‘Afrilition’ manifesto proposes a new framework for African development
Writer Adéwálé Àjàdí has introduced “Afrilition”, a concept he describes as an African operating system for intergenerational development and collective self-determination. He says the framework emerged after an earlier Yoruba-derived model was interpreted as culturally exclusive rather than as a prototype based on indigenous knowledge.
Writer Adéwálé Àjàdí has presented “Afrilition” as a proposed framework for African evolution, intergenerational development and collective self-determination in a multipolar world. In an essay published by Premium Times, Àjàdí describes Afrilition as a new “operating system” intended to connect African knowledge, culture and technology with the needs of the 21st century. He says the idea is designed to support alternatives to systems he believes have failed to serve African communities.
Àjàdí said the concept grew from difficulties surrounding an earlier book, “Omoluwabi 2.0: A Code of Transformation in 21st-Century Nigeria”. That work used a Yoruba term as a prototype for building trust and interdependence in a country he described as containing more than 372 ethnic nations. He said the use of a Yoruba name led some people to interpret the project as an attempt to perpetuate Yoruba dominance, rather than as an adaptation of indigenous knowledge for a broader purpose.
He also recalled being invited by the Osun State Government to supply books and speak at the launch of an Omoluabi club for schoolchildren. According to Àjàdí, the experience exposed the burden of attaching new ideas to existing cultural codes. He said he was criticised over his clothing, instructed shortly before speaking to deliver his address in Yoruba, and told that much of his allotted time would go to a more recognisable public figure.
Afrilition, he argues, is intended to avoid those inherited associations. He links it to African intellectual and spiritual traditions, citing fractals, Dogon astrophysics, binary logic, Ifa and the Yoruba concept of Àṣẹ, which he describes as the manifestation of the word. The manifesto also presents African cultural forms in the diaspora as carrying knowledge beyond entertainment, referring to Congo Square and dance traditions associated with salsa, mambo and cha-cha-cha.
Àjàdí argues that African contributions have often been dispersed or obscured by global systems. He invites readers to an online launch of “Afrilition: 21st Century African Manifesto” on September 30. The source material does not provide details of the event’s organisers or programme beyond the invitation.
This independently written report is based on information supplied by the named publisher. Vertrix News has not independently verified the source report.