Africa: Search for Common Ground
Africa: Search for Common Ground is a television and radio series co-produced by Common Ground Productions and Ubuntu TV & Film in South Africa. Told by local people, the series explores conflicts across the continent and how they are being resolved in a cooperative manner. Viewers go behind the headlines to experience issues ranging from a village kgotla (council of elders) mediating a land dispute to the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Africa: Search for Common Ground was broadcast throughout Africa in multiple languages to great critical acclaim.
About Africa: Search for Common Ground
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The Western media's portrayal of Africa is one of chaos, crisis and despair. Africans, if they make the news at all, are usually portrayed as helpless victims, megalomaniacal despots or the colorful curators of big game. Africa: Search for Common Ground offers an alternative view--namely, that of the people who actually experience the conflicts and are working to resolve them.
Powerful narratives shed new light on issues of concern to the entire continent: child soldiers returning home to village life, the clash between traditional healing and modern medicine, the impact of development on the local ecology. Each episode demonstrates that good storytelling does not have to glorify violence for its own sake, and that the search for agreement can be as dramatic as soap opera. At the same time, the series disproves the view that Africans are incapable of solving their own problems.
Africa: Search for Common Ground was produced in 1998 in collaboration with Ubuntu TV & Film Productions of Cape Town, South Africa. The series is available in English, French and Portuguese. The English version is hosted by noted South African writer and actor John Matshikiza; the French version is hosted by media personality Georges Collinet; and the Portuguese version is hosted by conflict resolution expert João Howana.
The most inspiring piece of television I have seen in a long time.
- Zakes Mda, Johannesburg Sunday Times
For detailed information about each of the eight programs in the series, please click here.
Video from Africa: Search for Common Ground
Taken from Program 1: Thokoza Video Dialogue. Dialogue in English.
Running time: 4 min.
Photos from Africa: Search for Common Ground
Hosts Georges Collinet (French) and John Matshikiza (English)
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A resident of Kinshasa, DRC, argues his case in a tribal court
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Two former enemies working together for peace
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A participant in South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission
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