DUTCH INTERCULTURAL PHILOSOPHER van BINSBERGEN VISITS ZAMBIA

THE NETHERLANDS based African Studies Centre (ASC) Professor of
Foundations of Intercultural Philosophy Wim van Binsbergen has said
the future of any developing nation lies in literature or books, just
as a handful of philosophers (Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche) shaped
European, subsequently global, history in the last 200 years.

Professor Van Binsbergen, an author of 30 books that include,
“Intercultural Encounters: African and Anthropological Lessons towards
a Philosophy of Interculturality” (2003) and “Tears of Rain: Ethnicity
and History in Central Western Zambia” (1992) on the Nkoyas;

“Religious Change in Zambia” (1981) on pre-colonial religion, is
visiting Zambia for two weeks on a mission seeking close cooperation
between European and Zambia researchers; as a guest of The Kazanga
Cultural Association.

He is also scheduled to attend the Kazanga Traditional Ceremony of the
Nkoya in Kaoma on Saturday where Vice President George Kunda will be
the guest of honour.

Kazanga of the Nkoya of Kaoma was revived in
1988. Professor Van Binsbergen will use the opportunity to meet Senior
Chief Mwene Mutondo among chiefs of the Nkoya Royal Establishment.

Professor Van Binsbergen lectured at UNZA from 1971 to 1974 and then
was an affiliate of UNZA’s Institute for African Studies for many
years. According to Professor Van Binsbergen’s website
(www.shikanda.net) which also gives an overview of, and even internet
access to, his books, “in the last few years he has travelled
extensively in South, South East and South Asia in order to document
Asian-African continuities.”

He said despite the poor reading culture in Zambia and in other parts
of the world, despite development of the internet and other new media,
the future of development still lies largely in books or literature.
He said this during a courtesy conversation in Lusaka (Protea Hotel
Arcades) with literary journalist Kasebamashila Kaseba who is writing,
“A Concise Dictionary of Common Names of Zambia.

”Professor Binsbergen, a practicing e-based sangoma diviner-healer-priest, talked
about reading beyond examinations and against keeping of books as kind
of trophies.

*Issued by shipwa infoline/kaseba 0965-122333; check website
(www.shikanda.net) for latest photo and other details; contact kaseba
for his mobile number in Zambia.