Cultural Images in and of Africa

Project co-ordinator: Mai Palmberg
Project established in 1995

Contact and enquires

The project was initiated in response to recommendations that the Institute include cultural change into its research priorities and profile. The main objectives are:

• to encourage new research and studies in the Nordic countries on cultural change and issues in Africa;
• to create a network of scholars in the Nordic countries and Africa for co-operation and contacts;
• to contribute to a critical examination of the negative and prejudiced images of Africa in the Nordic countries;
• to encourage an interest in contemporary African cultural expressions.

The project covers three themes.

A seminar was held in Åbo, Finland on "Facing Ethnicities in Africa and the World" in November 1995. A book, National Identity and Democracy, has been published from a conference held March 1997 in co-operation with the Mayibuye Centre at the University of Western Cape, South Africa.

A conference on the theme "Encounter images in the meetings between Europe and Africa" was held in (Helsingør) Elsinore, Denmark in November 1996 in co-operation with the international People's College. A book on the theme will appear in 2001. A survey has been made on the ways Nordic NGOs present African culture. The results with analysis and comments can be obtained free of charge on request ("African Culture for Nordic People"). A study of Africa in current Swedish schoolboks by Mai Palmberg was published (in Swedish) in 2000, and participation is invited to a Nordic network to encourge and compare studies on images of Africa in the schools.

One aim for the work with this theme is a book for the Nordic audience, popular but not shallow. It should show that Africa lives and is not, as our mass media suggest, only dying, and that culture in Africa is part of the world. In February 1998 a workshop on African cinema was held in conjunction with the Uppsala African film festival. A conference on "Playing with identities in comtemporary music in Africa" was held in October 2000 in co-operation with Åbo Akademi University in Finland.