The Culture and Peace Photography Project of Casamance Province: Photographié par Ameth Bachir Sonko

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A Summary of the 'Culture And Peace' Photography Project of the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding:

The Karuna Center for Peacebuilding, Inc., Amherst, Massachusetts, is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization, founded in 1994 to address the growing global challenges of ethnic, religious and political conflict . . . Karuna Center has worked in more than 20 countries around the world.

The 'Cultue and Peace' photography project aims to highlight the culture and identity of the Casamance region, of southern Senegal, so that the people of this region may enter into a period of peace based upon a mutual respect with the rest of the nation. [It is our belief that] Respect for another is based upon respect for the self, which implies recognition of one’s own cultural heritage.

“Rebels in Senegal's southern Casamance province have been waging a bloody independence campaign against the central government in Dakar since 1982 (one of the longest civil wars in the region of West Africa). The Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance (MFDC) has long used Senegal's southern neighbor Guinea-Bissau as a launching pad for attacks inside Cassamance. Guinea-Bissau's former president, Joao Bernardo Viera, was accused of supplying the rebels with weapons until he was overthrown in a coup in May 1999 . . .”

The Casmance Conflict is a small-scale civil war . . . The question was originally over the independence of the Casamance region, which is separated from greater Senegal by the Gambia and inhabited mostly by the Jola people . . . According to leaders of the Independence Movement, Senegal’s first president, Leopold Sedar Senghor, made a promise to Casamance’s leaders at the height of the independence movement from France in 1960, that if they joined Senegal for 20 years they would be able to have their own independence afterwards. The government did not follow through on that promise in 1980, recognizing the value of the resource-rich region. Indeed, most of the country’s fruits and vegetables come from Casamance, which is lush and green for most of the year . . .

“With few natural resources and a per capita income of $500 per year, Senegal is one of the poorest countries in the world. Unless it can create the conditions to unlock the productivity of its people and, in so doing, create jobs for thousands of unemployed youth, improve access to education and health care, and give people hope for the future, the country risks falling prey to the despair and demagoguery that have destabilized many of its [West African] neighbors . . . “

Tropical Senegal is lauded for its natural beauty . . . The lush landscape contrasts with the vast deserts that surround Senegal. The country brings in more visitors than any other country in the region. The physical environment in the south is somewhat different than the northern regions of Senegal. Largely as a result of higher annual rainfall the forest is much more considerable in the Casamance [and agricultural productivity much greater].

“The Casamance region is an important focus area for the economic development of Senegal due in part to its rich tropical environment. The region is centrally located to facilitate trade with neighboring countries and has some of the largest traditional markets in Senegal. At one time, Casamance was also well known as a major tourist destination in Senegal. Currently, a major constraint affecting development in the Casamance region is [the] armed separatist struggle that has lead to a sharp decline in the economic and social well being of the population . . .”

The Senegalese government still refuses to consider independence for Casamance, and even though the conflict has all but fizzled out, the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance is still alive and breathing, and violence still flares up in the peripheral forest regions . . .

Sources quoted:
- Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, in March 2008
- Global Security.org
- UW-Madison student Catherine Skroch

The Photography Project:
Photography is a democratic method that permits each individual to experience and share a personal sense of his or her own culture. Photography allows for each student to create a documentation of life. The photographs created for this project [will] be brought together, with the most fitting chosen for an exhibition to travel in the Casamance region, throughout Senegal, or even in France and the United States.

The Karuna Center, and more exactly Professors Kerry Coppin and Peter Mark, presented six digital cameras to the Agricultural High school of Bognona at the time of their first visit, in March 2008. The school will assume ownership of the cameras, where they will be at the disposal of the students. Mr. Coppin, Professor of Photography, will assign lesson plans to the students upon his visits to the school. Mr. Mark will aid in this endeavor and will also serve as interpreter.

After the week of the 25-28th of March, following the arrangements and regulations established by the school administration, the students will be able to borrow a camera to pursue their endeavors. The objective will be to create a documentation of an aspect of his or her life, or of some aspect of the Casamancaises culture [community experience] or tradition that interests them.

We foresee the use of a computer to download, edit [and] send the photographs—or the best-chosen photographs—to Professor Coppin. Professor Coppin can then critique and direct the work, even from the United States.

The next step, upon the return of Professor Coppin to Senegal, would be to undergo preparations for an exhibition of the best photographs. This exposition would, upon our hopes, be able to occur in a variety of locations, including, among others, the National School of Art, in Dakar, and the National Gallery of Art in Dakar, Senegal.

Peter Mark, PhD

Kerry Stuart Coppin, MFA

Students participating in the Culture and peace Photography project:

The Culture and Peace Photography Project of Casamance Province

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Photographié par Ameth Bachir Sonko

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Our project aims to highlight the culture and identity of the Casamance region of southern Senegal:

A Summary of the 'Culture And Peace' Photography Project of the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding:

Students participating in the Culture and peace Photography project:

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