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"Emory
and the Future of Africa: A Panel Discussion with James Wagner, President, Emory University and others Sponsored by Center for Health,
Culture and Society November 8, 2005, 4 p.m |
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President James Wagner. (Photographer: Jon Rou) |
Peter Brown, CHCS Director, introducing panelists. |
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“The Future of Africa” has been very much in the news this year. The Commission for Africa, a group of African and European experts, assembled by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, compiled a report on the subject, bearing the eloquent title “Our Common Interest”. In July, the Live 8 concerts were organized around the world to bring the pressure of public opinion to bear on the G8 leaders around the Commission for Africa’s headline recommendations: fairer trade, more and better aid, and debt relief. Organized by the Center for Health, Culture, and Society (CHCS), a group of faculty and student leaders has been meeting here at Emory over the course of the semester to discuss what the student response should be. In September President Wagner traveled to Africa with President Carter to explore potential partnerships for Emory. He agreed to share his impressions with us. Members of the Emory community with interests in Africa also agreed to respond and to share their insights. This panel therefore brings together current debate around "The Future of Africa" with debate around the potential for future partnerships between Emory and Africa. Other panelists and notes of their comments are below: For article in The Emory Report, click here. |
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DEBORAH MCFARLAND Africa is not monolithic – 700 million people in 54 sovereign nations – 48 mainland and 6 island states. Humility! My most rewarding experiences have come and do come by working alongside (in partnership with) Africans in Africa and here at Emory. We – Emory – are rich! Ethical and moral imperative to share our wealth – human resources and fiscal. Our bully pulpit. Use it. Transparency – Emory’s investments. If we expect transparency from governments and ngos, can expect no less from ourselves. Investments, trade essential drugs, patents. 2 way interaction – learning and teaching goes both ways. Capacity building is too often seen as us (Emory) having the capacity and taking it to them (Africa). Need the reverse. Weak infrastructures – my area – health systems – we are finally learning that you can’t keep putting more and more ‘interventions’ and programs on more and more fragile systems. Many disciplines – health sciences, business, political science, economics. University links – African universities are in poor shape –
desperate shape in many cases. Not all but most. Emory – choose
not the richest and the most well endowed but where there is greatest
need and most willingness and understanding for collaboration –
it will take time. Must understand the opportunity cost of working in
partnership. Emory – build networks based on the graduates from africa we already have – many in public health but from other disciplines as well. If we really want to establish partnerships, then have to keep our networks intact – don’t let people disappear. Convene emory alum conference every 3 years in africa. Our expense. Cross national, cross disciplinary.
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• Facts about sub Saharan Africa countries: – 70-80 % of the people live in the rural areas, and more than
80% of their health problems are preventable. I will not bore you with
more statistics, but in summary poverty and ill health are the main
songs year after year. • Implications – Dealing with the disadvantaged: • Emory’s Role: (1) Emory should partner with relevant institutions (educational, government,
business and NGOs) in order to identify and diffuse innovations that
are helpful to the disadvantaged. • be cheap, easy to maintain and replicable by disadvantaged
communities (e.g solar systems for cooking, lighting and pumping water,
building appropriate and affordable family houses etc);
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MARTHA CAREY My personal path and relationship with Africa has been unique, and so I thought I would begin by explaining how I became involved with Africa. I spent my undergraduate junior year abroad studying in the small town of Machakos, Kenya with a Quaker school whose philosophy is based on experiential learning. While I was in Kenya, Ethiopia was embroiled in civil war, Nairobi was full of refugees, and Somalia was on the brink of their own civil war. I quickly realized that I was not going to learn the skills necessary to deal with these types of real-life problems solely through academic work. So, after completing my BA in Anthropology, I returned to the Horn of Africa in order to work with the humanitarian organization, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), in Somalia. I worked with MSF for 10 years in the field as an Emergency Coordinator, and gained invaluable insight amount about the complexities of issues such as war and poverty. However, I realized that the more I understood about these contexts, the more I DID NOT understand these situations. This frustration drew me back to academia, this time as a graduate student. I knew that if I truly wanted to have a positive impact in helping people who are trying to cope and survive these difficult situations that my professional experience was going to have to be supplemented with interdisciplinary studies. I chose the Institute of Liberal Arts at Emory in order to work across the disciplines and to tie my professional experience into my academic research. Academics working alone on these issues will have a very limited impact, and in institutes of higher learning we need to open ourselves up to the idea of working with practitioners who implement programs trying to address with these very issues. I can tell you from experience, when you are running a project, even if you know what you are doing is not working well, you simply do not have the distance from the problems, or the luxury of time to contemplate these issues on any significant level. Conversely, in academia, we do have the resources, time, and I believe, the moral imperative to unpack and delve into complex problems and produce new knowledge in areas such as refugee and development studies. However, the academic critique in and of itself does little to advance the work of projects aimed at helping people affected by these phenomenon. Anyone who has ever worked in a camp knows that these are environments full of unequal power relations leaving its residents open to exploitation. There is no need to produce more papers about this. The world needs the next step --- possible alternatives and new, innovative approaches to these problems. In order to successfully address these issues, we also need to learn from those who live these problems everyday. If we are open to accept that we have much to learn from Africa, and we are ready to explore new avenues, the possibilities are endless. Imagine sharing a political science class with students who had lived as war refugees in a camp – imagine giving voice to the voiceless on our campus! It is only by working with the individuals who live the reality of these complex issues, and those who develop and implement programs aimed at helping these populations that Emory will be able to make a truly valuable and lasting impact. A word of caution is needed at this point. This will not be easy as these problems are not easy. Emory needs to be committed for the long haul and ready to take action on these issues KNOWING that there will be many failures, but also potential successes. Emory needs to have the guts to think outside the box, and to be innovative in the way we think about and approach these global issues. If we fall into step behind those who have gone this way before, we know where the road will take us – back to where we stand today. I am encouraged that Emory is compelled to address these global problems and be an active member of the global community – and the turn-out at this meeting shows that our community is also ready. Thank you.
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When I was invited to join a panel of various scholars, professors and professionals to discuss the future of Emory University and Africa with President Wagner and members of the Emory community, I felt a mix of emotions. The first and most striking of these emotions was excitement at the fact that Emory was not only showing interest in the marginalized topic of African issues and academic disciplines, but the fact that the administration was willing to take action to change this status-quo. The second wave of emotions brought about a certain sense of anxiety as to how I, being an undergraduate student, could contribute to an already rich and well-versed panel of speakers. Falling back on the experiences of other African students at Emory, as well as my own, I chose to utilize the allotted speaking time as efficiently as possible, and simply share these experiences during the discussion. Following the struggle to institute African Studies as an official major concentration on Emory’s curriculum, the administration has gained a sense of the interest and perhaps the population of African students at Emory. However, the administration still fails to grasp an important fact about the community of African students at Emory: many of us intend and are actively planning to return to our home countries and utilize our education to effect change. In order to be effective in achieving this goal, we rely heavily on the type of education we receive here at Emory to equip us with the necessary tools, as we know all too well the impact of poorly crafted, redundant and uncreative attempts at change. Although the willingness to equip us with the necessary tools of a well-rounded education exists here at Emory, the tools themselves are lacking. The current issues facing Africa as a continent range from the political, sociological, medical and economic spheres, to name a few, and the genre of classes that are offered to us at Emory do not sufficiently cover these spheres. After all, there is only so much an African expatriate, who has the blessing of obtaining high-level education in a peaceful country, can teach a rural African about village life. Although we appreciate the classes that teach us about our individual histories, we need more than a simply historical or anthropological perspective on African issues. Another important preoccupation amongst African students at Emory is the lack of African faculty to teach, inspire and guide students in achieving their goals. There are numerous renowned African scholars with invaluable knowledge that would not only serve the African student population at Emory, but the Emory community as a whole, if this resource were exploited. Yet, this is an avenue that until this point, has been minimally explored. Emory has the means and willingness to make an impact in Africa, and Africa in turn, has produced countless bright and energetic minds waiting to be vehicles of change. We, as members of the Emory community, simply need to be aware of this resource and utilize it to better Africa and its peoples.
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DIEUDONNE SANKARA Thank you, for giving us this opportunity to think together about this important topic. I am a Foege Fellow MPH student at the Rollins School of Public Health and former National Coordinator for Burkina Faso’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program. During my tenure, I collaborated with The Carter Center, WHO and UNICEF in the Guinea Worm Eradication Program in Burkina Faso. Within 4 years we succeeded to bring the incidence of Guinea Worm disease from about 2000 yearly cases in more then 500 villages, to less then 30 cases in 2005 with one endemic village. From my experience, what made this collaboration successful? Emory University, is a kind of “small State”, very well
organized with a lot of experiences and competent staff, I have any
doubt that Emory can contribute for sure to the development of Africa.
The possible collaboration could be in:
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LANDRY TSAGUE Thank you for this opportunity given to us today to share our thoughts about Emory and the future of Africa. I would like to start my talk by making one statement from E.F..Shumacher : “ The gift of material goods makes people dependent. The gift of knowledge makes them free”. It is obvious to say that many of the African population is living under intolerable conditions of life; it is also clear that many initiatives are going on locally and globally for many decades. But the real question should be, how can we contribute here from Emory University to make Africa free (more independent)?. In 5 minutes, I think the most important information I am going to
share with you is to go and read about the most recent diagnostic of
the situation in Africa, described vividly in the last report of the
Commission for Africa and entitled “Our common interest”.
Therefore, what can we as an University community here at Emory, do or initiate to be a valuable partner for the future of Africa? I think that enough resources are available here at Emory University and there is no reason that the lead should not be taken by Emory University to address some specific issues. From my public health perspectives, I think that a valuable partnership can be developed in the field of prevention of communicable disease including HIV/AIDS, by developing innovative approaches developed with local communities, and that can serve as examples for other partnership. Collaboration with local University and national public health program should be stressed. Emory University can really take the lead in developing sound and innovative partnerships and approaches which will build the shape of African communities at the ground level for a sustainable development and a real expression of freedom. More than a dream, this partnership can be a success. The critical issue should always be to listen to people first of all, secondly to focus on what is really achievable and address the needs of communities in a sustainable manner. Tremendous resources available here at Emory can really help to make the difference. I think like Mark Brown in the last Human and Development Report, that “This is an opportunity we can not afford to miss if we are to bequeath a safer, more secure and more just world to our children and the future generation."
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EDNA BAY President Wagner's recent trip to Africa has encouraged many of us to think about ways that Emory can become more deeply involved with African nations. In the past several weeks it has been gratifying to see so many people with commitments to change in African cultures talking about what we as a community might do. The excitement on campus has made me think, once again, of the Old Chinese proverb that so often gets used in the context of development projects: Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he feeds himself for a lifetime. The proverb is such a compelling and indeed seductive idea -- a vision of a win-win situation where, by the simple sharing of knowledge, a fishing teacher can transform the life of another person. Something like this would seem to be an inspiration for us all to step forward and become fishing teachers. However, I had an uneasy thought about that proverb a few days ago, so I went to two anthropologists for help. I asked both -- can you name a culture or two anywhere in the world, anytime in history, where people have lived near a body of water – river, pond, lake, or sea – and not figured out a way to fish? The anthropologists frowned a bit, thought a bit, and both answered the same way – no, they didn't know of any such a culture or society. Indeed, one noted that hunting and fishing were some of the earliest productive activities invented by human beings. So suddenly the old Chinese proverb was no longer quite so simple or powerful. It had changed into: Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish who already knows how to fish . . . Well, I thought, everybody can benefit from learning a new way to do something, and there must be dozens if not hundreds of different ways to fish. But "maybe's" and "what if's" began to creep into my thinking. What if the man who already knows how to fish is happy with his way of fishing? What if it's the way people he knows have always fished? What if he's proud or stubborn or distrustful of foreign fishing teachers? Or what if the man doesn't believe that eating fish every day is a good idea? What if the man lives next to a sacred river, and taking and eating the fish in it would be a sacrilege? And it soon became clear to me that the fishing teacher needs to know a good deal about the conditions a man faces in order to teach him the best fishing technique. And then my imagination really got going. Maybe the man doesn't even live near any fishable water. For all the proverb tells us, he could be living in a desert! What if fishing is women's work in that man's town, so he's not going to fish even if the fishing teacher teaches him for weeks and months on end. What if a year or so ago another fishing teacher came along and taught the man's neighbor to fish, and then that fishing teacher went home but left his neighbor with enough money to have a boat built. When the neighbor's mother died, he used all that money for a huge funeral and never got a boat at all, so now our man is hoping another fishing teacher will come along with money that he'll give away – and goodness knows, it's easier to have money given to you than to fish for it! But maybe I was being too pessimistic, so I imagined other scenarios. What if a fishing teacher came along about 10 years ago and taught a wonderfully efficient way to fish, and our man fished and fished and fished? Soon he had so many fish that he couldn't eat them all, so he decided to sell some. So he sold fish to his neighbors, and carried fish to a village and sold them there, and he had his wife smoke fish to carry even further to trade. And he grew richer and richer, and he fished faster and faster, and he hired other men to fish and other women to smoke his fish and trade them far and wide. And then one morning he went out and was able to land only a handful of fish, and every day thereafter there seemed to be fewer and fewer fish until fishing yielded up nothing. And then I imaged a final "what if." What if a fishing teacher came along and figured out how many fish could safely be taken out of the man's river, and it was still more than enough to feed his family, his village and the surrounding area. So the fishing teacher had an air strip built, and pretty soon fish were being packed in ice to be air-lifted to the fishing teacher's country for sale. But then it turned out that the fishing teacher's country wanted to protect its own fishermen, and it gave them big subsidies so that they could afford to sell their fish at half the price our fisherman had to charge – and meanwhile, our fisherman had to pay off the cost of paving the air strip, and still had bills to pay for the ice that a company from the fishing teacher's country had provided. Well, you get the picture. These imaginings may seem silly, but I created each one of them out of real scenarios that have happened in attempts to bring positive change to less developed areas. We at Emory want to go where many have gone before, where many have made mistakes, and where recipients of help have had much time to watch ill-conceived projects and become cynical. Nevertheless, I believe that there are things that can and should be done, there are solutions to intractable problems, and we at Emory can have a role to play in those solutions. If we have the vision to think big and work small, the patience to commit ourselves to the long term, the wisdom to listen to those we would help and the humility to learn from and with them, the shrewdness to draw on others' successes but avoid their failures, and the acumen to understand that all human relationships involve power, we have the potential to change this world for the better. If you give a man a fish he eats for a day; if you take the time and care to work with a man, a woman, and their community, you can improve the lives of humankind.
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COMMENTS
FROM THE AUDIENCE
Mamane N. Garba, PharmD I am fromNiger (West Africa) and that I have two points to make: 1. The first was about the importance of focus in the initiative. I said that Emory University must be careful upon going to Africa because many other institutions went there and are still going there but continue to fail in their mission. Why? Because they try to do everything, to cover all the work areas. Then I suggested that Emory University study and identify a specific area (or some specific areas) where there is a vacuum and to see how they can make a change. I used the health example in my country where malaria is keeping the population in poverty every day. I gave the example of the chief of the family who earns and saves money all the year and spends it in three months by treating his children against malaria each year. [After the meeting, I talk with the President Wagner (who is a good listener) and I gave him an example of my country to clarify my point. I said that for example if in my country another University from US is working on the agriculture and if Emory decides to work also in the same area, it will be like a repetition or a “conflict”] 2. The second point was about the Infrastructure. I talked about us Africans who graduated from our own universities in Africa and when we are ready to help our population, there is no infrastructure to start with. In addition, many like me left Africa because of that issue. I gave an example on myself. As a pharmacist, I had some experience during my training in Mali on PCR techniques. I used theses techniques to assess drug resistance in malaria, and when I came back to Niger to talk with the National Program of Malaria Control, I found out that the Director who is a nurse could not understand what I was saying about PCR and he told me that I am far more advanced. This reaction discouraged me and I tried to find the area where people can understand the scientific language. I said many like me from Africa want to go back to help, but we need
support from the institutions like Emory University with their Initiative.
I asked Emory University to identify both students from Africa who want
to go back and who want to help the Initiative and to see how we can
do it. Obsé Ababiya I am a graduate from Emory University in international studies and French and that I too was a part of ASA (African Studies Association) relating to one of the panelists. I commented on how Emory has become increasingly “international” since I graduated about 7 years ago and how it now has richer international programs which makes me want to come back to redo my studies. I congratulated the president for the initiative on Africa and for putting Africa on the forefront. I thanked the president and the panelists for having an open discussion on the initiative. My question was what the next steps would be for the initiative and what would be the time frame. Keisha S. Haywood (Ph.D. Student, Emory University Political Science Department and Vice-President for Membership Affairs, National Black Graduate Student Association) My comment was that it is important to keep in mind that while studying
disease prevention, it is necessary to examine the indirect causes of
health crises, like political conflict and violence. War leads to refugees,
internally displaced persons, the closing of hospitals and medical facilities,
etc. These conditions, in turn, lead to outbreaks of disease because
people are forced to live in unsanitary, cramped refugee camps, without
medical personnel to treat them. Because solutions do not fall within
the boundaries of any one discipline, they will require scholarly collaboration
across disciplines. Dr. Debra Spitulnik (Associate Professor, Anthropology) I made some remarks about language and media. I echoed some points made earlier by others and also tried to link various comments together to think concretely about implementation issues. The upshot of my remarks can be summarized using Edna Bay’s fishing idiom. You can teach a man or woman to fish . . . . . . . if you can speak their language. . . . if you know the cultural etiquette for communicating respectfully and effectively. And that furthermore, you might better equip them to effectively spread this knowledge, if you can help improve their access to various communications media
Regarding language, I noted that there was a remarkable gap, given the national distinction of Emory’s Institute of African Studies, that we have no African language training at Emory. Among our peers, we are the only nationally prominent African Studies program that does not have some instruction in African languages. I noted that we had submitted proposals for African language instruction over the years, but had received no positive response from the administration. I noted that the large number of African languages might create challenges for selecting which languages to teach but that our proposals contained some creative models to address this issue. While I did not elaborate at the meeting, models proposed in the past have involved (a) mounting regular classroom instruction to support widely spoken languages (e.g. Swahili and Zulu) and (b) using a language coordinator to supervise instruction in other languages (e.g. Yoruba and Amharic) in smaller classes and in tutorials with native language speakers from the Atlanta area, and even from our own Emory community. Regarding media, I suggested that the larger Emory initiative with Africa include the Journalism program, which was not represented at the meeting. I also suggested that implementation efforts for social change and community empowerment should include attention to the role of media. In particular, I suggested that we could think about creative ways to support more grassroots infrastructures for the production of knowledge and for the communication of knowledge and information. In this way, people might be able to have greater access to communication, both as producers and receivers. Some examples I gave are: brochures, leaflets, posters, community radio, audio cassettes, and independent video. I suggested that this would be one way to “think outside of the box” vis-à-vis the production of knowledge, in the sense that it would be different from partnering at the university-to-university level, which typically involves ‘elite’ players. It would also be one way to “think outside of the box” vis-à-vis infrastructures for communication, given that the usual channels of mainstream media in Africa often do not represent popular concerns. While I did not mention it at the meeting, your Scenarios from Africa work is a great example of how to facilitate grassroots media production. Thanks for the opportunity to share these remarks. |
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MOSES
KATABARWA
Clearly,
the issues that President Wagner has brought up are complex and require
an innovative interdisciplinary approach to identify and develop new
ways of engaging these issues. Repeating what others have already done
is a waste of time; if these approaches had been successful, we would
not be here today.
JOJO
MULUNDA