AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

hiermit möchten wir auf die Publikation von Eric Van Grasdorffs Buch "African Renaissance and Discourse Ownership in the Information Age – The Internet as a Factor of Domination and Liberation" aufmerksam machen. Darin analysiert Van Grasdorff - basierend auf einer Foucaultschen Macht- und Diskurskonzeption - sowohl die neuen Möglichkeiten des Internets für die Umsetzung der Ziele der Afrikanischen Renaissance als auch die Kehrseiten dieser bislang immer noch vom "Norden" dominierten Technologie. Zu bestellen ist das Buch (14,90€ zzgl. Versandkosten) direkt beim Autor (Email: e.vangrasdorff@africavenir.org) oder beim LIT-Verlag (http://%22www.lit-verlag.de/isbn/3-8258-8247-0).

African Renaissance and Discourse Ownership in the Information Age – The Internet as a Factor of Domination and Liberation
By Eric Van Grasdorff, Dipl.-Pol.

Summary
The information revolution is transforming the world, especially the industrialised world. But what are its implications for the implementation of an African renaissance? Based on a Foucaultian analytical framework this book argues that the Internet has become a major Western instrument of domination in Africa. By extending the reach of Western hegemonic discourses, the Internet adds another dimension to Western discursive power. However, by allowing for the active participation in the process of naming the world, the Internet also affords unprecedented means of transcending dependency.

Reviews
Prof. Kum' a Ndumbe III, Université Yaoundé, Cameroon and Free University of Berlin, Founder of AfricAvenir
Who owns the discourse on the fundamental issues and orientations of contemporary Africa? Do Africans understand the discourses that are being produced about them in non-African languages? Have Africans ever accepted or adhered to these discourses they are meant to implement on a daily basis? Or have Africans on the contrary succeeded in partly re-appropriating these discourses which have long been confiscated by the colonisers, the powerful nations and the international institutions? Does the information age with its new information technologies like the Internet offer Africans new opportunities to develop their own discourses and hence restructure their societies in a way that corresponds to their own aspirations? These are the fundamental questions tackled by Eric Van Grasdorff in his excellent book. Born and grown up in Senegal and later in Germany, this German-Belgian scholar has been exposed to various cultures throughout his life, a fact which has motivated and cul tivated his approach towards an African renaissance.

[...] Eric Van Grasdorff has been able to demonstrate that one does not have to be black to contribute to the implementation of new strategies leading to the liberation of the African continent. This publication is a concrete proof that citizens all around the world dedicate themselves, beyond skin colour and nationality, to the goal of a more equilibrated future of humanity, a future that refuses domination, exploitation and genocide as the basis of the welfare and enrichment of a few. Through this book, the common destiny of humanity has become more obvious than ever!

Evelin G. Lindner, M.D., Ph.D. (Dr. med.), Ph.D. (Dr. psychol.)
Founding Manager of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS)
Eric Van Grasdorff’s ‘African Renaissance and Discourse Ownership in the Information Age’ is a profoundly innovative and important contribution to two debates, firstly the debate surrounding the increasingly visible African renaissance movement, and secondly the significance of the digital revolution for marginalized regions of the world such as Africa.

Fertilized by his unique background of being born in Senegal, Van Grasdorff’s work is able to access and intertwine theoretical perspectives and approaches from different schools of thought in ways that crosscut beaten tracks. He is not caught in ethnocentric perspectives, more so, due to his particular background and his high sensitivity to the traps of ethnocentrism, he is able to expose when certain conceptualizations do not even carrry the awareness of having fallen for ethnocentric views. Grasdorff is particularly sensitive to arrogant and overbearing views on the African continent that disempower and humiliate their people.

I recommend Van Grasdorff’s excellent book to all readers who are interested in reflecting deeper and reaching beyond familiar and entrenched ways of thinking, not only those who are particularly interested in Africa, but all those who wish to enlarge narrow paths of reflection and open up to a global world of thought. Grasforff approaches the topic of African Renaissance and the Internet in fresh ways that are not only stimulating for people who are particularly interested in Africa, but for all those who wish to enlarge narrow paths of reflection and open up to a global world of thought.

Linda M. Hartling, Ph.D., Associate Director
Jean Baker Miller Training Institute, Stone Center, Wellesley Centers for Women
Eric Van Grasdorff's "African Renaissance and Discourse Ownership in the Information Age" is a brilliant analysis of the risks and promising potential of introducing Western information and communication technology in non-Western societies.

Computer technology and the internet provide us with greater opportunities to learn from the knowledge, wisdom, and expertise of diverse groups of people. In addition, new technology can allow societies and cultures to more accurately represent themselves in the world community. However, technology can also be used as a vehicle of social control, oppression, and exploitation, in particular, technology flooded with ideology that primarily serves the interests of Western powers.

Van Grasdorff's book offers critical insights into the complexities of developing computer-based technology around the world and describes a model of electronic knowledge collection and creation designed to protect and promote the valuable intellectual contributions of African cultures.

About the Author
Eric Van Grasdorff is a political scientist. Born and grown up in Dakar, Senegal and later in Germany, he has very early in his life developed an intercultural identity, reflected in his professional and scientific work. Eric Van Grasdorff is specialised in South-North relations. Since 2000, he also heads the German section of AfricAvenir in Berlin. He also is a core team member of the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Network and is currently building an Internet platform on 'Diversity' for the German Heinrich Böll Foundation.

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