that we work in partnership with institutions, more so then with governments. Having something that you give to institutions in Ghana independently of government, means you are helping them to do the things that they need to do. That is always open to us, and we should consider that.
Titos Sompa: I would like to emphasize what my elders said, because I
think you forget that governments in Africa are very unstable. If you give money to them, as an artist we don't get the money. So I agree with saying that when you form these centers, these centers are people who care about what the need is for the artist in Africa. So when you go to ICAMD, those are the ones we should emphasize and direct our energy towards.
Chris Waterman: It is true, also I know here, in order to support a server on
which you could run a web page or to maintain a lap top computer, you need people who are technically-trained, otherwise they are gone within a year, no matter what. The kinds of support an institution might offer would also
include that sort of personnel. Otherwise it’s rather like sending instruments
to some place without a musician to teach people how to play.
Ruth Stone: The way we arranged it on a web project was that Jasper Addo
came from the ICAMD center and spent six weeks at Indiana, learning everything he could about web page construction. At the same time an advanced graduate student from our institution went to Ghana for six weeks. So all together these two people, from two institutions, worked together for twelve weeks on the project. What is amazing is how skilled people can become in a short time. My husband works in Saudi Arabia, and his best Microsoft technicians come from Eritrea and Sudan, they are absolutely brilliant, because they can think outside ordinary lines, they come up with ways Microsoft has never thought of to use the programs Microsoft has created. So I think if you just give a bit of help, you will find that you can easily train people in different places, to keep up the machines, but we have to give continued support.
Daniel Reed: I want to build upon the idea of the survey that Ruth
mentioned here, and to some extent the reciprocity issue that Frank was mentioning earlier. The more avenues and resources that we can find to funnel back to Africa, in gratitude for the knowledge that we are receiving, the better. I was thinking that another thing we should do with the survey is to list ways that we have individually found to be reciprocal. How is it working in our particular cases, because each case is different, each country is different, each culture is different. What ways have individuals found effective for returning recordings, money, ideas, or knowledge? Also, what ways are institutions finding to network? As Frank was saying earlier, this really should be a natural and integral part of what we do.
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Amandina Lihamba: Just a small point. I think that as we are looking at
these areas of linkages, one of the problems I think we face is how to make not just African to American linkages, but African to African linkages. I think that if there is any possibility, we should include in these programs and proposals resources that include African to African connections. It is an area that needs quite a lot of exploration.
James Makubuya: As of course you all realize, Sub-Saharan Africa is a
region that is extremely complex, and I am going to make this statement. As much as we may make linkages, I think it is important to establish some kind of direct connection within the institution or department where we may supply resources. I know of a place, which I will not name here. They received a set of computers from West Germany. They got to the place, but only the devil knows where they are. It is not only government we should be worried about, it is also institutes of higher learning. So it is very good that we sit here, and say we have got to recycle twenty-five computers, and identify a school somewhere in sub Sahara Africa. They might get there, but the donor may be shocked that ten months down the line we have no idea where the computers went. So it is an excellent idea, but at the same time we should have a direct connection to find out where this has gone, and who is in charge, Say professor Nketia, and then we hold him responsible for that (laughter).
Daniel Reed: That is what I was saying, I think we should document these
cases that have been successful. If we can share that information with each other, those times in which the computers actually got where they were supposed to go. How did we do it? How did it work?
Chris Waterman: Let's just mention that there is massive embezzlement
and disappearance of computers in the United States, so we don't target this as only an African problem. We are more willing to send things to help the Nigerian's now that Abacha is gone, changes happen in government, and your level of confidence shifts.
Jacquline Cogdell DjeDje: In this dialog, I think it is also important that we
take our cue from Africans as well. I think it's safe to say we need computers and we send people computers, but I think that the African voice in each institution might be different. Nketia might have certain needs, but if you go to Mali those particular individuals might have other kinds of needs. So we have to make sure that this is a collaboration that is equal.
Chris Waterman: Our students need to know the history of the disasters in
development, you know, the introduction of crops that actually caused worse problems than were there originally. If a student takes a development course you learn about some of these things and become more sensitive about those issues.
Akin Euba: There are many things that have been aired in this panel to
which I would like to respond and comment on, but again maybe there will be other chances in the course of the delegation. One thing I want to support
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is one made Dr. DjeDje a few minutes ago about trying to assess what Africans really want. How do they see their own development needs? I have been living in the USA for the past seven years, and I am terrified by the dominance of technology. I am terrified by the way we seem to put everything on technology. We are being brainwashed by the people who commercialize technology. They make it so important in our lives, that we are completely hooked on technology, and we think that Africans want to think the same way.
If we had the funds we would like to develop technology, but maybe we should thank God that we don't have the funds, because what happens when technology collapses? There was a time when I was boy in Nigeria that we did not rely so much on technology. In fact there was hardly any air conditioning. There was a ceiling fan or you could open your windows, but then we became hooked on air conditioning, and then of course when there was no power we were in trouble because the building was designed with no windows! I am not condemning technology, I think a certain degree of technology is necessary to our lives. We need to save lives, and we need to use medical technology, but we should not rely on technology so much that we overlook other things. There was a time when Nigeria was oil-rich and we refused to develop agricultural resources that might have been more beneficial. Now they are thinking that the oil is going to expire. We could have exploited all kinds of things but then we concentrated on oil. One of the things Africa might contribute to future development is that they have resources, and I think that we should begin to think beyond technology.
Chris Waterman: Might it be true though, that technology, as defined as ”being Western”, needs to be re-evaluated? I mean if you look at the new volume on the history of African photography, which is very rich in evidence of a long history of African photography, to say that the camera is a Western thing of course doesn't make any sense. Who is to say that in the future, which parts of what we are calling technology will be used by whom? It is hard to predict that. With that, I would like to thank the first panel very much for a great discussion (applause).