An update on the maker movement in Africa: Interview with Mark Grimes
This panorama (of the maker movement) is extremely exciting, but it’s entirely based on north-american and european perspectives. What the makers are, what they do and what are their motivations is mainly defined within the boundaries of needs, wishes and imageries of rich countries.
Digicult publishes a very interesting interview with Mark Grimes, on the state and the importance of the maker movement in Africa, in its expression through the Maker Fair. Interview done by Bertram Niessen and Marco Mancuso; intro and context from Bertram Niessen.
Here just the context, the interview is here.
Context:
“In 2009 a group of social entrepreneurs and designers has started to re-think grassroots invention concept in an African frame, putting together makers from various countries and asking: “What happens when you put the drivers of ingenious concepts from Mali with those from Ghana and Kenya, and add resources to the mix?” (from their website). The answer to this question is Maker Faire Africa, an international organization founded by Mark Grimes (Ned.com) along with Emeka Okafor (TED Africa), Emer Beamer (Butterfly Works and Nairobits), Erik Hersman (Afrigadget) and Henry Barnor (Ghana Think). The physical meeting Maker Faire Africa has been held in Ghana in 2009 and in Kenya in 2010.
Maker Faire Africa aims at documenting, connecting and organizing african DIY initiatives, with a specific focus on the possibility to launch in the markets some of the inventions. The project is of an extreme interest because it looks at bottom-up innovation where people decide what are their needs and what are the best ways to satisfy them. In african countries there is a strong need for this crucial switch in the approach to technology and society because it can potentially drive to a re-shaping of power balances with the rest of the world.
Waiting to hear news of makers networks in Asia and South-America, we have decided to interview Marc Grimes, one of the founders of Makers Faire Africa. He came to Italy for a talk at the Festivaletteratura in Mantua, invited by the non-profit Fondazione Lettera 27.”
