Page 74 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 27 Final

Art & Culture
behavior by Mobutu led the
Congolese to enjoy Kongo
artworks exhibited at the
Royal Museum for Central
Africa (RMCA), the former
Museum of the Belgian
Congo. In another situation,
the former Pan Africanists,
the late Emperor Yohannes
IV, Haile Selassie, and the
Ethiopian Associations
engaged in a shouting
speech at the African Union
(AU) headquarters in Addis
Ababa. They accused the
Mzungu (white man) of
holding on to their Kush
religion (early Ethiopian
Christianity) artifacts. They
also demanded access to
the remaining Magdala
treasure and ancient Kush
manuscripts for Ethiopian
churches. In another incident,
the Federal Republic of
Nigeria allied with the
International Council of
Museums (ICOM), the
West African Museums
Programme (WAMP), and
the International Council
of African Museums
(AFRICOM) and pushed
for the return of a few Obi
treasures and Benin’s bronze
from the Museums in the
United Kingdom.
Since the time of African
novelists such as the late
Chinua Achebe and Henry
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| we tell the true afrikan story
Chavaka, Africans are still drumming their stories in many
pockets of the world. I believe that until the lion tells the
story, the hunter will always be the hero. African historians
in higher education, such as the late Ali Al’amin Mazrui
of Kenya, Théophile Obenga of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, and Sheikh Anta Diop of Senegal, dreamt of
“African Cultural Renaissance is Preeminent,” a goal of the
African Union (AU) Vision 2063. Five years ago, scholars
at the African Studies Association of Africa Conference
(ASAA) discussed topics on “Africa: The Past, the Present,
and the Future” at a conference held at the United States
International University in Nairobi, Kenya (USIU). Last
year, Prof. Toyin Falola, a renowned African historian, gave
a virtual keynote speech on Mwafrika (African) playing
on the back of a crocodile, giving an explicit exposition
on “Colonial Literature and the Future of African Art” at
Kenyatta University. He challenged the Africans to come up
with a strategic plan that would extend the storytelling of
Africa beyond education curricula.
Sir Ludwig Krapf and Johannes Rebmann understood
Ngugi wa Thiongo’s quote that culture, arts, and heritage
can manipulate Africans’ self-definition and beliefs. These
missionaries transversed the land of Africa, robbed Africans
of their heritage, and injected the so-called “Salvation of
Christ.” The consequence is that Africans are losing their
inherited skills in crafts and indigenous knowledge in
solving their own challenges. Globalization is making it
worse with the rapid rise of fake bloggers masquerading as
experts in African art. They are violently invading social
media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,
Instagram, and Google with misleading content on African
art. My sincere sympathy goes to the current millennial
generation because they are captives of social media
deception and addiction. Their formative minds are being
eroded regarding African culture, arts, and heritage. Even
born-again government leaders are throwing out the towel
with a baby against the influx of controversial content.
It is clear from The Parliament of Kenya: The Senate
impeachment records that an African leader loves money,