Making Africa’s cultural industry viable

IN TODAY’s story, I conclude my reflections on the recent African Union’s first Pan-African Writers Conference held in Accra, Ghana. A few days ago, I received a letter of appreciation from Ambassador Olawale Maiyegun, the Director of Social Affairs in the commission of the African Union. In part, the letter read:

“We are grateful for the time and effort you took to share your thoughts and experiences on Theme 5: Literature in Education. The delegates at the conference benefited a great deal from your experience, wisdom and knowledge on literature and reading issues.

“I look forward to continued support with regard to the Continental Literature Programme and other initiatives and activities, in particular, the implementation of the Pan-African Writers Conference Framework of Action.”

Before I go into some of the provisions of the Framework for Action (FA), I will make a few observations that may be critical to the successful roll-out and implementation of the framework’s content.

At most conferences, including the recent Pan-African Writers Conference, the presentations tend to be rather thin on reference and/or allusion to literature from Southern Africa.

This is despite the fact that we in SADC give due room and respect to literature from the rest of Africa.

Schools in Zimbabwe and the SADC revere literature from West Africa as a matter of course. The students can almost literally sing the names of authors and titles from West Africa at the expense of writers from their own region.

In these conferences, writers and scholars from West Africa and North Africa give each other prominence. It goes without saying that they weave the writings of people from their respective regions into their discourse.

When it comes to Zimbabwe, we see that writers like Ngugi from Kenya and one or two others including Okot p’Bitek are held in high esteem. We give the same kind of prominence to Nigerian writers and Ghanaian ones as well.

There is no doubt, however, that the writers in question richly deserve the accolades they get. It is just a question of balance. The situation becomes skewed when you find that hardly anyone from West Africa or North Africa mentions any writings from the SADC or even cites writers from there.

This apparent ignorance about books from Southern Africa, unless attended to, will impact negatively on the Pan-African Writers Conference Framework of Action. One struggles to understand the “ignorance” given that many prominent writers from our region have their works translated left, right and centre and have international awards to their names.

In order to help brand the region’s literature, certain selfless actions are necessary in the short-to-medium term.

For example, there is now a regular conference at Oxford University in honour of Dambudzo Marechera; he is the writer most often identified with by budding writers. And yet there is no Dambudzo Marechera colloquium in Zimbabwe. Is this not a great opportunity we are spurning? The University of Zimbabwe and indeed the country’s other universities could be more enterprising in this regard. Writers and publishers could enter the fray as well by being more readily visible when it comes to the propagation and marketing of their works.

We need to recognise piracy for what it is and classify it as an evil that has to be removed permanently from among us. We need more writers to live off their writings. This must not be a novelty associated with the likes of Stephen Alumenda, Shimmer Chinodya, Albert Nyathi and one or two others. Musician and ace guitarist Mono Mukundu, recently published a book (his second) entitled “Poor and Famous.” Mono’s book title aptly captures the predicament of most writers. Of course in recent times there are those writers who have pandered to outside interests and written things that gave them prizes and money.

Until recently, anyone writing and publishing in Western capitals was likely to get adulation and awards for the simple fact of having joined the Bob-bashing train. Such writing was propaganda without being art. Some of the names in NoViolet Bulawayo’s “We Need New Names” could never have been rendered in IsiNdebele. Bulawayo would have become ostracised and classified as an unprincipled and uncouth person. I cannot imagine a Shona-speaking parent reading Bulawayo’s book out loud with the children. Her book would suffer the same fate as Jacob Moyana’s raunchy songs that flared for a while before dying down and becoming cold ash. Bulawayo’s book should be PGA.

Before Independence, we read Nabokov’s “Lolita” under strict supervision by library staff at the University of Rhodesia, as it was. The book was under a ban from the censorship board.

Translating “We Need New Names” into IsiNdebele is likely to be an onerous task. Let alone trying for a Shona version.

Africa needs books that can buy into the new trajectory of cohesion and oneness. Recent moves to guarantee freedom of movement for goods and people is a positive thing. We hope that books also enjoy this same freedom beyond national frontiers and that in the end, Africans will read more books by African writers at home and in the Diaspora.

Cultural industries contribute to the welfare of host countries. To succeed in this, it is necessary to look at a number of things, including translation.

Translation is a very good way of bringing people together regardless of ethnic and other boundaries. Here we are not referring to translations from our languages to African languages of foreign origin (English, French, Spanish, Afrikaans and so on) only, but also to translation, say from IsiNdebele to ChiShona, and vice versa. Since language carries a people’s thought and philosophy, reading translations can help bring people together. They can find each other through reading books from each other’s writings.

Participants at the Accra conference (2018) made recommendations for the Framework of Action adopted at the first African Union Pan-African Writers Conference in Accra recently. The conference had seven themes and each of the conference facilitators chose one theme from the seven and presented a paper on it.

“Theme One” was aimed at promoting African Literature and reading. The thinking was that African writers have a role to play in enhancing the continent’s African identity and in encouraging the shared values that can make integration easier. In this regard, AU member states are expected to fast-track the ratification of the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance (2006).

This charter, among other things, is designed to promote the use of African languages through reading and writing.

Furthermore, member states are expected to put in place steps to make African literary works easily accessible and affordable.

It was also agreed that member states were to start developing a reading culture in children as early as possible.

Such reading should also take place in our languages. Importantly for writers whose intellectual property is being violated through piracy, it was agreed that the African Union Model Law on the Protection of Cultural property and heritage be domesticated and popularised as a way of combating the illicit trafficking of the continent’s cultural goods.

It was also agreed that the African Union (AU) and the Pan-African Writers Association (PAWA) should enter into partnerships with agencies in Africa and institute prizes and awards aimed at promoting literature as well as a sound reading culture in our youth. To do this effectively, the Framework of Action recognises the need for digital technologies in the form of smart phones through which E-books can be accessed. ◆ David Mungoshi is a writer, editor

and social commentator.

Read full article on www.herald. co.zw