The
Intercultural Dialogue was hosted by the Centre for Cultural and African
Studies (CeCASt) at the KNUST to harness cultural values for social stability
and democracy.
“The
very act of development is an act of culture because it impacts on people’s
beliefs, ideals and values”, noted Prof. Mike van Graan, Executive Director of
the African Arts Institute (AFAI), a South African NGO.
For
him, culture can be used as a tool for development but “development
practitioners haven’t done enough to understand the culture of the people who
are supposed to be developed”.
He
emphasized the need for cultural impact studies to understand what effects any
particular kind of development has on the culture of beneficiary community.
According
to Prof. van Graan, mitigating potential conflict within a community will
demand an understanding between development and culture.
He
also emphasized the role of the arts in contribution to economic development.
“When
we understand the arts and the industry as being the drivers of economic
growth, things like theater, film and music, then I think we’ll be solving a
little bit of a myth by people in the global North where the creative industry
have done incredibly in terms of driving economic growth and creating
employment and the like”, said the Professor.
He
wants government, the private sector and educational institutions to make the
arts a profit-making activity to benefit majority of the population.
Director
of the CeCASt , Dr. Vesta Adu-Gyamfi says the conference explored the role of
chieftaincy, religion and the arts in conflict resolution.
Story
by Kofi Adu Domfeh
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