“It matters to shape what we want to say”: Basel conference seeks a new narrative for Africa

What if listening to Africa changed the way the continent is understood? That question shaped the African Perspectives on Global Transformations conference, held in Basel from Aug. 26 to 28.

The event brought together more than 300 researchers from Europe and Africa. Seventy-nine came from the African continent, a significant presence given the distances involved, visa requirements and the administrative obstacles many African nationals face when traveling beyond the continent’s borders.

The conference covered a broad range of subjects, including the economy, political sovereignty, decolonization, ecology, gender, technology, culture and society. Yet beneath that variety ran three recurring questions: who thinks about Africa, in which languages, and through which representations of itself?

The gathering therefore aimed not simply to discuss Africa, but to make room for African researchers, languages, knowledge and identities in shaping the narrative about the continent. Its central premise was that Africa should be heard as a source of ideas and knowledge, rather than treated only as an object of outside analysis.