Anglophone /Francophone African studies teaching materials exchange project

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14 Uov'.;;~eher 198t~

Origina l t E1!GLISH

UNITED NATIONS

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

Second ECA/!u\U Confcrencc c·t '!icc-Ch~ncellors, Presidents and Rectors of ~nstit~ti~~G of Higher Le arn i.ng in Ai ri c»

'l':>abane (Swaziland), 1:,-22 Fcb'ru.s ry 19'i5

ANGWPHom;/FPu\NCOPHo:m YFRICAI-l STUDIES TEACF.ING

MATE~rr..LS '~XCH'\NGE PROJECT

Discussions hAtW€Cn offici a Ls 0f the E.E.C. 's !1evc:lop~entCormi s si on and senior members of the Schoo I have indicated that in ne got iat ions Lc ading up to L('~('t

3 representatives of the A,C.P. states have been _8tressin~ the need for _cultu~al cooperation, and tn pnrt1.~ul~r. for the cxch~n~c 0f cultural ~ateri31s bet~ecu

uni versities, musoums ,

Li.b

ra rie s and ar-ch i.vcs , The

f:-:-Ilm'Tinp

scheme for an

Pillglophone/Francnphnn?

African Studic~ Teaching M.~teria18 Project

(A.F.A.S.T.M.E.P.)

has been prepared in response t~ these suggestions. It envisarrp.s the creati~n of an

internatian~l library ryf t~pcd lectures ~nd acco~panyingmaterials, coverinG the

w~cle field of Af r ic.in studies. Contributors could be drawn from any university in any E.E.C. or A.C.P. countr-y , on the basis tua^t; tt.e bcst and most up-tp-date teaching, wherever it is t~ be f0und, cnn be made available tn 311. Th2 contents of this

library ^1....ou I d he av-ii l ab Le , a g ain s^t; n norai na L subscription, to all universities and other places ^0f higher Gduc~tinn in th~ snIDe cnuntries. It TIust be e~hasized that these thoughts ;,xe _~im?lj i.nt andad to s cinul acc c.ud [r),:us cons Lderat i.on of such a projec.t and its ope rati ona l r-oda li t i.es by representatives of A.C,P. universities and governrr.ents. It is o x'ioroe r i.c that any app Li c at Lona fo r gr.mc.s from Lone

Cor.vcuti on sources i;.:. ·::- ...dcr tc fincncc such ^'1 Fr0je:.ct must b~ initiated by such rep resent ativcs ,

nature 'ina ohjtc.tiv;~s

or

the project

The pri~~ry objective is ~0nceiv£d ~s beine to enhance mutual support between un.lve rsitIes i!1·,~r.i(','! and in Eur opc , .'1t1 time _w!~cn financial stringency is

preventing easy (,:ntTIJT\tm1.cat inn and seve re 1-/ Li.mi tingthe dave Lopment of 1ib r ar i.es , museums, ga Ll cries , Arc:h~ves and other co I Lec^t ions of all sorts. In th(3{3C

circumstances resc~r~~s sh0uld be

poaled.

The

expertise of the

best teachers shoul d be shared , Students in both con r inent s sh-rul d be enablee to comp a r e the views of African .-.nd Furope an te ache r s , 3S "'ell as co be ke,.,t abreast of progress in r e se ar ch Anrt r)l-:blic~ti.."n in a:!-l the r~lev;3.nt "!.r:mgll.1~e.S. It is suggested rhat , initially, _{~ll t,,~es} should be "vail<l~lc in English nnd French, the two mnin

13nguage~ ~f ~ider c0m2~~ic~ti0n in Africa. Arabic and Portuguese translntions m!.ght follow,

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••

E/ECA/AAU/ED/35/4 Pag" 2

The lectures would be desisn2G to

acc0~pany

nainline courses in African studies.

They would be dis

t

r i.but cd together -,i th r e l ev ..

mt

hand-out mat.e.r

i

a I and up-to-date

bib l.i og'r aphies , Other ^teachine mat e r i.al s , such as vi dcos , il1ustra.t:ions, stntisti.cal tables and excerpts fror1 books or articles, ~ight also ~0 ex~hanged; but copyright

law obviously places restrictions on the cC6ree tc which, and the way in which this might be dnue. The exch3.nge nf whole hsoks or (series of) periodicals between

libraries ,:~ould s2eni!.1::;ly last ",."e considered '1S a separct e schene ,

The project would enconpass :'111 of tht?; rnai n Sl.l~)jects in the social, sciences and

the

hUTIk~nities

insnfar 28

t~ese have ~ speci~l ~prliceticn

to the African continent:

e.g •.Anchropo l.ogy , Econot'2ics,

Geography,

History, L1V,

Linguistics, Literature

and

other Arts, Politics. Th2

rel.'ltive "~'!eightli

and nr.t ure of the exchange

l,.,i

thin particular subjects

~nd

b8twecn

diff~rent

univsrsities

~ould inevita~17 vary

considerably; and a condition for the fruitful

operatio~

of the

p~oject

would be that

suhscr.i~ers

should

~o~unicate

to its central

~deinistrntcrs

their

~ost ur~ent

needs and most valuable possible contributions. Such particular iFbalances would seem relatively

uni"~ortant,

however, so long as the total exchange of material . between Africa and <:urcpe proved approxinately equal. It .lOuld be one of the

responsibilities of the General Editor/Chief

A~~inistrator

to ensure that a rough balance was achieved.

Mode of operation of the prnject

It

is

sug£8sted

that

t~e production of ~ library 0f ~astQr tapes of (series of)

lectures and accompanying 8aterials would

~ast

oe organized

!ly

a General

Edito~

supported by a staff of three, based in S.O.A.S., with access to tho largest African studies library and the excellent technical facilities of the school. The General Editor woul d , however, develop an ac aderii c policy

i

ndcpen-Ient; of any particular

Insti tut ion , He vou'l d he -idvi scd in his sc l.action of Authors, l;-lhn night lH~ dr'avn

fron

any of the p

ar

ti

c

i

o nc

i.n.: urri

vcr s

i ti.e

s ,

t-y 8ub~icct Edi t

o'rs ,

Prnfcss"r Michael Crowder, fQrnerly Director of Institutes of Africcn Studies in sever~l ~lest

African

unive r si ti e s and currcnt Iv ?rofess()r of History at the University of Botsvrana , would

":le available tn serve .~f: Gerie ra I Ec.itr·r on a half-tir!e basis as from October 1986,

~nd it

is

suggeste~ th~t he ~ould be the idc~l gerson to run the

project

for its first five years. T~E G0.n2r:1.1 Editen:' wnuld he as

s i.s

ted ~!y ^'1 full-tine

secretary,

an

assistant

Qdninistr3tar and rr

technician.

When considering suc.i questions :1.S the nUD..bc r of nastcr tapes .md copies to be pr oducad , the nunl.e r and rnqui r erneut;s of partic i.pant s in the project, etc , , one

can do no

_~ore

at this stage than provide very rough estimates. It is provisionally envisaged,

h~~rover, th~t

prnduction

would

be approximately as follows:

1.

^One

course

:::= 25 tapes ⁼

50 hours viva 'lace lectures

2.

3.

4.

~110w 4 taped courses per su~joct

Allow 10 subjects

These to be ravir,ed

~very

4 years.

Th~refore, annual production

Qfter

initial est~~lishmentof

Library

= 100 master tapes

=

1,000 master tapes

=

250

ma~ter

tapes per year

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E!EC~/AAUIED/85/4

Page 3

Trriti a l l y :_t least, th« co;ql.ng (If master t-1.r2::'J ~.,nuld rc. done at 5.0./1..5. The SC111£: of t:u:: c cpy i.ng ut-\:~ratiort.'3 \Jc~lci ~J.2?en::;' ,~',n (i) t.nc !1"..lL::.l'E.r of sub s c r i.bi ng

universities; <1.."1.d (ii) the numba r of c.n~l\.2.~~ r,,:;quirerl l.'."l e ach , The latter ~nint

r a i s c s n, q u e s t i o n whic~ ^{c a n} ^{o n l y} ^{b e} ·-lnt;:-.'ered ^{; ) y} s u b s c r i . b i . n g u n i v n r s i t ^{i . c s}r s h o u I d

ttlr'~s be made av ri l ab l.e to individue l s tu.ient s nr s i.r-nly to trie te achar cf a c our s e (tc be player! in the c Las s r oom)? IE t~:e fC'rT1e.r., then it rv.y he th-rt ;'1.9 many .:1S

500 copi.es 0-f each t2p\~ '·,c''J.l·~~ be Y2ri"C.i ...·2rl. III ci ::'r•.~r C,::S8, s orie exrenditl..J.re on p Lay-bnck raachines woul d pr-l,qr-ly he Tl2CeS8,'lr~;. An nl ternative procedure mi.ght; be to supply j ust one t.qp;t:'. fvr c:1·18 ..., usc , this tr, "'::-r: 'l··:':'.(-· ....·0:?nir;d., hm,\lcv2r, ly ,1. plentiful

s u p p l y o f f a i r l y d ctril e d h . m d - v - u t s ,

Authors wou l d record their maste r tape s Loc a l ly , The f"'!c.Y-ln~ of such naste r t,1.~CS

~ight '::e ~~8y(md the technical re sour c cs .,f s orie universities. H0?eful1y, h''')~2vcr,

nati onal ~·ro3.dc.''lsti:"'l?.urtho ri ti as ^h^{7 f}}u l r'! ^','2 f,1illing ~() nake the r e cording s in rc.turn fnr the right: tr- l·r.-:,1.GC'.;Jst the: taLks o r p'1yf'!ent in the form f)f c aah or, e^s g , much ncede d ~1ieces (If ,~Pi',lr:.tuSt The General Rrlit0r wou ld olvi ousLy have tl':' ~)e able to offer nt trrctive fees t."! the J\uthcrs, ~n0 to make spcciaI ar r angements with sene of t hern , He wou l.d necessarily b.~ i.ciucr anr anong his custoners I o r a 't1Clrt of e ach year.

~'rr;!es :;nd hand-rout; matc riaLs in English wou l d ~(> tr ansl.atcd into French and

vice-versa. Ldea I ly , this wc11.11::l t.,e. -ione ~~y huthflrs with the haIp of local co l l e agucs , In many c as e s , ~:'~wever, tr.msLetions .1.n(', their r cco rding would ~qve to be done. at the project ccnt r e and wou l.d tie t.hc respon~;i:Jili.tyof the Gencr,ql Ecitor and his staff ,

T h e e f^{f i . c}i ^{e n}t ^{a n d} s p e . c d y d i^s t^r ii-uti^{o n} of t:1~)eS, t^{o g e}^{t . h c}^r " l i t h h a n d - r - u t m a te r i ^a ^{L s}^, couLd not in 211 cases :)(; left to depend OTt 1r.C:ll ?0stA.l services and woul d , therefore, need some speci a l arr.mge.ncnt , th~)U(~-:1 this !light vary fr or. one count ry/xegi on to

another. One rossi~!ilit~1 \o.","mld :, •.':' tho usc of the E.E.C. r.l'31cgncy ncrwork ,

;.;. '<' ('

!--'•1_, •' . ' •

The project i~: envi.sagcd as 0~>2r,:::.t-:.ng, -8vcntun~.l? at Lesst , Of! a fI£'·n-African scale. Unfo rtunoueLy , th~.:: ~;:c Ocve Lopcient Cr.rr....i s si on (lc~":!s not have ."1 ~.:!a-African

budget ; l.ut only (0.) n ..:;.;i,-1r.,'11~ an.I (~) s pe ci f i (; C'lu:"1try ;~U.J.b2tS. It wou Ld , therefore,

?ri)1.J,'1bly t,e ne·;~;G::3,qry to thⁱrr': l':"o tcr:-iS of -t sot r',i. n'f'1'''nnl D.T'Plic:l.tirms and (hopaf u lLy) n Ll ncati ons , ;~chic:v~,:d as nearly s i.mu l tancous Ly as p0ssihle. It is

hr~)ed th.'1.t furt1:ler d:i.s2us:--{ ....·ns in T>~ussl'~l:-; -".J·;.·~,l ::::crv(' t^r⁾ cluc:lc:'1tc the :1("st appropriate ,q,nd efff'cti,r~":! ·,·ny '~'::" ;.,-rnce:-~0.ing. Th~: e~,scn.ti~,l ru.l": 0f fH'(lCedure is th-3t. a?~l:'CRtir)";:~s nu:,;t 'Je fcrui'lL-'12r1 thrnl.ish _t~e Lncnl A1.lth0risin']: Officer (in

U()st CHS~S the ?.c;v.l n£ Trc.:sury) n£ ~he ,\CP 20untry c"JTICCrn21 tr:. t:"10 local EEC

l)clegate. In the C·"sc ()£

.q:';Jlic.qti

0ns -':'")r il.llor.ations fr0f\. reginn3.l ~udgets,

applicati~n3 fr0~ LW0 of

the

countyic~ jn ~ r2gin~ ~re

sufficient

f0r cnnsideration to be given tc ,1. ~,r'lject ~..,y the EEC';, Co:~i::::si"n f0l Deve10pne:nt. Th2 Sccret<1ry- Gen2rnl of the AC? states "rg<!r.i.:~~,-ti.(m in Brussels, Dl~. Ok2l'')-Odnngc, has .qlrcfldy signifi£>,d his suppnrt fror the f:cr:(.?['~e tn the EEC^f:., 1)c:)uty COf.1T'1issioner, :'1r. :"1aurice

F~ley.