{"id":28605,"date":"2019-03-18T09:43:33","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T13:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=28605"},"modified":"2024-07-02T17:10:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T17:10:43","slug":"confronting-conflict-with-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=28605","title":{"rendered":"Confronting Conflict with Creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From Chapel Hill to the Democratic Republic of Congo, music professor Ch\u00e9rie Rivers Ndaliko empowers students to come together and use creativity as a touchstone for social change.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Cherie
As part of Yole!Africa, Ch\u00e9rie Rivers Ndaliko helps youth in the Democratic Republic of Congo use creativity to tell their experiences of conflict. Here, Ndaliko gives instructions on the set of “Matata,” a film by her husband Petna Ndaliko Katondolo. (Photo courtesy of Alkebu Film Productions)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ch\u00e9rie Rivers Ndaliko<\/a>\u00a0stands behind the music stand she uses for a podium, her hands clasped, and looks out over her class.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to stand up here, and I want you to tell me what you see,\u201d she says. While she has completed this exercise with classes in South Africa, Brazil, and across the United States, the answers are always different.<\/p>\n

One student tentatively raises his hand. \u201cWoman,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

A few others, slightly less hesitant: Black. Intellectual. Confident.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t a game of compliments, guys!\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n

These descriptions say something about her, she says \u2014 and they also say something about the students in her class and the subconscious assumptions people make about others. Why do they see her as an intellectual? As confident? She launches into her expos\u00e9 about human perception and how colonial photographers, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, took advantage of this to portray the Congolese as primitive in the early 1900s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think of the framing in this photograph?\u201d she asks the class, gesturing to a sepia-tinted print of three Congolese women on the screen. Three hands shoot up. Ndaliko dances through the discussion with practiced ease.<\/p>\n

An assistant professor in the UNC Department of Music, Ndaliko studies the role of film, text, images, and music on social justice in African war zones. Her work focuses on how African nations, particularly Congo, can use creative processes to fight against the disruption of war on a cultural front.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important to me that, when we look at situations of conflict and crisis, we also look at creativity,\u201d she says. \u201cThere is, institutionally, a history of divorcing one from the other and assigning the research that deals with resolving conflict to a certain set of disciplines. And those that look at creativity are typically not consulted.\u201d<\/p>\n

A different path<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ndaliko was born in northern California, but calls many places home. Ghana, Senegal, Denmark, Congo \u2014 her family was eclectic, she shares, and wanted her to have connections to places that were important to them. She has been interested in social justice for as long as she can remember.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in a world that said that half of my family is not as important as the other half. In a world where, when my parents got married, it was not recognized in a number of states,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Ndaliko\u2019s mother is white and her father is black, and it became clear to her at an early age that there were structural inequalities in the world that she could not tolerate. A trained composer and pianist, Ndaliko turned to the arts as a way to work toward conflict resolution. She felt they were being overlooked in favor of routes that focused on the hard sciences \u2014 routes that she sees as not wholly effective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re addressing issues of inequity largely with the same strategies. I was curious to see where people are responding differently and what results they\u2019re having.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cherie
Ndaliko and her husband, Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, run Yole!Africa, which provides a space for youth in eastern Congo to thrive despite the region\u2019s deadly conflict. (photo by Steve Exum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cPower in the guise of art\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ndaliko has conducted research in Senegal, Mali, Kenya, South Africa, and eventually Congo, a place that she became fascinated with while studying organizations that fought institutional inequities. She moved there in 2008 and continues to live in Goma, a city near the Rwandan border, for most of the year.<\/p>\n

The city and much of eastern Congo has been a center of social and political upheaval since the first of two civil wars broke out in in 1996. The area is rich in mineral resources such as coltan, an important component of many electronics, and industrial exploitation of the land by other countries such as the United States have fueled and funded the conflict.<\/p>\n

Although the second war officially ended in 2003, cycles of violence and power struggles have kept the central African nation in a state of blistering unrest. While estimates vary greatly, Ndaliko says that roughly 8 million people have died as a result of the fighting. Millions more have been displaced and impoverished.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the deadliest humanitarian conflict since the second World War,\u201d Ndaliko says.<\/p>\n

The instability that comes from decades of strife has made an indelible mark on the country\u2019s political and social climate. Many young people, for example, lack stable access to education, which limits their opportunities.<\/p>\n

Out of this need came\u00a0Yole!Africa<\/a><\/u>, a Goma-based organization focused on promoting the arts in Congo. Founded in 2000 by acclaimed filmmaker Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, Yole!Africa was a major motivator for why Ndaliko decided to stay in Goma. She eventually married Ndaliko Katondolo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was driven by a deep desire to learn to understand what is going on,\u201d Ndaliko says. \u201cAnd the more I learned about the unique history on Congo, the more committed I was to partnering with the people who were already doing such an extraordinary thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In many East African languages, the word yol\u00e9 means \u201ccome together.\u201d It is used by cattle drivers, goat herders, and shepherds to call flocks together when danger is afoot. Like those shepherds, Yole!Africa provides a place for Congolese youth to come together away from violence.<\/p>\n

Yole!Africa encourages people to tell their stories in their own ways. The processes and skills that come from studying film, music, literature, and other art forms help young Congolese adults find a voice to tell stories about their country in ways that reflect their experiences. The center works to provide them space, skills, and education that may help them thrive in the war-torn region.<\/p>\n

Ndaliko is the director of research and education at Yole!Africa for now \u2014 the organization is working to move away from hierarchical labels \u2014 and helps provide artistic classes, workshops, and public events to 17,000 people of eastern Congo each year.<\/p>\n

Through the nonprofit, Ndaliko advocates for a shift in the way the world handles humanitarian and charitable aid in Africa. The organization has struggled to find funding that doesn\u2019t focus on the trauma that people have potentially endured, but rather on their successes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have fought \u2014 and continue to fight \u2014 against reducing people to experiences of victimhood,\u201d she says. \u201cWe don\u2019t ask students to identify in those terms, as rape victims or child soldiers. If they identify as filmmakers, because that\u2019s what they see themselves as, then we want to engage them as filmmakers, not victims.\u201d<\/p>\n

People who have completed courses at Yole!Africa have gone on to become politicians, human rights attorneys, and journalists with media companies like BBC and Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of what we\u2019ve done and what the students produce there,\u201d Ndaliko says.<\/p>\n

Ndaliko has produced two books about her work with Yole!Africa and the importance of cultural engagement in the face of conflict. She wrote \u201cNecessary Noise: Music, Film and Charitable Imperialism in the East of Congo,\u201d which won a\u00a0Nketia Book Prize<\/a><\/u>\u00a0and an\u00a0Alan Meriam Book of the Year Prize<\/a><\/u>. She also co-edited and wrote chapters for \u201cThe Art of Emergency: Aesthetics and Aid in African Crises.\u201d She has written almost a dozen\u00a0articles and book chapters\u00a0on Yole!Africa, aid, and artistic culture in Congo.<\/p>\n

\"Ndaliko
Ndaliko guides the technical crew and actors for the film \u201cMatata,\u201d which takes place in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo. (photo courtesy of Alkebu Film Productions)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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 <\/p>\n

Now, she\u2019s working on a multimedia project, \u201cCommemorating Congo: Unsung Stories of Resource Wars,\u201d which shares the experiences of survivors and participants of the Congolese wars.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes creative expression is a matter of survival,\u201d Ndaliko writes in \u201cNecessary Noise.\u201d \u201cBut sometimes it is a currency that cloaks the machinery of power in the guise of art.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Congo to Carolina<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bringing attention to the conflict in Congo was a large part of Ndaliko\u2019s decision to bring her work to the United States.<\/p>\n

Ndaliko returned to the U.S. in 2010 while on tour for her husband\u2019s film, \u201cJazz Mama,\u201d which focuses on the strength and dignity of Congolese women in the face of violence. As part of the film\u2019s introduction, she asked the crowds how many had heard of the wars in Congo. The responses were disappointing \u2014 usually less than three people raised their hands, and of those people, few knew what the conflict was about. The pair visited 33 universities and colleges and the results were the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an economic war. It is funded by multinational corporations, most of which are rooted in this country,\u201d Ndaliko says. \u201cEven if we can empower every single Congolese in this generation, they have no influence over American corporate policy. And the people who do have influence over that have no idea that this is even happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2012, Ndaliko decided to come teach at Carolina.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we think of education as the long-term strategy of change, who needs this information?\u201d Ndaliko asks. Her answer? Young Americans.<\/p>\n

As a way to forge a connection with Congo, Ndaliko has her Carolina students work on a collaborative art project with their peers at Yole!Africa. Over Skype and Facebook, they produce music videos, songs, and photo essays.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey get really excited,\u201d Ndaliko says. \u201cAnd they make fast friends. There are plenty of folks I can think of who have maintained relationships with the people they\u2019ve collaborated with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forging connections with Congolese students, Ndaliko believes, is a powerful way to learn about the conflict and advocate for change.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not thinking about some abstract place, you\u2019re thinking about the family of the friends who you\u2019re producing a thing with, who you become close with on social media,\u201d she says. \u201cIn my experience of the world, that kind of human connection will be a far bigger motivating factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Active participation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Grace Garcia sits in the Stone & Leaf Cafe and scrolls through a series of artfully designed slides on her laptop. This is the draft of her \u201clook book,\u201d a document that outlines the thoughts and discussions that she and her classmates developed in Ndaliko\u2019s class last semester. She and Ndaliko are working on this project together.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, this is kind of what I\u2019m working on,\u201d she says as she flicks through the earth-toned graphics, photographs, and lists. \u201cI focused on incorporating the idea of film, specifically historical representations through film, through the actual design details of the look book.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia is a first-year student studying journalism and art history at Carolina. Last semester, she took Ndaliko\u2019s first-year seminar, \u201cArts, Activism, Africa,\u201d and is now in her class focused on media and social change in Africa. She says that she has learned a lot about Congo from these courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that I wasn\u2019t hearing these stories, the fact that a lot if it remains in the shadows, was very eye-opening for me,\u201d Garcia says. \u201cSomething that I had never consciously thought of is now something that I participate in daily. I read news articles about Congo, watch films by documentarians, and engage with musicians from the African continent, specifically in Congo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later this month, Garcia and Ndaliko will send the look book to directors and students at Yole!Africa. It will serve as a tool for Congolese students and help them understand and discuss the ways their peers in the United States navigate issues of Congolese representation, contextualization, and colonization.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe, as Westerners, need to recognize our own complicity in the issues that are current and also historical,\u201d Garcia says. \u201cWe have the ability to have a voice and take action and to elevate the platforms that the Congolese have already created.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without Ndaliko, Garcia admits, she never would have made these connections.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been so inspirational,\u201d she says. \u201cI really aspire to look at the world the way she does.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Ch\u00e9rie Rivers Ndaliko is an assistant professor in the Department of Music and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Communication within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. She is the director of research and education at Yole!Africa, which is based in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/em><\/p>\n

Grace Garcia is a freshman studying journalism and art history within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Special thanks to the Carolina Digital Repository (CDR) for making the research articles linked within this piece accessible to the public. Within University Libraries, the CDR provides long-term access and safekeeping for scholarly works, datasets, research materials, records, and audiovisual materials produced by the UNC community. To learn more about their work, visit cdr.lib.unc.edu.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Annie McDarris<\/a>, Endeavors\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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