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Project Etana
Bridging
the knowledge gap and building the intellectual foundation for
democratisation and civil society development in the Arab World
Background
One of the main
problems diagnosed by the Arab Human Development Report 2002, recently
published by the UNDP, is the knowledge gap that separates the Arab World
from other members of the international community, especially the more
developed ones. This situation, the report convincingly argues, is
intimately related to the failure of existing educational systems in the
Arab World, the lack of major investments in human resource development, the
lack of investments in R&D and a failure to remain connected to the latest
development in the various fields of science and the humanities for a period
that extends over 1,000 years.
Yes, in over 1,000 years, a
background paper for the report points out, the number of texts that have
been translated into Arabic from any language is less than the number of
books published in one year in a modern country, such as Greece for
instance.
Remedying this state of
affairs is exactly what project Etana, a project envisioned by
DarEmar, a Syrian educational and developmental institution, seeks to
accomplish.
General
Objectives
The premise of project Etana is quite simple really. In order to
bridge the knowledge gap between the developed parts of the world,
especially the West, and the Arab World, one has to make sure that knowledge
is efficiently “packaged” and disseminated to the widest possible spectrum
in the most convenient and affordable way. To this date, the best way for
achieving this end remains: book publishing.
Project Etana, then,
is basically a publishing venture that aims to translate into Arabic the
“classical works” of western history in the realm of science and the
humanities, that is, those works that were at the heart of the renaissance,
the enlightenment, the industrial and scientific revolutions, down to the
modern information revolution as well as works dealing with globalization
and civil society building. In other words, the adjective “classical” here
is used as a synonym for “seminal,” or a work that marks, in part at least,
a turning point in a certain intellectual trend.
As such, Project Etana
is fundamentally a developmental non-profit cultural programme
dedicated to bridging the knowledge gap and building the intellectual
foundations for democratisation and civil society development in the Arab
World, through a broad-spectrum exposure to the intellectual foundations of
western civilisation. It has been envisioned by a team of young Syrian
intellectuals and professionals as a cultural non-commercial activity
meant to encourage and enable the younger generations of Arabs to take a
more active part in modernising their own societies.
The philosophy beyond all
this being that democratisation and civil society development in the Arab
World cannot take place in an intellectual vacuum. We first need to provide
the intellectual basis upon which such constructs could be established. What
we propose, therefore, is a comprehensive proactive developmental and
educational approach that can provide the Arab readership with enough
material not only to stimulate their interests and satisfy their curiosity,
but also and more importantly, to encourage them to write their own
commentaries and analyses discussing the various aspects of the western
intellectual heritage, thus fomenting an intellectual debate in the native
language, Arabic, which could mark the beginning of a contemporary Arab
Renaissance.
Due to its large scope,
Project
Etana has been divided into
different components that can be funded separately. Currently, the Project
includes the following components:
1) Project
Etana – Sophia:
This component will focus on translating the milestone philosophic works of
the intellectual history of the West,
especially Europe.
This is simply the most ambitious and expensive part of Project Etana, due
to the size and complexity of the texts involved, the number of and the
changing nature of the languages that need to be consulted, and the
amount of time that needs to be allocated to the translation process. There
are books that could easily take a year or two each before they are fully
translated. All this will reflected on the costs involved here.
2)
Project Etana – Arts and Peoples:
Translating the works, autobiographies, letters, notes, travel logs, and
essays of various important artists, intellectuals, political and religious
figures is the main focus of this component. The idea is to recreate the
socio-historical contexts that will help readers understand the
circumstances that affected the intellectual fermentation highlighted in
other components. This is another component that requires funding.
3) Project
Etana – Modern Times:
It has to be noted here that the term "classics" in project Etana refers not
only to old works, but also to new ones that can be defined as "seminal,"
"pivotal," or breaking new grounds and charting the way fort he mergence of
new disciplines or sub-disciplines. Every year witness the publication of
many such works which often go un-translated and unknown in the Arab World.
The focus of this component is to help remedy this situation. As such, this
is yet another ambitious component of Project Etana and major funding is
required.
4) Project
Etana – USA:
This component is envisioned in the hope of creating a better understanding
and appreciation for American values and way of life, away from political
considerations. It is our hope at DarEmar that a more comprehensive
and in-depth exposure to American values and legal system would help
stimulate thinking along similar lines in the Arab World, a place where
constitutional supremacy, respects for basic individual rights (including
freedom of assembly and expression, due process and privacy matters),
bicameralism and federalism are sorely lacking and needed. As such, this
particular component of Project Etana seeks to accomplish what the
previous three components will achieve, but with particular focus on US
history, culture and intellectual contributions.
The Project could be broken into
more or different components, of course, focusing, for instance, on isolated
countries, such as France, Britain or Italy, or particular periods of time,
such as the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, etc. Such
breakdown schemes may indeed be necessary in order to facilitate the funding
of this large undertaking, as various donor agencies might possess various
interests and conditions with regard to the funds they could provide.
To help support the
activities and programs of DarEmar, please contact
support@daremar.org.
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