Africa in the Emerging New World Order: Development , Culture and the State

As globalization forces gather momentum in the first decades of the 21st century, what is going to be the fate of the individual regional or ethnic or tribal cultures of Africa? These societies, it will be recalled, have invariably been referred to as the cradle of civilisation, home to the first Homo sapiens, the spring point from which the rest of the world diverged; what is the fate of this region now revered as the very first home of humankind? Here are at once questions of identity and destiny. For millennia, African societies managed to adopt themselves to the vagaries of nature, changing and being changed by the environment. How is Africa going to reposition itself in the changed situation? Where will these societies be when the globalisation whirlwind finally settles down? Shall we still have Africa, home to a multiplicity of cultures, languages and life styles? Would that be desirable even if possible? If we grant that African diversity is still desirable, how is it going to be preserved  in the face of the invincible globalisation processes?

The emerging new world order has various implications for developing nations both negative and positive. The focus of this seminar will be to have a discourse on some of the basic issues arising from these developments. The issues of African development, culture and the nature of the  state as these are affected by new knowledge systems and technology  and how these in turn are going to reposition themselves  in the emerging new world order will be at the top in this discourse. The African states cannot remain isolated, they too need to be attuned to these new emerging issues.

1. AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER

1. Resources and the future
2. Development and the future
3. Knowledge Management and the future

2. AFRICAN CULTURE IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER

1. Culture and the future
2. Ethics and the future
3. Education and the future

3. AFRICAN STATE IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER

1. African Politics and the future
2. African State and the future
3. African Democracy and the future

Contact:

Professor Edward Wamala

Department of Philosophy

Makerer University

Kampala, Uganda

[email protected]