A MAKE Philosophy for Africa: Beyond just Cellphones

Make magazine has reignited in many the need to grapple with the tangible tactile 3rd dimension. The now almost retro cyber-age had emphasized the importance of all things digital at the expense of those objects we can grasp. The merging of the bit the biological and non-biological atom in the developed world is on track courtesy of robotics and nanotechnology ,while in areas south of the Sahara the 'made' atom has barely gotten off the starting block. The uptake of technology in Africa has been symbolized almost completely by the commonly labeled cellphones, computers and information -ICT . As a result the nerves are beginning to sputter into life, but the equally important muscles and sinews have not even begun to coalesce.
In a Timbuktu Chronicles post "Fundamental, Unsexy and Absent" the non-existence of an industrial mechanical base was highlighted and its pivotal nature emphasized. The boring 'old' industries of Metalworking and various types of Manufacturing and Chemical Engineering have had to bow off the stage in the developed west while the young upstarts of the information age, biotechnology et al bask in the spotlight. This could rightly be considered progress in the industrialized and developed/ing countries, but not where industrialization has experienced a still birth and these industries do not even exist. The ability to communicate effectively does not confer the title of 'developed' on its wearer's head , ICT is to a large degree an enabler and facilitator .The real heavy lifting task at hand still happens to be: Take-off-level Industrialization .
To spur this important phase from a granular, distributed and sustainable standpoint. The 'felt world' needs to be made tangible and its importance continually emphasized . Mechanical synthesis's position as a creator of figurative bolts needs to be reiterated . Across the continent from the workshops of Suame magazine and Centre Songhai through the fabricators of Nnewi down to the tinkerers of the various Jua Kali's .One underlying truism becomes obvious, the facilitators lay at our grasp,they just need to be enabled, but how? The transfer of technology from the outside can and should become a complementary absorption from within . Metalwork, Woodwork , Practical Chemistry those stale areas of the educational curricula now more than ever need to reincorporated with vigor into the psyche of the willing and able. The Fab Labs of Neil Gershenfield provide a partial answer , the challenge is to avail the 'how to' tools of fabrication to a wider willing audience in other words-The making and synthesis of stuff needs to be normalized.
A start could be made by making the creation of stuff relevant, accessible ,sustainable , practical and worthwhile. Prizes for exemplar mechanical electrical and or safe chemical hacking could be tools/materials/chemistry sets to further catalyze these nascent efforts. Ghana's Car hackers for example could qualify for sexier more capable lathes, grinders etc. Those wonderful fabricators of the multifunctional platform could be runners up for metal casting molds . The point is to identify, supplement , encourage and applaud those that are already making the initial faltering first steps. The progressive goal would be to create a climate of interest in industry , the scientific and technological method. A MAKE for Africa will be a non-limited set of values and practical ideas that.evolve, germinate, propagate and replicate with informed nudges here and there. The guidance will be a mix of the guided and their input coupled with the guiders and their experience, for it to succeed it must be self catalysing. The 'Make Rules' do not have to be body or organization, they could just be a philosophy grafted on to the accepting backs of those willing to experiment. The mainstreaming of tinkering epitomised by Makezine and others might be considered a somewhat sidebar effort in the mainstream advanced west. In pre-industrialized Sub-Saharan Africa it stands the chance of becoming a pivotal ingredient needed to ignite mechano-electrical-chemical creativity.