{"id":68497,"date":"2016-04-22T02:47:43","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T00:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/the-sixties-and-red-africa-the-decade-of-searching-for-african-utopias-the-conversation\/"},"modified":"2016-04-22T02:47:43","modified_gmt":"2016-04-22T00:47:43","slug":"the-sixties-and-red-africa-the-decade-of-searching-for-african-utopias-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/the-sixties-and-red-africa-the-decade-of-searching-for-african-utopias-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sixties and Red Africa: the decade of searching for African utopias | The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"
Fans of soul man James Brown, taken in 1965 in Bamako, Mali.<\/span> Malick Sidibe\/Tropen Museum<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Congo\u2019s first democratically elected prime minister Patrice Lumumba was a celebrity in Yugoslavia. Lumumba\u2019s execution in 1961 caused such outrage that the Belgian embassy in the Yugoslav capital Belgrade was ransacked.<\/p>\n

Yugoslav leader Josip Tito was himself a regular visitor to Africa \u2013 he went to Gamal Abdel Nasser\u2019s Egypt 20 times. Tito\u2019s aim was to consolidate the socialist friendship sweeping through the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Such connections in the 1960s-70s and their contemporary legacies are revealed in two striking recent cultural seasons: \u201cRed Africa\u201d at the Calvert 22 in London and \u201cThe Sixties \u2013 A Worldwide Happening\u201d in Amsterdam\u2019s Tropenmuseum.<\/p>\n

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\u2018Red Africa\u2019 banner at London\u2019s Calvert 22 gallery.<\/span> Calvert 22<\/span><\/span> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cRed Africa\u201d was centred on the \u201cThings Fall Apart\u201d exhibition and accompanying special report of the Calvert Journal<\/em>. It focused on relations between Africa, the Soviet Union and related socialist countries (1960s-80s). It did so via art, film, photography and architecture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sixties\u201d and its book was more catholic. It foregrounded the non-Western history of this most iconic liberation era. Through fashion, art and music it stressed the promiscuous connections that pulsed across the world.<\/p>\n

Warm clasp of friendship<\/h2>\n

One particular idea shone through both exhibitions for me: the importance of globally entangled utopianisms for Africa. It was such thinking that embroidered the martyr icon of Lumumba and conditioned the warm clasp of Tito\u2019s hand of friendship.<\/p>\n

Utopianism is the imagination and exposition of a society that does not exist. (\u201cUtopia\u201d derives from the Greek \u201cno-place\u201d.) But it has intrinsically more desirable qualities than what persists in reality.<\/p>\n

From philosophers like Thomas More to William Morris, the purpose of utopian expression has been to critique existing societies and ideologies. Utopianism gives collective purpose to build a better future, to emphasise the ethical or practical shortcomings of the status quo.<\/p>\n

For independent Africans in an era of new Cold War opportunity, utopianism was not ethereal or naive (as the term is commonly understood). It was steeped in a realist understanding of the trajectory of global power. Utopian thinking created new international friendships and would construct a brighter, very possible postcolonial future.<\/p>\n

There hasn\u2019t been enough space for utopianism in the consideration of independent African nations and their foreign relations.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t delve enough into the imaginative lives of Africans struggling to build a postcolonial world. Looking backwards, we have tended to dismiss idealised communities of solidarity. The security of \u201crealism\u201d and dark pall of neocolonialism pervade.<\/p>\n

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Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was a global icon.<\/span> The Wayland Rudd Collection<\/span><\/span> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Increasingly, however, pioneers \u2013 artists, academics and activists from the progressive world \u2013 are seeking out what African citizens dreamed<\/em> at the buoyant moment of independence and its tumultuous aftermath.<\/p>\n

They assess how utopian hopes entangled with wider global currents to build a free future in the 1960s. From the 1970s, utopian expression has creatively criticised the very deficiencies of liberation.<\/p>\n

As demonstrated at \u201cRed Africa\u201d and \u201cThe Sixties\u201d, art is at the vanguard of such real-world concerns.<\/p>\n

\u2018Red Africa\u2019 and \u2018The Sixties\u2019: socialism and optimism<\/h2>\n

Utopianism was under the surface of \u201cRed Africa\u201d. Behind-the-scenes snaps of Tito\u2019s safaris sat next to the beguiling 2016 film \u201cOur Africa\u201d. Here Russian filmmaker Alexander Markov unravels how Soviet filmmakers recorded the \u201cjoyous\u201d expansion of socialism. Footage of African leaders dancing Russian jigs on state tours of the Soviet Union illustrates how propagandists presented the Tanzanian ideology of \u201cUjamaa\u201d and Africa as integral to world socialist development.<\/p>\n

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Eva \u2013 a photograph by Ghanaian photographer James Barnor at \u2018The Sixties\u2019 exhibition.<\/span> James Barnor \/ Tropen Museum<\/span><\/span> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Korean photographer Onejoon Che uncovers the fascinating story of the Mansudae Art Studio. Established in 1959, it aided the construction of macho \u201csocialist realist\u201d African monuments as part of North Korea\u2019s controversial charm offensive.<\/p>\n

It was an interesting ride. But \u201cRed Africa\u201d prompted me to think more about how Africans themselves shaped and utilised such utopian internationalisms in those heady days of independence.<\/p>\n

A visit to \u201cThe Sixties\u201d with our new Afro-Asian Networks research group reinforced the feeling. The collection powerfully evoked a moment of intense optimism and global connection. For example, soul superstar James Brown provided the soundtrack for youth in Mali\u2019s capital of Bamako. It got portrayed in the vivacious photos of the late Malick Sidib\u00e9.<\/p>\n