"This is more than a travelogue, more than a checklist of natural wonders," says Kwame Anthony Appiah in the introductory video to Microsoft Encarta Africana 2000. True, but what an understatement. What he and fellow scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. have created is an enormously rich interactive journey into the last 500 years of African cultures, both in Africa and around the world. It's difficult to overstate how thorough and beautifully crafted this software is. The graphics are modern and inviting, and the inclusion of the Microsoft Research Organizer means that students can bookmark important areas to visit later (and cite them correctly). Certain aspects shine particularly strongly; the "Africana on Camera" section is one. For example, Maya Angelou, on video with an image overlay behind her shoulder, poetically and rhythmically explains the meaning of the word diaspora.
At the same time, the amount of information on these two CDs can be overwhelming, so we recommend clicking on the "Introduction" and "Tour This Product" options right after installation. This will be time well spent in knowing the goals the creators had for this software, and in how best to negotiate its vast offerings. You'll also want to rely heavily on the "Find" function, which is somewhat hidden in the upper left corner of every page. "Find" delivers a list of results, including mentions of a subject in magazine articles and placements--when you're searching for a person--of that person in a video or photograph.
Of course, not every element is equally successful. The time lines are somewhat static and contain little information, even when you click through to expand a given date. The music time line, in particular, seemed an afterthought of sorts and somewhat unbalanced. In over a century's worth of jazz, blues, rap, gospel, and vocals, only two women were pictured, and only one was identified within the captions (Bessie Smith was the unnamed figure, Lauryn Hill identified within the later years). The music time line also contained too few video clips; can a child really understand Jimi Hendrix without video or sound? In fact, the video clips were generally limited to interviews, little-known movies, and public-domain footage. Was this a way of managing the cost of such an all-encompassing project?
The incorporation of history and visual elements is stronger in the "Virtual Tour" option, where you can click on pinpoints in a 360-degree shot of a cityscape to get additional historical facts. For example, when you view the streets of Paris, a pop-up click option lets you learn about opera singer Jessye Norman's command performance in a French national celebration. Excellent narrated video tours let you learn cultural context while seeing sweeping vistas of the Slave Coast and Tombouctou.
While African-American culture is strongly represented, it is not at the expense of other nations and cultures. Africa itself--its geography, political developments, and cultural celebrations--has many showcases too. As Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, outlines, Africana shows not only the place of "too much poverty [and] too many conflicts" but also a continent of "legendary cities and kingdoms." In addition, the cross-continental connections are some of the strongest narrative pieces found in this software. The barbarism of the transatlantic slave trade is strongly documented, as is the worldwide struggle ever since for human rights in the face of slavery.
Be prepared to be surprised by Encarta Africana. Whether it's a contemplative 1966 essay from James Baldwin in The Nation or an article explaining the complexity of theater in the Caribbean, Africana will have something to say. Filling a void too long neglected, Encarta Africana is a potent package of vivid life seen through the computer screen. --Jennifer Buckendorff
