GENERAL HISTORY OF AFRICA
It is an extreme oversimplification to think that Africa is just one place with one people. One cannot begin to understand African people and the diversity that they bring in terms of language and culture – there are 54 countries and an estimated 1500-2000 languages – without first getting to know the continent’s history.
In 1964, UNESCO embarked on this enormous task, and launched “the General History of Africa (GHA) with a view to remedy the general ignorance on Africa’s history. The challenge consisted of reconstructing Africa’s history, freeing it from racial prejudices ensuing from slave trade and colonization, and promoting an African perspective. UNESCO therefore called upon the then utmost African and non-African experts. These experts’ work represented 35 years of cooperation between more than 230 historians and other specialists, and was overseen by an International Scientific Committee which comprised two-thirds of Africans.”
The International Coalition of Artists for the General History of Africa aims not only to deliver the messages from the General History of Africa to the youth of Africa, the diaspora and the world, but also to encourage artists from Africa and the diaspora to draw inspiration from this history for their creativity.
The Coalition was established and launched in October 2015 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, in the presence of a large number of artists (musicians, writers, filmmakers, dramatists, actors, painters, etc.).
Artists who join the Coalition must have a significant level of respectability in their artistic discipline. All artists show, in their respective fields, a strong commitment to African cultures.
The Coalition aims to mobilize and raise awareness of the African youth and diaspora around a number of central themes related to the General History of Africa (valuing African contributions to contemporary societies, promoting a pan-African identity, “decolonizing” minds, celebrating African diasporas and so on).
The complete collection is published in eight volumes, with work having begun on volumes nine, ten and eleven.
Websites – click on the names to visit the site:
UNESCO General History of Africa
UNESCO Coalition of Artists for the General History of Africa
