Diogenes articles from December 1998

Diogenes archives from December 1998

Preface.
December 22, 1998... Like any other part of the world, Africa is not immune to the intermingling of cultures and civilizations, heritages and horizons, the endogenous and the exogenous, knowledge and imagery. The effects of new communication and information...

The Struggle for a Second Independence.
December 22, 1998... Sociopolitical Construction of Space in Africa The twentieth century in Africa, more than elsewhere in the world, has been an era of startling and unprecedented changes. These changes have been most dramatic with respect to the...

African Civilizations between the Winds of East and West.
December 22, 1998... Among the intellectuals who have significantly contributed to the discussion of Africa's place in the concert and/or shock of civilizations, Kwane Nkrumah, Cheikh Anta Diop, Samir Amin, Ali Mazrui, Amilcar Cabral could be found in a pertinent...

Globalization and Diaspora.
December 22, 1998... "O Brave New World..." Shakespeare, The Tempest As James Caesar highlights in Reconstructing America,(1) the word "globalization" seems sometimes to be synonymous with "Americanization" or "Americanism," evoking negative images....

The African American as African.
December 22, 1998... Who am I? One day a newly hatched eagle fell from its mother's clutches as she was flying over a chicken yard. The young eagle grew up in the chicken yard with young chickens and took on the habits, customs, and behavior of chickens. He...

Contemporary African Art.
December 22, 1998... A Multilayered History It is always pretentious to treat African art as though a unitary vision of art as it is currently practiced in Africa were possible. This point of view in fact ignores or neglects African diversity: the individual...

Contribution to an Analysis of the Daily Life of African Women.
December 22, 1998... To speak of women in Africa is to take a number of symbolic relationships governing individuals' lives into consideration. It is a fact that societies today are characterized by the massive presence of the phenomenon of urbanization. The women...

Somali.
December 22, 1998... From an Oral to a Written Language Before 1972 Somalia had no official writing system for its language. In spite of this, those who bred animals (camels, cattle, sheep, and goats) and who, owing to a lack of water in the country were...

Decolonising the Mind(*).
December 22, 1998... The question is this: we as African writers have always complained about the neo-colonial economic and political relationship to Euro-America. Right. But by our continuing to write in foreign languages, paying homage to them, are we not on the...

Why Do We Write in French?(use of mother tongue by African writers)
December 22, 1998... The Traitor here reveals his original situation, which is (virtual) treachery. In so doing he "betrays" us, since this situation is also ours, but it is in showing ourselves that we betray, insofar as we claim to be entirely on one side or...

Writing and Life.
December 22, 1998... (Based on conversations with Sony Labou Tansi(*)) I'll say first why I write. It intrigues me, I wonder why I write. How it is that I write and why it's so important. I take this as an act of life. One thing that scares me as a writer is a...

Economic Models and Practice in Africa.
December 22, 1998... Introduction Economic models, like scientific paradigms, predispose actors towards certain patterns of behavior or practices. Over time these become accepted as normal practice which everybody is expected to observe or to follow. This is...

Governance, Security and Conflict Resolution in Africa.
December 22, 1998... In our book, Arms and Daggers in the Heart of Africa,(1) Michael Olisa noted that external intervention in an internal conflict could be problematic even if carried out on humanitarian grounds. All sides of the conflict must see the intervening...

Palabre.(language and politics)
December 22, 1998... Definition What is palabre?(1) Not only an exchange of words, but also a social drama, a procedure, and set of human interactions. Palabre is therefore a putting into scene, a putting into order, and a putting into words It represents...

Sozaboy.(Fiction)
December 22, 1998... Sozaboy's language is what I call "rotten English," a mixture of Nigerian pidgin English, broken English and occasional flashes of good, even idiomatic English.(1) This language is disordered and disorderly. Born of a mediocre education and...

Can Philosophy Be Intercultural?
December 22, 1998... An African Viewpoint As we push closer to the twenty-first century, it is relevant to speculate whether the different peoples of the world can have any prospect of a more peaceful coexistence in the coming millennium than hitherto. It...

Philosophical Sketches on African Becomings.
December 22, 1998... When the "object" gazed at is called Africa and when the gazing subject is Africa, the observer cannot help but conclude that any gaze that is related to Africa is an intersection of gazes calling forth several questions: Who is looking at...

Son of Angola.
December 22, 1998... Sofrimento(*) P'ra que tanta dor P'ra que tanto odio Se somos irmaos E temos e temos e temos Que dar as maos (bis) Olha o sofrimento, olha o tormento Que vem ca de dentro A nossa terra esta a...