I have recently reviewed the column “Taking the Arts Seriously in Africa” by Helen Oosthuizen. In this column, she discusses her experience from the 2010 Drama for Life Africa Research Conference held in Johannesberg, South Africa. She explains that the conference brought together a diverse and dynamic group of people working in a broad variety of projects involving the arts. Delegates from fields of drama, fine arts, music and dance included researchers and lecturers with doctoral degrees, therapists, teachers and students, community-based practically trained artists and even some who sported no particular titles but brought with them experiences of how they utilised the arts to respond to needs and potential they witnessed in their communities.
She goes on to explain that presenters offered stories of their work, and the practical workshops, performances and events where the work that had generated these stories could be experienced and explored first hand. Artists and arts therapists spoke of offering safe spaces that enabled people in South Africa suffering from HIV/Aids or due to xenophobic attacks to creatively depict and display their stories, regaining their sense of humanness and dignity as others witnessed these stories. A photographer gave video cameras to a variety of people living with HIV and taught them to use these cameras to create portraits of their lives. These were made available for the public to view to reduce stigmatized views of HIV as people could witness their similarities and connectedness with those living with the disease. Dramatists, living in societies torn by political unrest such as Zimbabwe, shared stories of how they created and performed interactive plays in efforts to promote peace within their countries. Drama students performed plays that highlighted important aspects of sex and sexuality, to provoke thought around issues that are often not discussed openly. Still other dramatists offered impromptu performances of personal stories shared by audience members, enabling individuals to see their stories reflected through others, whilst the audiences could experience our shared humanity by making connections with a personal story relived on stage. A Rwandan dance student shared his attempts to offer dance workshops for children of families of both perpetrators and victims of political violence, to draw these groups together and rebuild broken relationships. Importantly, the conference offered opportunities to debate the many challenges, uncertainties and struggles of our work, leaving us all with important questions to consider. If artists have such powerful voices for drawing people towards social change, have we been effective when so little progress has been made in terms of issues such as HIV/Aids, and apartheid systems of division that seem to be replicating themselves in our society, taking on forms such as xenophobia? Are we empathetic and relevant in the way that we conduct our work, or are we forcing our arts on people who are not interested or who may even be offended by what we offer? How do we work effectively when the needs seem so great and our resources so few? How do we document our work in order to show its effectiveness?
I found it very interesting that she draws attention to such small overall effectiveness of artists on global issues. While I understand that not every therapist or artist will work with such controversial issues as HIV/Aids, I still think it is important that we ask ourselves these same questions. One in particular being how we document our work in order to show its effectiveness. This is an important issue with any population. If we cannot prove ourselves as therapists and our profession effective, then we will not be respected as we should be by colleagues and the general public.
She goes on to say that the conference was also an opportunity to reflect and marvel at the powerful transformations that can and do occur when people are able to create art of their lives. Artists are not merely bystanders or additional extras but hold tools that can deeply and profoundly move people and even nations. At first, the author was discouraged that most of the music was only used to accompany theatric productions or as an accompaniment to something. But on the second night, she was glad to see music brought more into the spotlight. She then discusses a community musician from Cape Town’s Music Therapy Community Clinic led all the delegates in singing (and dancing) a Xhosa song …so that slowly we began to move together, held and connected through music – the music of our own combined voices, stamping feet and moving bodies. I was glad to hear that the conference positively integrated music and the field of music therapy. When I read the title about Arts in Africa, my first thought was that it would be heavily based around visual art, not music.
Finally, the author states that she is in awe of the profound work that is continuing within the arts in Africa, work done by a diverse range of people in diverse settings. As our book was launched, she feels proud that, as music therapists we have made our, perhaps small, yet significant contribution to this work. Taking Music Seriously and the stories it reveals hopes to inspire many more stories of activists, educators and therapists who have chosen to take music and the arts seriously in Africa.
Response to Voices Article: Taking the Arts Seriously in Africa, by Helen Oosthuizen
Helen Oosthuizen has provided a valuable account of the 2010 Drama for Life Africa Research Conference, held last August in Johannesburg, South Africa. The conference explored many ways in which the arts have been used as a healing mechanism in many African countries. Dramatic works led audiences on a journey of healing through political unrest, the sufferings of war and promotion of peace, and socially taboo topics like sex and sexuality. A presenter from Rwanda shared experiences in working with the children of both perpetrators and victims of political violence, in an effort to mend these broken relationships. The various presentations showed how the dramatic arts are being used to promote physical, relational, and emotional health throughout the African continent.
It seems as though Helen’s account of the drama conference had a heavy focus on South Africa specifically. While it is great to read about the progress made there, I have to say that I disagree with some of the generalizations Helen makes about the entire African continent based on the success stories of South Africa. After all, the socio-economic status of South Africa is certainly the exception when considering the status of the continent as a whole. I would like to learn more about the kinds of work being done in low-economic African countries, similar to the stories Helen shares about the strides being taken in Zimbabwe and Rwanda. I was blessed with the opportunity to spend the summer of 2009 in Malawi, Africa, and am therefore particularly interested in learning about the successes and challenges of populations with similar standing to that of Malawi. Statistically the fourth poorest nation in the world, Malawi is certainly on the low end of the world economic spectrum and has vastly different needs, both musical and non-musical, than people in developed nations. My experience in Malawi changed my American perspective on the many roles that the arts can play in people’s lives. Rather than using music for entertainment, cinematic, and business marketing purposes so prevalent in America, I saw music engrained into people’s very existence. Music is an integral part of the culture, religion, and everyday life in Malawi, and is therefore revered by the people as a valuable part of human existence. I can certainly see a music therapy program being successful in addressing the problems described at the conference, such as political oppression, HIV/AIDS and sex education in Malawi and many countries like it.
As I read Helen’s account of her tour through the South African Constitutional Court and her experience of being faced with her own country’s political and racial hardships, I am starkly reminded of the many memorials dedicated to the Civil Rights Movement in America. Drama, music, and art are all closely associated with nationwide events honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. and African American History Month every February. As Helen describes, we are faced with the difficult realities of our own nation’s past, while celebrating how far we have come since then. Powerful stories of cultural justice are brought to life by drama, musical productions, and art exhibits. However, as countries like the U.S. and South Africa look back on our social and political progress, we must not forget that many countries do not yet have that hope-filled future that developed nations have experienced. Many African nations still suffer from political unrest, starvation, and rampant disease. It is important to study the ways in which the arts, and music therapy in particular, can address these countless problems, in order to bring about this hope-filled future that countries like South Africa and America now have.
When speaking of Africa as a whole and the kinds of issues that can be addressed by the arts, I think we need to take care that we do not base our perspectives on only one or two countries with which we are familiar. To base our beliefs on South Africa’s political progress and status would be very misleading, just as it would to base our beliefs on those of Malawi. Because the continent is so richly diverse, we must be certain that we take the economic, political, and social standing of the different countries into consideration when discussing the needs and progress of the peoples of Africa. By investing further study in the work being done through the arts in countries of varying political and socio-economic standing, we will broaden our perspective to be representative of the African continent as a whole and, in turn, be better equipped as music therapists to meet the needs in this area.