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| Vol. XVIII, Issue 2 (Spring 2011):Queen Mother Idia's Mask; African Fractals; Gbagbo |
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BOARD: Gloria Emeagwali Walton Brown-Foster Haines Brown ISSN 1526-7822 REGIONAL EDITORS: Olayemi Akinwumi
TECHNICAL ADVISOR: Jennifer Nicoletti For more information
concerning AfricaUpdate |
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Table of contents
As I wandered through the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis
Ababa, a few weeks ago, I was saddened by the realization that
this museum could not display hundreds of valuable treasures,
imprisoned in the Albert and Victoria Museum, in London.
I could gaze at the crowns of the great Emperor Menelik
11, and the paraphernalia of Ethiopian dignitaries in both
military and ceremonial garb, but what about the treasures
confiscated at the Battle of Magdala? What of the various
tablets and manuscripts appropriated illegally, or the numerous
artefacts sold to art vendors for the proverbial song, by
unauthorized vendors? The abortive auction of the mask of Nigeria's Queen Mother Idia may be the start of a new honest process of acknowledgement, on the part of the brigands, adventurers, merchants and wandering tourists who, knowingly or unknowingly, committed acts of vandalism and property theft in days gone by. At least that is the hope. It is in this spirit that Dr. Kwame Opoku provides us with some of the behind- the - scenes data related to Benin artefacts, in the long quest, on the part of the sons and daughters of Benin, to retrieve the priceless artefacts and treasures of their ancestors. The recent pillaging of Egyptian artefacts reminds us of the scope of the illegal market for precious artefacts. Museums or individuals harboring stolen items are no less guilty than the thieves and pillagers. In the second article of this issue of AfricaUpdate, Dr. Horace Campbell focuses on the uniqueness of African Fractals and pays tribute to Benoit Mandelbrot who recently passed away. We have also included in this issue, reflections by Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, on the on-going political impasse in Ivory Coast. Gyan- Apentang's insights into the transformation of Dr. Gbagbo over a thirty year period is remarkably relevant to our understanding of the present crisis in Cote d'Ivoire.We thank the contributors to this issue of AfricaUpdate for their illuminating analyses.
Dr. Gloria Emeagwali
Reflections on the abortive auction of the Queen-Mother Idia
mask:
�The men and women
of these countries have the right to recover these cultural
assets which are part of their being�.
Mask of Queen-Mother Idia that was to be auctioned by Sotheby's but withdrawn by the Galway family after protests by Africans. The cancellation notice of the auction of Queen-Mother Idia mask on 4 December, 2010, by Sotheby's could not have been shorter: �The Benin Ivory Pendant Mask and other items consigned by the descendants of Lionel Galway which Sotheby's had announced for auction in February 2011 have been withdrawn from sale at the request of the consignors (2). This short notice is a great contrast to the enthusiastic announcement of the proposed auction where the excellent artistry of the hip mask was underlined. �All of the ivory masks are widely recognized for the quality of their craftsmanship, for the enormous scale of Benin's artistic achievement and for their importance in the field of African art.�What more does the cancellation tell us? Very little except that the proposed auction will not take place as announced. Will the auction take place sometime in the future and somewhere else other than at Sotheby's? Will the mask be silently passed on to one of the so-called �universal museums� without our knowing? It is stated that the Benin objects �have been withdrawn from sale at the request of the consignors� Did the �owners� withdraw because of the protests from Nigeria Liberty Forum and others, and hope to present them at a future date or have they arrived at the conclusion that it is wrong to sell the cultural property of others, especially in a case like this where the object has been acquired by an ancestor in a violent attack of the owners? Are they prepared to renounce their alleged rights to these blood artefacts? Did the consignors realize that the sale of such blood artefacts can only revive wounds that may still be felt by the successors of those killed in the process of invasion? Do the Galways intend to return the Queen-Idia mask and the other artefacts to the people of Benin or simply keep them out of public sight as they have done twice after exhibitions in 1947 - �Ancient Benin� and 1951 - �Traditional Sculpture from the Colonies�?
Sotheby's and the Galways may have been amazed by the massive
public outcry at the announcement of the proposed auction.
The timing of the proposed auction may have been
arbitrarily chosen but it is noteworthy that a week or so
before, Sotheby's had auctioned an African artefact, a Luba
female caryatid stool, for $7.1 million without any problem.
This may have encouraged them to think it was the right time to
make a huge profit on African artefacts. The history of that
piece is different from that of the Benin pieces that are
heavily charged with sentiments and emotions. Moreover, the
Queen-Mother Idia hip mask has become a Pan-African symbol and
thus invested with a symbolism and significance that extend far
beyond the boundaries of Benin and Nigeria.
�By the end of the 1960s, the price of Benin works had soared so high that the Federal Government of Nigeria was in no mood to contemplate buying them. When, therefore a National Museum was planned for Benin City in 1968, we were faced with the problem of finding exhibits that would be shown to reflect the position that Benin holds in the world of art history. A few unimportant objects which were kept in the old local authority museum in Benin were transferred to the new museum and a few more objects were brought in from Lagos. Still the museum was �empty�. We tried using casts and photographs to fill gaps but the desired effect was unachievable. We therefore thought of making an appeal to the world for loans or the return of some works so that Benin might also be to show its own works at least to its own people. We tabled a draft resolution at the General Assembly of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) which met in France in 1968 that appealing for donations of one or two pieces from those museums which have large stocks of Benin works. The resolution was modified to make it read like a general appeal for restitution or return and then adopted. When we returned to Nigeria; we circulated the adopted resolution to the embassies and high commissions of countries we know to have large Benin holdings; but up till now we have received no reaction from any quarters and the Benin Museum stays �empty�. (3) In 2000 the Benin Royal Family sent a petition to the British Parliament for the restitution of the Benin artefacts. (4) In addition to protests from Benin Royal Family over the ages, the late Bernie Grant, Member of the British Parliament and Chair of the African Reparations Movement (UK), regularly protested against the continued illegal detention of the Benin Bronzes. (5) During the 2007 travelling exhibition, - BENIN - KINGS AND RITUALS, COURT ARTS FROM NIGERIA, the present Oba, His Majesty Oba Erediauwa of Benin, great grandson of Oba Ovonramwen, in whose reign the Benin bronzes were looted by the British in 1897, made again in the foreword to the catalogue of the exhibition a plea for the return of some of the Benin Bronzes: �We are pleased to participate in this exhibition. It links us, nostalgically, with our past. As you put this past on show today, it is our prayer that the people and government of Austria will show humaneness and magnanimity and return to us some of these objects which found their way to your country�. (6) Few pages later in the same catalogue followed the response of four museum directors of Western countries in a preface which in its euro-centrism, arrogance, immorality and cynicism is only surpassed perhaps by the infamous Declaration on the Value and Importance of Universal Museums. (2002. (7) They rejected the demand for return of the Benin Bronzes and advised that the Nigerian should forget the past and look onto the future.
Again in 2007, Professor Tunde Babawale, Director of the CBACC,
Lagos, wrote to Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum,
stating that:
MacGregor's reply to Babawale does not address the main issue of
the return of the mask which was said to be the essence of his
letter. Instead, he writes: Both letters of Babawale and MacGregor are reproduced in Annex V below. It is remarkable that the British Museum denies to Nigeria and Africa the stolen/looted Benin mask in order �to make it better understood and made accessible in Africa and worldwide.� The reader must judge for himself or herself the value of such reasoning which flies in the face of truth and common sense. In 2008, a formal request was sent on behalf of the Benin Royal Family to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum of Chicago for the return of some of the Benin Bronzes, but to no avail. Not even a letter of acknowledgement was sent by these venerable institutions to the Benin Royal Family. There are people who praise the artistry of Benin but do not even feel obliged to extend the most elementary courtesy to the Benin Monarchy--the traditional leadership of the place that generated the looted artefacts they are detaining. The United Nations, UNESCO and ICOM (International Council of Museums) as well as several international conferences have urged the holders of artefacts such as the Benin Bronzes to return some to their countries of origin but with no success. It is thus clear that there is a long history of protest and opposition to the holding of �blood artefacts� which were obtained at the cost of loss of several lives. Sotheby's and the consignors could therefore not have been totally surprised at the protest. However, they might have been overwhelmed by the extent of the world-wide protests. Westerners have been misled by many false prophets proclaiming the right and duty of the West to hold on to the blood artefacts. This has led to turning a deaf ear to requests for restitution and to non-consideration of such demands. This has removed any moral inhibitions people may have had with respect to dealing with looted/stolen artefacts of others. But times have changed and so must potential sellers and auction houses also change.
Members of the nefarious Punitive Expedition of 1897 posing proudly with their looted Benin artefacts
The wind is now blowing in favour of restitution. France has
recently restored Korean manuscripts looted in 1866;
Yale University has returned Peruvian artefacts than had been in
the USA since
1912;
and Egypt has recovered over the last decade some 5000 artefacts
wrongfully taken from the country. Several American museums and
universities have returned looted artefacts to Italy.
The Brooklyn Museum is about
to return some 4,500 pre-Columbian artefacts taken from
Costa Rica a century ago even though Costa Rica has not asked
for them and the possession by the museum appears to be legal.
China, Egypt, Greece, Peru, Nigeria and other States have
established a conference to press for cases of restitution
and submitted lists of objects to be returned to their countries
of origin. Henceforth, all are aware of the demand of certain
countries for the return of their looted artefacts and one
cannot continue to argue, as some in Western capitals are wont
to, that there have been no requests for restitution.
Recognition of the present imbalance in possessions of African cultural objects should lead to negotiations for returning some of them. We should, in principle, proceed first by dialogue and failing that, judicial process. However, Western museums and their governments have not shown themselves to be very keen on dialogue, despite all pretence to the contrary. Indeed, leading museum directors in London, Chicago, New York and Vienna have shown reluctance to discuss and resentment at the very mention of the idea of discussing restitution of looted cultural artefacts. Those calling for their return are considered unreasonable but not those refusing to discuss even the possibility of restitution. It seems to me that it is the lack of pressure to bear on Western museums and their governments that allows them to get away with arguments and defences that no student would dare to present to professors without the risk of being thrown out of the university. Instead of seeking ways to accommodate the demands of Africans for the return of their artefacts, leading Western museum directors have been busy inventing theories and stories which end up by supporting their retention of looted African artefacts. They argue that our looted artefacts belong to the heritage of human kind and thus their location in Western museums is justifiable in the interest of humankind. But the �universalism� preached by the Westerners is a �European Universalism� as opposed to true �universal Universalism� which would include all humankind and work against the domination of one group by another. Western museum directors and their supporters have shown that they are not yet ready for such a world: they have hijacked the cultural artefacts of others and refuse to return any. Hence we have situations such as the proposed sale by successors of some of those who invaded Benin in 1897, killing many women and children, deposing the king, Oba Ovonramwen and setting Benin City on fire, just as they had done in Asante (Ghana) in 1874. Similar actions had also been carried on in Magdala, (Ethiopia) and in Beijing, (China). None of those involved in such actions seems to have any bad conscience. Indeed, they think they are doing us a great favour by keeping our artefacts with them. Unfortunately, some Africans who should know better seem to buy this dishonest argument.
But in all the discussions on the abortive auction of the
Queen-Mother Idia mask as well as in the restitution debates,
one major actor is conspicuously absent or ignored by some
participants, namely, the British Government. There is no doubt
that the main responsibility for the invasion of Benin, the
looting of the Benin Bronzes and the burning of Benin City lie
with the British Government which planned, financed, organized
and implemented the invasion. Indeed, the British Government has
not sought to deny its responsibility; what it has tried to do
directly or through interposed agents, is to offer
justifications for the invasion and looting, none of which is
convincing. The most absurd explanation for the looting and
selling of the Benin Bronzes has been that the British needed to
finance the costs of the invasion and to provide for widows and
children of the notorious punitive expedition. One commits an
outrageous crime and defends that action by the need to finance
that action and to assist those carrying out the action for
damages they may have received in carrying out the action. Another ploy of the British Government has been to divert all claims for restitution of looted objects to the British Museum which it turn declares its inability to respond positively to demands for restitution because of a governing parliamentary act. Demands for restitution should be directed in the first place to the British Government which is primarily responsible for the initial looting and to the British Museum for handling goods it knows or ought to have known were looted and illegally transferred from the country of origin.
The British Parliament has passed a law,
Holocaust (Return
of Cultural Objects) Act 2009
(8)
that enables owners of Nazi looted artworks now in public
British museums and galleries not only to obtain compensation
for the loss but to receive the looted object. Some have
wondered whether this act would not be sufficient for recovering
the Benin bronzes... It is suggested that the loss of the Benin
bronzes could be compared to loss due to Nazi actions. I do not
want to enter into comparisons here for injustice is injustice
and both situations show humankind at its lowest level. However,
we should recall that in one case, the offenders were German
official whereas in the second case, the perpetrators were
British. A British government is not very likely to pass a law
that would enable recovery actions in situations where the
Government itself had planned and executed the notorious actions
in question. But even more important, the act makes it very
clear that it only applies to actions relating to Nazi seizures
within a specific period. Article 3 of the Act defines Nazi era
thus: �Nazi
era� means the period�(a)
Beginning with 1 January 1933, and (b) Ending with 31 December
1945. � Therefore the canons of judicial interpretation would not permit the extension of the Holocaust Act to looting by British soldiers in Benin in 1897. Indeed, the fear of claims by Benin and by Greece was a point which had to be clarified during debates preceding the passing of the act. A different law would have to be made. We should caution over confidence in the judicial system helping to solve issues arising from the loot of 1897. The matter should be dealt with in other arenas. An entity that was also conspicuously silent and absent in the discussions on the projected auction of the Queen-Mother Idia mask was the Nigerian Government. Most people, especially, young Nigerians, had sought in vain for indications of the policy of their government on this and related issues. Fortunately, a group of young Nigerians took the initiative to start actions that led to the eventual cancellation of the proposed auction. We have now received reports of statements by the Nigerian government. According to reports to the Nigerian Tribune, �the Federal Government is seeking diplomatic option to end the controversy surrounding the reported planned sale of the prized art objects.�(9) The Tribune reports further that �The source disclosed that President Jonathan had given instructions to the effect that no effort should be spared to get the Benin arts, as well as other such artefacts that symbolised the pride of Nigerians and their rich cultural heritage.
The president also ordered that machinery should be set in
motion to get the artefacts repatriated into the country. We have no detailed explanation about the �diplomatic option� that the Nigerian Government is said to be seeking. However, if this is the same as the so-called �quiet diplomacy� which Nigerian authorities have been pursuing in the last 50 years or so without any tangible results, then one may be sceptical. We would rather have an open and loud diplomacy in which the general public is well informed at every step about what is happening. We do not recommend an approach that keeps everything secret and when you inquire about progress you are told that diplomacy takes time or that one cannot, for diplomatic reasons, reveal anything. At the end one will be informed about the negative response based on one of the lame excuses in the arsenal of the British such as the Government cannot intervene in a matter of private law or that one should address oneself directly to the British Museum. Nigerian authorities may wish to look at the position and methods of another African country which, unlike Nigeria, has been extremely successful in obtaining the return of its looted/stolen artefacts. Egypt, under the leadership of Zahi Hawass, has been able to secure the return of more than 5000 looted/stolen Egyptian artefacts from Western museum. The methods employed by Hawass are the opposite of �quiet diplomacy�. He lets the general public know what Egypt wants and reports on his homepage the responses of the museum to his requests. He gets the Egyptian public and the world at large to see and realize what is going on. He treats public matters publicly and so there is no doubt who is doing or not doing what. The transparency often proclaimed but hardly practised is seen here at work. Writing about the success of Peru in getting back thousands of its objects from the University of Yale in the USA, Hawass states �One of the key components in my campaign to return stolen artefacts to Egypt is the media. I have been insistent on bringing this unacceptable behavior to light through press releases, print media and television appearances.�(10) We are encouraged to read that �The president also ordered that machinery should be set in motion to get the artefacts repatriated into the country." This new body should recommend sending a team from Nigeria to establish a list of looted/stolen Nigerian artefacts, including the Benin Bronzes, in Western museums. We have provided (Annex I) here a list of such institutions that could be used as a starting point, if the Government does not already have such a list. The experience of the Chinese government could be extremely useful. The aim of the visit of Chinese museum experts to Western museums was �to build a complete database of the Old Summer Palace's lost relics so we can have a clearer view of the historical royal garden...before it was looted and burned down in 1860 by invading British and French armies. We have clarified that this is an attempt to document rather than to seek a return of those relics, even though we do hope some previously unknown relics might surface and some might be returned to our country during our tracing effort.� (11) Maybe the Nigerian authorities are not aware that regarding the restitution of the Benin Bronzes and other Nigerian artefacts, there is great support for Nigeria in this matter. Apart from Museum officials and those who have built their careers on blood artefacts, most Westerners are in favour of the restitution of the bonzes. Many are of course not aware of the existence of these objects in their towns and countries but once properly briefed, they are shocked that their governments could tolerate such a scandalous situation that deprives Africans of their cultural artefacts which have no role in European culture. But this support and sympathy have to be cultivated, canalized and utilized effectively. This implies contact with the public in all these through the media, e.g. press releases, adverts and articles. We are yet to see a Nigerian diplomat or official presenting Nigeria's views and position on this matter in Western media. Could Nigerian embassies that have public relations and public information sections not assist in this matter? Above all, there should be a definite place in the internet where the public could look for information on Nigeria's policies.
The abortive auction of the Queen-Mother Idia mask offers
opportunity to Nigeria to make up for lost time and
opportunities. Following are a few points that come to my mind:
-
Issue a detailed Government policy on this case and on
restitution generally; Nigeria must finally indicate to the rest of the world that it intends to preserve and keep its cultural artefacts for future generations who will not need to go to London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Chicago and other Western cities in order to see what their forefathers have achieved in this area. Nigeria has a lot to be proud of but unless serious measures are taken, to discourage plundering and to recover the looted objects future generations will have very little to see and will curse earlier generations.
Alter group honouring Oba Akenzua I, Benin, Nigeria, now in the Ethnology Museum, Berlin, Germany Endnotes 1. Museum, Vol. XXL, no 1, 1979, Return and Restitution of Cultural Property, pp. 18-21, at p.2, Nigeria. See also http://www.youtube.com/watchv=Nh2Tac1gNPU&feature=share http://www.modernghana.com/news/241980/1/youtube-crown-fraud-stolen-benin-bronzes-british-m.html
2. Sotheby's http://investor.shareholder.com The Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk
3. Museum, Vol. XXL, no 1, 1979, at p.21, Nigeria. See Annex I for list of the holders of the Benin Bronzes.
4. Annex II.
5. Annex III.
6. Barbara Plankensteiner (Ed), Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria, Snoeck, 2007.
7. Declaration on the Value and Importance of Universal Museums. (2002). http://www.clevelandart.org/museum/info/CMA206_Mar7_03.pdf The Declaration was signed in December 2002 by 18 major museums that declared their intention not to return the cultural artefacts from Greece, African and Asian States that have been in Western museum over a long period.
8. K.Opoku, �Is the Declaration on the value and Importance of the �universal museums� now worthless? Comments on imperialist Museology, http://www.modernghana.com.
9. Nigerian Tribune, http://tribune.com.ng
10. �Peru succeeds in getting 4,000 objects back home!� http://www.drhawass.com Kwame Opoku,� Egyptian Season of Artefacts Returns: Hopeful Sign to be followed by Others? http://www.elginism.com
11.
China to Research Foreign Museum Archives for Chinese Artifacts,
http://illicit-cultural-property,
http://www.artsjournal.com
African Fractals: A Tribute to
Benoit Mandelbrot
It was announced recently that Benoit Mandelbrot passed away at
the age of 85. One news source called him a 'maverick'
mathematician. It was Mandelbrot who introduced the word
'fractals' to the Western world to capture an aspect of
mathematics that had been resisted by the Western academy
because of a worldview that would not deal with an 'alien'
concept of uncertainty and the infinite complexity of nature. We
want to use the news of his passing to bring to the fore the
importance of fractals and fractal thinking in society.
According to the report on his passing by the New York Times,
'Dr. Mandelbrot coined the term "fractal" to refer to a new
class of mathematical shapes whose uneven contours could mimic
the irregularities found in nature.' In the era of quantum
mechanics, complexity and chaos, the ideas behind fractal
thinking could no longer be ignored and grudgingly, fractal
geometry began to gain acceptance in the Western academy. We
want to salute Mandelbrot for his tenacity in bringing the
concept of fractals to the Western academy. While we commend
Mandelbrot for his doggedness, we use this opportunity to state
that before Mandelbrot coined the term 'fractal' and popularised
it in the Western academy, the knowledge and application of this
geometry of nature had always existed in the thinking of African
peoples.
Fractal geometry was at the heart of the African ontology and
knowledge system, from divination and architecture to hair weave
and craft. More than 40 years ago, Claudia Zaslavsky exposed to
the West her research on the African mathematical heritage. Her
book, 'Africa Counts: Number and Pattern in African Culture' was
a major contribution to the understanding of mathematics in
everyday life in Africa. This analysis was carried to another
level by Ron Eglash at the end of the 20th century.
In his research presented in the book 'African Fractals: Modern
Computing and indigenous Design', Ron Eglash was exposed to the
fact that the knowledge and application of fractal had been
alive for millennia in Africa. There are invaluable lessons to
be learned for humanity by exploring further the heap of ideas
surrounding fractals. Particularly, African societies, the
African academy and the political leadership in Africa must pay
close attention to exploring the transformational and
revolutionary ideas embedded in fractals.
Impressive
contribution of Benoit Mandelbrot
In fractals, this concept of infinity is also known as the
Cantor Set. In the late 19th century, George Cantor (1845-1918)
had provided a new approach for European mathematicians when he
showed that it was possible to 'keep track of the number of
elements in an infinite set', and did so in a descriptively
simple fashion. Starting with a single straight line, Cantor
erased the middle third, leaving two lines. He then carried out
the same operation on those two lines, erasing their middles and
leaving four lines. In other words he used a sort of feedback
look, with end result of one stage brought back as the starting
point for the next. The technique is called 'recursion' (Eglash,
p. 8). This concept of infinity had for long, before Cantor,
been part of the African divination system. In Africa, Eglash
encountered some of the most complex fractal systems that exist
in religious activities, such as the sequence of symbols used in
sand divination, a method of fortune telling found in Senegal.
The concept of infinity had a metaphysical link with infinity.
This sand divination was to be later referred to as 'geomancy'
in Europe (Eglash, p. 99-101). Eglash and others credited
Mandelbrot with the conceptual leap in the application of
fractal geometry from the simulations of natural objects.
The relevant point is that fractals existed in nature and before
Mandelbrot there was Koch and Cantor. Before Koch and Cantor
there were many people in Africa who understood fractal geometry
and the explicit and implicit mathematical idea that was to be
found in everyday life in Africa.
African Fractals
It was during an aerial exploration of rural parts of Africa
that Eglash grasped the central aspect of the architectural
designs in terms of self-similarity and scaling of patterns. In
his book he said clearly that, 'While fractal geometry can take
us into the far reaches of high tech science, its patterns are
common in traditional African designs and the concepts are
fundamental to African knowledge system.'
Eglash's findings also include the use of sophisticated
mathematical ideas in everyday objects. In the arid region of
the Sahel, for example, artisans produce windscreens by
utilising a scaling design that gives them the maximum effect -
keeping out the wind-driven dust - for the minimum amount of
effort and material. Abdul Karim Bangura, another scholar of
African science and mathematics, in his review of Eglash's text
noted that:
'Aerial photographs of various settlement compounds revealed
that many were composed of circular structures enclosed in other
circles, or rectangles within rectangles, and that the compounds
were likely to have street patterns in which broad avenues
branched into very small footpaths. As Eglash notes, at first he
thought it was just from unconscious social dynamics. But during
his fieldwork, he found that fractal designs also appear in a
wide variety of intentional designs--carving, hairstyling,
metalwork, painting, textiles--and the recursive process of
fractal algorithms are even employed in African quantitative
systems. These results, Eglash concludes, are congruent with
recent developments in complex systems theory, which suggest
that pre-modern, non-state societies were neither utterly
anarchic, nor frozen in static order, but rather utilized an
adaptive flexibility that capitalized on the non-linear aspects
of ecological dynamics.'
Since the writing of this review, Ron Eglash has not only
written extensively on African Fractals but his widely watched
presentation at the TED conference has brought the ideas of
Fractals to an international audience.
Scaling and self-similarity are descriptive characteristics; one
can see these in African designs. The idea is to grasp how these
were intentionally designed so that we can have a better grasp
of African fractals. Eglash then went on to look closely at
African architecture, designs, art, village structure,
cosmology, and divination systems to understand how all of these
are linked to an African knowledge system. I have elsewhere used
the term the African ideation system or worldview. The question
for us is to understand how this is linked to political
relations in Africa.
Self-Similarity,
Recursion and Society
Humans now know that this reductionism of the 'scientific method' emanated from a European reading of science and human knowledge. With the advances in digital technology and genetic engineering, advances made possible by the application of fractal geometry, the promise of the future demands that humans have a deep appreciation of the inter-relationship between humans and nature so that we do not become slaves to technology. This demands from us the obligation to intervene as humans to reverse the headlong rush towards dehumanisation and the destruction of the planet earth. Fractal thinking and the understanding of the consequences of the reference points for progress demonstrates the necessity to make a break with the recursion of negative self-similar patterns such as conflicts and wars, domination, exploitation, militarization and religious and ethnic tensions. We can see that we are in a feedback loop of economic crisis, intensified exploitation, stock-market failures and conflicts. This kind of recursive process has a definite reference point which is the history of capitalism, racism, domination, oppression, greed and plunder. It is in examining the connection between the two (recursion and cultural categories) that the use of fractal geometry as a knowledge system (and not just unconscious social dynamics) becomes evident. The next lesson of African fractals is for African educational institutions. African education must support research agendas that seek to unearth the richness of Africa and focus on positive aspects of the African knowledge system as an indispensable site of knowledge. The road to the re-establishment and reaffirmation of Africa as a site of knowledge has never been smooth, and may get rougher unless our scholarly tradition refrains from following a recursive path that is self-similar to that which attempted to deny and subjugate our intelligence and ontology. Three years ago, Paulus Gerdes and Ahmed Djebbar produced the important bibliography on 'Mathematics in African History and Culture'. This bibliography carried forward the traditions of Cheikh Anta Diop, who did so much to unearth and highlight the contributions of African mathematics to research and learning. Diop studied in France at the same time of Mandelbrot. Diop moved to Paris in 1946 and studied nuclear physics and Egyptology. He submitted his thesis to the University of Paris in 1951, but could not find a committee to examine his work on the Egyptian contribution to math and science. It was after nine years that he was granted his doctorate by the University of Paris in 1960. It was not by chance that Diop was a physicist who had studied relativity and quantum physics. It was this study that brought Diop back to an awareness of the richness of African knowledge and intellectual traditions and although he did not use the term fractals, his research and work shared many points of convergence with Benoit Mandlebrot.
Popularising
Fractals in the West
After receiving his doctorate in 1962 from France, Mandelbrot
moved to the United States, where he pursued postdoctoral work.
Mandelbrot followed a tortuous career between industry and the
academy because of his view on complexity and infinity. It was
not until he was nearly 75 years old that he was granted tenure
in the mathematics department at Yale in 1999. His book, 'The
Fractal Geometry of Nature', was first published in 1982.
Writing in the popular magazine the New Scientist, one
reviewer said of the book:
In the New York Times report on the passing of Mandelbrot we are
reminded by Mandelbrot himself that life is not linear and not
based on a straight line:
The Gbagbo Conundrum
Perhaps, a bit of history would help to illustrate the point I
am about to make. At the time of independence, Africa was
roughly divided into two camps. One advocated rapid
decolonisation, and a quick break with the colonial past, pan-Africanism
and rapid industrialisation. In that camp were countries like
Ghana, Algeria, Mali, Guinea, Morocco, etc. On the opposing side
were most of the francophone (except Mali and Guinea) countries
and Nigeria. La Cote d'Ivoire was a vocal member of the second
group and its independence leader, Mr.
F�lix Houphou�t-Boigny
was said to have laid a bet against Nkrumah as to which of the
two different development and political models would deliver a
better outcome after ten years of independence. Dr. Laurent Gbagbo, a young political firebrand emerged as one of the main opponents of F�lix Houphou�t-Boigny and mobilised opposition to the late president from his base at the University of Abidjan where he taught history. He founded the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) which emerged as the popular vehicle for struggle around the usual left issues of anti-apartheid, pro-Palestine, pan-Africanism solidarity and a nudge to socialism at home. Gbagbo ran and lost in the 1990 elections and benefited from the ban imposed on all other major potential candidates by Robert Gu��'s political junta in 2000. When Gu�� tried to rig the election result against Gbagbo, the latter led a revolt that resulted in Gu��'s overthrow and Gbagbo's successful installation as President.
How
would Gbagbo of the 1970s to 2000 have reacted if an incumbent
president of his country decided to remain in office in the face
of considerably reasonable evidence that he had lost the
confidence of his compatriots as expressed in an election? It is
reasonable to imagine that he would have been at the front of
the barricades demanding that the right thing be done. The
tension in Ivorian politics, which is beginning to define
African attitudes in the 21st century, is also about
reconciling the two Gbagbo profiles on offer to the public.
Fast-forward to 2010 and you realise that most of Gbagbo's
ardent supporters are in reality hankering after a man and an
age that have both long disappeared. Some African leaders are
supporting Gbagbo because he supported the liberation struggle
in the 1970s or that he supported or still supports the cause of
the Palestinian people, and stuff like that. In truth, the
Gbagbo of old, that symbol of democratic renewal and the darling
of the left and progressive forces, who was equally supported by
the West, is getting in the way of a proper appreciation of what
the current crisis in La Cote d'Ivoire is about.
It is
neither about Gbagbo not Alassane Ouattara. It is about
democracy and its most basic principle for which Gbagbo fought
and went to prison twice in his life; the elective principle was
at the core of everything Gbagbo fought for and won acclaim. The
election in La Cote d'Ivoire in 2010 bears some resemblance to
what happened in 2000 when under severe pressure, the comical
but deadly dictator of that time, Robert Gu�� organised
elections that he hoped to win. When the results appeared not to
go according to his plans he ordered the electoral commission to
scrap the entire exercise and proclaim him winner against Gbagbo.
The ensuing popular uprising led to the coronation of Gbagbo who
declared himself president.
Gbagbo's allies and apologists are calling for a re-run of the election on grounds that there were difficulties with the results in some parts of the country, but the Gbagbo of old would have given short shrift to this argument as indeed he did when Robert Gu�� tried to pull the same trick eleven years ago. As has been said repeatedly, there is nothing like a perfect election, and the last Ivorian election is no exception. However, on a balance, almost all credible observer groups have said that Gbagbo lost the election.
The pity of it is that Laurent Gbagbo has moved himself from the
column of the small band of genuine African heroes into the
baddies column. But this is not only a personal tragedy for
Gbagbo but has serious implications for politics and political
thought in Africa. In the short term, Gbagbo's behavior, coming
on the heels of similar obstinacy by Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe
and Kenya's Mwai Kibaki, who both lost elections but toughed it
out, may denote a trend in which losing incumbents decide to
refuse or accept an election verdict. We should not forget that
Gbagbo told a live TV audience that he would accept the verdict
of the electorate but that was before he lost the same election. Perhaps, the key to the Gbagbo conundrum lies with the Ivorian armed forces, or the part of it that staunchly backs the incumbent. It can be argued that a way out of the crisis must involve a properly organised and supervised transition in which the role of the armed forces (and the rebel army) now and the in the future is spelt out. This is because coming out of a civil war situation in which Ouatarra was the defined �enemy� of the Gbagbo supporters, the fighting forces would have a say in how their principals behave in the post election period. That has to be part of the political settlement because it is obvious that the confidence building measures that were supposed to be in place before the elections have not been sufficient. In all of this, the Gbagbo of old would have been on the side of democracy, change and fair play. That would have been the legacy he would crave. If he looks behind him, he would realise that perhaps not all those lining up to offer support have the same instinct. Dr. Laurent Gbagbo is a professor of history so it should not be too difficult for him to distance himself from himself and choose a suitable legacy for his life's work. It would be wise for him to choose before a choice is forced on him.
Kwasi Gyan - Apenteng is the President of the Ghana Association
of Writers, PAWA House, Accra
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