An African Cultural Renaissance Perspective on Constitutionalism, Democracy, Peace, Justice and Shared Values: Challenges & Stakes for Statehood and Nation-building

Abstract

Beyond folklore, dance, music, culture refers, in a more substantive and comprehensive way, to the sum of ideas, knowledge systems and instrumentalities (institutional, scientific, technological and political) by means of which a people conceives and organises their relationship to space and time, in the process of production and reproduction of their existence and social life: economic activity as a whole, architecture, indigenous educational and health systems, principles and patterns of institutional and political organization, etc. For a given people, culture encompasses among others: the best practices and examples set by immortal figures and lessons learned during the richest hours of their history; their generic worldview, basic principles of life and value systems; their language (s) and spirituality; their vision of Self and Other including generic mental images and archetypes etc.