Where should the diaspora scholars stand on divisive issues, and whom should they represent?
I met the Moderator for the first time at the Africa conference in Austin, last week. The first question I asked him was: How do you manage the USAAfricaDialogue forum? His brief response was: It is hard-work.
I saw him several times, at the conference site, with his large laptop. I suppose he was rendering that pan-African service that we have become used to in this Forum. But beyond my witness of the Moderator at-work, I also attended Paul Tiyambe Zeleza's inspiring lecture, at the conference, on "The Role of the Diaspora in Africa's Economic and Political Transformations." There, I learnt that we are witnessing, in this Century, an intellectual revolution that has transformed the old phenomenon of Africa's "Brain Drain" problem to a new reality of Africa's "Brain Circulation" resource.
Perhaps, nowhere else has this new reality of "brain circulation" gained concrete expression than in this Forum. We gather here, thanks to a diaspora scholar, to inform and be informed; to inspire and be inspired through our exchange of ideas and the means by which we express them. Some express theirs well. Some don't. My answer to the Moderator's question above is that divisive issues that lead to violent expressions of human temper such as racism, ethnocentrism, religious bigotry, and conflicting views on national history, impose a special burden on those who claim the privilege of interpretation.
By their volatile nature, divisive issues should make the scholar, at the heritage site, or in the diaspora, a responsible representative of his or her society's best ethical values of tolerance, compromise and accommodation, and not a promoter of spite and ideas that aggravate the open wounds of society.
The diaspora scholar, in particular, should have a broader universe of obligation to be a merchant of moral goods in a dual society: to stand in firm opposition to divisive issues that tear people and neighborhoods apart, in the nation of residence and the nation of descent, but present that opposition in ways that bridge differences and not accentuate them.
The diaspora scholar should be a defender of the vulnerable, speak for and write to advance causes and positions that make tomorrow better than today.
Edward Kissi
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Toyin Falola
Sent: Friday, April 10, 2015 10:57 AM
To: dialogue
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MODERATOR'S CONCERN AND QUESTIONS
A nationalist and Pan-Africanist voice
When this site was created, it was to be a Pan-Africanist voice, projecting visions of a transformative diaspora network that will be part of the changes in Africa and its diaspora. It was not to be a racial or ethnic site. Indeed, it was created to bring together voices that are not framed as "ethnic" but as nationalist, panAfricanist and continentalist. We were to be a collection of individuals who seek the best in our people, and who take the tools to unite.
Over time, LGBTS voices were drowned, and voices from other African countries began to disappear. More recently, it became an avenue for some to express ethnic sentiments, to defend causes and words that are not defensible, to rate the performance of one "tribal" leader over another "tribal" rival. The poor and the powerless become betrayed and subverted. Scholarship becomes an agency of narrow ideological pursuits in the cause of divisive ethnic politics.
Identities are important, but as different scholars defend those causes, they should ponder in their minds whether this is the role for contemporary intellectuals to do. To those who are not cynical and self-appointed ethnic warriors, I would like to pose some questions.
Where should the diaspora scholars stand on divisive issues, and whom should they represent?
Should the views of ethnic warriors and those of scholars be the same?
Is there no way to frame analysis other than through the prism of the ethnic?
Whether it is in the Nigerian civil war or the Rwanda genocide, why do scholars become involved as central figures?
If a Yoruba politician steals money, is this the reason why the Igbo politician should steal money? And if the Igbo politician does the same, is this a justification for the Yoruba scholar to defend the Yoruba thief? Is a thief not a thief irrespective of where he comes from?
If the diasporan scholars of this generation fall short of the remarkable contributions of Marcus Garvey and W. E. B. Du Bois, can we not dismiss them as a collective failure? What is the worth of their degrees if their views are far worse than those of peasants with consciousness to the poor?
Is Ebola, poverty, prostitution, destitution (etc.) ethnic issues? Can the collective intellectual might of scholars not be focused on issues of great concerns? Is being Igbo or Yoruba a qualification to advance democracy and sustainable development?
Africa's population will eventually reach a staggering figure of 5 billion by 2050, according to current projection, what is the role of African scholars in coming up with discussions that will address the various issues around this?
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