The Millennial Perspective of African Science, Technology and Development and its Possible Directions in the 21st Century
Hammamet, Tunisia
24 - 27 April 1999
Contacts:
Ms. Caroline Adala
Ag. Administrative Officer
The African Academy of Sciences
P.O. Box 14798, Nairobi, Kenya
Email: aas@africaonline.co.ke
Tel: 254 2 884401/2/3/4/5
Fax: 254 2 884406
The conference is organized by the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), jointly with the Tunisian Secretariat of State for Science and Technology, the Tunisian National Institute for Scientific and Technical Research (INRST), and the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). The Conference is placed under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic of Tunisia.
Why This Conference?
- One of the most exciting developments embedded in the turnings of centuries and millennia are the apocalyptic visions in many suggestible souls. Even in Academia many scholars believe that most socio-economic systems are about to go critical or that these systems are on the verge of crisis, as a consequence of the millennial change about to occur from the second to the third millennia, and from the twentieth century to the twenty-first.
- We are desperately in need of a life-affirming image of the future, a vision more grounded in an African Renaissance and a newly-realised sense of responsibility with regards to knowledge. We have to bridge the present with the past and the future in an unbroken chain of individual or collective brilliance of scientific work and endeavours.
- Africa, unlike any other place, is the cradle of all civilisation. We know that the art of writing was copied from Egypt by the Greeks who went there to study. From the works of historians and scholars, such as Ibn Batuta, Ibn Khaldum, El Bekri, El Idrisi, Leo Africanus and El Mashudi, as well as the works of more recent and contemporary writers, such as the Senegalese historian Cheick Anta Diop, Basil Davidson, Jean Vansina, Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Sekene Modi Sissoko, and Edward Blyden, we have a picture of ancient Africa as a place of flourishing civilisations in art, painting, iron works, architecture, science, mathematics, and medicine. The pre-Christian civilisations that flourished in the Nile-Valley, Carthage, Kerma Nepata, and Meroe have now become well known among Africa scholars. The scientific achievements of the kingdoms of Kush, Nok, and Igbo-Ukwa in Nigeria, and later in Zimbabwe, are a constant reminder of the heights to which Africa reached towards scientific excellence.
- The great civilisations of pharaonic Egypt, the great library of Alexandria, and the academic excellence achieved by the University of Timbuktu are a testimony one cannot ignore. Many contemporary authors admit that Africa contributed directly to Mediterranean civilisation, as scientific and technological achievements from Africa and most specifically from the Nile Valley, flowed freely to Greece, the Hellenic empire, and then Europe. For instance Michael the Scot travelled from his native country in Scotland to Toledo and then to Sicily (around the year 1220 AD), in order to acquire knowledge of the works of Razi, Avicenna, and other Arabo-African scholars. Herodotus himself admits that most of the names of the Greek gods came from Africa. Famous Greeks have always visited Africa to acquire knowledge: Lycurgus, Solon, Thales, Phythogoras, and even Plato all at one time or another went to pharaonic Egypt to learn about science, culture and literature. In this framework, it is an attested fact that Orpheus, the founder of the Greek mystery cults, took this idea of culture, law, and civilisation from Africa. Many essays have also demonstrated that contemporary Africa had its unique technology and "know-how" before the advent of any external interference from other cultures and civilisations.
- The rationale of the 5th General Assembly is to weave together the spirit emanating from the past millennial scientific and cultural achievements with the new spirit thrusting itself from the present millennium's science-led, technology-dominated economic advances to develop a "new social contract" in entering into the 21st century between the African scientific and scholarly community and their nations and peoples, in the context of a more global civilisation. The conference is looking therefore at building trust, and self confidence, as well as rejuvenating the African genius, in its creativity and the mastery of the better utilisation of modern science and technology in the elevation of contemporary Africa. The conference is also looking to paying tribute to all these scientists and scholars from Africa, and elsewhere, who have strived to position Africa in the path of scientific excellence in a relevant socio-cultural milieu.
This conference on "The Millennial Perspective of African Science, Technology and Development and its Possible Directions in the 21st Century" is the first inter-agency undertaking of its kind for the Academy.
- The conference will bring together AAS Fellows, scholars from different branches of knowledge, policy makers, and experts from international development agencies on the eve of the 21st century, to re-assess African contemporary science, technology progress and related fields in order to plan new, more productive and sustainable directions, strategies, and lines of action for the new century. The conference is intended to serve also as a prelude to the UNESCO World Science Congress, "Science for the 21st Century: A New Commitment", scheduled to take place during 26 June to 1 July 1999, in Budapest, Hungary. The questions regarding the development of science and technology will need to be addressed in the light of the challenges facing humankind, and most specifically the African society (e.g. periodic shortages of food, freshwater poverty, the rapidly widening gap between the haves and the have-nots, recurrent ethnic conflicts, and environmental degradation).
What Can We Expect?
- The themes of the three major symposia of the AAS 5th Conference are: (a) The Legacy of the Old Egyptian Civilisation and its Technological and Philosophical Basis; (b) Arabo-African Contributions to the Mediterranean Civilisation; and (c) Origins and Prospects of an African Renaissance . These three themes set the goals which this international conference requires to achieve as part of the preparations for the UNESCO World Science Congress.
- These goals are:
- To re-assess the basis of strategic thinking, objective research, analytical inquiry, and inventive creativity, which is intended to provide the principal thrust to Africa's more assured development; this will definitely lead to the mapping out of new directions and lines of action for the next decade.
- To stimulate new ideas, strategies and a common position paper, which will feed into the forthcoming UNESCO World Science Congress to be held from 26 June to 1 July 1999 in Budapest, Hungary.
- To identify the strengths as well as weaknesses of various initiatives, and to share insights as well as learn from each other's experience;
- To analyse where the natural and social sciences stand today, and where they are heading;
- To encourage and expand networking arrangements, as well as South-South collaboration, in order to make science relevant to the emerging challenges posed by future human and social development.
Conference Programme
- During the conference, a wide array of lectures, seminars, presentations, displays, and opportunities for personal encounters, are planned to lead for the design and development of a set of future actions, to be considered as the Tunis Declaration. The first day (23rd April 1999) will be for the meetings of the Governing Organs of the Academy (i.e. the Executive Committee and the Governing Council), as well as the Encyclopaedia Africana Working Group
- The next four days (24th to 27th April 1999) will focus on symposia, which fall under the major themes of the conference. Each day's symposium will be explored through the following activities:
- A Keynote Address, by a distinguished African scholar
- Presentation of Discussion Papers, to enrich the ensuing intellectual discourse
- Open Forum to allow questions and discussions
- Roundtable Discussions on the concurrent topical seminars on the following topics:
- Science in Contemporary Africa: Its Success Stories, Gaps, and Challenges Towards the 21st Century
- Science in the Contemporary African Society
- Towards a New Commitment-The Tunis Declaration: African Science Agenda Towards the 21st Century
Conference Themes And Roundtable Discussions
In pursuit of its crucial goals, the 5th General Conference of the Academy will convene three major Symposia and three major Roundtable Discussions. Our strategic approach is based on the premise that African scientists and researchers need to forge links with the past in order to accomplish a newly-realised sense of responsibility and commitment with regards to knowledge in the 21st century. The thematic Roundtable Discussion will preferably be used as a platform to address leading issues that are targeted at the World Science Congress. These are as follows:Thematic Roundtable
Science in Contemporary Africa: Its Success Stories, Gaps, and Challenges Towards the 21st century
- To address the intellectual and economic challenges that the scientific endeavours face in contemporary Africa
- To identify a wide array of opportunities that science offers for problem-solving in the next decade
Science in the Contemporary African Society
- To examine the many interfaces between Science and society at large
- To deal with societal requirements and expectations, ethical issues, the public (e.g. policy-makers, other end-users), and the understanding of science
Towards a New Commitment-The Tunis Declaration-The African Science Agenda Towards the 21st Century
- To enhance commitment to science by Governments, policy-makers, and other partners, and to identify obligations towards society on the part of the scientific community
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Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 1999 Registered No. 785998 England.