Pensadores e artistas africanos reflectem sobre o pós-colonialismo

A Revista Kulturstiftung des bundes colocou três perguntas a cinco pensadores e artistas africanos: 

Até que ponto sente influências do pós-colonialismo no seu pensamento e trabalho? É possivel fugir disso? Como sabe que foi bem sucedido?

JOYCE NYAIRO

(n. Quénia, Professora de Literatura, Teatro e Cinema)

One fundamental point that is often overlooked in discussions about a renaissance anywhere in the world, is the genealogies of power that support the identification of a renaissance moment. In other words, the rebirth may not be so much about a people beginning to do something but about the rest of the world – or the more vocal part of it – coming to a sudden realization about those activities; or even needing to come to that realization at that specific moment in time as a factor of global power relations and the need to alter or keep them in their favour.

I will know I have escaped post-colonialism the day I do not have an alternative, nativist interpretation for what is said about Africa elsewhere. 

JELILI ATIKU

(n.1968, Nigéria, escultor, performance e video)

The part of the question that probes into the possibility of escaping the exigencies of post colonialism in Nigeria brings to mind the Albert Einstein’s statement. Einstein wrote in “ The World As I See It” that “Not until the creation and maintenance of decent conditions of life for all people are recognized and accepted as a common obligation of all people and all countries - not until then shall we, with a certain degree of justification, be able to speak of humankind as civilized.” There is no doubt that the conditions as envisaged by Einstein are not popular in Nigeria; and also the journey to Utopia and desirable egalitarian societies in the country is faraway. These portend a responsibility upon skeptical citizens like myself to be watchdog and medium for public opinion. Therefore, my art and its forms remain an essential tool in this direction.

SIMON NJAMI

(n.1962, Suiça, de ascendência camaronesa, curador, professor, crítico de arte)

I was born and raised in Europe. Therefore, when I chose to call myself a Bassa, I suppose, I hope that I force people to investigate the notion of identity not necessarily through the obviousness of geography, but through something subtler. Stating the obvious amounts to stating the “thought”, that Jullien is opposing to the “unthought”. It is, in my opinion, one of the failure of post-colonial studies, a field that has always been busy in proving that Europe is guilty of all the wrongs in earth. Is Europe guilty? Of course it is! But what would it change to the state of affairs to repeat it endlessly? What does this kind of an answer bring to people busy trying to find their voices in our globalized times?  There is a History that has been written by the “winners”. That story cannot be rewritten. 

DENIS EKPO

(n. 1959, Nigéria, Professor de Francês e Literatura Comparada)

Thus in trying to read Europe from a basically anti-anti-imperialist and non-Afrocentric perspective, what interests me is not wanting to exonerate Europe but  highlighting what useful lessons Africa can learn so that she can come to terms with how the modern world really works to bring about the  successes that Europe and the more pragmatic and wiser non-European ex-students of Europe are currently enjoying. Of what use is the current post-colonial obsession with deconstructing imperialism, exposing colonial violence and investing so much energy on resistance knowledge and knowledge production if all these have so far succeeded in keeping Africa small, beggarly and inhuman? Thus if in my works, Hegel, Nietzsche and some other tough Europeans have remained constant referents, it is because some of their uncommon European insights have been instrumental in my efforts to advantageously reconfigure imperialism and its aftermaths. With the aid of Hegel I have been able to realize that colonialism was above all else, an expression of the ‘cunning of reason in history’ that had to use violence to bring Africa out of isolation into the theatre of world history. From Nietzsche, I learnt that the best way to come to terms with what has happened and  to make the best of it is not to bleed from old scars but to practice ‘amor fati’ ie, love of fate.

MESKEREM ASSEGUED

(n. Etiópia, Antropologista, curadora e fundadora da Zoma Contemporary Art Center em Addis Ababa)

It is not possible to escape post-colonial influences. It is however possible to build one's unique identity by mixing a lifetime's worth of experiences. I was fortunate to have been born in Ethiopia and learned to speak both Amharic and English at a young age. While there are many measures of success, I find my own success in being privileged to follow my passions as a career. My curatorial practice is to tell contemporary stories from my point of view. These stories can be about the environment, science, imagination or whimsy. I value good ideas. I consider postcolonial issues to be simply a part of the landscape in which I work.

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