Why Africa must become a center of knowledge again | Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

翻译人员: Jane Chen 校对人员: Bangyou Xiang

What stands between Africa's current prostrate condition

对于长期受苦的非洲人民来说， 是什么阻碍了这块大陆

and a future of prosperity and abundance for its long-suffering populations?

由目前的衰败状况 通向繁荣富裕的未来？

One word:

一个字：

knowledge.

知识。

If Africa is to become a continent that offers the best life for humans,

如果非洲想要成为一个 能够为人民提供优质生活的大洲，

it must become a knowledge society

那它必须变成一个知识型社会，

immediately.

越快越好。

This is what I have called "Africa's knowledge imperative."

这就是我所说的 “非洲的知识普及势在必行”。

Our universities must reduce emphasis on producing manpower

我们的大学必须不再过分强调

for running our civil society,

为保持我们的公民社会，

our economy

经济

and our political institutions.

和政治的运转而培养人才。

They should be dedicated mainly to knowledge production.

大学的重中之重应该是创造知识。

What sense is there in producing civil engineers

如果我们培养的土木工程师

who are not supported by soil scientists and geologists,

没有土壤学家和地理学家

who make it their business to create knowledge about our soil

关于土壤和岩石的知识的支持，

and our rocks?

那还有什么意义？

What use is there in producing lawyers

如果没有陪审团

without juries who produce knowledge

创造司法系统背后的哲学基础知识，

of the underlying philosophical foundations of the legal system?

那么培养律师又有什么用呢？

We must seek knowledge.

我们必须寻求知识。

We must approach the matter of knowledge

我们必须走进知识的本质，

with a maniacal commitment,

以一种近乎疯狂的献身精神，

without let or hindrance.

毫无阻碍地追求知识。

Though we must seek knowledge to solve problems we know of,

虽然我们必须追求知识 用来解决已经出现的问题，

we must also seek knowledge

但是对于那些暂未出现的问题，

when there is no problem in view --

我们仍然必须追寻

especially when there is no problem in view.

其背后的知识。

We must seek to know as much of what there is to know of all things,

我们必须尝试着去了解 世间存在的一切事物，

limited only by the insufficiency of our human nature,

唯一的限制应该是人类天性的不足， 而且不应该仅仅是

and not only when the need arises.

因为有需求出现才这样做。

Those who do not seek knowledge when it is not needed

但对很多人来说，

will not have it when they must have it.

都是书到用时方恨少。

The biggest crisis in Africa today is the crisis of knowledge:

如今，非洲的最大危机就是知识危机：

how to produce it,

如何创造知识，

how to manage it,

如何管理知识，

and how to deploy it effectively.

以及如何有效地运用知识。

For instance, Africa does not have a water crisis.

比如说，非洲不存在水资源危机。

It has a knowledge crisis regarding its water,

真正的危机是水的相关知识的危机，

where and what types it is,

水源自哪里，是哪种类型的水，

how it can be tapped and made available where and when needed to all and sundry.

如何把这些水引入水龙头， 使得所有人随时随地都有水可用。

How does a continent that is home

非洲是全世界拥有最多水域的大洲，

to some of the largest bodies of water in the world --

其境内的河流包括：

the Nile,

尼罗河，

the Niger,

尼日尔河，

the Congo,

刚果河，

the Zambezi

赞比西河，

and the Orange Rivers --

以及奥伦治河等。

be said to have a water crisis,

这样的一个大洲，

including in countries

包括这些河流所在的国家，

where those rivers are?

怎么会出现水危机呢？

And that is only surface water.

而且这些还仅仅是地表水。

While we wrongly dissipate our energies fighting the wrong crises,

当我们在为一个错误的危机 而浪费精力的时候，

all those who invest in knowledge about us

所有那些研究与我们相关的知识的人

are busy figuring out how to pipe water from Libya's aquifers

都在忙着思考 如何从利比亚的地下蓄水层

to quench Europe's thirst.

引水到欧洲解决干旱问题。

Such is our knowledge of our water resources

这就是我们的水资源的相关知识。

that many of our countries have given up

我们中的很多国家已经放弃研究

on making potable water a routine presence

如何让饮用水成为非洲人民

in the lives of Africans,

日常生活的基本资源。

rich or poor,

不论富有或贫穷，

high and low,

不论地位高低，

rural and urban.

不论身处农村或城市。

We eagerly accept what the merchants of misery

我们急切地相信了那些黑心贩子，

and the global African Studies safari professoriat

全球非洲研究野外考察教授们，

and their aid-addled,

以及他们的头脑昏乱的

autonomy-fearing African minions

害怕自治的非洲“下属”，

in government, universities and civil society

他们来自政府、大学以及公民社会。

tell us regarding how nature has been to stinting towards Africa

这些人告诉我们， 自然对于非洲是多么的吝啬，

when it comes to the distribution of water resources in the world.

尤其是水资源在世界上的分布。

We are content to run our cities and rural dwellings alike

我们心满意足地钻井取水， 并且在各种水井上

on boreholes.

治理我们的城市和乡村。

How does one run metropolises on boreholes and wells?

然而，怎么可能在水井 和钻孔上建立都市呢？

Does Africa have a food crisis?

非洲存在粮食危机吗？

Again, the answer is no.

再一次，答案是否定的。

It is yet another knowledge crisis regarding Africa's agricultural resources,

实际上这是另一场关于 非洲农业资源的知识危机，

what and where they are,

农业资源究竟是什么，在哪里，

and how they can be best managed to make Africans live more lives

如何管理它来让非洲人民

过上更美好的生活。

that are worth living.

Otherwise, how does one explain the fact

否则该如何解释这一地理事实：

that geography puts the source of the River Nile in Ethiopia,

尼罗河的发源地在埃塞俄比亚，

and its people cannot have water for their lives?

然而埃塞俄比亚人却没有水喝？

And the same geography puts California in the desert,

同样的地理事实是：加利福尼亚州 大部分地区坐落于沙漠之中，

but it is a breadbasket.

但它却是重要的产粮区。

The difference, obviously, is not geography.

很明显，区别不在于地理，

It is knowledge.

而在于知识。

Colorado's aquifers

科罗拉多河的蓄水层

grow California's pistachios.

促进了加利福尼亚开心果的生长。

Why can't Libya's aquifers

为什么利比亚的蓄水层就不能

grow sorghum in northern Nigeria?

在尼日利亚北部促进高粱的生长呢？

Why does Nigeria not aspire

为什么尼日利亚没有立志于

to feed the world,

喂养全世界人口，

not just itself?

不仅仅是自己国家的人口呢？

If Africa's land is so poor, as we are often told,

如果非洲的土地真的像 其他人所说的那样贫瘠，

why are outsiders,

为什么局外人，

from the United Arab Emirates all the way to South Korea,

近至阿联酋人，远至韩国人，

buying up vast acreages of our land,

竟然大规模地购买我们的土地，

to grow food, no less,

在这片所谓的更贫瘠

to feed their people

的土地上种粮食

in lands that are truly more geographically stinting?

来养活他们自己的人口？

The new landowners are not planning to import new topsoil

这些新地主没有打算 进口新的表层土，

to make their African acquisitions more arable.

让买来的非洲土地更适合耕种。

Again, a singular instance of knowledge deficiency.

再一次重申，这就是 一个知识贫瘠的例子。

In the 19th century,

在19世纪，

our predecessors,

我们的先辈，

just years removed from the ravages of slavery and the slave trade,

在刚刚脱离奴隶制和 奴隶买卖之后的几年，

were exploring the Niger and Congo Rivers

开始探索尼日尔河和刚果河，

with a view to turning Africa's resources to the advantage of its people

希望通过非洲的资源 来造福非洲人民

and to the rest of humanity,

以及全人类。

and their 20th-century successors were dreaming of harnessing

后来，20世纪的继承者梦想着

the powers of the River Congo

利用刚果河的电力

to light up the whole continent.

来点亮整个大洲。

Now only buccaneer capitalists from Europe

然而现在只有来自 欧洲的资本主义掠夺者

are scheming of doing the same,

还在规划着这一愿景，

but for exports to Europe and South Africa.

但是是为了出口到欧洲和南非。

And they are even suggesting

他们甚至提出

that Congolese may not benefit from this scheme,

刚果人可能不会从这一规划中获利，

because, according to them, Congolese communities are too small

因为，据他们所说， 刚果的社区太小了，

to make providing them with electricity

以至于完全不用担心

a viable concern.

电力不能自给自足。

The solution?

那么解决方案是什么？

Africa must become a knowledge society,

非洲必须成为一个知识型社会，

a defining characteristic of the modern age.

它是现代的界定性特征。

We neither are, nor are we on the path to becoming,

我们现在既不是知识型社会，

也没有向着这一方向迈进。

a knowledge society.

Things have not always been this way

非洲的知识产出状况

when it comes to knowledge production and Africa.

并不一直都这样。

In antiquity, the world went to Africa for intellectual enrichment.

在古代，世界各国 来到非洲寻求丰富的智慧。

There were celebrated centers of learning,

非洲有许多著名的学习中心，

attracting questers from all parts of the then-known world,

吸引了来自当时 已知世界各地的探求者，

seeking knowledge about that world.

来到这里寻求关于世界的知识。

What happened then has implications for our present.

曾经的历史对我们的现在 也产生着影响。

For example,

比如说，

how Roman Africa managed the relationship between settlers and natives

公元二世纪到四世纪之间的罗马非洲

between the second and fourth centuries of our era

处理移民和当地人之间关系的方式

might have something to teach us when it comes to confronting

会启发我们解决

not-too-dissimilar problems at the present time.

目前的类似问题。

But how many classics departments do we have in our universities?

但是现在，在我们的大学里有多少个 研究古希腊罗马文化的部门呢？

Because we do not invest in knowledge,

因为我们不投资知识，

people come to Africa now

人们现在来到非洲

not as a place of intellectual enrichment,

不是为了追寻智慧的滋养，

but as a place where they sate their thirst for exotica.

而是为了满足一种 对异族事物的猎奇心理。

Yet for the last half-millennium,

但在过去的五百年中，

Africa has been hemorrhaging and exporting knowledge

非洲一直在向世界上的其他国家

to the rest of the world.

产出和贡献知识。

Regardless of the popular description of it as a trade in bodies,

尽管其流行的说法是“人口贩卖”，

the European trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery

欧洲人横渡大西洋 的奴隶买卖和奴隶制度

was one of the most radical and longest programs

是历史上最重大 且持续时间最长的

of African brains export in history.

非洲人才出口项目之一。

American slave owners may have pretended that Africans were mere brutes,

美国的奴隶主可能声称 非洲人就是野蛮人，

beasts of burden,

驮货物的野兽，

almost as inert and dumb as other farm implements

几乎就像分类账薄里 的其它农具一样

they classified them with in their ledgers.

迟钝沉默。

And that's what they did.

他们就是这么做的。

The enslaved Africans, on the other hand,

他们奴役了非洲人，

knew their were embodiments of knowledge.

同时明白非洲人是知识的化身。

They were smiths, they were poets,

他们是金属匠，诗人，

they were political counselors, they were princes and princesses,

政治参事，王子和公主，

they were mythologists, they were herbologists,

神话学者，草药学家，

they were chefs.

厨师等等，

The list is endless.

角色数不胜数。

They, to take a single example,

举一个简单的例子，

brought the knowledge of rice cultivation

他们将水稻种植的知识

to the American South.

带到了美国南方。

They created some of the most original civilizational elements

他们创造了让美国至今仍在赞美的

for which the United States is now celebrated.

最原始的文明元素。

They deployed their knowledge, for the most part,

美国人应用了他们的知识，

without compensation.

却没有付出任何报酬。

For the last half-millennium, beginning with the slave trade,

在过去的五百年里， 从奴隶买卖开始，

Africa has been exporting brains

非洲就在出口人才，

while simultaneously breaking the chains of knowledge transmission

同时打破了这片大洲上

知识传承的锁链，

on the continent itself,

with dire consequences for the systems of knowledge production in Africa.

这就是非洲知识生产系统的可怕后果。

Successive generations are cut off from the intellectual production

接连几代人都从前辈们 知识生产的传承中

of their predecessors.

遭到了隔离。

We keep producing for external markets

我们一直在为外部的市场而生产,

while beggaring our own internal needs.

内部需求却无法得到满足。

At present,

现在，

much of the best knowledge about Africa

大多数关于非洲的最佳知识

is neither produced nor housed there,

既不是生产于非洲，也不存在于非洲，

even when it is produced by Africans.

尽管最初是非洲人生产的。

Because we are dominated by immediate needs

一提到我们所应该知道的知识,

and relevant solutions when it comes to what we should know,

我们就会被眼前的迫切需求 和相关解决办法所支配，

we are happy to hand over to others

我们乐于把创造知识的责任

the responsibility to produce knowledge,

转交给其他人，

including knowledge about, of and for us,

其中包括关于我们 和对我们有利的知识，

and to do so far away from us.

让他们在遥不可及的地方创造知识。

We are ever eager to consume knowledge

我们急切地想要运用知识，

and have but a mere portion of it

但是完全归我们所有，

without any anxiety about ownership and location.

并且处于我们的地盘的知识 却只有一点点。

African universities are now all too content

现在非洲的大学都太满足于

to have e-connections with libraries elsewhere,

与其他地方的图书馆建立网上连接，

having given up ambitions on building libraries

放弃建立属于自己的图书馆，

to which the world would come for intellectual edification.

让全世界的人到这里追寻智慧的启迪。

Control over who decides what should be stocked on our shelves

我们的书架上应该摆放哪些书籍，

and how access to collections should be determined

如何确定书籍的使用权，

are made to rest on our trust in our partners' good faith

在这些问题上， 我们选择相信其他伙伴的善意，

that they will not abandon us down the road.

相信他们不会在半路抛弃我们。

This must change.

这点必须要改变。

Africa must become a place of knowledge again.

非洲必须再次成为知识的宝地。

Knowledge production actually expands the economy.

实际上，生产知识能够扩大经济规模。

Take archaeological digs, for instance,

比如考古挖掘，

and their impact on tourism.

以及它对旅游业的影响。

Our desires to unearth our antiquity,

文物考古挖掘，

especially those remote times of which we have no written records,

尤其是来自无书面记载 的远古时代的文物，

requires investment in archaeology and related disciplines,

都需要在考古学 和其他相关学科投入资金，

e.g., paleoanthropology.

比如古人类学。

Yet, although it is our past we seek to know,

然而，尽管我们探寻的是过去，

by sheer serendipity,

某种机缘巧合之下，

archaeology may shed light on the global human experience

考古学可能会为全人类带来启发，

and yield economic payoffs

并且由此产生经济效益，

that were no part of the original reasons for digging.

但那并不是考古挖掘的最初原因。

We must find a way to make knowledge and its production sexy and rewarding;

我们必须想办法让知识 及知识生产富有吸引力且回报丰厚；

rewarding, not in the crass sense of moneymaking

这种回报不仅仅是指赚钱，

but in terms of making it worthwhile to indulge in the pursuit of knowledge,

更是让追求知识、

support the existence

供养生产知识

of knowledge-producing groups and intellectuals,

的人才和群体变得有价值，

ensuring that the continent

从而确保这个大洲

becomes the immediate locus of knowledge production,

成为生产知识、传授知识以及

distribution and consumption,

应用知识的中心。

and that instead of having its depositories

我们要摒弃超越非洲边界

beyond Africa's boundaries,

的知识储藏地，

people once more come from the rest of the world,

即便是通过虚拟空间， 也要让世界各地的人们

even if in virtual space, to learn from us.

能够再一次从我们这里获取知识。

All this we do as custodians on behalf of common humanity.

所有这一切都是为了 捍卫我们共同的人性。

Creating a knowledge society in Africa,

在非洲创建一个知识型社会，

for me, would be one way to celebrate and simultaneously enhance diversity

对我来说，是一种通过无限丰富 物质和额外的手工制品

by infinitely enriching it with material and additional artifacts --

来庆祝并同时增强多样性的方式——

artifacts that we furnish

那些手工制品来之不易，

by our strivings

靠的是我们在知识领域

in the knowledge field.

不懈的努力。

Thank you very much.

非常感谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）