COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF THE INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM ON TEACHING AFRICAN AND DIASPORA HISTORY AND CULTURE HELD IN BRASILIA, 9 – 12 NOVEMBER 2009
This colloquium was organized by the Special Secretariat for the Promotion of Policies of Racial Equality under the Presidency of Brazil (SEPPIR/PR), the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation and the Pan-African Strategy and Policy Research Group (PANAFSTRAG) a regional, non-governmental think tank. It brought together scholars, teachers, policy makers and other stakeholders to brainstorm on Teaching African and Diaspora History and Culture in Africa and the Diaspora.
The colloquium was sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Culture of Nigeria, The Brazilian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Education, Palmares Foundation, UNIFEM, UNDP etc.
The colloquium was a follow up to the 1st International Colloquium on Teaching and Propagating African History and Culture to the Diaspora and Teaching Diaspora History and Culture to Africa held in Rio de Janeiro in November 2008.
The term "African" in this document means the peoples of Africa and African descendants wherever they are found in the world.
The Colloquium noted the importance of the teaching of African history to erasing the prevailing Euro-centric worldviews and to developing own knowledge systems as a foundation for ensuring the full and effective participation of Africans in the economic, social and cultural life of all nations and within the global society. It reaffirmed the need to decolonize African history, and construct own historiographies that acknowledge us as makers and not mere victims or objects of history. This process includes highlighting the contributions and achievements of ourselves to the development of global society, and erasing the negative portrayal of the mother continent and its children in the global media and educational systems.
In line with this, participants called for caution in adopting the "universal subordination of women thesis", noting the multiple identities of women in societies in Africa and in the Diaspora as a result of their different roles as elders, mothers, sisters, wives and racialised people. It recommended the specific promotion of scholarship and documentation that gives voice to women and promotes their agency.
Participants commended the promulgation of Law 10.639/03 in Brazil regarding the compulsory teaching of African history and the history of Afro Brazilians in all subjects and at all levels of primary and secondary education, as an important step in the historical struggle for recognition and equality and recommended the adoption of similar measures in other parts of the Diaspora and in Africa. They called for intensified exchanges between global African Researchers and Teachers to develop appropriate educational curricula and material for the teaching of our history and culture in the Continent and the Diaspora.
The Colloquium also called for the promotion of holistic, multidisciplinary, trans-disciplinary and gender sensitive approaches to our history and culture, including an acknowledgement and valorization of oral traditions as a repository of knowledge and a means of transmitting history and religious thought, as well as greater use of literature, cinema, music, and other art forms in the teaching of African history and culture.
Participants recommended
• That adequately funded programmes for the Experts, group meetings, the colloquia, training and exchange of scholars and students be established between and within the Diaspora and Africa.
• That concerted efforts be made to translate educational materials into English, French, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese to facilitate these exchanges and communication between African scholars all over the world.
• That future colloquia on Teaching African History be convened by the organizers of this conference in collaboration with UNESCO International Committee on Teaching History in Africa, CODESRIA, The Association of African Historians, the Association of Black Researchers of Brazil, the African Association for the study of Religions and other relevant partners.
• That one year before the colloquium, a group of Experts of the partners meet to develop the content, guidelines, plan and programmes for the various panels and working groups for the colloquium for the following year.
• That the Experts group and the colloquium be opened to Global African Librarians and Curators Groups and appropriate Policy makers in the appropriate or equivalent bodies i.e. Global African Ministries or equivalent bodies especially the Ministries of Education.
• That the proceedings of this colloquium be available and other educational materials be disseminated widely using electronic formats and on the internet to facilitate easy and affordable access in all parts of the world.
Done at Brasilia, 12 November 2009
