1 Preamble
- A two day workshop on African Rock Art and Pan African renaissance held from the 11 th – 14 th March 2008 at the Homeland Hotel, Niamey . The workshop was declared open by the Honourable Minister of Environment and Culture, Arts and Leisure, Niger Republic . It was attended by over 50 participants drawn from the Republics of Niger, Kenya and Nigeria .
- Convened by the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) in conjunction with PanAfrican Strategic and Policy Research Group (PANAFSTRAG), African Union Centre for Oral History and Tradition, (AU-CELTHO) and the Trust for African Rock Art (TARA), it sought to provide an opportunity for experts to discuss the best strategies and approaches to study and better understand methods for the identification, safeguarding, interpretation and promotion of African Rock Art as well as its preservation and conservation to the benefit of Africa and Africans.
- A total number of 9 papers were presented covering diverse aspects of African Rock Art ranging from its origins, forms, styles, spread, location as well as strategies for its promotion and preservation. Characterizing African Rock Art as one of the earliest expression of human imagination, the workshop emphasized not only its centrality in African cultural heritage but its importance as a statement about the level of skills, sophistication and socio-cultural organization of Africans in past.
2 More specifically and after intense deliberations, the workshop observed as follows:
• That Rock Art refers to any graphic representation such as paintings, engravings, pictographs and the like which reveal aspects of a peoples history, culture, identity and social organization
• That there are over 500,000 Rock Art sites across Africa spread in at least30 countries with an ongoing documentation exercise
• Rock Art appears to be under studied in Western and Central Africa, with the largest studies being located in Northern and Southern Africa .
• That the interpretation of Rock Art is still largely dominated by Western conceptual paradigms and that these interpretations therefore are from a non-African perspective.
• That the spread of Rock Art across Africa may be indicative of patterns and dynamics of migration in Africa, something that could throw light on African people and the possibilities of integration.
• That climatic and general environmental factors have had and are having tremendous impact not only on the origins but also on the preservation of African Rock Art
• That African Rock Art is threatened by a number of factors, prominent among which are environmental, (including climatic changes, exposure to extreme temperatures) and human activities (including vandalism, looting, exploration of minerals as well as conflict)
• That broader cultural and security strategies are in many instances lacking in our countries for practitioners of Rock Art, such that certain countries lack broad cultural policies for the protection of collective heritages, surveillance systems and fail to sensitize and mobilize people towards the appreciation and protection of their collective heritage
• That countries complain of lack of financial capability
3 Following the foregoing observations, the workshop recommends as follows:
- That African governments and communities through appropriate legislation and policies must develop more proactive and realistic strategies for the identification, documentation and study of the over 500,000 Rock Art sites across Africa in order to be able to effectively safeguard our cultural heritage not just for Africa, but also for humanity
- That instruments, institutions and capacity are required for identifying, safeguarding and preserving African Rock Art are required. In addition, greater linkages between the oral tradition and that of Rock Art be concretized
- That concrete, immediate and direct steps be taken by African Governments, institutions, NGOs and communities for research, identification, documentation and safeguarding of the over 500,000 Rock Art sites across Africa.
- More resources should be devoted by African governments to the study and interpretation of African Rock Art in particular and Africa 's cultural heritage in general through funding of appropriate institutions and NGOs
- That immediate steps should be taken to address the various human and environmental threats to African Rock Art specifically measures against looting, vandalism and environmental/climatic effects should be taken. These include strict regulations/laws, surveillance systems, training and the establishment of data basis
- That a broader regional strategy for identification, classification, safeguarding and preservation, promotion of African cultural heritage in general and African Rock Art in particular be put in place. More specifically, for West Africa , an ECOWAS Convention on cultural heritage should be adopted before the end of the year at the joint initiative of the Nigerian and Nigerien Ministries of culture
- That a follow-up to this workshop be concretized by participating organizations for immediate action
- That a National Cultural Heritage Fund be created from funds generated from percentages from tourists VAT, mobile phones, credit cards and transportation fares etc. this Heritage Fund shall be solely for cultural heritage purposes.
The theme of this Workshop should be revisited as may be necessary.
Finally, Workshop expressed appreciation to CBAAC, AU-CELTHO, TARA and PANAFSTRAG for organizing the Workshop and for their hospitality.
Prof. Tunde Babawale
Director/Chief Executive
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