Astronaissance: Communicating Astronomy and Space to the African Imagination

Presented by Keith Gottschalk at the ASSA Symposium, 2012 October 13, at SAAO in Cape Town. "Astronaissance neatly conceptualizes the crossover between the African Renaissance, the revival of Astronomy in Africa, and the rise of Astronautics and cognate space sciences . Story-telling, painting, engraving, writing, and above all, viewing the heavens above, have always been amongst the strategies for communicating this excitement and wonder. Today the Internet, learned societies, media, and public outreach projects are crucial when, for the first time ever, a majority of Africa's people now live under the light-polluted skies of our continent's towns and cities. Space-related products and services are woven into the fabric of our daily life as never before. Policy-makers and allocators of resources need to see as essential to their strategy communicating to Africa's citizens, voters, and taxpayers, the necessity of Astronomy, Astronautics, and the other space sciences." Visit the official symposium website for further details: http://symposium2012.assa.saao.ac.za