Open Arts, the curators of the Hausa International Book and Arts Festival, have announced the third edition of the festival with the theme, ‘Hausa Diaspora’.
This edition will open up the
diaspora of the Hausa speaking world both from the within and of the outside. The festival is
supported with funding by the British Academy; University of Bristol; British Council; and
Kingdom of the Netherlands.
A release from HIBAF said Open Arts will seek to run the Hausa International Book and Arts Festival (HIBAF) for its third edition, while querying how the Hausa people managed to establish themselves so firmly in foreign lands thousands of kilometres away from their homes; what gave the Hausa language the ability to adopt and adapt in every nook and cranny even without political control; why do migrant traders throughout West Africa whether of Hausa origin or not use Hausa as a language.
With the support of the British Academy, a hybrid workshop attached to festival will amplify
the voices of West African female scholars by providing mentorship in the field of Hausa studies and building access to expert advice and training on how to publish while the support of the University of Bristol will enable the publication of an anthology of Hausa short stories.
The British Council’s Biennales and Festivals fund, will enable the production of a small
pavilion using traditional techniques and local, biobased materials to make an adaptable
‘Mawaka’ or ‘Griot’ space to facilitate different forms of storytelling inspired by cultural craft from across the Hausa diaspora.
Through the Kingdom of the Netherlands diplomatic mission
in Nigeria the festival will host a poetry night and cultural interactions with a Dutch artist.
Sada Malumfashi, Curator of the festival said, “Since the fourteenth century, many categories
of people had left Hausaland and ventured into various parts of West Africa, some returned, some settled.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Hausa diasporas were scattered across continents in their Zangos – settlements. Appearing as “Afnu,” “Husa,” “Housa,” “Houssa,” “Ussa,”
“Hausa,” “Aussa,” “Aoussa,” “Haoussa,” or “Kashna” in European language sources of the times.
Hausa-speaking communities or individuals exist from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean;
from the Caribbeans to the Americas; from the Guinea Coast to Europe; across the African continent – from Sierra Leone to Sudan, Chad and Cameroon – but also in the Maghreb and the
Muslim world from Tunis and Tripoli to Cairo, Jerusalem, and Makkah. Hausa people have
travelled and settled around the world.”
‘Hausa Diaspora’ will interrogate the practice of migrating – kaura – and settling in nonHausaphone areas that has been a major feature of the Hausa people for centuries. The core of ‘Hausaness’ seems to have been shaped by movement and mobility.
The festival will be held as a hybrid of virtual and physical engagements from 14th – 16th
December, 2023 in the ancient city of Kano, Nigeria.
Media enquiries: salz@openartsworld.org
About Hausa International Book and Arts Festival
The Hausa International Book and Arts Festival is a crisscross festival of arts and language by
and for African creatives. It is the aim of the festival to open up discussions about the Hausa
language through history, music and arts from the past and present to a glorious future to be
displayed to a new and exciting young audience.
About Open Arts
Open Arts is a cultural and arts collective committed to promoting the arts and creative
endeavours based in northern Nigeria. Open Arts as a creative organization touches the
expression of passion in the creative arts as part of its mission of making a positive difference
in the lives of people in the community through work of arts. Open Arts prioritizes works of art
and stories from people whose voices have been excluded from the universal conversation,
using arts and culture as narratives to influence and shape the reality of life in northern Nigeria.
Open Arts curates the Hausa International Book and Arts Festival (HIBAF), a crisscross festival of arts and language by and for African creatives.
You can follow the festival on:
Website: http://www.hausabaf.com
Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/YouTube: @hausabaf
