly address this theme.  The following section,
entitled “Trade with Europeans” (cat. nos. 28-51), focuses on the
Portuguese and other Europeans who played important economic and
symbolic roles in Benin history and culture. Section 4, “Palace
Hierarchy and Court Ceremonial,” is by far the largest, with 88
objects (cat. nos. 52-139).  It includes a vast array of objects that
depict Benin’s most important chiefs and priests, and the objects they
wear and hold in court ceremonies and rituals.  Since the Oba is the
pinnacle of the hierarchy, it is odd that he does not appear until the
following section, somewhat like placing middle management rather than
the CEO at the top of an organizational chart.  The objects and
entries that comprise this section are excellent, but the category
itself is too large and unwieldy, and smaller, more focused thematic
sections might have allowed a smoother narrative and a tighter fit
between introductory matter and individual entries.

The King or Oba is the subject of the next section (cat. nos.
140-168), followed by one on the Queen Mother or Iyoba (cat. nos.
169-180).  Both contain the commemorative heads and other well-known
types of objects that highlight the importance of these two roles.
Among the surprises here are a rare wooden door from the women’s
quarters of the palace, carved with intimate scenes of royal wives and
their attendants (cat. no 180), and an equally charming brass relief
plaque depicting a leopard, one of the king’s key symbols, with three
cubs, all feasting on an antelope (cat. no. 162).  Section 7, “Shrines
and Deities” (cat. nos. 181-217), underscores the religious basis of
the Benin kingdom and is replete with a wide variety of objects placed
on different types of altars, vessels for ritual materials, and
objects depicting sacrificial animals and fruits.  Kathy Curnow was
responsible for about half of the entries in this section, which are
models in their balance of the general and the specific, and their
in-depth exploration of form, iconography, and context.  There are
some rarely seen objects here, such as the brass rattle staff from the
Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin, topped with intriguing images of a
snake devouring a human, who grasps a pair of leopards, who in turn
hold an elephant in their paws (cat. no. 184).  One finds new
information as well, such as Joseph Nevadomsky’s comment that iron
Osun staffs were used as recently as 1948 in political power struggles
in Benin City (cat. nos. 201, 202).

Section 8 looks at a seminal period of Benin history and art
production, “The Warrior Kings in the Sixteenth Century” (cat. nos.
218-251).  Oba Esigie (r. c. 1504-c. 1550) is the focus of many of the
entries concerning a magnificent array of brass plaques and figure
sculptures, but to me two of the most striking entries concern his
father, Oba Ozolua.  In one, Barbara Blackmun discusses a relief
plaque representing Ozolua with retainers (cat. no. 220).  One of the
retainers is Laisolabi, a warrior who was such a trusted friend of the
Oba that the two men share a single spear, a detail one might easily
overlook without Blackmun’s help.  Despite their close relationship,
Laisolabi eventually betrays the Oba, leading to his assassination, in
order to put an end to his constant wars of expansion that were a
hardship to the Benin people.  In the other entry, O. B. Osadolor
discusses two brass trophy heads and the oral tradition that
attributes their origin to Ozolua (cat. nos. 245, 246).  It is this
type of specific historical information that makes studying Benin art
so rewarding, and that is one of the strengths of this catalog.  This
is equally evident in the following section, “Internal Conflicts and
Reorientation of Kingship in the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth
Centuries” (cat. nos. 252-269).  This section focuses on the
remarkable, and often unique, objects that were created in the
eighteenth century by the three Obas who restored the power of the
king and kingdom after its decline in the seventeenth century.  Half
of these entries were written by Paula Ben-Amos Girshick, providing a
convenient summary of the ideas put forth in her 1999 book _Art,
Innovation, and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Benin_.

The last three sections of the catalog focus on Benin art since 1897.
Section 10, “The Fall of Benin” (cat. nos. 270-274), includes a few
objects that are among the most moving in the exhibition and are
guaranteed to soon be incorporated into college courses on African
art.  In particular, the brass Boat Composition (cat. no. 273) by the
Omodamwen workshop literally recasts the well-known photograph by J.
A. Green of Oba Ovonramwen on his way to exile in Calabar.  As
Layiwola points out in her catalog entry, the Boat Composition
restores to Ovonramwen the dignity of his coral bead regalia and
underscores the power of art in Benin to capture and crystalize
changing views of historical events.  The same point is made by
Plankensteiner in her discussion of a man’s shirt made of cloth
commemorating the Great Benin Centenary of 1997, likewise
incorporating a photograph of the deposed Oba Ovonramwen.  By framing
it with more glorious images of his three successors, this textile
changes the meaning of the image from one of defeat to one of survival
and persistence.

Section 11, “The Discovery of Benin Art” (cat. nos. 275-279), looks at
the influence of Benin art on German Expressionist artists at the
beginning of the twentieth century.  Extending this examination of
Benin’s impact on modern art to works by African American artists,
such as Romare Bearden and Kerry James Marshall, and Benin artists,
such as Solomon Wangboje and Erhabor Emokpae, could have told a
broader and more interesting story.  The final section, “Benin After
1914″ (cat. nos. 280-301) includes brass plaques and figure groups
made since the Benin monarchy was restored in 1914.  These testify to
the continued relevance of art in providing tangible, visible form to
ideas of kingship, power, and history, the main concern of Benin
artists and patrons for over five-hundred years.  Again, this
commendable feature of the catalog could have been further enhanced
with the inclusion of works by some of the wood carvers and
academically trained artists who have also been an important part of
Benin’s evolving art history.

The catalog entries in _Benin Kings and Rituals_ are an invaluable
addition to the bibliography of Benin studies.  They bring together
not only objects from many collections but the perspectives of
scholars from many disciplines and backgrounds.  They will be a
welcome resource for students and scholars, curators and collectors.
The catalog’s quality is only slightly marred by instances of poor
translation or copyediting in the English edition.  Cross-references,
such as to works of the same type or by the same artist, would have
been helpful, especially since most readers will dip in and out of the
catalog entries rather than reading them from beginning to end.
Indenting paragraphs or inserting space between paragraphs would have
made reading easier.  These minor technical shortcomings aside, _Benin
Kings and Rituals_ is a remarkable accomplishment, a fitting
illumination and celebration of one of Africa’s greatest artistic
achievements.

Note

[1].  _African Arts_, 41, no. 1 (Spring 2008), 92-93.

Copyright (c) 2007 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits
the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit,
educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the
author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and
H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For other uses
contact the Reviews editorial staff: hbooks@mail.h-net.msu.edu.

H-AfrArts
H-Net Network for African Expressive Culture
E -Mail: H-AFRARTS@H-NET.MSU.EDU
WWW: http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~artsweb/

USA Exhibition : Yacouba Bonde: Bwa Masks of Burkina Faso

Via H-Net Network for African Expressive Culture

“Yacouba Bonde: Bwa Masks of Burkina Faso”
On view through July 11, 2009

A special installation, “Yacouba Bonde: Bwa Masks of Burkina Faso,” showcasing four masks from the permanent collection and two masks on loan from collector Emmet Bondurant is now on view at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. The installation spotlights masks carved by artist Yacouba Bonde, including one presented in full costume. The masks-carved of wood and painted with black, white and red geometric patterns-include a hyena, a chameleon, a bush cow, a snake (nearly fifteen feet high) and a butterfly (nearly nine feet wide). Several of the High’s large ceramic vessels from Burkina Faso will complement the installation; video of Bwa masquerade performances and three additional masks by Yacouba Bonde will be on view in the Fred and Rita Richman Gallery.

“Bwa masquerades are among the most spectacular of all African masquerade forms and remain vital in Bwa communities of Burkina Faso today,” said Carol Thompson, Fred and Rita Richman Curator of African Art. “Among other occasions, masquerades are held during annual festivals and renewal celebrations. Yacouba Bonde, Artistic Director of Boni, Burkina Faso, has also staged masquerade performances in France, Switzerland, Holland and Belgium.”

About Bwa Masks and Burkina Faso
Known as Upper Volta until 1984, Burkina Faso is located at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. Its national boundaries were drawn by the French during the colonial era, and the country declared independence in 1960. More than sixty different ethnic groups live in Burkina Faso, and while it is often described as one of the most economically impoverished countries in the world, in terms of cultural traditions it is one of the richest places on earth. Bwa plank masks have become an important symbol of national identity and are pictured Burkina Faso’s currency, the CFA.

About Yacouba Bonde
Artistic Director of the small town of Boni, Burkina Faso, Yacouba Bonde is a master sculptor adept at carving Bwa masks. He has a deep understanding of their cultural significance, including knowledge of the songs, music and dance steps that animate these works. With other Bwa men, women and elders, Yacouba Bonde choreographs annual masquerade festivals and oversees the initiation of younger generations into masquerade traditions.

Rebekah Mejorado
Curatorial Assistant, African Art
High Museum of Art
1280 Peachtree Street, NE
Atlanta, GA 30309
Tel: 404-733-5226
Fax: 404-733-4502
Email: rebekah(dot)mejorado(at)woodruffcenter(dot)org

The High offers great exhibitions, programs, and lectures all year - reserve tickets or become a member today! http://www.high.org<http://www.high.org/>

H-Net Network for African Expressive Culture

African archaeology Niger : Saharan cemetery dig report and paper

About 8 years ago news leaked out about an exciting archaeological find in Niger. Back in the Stone Age what is now the Sahara desert was a lush green place with large lakes. The area in Southern Niger where the dig took place was a lakeside fishing community for about 5,000 years and originated about 10,000 years ago.

In its first comprehensive report, published Thursday, the team described finding about 200 graves belonging to two successive populations. Some burials were accompanied by pottery and ivory ornaments. A girl was buried wearing a bracelet carved from a hippo tusk. A man was seated on the carapace of a turtle. The most poignant scene was the triple burial of a petite woman lying on her side, facing two young children. The slender arms of the children reached out to the woman in an everlasting embrace. Pollen indicated that flowers had decorated the grave. (New York Times - read the full article)

Mike Hettwer/National Geographic

Paul Sereno and Elena Garcea excavate adjacent burials at Gobero, the largest graveyard discovered to date in the Sahara. Follow the link to find More Photos >

Also a report on Reuters AlertNet:

Stone Age graveyard shows Sahara was once green
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14487840.htm

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Sahara and lakeside cemeteries in that period an open access article has been published in PLos One on August 14th 2008. Of particular interest are the pictures including Figure 7 which shows artifacts found.

Lakeside Cemeteries in the Sahara: 5000 Years of Holocene Population and Environmental Change

Abstract

Background

Approximately two hundred human burials were discovered on the edge of a paleolake in Niger that provide a uniquely preserved record of human occupation in the Sahara during the Holocene (~8000 B.C.E. to the present). Called Gobero, this suite of closely spaced sites chronicles the rapid pace of biosocial change in the southern Sahara in response to severe climatic fluctuation.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Two main occupational phases are identified that correspond with humid intervals in the early and mid-Holocene, based on 78 direct AMS radiocarbon dates on human remains, fauna and artifacts, as well as 9 OSL dates on paleodune sand. The older occupants have craniofacial dimensions that demonstrate similarities with mid-Holocene occupants of the southern Sahara and Late Pleistocene to early Holocene inhabitants of the Maghreb. Their hyperflexed burials compose the earliest cemetery in the Sahara dating to ~7500 B.C.E. These early occupants abandon the area under arid conditions and, when humid conditions return ~4600 B.C.E., are replaced by a more gracile people with elaborated grave goods including animal bone and ivory ornaments.

Conclusions/Significance

The principal significance of Gobero lies in its extraordinary human, faunal, and archaeological record, from which we conclude the following:

1. The early Holocene occupants at Gobero (7700–6200 B.C.E.) were largely sedentary hunter-fisher-gatherers with lakeside funerary sites that include the earliest recorded cemetery in the Sahara.
2. Principal components analysis of craniometric variables closely allies the early Holocene occupants at Gobero with a skeletally robust, trans-Saharan assemblage of Late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene human populations from the Maghreb and southern Sahara.
3. Gobero was abandoned during a period of severe aridification possibly as long as one millennium (6200–5200 B.C.E).
4. More gracile humans arrived in the mid-Holocene (5200–2500 B.C.E.) employing a diversified subsistence economy based on clams, fish, and savanna vertebrates as well as some cattle husbandry.
5. Population replacement after a harsh arid hiatus is the most likely explanation for the occupational sequence at Gobero.
6. We are just beginning to understand the anatomical and cultural diversity that existed within the Sahara during the Holocene.

Citation: Sereno PC, Garcea EAA, Jousse H, Stojanowski CM, Saliège J-F, et al. (2008) Lakeside Cemeteries in the Sahara: 5000 Years of Holocene Population and Environmental Change. PLoS ONE 3(8): e2995. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002995

Read the full paper

Nigeria FINALLY hands over Bakassi Province to Cameroon - 14-08-2008

Typical isn’t it? I just deleted an old post about Nigeria handing over the Bakassi province to Cameroon. A long running dispute that seemed to get resolution in 2006. I did a quick check up - which of course I should have done before deleting the post and guess what - the BBC published the news that the final final final handover is today 14th August 2008!

Yesterday they lead the story with a personal story of one of the farmers affected by the changeover, which gives an idea of how complex this issue is.

Chief John Effiong flicks his arm out over the sweep of cleared forest in Cross Rivers State, Nigeria, which is gradually being turned into a building site.

His home, his pineapple grove and the shrine where he worshipped his ancestors’ spirits have all been swept away by bulldozers.

They have been cleared to make way for people displaced by the handover of the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon, due to be completed on Thursday.

(Read the full story here)

Both of the articles give some of the history of the dispute.

The African Press Organization has the UN document about the final transfer of authority here

and a statement attributable to the Secretary General about the handover here

A BBC reporter describes his experiences in Bakassi, just handed over to Cameroon by Nigeria
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7563465.stm >

Togo claims first Olympic medal

I watched this exciting medal run by Benjamin Boukpeti.

Togo claims first Olympic medal

The biggest cheer went to Boukpeti for his performance

Togo won its first ever Olympic medal when Benjamin Boukpeti took bronze in the men’s single kayak slalom at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Read the full article

Manual : Solar water disinfection: a guide for the application of SODIS

The following article gives more detail about solar disinfection of water. This manual should provide an useful introduction for NGOs working in health related fields.

Solar water disinfection: a guide for the application of SODIS
Authors: R. Meierhofer; M. Wegelin
Publisher: The SODIS Reference Center, 2002

Access to safe drinking water is a major issue faced by a large number of the world’s population. In an attempt to address this issue, multiple water processing methods have been developed. One such method is the Solar Water Disinfection (SODIS) method: a simple, environmentally sustainable, low-cost solution for drinking water treatment at household level. It is aimed at people at risk of consuming microbiologically contaminated water. SODIS uses solar energy to destroy pathogenic micro-organisms causing water-borne diseases, thereby improving the quality of drinking water [adapted from author].

This manual provides guidance on the application of the SODIS method. It includes:

• An introduction to water and the development of SODIS
• Technical background and principles for the application of SODIS
• Application in the field
• Project implementation, including training and promotion

Diagrams, pictures and case studies are provided throughout the guide. In addition, promotional tools are provided such as flipchart posters, posters for display, short stories for radio, SODIS pamphlets, SODIS comic and a SODIS game to aid in the implementation of the method.

Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/health&id=38454&type=Document

Like this post? Subscribe to Sociolingo’s Africa RSS feed

Another post on solar water disinfection

http://sociolingo.wordpress.com/2007/12/17/solar-powered-water-filter/

Academic health paper : An evaluation of infant immunization in Africa: is a transformation in progress?

Via Eldis health reporter (IDS Health and Development Information team in collaboration with Eldis and the DFID Health Resource Centre)

An evaluation of infant immunization in Africa: is a transformation in progress?
Authors: L. Arevshatian; C. J. Clements; S. K. Lwanga
Publisher: Bulletin of the World Health Organization : the International Journal of Public Health, 2007

This paper, in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, assesses the progress towards meeting the goals of the African Regional strategic Plan of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation between 2001 and 2005. These goals include: to interrupt the circulation of wild polio virus in all countries; eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus in all high-risk districts; 80 per cent of the countries to have reached at least 80 per cent diphtheria-tetanus-pertissus-3 (DTP-3) coverage; and measles to be controlled and eliminated in Southern Africa.

The paper finds that although more infants had been immunised by 2005, most of the targets had been missed by at least half of the region’s counties. The authors estimate that DTP-3 coverage increased from 54 per cent in 2000 to 69 per cent in 2004, and as a result the number of non-immunised children declined from 1.4 million in 2002 to 900,000 in 2004. Reported measles cases dropped from 520,000 in 2000 to 316,000 in 2005 and mortality was reduced by approximately 60 per cent. The paper concludes that the rates of immunisation coverage are improving dramatically in the WHO African Region. The huge increases in spending on immunisation and the related improvements in programme performance are linked predominantly to increases in donor funding.

Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/health&id=32042&type=Document

Kenya : The 1st Broadcast & Film Africa Conference & Exhibition

Via Balancing Act Africa

For further information and a registration form please contact

INTERNATIONAL: Helen Moroney
Email: info@aitecafrica.com
Tel: +44 1480 880774

KENYA: Celestine Macharia
Email: celestsinem@aitecafrica.com
Tel: 0212 1028

Or click here to access a registration form.
This is a Word document which you can save to your computer.

The 1st Broadcast & Film Africa Conference & Exhibition

Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi

23-25 September 2008

Workshops How to register

The conference is aimed at senior and middle managers in:

• National television stations.
• National radio stations.
• Pay TV companies using cable, IP-TV or satellite.
• Film-makers, producers and distributors from throughout Africa.
• International Broadcasting Stations like CNN, BBC, NBC, VOA, China Radio, Al Jazeera, Radio Japan, Radio Moscow and Radio Netherlands.
• Television and film production companies.
• Facilities providers including production equipment hire, post-production and outside broadcast.
• Organisations like donors and faith-based organisations that run their own broadcast organisations for development purposes.
• Television and film equipment vendors and satellite capacity suppliers.
• Advertising and marketing agencies.
• Mobile and fixed telephone operations looking at convergence opportunities.
• Library Facilities for music, commercials and programmes.

PROGRAMME

Day 1 – Tuesday 23 September 2008

8.30am Conference Opening

Moderator: Oscar Beauttah, Conference Chairman & Founder of the African Broadcasting Network

Welcome Address
Hon Samuel Poghisio, Minister of Information & Communications

Official Opening
Hon Raila Odinga, Prime Minister

Setting the Agenda
David Waweru, CEO, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
David Maingi, CEO, Kenya Film Commission
Director-General, Communications Commission of Kenya

10am Refreshment Break

10.30am SESSION 1: Africa’s prospects over the next three years

Based on its report, African Broadcast and Film Markets, Balancing Act’s CEO, Russell Southwood, will look at the shape of the industry across the continent and the changes affecting its future growth.

Responses: The challenges faced by the industry and how it might meet them and the coming impact of convergence

Khalik Sherriff, COO, e.TV, South Africa

Chris Kirubi, CNBC Kenya

Ian Fernandes, MD, Nation Digital Division, Kenya

1pm Lunch

2.30pm SESSION 2: Pay TV – New kids on the block

Whether it’s delivered by cable, satellite or IP-TV, Pay-TV is changing how Africa’s media ecology functions. It may only have modest numbers of subscribers but it is buying up key rights to both drama and sports events and is beginning to put money into local production. Speakers from the key companies involved in this sector will look at the following issues: the overall potential of the market; how telcos can get involved through IP-TV; the impact of the more recent low-price bouquets; Triple Play offers and the impact their growth will have on other media.

Speakers:

Julian McIntyre, CEO, GTV, UK (provisional)

Redeemer Kwame, Ghana Telecom and its partner, Wise Net

Richard Bell, CEO African Telecoms, Media and Technology Fund, Kenya

Toyin Subair, CEO, Hi-TV, Nigeria

Uzo Udemba, CEO, Trend TV, Nigeria

4pm Refreshment Break

4.30pm SESSION 3: Local content, co-productions and African media markets – Encouraging the growth of quality production

The session will open with a keynote speech from a major African producer and have shorter contributions from four other panellists or agencies involved in encouraging local production. It will cover: local television commissioning budgets, new commissioners of local content, government strategies to encourage local content, film funding sources, creating African co-productions, copyright issues (particularly for music use) and training and skills strategies to improve quality.

Speakers:

Angelo Kinyua, Big Ideas Entertainment, Kenya

David Campbell, Director of Mediae, Kenya

Ronnie Andrews, GTV, Kenya

Lucy Scher, Script Factory, UK

Cherise Barsell, Head of Buyer Relations – Africa, Discop, France

6.30pm Networking Cocktail Reception

Day 2 – Wednesday 24 September 2008

9am SESSION 4: Television – Buying and selling international programming

Although local content continues to grow, the staple diet of most African TV stations is international programming. The session will look at negotiating better deals on: international film and drama, sports events and news programming.

Speakers:

Barry Lambert, Chief Executive, Setanta Africa, UK

Claudia Rinke, lawyer, on international rights and competition issues, South Africa

Alex Okosi, Senior VP and MD, MTV Networks Africa, South Africa

Phil Lawrie, Director Global Distribution, Al Jazeera Network, Qatar

Paula Caffey, Regional Marketing Director - East and Southern Africa, IBB/Voice of America, South Africa

COMMERCIAL PRESENTATION Scopus Video Networks

10.30am Refreshment Break

11am SESSION 5: Keeping up with changing standards and equipment – Vendor briefing session

Digitalisation will bring massive changes to the equipment and processes needed to produce broadcast television but neither film nor radio will be immune from these changes. Whether you’re in management approving expenditure or at the technical sharp end buying it, there’s a bewildering array of options.

In this session, different equipment vendors will brief participants on how they see the technologies changing over the next five years and how their equipment will respond to these changes.

Keynote speaker:

Kiare Nderitu, Technical Manager, Nation TV, Kenya

Briefing speakers:

Roslyn Coldry, NDS, UK

Paul Martin, Sony, UK

John Shonubi, Regional GM, BT Media and Broadcast, UK

Annemarie Meijer, East Africa Manager, Nairobi, Globecast, Kenya

SHOWCASE PRESENTATION Title tbc:

Mohammed Jogie, Design Evangelist MEA/Med, Icograda Vice President, Adobe, South Africa

1pm Lunch

2.30pm SESSION 6: Advertising – How can broadcast retain and grow its share of the media pie?

Both state and private radio and TV broadcasting rely heavily on advertising as a revenue source. Over the last three years, a number of African countries have had above average economic growth that has led to an increase in available advertising, particularly from mobile operators. Speakers from both advertising agencies and media outlets will look at the prospects of advertising over the next three years.

Issues covered will include: spending in a fragmented media landscape, rate discounting, the effectiveness of different media, the shift of spend between media and the steady rise of Internet and mobile services.

Speakers:

Lenny Nganga, Partner, Saracen Media, Kenya

Joe Otin, Director, Media Monitoring Division, Steadman Group, Kenya

James Boyd McFie, Business School, Strathmore University & Board Member, Standard Group, Kenya

4pm Refreshment break

4.30pm SESSION 7: Strategies to promote film production, exhibition and distribution

There has been a greater level of investment in African cinema over the last three years but this has not always resulted in there being more African movies to watch. This session looks at it might be possible to create an ecology that will sustain the production and distribution of African films. Many strategies only invest in production leaving films largely unseen.

The session will look at case studies from Kenya, Morocco, South Africa and the United Kingdom to see what can be achieved with the right strategy. Through the case studies, it teases out what the role of Government funding can be and how limited resources might best be spent.

Speakers:

Jeremy Nathan DV8, leading South African film producer

Martin Mhando, Director, Zanzibar International Film Festival, Tanzania

Bjorn Maes, Artistic Director, Africalia, Belgium

Neil Watson, UK Film Council

Kennedy Duya, Creative Director, Skyfire Group, Kenya

Day 3 – Thursday 25 September 2008

9am SESSION 8: The liberalisation of African broadcasting and coming digitalisation

Africa is at the beginning of a wave of liberalisation that is in many ways similar to what has happened in the telecoms field. An increasing number of television and radio stations are being licensed and new opportunities are opening up across the continent. And although most of Africa has not yet got to grips with transition to digital, this will also open up new opportunities.

This session looks at the policy and regulatory implications of what this liberalisation means and will focus on: how content can be regulated; how much media can one market sustain; who controls the carriage of the broadcast signal; international investment; local content quotas; and cross-ownership.

Speakers:

George Twumasi, African Broadcast Networks, UK

Daniel Obam, Digital Transition Committee, Kenya

Anton Lan, Altech UEC, South Africa

Charles Kofi Bucknor, Director of Television, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation

Elizabeth Lwanga, Outgoing Country Director of UNDP and former TV producer

10am Refreshment Break

10.30 SESSION 9: Tomorrow’s Needs, Today’s Imperatives

This session will look at what Africa’s broadcasters need to tackle in order to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Topics covered will include:

• Convergence: The relationship between the Internet and broadcasting;
• Using SMS responses to build audience involvement;
• Professional development and training to raise the quality threshold;
• Using radio to expand audience reach in different languages.

Speakers:

Joe Mucheru, Google, Kenya

Kije Mugisha, Director, Rwanda TV

David Johnson, Broadcast TV and Film Training Centre, Kenya

Henri-Pierre Kabaka, West Africa Democracy Radio, Senegal

Ike Okere, Nigeria Radio

Kofie Dadzie, CEO, Rancard Solutions, Ghana

12.00 pm SESSION 10: Closing session – Creating an association of African broadcasters

There is currently no effective body that brings broadcasters together across the continent and allows them to address policy issues with government. There are a number of people who are keen to see such a body come into existence and this last session will look at how it might be set up.

POST­CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi
25 - 26 September 2008

Workshop 1 US$190

Living with fragmenting media markets – the twin pressures of competition and technology 3.00pm – 6.00pm Thursday 25 Sept 2008 Russell Southwood, CEO: Balancing Act, UK

Workshop 2 US$290

Script­writing and producing 9.00am­ 5.00pm Friday 26 Sept 2008 Lucy Scher, Director: The Script Factory, UK Prices include refreshments training materials and certificate of participation. For the full day course on Friday 26 September lunch is also included.

Workshop 1: Living with fragmenting media markets – the twin pressures of competition and technology

Using a unique set of industry data and audience surveys from all over Africa, Russell Southwood, CEO, Balancing Act (a telecoms, Internet and broadcasting consultancy) will identify the key changes occurring in the broadcast market including:

• The proliferation of Free­To­Air TV channels and the impact on the advertising market.
• The competition with other media including newspapers, the Internet and SMS.
• What content viewers and listeners trust and why.
• The current position in terms of the transition to digital and its likely impact on the market.
• The weak position of state broadcasters and how they might re­invent the public service role.
• The costs of buying international rights and programming and local production costs.
• The impact of Pay­TV subscribers and audiences on the Free­To­Air market.
• Different types of audiences, different types of advertisers and the issues of language.

He will look at how audiences are fragmenting both across the day and across different channels and media and at different strategies for thriving in rapidly changing circumstances.

The course is taught by Russell Southwood who is the co­author of African Broadcast and Film Markets.

Workshop 2: SCREENWRITING SYNOPSIS

This programme is designed for screenwriters who are working on a first draft screenplay, and for producers who are responsible for both spotting good ideas and developing them into better ones. It’s a long way from the computer screen to the big screen, and it takes talent, determination and more than a decent break to get there in any industry.

The Script Factory has devoted over a decade to working in the gap between new writers and the film industry, supporting writers through the early stages of their career and helping the industry identify and nurture new talent. Screenwriting is, of course, an artistic endeavour but a screenplay is also a product for an industry. Essential to success is an understanding of how a reader or producer determines the potential of a film idea and an awareness of the script development process.

This workshop aims to provide participants with the understanding they need to turn a strong idea into a well­crafted screenplay that has the potential to attract interest from producers, developers and funders.

Session 1 Stories & Genre

This first session considers the universal function of storytelling and examines how cinema audiences recognise and respond to different story types. Confusion over story type or genre is often cited as one of the key reasons why screenplays are rejected. A pile­up in a thriller may add to the excitement, yet a car­crash in a drama might be devastating. An understanding of the subtle (and not so subtle!) distinctions between genres is critical to managing the audience’s emotional response to the events on the screen. By considering the expectations inherent to each genre, we will begin to consider how to develop a screenplay that offers the reader a meaningful and satisfying story experience.

Session 2 Premise, Conflict & Structure

Whether it’s about saving the world or growing up, the success of every screenplay depends on the clarity and strength of the dramatic conflict. This session explores the kinds of problems that a screen character might face and considers how to ensure that the story is invested with enough potential conflict to sustain the tension for the duration of a feature film.

Lunch

Session 3 Character Choices

Writers love their characters. But however great your creations are, they must also be right for their dramatic function within the screenplay. This session looks at the effectiveness of your characters and considers how you can make sure that the audience loves them too.

Session 4 The Stuff of Good Screenwriting

As well as a damn good story, you need to convince whoever reads your screenplay that you have the technical craft skills to render your idea for the screen. This session explores how those elements of a screenplay are assessed in order to help you strengthen the dialogue, visual grammar and pace of your project.

The course is taught by Lucy Scher, director of The Script Factory and is delivered from the point of view of the script reader. There will be time for questions at the end of each session.

How to register

For further information and a registration form please contact

INTERNATIONAL: Helen Moroney
Email: info@aitecafrica.com
Tel: +44 1480 880774

KENYA: Celestine Macharia
Email: celestsinem@aitecafrica.com
Tel: 0212 1028

Or click here to access a registration form.
This is a Word document which you can save to your computer.

HELD UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS AND WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION OF KENYA

Hosted by AITEC Africa in partnership with
African Broadcast, Film and Convergence e-Letter

Call for Papers : Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Contributed by Sustainable Development Law & Policy Publication

Please note submission deadline of September 30 2008 and apply directly as indicated in the advert. Comments are closed for this post.

Sustainable Development Law and Policy (“SDLP”) is currently accepting submissions for its Fall 2008 issue that will focus on an array of legal and policy implications of current affairs in the global food industry. If you would like to submit an article for consideration, please send your paper or a summary of your topic to sdlp@wcl.american.edu ASAP. The deadline for submission of final papers will be September 30, 2008.

SDLP’s Food issue hopes to provide a forum for practitioners to discuss the legal, social, and political implications of the current global food crisis. We are hoping to evaluate issues such as, but not limited to, bioengineering, food labeling, food aid, climate change and food, intellectual property and food, and the Farm Bill. SDLP aims to represent a range of viewpoints, including those from academia, the private sector, public sector, multilateral organizations, and others. Please view our recent issues at http://www.wcl.american.edu/org/sustainabledevelopment/.

Requirements for Submissions:

• Articles or abstracts should be submitted to sdlp@wcl.american.edu.

• Articles must be no longer than 15 pages (double spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman print).

• Articles should be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word or a Word-compatible software program.

• All articles should attempt to follow the format presented in previous issues of SDLP. This includes an introduction, which outlines the rest of the article, and a conclusion. Please refer recent issues for examples.

• Please provide complete citations to every fact, opinion, statement, and quote that is not your original idea. Complete citations include: the name and author of the cited document, title of publication or publisher, date of publication, relevant page numbers, and specific website address.

• We encourage the submission of photographs and graphics to accompany your article. Please send proof of permission to use others’ images.

• Please include a 3-4 sentence biography of yourself and indicate whether you would like your email address included with the published article.

We reserve the right to reject submissions and hold all submissions on file for later publication. We also reserve the right to revise your submission and/or cut text. You will have the opportunity to accept or reject any revisions. SDLP accepts submission of timely articles that have already been published elsewhere, so long as permission of the previous publisher is received.

SDLP is available online at LexisNexis, Westlaw, VLex and Hein Online and is widely distributed throughout the Washington, DC community, law and graduate schools, and to representatives of international organizations worldwide. You can also view the pdf versions of recent SDLP issues at http://www.wcl.american.edu/org/sustainabledevelopment/.

Republic of Congo : Malaria train

I like the BBC photo essays. Here’s some good news coming out of the Republic of Congo. Go to BBC NEWS for the photo essay.

(If you’re muddled about the difference between the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (was Zaire) go here for a good explanation.)

In pictures: Malaria train

		Train engine A train carrying enough free mosquito nets for nearly one in ten of the population of the Republic of Congo has just travelled from the Atlantic port city of Pointe-Noire.

Full photo essay

Around Africa in a Phoenician boat

Archaeological reconstruction is an interesting branch of archaeology.  The aim is ‘to generate and test hypotheses or an interpretation, based upon archaeological source material’.  In this case a phoenician boat has been reconstructed from archaeological evidence and they plan to sail it round Africa. Here is the BBC report on it :

The boat is entirely wooden and has only one sail

On Arwad Island off the coast of Syria, a group of 20 sailors-to-be are preparing for a voyage their captain believes has not been undertaken for two and a half millennia. They plan to set off on Sunday on a journey that attempts to replicate what the Greek historian Herodotus mentions as the first circumnavigation of Africa in about 600BC.Read the full report

Opportunity for African linguists, computer science experts

Via the AfLaT Newsletter.

There is an interesting opportunity for African Universities and African students to be involved in the development of a new text messaging service in local languages. Please apply directly to the advertiser. Comments are closed for this post.

we are wondering if you or any of your colleagues who work in
the fields of linguistics, computer science or language teaching/literature
would be interested in helping us set up and staff a lab with native speakers of
the languages below. Our idea is that perhaps there are students who are native
speakers of these languages studying at your university who might help us test a
cell phone text messaging system. The lab would house computer equipment that we
would supply, and we would employ native speakers as testers as well as a
coordinator (a student at your university) to oversee the lab and troubleshoot
technical issues. Below is some information that you might want to forward to
your colleagues:

Zi Corporation has a potential project that involves collaborating with local
universities (to the mutual benefit participating universities and Zi) to set up
labs in areas where the target languages listed below are spoken. We are
interested in staffing these labs with native speakers (native speakers who are
naive users)  to do some usability testing and data checking /input for a cell
phone text messaging system which will be developed. We would also like to find
a coordinator for each lab and for the speakers who is university-based
(student).

The languages potentially under development will be Hausa, Igbo, Xhosa, Yoruba,
Zulu and Sesotho.

We are very interested in establishing contact with linguists, language
specialists and computer scientists at universities located in areas where the
languages listed above are spoken.

Please contact Margaret Salome, msalome(at)zicorp(dot)com for further details.
…

Best regards,

Margaret Salome
Senior Linguist
Zi Corporation

Prehistoric Morocco

There’s an interesting article on i-Africa about an archaeological dig which is shedding new light on the earliest inhabitants of North Africa.

Contrary to popular belief, the people who roamed north Africa in prehistoric times cared deeply for their children, recent discoveries by a team of Moroccan and British archaeologists show.

“For years these people have wrongly been thought of as individuals whose only wish was to eat, reproduce, and protect themselves from the elements and predators,” said Abdeljalil Bouzouggar of Morocco’s Institute of Archaeology and Heritage.

“Now we discover that 12000 years ago they granted their babies the same rights as adults.”

Read the full article

Podcast : Episode 11 of ‘Africa Past and Present’ Ethiopia

I’ve missed quite a few of these podcasts. Here’s the latest one:

Episode 11 of ‘Africa Past and Present’ - the podcast about history, culture,
and politics in Africa - is now available at: http://afripod.aodl.org/

CONTENTS: Solomon Addis Getahun (Central Michigan University) discusses the
history of Ethiopian immigrants and refugees in the USA. He describes the
diversity of Ethiopians in the diaspora and their community organizations. For
example, to carve out an autonomous space within US society, in 1984
Ethiopians established the Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America.
Solomon Addis Getahun explains how the annual ESFNA football (soccer)
tournament provides a festive place where Ethiopian identity is negotiated,
recreated and modified.

Next episode (Aug 30): Walter Hawthorne on black and brown rice, slavery and
the slave trade …               ********************

Africa Past and Present is hosted by Michigan State University historians
Peter Alegi and Peter Limb. It is produced by MATRIX - The Center for Humane
Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences Online at MSU
(http://www.matrix.msu.edu)
Listen and subscribe to the biweekly podcast at: http://afripod.aodl.org/

IS AFRICA CLOSER TO OCEANIA THAN TO EUROPE? VISIT TO AN EXHIBITION ON AFRICAN AND OCEANIAN ARTS.

Contributed by Kwame Opoku

IS AFRICA CLOSER TO OCEANIA THAN TO EUROPE? VISIT TO AN EXHIBITION ON AFRICAN AND OCEANIAN ARTS.
“We Westerners are the ones who confer the quality of art to these objects. These statues should not return to Africa.” Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller (1)

Baule Mask, Côte d’Ivoire, musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva.

Seldom have I been to an exhibition where almost everything seemed to have been so well-planned and very carefully considered as the exhibition at the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, entitled, Afrique - Oceanie, Les chef-d’oeuvres de la collection Barbier-Mueller,19 March - 24 August 2008.

To start with, the entrance to the exhibition premises in the very heart of Paris, in the eighth district, on the Boulevard Haussmann, a very busy area of Paris does not lead one to expect the calm and peace that reign in the premises once you have gone through the main gate. A slightly hilly driveway (used probably only for deliveries), with beautiful plants, leads you to the entrance of the exhibition building. You realize immediately that you are in the palace of a French noble. One can imagine open-air concerts and performances in the courtyard. Here is certainly an impressive ambience for exhibitions and other cultural activities.

Kintal-Loniake mask, Burkina Faso, musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva.

The African objects shown in the exhibition are some of the best that the African Continent has produced. Many of them are icons of beauty, elegance and provide a demonstration of the fine artistry and skill that exist in Africa. Each of the works would be, by itself, a sufficient reason for visiting the exhibition. The objects shown include statues, reliquaries, masks, totems, headdresses, pendants, swords, and other objects.

Reliquary figure, Fang, Gabon, musée Barbier-Mueller Geneva.

In looking at all these beautiful objects, one has to bear in mind the history of the relationship between Europe on the one hand, Africa and Oceania on the other. One has to presume that in the absence of evidence to the contrary, most of these objects must have been stolen at one time or other from the original owners.

The catalogue and the useful booklet produced for the exhibition do not give much information about the mode of acquisition except that most of the African pieces were acquired in the second half of the XX Century. (2) The Oceanian pieces were acquired in the period of 1960-1980 from Eastern European institutions and as the pamphlet adds, with the blessing of the ministries of culture of the countries concerned. The information given is usually sketchy and relates only to time, for example, “XX Century”, “XIX Century” and “XIX-XX Century”. We would have appreciated getting information that is more precise on the mode of acquisition. It is also strange that at a time when many people are talking about the UNESCO and UNIDROIT Conventions, we are given little information in this respect and so we have no means of checking on the provenance of any of the various objects in the exhibition.

If one relates the citation that these objects should never return to Africa with the lack of information on the mode of acquisition, one starts wondering whether the contempt poured on Africa, Africans, and the rallying call to Europeans might not be a defence mechanism to prevent any inquiries about the method of acquisition. (3) If an object has been legitimately acquired, why will the owner even think of the possibility of its being returned to the previous owner? Why will the legitimate acquirer despise the producer of the product he loves so much?

Another thought that accompanied me in viewing all these objects was the statement made by Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller in a radio interview with Radio France:

“Certain anthropologists claim that an African or Oceanian who’s deprived of his fetishes is a person who dies spiritually. Well, that’s not true! Man is much stronger than that! If you take away a Sicilian woman’s crucifix that she inherited from her grandmother, she doesn’t give up her Catholic faith! She doesn’t mope away in sadness. She goes to the next town, she buys a crucifix, she hangs it where the old one had been, and she returns to her prayers!” (4)

This is a remarkable statement coming from an art dealer who, as a member of the acquisition committee of the musée du Quai Branly, had made huge profits from selling to the museum some “276 Nigerian works of art for the sum of 40 million francs”. (5) It will be very difficult to convince visitors to this exhibition that the exquisite objects displayed there, some very large, are easily found in Africa and that they can in anyway be compared to crucifixes worn by

people in Sicily and can be easily replaced by a visit to the next town in Africa.

I kept asking myself even a more fundamental question. Why show African and Oceanian arts together? Is Africa nearer to Oceania than to Europe? Alternatively, is this because of perceived similarities between the two different traditions in art and religion? It is true that Western art dealers and museums talk as if the two, Africa and Oceania were neighbours. Many museums group African art and Oceanian Art together. The French had a museum called Musée National des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie where most of the stolen arts from these areas were stored until the musée du Quai Branly was established in 2006 and the objects transferred there. The only reason for grouping African art and Oceanian art together is the deep-seated conviction of many Westerners that these arts are primitive and should therefore be put in the same category. We know of no other situation where arts from different parts of the world are presented together, without any thematic connection. We have never seen any museum or collection group European and Asian arts together or Australian and American arts together.

The classification of African and Oceanian arts as primitive is long established in European and American intellectual traditions but apart from the assumptions of primitivism, there is no justification for that. Any argument based on similarities can be easily shown not to be the basis of classification here. There is surely much similarity in style and material between a lot of French and German painters but have we ever seen an exhibition entitled “Arts from France and Germany” or a museum for German and French arts?

Since the exhibition rooms, (we do not call them halls because they are somewhat small), are linked to another, it is not always easy to know whether one was looking at African art or Oceanian art. The uninitiated may come out thinking she or he has seen African objects when in fact they were Oceanian. True, the objects were clearly labelled and the explanations on the walls should help the visitor who reads carefully. However, why should one even have to ask the question whether one is looking at African or Oceanian art? An exhibition limited to one area would have made matters much clearer right from the entrance to the display. The collection has more than enough objects to devote an entire exhibition to one of the two areas.

Despite the above comments, we recommend the exhibition for the elegance, beauty, and the excellent craftsmanship that both the African and Oceanian objects display.

The exhibition makes one realize that many valuable art works have been taken from Africa to Europe and that the struggle to recover at least some of these objects will be extremely long, with open and direct resistance from those who believe they have a duty to save African cultural objects from the Africans. The visitor’s guide to the exhibition states in its introduction as follows: “Private collectors, ethnologists, enthusiasts and those who wanted to protect these works from deterioration and destruction brought about by time and ethnic wars, on the one hand focussed on an in-depth study of utilitarian or ritual objects that have become masterpieces in their own right”. (6)

Horse Rider with Sceptre, Ife, Nigeria, musée Barbier-Mueller Geneva.

In the last decades, many writers have stopped using the term “primitive art” because of its obvious derogative connotation but some still use it with inverted commas. Many have used sub