“Good News From Africa” – Session 4: Culture & Society

VIDEO: “Good News From Africa” Session 4: Society & Culture

April 16, 2010

The Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future held an all-day conference on ‘Good News from Africa’ as part of its Africa 2060 program of research. The conference was held on Friday, April 16, 2010 at the Boston Law School and brought together experts from a variety of fields and from across the world and an audience of nearly a hundred to discuss different aspects of Africa’s longer-range future.

The all-day conference featured four panels which focussed, respectively, on Social Development, on Markets and Economy, on Politics and Institutions, and on Society and Culture), a lunch keynote address, and a post-conference reception with African food and music.

In his opening remarks Prof. Adil Najam, the Director of the Pardee Center laid out the concept behind the conference and highlighted that the conference took a purposely broad and long-range view of Africa. He urged participants to take the future and the study of the future seriously in thinking about the things that can be done today to make Africa’s tomorrows better. Prof. Najam thanked the African Studies Center (ASC), the African Presidential Archives and Research Center (APARC) and the Global Health and Development Center (GHDC), all also at Boston University for collaborating in the design and organization of the conference. He highlighted the breadth and depth of African studies across all campuses of Boston University.

The final panel looked at issues related to culture and society and was chaired by Prof. Fallou Ngom. Prof. Bahru Zewde focused on various aspects of society and looked at the trends, including in sports. However, he focussed specially on scholarship and knowledge networks in Africa and reviewed their progress. Dr. Marc Sommers’ presentation looked at youth in Africa and he highlighted this as a major challenge for the future and one that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Finally, Dr. Heran Sereke-Brhan talked about the role of music and film at a pan-Africa level and highlighted how active these fields are and how a distinct African identity is visible. She especially focused on the ‘Nollywood’ film industry which is thriving not just in Nigeria but all over Africa, including in the African diaspora and beyond.

Each of the panels, and the keynote address, were followed by lively and engaging discussion sessions with the audience. After concluding remarks from the Pardee Center Director, a reception was held at the Africa Studies Center which featured African food and live African music played by Balla Tounkara, a master kora player from Mali.

As part of the Pardee Center’s Africa 2060 program, the conference also helped launch a number of Africa 2060 publications – including recent Pardee Papers on regional development in Africa and on narcotics trade through Africa, and recent Pardee Center Issues in Briefs on the changing perceptions about Africa, on obesity in Africa, on developing a resilience index for Africa, on Malaria in Africa, and on agriculture and climate change in Africa. A number of other Africa 2060 related publications are now in the pipeline and others will continue to be developed, including one reporting on this conference.

Papers and slides from the panels will soon be available here. Publications coming out of the Pardee Center Africa 2060 program are available here.