Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Nod to Nollywood

Bollywood and Hollywood take note: Nollywood is on the rise. UNESCO's Institute of Statistics (UIS) released the results of a global survey today indicating that while India remains the world's leading film producer, Nigeria's industry is gaining momentum and has surpassed the United States for the second-place position.

The survey, measuring 2005-2006, took data from 101 countries and was based on questionnaires and alternative sources. Results indicated that while Bollywood produced 1,091 films, Nollywood produced 872. The United States produced 485 films with only eight other countries producing more than 100. More specific findings can be found here:



UIS indicated the survey was useful in showing regional trends in the film industry. Yet as the data chiefly came from the United States and Europe, UIS pointed out generalizability of findings are limited due to the unequal geographic representation.

Nollywood's growth, however, is unquestionable. Its growth is attributed to the practice of shooting low-budget films in digital video formats over a period of a few weeks. Further, films are both distributed and viewed informally; 99% of screenings are in home theater settings. The 1992 film Living in Bondage is often noted as the first Nollywood movie developed and distributed using these techniques. These Nollywood techniques are now increasingly being used in developing countries in Africa and around the world, although piracy is a growing concern.

Another reason given for Nollywood's rise is its multilingualism as around 56% of films are in local languages, and the rest are in English. This growth in multilingual films was noted in other countries as well: In Bollywood, for example, only 2% of films are produced in English where the rest are around 30 other languages. UIS likewise found films are more frequently being produced in regional languages in recent years, although the lack of data makes this growth difficult to quantify.
In noting this rising linguistic diversity in film, UIS did point out English is still the dominant language as 36% of all films and all the top 10 films in 2006.
These trends are certainly intriguing and can also illustrate cultures in powerful ways. As Director-General of UNESCO Koïchiro Matsuura pointed out, "Film and video production are shining examples of how cultural industries - as vehicles of identity, values and meanings - can open the door to dialogue and understanding between peoples, but also to economic growth and development." It is hoped this growing diversity in film, therefore, can lead to positive conversations and initiatives around the world.

International Conferences of the UNESCO History Project

The opening of UNESCO's first General Conference at the Sorbonne, Paris (20 November to 10 December 1946).
The International Scientific Committee for the UNESCO History Project is organizing a series of three international conferences in 2009-2010, with the common purpose of encouraging and stimulating historical research and reflections on UNESCO's programs, activities and orientations from 1945 to date. These three conferences are a follow up to the international symposium on UNESCO's history that took place in Paris on the occasion of the Organization's 60th anniversary in November 2005.

The Committee has selected the following three themes:
  1. "Towards the Transnational History of International Organizations: Methodology / Epistemology". This conference will pay special attention to UNESCO as a case-study, and take a broader view of methodological issues relating to the study of the history of international organizations. The conference was hosted by the Center for History and Economics at King's College, Cambridge University, United Kingdom, and took place on 6 and 7 April 2009.
  2. "UNESCO and the Cold War". UNESCO was an important arena for the Cold War, but it was also an actor with an agenda of its own. The purpose of the conference is to explore different historical perspectives concerning the extent of the Cold War's impact on UNESCO and vice versa. The conference is to be hosted by the Heidelberg Center for American Studies at the University of Heidelberg and to take place on 4 and 5 March 2010.
  3. "UNESCO and Issues of Colonization and Decolonization". Among UNESCO's founding Member States were both colonial powers and former colonies. This Conference invites students and scholars utilizing a range of methodological approaches and intellectual frameworks to reflect on UNESCO's historical role, relevant orientations and actions in regard to colonialism and the era of decolonization. The conference will be hosted by the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, and take place on 1 and 2 October 2009.
There is a very brief history of the Organization on its website. The website of UNESCO's Archives has a number of featured links on various aspects of the history of the organization, Additional materials may be found using the "history tag" of the online UNESCO bibliography.

There are several historical studies specific to UNESCO's education program.

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialog and Development



The Day proclaimed by UNESCO provides us with an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the values of cultural diversity and to learn to “live together” better.

Upcoming Meetings of the UNESCO Future Forum

Source of figure: Futures of Europeans

The UNESCO Future Forum series is part of the Foresight programme of UNESCO which aims at fostering the reflection on key future-oriented issues in the domains of the Organization.

CONFINTEA VI postponed

The Government of Brazil has decided to postpone the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) – which had been due to take place in Belém do Pára (Brazil) from 19-22 May 2009 – following the spread of the influenza virus H1N1 (“swine flu”).

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Should UNESCO have named Beirut City of the Book 2009

This year Beirut became the ninth city in the world to be designated as World Book Capital by UNESCO. According to UNESCO:
Beirut was chosen in particular thanks to « its efforts for cultural diversity, dialog and tolerance as well as for the variety and dynamism of its programme »
The Wall Street Journal, in an opinion piece by William Marling, recently questioned that choice.
Just last week "World Book and Copyright Day" was kicked off with a variety of readings and exhibits that honor "conformity to the principles of freedom of expression [and] freedom to publish," as stated by the UNESCO Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the UNESCO's "Florence Agreement." The catch is that Lebanon has not signed the Florence Agreement, which focuses on the free circulation of print and audio-visual material.

Even a partial list of books banned in Lebanon gives pause: William Styron's "Sophie's Choice"; Thomas Keneally's "Schindler's List"; Thomas Friedman's "From Beirut to Jerusalem"; books by Philip Roth, Saul Bellow and Isaac Bashevis Singer. In fact, all books that portray Jews, Israel or Zionism favorably are banned.

Writers in Arabic are not exempt. Abdo Wazen's "The Garden of the Senses" and Layla Baalbaki's "Hana's Voyage to the Moon" were taken to court. Syria's Sadiq Jalal al-Azm was prosecuted for his "Critique of Religious Thinking."......

According to Beirut newspaper L'Orient, any one of the recognized religions (a system known as "confessionalism") can ask the Sûreté to ban any book unilaterally. The Muslim Dar al-Fatwa and the Catholic Information Center are the most active and effective. (The latter got Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" banned.) Even works by self-proclaimed Islamists such as Assadeq al-Nayhoum's "Islam Held Hostage," have been banned, and issued only when re-edited in sympathetic editions (in Syria).
Editorial Comment: Certainly one must question the judgment of UNESCO in honoring the capital of a country which bans so much expression as "World Book Capital". However, in view of the very serious likelihood that Farouk Hosny, an Arab who is on the record as calling for book burning, will be elected Director General of UNESCO in October, one must express concern for the continued commitment of UNESCO to freedom of expression. This would be grave in any organization of the United Nations system, but the defense of freedom of expression is at the very core of UNESCO's charter and purpose. JAD

A university student browses an Arabic novel at a bookshop in Beirut, Lebanon. Source: Emirates Business, May 5, 2009.

The opinion expressed in this posting are the author's alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Americans for UNESCO.
John Daly

Landmark UNESCO-Professional Team Partnership

FCBarcelona is one of Europe's great professional soccer teams. Now its associated Foundation, the FCBarcelona Foundation, has signed a landmark agreement with UNESCO by which they will partner in four areas:
  • The fight against racism and violence in sport
  • The fight against doping
  • Education and literacy teaching for defenseless children
  • The creation of a UNESCO Chair FCBarcelona on "Sports and Civic Responsibility"
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