Annansi Chronicles

Africans on TIME’s 100 most influential people list

TIME magazine has released it’s annual picks of the 100 most influential men and women whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world. The list is broken up into groups of Artists & Entertainers, Scientists & Thinkers, Leaders & Revolutionaries, Builders & Titans, Heroes & Pioneers. Here are the Africans who made TIME 100 most influential people list. The African country represented and the categories they appear in are in parentheses.

• Youssou N’Dour (Senegal, Artists & Entertainers)
• Peter Akinola(Nigeria, Leaders & Revolutionaries)
• Barack Obama (Kenya/USA, Leaders & Revolutionaries)
• Amr Khaled (Egypt, Heroes & Pioneers)
• Monty Jones (Sierra Leone, Scientists & Thinkers)
• Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa, Builders & Titans)

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Code Z interviews Wangechi Mutu

Here’s a really nice interview at Code Z Online with one of my favorite African artists Ms. Wangechi Mutu. Kenyan-born Mutu is a true talent.
Link ia My Global Hustle blog

Maasai herdsman/model talks Gisele Bundchen, American Express, and maintaining maasai culture

In the news this week were features on the previously unknown Maasai herdsman who appeared with Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen in this ad for American Express’ new card for the much-criticized RED campaign. Having seen the ad quite a few times in fashion magazines such as Vogue, I often wondered what the effect on the Maasai man had been. Here now, the Maasai herdsman is making news in multiple media outlets telling his story about his experience. What makes the story worth noting is that the herdsman, though having been paid $5000 for his efforts – an amount five times the annual wages in Kenya – has chosen to return to his life in his Maasai village. “To be honest all I was thinking about when I was with this woman was my cattle and goats,” Keseme Ole Parsapaet told The Associated Press, confessing to sleepless nights worrying about who was looking after his herd. Now that’s love for life and culture. How many of us would have taken the money and abandoned our simple lives.

“It is a good experience to work and make some money, but I believe people should be proud of their country… one should always return,”
- Keseme Ole Parsapaet

This week in African Style 3/17 – 3/23/07

• Virgin Atlantic opens East Africa route and competes with British Airways.

• Innovation and investment at Oprah’s African schools.

• Tragedy of 5 lost in Bronx fire lead American media to Mali’s red earth.

• Russia looks to sign energy, metals deals in Africa.

• Americans milk Africa to death.

• Queen Latifah competes against Botswana’s Health Minister for detective role.

• The cost of a free Zambian education.

• Google bets on Africa.

• Innovation happens in unexpected places: mobile banking in Kenya, and mobile tv boost in North Africa.

• Governmental inaction and decay of public infrastructure in Africa.

• Pan-African businesses: Do they exist?

• Zimbabwe under fire, pleads for African solidarity.

• Sing the African alphabet.

• Rise of West African tourism.

• “Hip-Hop Colony,” African hip-hop explosion film available on dvd.

Selling African culture Bollywood-style

Reading this article about Bollywood and the brand new Kenyan film commission has me thinking about the African film industry and how it can grow. As some of you might already know, for the past year I’ve been consulting with the African Film Commission in developing and promoting the African film industry. This article about the Kenyan Film Commission’s growing relationship with both Hollywood and Bollywood has got me thinking about what impact Indian film and culture has been on my own African experience and how African countries can learn from Bollywood in marketing themselves. Growing up in Liberia I cannot remember a time when Indian film and culture were not a part of our daily experience. At that time (before cable and satellite) television was scheduled for a short time daily and the second main source of programming content, besides American films, was Indian dramas. Similar to Saturday Karate flicks in the US, Bollywood movies were a much anticipated indulgence of my daily childhood TV viewing. While I never always understood the context of the movies (same as with the American imports), the general themes of love, deceit, and camaraderie were familiar to all us Africans. We even adopted some of the sayings and mannerisms we saw in the films. Now with the Bollywood industry growing exponentially and reaching into Africa for inspiration, the relationship we Africans have with one of India’s greatest exports deserves some analysis.

Similar to Hollywood, as Bollywood has grown it has come to depend on Africa for production resources and content inspiration. What makes the Bollywood-Africa relationship interesting is that the Bollywood audience couldn’t be farther removed from Africans. For the most part Bollywood films are targeted to South Asian audiences though it continues to widen. Beyond the exoticism of the films, it is hard for someone who is unfamiliar with the culture to understand certain concepts without knowing the cultural reference. And though the films have adopted a global appeal, they are innately cultural. The fact that Bollywood movies can maintain their cultural perspectives and still appeal to different culture is a perfect example of how African cultures can export content that promotes their culture. I think Kenya is getting it right in organizing and creating a structure to nurture this relationship with foreign film companies to create a brand image, promote tourism, and inject foreign money into their economy. The lesson in this article for other African governments is that there are rules and procedures which, when implemented, will allow us to re-brand ourselves and promote our cultures to the world. And without certain structures such as a government created film commission, it becomes a free-for-all and stands to be ineffective in promoting tourism. Part of what makes India one of the hottest business destinations is the country’s ability to learn the rules of global business, create/maintain structures that encourage foreign investment, and – through their film industry – promote the uniqueness of their culture. I hope other countries look at the benefits of the business model Kenya is trying to implement and realize that they too can reap the benefits of such a relationship. They just need to understand how the game is played.

This week in African Style 1/20 – 1/26/07

• Oprah Winfrey defends her South African school in open letter.

• Dakar Rally takes drivers through Portugal, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali and ends in Dakar, Senegal.

• Bill Gates and Africa’s green revolution.

• Fashion Television reports fromCape Town Fashion Week Spring 2007

• The World Economic Forum is under way in Davos, Switzerlad and the World Social Forum gets under way in Nairobi Kenya.

• China’s President on tour to teach Africa how to fish.

Apple’s iPhone meaningless to a Masai herdsman

Yesterday Apple debuted another revolutionary product, the iPhone. It has everything anyone would need in a phone. That is unless you’re one of Kenya’s Masai herdsmen. Psfk pointed me to a great article and short film by Paul Mason on how the mobile phone industry is having an enormous economic and social impact in Africa. Watching Paul Mason’s short film, I can’t help but draw a comparison between the US mobile phone market and the African one. One of the main issues that has come up in the analysis of the iPhone’s debut is that it’s exclusive to Cingular wireless – for now. Nussbaum at Business Week mentions that if Apple was really trying to revolutionize the US cellular market they would create an ecosystem by partnering with other carriers. The thing is though Apple has taken a stance by focusing on what mobile consumers have said they need, not what mobile carriers think users want. The mobile industry in the US is plagued by warring providers who each , in the name of differentiation, coninue to develop products that only satisfy the users’ wnats, not their needs. Apple “listens” to the people it develops products for and in doing so it has a track record of developing products that address the the users’ needs. If more African help efforts used Apple’s strategy, maybe their successes can mirror Apples.

The US consumer is spoiled by having access to too many options. Though there is are definite pluses to that (competition, innovation, entrepreneurship, choice), the down side is that we send mixed messages about what we want and we really need. Combine that with our self-serving opinion that the whole world shares our values, needs, and wants and you get a misplaced sense of priorities. Oprah said it best in her Newsweek interview, “If you ask the (American) kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don’t ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school.” This statement shines some light on the problem many US-based efforts to help Africa usually run into. Many individuals and organizations put a lot of effort in what they determine Africa needs which only reflects what they want themselves would want for those Africans. The BBC report shows how the mobile industry in Africa has grown because it focuses on what the people need. A Masai woman uses a mobile phone to check on her cattle and because there is little power in her village she uses solar-powered charger to recharge the phone. Both the phone and the solar recharger are beneficial because they start with the need of the user and work from there. The development of the “send money” function in the Kenyan mobile industry is another illustration of innovation according to the person’s needs. Maybe if more African assistance efforts focused on the needs of African people and worked in partnership with them, Africa could one day get to the point where there are opportunities to cater to the wants. The iPhone is revolutionary because it focuses on what people need at the moment; that is different from what the US mobile market has come to build it’s industry on. Nothing but fleeting wants.

Senator Obama fashionable on Vogue cover

Oprah Winfrey’s favorite politician,U.S. senator Barak Obama, is the new fashionable public figure to grace the cover of Men’s Vogue. Following previous cover stars, Tiger Woods and George Clooney, Senator Obama, whose name means ‘blessed’ in Swahili, at first thought seems an unlikely candidate for the cover of a fashion magazine. Since he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Illinois on Nov. 2, 2004 in the biggest landslide in state history and became the only African-American currently serving in the U.S. Senate, the fifth in U.S. history, Obama has continued to charm the American public. Senator Obama is currently using his star power to draw attention to Africa’s needs, on a 5-nation tour this week. He touched down in his fathers home, Kenya, yesterday, where he is seen as an inspiration for all Kenyans. Having visited Kenya a few years ago, Senator Obama, rediscovered his roots and made a commitment to the country. With others talking of him running for the U.S. presidency, Seneator Obama is certainly the right candidate to put Africa in the spotlight. To learn more about the Barak Obama’s connection with Africa, read his book, Dreams From My Father.

Creating an African film experience

Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun is dedicated to his craft. Like many African born filmmakers he is intent of furthering the African experience through film. Using his country, Chad, as a backdrop he is currently at work on another film that puts a face on the people who experience the challenges of living on the continent. A recent Washington Post article talks about the lengths to which he and his crew are going to make his movie Dry Season authentic. To some extent his filmmaking style is more documentary than entertainment. His previous films Bye Bye Africa and Abouna similarly put a face on the 30-year Chadian civil war.

Mr. Haroun is one of many filmmakers who are creating great films without the support or existence of a native filmmaking industry. Besides the virtual nonexistence of a film community and ongoing political repression, many African filmmakers also face the challenge of seeking funding abroad with “many international donors viewing the arts as a luxury in times of food shortages, health crises and other emergencies”. Fueled by their travels and a new access to resources not available in their countries, more and more Africans are using their artistic vision to tell stories of Africa as they have experienced it. Last November in New York City, I got a chance to see one of the movies cited in the Post article, Hip Hop Colony, sweep the H20 (Hip-Hop Odyssey) International Film Festival Odyssey awards, winning the Best Feature Documentary award and the Heineken Emerging Filmmaker Award. Along with Bling: Consequences and Repercussions, Hip Hop Colony was a highlight at the festival, bringing Africa-themed films to the forefront. South African film Tsotsi’s win (Best Foreign Language Film of the Year) at February’s Academy Awards has given African film a new life and with more structure they will stand a better chance of getting funding and distribution to the world.

“Africa has such a terrible image,” said Issa Traoré de Brahima, a filmmaker from Burkina Faso who was working on the Chadian film. “And at the same time, we have so many talented people with artists’ souls. We just wish they didn’t have to leave the continent to earn a living. But in some places that is slowly changing.”

African woman European standards

For the past few years I’ve been reading a lot about a talented Kenyan-born artist named Wangechi Mutu. Ms Mutu’s art “explores the contradictions of female and cultural identity and makes reference to colonial history, contemporary African politics and the international fashion industry”.

Having seen images of her work I can see what all the fuss is about. At first the images are intentionally awkward and grotesque; taking a closer look you see a butt here, an eye there, a headline somewhere else, which points to the deeper imagery. Piecing together magazine imagery with painted surfaces and found materials Wangechi Mutu is able to create satirical scenes of her take on “a European preference to physique that has been inflicted on and adapted by Africans, resulting in both social hierarchy and genocide”. Still in her early 30′s Ms. Mutu is heralded one of the best young artists. Coming from a solo show at the San Francisco MoMA, Wangechi Mutu’s works will go on display May 12 – June 17, 2006 at the Sikkema Jenkins & Co gallery and at Salon 94 May 21 – July 7, 2006.