The Power of Culture

In 1960, the distinguished poet and philosopher Léopold Sédar Senghor led Senegal to independence. Since that time, the country has been playing an important role in the West African arts, thanks to its biannual arts festival Dak’Art, its musicians such as Youssou N’Dour, and the Gorée Diaspora Festival that has been held for over 30 years now.

The main theme of the first Pan-African Cultural Congress, which opens on 4 December 2005 in the Kenya capital of Nairobi, is "Culture, Integration and the African Renaissance". Following on from this, there will be a meeting of the ministers of culture from the African Union (AU), an association of 53 African countries

In the 1960s, Egypt initiated the first international UNESCO campaign for the protection of cultural heritage. But Egypt's cultural policy currently receives a lot of criticism.

As one of the world’s longest-standing countries, Ethiopia has been able to resist the forces of colonialism down through the centuries, something that has made it into a symbol of hope and independence amongst the other African states.

From its earliest days of independence, Ghana has kept culture high on the agenda. Primary focus was placed on promoting African culture to soothe the pain of the colonial past.

The cultural policy of the new South Africa, if anything, had to be democratic. In November 1994, the Arts and Culture Task Group initiated a large-scale consultation process with the people of South Africa.

Uganda's cultural policy, established in 2003, links the arts to social development. Culture has been integrated into the national plan to combat poverty.

The Tanzanian culture policy, 'Sera Ya Utamaduni', is compiled in Swahili. With which the Ministry of Education and Culture directly puts its primary objective into actual practice: promoting publications in the country’s language.

Mozambique has a rich and goal-oriented cultural policy, which focuses both on the arts and the 'traditional' culture: the government is trying to integrate and use the knowledge of native healers and rulers in(to) the 'modern' society.

Despite Nigeria’s turbulent history of military dictatorships and bloody coups, culture has retained its importance. The right to culture is anchored in the constitution and plays an important part in retaining the national unity in the most densely populated country in Africa.