CCS Malabo

Cultural Centre of Spain in Malabo

The Cultural Centre of Spain in Malabo (CCSM) and its counterpart in Bata (CCSB) are part of a historic productive process dating from 1979, when a massive international response was mobilised in support of the country, after a decade in which the emerging state of Equatorial Guinea had collapsed. Cooperation at this initial stage took the form of humanitarian aid. As if the country had been hit by a hurricane, international agencies not only collaborated with the local authorities but on occasion even replaced them in order to meet urgent needs. The Cooperation Office in Equatorial Guinea was created within this context of urgency, a full decade before the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) took shape. Throughout the country, the Office carried out multi-sector programmes, many of which (such as culture, heritage and education) were involved in the restoration of the historical Cardenal Cisneros Institute, and the consequent creation of the Hispanic-Guinean Culture Centre. During the next twenty years, this bi-national institution, associated with the Organisation of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture, dynamised the cultural scene in Equatorial Guinea, generating a network of decentralised cultural facilities across the country, with classes in various artistic disciplines, a successful publishing house and even an educational radio station (Radio África 2000). The CCSM made a significant impression on the “generation of the Equatorial Guinean renaissance” and those who were young then often say, “you aren’t from Malabo if you didn’t go used to go to the Hispanic-Guinean film shows on Sunday mornings”. Despite this considerable history, the CCSM is still relatively young: its re-establishment in 2003 lacked the urgency of the previous reconstruction work, but arose during the inclusion of cultural policies as part of the cooperation agenda. This circumstance was almost inevitable, as the Centre came into being during the period in which Spain was a leading proponent of 2001 Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, at the UNESCO General Conference, which was later followed by the arduous discussions resulting in the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Diversity of Cultural Expression, and the AECID’s Culture and Development Strategy Paper, published in 2007. Fundamentally, therefore, the CCSM continued a path that had been previously mapped out, whilst adapting it to the new challenges facing the cultural centres. In terms of geography, the CCSM is characterised by its island location, off the African continent. However, it works in close coordination with the Cultural Centre in Bata to make a nationwide impact, transmitting Spain’s cooperative efforts within Africa and the Ibero-American Cultural Space, thus facilitating fruitful exchanges among creators and enabling local artists to make their mark on the international scene. The twin focus of Spanish activities in Equatorial Guinea is reflected in the Centres’ efforts to incorporate local creative diversity into the programmes and activities promoted, and also in generating conditions that will enable local cultural activities to be extended further afield, and even the promotion of exchange programmes with Spanish and Ibero-American artists. Perhaps the most notable aspect of this expansion of the cultural horizon is the support provided by Casa Africa for the Vis a Vis festival, an encounter between Spanish cultural promoters and African musicians, but other important initiatives include the tour of

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3 the Equatorial-Guinean Audiovisual Fair through Latin America and the Caribbean, and the fact that the logo for the 2018-2019 AECID campaign for the Elimination of Violence against Women was designed by the Spanish-Guinean illustrator Lydia Mba. Although producing less media impact than large-scale public events, the MMSB organises longterm training courses throughout the year in order to stimulate interest and to foster professional skills in the creative processes. Courses are offered in areas such as piano, guitar, creative writing, self-publishing, traditional percussive arts and dramatic expression, both for adults and for children. In addition, literacy courses for persons with hearing impairments have been offered for many years. Despite Spanish Cooperation’s budget reorganisation of its resources a decade ago, these training courses have been maintained and prioritised since the 1980s as a long-term investment. Similarly, the Joint Standing Committees for Cooperation continue to meet, taking into account that among their three areas of priority concern, two – culture and education – are represented in the CCSM. Another significant aspect of the Centre’s activities is its involvement with the ACERCA programme and its exchange of personnel with the Cultural Centre in Bata, which reduces the danger of the compartmentalisation of knowledge and creative innovation. To complement its training and instruction programmes, the Centre, which occupies an area of over 6,000 square metres, assists and provides facilities for young creators and civil society, thus contributing to the realisation of collective projects. As part of this process, for many years such projects have been inaugurated in the Centre’s main events room, which thus serves as a pilot space for an

1. Entrance to the Cultural Centre of Spain in Malabo 2. The children’s library of the Cultural Centre of Spain in Malabo 3. Hispanic Song Festival

4. Concert of the Annabonés group Fafá Palea

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artist’s initial interaction with the public, prior to entering the limited commercial circuit. Reflecting the broad-based approach of Spanish Cooperation abroad, as well as promoting creative activities, the Centre’s classrooms are regularly used for training courses offered within the environment of Spanish Cooperation. Nevertheless, in the field of cultural creation, the Centre presents its own, idiosyncratic elements: the population of Equatorial Guinea possesses a wealth of living languages, rich with expressions of intangible heritage. In the initial interventions of the Spanish Cooperation Heritage Programme, work was oriented towards tangible heritage and even archaeology. However, in recent years, the Cultural Centres have prioritised the intangible heritage of the population (relating to the main ethnic groups: Fang, Bubi, Ndowé, Bisio, Annobonesa and Fernandina), supporting research, systematisation and dissemination through workshops and publications (dictionaries, grammar documentation and compilations of narrated tales). The two Cultural Centres present regular progress reports from their Oral Resource Laboratories, and assist Spanish researchers with their field research. In addition, the Centres have recently begun providing training and instruction in the management and digitalisation of documentary heritage materials, taking into account that the conservation of these documents is complicated by the climate conditions in the region. The Malabo Cultural Centre has two busy libraries: one is general, with an interesting selection of African texts, while the other is for younger readers. These resources, together with the library of the National University of Distance Education, which shares the same building, constitute one of the key nodes in the island’s small network of public libraries. In its literacy-promoting activities, the Centre regularly presents original publications from Equatorial Guinea. It also organises weekly visits from schools. The Centre’s reading programme

also follows the model pioneered by the Princesa Cartonera publishers at the AECID Library. Over the past two years, groups have been trained in the techniques of artisanal bookbinding, as a strategy for diversification, and the Bata and Malabo Centres have established a publisher for these products, thus expanding the scope and impact of new local narratives. Moreover, the ISBN sequence has been recovered from the editions of the former HispanicGuinean Cultural Centre, which ensures that the new publications are recognised abroad under the same conditions as other editions of a commercial nature. Since 1985, the editorial has annually published texts submitted to the 12 October Literary Competition; more recently, it also began publishing entries to the ‘Guinea Writes’ Literary Contest, for novice writers. Both of these publications are distributed via Spanish Cooperation libraries in three continents. Recently, to facilitate the custody and consultation of Spanish Cooperation publications in Equatorial Guinea, the Technical Cooperation Office and the two Cultural Centres jointly created a micro-site hosting the texts from Equatorial Guinea stored in the AECID Digital Library. The 40 years of publications included in the Hispanic Library and

a wide selection of documents from other libraries constitute a documentary heritage that receives numerous inquiries from users at home and abroad. Nevertheless, there remains a significant digital breach in Equatorial Guinea, which poses serious limitations to the goals of sustainable development. In response, the Centre provides training in digital literacy, together with other forms of instruction such as the use of techniques of digital editing and illustration in the creative field. In accordance with its role as a specialised unit within the AECID, the CCSM offers programmes and projects that span the various sectorial approaches described in the Spanish Cooperation Master Plan: some are unavoidably transversal in nature, while others are specific to local circumstances, such as the thematic workshops intended for a specific population sector. The themed weeks offered by the Centre emphasise specific issues such as violence against women, sexual diversity, children’s rights and biodiversity. With respect to the environment, one of the Centre’s main concerns, it has issued various specialised publications, such as “Protected Areas of the Island of Bioko”, and has played an active role in awareness-raising campaigns. Furthermore, for the last eight years the Centre has presented its own theme week commemorating the International Day for Biological Diversity, with the collaboration of the Spanish Government, universities and civil society, as well as the United Nations. This event, presenting training and cultural activities, has become a fixture on the academic agenda, and in Equatorial Guinea it makes a major contribution to the exchange and transfer of environmental knowledge.

5. Fifteenth anniversary of the CCSM, 2018

Combining nature and culture

Rocío Cadahía Fernández

Screenwriter and public awareness coordinator at the NGO ECOGUINEA

Back in 2001, UNESCO announced that cultural diversity is part of our universal heritage, “as necessary for humankind as biological diversity is for living organisms”. Culture and biodiversity take on different shapes through time and space, and both embody innovation and creativity. One is clearly a human product, the other, seemingly, appears from randomness, competition, climate... Culture and biodiversity are closely intertwined, but in such countries as Equatorial Guinea this relationship becomes even more intimate. It is so primary, so solid that the country’s culture and art can only be properly comprehended through the lens of its lush natural wealth. In this country, when nature inhales it inspires, and when it exhales, art is born. This symbiosis has shaped a rich oral tradition and a multitude of rituals and legends, anchored in time, are relayed from one generation to the next and profoundly lodged within multiple ecosystems. When the jungle breathed, tales came to life. Tales that told of the turtle, the gorilla or the owl, which were transformed during the night into wise men, courageous warriors or sorcerers. Tales that told of a drum made from the forest, which was called nkú by the Fang, and which called out for persons by their name. In Guinea, women breathed the soul of the river, and ecstatically, beat the riverbed to make it sing out. And their wish was obeyed, in the most ancient voice ever heard. And when nature inhaled a drop of the sea, the poetry of Raquel Ilombe was born, and from her window in Bata she wrote “What have you done, red earth, that I have you so deep within? What have you done, sea? Your waves covered me and changed me to shore”. The artists of Equatorial Guinea have marvelled, been surprised or frightened before the grandeur of their world, and these feelings then appear in their work: in the sculptures of Fernando Nguema, whose universe emerged from the sinuous lines of fallen tree trunk; in the rich legends of the Bubis, for whom there is no waterfall, boulder or lake without its protecting spirit; in María Nsue’s Ekomo, already considered the country’s outstanding work of literature, in which the tangled, humid jungle is ever present. All of this should be no surprise; Equatorial Guinea is in the Congo River basin, thought of as one of the lungs of the planet, which has one of the richest biodiversities of the world. Apart from the continental region, this Central African country has three main islands (Corisco, Annobón and the largest, Bioko), a large maritime area (almost 90% of its territory is composed of ocean), but also mountains and beaches, and of course, forest. Vast ranges of virgin jungle that still shelter elephants, chimpanzees, pangolins, antelopes, hundreds of types of birds, and thousands of unique and fascinating insects. Without any doubt, its twin treasures of biodiversity and culture are the country’s most valuable heritage; these two treasures (as international organisations tirelessly repeat) must be recognised and preserved for the present and for future generations. Over the past eight years, this belief has been the driving force inspiring Biodiversity Week, an event that began as a small-scale meeting of biologists and NGOs in 2012, and which has since become consolidated as the outstanding environmental event in Equatorial Guinea. Nonetheless, this evolution has not been without difficulties. ECOGUINEA, one of the institutions that supported Biodiversity Week from the start, came into existence almost simultaneously with the event. We were, and remain, a small NGO

focused on the conservation of biodiversity, with an eye not only on research, but also on environmental awareness. In these recent years, Guinea has lived through what we experienced in Spain in the 1960s, with accelerated development, a rural exodus and, in a sense, the abandonment of traditional ways and feelings about the environment. It became necessary for the population to fall in love with its natural world all over again. In response, activities were organised in schools, reports and documentaries such as The Secret of the Forest appeared, allowing the world to see unprecedented images of the country’s jungle for the first time. The Secret of the Forest was sponsored by the Cultural Centres of Spain in Equatorial Guinea and, inevitably, it was released during Biodiversity Week in 2016. Its national and international success highlighted, once again, the power of the bond between nature and culture, a promising augury for the future of the country. The idea was also broached of creating an encounter focused on environmental awareness and on the need to protect the environment in Equatorial Guinea. Since then, Biodiversity Week has been held each year, coinciding with International Biodiversity Day, on 22 May. It is no coincidence that, every year, the venue for this event has been the Cultural Centre of Spain in Malabo. This choice highlights not only the institution’s breadth of outlook and resolute commitment to sustainable development, but also its profound knowledge of the country’s idiosyncrasies. This commitment has not only been maintained over the years, but it has in fact strengthened, thus consolidating the CCSM as a fundamental partner in Equatorial Guinea, making it a crucial element in promoting environmental awareness and education. This is borne out by the facts. During the six days of the last Biodiversity Week, an average of almost four hundred people visited the Cultural Centre every day, mostly students from the National University of Equatorial Guinea, one of the organising bodies of the event. Another major achievement of the Week was the sharing of its organisation. From the outset, the doors were open to anyone interested in contributing, and this ranged from agreeing upon the logo for the week to the activities to be incorporated. In the most recent edition of the event, over thirty organisations lent their support, in one way or another. Particularly important was the involvement of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Farming, Forestry and the Environment, which has played a very significant role for several years. Without this contribution by so many volunteers, it would have been impossible to sustain the Biodiversity Week, which has never had stable funding. This is why, despite the uncertainty that seems to arise every year, the Week carries on, overcoming all obstacles, and establishing itself as a place of encounter, awareness and learning. Among its many activities, there are lectures on the state of biodiversity in the country, exhibitions showing alternative ways of protecting the natural world, and workshops where participants can access training in disciplines related to sustainable development. The Week also offers a wide range of activities for children, encouraging them to appreciate and care for their environment. In this communication of the reality of diversity, instruments such as theatre, film, music and the media are powerful channels for awareness. Through these instruments, the Week’s fundamental principle, that we must protect the natural world, is conveyed to the entire country. We make this enormous collective effort so that Malabo and Equatorial Guinea may remain infused by

The intangible heritage of Equatorial Guinea

the colours, the scents and the strength of nature. So that we may continue breathing forest and ocean, and with these airs construct our music, tales and poetry. And may their echoes, like those of the nku, continue sounding through all the jungles of the world. And long may this last.

Nánãy-Menemôl Lêdjam

Former Coordinator of the Oral Resources Laboratory The experience of the Cultural Centres of Spain in Equatorial Guinea dates back to 1982, when the Hispanic-Guinean Cultural Centre (H-GCC) first began operating. This was a bi-national cultural institution, expressly constituted as a joint sponsorship between Equatorial Guinea and Spain. Initially, it had two directors: on the Spanish side, the linguist Germán de Granda; and for the Guinean authorities, the journalist and writer Donato NdongoBidyogo Makina. The creation of this bi-national institution on the soil of Equatorial Guinea was not a trifling event, but an opportunity for the two countries to advance together in issues related to culture. The H-GCC had certain basic, clear-cut objectives: it was imperative to develop an efficient cultural policy, including the study and knowledge of the variants and peculiarities of Spanish as spoken by the local population, as well as the revaluation of the native languages and cultural sensibilities that make up the variegated cultural mosaic of this territory nestled within Central Africa. In addition to fostering and extending creativity throughout the territory, the H-GCC has placed special emphasis on promoting the indigenous cultures of Equatorial Guinea, granting them a privileged space, including them in the agendas of the Cultural Centres and providing classes for the instruction of the Bubi and Fang languages. This endeavour is not limited to teaching these languages, but extends to publishing textbooks in this respect, such as the Fang language course, by professor, philologist and poet Julián Bibang Oyee (1990); the Bubi language course (1991), by Justo Bolekia Boleká, who is also a poet and a doctor in Philology; Malabo Spanish: phonetic / phonological processes and dialectological implications, by Professor John M. Lipski (1990); and the Bubi Anthroponymy: a linguistic study by Justo Bolekia Boleká (1994).

Another approach taken by the H-GCC to foster local languages is the strategy adopted in the Christmas carol contests convened each year, in which two works must be presented, one in Spanish and the other in one of the local languages, reflecting any cultural sensitivity in the country. To date, this requirement has continued to be applied, thus encouraging the young people of Equatorial Guinea to incorporate traditional rhythms into their music and choreography, and to learn to speak and write in their regional language. In order to disseminate culture issues throughout the country and abroad, the H-GCC was authorised to publish two cultural magazines; The Patio, which appeared monthly, and Africa 2000, published twice yearly. At the time, these were the best media in which authors and researchers from Equatorial Guinea could publish their work. During the existence of the H-GCC, it published numerous literary works, together with many social and linguistic studies by specialists and experts in the native languages and cultures. Other works by writers from Equatorial Guinea included Voces de espuma (Foam Voices) by Ciriaco Bokesa Napo; Álbum poético [Album of Poems] by Jerónimo Rope Bomabá; Poemas, La carga, El desmayo de Judas and Áwala cu sangui [Poems, The Load, The Fainting of Judas and Áwala cu sangui], all by Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel; Requiebros, ¿A dónde vas Guinea? [Where are you going, lovely Guinea?] and Sueños en mi selva [Dreams in my jungle], by Juan Balboa Boneke. During this period the Centre also published compilations of folk tales from various ethnicities, such as Fang tales from Equatorial Guinea, Bubis tales, Annobonese tales and Ndowes Tales, all compiled by Jacint Creus. Today, the CCSM is continuing the work begun by the H-GCC. Since 2003, when the Cultural Centre first opened its doors, a growing number of texts have been published by authors from Equatorial Guinea, partly due to the literary contests convened by the Centre every 12 October, Hispanic Day and coinciding with the commemoration of the country’s independence. Contests are also convened on 23 April each year, International Book Day. The cultural centres of Spain are the only institutions that have convened nationwide literary competitions, having done so since 1985. Every year, the winning texts are published in their respective journals, The Patio and Africa 2000, by the H-GCC, and The Centre Tree and Atanga, by the CCSM. At present, these winning texts are published in a single volume, which was originally called Seas of Guinea, but was later renamed Winners of the 12 October Literary Competition. The 23 April contest, now known as the ‘Guinea Writes’ Short Story Contest, is sponsored by the Martínez Hermanos Foundation. The top three winners from Malabo and the top three from Bata are published by Cartoneras Editions. For this literary contest, only narrative texts are eligible. Apart from these two literary contests, the mother tongues of Equatorial Guinea are further promoted through the preservation of the H-GCC catalogue. Moreover, since 2003 the CCSM has published several works by Guinean authors, both literary and focused on linguistic research. Outstanding examples of the latter include the Spanish-Bubi / Bubi-Spanish dictionary, by Justo Bolekia Boleká (2009); Pichi grammar, by Kofi Yakpo (2010); Descriptive grammar of the Fa d’ambô, by Armando Zamora Segorbe (2010) and the SpanishFang / Fang-Spanish dictionary by Julián Bibang Oyee (2014). Formerly, the country’s oral traditions were published only in compilations in the magazines The Patio and Africa 2000, but since 2006, when the Centre for International Studies of Biology

and Anthropology (CEIBA) was opened in Malabo, the dissemination of this genre has expanded considerably, with the publication of monographs containing short stories, traditional poems, proverbs and oral traditions in general. The Oral Resources Laboratory, thus, greatly boosted the printed availability of intangible heritage materials in Guinea. The Oral Resources Laboratory was a programme promoted by CEIBA that began operating in the CCSM one year after its introduction in Bata, in 2001. This programme organised the training of future researchers to conduct field studies on traditions and customs, and to recover the wealth of oral expression present in the different ethnic groups of Equatorial Guinea. Thanks to this programme, the CCSM was able to publish or sponsor a great deal of research, some by experienced investigators and other work by the trainers. Highlights in this published output include Words that have no mouth: urban stories of Equatorial Guinea; Why we are black and more stories and legends of the Bubi people; The Bubi collection of proverbs; The Annobonan oral songbook; Traditional poetry of the island of Bioko; and Word of mouth, Studies of the oral literature of Equatorial Guinea. With the support of the Oral Resources Laboratory, the Cultural Centre published more than twenty books, and funded several lectures given by members of the Oral Resources Laboratory. Unfortunately, the difficult financial situation in recent years has led to the disappearance of the financial contributions to this programme, making it necessary to resort to other, more economic formats. However, despite their importance and the intelligent approach adopted, the results are not always comparable to those obtained previously. Similarly, the disappearance of the emblematic scholarship programmes that had supported research and made grants accessible in the academic environment, such as the Inter-University Programme for Cooperation and Scientific Research has had a notable effect. Nevertheless, opportunities do arise through the spaces for exchange that are regularly convened by the Cultural Centre: its library offers a valuable bibliographic collection (in both physical and digital formats), it currently has two publishing outlets (12 October and Cartonera Editorial) and it is a member of an inter-continental network of centres created to facilitate the transit and exchange of ideas. Ensuring the dissemination of the country’s oral and literary traditions, and promoting social and linguistic studies is a real challenge, but one that must necessarily be faced, because a community that loses its own cultural identity is destined to extinction. The Cultural Centres of Equatorial Guinea have always played a leading role in responding to this challenge, and we firmly believe that they will continue to do so, as part of the commitment made when they were created 40 years ago .

Centres associated with Spanish Cooperation

Staging of La Batalla del Parque España (The Battle of Parque España) on the esplanade of the Cultural Centre in Rosario, April 2017

ARGENTINA Parque de España Cultural Centre in Rosario

Address

Sarmiento y el río Paraná S2000AHQ, Rosario

Opened

1993

Web

https://www.ccpe.org.ar/web/