Cultural Policies in Africa Event

Tuesday, April 20th, 6 p.m.
Tagungszentrum Schloss Schönbrunn, Room 6
(http://www.schoenbrunn-tagungszentrum.at/tagen-feiern/anfahrt.html)

CULTURAL POLICIES IN AFRICA: SITUATION AND TRENDS

Lecture by Lupwishi Mbuyamba, Executive Director of the Observatory of Cultural Policies in Africa

Historical African Kingdoms and Empires had been paying a particular attention to heritage, its preservation and its transmission to next generations. A policy was established and a framework designed for.

The slave trade time as well as the colonial interim period did not interrupt the tradition in spite of efforts to eradicate, replace it and destabilize the process.

With political independence claims for the recognition of cultural identities arose .One would expect that strong and relevant cultural policies would have been defined, established and implemented to serve as guidelines to new modern nations.

From the current assessment of the situation in the 54 countries of the continent of which almost alhalf has been independent for 50 years of, it appears that a serious effort is still needed with regard to the right conception, definition and implementation of relevant cultural policies. Furthermore, a human resources capacity building strategy has to be undertaken at all levels, including local, urban and rural levels of government. Stakeholders, including civil society, women and youth need to embark on a global action not only for preservation but for fostering creativity and for efficient participation in the development process.