Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies, ANU
Friday Seminar Series: 27 May 2016
Africa in World History: Literacy, Revolutions and the Quest for
Alternative Histories
By Kabu Okai-Davies
Abstract: In this presentation I will discuss the role of literacy - writing/reading/arithmetic -
in the formulation of national histories and how radical changes in socio-political cultures
led to technological, scientific, medical, military and industrial revolutions in Western and
Eastern civilizations. These changes are yet to happen in Africa on a continental scale, to
enable Africa to free itself from the aftermath of slavery and colonization, which to a large
extent continues to account for the political conditions of socio-economic and
cultural stagnation of the continent. In the post-colonial era of African independence the
continent is still susceptible to foreign domination and economic exploitation, mired by
incidents of tribal conflict, authoritarian rule, dysfunctional governments, mass poverty and
corruption. What alternative histories can be imagined if Africa undertakes a radical
revolution in reading and writing to liberate itself from the conditions of internal strife,
economic dependence and external control?

Kabu Okai-Davies is an African-Australian author from Ghana. He studied at the University of Ghana, Rutgers-Newark, and NYU. He was the Founding Producer of African Globe TheatreWorks in Newark, New Jersey, before moving to Australia in 2006. He has since worked as a Playwright-In-Residence, Street Theatre, Producer National Multicultural Festival and Manager of the Theo Notaras Multicultural Centre. He studied Creative Writing at Oxford University Summer Program, graduated with a Master of Studies at Australian National University; a Master of Creative Writing and PhD in Communications; University of Canberra. He is the author of two poetry collections The Long Road to Africa and Symphony of Words and has written articles for Daily Graphic, Spectator, Public Agenda and The Finder, in Ghana. Kabu is currently a Visiting Fellow in Writing at the ANU Research School of Humanities and the Arts and the 2015 Alumni Award Winner for Excellence, for the Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra.