UMSL conference probes problems of the continent
By Kenya Vaughn
Of the St. Louis American
“The question remains: How do we teach about this continent with all of its complexities?” asked Ruth Iyob, associate professor of political science at University of Missouri – St. Louis.
“Can we simplify it? We can’t. What we can do together is to understand it and to ensure that the complexities of Africa are portrayed in their complexities.”
Iyob was one of many intellectuals who came together last Thursday at UMSL to reflect on 50 years of post-colonial independence for part of Africa in the conference “Ghana at 50: Africa in the School Curriculum” presented by UMSL’s center for International Studies.
“There is another Africa that doesn’t make it to the headlines. Truth be told, there is much more of the violence that keeps going on,” said Iyob. “As much as I would like to regale you with very good stories, we must admit that Africa indeed at 50 has much to overcome.”
She drew a personal parallel, to underscore her point.
“It is important for us to look at Africa at 50,” Iyob said. “I am 50 years old, like Ghana, and I am still facing problems.”
The conference featured several workshops that illustrated the good, the bad and the ugly that has taken place on the continent over the past 50 years. But many of the talks involved the tragic events that have been permanently etched into the continent’s recent history – the genocides in Rwanda and Dafur in particular.
“Yes we signed a peace agreement, but we still don’t have peace,” Zeinab Eyega of the Centre for African Women said of Darfur.
“The minority is ruling a majority and the conflict itself is transferring into the neighboring countries.”
Eyega has studied a particular dimension of the crisis in Darfur.
“I did my presentation on Dafur through the eyes of women, because in midst of the killing of a nation, there is another war that is being waged on the bodies of African women,” Eyega said.
“The conflict of Dafur in Sudan is a symptom of a larger issue. In the continent of Africa we need to decide who are we and who do we want to be?”
Iyob believes that in order to address the tragedies currently underway on the continent there needs to be a global collaborative initiative.
“What we need to do is to look back to the 20th century, when Americans and African Americans joined the struggle to end apartheid,” Iyob said.
“We did not drink South African wine, and you know it’s a very good wine, but we didn’t drink it. Because it meant that it was the blood of our brothers.
We keep lamenting Dafur, but we don’t do anything about it.”
She says that all people must speak up and do something other than lament the situation in Dafur.
“We have plenty to do,” said Iyob.
“There was a time when this great country would say no. I remember the boycott of Coca Cola awhile back. And, you know, Americans love their Coke, but we managed.”
Iyob insisted that American should care about those suffering in the distant region of Sudan and other parts of the continent.
“Dafur is our crisis, Somalia is our crisis, the Congo is our crisis, and it is time to actually claim them,” Iyob said.