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What can we learn from Africa? by santini297 |
postings
 
Harry Wu: Why does the asker not ask what we can learn from Asia or from South America but ask what we can learn from Africa? by Harry Wu |
Helena Norberg-Hodge: I believe that we can learn from Africa two very important lessons. One of them is from traditional Africa. There's a wealth of knowledge about how to live on this earth in a way that is adapted to the natural world, that is adapted to the specifics of place, the desert peoples, the mountain peoples, the forest peoples, their different practices, their different ways of living. We can learn from them, too, how to live in community. How to expand our sense of self beyond the isolated, frightened individual. From modern Africa we can learn how destructive an economic development is that takes people away from community, that takes them away from their self-respect, from their sense of place, from their connection to the living world. That removal that modern development brings about creates fear, insecurity, competition, and traditional Africa versus modern Africa is a very profound lesson in where we've gone wrong and where we need to go to find our way back home. Back home where we belong. Closer to the natural world. And closer to community. |
Homero Aridjis: What can we learn from Africa, but also, what can we learn from Latin America, Asia, Europe and even from Belgium? |
Irina Yasina: You know there are such places on the Earth that teach by their own example how not to do, e.g. Russia. Great Russian philosopher Chaadaev wrote at the beginning of the 19th century that Russia exists to be for other nations the example how they have not to do. As I have grown up and live in Russia I realize that all our experiments on ourselves should have been examples not to be followed. Africa is sometimes like that. Many African countries had a lot and put a lot at risk and lost a lot, and they are examples of how not to do. But of course there are some positive aspects. For example I have bought special shoes for my parents because my mother has troubles with her feet and my father is not young any more too. These shoes are created according to a technology that they have learned by the Massai tribe. These tall, strong and beautiful people walk on the very hard ground their whole life. And they have such a special feet form that scientists have studied this phenomenon and created very comfortable shoes for people who have problems with their feet. But it is only one little example. I think it is possible to learn a lot of things if studying carefully African culture and traditions. I have been only in few places in Africa. I have been to Egypt and this is still Africa even if only according to its geographical location on this continent. But however the whole European civilisation started there. So you decide it. by Irina Yasina |
Jerry Mander: Well, my God. Africa’s one of the most fantastic places in the world with some of the most fantastic peoples in the world and there’s no limit to what we can learn about culture and wisdom and relationships in nature and nature itself. It’s so – it’s one of the greatest things about life that these tremendous diversity of cultures exist and is still happening, although under great pressure to homogenize itself. But this is crucially important to appreciate this and I think Africa has suffered terrible impacts from colonialism and slavery and racism, but still sustains itself as a visible, viable or potentially totally viable set of cultures and wisdom traditions and economic practices and political practices. And we have – there’s no end to what we can appreciate and learn from that. by Jerry Mander |
Jesper Green: We can look at Africa and we can see what happens when other states exploit other states. They can see whole longterm damage those countries suffer. We can learn a lot about family values from Africa, from some communities in Africa. And of course we can learn what not to do, how we should not organize our community, how we should not let dictators rule. But what we really could learn is what happens when other states exploits other states and what the longterm damage is that we could learn from watching, looking at Africa. by Jesper Green |
Jodie Evans: There are so many things. We can learn the beauty of diversity. That gets so contorted when we call it just Africa. I mean Africa has a diversity that is rich and fabulous and we can learn the connection to nature and story and myths and dreams and the distortion and violence that happens when “white” colonial economic power comes in. We can see how that violates beauty and harmony and relationship to earth and -- I think I answered one of the other questions about for me as a woman and what I learn from Africa is from the women; their strength, their tenacity, their intelligence, their capacity to stay, to draw their power from their femininity. It's the one place I can go where women who hold power in that country have found their way there by their heart. By knowing exactly what it is. The community needs, knowing what needs to be taught, knowing what caring is. Coming from that place I find that it is the African women that have done that in spades. They have blazed new trails; they have thought of new ways of governance, they've been able to find their way to power by nurturing, and coming from their deepest feminine power. by Jodie Evans |
John Gage: There is no Africa. 54 countries today constitute what you call the continent of Africa. But, in another sense, there is an Africa. There is an area where people of thousands of different languages share a common component of African life, which could be expressed in some simple way as an acceptance of the power of family, of the power of openness and exchange, to generalize across many very different cultures. And African style of acceptance and welcome is a style that offers a portion of what exists to be shared with others that may come to visit, may suddenly appear, whether they are part of the same tribe, the same family, whether they speak the same language, some degree of openness. It is a false generalization to say Africa. It is a false generalization to say any group of people share common characteristics. But I think what the question implies by this aggregate reference is the spirit of openness and warmth, which is often associated with all of the – at least most of the cultures of Africa when people visit, when people come away with stories about how it is that people behave in Africa. So, what can we learn from this continent, what can we learn from these people, what can we learn from the cradle of all humanity, where we all come from? We can learn today in Rwanda, in Uganda, in Kenya, we can learn the lives of people who have been buffeted by the most extreme conditions. Ethiopia, plunging into famine because the drought when it arrives kills all human production, the crops die, the cattle die, no source of food remaining, yet the culture has survived. The people share and people [audio ends]. by John Gage |
Jonathan Granoff: My experience in Africa was being overwhelmed by the capacity of peoplewho - who I saw who had so little physically, but who still had so much dignity and the capacity to celebrate life. And a sense of disquiet over living in a place where there was just - there was just so much physical abundance, and so little celebration. So maybe we could learn to have a greater sense of gratitude, appreciation, and celebration. We could learn in the developed world the joy of sharing, and we could learn so much from people in Africa, of the value of elders, the value of community, the value of family, and the ability of the human spirit to overcome very difficult conditions. Everybody faces difficult conditions sometime in their lives. Everybody faces death. Everybody experiences betrayal. Everybody experiences disappointment. We need the spiritual resources that - that come from within the human heart. To be able to overcome all of these very universal challenges. I think that it's called wisdom. Wisdom paid for through going through adversity, and there are people in Africa who've acquired that. There are people everywhere who have, but you see it so clearly. |
Jonathan Meese: We can learn everything from Africa because Africa is Africa and shows us itself. Africa is everything, a political dance, an earth, a power, a love. Africa is its own humbleness, a song, a colour, light, nature, water, life, everything is Africa. We are the lovers of Africa. Africa is the animal, the predator, the cat, the prey. Africa is Akhenaten, light, Africa is the waterfall, it is the centre of energy. Africa is a ship, a storm, Africa teaches us that we cannot learn anything. Man is not able to learn art and not able to teach it too. Africa is a dream, a desire, a hope and its own reality and forms itself as it wants to. |
Jonathan Stack: I mean one thing we need to learn is that Africa isn't just one place. Africa is many things. So, there is no one thing to learn. What else we can learn? I will tell you one thing I learned from Africa. I learned extraordinary generosity. I have never been in a place where I saw more kindness and more predisposition to giving. I lived in a small village in Liberia during the civil war and when I had to give, I gave to children who were starving to death, and in all the giving, I never once saw a child take a piece of food and not share it. They didn't know how to share; it was like genetically built in somehow to like give to those around them, to their children, to their younger brothers, sisters, parents. That is amazing because I think the selfishness in my world is so prevalent that that is -- it's like almost unfathomable. The other thing that I saw was resourcefulness. We were staying in this full house and we were -- we brought with us tins of food and after we would eat, we were throwing the tins out the back. Like a few days later, I saw these little cars appearing, like kids are taking the cans, cut little holes, built wheels and then made toys. And they were working around with their little tin cars down their miserable streets that had -- going to their miserable homes with no food. But, they have found a way to take something and turn it into piece of artwork, a source of joy for themselves and pleasure. And I just -- things like that that just makes you know like there is so much hope out there. And so, hope, generosity, kindness, these are all things you can learn from Africa. Africa also provides us an opportunity to -- endless opportunity it could be anywhere though, just because there is so much need there and then there is so much opportunity to give and remind you that you as an individual, you don't have to like change the world. That is the greatest place where the small deed can make a huge difference in a person's life. |
José Manuel Prieto: Africa is a continent, where people live in closer contact with nature and have ideas and stereotypes less contaminated. I think that African culture, the way people perceive the world is special. And this special way of perceiving the world is visible in countries like Cuba, Brasil and the United States where African people already form a substantial part of the population. African people got assimilated to these countries, so that Brasil, Cuba and the United States are transmitting and "translating" the values of African culture and religion. There are many other elements in those societies originally brought from Africa too. I think this is something not only to be learnt but that is already being appllied and that has changed the world signifficantly. I think it can be observed in any sphere of modern life. |
Jwan M. Aziz: What to learn from Africa, from the black continent? We can learn the wisdom, the patience and the struggle. Thank you. by Jwan M. Aziz |
Kailash Satyarthi: Well, we can learn a lot. First of all, we learn from Africa the beauty in black. We learn from Africa hopes in despair. We learn from Africa smile in poverty. We learn from Africa enthusiasm in scarcities and difficulties. We learn life from Africa. We learn struggle and strong human zeal from Africa, we can learn a lot. But on the other hand, we can also learn that how the conflicts and violence keep on perpetuating poverty and all kind of problems and difficulties and diseases. We can also learn that if you keep on begging all the time in front of the rich nations and rich communities, you will always remain poor and you will always remain vulnerable. So, it is also a learning that one can stand up for themselves to fight for their rights, otherwise you always be exploited, your natural resources, your human resources will be exploited by others. So, be very careful about it and that is one can learn from Africa definitely. We can also learn that we have to be very careful about the HIV AIDS because Africa is the worst sufferer of HIV AIDS. We can also learn that unless we connect ourselves with a power of knowledge of the present age and the power of information we cannot be benefited out of the globalization and a just-full market economy. So that is very necessary to learn from Africa, one can learn from Africa all those things. |
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by Kamal Boullata | 0 votes | 
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Kigge Hvid: What can we learn from Africa? One of the things one can learn about is a wonderful nature. This I have done. No seriously, what one can learn from Africa, is what happens when one colonizes a country. What we can learn from Africa is what happens when one form of culture is, with use of power, is forced into a different form of culture. What happens when one form of economy is forced to be used suppressing another. That was what happened during the colonizing of Africa, and it has shown to be a really, really bad example. So we can show that if development should happen and if changes should happen in a community, then it is crucial it happens by the support of the humans living in that community. Supported by the culture in the community in question and not by a superior force and an outside [here I believe, she would rather use the stronger expression: uncomprehending] culture. I think another and more recent thing we could learn from Africa is, that development aid which is only focusing about: “lets pour a huge sum of money down to you and help you with a lot of different things without making ourselves acquainted with it” this kind of development aid does not help. If development aid is going to work, then one has to get oneself acquainted with the users, for instance being the Africans, needs. To understand what kind of place you are going to operate in, and to use the development aid for strengthening the local population and not just pump economical funds into the area. One has to strengthen, so the local population itself can take control of the development in the country. by Kigge Hvid |
Lesego Rampolokeng: What can who learn from Africa? I would believe that there is yet some more othering some exotization, some little ghetto created that gets placed in some little corner and people can then ask themselves what they can learn from it in their superiority. What can we learn from the world? If Africa is a spot on the face of the earth where human beings live, human beings of all colors, of all races, people with different sizes of mind, of soul, of thought, of spirit, of soul, if Africa is more than just a black spot on the face of the earth, then we have got well the ‘we’ who seeking have got as much to learn from it as there are human beings in Africa. If there are 50 million, if there are 500 million, if there are 5 billion Africans on the African continent, then there should be to learn 5 million concepts, things, walking, being. I would believe that Africa does not exist on one dimension, does not exist on one plain, that Africa is a multi-zone, that Africa has got a multitude of views, of visions just like the rest of the world, that Africa contributes and can contribute to the world as much as if not more than any other part of the world that then to single Africa out and ask oneself what is to be learned there from me wreaks 1) of racism; 2) of worst things than that. Can learn about life, #1. Can learn about how to have a soul. |
Leung Ping-Kwan: I think in this question, the word 'Africa' should be symbolic because I don’t really want to answer what can we learn from Africa? Because I think the question should be, what we can learn from other cultures? I mean we can learn from Asia, we can learn from South America, we can learn from Eastern Europe, we can learn from any other culture, I mean, it should not be just Africa, but we can learn a lot from the cultures that is not our own. There’s a lot that we can talk about them and maybe not enough time to talk about it but I think the way to raise the question should be, what can we learn from other culture? I mean in their case, Africa should not be a kind of exotic example, we can also learn from Germany or we can even learn from United States. I mean, there are always other things from the other culture that we can learn from. We should not see the other culture, exotic or satanic. The other culture would have its own characteristic, its particular feature that we can learn from and the more we can appreciate or understand, or learn from other culture, our life will be richer and we will be enriched by these other cultures, not just Africa. |
Lijun Fang: We can learn music, dance and arts. Besides, we can see more what are part of human instincts. We also can see some common talents, say sports. by Lijun Fang |
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