Cultures of Resistance

Peaceful cultural exchange, particularly when intended to cultivate understanding and healing, can help bring together members of a society torn apart by violent conflict. Check out the videos below to learn more about two African festivals that aim to overcome the trauma of years of war and cultivate the seeds of peace.

Festival au Desert: Cultural Celebration in the Sahara

In late June 1990, a civil war in Mali broke out between the nomadic Tuareg people and government forces. The war raged on until 1996, when the Tuareg agreed to disarm; however, the war created lasting distrust between the various groups within the Saharan country’s borders. The Festival Au Desert, which draws on the Tuareg tradition of meeting seasonally to peacefully settle disputes, emerged in response. The celebration draws people from across the region. Artists share their music and dance to emphasize what they have in common, rather than what separates them. Cultures of Resistance attended the celebration in 2009. This short film highlights the event’s approach to promoting cross-cultural expression as a means of overcoming the threat of divisive conflict.

Click here to learn more about the Festival Au Desert. Be sure to check out the posting of the CoR short on their webpage!

We Sing Together, Why Should We Fight? The KWETU Festival in Uganda

Uganda has been trapped in various forms of civil war since the early 1980s, as different ethnic groups have been pitted against one another in struggles for state power. The ongoing conflict has taken its toll on the country’s population, especially young people who have grown up surrounded by violence. After the conflicts began, a small group of concerned Ugandans established the Ndere Center, which encourages young people to take up traditional performing arts. Since 1997 the Ndere Center has hosted the Kwetu Festival, which brings together more than 1,000 performers from all over Uganda. This short film captures the Kwetu Festival’s celebratory mood and the determination of its participants to curtail violent conflict. As Ndere Center director Stephen Rwangyezi explains, “One of the reasons we are doing a festival like this is to create an understanding among the people at the local level so that if tomorrow a politician comes up and says, ‘let’s fight these others,’ people will say, ‘just a minute, we dance together, we sing together. Why should we fight?’