and a future of prosperity and abundance for its long-suffering populations?

對於非洲長期受苦受難的人民而言，

One word:

從落後的現狀到繁榮富足的未來， 阻礙是什麼？

knowledge.

一個詞：

If Africa is to become a continent that offers the best life for humans,

知識。

it must become a knowledge society

如果非洲想要成為 為人類提供最佳生活的大陸，

immediately.

就必須要轉變成一個知識型社會，

This is what I have called "Africa's knowledge imperative."

並且迫在眉睫。

Our universities must reduce emphasis on producing manpower

我將此稱為「非洲的知識重塑」。

for running our civil society,

我們大學應該少花些精力在

our economy

培養能夠管理社會、

and our political institutions.

經濟和政治制度的人才，

They should be dedicated mainly to knowledge production.

而應該將主要精力放在知識創造上。

What sense is there in producing civil engineers

如果培養出來的土木工程師

who are not supported by soil scientists and geologists,

得不到土壤學家和地質學家的支持，

who make it their business to create knowledge about our soil

無法以創造出關於土壤 和岩石的知識為己任，

and our rocks?

那又有什麼意義？

What use is there in producing lawyers

如果我們只是培養出來律師，

without juries who produce knowledge

卻沒有陪審團

of the underlying philosophical foundations of the legal system?

來解釋司法體系背後的 哲學基礎及相關知識，

We must seek knowledge.

那有什麼用？

We must approach the matter of knowledge

我們必須要探求知識。

with a maniacal commitment,

我們必須在處理知識問題時，

without let or hindrance.

帶著近乎瘋狂的執著，

Though we must seek knowledge to solve problems we know of,

沒有任何妥協或者遲疑。

we must also seek knowledge

我們必須要探尋 解決已知問題的知識，

when there is no problem in view --

我們更要去探尋知識，

especially when there is no problem in view.

在沒有發現問題，

We must seek to know as much of what there is to know of all things,

尤其是在沒有發現問題時。

limited only by the insufficiency of our human nature,

我們必須要探尋 所能知道的萬物之知識，

and not only when the need arises.

除非因為人類天生的不足而受限，

Those who do not seek knowledge when it is not needed

而不是只在出現需求時 才想到要探尋知識。

will not have it when they must have it.

在沒有需求時就不探尋知識的人，

The biggest crisis in Africa today is the crisis of knowledge:

書到用時方恨少。

how to produce it,

非洲現今最大的危機就是知識危機：

how to manage it,

如何創造知識、

and how to deploy it effectively.

如何管理知識，

For instance, Africa does not have a water crisis.

以及如何高效地利用知識。

It has a knowledge crisis regarding its water,

譬如，非洲並沒有用水危機，

where and what types it is,

卻存在水知識危機。

how it can be tapped and made available where and when needed to all and sundry.

哪裡有水、什麼類型、

How does a continent that is home

如何管理它，以便隨時隨地 供給一切有需要的人。

to some of the largest bodies of water in the world --

作為世界上水資源 最為豐富的大陸之一，

the Nile,

非洲如何因地制宜，發揮優勢。

the Niger,

擁有如尼羅河、

the Congo,

尼日河、

the Zambezi

剛果河、

and the Orange Rivers --

尚比西河、

be said to have a water crisis,

奧蘭治河等，

including in countries

為什麼還被認為存在水資源危機？

where those rivers are?

包括這些河流流經的國家都是如此？

And that is only surface water.

而且那些只是表面水而已。

While we wrongly dissipate our energies fighting the wrong crises,

當我們把精力誤用在 對抗錯誤的危機時，

all those who invest in knowledge about us

所有那些給我們做知識投資的人，

are busy figuring out how to pipe water from Libya's aquifers

卻忙著解決

to quench Europe's thirst.

如何將利比亞地下蓄水層的水 用導管輸送走，

Such is our knowledge of our water resources

以解決歐洲的口渴問題。

that many of our countries have given up

因為我們對水資源的知識是這樣，

on making potable water a routine presence

我們有許多國家已經放棄

in the lives of Africans,

不再嘗試將自來水 變成非洲日常生活的必備品，

rich or poor,

無論是富有還是貧窮，

high and low,

上層還是下層，

rural and urban.

郊區還是都市。

We eagerly accept what the merchants of misery

我們急切地接受著這樣的信息，

and the global African Studies safari professoriat

那些無良的商人、 全球非洲研究陸地遊獵專家，

and their aid-addled,

以及他們的支持者，

autonomy-fearing African minions

分佈在政府部門、大學和社會上的

in government, universities and civil society

害怕自治，毫無主見的奴隸，

tell us regarding how nature has been to stinting towards Africa

告訴我們大自然對於非洲這片土地，

when it comes to the distribution of water resources in the world.

在水資源分配上是如何的吝嗇。

We are content to run our cities and rural dwellings alike

我們滿足於在城市 和鄉村的住所附近打井鑽孔，

on boreholes.

僅憑打井和鑽孔 如何規劃治理大都市？

How does one run metropolises on boreholes and wells?

非洲有糧食危機嗎？

Does Africa have a food crisis?

答案同樣是否定的。

Again, the answer is no.

這又是另一個知識誤區， 關於非洲的農業資源、

It is yet another knowledge crisis regarding Africa's agricultural resources,

農業資源是什麼？在何處？

what and where they are,

如何管理好這些農業資源？

and how they can be best managed to make Africans live more lives

讓非洲人民過上他們應該的過的、 更有質量的生活。

that are worth living.

不然，要如何解釋

Otherwise, how does one explain the fact

大自然將尼羅河放在衣索比亞，

that geography puts the source of the River Nile in Ethiopia,

而那裡的人民生活卻沒水可用？

and its people cannot have water for their lives?

同樣，大自然賦予加州沙漠地貌，

And the same geography puts California in the desert,

而那裡卻糧倉殷實。

but it is a breadbasket.

很顯然，差別並不是在地理。

The difference, obviously, is not geography.

而是知識。

It is knowledge.

科羅拉多地下蓄水層

Colorado's aquifers

能讓加州盛產開心果。

grow California's pistachios.

為什麼不能讓利比亞的地下蓄水層

Why can't Libya's aquifers

滋養奈及利亞的高粱？

grow sorghum in northern Nigeria?

為何奈及利亞不立志於

Why does Nigeria not aspire

向全世界，而非僅為自己供給糧食﹖

to feed the world,

如果非洲的土地真像 我們聽說的那樣貧瘠，

not just itself?

為什麼那些

If Africa's land is so poor, as we are often told,

從阿拉伯聯合酋長國 直到韓國的外鄉人，

why are outsiders,

要大量購買我們的土地

from the United Arab Emirates all the way to South Korea,

來種植糧食

buying up vast acreages of our land,

供給他們的人民，

to grow food, no less,

而且是在地理環境 更加受限的地區種植糧食﹖

to feed their people

新的地主並沒有打算 要進口新的地表土

in lands that are truly more geographically stinting?

使他們在非洲取得的土地 更適於耕種。

The new landowners are not planning to import new topsoil

這又是知識匱乏的又一明顯例證。

to make their African acquisitions more arable.

在十九世紀，

Again, a singular instance of knowledge deficiency.

我們的前輩，

In the 19th century,

僅僅在從奴隸制度和奴隸貿易 解放出來數年，

our predecessors,

就在探索尼日河和剛果河資源，

just years removed from the ravages of slavery and the slave trade,

他們的願望是要把 非洲的資源轉成人民的，

were exploring the Niger and Congo Rivers

甚至是整個人類的利益，

with a view to turning Africa's resources to the advantage of its people

在二十世紀，他們的後代夢想著要

and to the rest of humanity,

利用剛果河發電，

and their 20th-century successors were dreaming of harnessing

來照亮整個大陸。

the powers of the River Congo

而現在，只有來自歐洲的資本家

to light up the whole continent.

在策劃著做同樣的事情，

Now only buccaneer capitalists from Europe

但卻是為了將電出口到歐洲及南非。

are scheming of doing the same,

他們甚至暗示

but for exports to Europe and South Africa.

不許剛果人從這計畫受益，

And they are even suggesting

因為據他們所言，剛果地方太小，

that Congolese may not benefit from this scheme,

以至於供電給這些地區

because, according to them, Congolese communities are too small

並不是切實可行的重要事項。

to make providing them with electricity

怎樣解決呢？

a viable concern.

非洲必須要變成一個知識型社會，

The solution?

這就是現在這個時代的主要特色。

Africa must become a knowledge society,

對於成為知識型社會這條路，

a defining characteristic of the modern age.

革命尚未成功， 我們甚至都沒有在路上，

We neither are, nor are we on the path to becoming,

事情並非一直如此，

a knowledge society.

尤其是涉及到非洲和知識創造時。

Things have not always been this way

古時候全世界都會去非洲尋求智慧。

when it comes to knowledge production and Africa.

那裡曾有著名的學習中心，

In antiquity, the world went to Africa for intellectual enrichment.

吸引來自當時世界各地 充滿疑惑的追尋者，

There were celebrated centers of learning,

探索關於那個世界的知識。

attracting questers from all parts of the then-known world,

那時發生的事， 對我們的現狀有很多啟示。

seeking knowledge about that world.

譬如，

What happened then has implications for our present.

在二世紀到四世紀期間，

For example,

統治非洲的羅馬人如何管理 當地人和外來定居者的關係，

how Roman Africa managed the relationship between settlers and natives

這對於我們現今面臨類似問題時，

between the second and fourth centuries of our era

有很強的參考性。

might have something to teach us when it comes to confronting

但在我們的大學中有多少 古希臘羅馬文學系所？

not-too-dissimilar problems at the present time.

因為我們不投資在知識上，

But how many classics departments do we have in our universities?

現在人們來到非洲時，

Because we do not invest in knowledge,

不是把它當作吸收智慧的地方，

people come to Africa now

而是當作滿足新奇感的地方。

not as a place of intellectual enrichment,

但是在上半個世紀，

but as a place where they sate their thirst for exotica.

非洲一直在流血並輸出知識 到世界其他地方。

Yet for the last half-millennium,

儘管被廣為描述為人口販賣血淚史，

Africa has been hemorrhaging and exporting knowledge

歐洲跨大西洋奴隸貿易及奴隸制度

to the rest of the world.

仍然是歷史上最激進也最長久的

Regardless of the popular description of it as a trade in bodies,

非洲智力出口活動。

the European trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery

美國的奴隸主可能認為 非洲奴隸僅僅是牲口，

was one of the most radical and longest programs

是造成負擔的野獸，

of African brains export in history.

在他們的帳簿中

American slave owners may have pretended that Africans were mere brutes,

幾乎將奴隸和其他無生命 且笨重的農具歸為一類，

beasts of burden,

那就是他們的做法。

almost as inert and dumb as other farm implements

而另一方面，作為奴隸的非洲人，

they classified them with in their ledgers.

知道他們是知識的化身。

And that's what they did.

他們是鐵匠、詩人，

The enslaved Africans, on the other hand,

他們是政治顧問、王子和公主，

knew their were embodiments of knowledge.

他們是神話學者、草藥學家，

They were smiths, they were poets,

他們是廚子。

they were political counselors, they were princes and princesses,

這清單是無限長的。

they were mythologists, they were herbologists,

舉個簡單的例子，

they were chefs.

他們把耕作稻米的知識

The list is endless.

帶到美國南部。

They, to take a single example,

他們創造了一些最原創的文明元素，

brought the knowledge of rice cultivation

都是美國現在競相傳頌的。

to the American South.

他們通常無償地運用他們的知識。

They created some of the most original civilizational elements

上半個世紀，從奴隸貿易開始，

for which the United States is now celebrated.

非洲就一直出口智慧，

They deployed their knowledge, for the most part,

同時打破了非洲大陸本身的 知識傳送鏈條，

without compensation.

造成非洲的知識生產制度 相當悲劇性的後果。

For the last half-millennium, beginning with the slave trade,

後代與其先輩 具有的智慧生產連結被切斷。

Africa has been exporting brains

我們一直為外部市場生產，

while simultaneously breaking the chains of knowledge transmission

卻不能滿足我們自己的需求。

on the continent itself,

目前大部分關於非洲的頂尖知識

with dire consequences for the systems of knowledge production in Africa.

並不由非洲創造或收容，

Successive generations are cut off from the intellectual production

即使它的生產者可能是非洲人。

of their predecessors.

對於我們所需要掌握的知識，

We keep producing for external markets

由於我們受到眼前需求 以及相關解決方案的支配，

while beggaring our own internal needs.

所以我們很樂意把

At present,

創造知識的責任交給其他人，

much of the best knowledge about Africa

包括關於我們的、我們擁有的 以及將要使用的知識，

is neither produced nor housed there,

並且在這條路上越走越遠。

even when it is produced by Africans.

我們迫切渴望消耗知識，

Because we are dominated by immediate needs

哪怕是只有一小部分

and relevant solutions when it comes to what we should know,

不用擔心受所有權或使用地的限制。

we are happy to hand over to others

非洲大學現在都太心滿意足了，

the responsibility to produce knowledge,

滿足於可以連接到 世界各地的圖書館，

including knowledge about, of and for us,

已經不再有野心建立自己的、

and to do so far away from us.

能讓世界各地人前來 尋求啟迪的圖書館。

We are ever eager to consume knowledge

誰來決定書架上要放什麼，

and have but a mere portion of it

以怎樣的方式連接到其他資源﹖

without any anxiety about ownership and location.

只有取得了這些事情的控制權，

African universities are now all too content

才能建立起我們 和合作伙伴間的真誠與信任，

to have e-connections with libraries elsewhere,

他們才不會在半路就拋棄我們。

having given up ambitions on building libraries

這點必須要改變。

to which the world would come for intellectual edification.

非洲必須要再次成為知識之地。

Control over who decides what should be stocked on our shelves

知識生產實際上會拓展經濟。

and how access to collections should be determined

用考古發掘及其對遊客的影響為例，

are made to rest on our trust in our partners' good faith

我們如果想挖掘出古代遺物，

that they will not abandon us down the road.

尤其是那些遠古時代、 沒有書面記錄的文物，

This must change.

就需要投資在考古學及相關學科上，

Africa must become a place of knowledge again.

譬如古生人類學。

Knowledge production actually expands the economy.

雖然我們是在追尋過去， 了解過去，

Take archaeological digs, for instance,

透過純粹的機緣，

and their impact on tourism.

考古學也許可以 用來解釋全球人類經驗，

Our desires to unearth our antiquity,

產生出經濟效益，

especially those remote times of which we have no written records,

這些都不是最初考古發掘的理由。

requires investment in archaeology and related disciplines,

我們得要找到一種方式，

e.g., paleoanthropology.

來讓知識及知識生產 變得迷人並且有回報；

Yet, although it is our past we seek to know,

這裡說的回報，並非單指賺錢，

by sheer serendipity,

而是讓沉迷於知識探索這件事 本身變得有價值，

archaeology may shed light on the global human experience

支持那些創造知識的團體或傑出者，

and yield economic payoffs

以確保非洲大陸

that were no part of the original reasons for digging.

能變成知識生產、傳播 以及利用的大本營和根據地，

We must find a way to make knowledge and its production sexy and rewarding;

而不是讓知識儲藏在 非洲大陸邊界之外，

rewarding, not in the crass sense of moneymaking

而要讓世界各地的人再一次來到非洲

but in terms of making it worthwhile to indulge in the pursuit of knowledge,

來向我們學習，即使是用虛擬空間。

support the existence

我們是代表整個人類， 以管理者的身份在做這一切。

of knowledge-producing groups and intellectuals,

在非洲創造一個知識型社會，

ensuring that the continent

對我而言，

becomes the immediate locus of knowledge production,

是提倡並且強化多樣性的一種方式，

distribution and consumption,

具體的做法是永無止境地 用素材及工藝品充實它，

and that instead of having its depositories

我們自己裝飾這些工藝品，

beyond Africa's boundaries,

並且盡我們所有的努力，

people once more come from the rest of the world,

致力於知識世界。

even if in virtual space, to learn from us.

感謝各位的聆聽。

All this we do as custodians on behalf of common humanity.

（掌聲）

Creating a knowledge society in Africa,

for me, would be one way to celebrate and simultaneously enhance diversity

by infinitely enriching it with material and additional artifacts --

artifacts that we furnish

by our strivings

in the knowledge field.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)