SUMMARY FOR ARTICLE

in the times of cultural transformation and constant interaction that affect our traditional ways of understanding cultural identities and local regional or national belonging rigid cultural categorisations can lead easily to minoritisation and discrimination especially when culture is equated with ethnicity. participation itself is an integral part of cultural rights and does include an active component of human activity. as cultural rights themselves remain difficult to encapsulate exhaustively in order to build universally applicable definitions the right to take part in cultural life fosters the importance of access and promotion and survival of cultures while noting the constant changes that cultures go through and the inherent dynamism and specificity of the cultural field in different formations. indicators of cultural participation cannot only include sets of principles of good governance but also need to include categorisation of the needs and necessities of individuals and communities concerning the right to participate in cultural life and what that means on their terms and within their definitional frameworks. the task force of african experts constituted in the meeting produced in august the strategy document on cultural indicators of human development in order to end the exclusion of africa and formulate a common vision of those cultural indicators relevant to that continents cultural future.