Africa in Transition: Finding inspiration for the Africa we want in the Africa that exists
Presenting Africa Week! Join us for a week-long collaborative effort to bring attention to the globally celebrated Africa Day on 25 May.
2023, in particular, is a milestone year as we celebrate 60 years of the mission for African unity and the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU).
The African Union’s theme for Africa Day 2023 is “Our Africa, Our Future”, which is timely for several reasons. From Pereira, Lavery, Moyo, Selomane, Sitas, Sitas, and Trisos (2021):
“Based on current global trends, the future will be unashamedly African: by the year 2050, 40% of all children will be in Africa. In fact, the future of the Global North may likely look increasingly like the present of the Global South, with increasing informality, deregulation, and polyculturalism; in other words, ‘EuroAmerica is evolving towards Africa’.
It is thus critically important not only to ‘write Africa into the world’, but also to ‘write the world from Africa’.”
The aim of Africa Week is to bring more attention to the narratives on the African future, the stories that can contribute to shaping the Africa We Want because we believe that it can be found in the Africa that exists. In our communities, our organisations, and our institutions in the spirits and the minds of the people on this continent.
So, beginning with the Launch event of Africa Week at the CoCreate Hub, the week will include dialogue sessions, activities, experiences and competitions that aim to:
- find positive and creative ways to express and experience what it means to be African in South Africa
- encourage conversations on the current, limiting narrative of Africa and how to co-create better visions of the future
- gather in spaces that make diverse engagements possible to improve understanding of the interconnectedness of our work and/or study
- realise (and communicate) why Africa is NOT a country
- win some great prizes
Sign-up for the Africa Week events here: https://forms.office.com/r/4fUNUJqn2E
