An Aesthetics of Necessity in the Age of Globalization : The Ki-Yi Village as a New Social Movement

The Ki-Yi Village in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire is primarily perceived as an organization focused on the revival of African cultures, as an arts cooperative, or as an educational alternative for talented children not suited for Western-style schooling. This chapter provides a glimpse into the larger scope of its goals, which extend well beyond its present reach. The Ki-Yi Village may in fact provide a unique example of what anthropologist and development pundit Arturo Escobar hails as the future alternative for development: a New Social Movement (NSM) that works to foster "greater autonomy and pluralism, less de- pendence on the state, and new values of solidarity and participation" (Escobar 1995b: 219). The Ki-Yi essentially endeavors to provide a counterdiscourse to the dilemma of economic and political dependency encountered with most NGOs whose donor-client relationship and charting of priorities and needs condition all projects with their Third- World counterparts. The benefactors of the Ki-Yi Village choose to give their money to its cause and have lesser involvement in its redistribution and deployment than do traditional NGOs or cultural research centers. When she created the Village, Liking decided to break with traditional institutional organizations such as the state- financed ones that she was familiar with at the University of Abidjan. The political and artistic freedom that she has subsequently enjoyed has nevertheless constantly been threatened by questions of economic survival. Hence a creative process dictated by necessity.