Mission Statement

By Peter Kuthan / AZFA
As far as access to modern information and communication technology is concerned, the actual landscape of the Cyberworld is characterised by a huge digital divide between the "haves" and the "have-nots". This refers not only to the technological aspect of imbalanced information channels and infrastructure, but also to content development which reflects the hegemony of the main players in this field.
On the new world map of the worldwide web Africa in particular has become again (or still is) "the Dark Continent".
The Tonga don't represent the clearly defined site and untouched local cultural tradition which some Western ethnologists, visitors of an exhibition or tourists might be looking for. They have been made to feel the edge of advancing progress and modernisation some 45 years ago. Their cultural identity has had to cope with forced resettlement and the loss of their ancestral homeland. In a way, they have already experienced the kind of deterritorialisation significant for nowadays "glocal" (meaning local and global at the same time) or hybrid cultural conditions of globalisation, exclusion and migration.