Oxfam GB
Manufacturing and Consuming Knowledge: African Libraries and Publishing (Fabrication et
consommation de connaissances: les bibliothèques et l'édition en Afrique / Criando e
consumindo conhecimento: bibliotecas africanas e editoras / Manufacturando y
consumiendo conocimientos: las bibliotecas y las publicaciones africanas)
Author(s): Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
Source: Development in Practice, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Nov., 1996), pp. 293-303
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Oxfam GB
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4028836
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Development in Practice
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Manufacturing and consuming knowledge
African libraries and publishing
Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
The article examines the problems facing African scholars and publishers, in the context of ra
developments in information technology and a deepening economic gulf between industrialised
and Third World countries. Many of these problems, and conventional responses to them from
libraries, publishers, and donors, are themselves a legacy of colonial relations, the most
significant of which is the deepening dependence on Western forms of knowledge and systems to
validate all forms of intellectual activity. Questioning the terms 'information-rich' and
'information-poor', the author stresses the needfor Africans to develop the means to generate,
value, and disseminate their own forms of knowledge.
Global village or feudal estate?
to the information-poor world. A harmonious
We live in the information age, so we are always
global village it is not. A feudal estate,
told, in which information is apparently as vital as
hierarchical and unequal, it may be.
agriculture and industry once were. It is an age of
What is Africa's position on this feudal estate?
infinite possibilities in education and scholarship,
Where does it fit in the international political
teaching and research, economic growth and
economy of knowledge production, dissemina-
political freedom; a brave new world blessed with
tion, and consumption? To answer these
the open intimacies of the village, where the
questions we need to assess the development and
boundaries of national isolation and intellectual
state of the continent's basic infrastructures for
provincialism are withering away, as knowledge
creating and distributing knowledge: namely, the
explodes in its relentless march towards human
availability of publishing houses, technical
enlightenment. Extravagant claims, no doubt.
expertise, printing facilities, electronic technol-
Knowledge, as creed and commodity, as a
ogies, libraries, and capable writers. It is not
proprietary privilege, reflects and reproduces the
enough, however, to bemoan the regional and
spatial and social divisions of power, old and new,
social disparities in access to information, or to
material and ideological, between and within
chronicle the unequal patterns of information
societies. The 'information highway' is a danger-
acquisition, outreach, and infrastructure. We need
ous place for those on foot or riding rickety
to unravel the content, the value, of the informa-
bicycles. It is designed for, and dominated by,
tion. What social good has it generated? To what
those travelling courtesy of powerful and
extent has the explosion of information led to
prestigious publishing systems and academic
more enlightened human relations within and
enterprises of the industrialised North, who chum
among nations? Is the 'information highway' all
out the bulk of the world's books, journals,
speed, noise, and fury leading nowhere, and
databases, computers and software and other
leaving behind only data-glut and confusion? In
information technologies, and dictate laws on
short, we must interrogate the ethics of informa-
international copyright and intellectual propertytion, the social and political morality of
0961-4544/96/04293-11 ?Oxfam UK and Ireland 1996 293
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Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
knowledge creation, consumption and content,
Research and academic libraries were the least
and assess its record in bettering the human
domesticated, much like the universities them-
condition, not just materially, but in ennobling
selves, whose institutional lineages and intellect-
social relations, in uplifting the human spirit.
These are the issues discussed in this article.'
ual loyalties lay overseas. All was well in the
heady years immediately following independ-
The first part offers an overview of the challenges ence, when healthy commodity prices and
facing African academic and research libraries,
booming economies kept modemisation hopes
crucial centres for the consumption and prod-
alive. The tentacles of information-dependency
uction of knowledge; and examines the band-aid
grew tighter and thicker, despite the inchoate
solutions that have been tried, only to reinforce
nationalist yearning for cultural decolonisation.
the continent's extemal dependency.2 The second
Then from the mid- 1970s many African countries
part argues that the plight of African research
fell into a spiral of recurrent recessions, which
libraries as a crisis of scholarly communication
wreaked havoc on development ambitions, and
cannot be adequately tackled without developing
left a trail of economic decline, social dislocation,
and improving local academic publishing and
and political disaffection - problems that were
information-production capacities, to ensure the
exacerbated by the disastrous programmes of
dissemination of knowledge that better reflects
structural maladjustment. The bookshelves grew
African realities. But we must avoid the pitfalls of empty. 'Book hunger' joined the litany of Africa's
either romanticising indigenous knowledge or
other famines of development, democracy, and
self-determination.
turming library holdings into a fetish - for neither
guarantees accessibility or enlightenment. Thus
the challenges of producing and disseminating
knowledge and information ultimately centre on
questions of cultural democratisation and social
The impact of structural adjustment
The prevailing library and information system
responsibility. And these are not peculiarly
was in a crisis of self-reproduction and relevance.
African problems. They are universal.
This is amply borne out by the 1993 survey of 31
university and research libraries in 13 African
countries conducted by the American Associa-
The struggle for the bookshelves
African libraries carry a heavy colonial imprint,
tion for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). All
but three of the libraries reported a sharp drop in
their subscriptions to journals from the mid-
even in those regions with long traditions of
1980s. Among the worst-hit were the libraries of
literacy and libraries, such as Northem Africa,
Addis Ababa University and the University of
Ethiopia, and parts of Westem and Eastem Africa,
Nigeria and the University of Yaounde Medical
partly because virtually the whole continent
Library, which in the late 1980s and early 1990s
(including Ethiopia between 1935 and 1941), was
cancelled subscriptions to some 1,200, 824, and
under colonial rule. After independence - a
107 journals respectively, owing to shortage of
period that witnessed the fastest expansion of
foreign exchange (Levey, 1993: 2-3). Currency
libraries in the continent's history - colonial
devaluation, one of the linchpins of structural
traditions were reinforced by a scramble for
adjustment programmes, also took its toll on the
modemisation that assumed a concomitant need
buying power of libraries. As the Librarian of
for Westemisation. African libraries heedlessly
Abubakar Tafawa University said in 1993: 'at the
borrowed their architecture, collections, biblio-
current rate of 25 naira to the dollar, I should have
graphic and classification systems, training and
about $229,000 for books. Ten years ago, I would
staffing structures from the North, without
have been swimming in dollars - for at $1.50 to
adequately tethering them to the stubbom local
NI, the same naira would have equalled over $8
realities of poverty and illiteracy, on the one hand, million' (ibid., 9). Compounding matters were
and the rich media of oral culture and the
unpredictable currency fluctuations which
voracious appetite for education, on the other.
imposed further and unanticipated expenditures.
294 Development in Practice, Volume 6, Number 4, November 1996
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Manufacturing and consuming knowledge
It was a fatal concoction, this combination of
progress, but as the inert apparatus of the State, a
currency devaluations and fluctuations, together mission that leaves little room for serious
with the escalating cost in the price ofjournals and commitment to scholarly communication and
books. Today, it is common to find journals with
critical pedagogy.
annual subscriptions costing $1,000, especially in
the sciences. One study estimates that serial costs
in North America, from where African research
libraries import many materials, increased 115
The dubious benefits of library aid
One response been growing reliance on donations
per cent between 1986 and 1994, and monograph
of books and journals from charitable
costs rose by 55 per cent. As a result, serial
organisations and foreign governments and their
acquisitions among members of the US-based
agencies. The AAAS survey found that only five
Association of Research Libraries dropped by
of the libraries subscribing tojournals in 1993 did
four per cent and monographs by 22 per cent
so exclusively with internal funding. The rest
(Birenbaum, 1995). If research libraries in the
depended to varying degrees on donor support.
North were feeling the chill, those in Africa
Five were dependent for as much as 100 per cent,
caught pneumonia. The case of the University of
and another five for 80 per cent and more. Four
Ibadan Library is all too typical. Its subscriptions
had neither donor support nor their own funding.
plummeted from over 6,000 serials in 1983 to less
'Thus without external funding,' the AAAS
than a tenth of that a decade later (Levey, 1993:3).
report states, 'many libraries would have few
The three fortunate libraries that reported
current joumals on their shelves. But donor
increases in the number of subscriptions - the
support', it notes correctly, 'raises its own set of
University of Nairobi Medical Library, the
dilemmas, which revolve around the dreaded
National Mathematical Centre of Nigeria, and
term "sustainability"' (Levey, 1993:19). The
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University -
donors do not underwrite projects indefinitely,
subscribed to no more than 200 journals each.
which makes it difficult to pursue a rational
Indeed, only seven libraries in the AAAS survey
programme of journal acquisitions. For example,
subscribed to more than 200 journals with internal the University of Makerere Library reduced its
funding. Of these, only three, led by the
number of subscriptions from 700 to 200 serials
University of Zimbabwe Library with 1,578
when grants from the Overseas Development
journals paid through the library's budget, could
Agency (ODA) and the European Community
boast more than 500 subscriptions. But even the expired in 1991.
latter saw its foreign-currency allocation decline Another problem is that library aid, like all aid,
from 65 per cent of the funds requested in 1989 to
has strings attached. 'Book presentations', Clow
less than 40 per cent in 1991 (Levey, 1993: 4-5). (1986:87) writes, 'are usually restricted to items
Aggravating the dire financial conditions in
published in the donor country ... training usually
which the libraries found themselves were the ill-involves donor-country citizens as teachers; if a
advised government taxes on imports of books
scholarship is awarded, the scholar usually travels
and journals.3 Bureaucratic red tape often makes
to and spends most of the money in the donor
matters worse: getting imported books out of
country.' African libraries rarely choose the
customs can often take weeks, even months.
journals and books that they receive from the
The universities themselves are also to blame.
donors.4 Predictable, also, is the fact that most of
Their expenditure patterns are usually skewed in
the journals donated are North American and
favour of salaries and privileges for the
European, not African.' In short, book aid tends to
administrative elite, with their fleets of official
reinforce Africa's dependency on Western values,
cars, heavily subsidised housing, and numerous
languages, discourses, and institutions. Reluctant
allowances: self-indulgent practices reminiscent
to bite the hand that feeds them, many librarians
of the corrupt political class. And so the
keep quiet, even when the donations are irrelevant
universities seek to reproduce themselves, not
andasinappropriate. In the process, the culture of
intellectual ivory towers, nor as locomotives of
silence and submission to imperialism, which is
Development in Practice, Volume 6, Number 4, November 1996 295
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Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
It is simply to point out that basic infrastructural
partly responsible for the African crisis in the first
place, deepens. And so they meekly receive, and
development is essential, and that in themselves
fill their shelves with, or quietly dispose of,
the advanced technologies offer no magic
propaganda materials from embassies, the
solution to the challenges of information
discarded miscellanea of Western libraries,
dissemination and scholarly communication
grimy, out-of-date texts, and publishers'
facing Africa. Many African research libraries,
remainders. By filling the bare shelves of African
usually with donor support, are investing heavily
libraries, well-meaning, but sometimes mis-
in computer and CD-ROM capability, and
guided, philanthropists can display their altruism;
electronic networking (AAS and AAAS, 1992).
and hard-nosed publishers can dispose of their
To its champions, the CD-ROM is a wonder-
unsold tomes, and thus save themselves
technology that is universally appropriate: not
warehouse charges and earn welcome tax relief.
only can it hold huge amounts of data, it is
From the 1970s, donors and international
durable, cheap to mail, requires no special
agencies, especially UNESCO, produced a series
handling, storage space, or telecommunication
of training and information-development pro-
facilities, and can withstand climatic extremes,
grammes. But most of these, Sturges and Neill
power cuts, and the ravages of insects and fungi.
(1990:97) contend, 'failed to produce results
The potentialities of advanced technologies for
commensurate with the attention that the
liberation and repression are in serious dispute
information professions have paid to them'. They
(Kagan, 1992; Buschman, 1992). Lancaster
attribute the failure of UNESCO's national
(1978) urged developing countries to seize on the
porgrammes of library and information develop-
new technologies and leapfrog to electronic
ment to erroneous assumptions, inadequate plan-
libraries, by-passing the book. His critics have
ning, and poor design, problems often exacerb-
argued that electronic information service in
ated by the lack of State support, sparse infra-
Africa benefits only a small, already privileged
structures, and excessive duplication and rivalry
elite. African librarians, they assert, ought to be
among the donor agencies themselves. Similar
concentrating on helping the illiterate majority to
challenges have hampered efforts by Africa-
learn to read and write (Mchombu, 1982; Olden,
based organisations to develop regional informa-
1987; IFLA, 1995). Others argue for an integrated
tion systems. The most well-known is the Pan
approach that combines improved information
African Documentation and Information System
delivery to both the poor and the elites (Tiamiyu,
(PADIS), begun in 1980 and administered by the
1989; Sturges and Neill, 1990).
Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Its
The 1993 AAAS report found that all but five of
broad aims are to help African countries to
the 31 libraries surveyed had computers, about
strengthen their own internal information
half of them purchased locally, and most of them
systems, and to set up a decentralised informationacquired through donor support. Nineteen
network for the continent. While PADIS has
libraries had CD-ROM capability, and two were
made considerable progress, and publishes usefulexpecting to acquire it by the end of 1993. African
bibliographic indexes, especially concerning
librarians have been keen to acquire CD-ROM
development, it certainly achieved far less in its
technology 'for fear of being left behind', in the
first ten years than the investment of $160 million
words of John Newa (1993:82), the Director of
warranted, partly due to misguided emphasis on
Library Services at the University of Dar es
expensive information technologies for countries
Salaam. At a 1993 workshop in Harare on new
with poor telecommunications infrastructures.
technologies for librarians from 17 libraries in 11
countries in eastern and southern Africa
The role of information technology
This is not to suggest that the latest information
(including South Africa), 16 of whom were
equipped with CD-ROMs, there was universal
agreement on the importance of this technology,
technologies should not be acquired, for not to do despite some of its perceived shortcomings. With
so would be to reinforce Africa's marginalisation.
a few exceptions, many of the libraries reported
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Manufacturing and consuming knowledge
extensive use of the CD-ROM facilities. The
four indicated they had funding for subscriptions
University of Zambia Medical Library was even
in the future. Nor do literature searches guarantee
forced to ration time to 30 minutes per person.
the users access to the documents identified.
Most of the libraries in the AAAS report sub-
Given the inadequacy of many African research
scribed to databases in agriculture and medicine,
libraries' serials collections, bibliographic data-
mainly because of the interest of donors, who
bases that do not contain abstracts are virtually
largely pay for the subscriptions in these fields.
useless (Patrikios, 1992: 30-7). Few donors
The notable exception was the library of Cheikh
include document delivery as an integral part of
Anta Diop, which had a significant number of
their grants for database subscriptions, and
CD-ROM databases in the social sciences (Levey,
supplying photocopies from Europe and North
1993: 13-16).
America, as is sometimes done, is costly and
Computers and CD-ROM technologies have
cumbersome. The document-delivery barriers
breathed new life into Africa's ailing research
may ease as full-text literature is routinely
library systems, although they pose their own
published on disk as well as in print form.
problems, and reinforce some old ones. Lack of
relevant technical expertise locally and among
librarians often leads to poor choice of product,
and installation and maintenance difficulties. One
The struggle for knowledge
study reports, for example, that 'the librarian of
African librarians are fully aware of these
the University of Ghana Medical School had no
problems, and many realise the importance of
one in Ghana to whom to tum when he had trouble national and regional cooperation, although
installing his CD-ROM drive, for his is the first
declared intentions tend to predominate over
library with CD-ROM in the country. Ultimately
concrete action.6 But even if the question of
he called New York to receive instructions over
access to citations and documents were resolved,
the phone' (Levey, 1991:12). But long-distance
Africa's knowledge base would not necessarily
advice can be costly and inappropriate, as the
improve, for these databases - like the bulk of
librarian of the University of Zimbabwe Medical the journals and books imported into most of the
School discovered after buying a non-compatible continent's libraries - primarily contain NorthCD drive 'on the basis of advice from our New
ern scholarship. Production costs for CD-ROM
York software vendors' (Levey, 1991:12).
databases are still prohibitive for any aspiring
These technologies of course do not come
African publisher, although efforts are being
cheap, so the question of funding remains.
made to create local databases.7 Besides, the
Besides the one-off equipment costs, which rise
publisher would have to develop extensive
each time local currencies are devalued, there is
scholarly, marketing, and support networks.
the high recurrent cost of subscription to data-
Northern database publishers are still largely
bases. Training costs can also be high and recur-
unwilling or unable to incorporate bibliographic
rent, especially since the technology is growing
records from the South. By the mid-1980s there
and changing rapidly. It is essential to budget for
were an estimated 700 databases of direct concern
CD-ROM subscriptions for the long run, because
to Africa located outside the continent; the figure
subscribers are usually allowed to use the
has most probably risen with the explosion in
databases only for the duration of the subscription
electronic communications since then (Seeley,
and may be requested to return the disks should
1986). Not only are these databases difficult to
their subscriptions run out - unlike joumals,
access within Africa itself, but their input of
which a library keeps when its subscription lapses
African research and publications is abysmal. For
(Levey, 1992). Not surprisingly, there is
example, fewer than one per cent of more than
reportedly a handful of libraries with CD-ROMs
36,000 items on Africa contained in the
who do not use them because they have no funds
FRANCIS data file (with one million items
to purchase subscriptions. Of the 16 libraries with
altogether), produced by the French Centre
CD-ROMs surveyed by the AAAS in 1991, only
National de la Recherche Scientifique as of
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Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
March 1986, were published in Africa (Sturges
the one hand, Africanist scholars spend less time
and Neill, 1990: 64-5). In the case of even the best
than they used to in Africa, whether doing
of these databases, FAO's Agricultural Informa-
research or teaching, partly because of funding
tion system (AGRIS), only 25 per cent of the
difficulties, reduced salaries in African
content derives from the developing countries.
universities, and fewer teaching opportunities
resulting from the successful Africanisation of
The need to reclaim African studies
faculties. On the other hand, the proportion of
African scholars studying for higher degrees in
The marginality of African knowledge is evident
the North, especially in the social sciences and
even in scholarly communication networks that
humanities, has also fallen, because of declining
call themselves Africanist. Overseen by gate-
need, financial resources, and attractiveness of
keepers located in well-endowed universities, the
academic careers, and growing immigration
Africanist intellectual system, which is firmly
restrictions. Contacts are especially poor for what
rooted in a Westem epistemological order and an
Mkandawire (1995) calls the 'third generation' of
academic culture driven by a ruthless ethos of
African scholars, a point echoed by Guyer (1995)
'publish or perish', and consisting of multi-
with reference to the younger crop of aspiring
national publishing houses, university presses,
North American Africanists.
journals, peer-review networks, citation and
Mkandawire, CODESRIA's executive secret-
bibliographic conventions, has little room for the
ary and a keen observer of the two scholarly comalien views, voices, and visions emanating from
munities, has noted, for example (1995:4), that in
Africa itself. On this scholarly treadmill, Africa
the 1980s, while many Africanists were fashion-
appears nothing more than a research object to
ably bemoaning or applauding the 'exit' of
verify faddish theories that emerge with predict- peasants and other exploited social classes from
able regularity in the channel-surfing intellect-
arenas dominated by the authoritarian post-
ualism of Northern academies. Research on five
colonial State, 'African social scientists moved in
leading Africanist social science and humanities
a different direction, casting attention more
journals published in Britain, Canada, and the
towards the study of social movements and
USA showed that between 1982 and 1992 only 15
democracy'. Currently, post-modemism is cast-
per cent of their articles and 10 per cent of their
ing its spell on many in the Africanist fratemity,
book reviews were by Africans based in Africa.
and some are anxiously covering their mouldy
African authors based in the West accounted for a
African data with its ephemeral fragrance,
further 9 per cent of the articles and 5 per cent of forgetting proclamations they made in the 1960s
the reviews (Zeleza, forthcoming).
that Africa was modemising, in the 1970s that it
Detailed analysis of the contents of Africanist
was under-developing, and later that modes of
publications would be revealing. To what extent
production were being articulated. Sleeping its
do their themes and topics engage the realities and way through the lost 1980s, Africa somehow
priorities of the communities studied and the
woke up in the 1990s to find itself in a post-
genuine research interest of the scholars from
modemist universe - or it should have, we are
those communities, as opposed to research orient-
told (Parpart, 1995). To many African scholars on
ations dictated by the consultancy syndrome or bythe continent, such arcane preoccupations seem
careerist calculations in situations where
the nadir of intellectual solipsism and decadence.
publishing in Western scholarly media carries
According to Aina (1995:2), the crisis of African
more weight than publishing within Africa?
Studies in North America and Europe is creating
There is some evidence to suggest that the
agendas of African and Africanist research
a process of intellectual reproduction about
communities have grown more divergent over the
Africa that is characterized by sterility, outdated
years - a trend which is attributable to the
facts and information, casual and ad hoc observ-
changing conditions for African studies in the
ation, name-calling and sometimes wild specula-
North and the scholarly enterprise in Africa. On
tion. It is our argument here thatfor an up to date,
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Manufacturing and consuming knowledge
realistic, correct and appropriate ... understand-
intellectual traditions and communities capable
ing of Africa, the most appropriate and relevant
of directing and controlling the study of Africa, of
source is that scholarship and production
defining African problems and solutions, realities
emanating from or still directly linked to the
and aspirations, of assessing our achievements
continent in terms of research experience and
andfailures, our pasts andfutures, and of seeing
reflection;from this living and challenging source
ourselves in our own image, not through the
and expression, no amount of post-modernist,
distortions andfantasies of others. Publishing is
post-industrialist, post-Marxist or 'post-Nativist'
critical not only for the cultural identities of
conceptualization or discourse can take away the
nations, peoples, classes, and groups. It provides
relevance, immediacy and centrality.
the material basis for producing, codifying,
circulating and consuming ideas, which, in turn,
The inescapable conclusion is that importing
shape the organisation of productive activities
knowledge from abroad is no panacea. And for
and relations in society.
Africa to depend on external sources for knowledge about itself is a cultural and an economic
travesty of monumental proportions. To use a
phrase from the under-development paradigm,
African publishing: constraints and
opportunities
African libraries may grow from buying or
The challenges of publishing in Africa and other
receiving donations of tons ofjoumals and books,
Third World regions are well known. They
and they may acquire the latest information
include poor infrastructure (in particular
technologies and the largest databases; but
shortages of skilled editors, designers, distribu-
without actually developing, without expanding
tion experts, and readily available and cheap
and strengthening the continent's capacities for
supplies of printing equipment and paper), as well
authentic and sustainable knowledge-creation,
as low literacy rates, language problems, and
information-generation, and data-collection.
meagre incomes and purchasing power
More often than not, knowledge produced about
problems which have been exacerbated by the
Africa from elsewhere is distorted or irrelevant,
recurrent recessions. Promotion and marketing, at
and importing databases or receiving donations
home and abroad, remains a critical hurdle for
serves to strengthen the ties of intellectual
many African publishers (Zell, 1995: 16-18). For
dependency. Sturges and Neill (1990:79)
instance, Nyariki and Makotsi (1995:1 1) found
irreverently suggest that 'many of the donations
that the promotional and marketing activities
that do arrive would be far better if they were
undertaken by many Kenyan publishers are
pulped. This might at least provide some new
ineffective and unprofessional, because they lack
paper, a basic resource which Africa needs more
trained staff. Moreover, widespread government
urgently than other countries' cast-off books'.
intolerance and censorship in many countries
The real challenge, then, is not simply to fill
only make matters worse. Nor does the existence
empty library shelves and acquire gadgets for
of relatively small and fragile academic
faster information-retrieval, but to produce the communities help, especially for scholarly
knowledge in the first place; for Africa to study, publishing. And poorly capitalised indigenous
read, and know itself, to define itself to itself and publishers must often compete with large
to the rest of the world, and to see that world
multinational publishing companies, and heavily
through its own eyes and not the warped lenses ofsubsidised State-owned publishing houses.8
others. There is no substitute for a vigorous
intellectual system, of which publishing is an
These constraints are real and serious, but they
are not insurmountable. Literacy rates have risen
integral part. As I have noted elsewhere (Zeleza,
remarkably in many countries, and 'the much
1994:238):
publicised myth that the African mind is orally-
Only by developing and sustaining our own
becoming more threadbare as evidence mounts
oriented and therefore Africans do not read' is
publishing outlets can there emerge truly African
that a lot of people actually read for pleasure:
Development in Practice, Volume 6, Number 4, November 1996 299
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Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
Nyariki and Makotsi (1995:1 1) demonstrate that
telling of her experience in attempting to obtain
'a majority 39% of consumers buy books because
information on African imprints in order to place
of a love of reading'. They also show that the
an orderfor her library. The lack of responsefrom
number of indigenous publishers in Kenya
the African publishers whom she wrote requesting
doubled to 72 between 1974 and 1994 and that
catalogues forced her to place orders overseas.
local publishers were producing 60 per cent of the
books on the local market. These trends are
On another occasion the Librarian at the
confirmed by Hans Zell (1993:373), a seasoned
University of Makerere pointed out that 'most o
observer of the African publishing scene, who
the African joumals are possibly not known by
states that 'despite the overall gloomy picture ...
teaching staff who recommend titles to be sub-
new indigenous imprints continue to mushroom
scribed by the library' (quoted in Levey,
all over Africa, and some privately owned firms
1993:11). Unfortunately, he may have been
have shown a great deal of imaginative
correct. It is a sad fact that in many African
entrepreneurial skill in the midst of adversity'.
universities the processes of hiring and promoting
And the formation of the African Books
staff and allocating research grants are firmly tied
Collective (ABC) by African publishers in 1989
to the legitimation structures of Westem
to undertake the joint promotion and distribution scholarship. Familiarity with Westem intellectual
of African books outside the continent, and of the fads, and publication in the restricted Westem
African Publishers' Network (APNET) in 1992 to
scholarly media, bestow upon the lucky few
encourage intra-African publishing and trade in
precious reputational capital that can be traded for
books, underscores the determination of African
lucrative consultancies and overseas visiting
publishers to forge ahead.9
professorships and conferences. Local joumals
Libraries must do their part. They constitute the
backbone of scholarly publishing. In many parts
become publication outlets of last resort,
repositories of second-rate scholarship.
of the world, including the industrialised
This must change. African intellectuals need to
countries, libraries provide the major market for
shed their inferiority complexes about their own
scholarly products. In fact, in the USA, despite
work by publishing, without apologies, in
relatively high academic salaries and a large
journals they control; by reading and citing each
other; by demonstrating a greater faith in their
professorate, it is library purchases, not subscriptions by individuals, that sustain journals. Often
own understanding of their complex and fast-
libraries generate up to 90 per cent or more of the
changing societies - for no one else will do that
income of journals, especially in the medical and
for them. They cannot continue being unwelcome
scientific areas. Having fed for so long on Western
guests at other people's intellectual tables.
imports and donations of information materials
Through their reward structures, facilities, and
and technologies, African libraries have not
ethos, universities should provide the major
always ventured with enough appetite to acquire
sources for intellectual production and markets
local publications. For their part, publishers bred
for scholarly products. Where the scholarly
on the captive school-textbook market are not
communities are small, cooperative ventures in
always aggressive enough in promoting their
regional journal publication should be
wares. At the Harare workshop mentioned above,
encouraged. The mission, always, must be to
publishers and librarians took each other to task
promote the highest standards of research and
(Patrikios and Levey, 1993:3):
scholarly exchange, to repossess the study of
Africa, to define African realities, to understand
Several publishers stated that few African
and appreciate the African world with all the
imprints can be found in African libraries
intensity, intelligence, and integrity it deserves.
because librarians are reluctant to order
materials, preferring instead to purchase books
from England or the United States. Nana Tau
(librarian of Fort Hare University) countered by
300 Development in Practice, Volume 6, Number 4, November 1996
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Manufacturing and consuming knowledge
Conclusion
meaningful social conversation; there is a
yawning alienation from the gravity of human
The manufacturing and distribution of scholarly
existence, from history. An almost infantile
knowledge and information is a major commer-
fascination with the innate and quantifiable, not
cial and technological enterprise involving
the poetry of life, of words, seems to have taken
publishers, libraries, educational institutions, and
over. The availability of more information is not
communications companies, linked in elaborate
in itself a guarantee of a better society. As Olden
networks requiring vast resources. While the
(1987:301) reminds us:
news that we have entered a post-material age in
which words matter more than goods is
the availability of information does not mean that
can be or will be made of it; that those who do
exaggerated, the importance of information use
technologies in the development process cannot be
use it are capable or willing to learn from it; or
denied. But what kind of information, produced
that what they learn will be usedfor the benefit of
by and for whom?
others. Taken together, United States libraries
One of the factors behind the information
house what is probably the most comprehensive
explosion in the Westem countries, especially in
collection of recorded information and know-
North America, is the pressure to publish, the
ledge about other countries held by any nation in
centrality of publications and citations in the
the world. Has the increase in the size of this
academic enterprise. Publications have become
collection since World War II been paralleled by
screening mechanisms for hiring, promotion,
an increase in the number of betterforeign-policy
tenure, and granting procedures. The system
decisions made by various administrations over
rewards those who generate large amounts of
the same period ?
scholarly literature, however insignificant its
intellectual contribution. Indeed, piles of paper
And one could add: are North Americans much
are chumed out to be listed and indexed rather
better informed about the rest of the world?
than read. And so scholarly information doubles
Indeed, has more information helped them
in volume every seven years. A decade and half
significantly to transcend their own racial, ethnic,
ago it was doubling every 15 years (Birenbaum,
class, and gender divisions? Will access to the
1995). Information becomes an absolute good, an
Intemet in every home and to a 500 TV-channel
end itself, an intolerant, insatiable god that
universe do it? Or will that simply lead to more
constantly spews data, 'hyperfacts' that require
fragmentation, to further descent into the abyss of
more powerful databases to keep track of the
cultural banality so evident in North American
existing databases (Roszak, 1993:4). In the
popular television today?
process, knowledge becomes incidental, a
What, in short, do the terms 'information-rich'
and 'information-poor', which are so carelessly
forgotten atavism. As the information glut grows,
there is ever more pressure for excessive
bandied about, actually mean in terms of the
specialisation. Meanwhile, as the high priests of
content of human relationships, the quality of
the Information Age pray at the altar of citations
social life, as embodied in the information being
and chant 'jargons of an almost unimaginable
manufactured and consumed? To be sure, Africa
rebarbativeness ... society as a whole drifts
needs to produce more information; its academic
without direction or coherence. Racism, poverty,
institutions need to reorganise themselves to
ecological ravages, disease, and an appallingly
encourage and reward scholarly production and
widespread ignorance: these are left to the media
productivity; and its libraries need to collect and
and the odd political candidate during an election
make this information more accessible within and
campaign' (Said, 1993:303).
outside the continent. But the processes of
Thus beneath the apparent munificence of the
production, acquisition, retrieval, and outreach
Western academy, behind the spiralling
cannot be ends in themselves, if the dangers of
mountains of information, lies a profound shift
information over-production and overload,
away from human connectedness, from
currently engulfing the Western world, are to be
Development in Practice, Volume 6, Number 4, November 1996 301
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Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
avoided. Africa must indeed repossess the word.
Agriculture in Malawi has created a biblio-
But whose word, and to what ultimate purpose? It
graphic database of Malawi's maize research.
must be to elevate, not debase, our humanity.
8 The multinational publishing companies can
be quite opportunistic. For example, they all
closed their businesses in Tanzania during the
1980s financial crisis and 'retumed in the
Notes
1990s when they heard that there would be an
1 This is a revised version of a paper originally
allocation of US$60 million from the World
presented at the International Book Fair and
Bank for educational suppliers'! (Mcharazo
Library Conference, Goteborg, Sweden, 26-29
October 1995. My thanks to Al Kagan
1995:245)
9 For a discussion of these organisations and
their
(Africana Librarian, the University of Illinois
at activities, see Zeleza 1994; and the 1993Urbana-Champaign), Dr John Newa (Librarian
95 issues of the Bellagio Publishing Network
at the University of Dar es Salaam), and Karin
Newsletter, published on behalf of the donors
von Schlesbruigge of the Swedish International
which support African publishing; APNET's
Development Agency for their comments, and
organ, African Publishing Review; and The
to Tunde Brimah for research assistance.
African Book Publishing Record.
2 The wider questions of the creation of
knowledge and the provision of information for
the popular classes in the urban or rural areas
are not addressed here. For a detailed study of
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