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This book argues that since the emergence of the Cameroon National Union (CNU) and the one-party state in 1966, Cameroonians have progressively degenerated into the syndrome of collective amnesia inspired by a culture of sycophancy, glorifying and deifying political leadership. These developments stand in stark contrast to what obtained in the nascent Southern Cameroons - the UN Trust territory administered by Britain until 1961 when its population voted overwhelmingly by 70.5% to gain their independence by establishing a federation with the then French-speaking Republic of Cameroon. From the late 1950s until the dismantling of the Cameroon Federation, Southern Cameroons and later West Cameroon had a vibrant parliament, a House of Chiefs (or Senate), an independent Judiciary, an ideal, corruption-free Public Service, a state government with ministers presided over by an Executive Prime Minister and, for a decade, West Cameroon provided the Vice Presidency for the Federal Republic of Cameroon. In what may be accurately described as Prof Anthony Ndi's seminal work, he contends and rightly so that solutions to the legion of problems that plague contemporary Cameroon may be easily found in the pages of The Golden Age of Southern Cameroons. Agents for this transformation do not have to be invented or imported from Mars; all we need is a patriotic spirit, political will, readiness to dialogue, transparency and commitment to democracy.
This report examines the food security status of Zimbabwean migrant households in the poorer areas of two major South African cities, Johannesburg and Cape Town. The vast majority were food insecure in terms of the amount of food to which they had access and the quality and diversity of their diet. What seems clear is that Zimbabwean migrants are significantly more food insecure than other low-income households. The primary reason for this appears to lie in pressures that include remittances of cash and goods back to family in Zimbabwe. The small literature on the impact of migrant remittances on food security tends to look only at the recipients and how their situation is improved. It does not look at the impact of remitting on those who send remittances. Most Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa feel a strong obligation to remit, but to do so they must make choices because of their limited and unpredictable income. Food is one of the first things to be sacrificed. Quantities decline, cheaper foods are preferred, and dietary quality and diversity inevitably suffer. This study found that while migrants were dissatisfied with the shrinking job market in South Africa, most felt that they would be unlikely to find work in Zimbabwe and that a return would worsen their household's food security situation. In other words, while food insecurity in Zimbabwe is a major driver of migration to South Africa, food insecurity in South Africa is unlikely to encourage many to return.
Using expibasketical theory and findings, this book attempts to understand and explain some of the wonders of love and the impacts these have on the other human institutions (such as marriage and family) that are supposed to be erected on love and understanding. Love is a phenomenon that is hard to correctly master, most probably because it is loaded with a lot of uncertainties. This simple fact must be the reason behind the commonplace saying that love is blind; a statement that can have several interpretations, one of which being that it is hard to read or know exactly what is on the other party's mind. Love thus becomes not only an intriguing feeling but also potentially full of intrigues. Can love be so blind to realities and still be love? The book answers many of such queries by expanding and delineating the frontiers of love, and thence marriage and family.
The Mbos are a large ethnic group in present day Cameroon and an important and powerful group until the Anglo-French partition. Following the defeat of the colonial power, Germany, in the First World War (WWI), the League of Nations in a March 1916 Mandate, partitioned the territory into two unequal halves among the victorious imperial powers of England and France, to be governed in trust as from 1922. As a result of the partition, the Mbos, who happened to find themselves right along the lines of division, were thrust under French and English administration, respectively. Roughly two thirds of the Mbos found themselves in what had then become French (East) Cameroon, while the remaining one third was thrust under British (West) Cameroon rule. Today the Mbos, as a whole, occupy parts of the Littoral and Western (Francophone) and Southwest (Anglophone) regions of Cameroon. While the Francophone Mbos have, over the decades, benefited from all aspects of economic, social, political, and agricultural development, the Anglophone Mbos have been isolated and deprived of all the outward and physical (tangible) aspects of socio-economic and political progress. The persistence of such colonial divisions makes for inequality among the Mbos, despite their common ancestry, ethnicity and cultural heritage. This book seeks to update on diverse aspects of the study conducted on the British Mbos by J.W.C. Rutherfoord and others as a first step toward a comprehensive publication on the Anglophone Mbos.
With the rise of the knowledge for development paradigm, expert advice has become a prime instrument of foreign aid. At the same time, it has been object of repeated criticism: the chronic failure of technical assistance a notion under which advice is commonly subsumed has been documented in a host of studies. Nonetheless, international organisations continue to send advisors, promising to increase the effectiveness of expert support if their technocratic recommendations are taken up. This book reveals fundamental problems of expert advice in the context of aid that concern issues of power and legitimacy rather than merely flaws of implementation. Based on empirical evidence from South Africa and Tanzania, the authors show that aid-related advisory processes are inevitably obstructed by colliding interests, political pressures and hierarchical relations that impede knowledge transfer and mutual learning. As a result, recipient governments find themselves caught in a perpetual cycle of dependency, continuously advised by experts who convey the shifting paradigms and agendas of their respective donor governments. For young democracies, the persistent presence of external actors is hazardous: ultimately, it poses a threat to the legitimacy of their governments if their policy-making becomes more responsive to foreign demands than to the preferences and needs of their citizens.
The Cry of the Hangkaka
(2016)
The Cry of the Hangkaka is the story of young Karin and her mother Irene. Shamed by a divorce, Irene seeks to flee with her daughter from post WWII South Africa. Jack, a Scotsman who works at the tin mines in Nigeria, seems to be the answer to Irene's prayers. In the torrid heat of the Nigerian plateau, Karin is exposed to the lives of the colonisers, the colonised, and most of all to the dictatorship of Jack.
Since 1963, when the African integration project was born, regional Economic Communities (RECs) have been an indispensable part of the continent's deeper socioeconomic and political integration. More than half a century later, such regional institutions continue to evolve, keeping pace with an Africa that is transforming itself amid challenges and opportunities. RECs represent a huge potential to be the engines that drive the continent's economic growth and development as well as being vehicles through which a sense of a continental community is fostered. It is critical therefore that citizens understand the multi-faceted and bureaucratic operations of regional institutions in order to use them to advance their collective interests.
Taming My Elephant
(2016)
In Oshiwambo, the elephant is likened to the most challenging situation that people can face. If an elephant appears in the morning, all planned activities are put on hold and the villagers join forces to deal with it. For Tshiwa Trudie Amulungu, the elephant showed up on many mornings and she had no choice but to tame it. Growing up in a traditional household in northern Namibia, and moving to a Catholic school, Amulungus life started within a very ordered framework. Then one night in 1977 she crossed the border into Angola with her schoolmates and joined the liberation movement. Four months later she was studying at the UN Institute for Namibia in Lusaka Zambia, later going on to study in France. Amulungu recounts the cultural shocks and huge discoveries she made along her journey with honesty, emotion and humour. She draws the reader into her experiences through a close portrayal of life, friends and community in the different places where she lived and studied in exile. This is a compelling story of survival, longing for home, fear of the return, and overcoming adversity in strange environments. It is also a love story that brought two families and cultures together.
The second volume of the African Higher Education Dynamics Series brings together the research of an international network of higher education scholars with interest in higher education and student politics in Africa. Most authors are early career academics who teach and conduct research in universities across the continent, and who came together for a research project and related workshops and a symposium on student representation in African higher education governance. The book includes theoretical chapters on student organising, student activism and representation; chapters on historical and current developments in student politics in Anglophone and Francophone Africa; and in-depth case studies on student representation and activism in a cross-section of universities and countries. The book provides a unique resource for academics, university leaders and student affairs professionals as well as student leaders and policy-makers in Africa and elsewhere.
Soyinka's Language
(2016)
Shadows of Footsteps
(2016)
As memorable for the beauty of his descriptions as for his poetic vision, in these poems Mwangwegho captures the tenderness of Malawi and the fragility of it, as well as exploring the depths of our universal lives. In three sections, Shadows of Footsteps, takes us to corners of the past, to a view of shared African experience and to a space where internal freedoms speak. The journey is wild in parts, but graceful in completion.
Science and Spirituality
(2016)
Science and Spirituality is an attempt to highlight the spiritual potential within the recent and on-going discoveries in both the science of the quantum world and the science of the larger cosmos. Science is now confirming what the mystics of former ages taught us. Somehow, these mystics, through silence and meditation, were able to discern and touch deep truths about what existence means. Abstract Algebra, which was once perceived as purely abstract with no practical application, is now at the heart of explaining existence within the quantum world. Thus mathematics, science and spirituality are just different faces of the same reality. This small booklet 'Science and Spirituality' merely introduces different aspects of this one reality which the author hopes to develop in more detail in further booklets.
This is a book of reading on religion and culture in Africa comprising ten papers by experts in religion and cultural matters and an introductory note by the editor himself. Covered in the volume are papers covering: the impact of secularisation and urbanisation on a most cherished socio-cultural practice of the extended family system of the Isoko people in Nigeria; the traditional medical practices in Urhobo with particular focus on the use of local herbs to treat ailments; the socioreligious as well as the political significance of Obiri (family hall) in Ikwerreland; the rationale behind the use of the concept 'Dunamis' in the Gospel According to Staint Mark. Although his paper does not focus on African (traditional) religion, its inclusion here is based purely on the theological significance of the concept of 'Dunamis'; the extent to which evil spirits and mysterious forces have influenced the religion and culture of the Urhobo people of Nigeria; the significance of festivals in the traditional African society; John Wesley's innovations in Christendom and their implications for Africa; the recent unprecedented upsurge in the assumed use of religious powers to cast out evil spirits as well as for prayer healing among Muslims in Nigeria; the culture of alienation, anxiety and violence, drawing inspiration from the Fall Story of Genesis 3; and the widowhood practices of some areas in Nigeria.
Most African national economies depend on the exploitation of both renewable and non-renewable natural resources for development. Conventional and unconventional exploitation of natural resources has left negative carbon footprints. This has also degraded hotspots across the African continent, impacting negatively on people and the environment. A Green Economy offers the continent the opportunity to achieve sustained economic development devoid of environmental degradation and inefficient utilisation of natural resources. This book, Promoting Green Economy, explores issues affecting the socio-economic development of the continent and focuses on Africa's need for a green economy. With chapters written by seasoned authors from academia and industry across the continent, the book examines the challenges of sustainable management of Africa's natural resources and recommends the need for the continent to transit towards green economy as this can provide opportunities for minimising environmental footprints of all economic activities. The book calls on the commitment of the public and private sectors to the development of appropriate green economy policies and regulatory frameworks to promote inclusive growth.
Proceedings of the 7th World Congress of African Linguistics, Buea, 17-21 August 2012 : Volume One
(2016)
Proceedings of the 7th World Congress of African Linguistics, Buea, 17-21 August 2012 : Volume 2
(2016)
Pride Aside and Other Poems
(2016)
Pride Aside and Other Poems rattles the brain as it blurs thematic boundaries. Even though Bill F. Ndi's poems seem to clearly draw inspiration from everyday life, almost all the poems are structured as sonnets. Through the lines of the various poems in this collection, influences of poets from different schools of poetic creativity and streams of inspiration resonate. They bring to mind the metaphysical poets, the Romantics, the Symbolists, the Confessionalists, poets of the Beat Generation, Committed poetry, etc. As such reading the collection places the reader before a multifaceted and intriguing cultural document imbued with literary influences from Chaucer to W.B Yeats and beyond. However, their insight and the richness of their humanity transform the poems essentially into meditations on the soul of our civilization. This poetic work is vibrant and thought provoking.
The early missionaries brought Christianity from the monogamous West to the polygamous societies of Africa. Were the missionaries right in demanding that converts dismiss all but one wife? Was this the demand of the Christian faith or of Western civilization? And were the converts right to dismiss their wives though they had married them according to the laws of the land? And who asked the children if they wanted their mothers to be dismissed and may or may not be married to another man? The book argues that while polygamy is an African reality, it is below Christian moral standards. However is stopping converted polygamous men and women from baptism best practice if we believe that sin can be forgiven for the one who repents? Can the shedding of responsibility for wives and children be made a precondition for such forgiveness?
This is a comprehensive text on the function of thought in the history and political sociology of Cameroon. The book brings out how the 'hidden hand of history' fashions a political thought which, in turn, creates its own history. Instead of Cameroonians making history, history makes Cameroonians. The book shows how political ideas are fashioned in a post-colonial context in which Europeans impose a superordinate arrangement on a people together with its philosophers. 'Thinking the nation' in Cameroon on behalf of Europeans, especially after the leaders of the national liberation struggle were all eliminated, European philosophers put in place a 'repressive machine' under which Cameroonians were subjected between 1958 and 1990. Repression gave way to a refined form of enslavement - a modernised version of slavery. Cameroonians joined the bandwagon and have been producing and reproducing Western industrial economies while day-dreaming of what they will never become. The whole idea of nation-building in post-colonial Africa is put in question. This book offers students of political studies, sociology, anthropology and history compelling evidence to grapple with questions as to whether Cameroon is a state or a nation and questions of sovereignty and citizenship.
This book explores the symbiotic relationship between philosophy and culture. Every philosophy emerges as a reaction to, or as justification for a particular culture and it is for this reason that philosophy may differ from one culture to another. It argues that philosophy is an essential part of every culture. Philosophy is the means by which every culture provides itself with justification for its values, beliefs and worldview and also serves as a catalyst for progress. Philosophy critically questions and confronts established beliefs, customs, practices, and institutions of a society. As reflective critical thinking, philosophy is linked to a way of life; a form of enquiry intended to guide behaviour; a form of thinking that sharpens and broadens our intellectual horizon, scrutinizes our assumptions, and clarifies the beliefs and values by which we live. Philosophy helps to liberate the individual from the imprisonment of ignorance, prejudice, superstition, narrow-mindedness, and the despotism of custom. Culture constitutes the raw data, the laboratory from which philosophers do their analytic experimentation. Culture is considered as philosophy of the first order activity. The book maintains that any genuine global philosophy must include philosophical traditions from all cultures and regions of the world, as it is by seeking alternative philosophical answers to some of the thorniest problems facing humanity that we are most likely to find more lasting solutions to some global problems. In this commitment to a universal humanity, we cannot afford to depend on solutions from a single culture or from the most influential cultures.
West African teachers and professors who are appropriating information and communication technologies (ICT) are making it part and parcel of education and everyday life. In Mali and beyond, they adapt ICT to their milieus and work as cultural agents, mediating between technology and society. They yearn to use ICT to make education more relevant to life, facilitate and enhance African participation in global debates and scholarly production, and evolve how Africa and Africans are projected and perceived. In sum, educators are harnessing ICT for its transformative possibilities. The changes apparent in student-teacher relations (more interactive) and classrooms (more dialogical) suggest that ICT can be a catalyst for pedagogical change, including in document-poor contexts and ones weighed down by legacies of colonialism. Learning from the perspectives and experiences of educators pioneering the use of ICT in education in Africa can inform educational theory, practice and policy and deepen understandings of the concept of appropriation as a process of cultural change.
Pearls of Awareness
(2016)
Pearls of Awareness, contains poems of lyrical pleasure and spiritual upliftment. Its themes of ego-less awareness and awakening wisdom borrows from Buddhist mythical and mysterious teachings, African traditions and Christian Biblical teachings about the interconnectedness of all life, transcending boundaries of self and other, human, tree or animal, the living, the (un)placeable, the dead. The speaker's lyrical insights are comforting, even when mysterious, and because of their tone of tranquility and faith, eventually the listener will reach full understanding. Its strengths are its assured pacing of the poems, luminous imagery and wise insights, which brings clarity without explaining, making it work both as a spiritual message and enjoyable lyric.
Though conflicts among (African) nations diminished at the end of the last millennium, the need for peace remains a perennial concern for African citizens within their communities and countries. Once again, Maphosa and Keasley have engaged a collection of scholar practitioners to address the query Whats Going to Make a Difference in Contemporary Peace Education around Africa? The contributing authors draw from daily headlines as well as African literature to unearth twenty-first century quandaries with which educators in formal and informal contexts are called upon to grapple. The Whats Going to Make a Difference authors offer insights to educators, peace education practitioners and parents for everyday living. The authors probe the wisdom of the recent and ancient past and bring forth pearls for contemporary moments. All in discerning effort to respond to the guiding question, the editors and their contributing colleagues deliver a compelling set of revelations for Making a Difference in Peace Education for African and world citizens.
Pastoralism and Climate Change in East Africa provides systematic and robust empirical investigations on the impact of climate change on pastoral production systems, as well as participating in the ongoing debate over the efficacy of traditional pastoralism. This book is an initial product of the Project Building Knowledge to Support Climate Change Adaptation for Pastoralist Communities in East Africa implemented by the Centre for Climate Change Studies of the University of Dar es Salaam with support from the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa. Traditional pastoralism has proved to be a resilient and unique system of adaptations in a dynamic process of unpredictable climatic variability and continuous human interactions with the natural environment in dryland ecosystems. Pastoral adaptations and climate-induced innovative coping mechanisms have strategically been embedded in the indigenous social structures and resource management value systems. Pastoral livelihoods have, nevertheless, become increasingly vulnerable to climate change impacts as a result of prolonged marginalization and harmful external interventions. The negative effect of global climate change has been an added dimension to the already prevailing crisis in the pastoral livelihood system, which is substantially driven by non-climatic factors of internal and external pressures of change such as population growth, bad governance and shrinking rangelands lost to competing activities.
This book describes the Nyae Nyae Village Schools, an innovative and unique mother-tongue education initiative set in north-eastern Namibia. Inspired by the optimism of Independence, the project was designed in close consultation with the Ju|?hoansi community in the early 1990s. Drawing upon their traditional knowledge transmission strategies, and initiated in a supportive political environment, the project exemplified ?best practice.? During the following two decades, the Village Schools have transitioned from a donor-supported ?project? to government schools, and have received much attention and support from donors, civil society organisations, researchers, and others. However, the students still do not seem to succeed in the mainstream schools. Why is this? Based on long-term field-work in the region, including interviews with Nyae Nyae residents over several years and work with involved organisations, the book addresses this question. Contextualising the Village Schools within post-Independence Namibia, southern African history and the global indigenous rights movement, it examines the enormous paradoxes that schooling presents for the Nyae Nyae community. ?Owners of Learning? is the English translation of the Ju|?hoansi word for ?teacher? and it serves to highlight a fundamental question ? to whom does education belong?
Outside the Lines
(2016)
One World, Many Knowledges : Regional experiences and cross-regional links in higher education
(2016)
Various forms of academic co-operation criss-cross the modern university system in a bewildering number of ways, from the open exchange of ideas and knowledge, to the sharing of research results, and frank discussions about research challenges. Embedded in these scholarly networks is the question of whether a ?global template? for the management of both higher education and national research organisations is necessary, and if so, must institutions slavishly follow the high-flown language of the global ?knowledge society? or risk falling behind in the ubiquitous university ranking system? Or are there alternatives that can achieve a better, ?more ethically inclined, world? Basing their observations on their own experiences, an interesting mix of seasoned scholars and new voices from southern Africa and the Nordic region offer critical perspectives on issues of inter- and cross-regional academic co-operation. Several of the chapters also touch on the evolution of the higher education sector in the two regions. An absorbing and intelligent study, this book will be invaluable for anyone interested in the strategies scholars are using to adapt to the interconnectedness of the modern world. It offers fresh insights into how academics are attempting to protect the spaces in which they can freely and openly debate the challenges they face, while aiming to transform higher education, and foster scholarly collaboration. The Southern African-Nordic Centre (SANORD) is a partnership of higher education institutions from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. SANORD?s primary aim is to promote multilateral research co-operation on matters of importance to the development of both regions. Our activities are based on the values of democracy, equity, and mutually beneficial academic engagement.
The papers in this volume were selected from the Silver Jubilee edition of the Annual Conference of the Linguistic Association of Nigerian (LAN) which was held at the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Abuja, Nigeria. The Silver Jubilee edition is dedicated to the father of Nigerian Linguistics, Professor Emeritus Ayo Bamgbose. Professor Emeritus Bamgbose was the first indigenous Professor of Linguistics in Nigeria, and the first black African to teach linguistics in any known university south of the Sahara. He was there from the very beginning, and together with co-operation of people such as the late Professor Kay Williamson, he nurtured Nigerian linguistics. He is not just a foremost Nigerian linguist, but also a most famous, respected, celebrated, distinguished, and cherished African linguist of all times. To be candid, Nigerian linguistics is synonymous with Professor Emeritus Bamgbose. In 58 well-written chapters by experts in their fields, the book covers aspects of Nigerian languages, linguistics, literatures and culture. The papers have not been categorized into sections; rather they flow, hence there is some overlapping in the arrangement. The book is an essential resource for all who are interested to learn about current trends in the study of languages, linguistics and related subject-matters in Nigeria.
Natural and human-induced environmental hazards are becoming increasingly prominent. The frequency of recorded natural disasters rose markedly during the last century, from about 100 per in the years up to 1940 to nearly 2800 during the 1990s. Africa is the only continent whose share of reported disasters has increased over the past decade. Several factors contribute to Africa's high vulnerability to disasters. These include the high rate of population growth, food insecurity, high levels of poverty, inappropriate use of natural resources, and failures of policy and institutional frameworks. Despite the huge negative impact of natural and human-induced hazards on Africa's development, little is done to prevent them. Disaster prevention contributes to lasting improvement in safety and sustainable livelihoods and is essential as part of integrated disaster management strategies. The provision of effective scientific input to policy formulation on various issues related to hazards and disasters is an ambitious undertaking. It requires the collaborative effort of the African scientific community to develop comprehensive long-term strategies and human capacity-building initiatives that will enable science to benefit society.
Myths of Peace and Democracy? : Towards Building Pillars of Hope, Unity and Transformation in Africa
(2016)
The myths of peace and democracy in Africa are at the heart of this volume. Democracy and peace have become buzz words across postcolonial Africa. The gospel of democracy and peace is preached by national governments and by civil society and international organisations alike. But to what extent are the ongoing sideshows and charades of quasi-oligarchies in Africa really democracy? What do ordinary Africans mean when they hunger and thirst for democracy and peace? Positive and noble as the loud sounding rhetoric about democracy and peace in Africa might seem, the reality of propaganda and dissemblance and of multi-dimensional violence are simply too overwhelming not to be disillusioning. This book interrogates the rampant violence, enduring conflicts, autocratic governance, and facades of democracy amidst claims and calls for enduring peace on the continent. This is a monumental resource book for human rights activists, conflict management practitioners, civil society activists, political scientists, statesmen and development practitioners. It poses a challenge to those African governments who claim to embrace principles of democracy and respect for human rights to rethink and reconsider their role as ambassadors of peace, hope, transformation, and good governance.
This report argues that it is essential to understand the dynamics of the informal food retail sector because of its vital role in ensuring greater access to food by the urban poor. Existing policy frameworks to address food security and to govern the informal sector tend to neglect informal retail in the food system. As a result, the sector is poorly understood. The report therefore attempts to identify the characteristics of the sector that impact on its ability to address the food needs of the neighbourhoods in which the businesses are located. Although the research is focused on Cape Town, the findings are of broader relevance.
South Africa is facing the increasing challenge of acid mine drainage (AMD) whose genesis is the country's mining history, which paid limited attention to post-mining mine site management. In mineral resource-rich Africa, this has emerged as one of the most daunting challenges of our time. South Africa has been bold in its approach to mitigating this problem, although the challenge is multi-faceted. On a positive note, substantial research has been conducted to confront the challenge. However, thus far, the research has been largely fragmented. This book builds on the work that has been done, but also provides a refreshing multi-disciplinary ap-proach that is useful in addressing the AMD challenges that South Africa and the continent face. Whilst addressing the problem as a scientific and engineering challenge, the book also exposes the economic, policy and legal challenges involved in addressing the problem. The book concludes, quite uniquely, that AMD is an opportunity that can be used by South Africa and Africa to solve problems, such as acute water shortage, as well as mineral recovery operations.
The papers here were selected from presentations made at the 24th Annual Conference of the Linguistic Association of Nigeria (LAN) which held at Bayero University Kano. The book contains seventy-seven (77) papers addressing various issues in linguistics, literature and cultures in Nigeria. The book is organized into four sections, as follows: Section One - Language and Society; Section Two - Applied Linguistics; Section Three - Literature, Culture, Stylistics and Gender Studies and Section Four - Formal Linguistics.
Kinsmen of the President
(2016)
Being a journalist in Nigeria is very risky business especially when you decide to go against the grain and print the truth. Jerry comes to see just how risky his job is when he is whisked away to jail after publishing a particularly scathing article. While in custody we see the prison system through his eyes and he takes us back as he feeds us with anecdotes of his former life.
Karkloof Blue
(2016)
Greenwashing, corporate intransigence and bloody secrets. Maggie Cloete's back. After working in Berlin and Joburg, she returns to present-day Pietermaritzburg as the day news editor for The Gazette. When a well-known environmentalist commits suicide, Maggie finds herself caught in the crossfire of conflicting interests. This escalates as loggers for Sentinel, a local paper company, unearth a gruesome find in the forest. As South Africa's present confronts its past, Maggie faces the most bitter surprise of her life.
Ghana attained independence in 1957. From 1992, when a new constitution came into force and established a new democratic framework for governing the country, elections have been organized every four years to choose the governing elites. The essays in this volume are about those elections because elections give meaning to the role of citizens in democratic governance. The chapters depart from the study of formal structures by which the electorate choose their representatives. They evaluate the institutional forms that representation take in the Ghanaian context, and study elections outside the specific institutional forms that according to democratic theory are necessary for arriving at the nature of the relationships that are formed between the voters and their representatives and the nature and quality of their contribution to the democratic process.
Isabella Motadinyane was born in 1963 in Mofolo Central, Soweto, and died on her fortieth birthday in 2003 in Orange Farm. She used English, Isicamtho and Sesotho to create a powerful legacy of performance, poetry, and song. Her collected work - just over 30 poems - was published as Bella in 2007 by Botsotso Publishing, and is republished in this Deep South edition with some new translations from the Sesotho.
This report provides a rich view of the activities of migrant entrepreneurs in the informal economy of Johannesburg. It is hoped that the information will facilitate understanding of the informal sector and its potential, and not just in the context of migrant entrepreneurs. The informal economy plays a significant role in the entrepreneurial landscape of the City of Johannesburg and is patronized by most of the city's residents. The research presented here challenges commonly held opinions about migrant entrepreneurs in the City of Johannesburg and shows that they do not dominate the informal economy, which remains largely in the hands of South Africans. In late 2013, the City, through Operation Clean Sweep, removed up to 8,000 traders from the city's streets. As this and recent xenophobic attacks demonstrate, Johannesburg can be a hostile place in which to operate a business as an informal economy migrant entrepreneur. Instead of trying to sweep the streets clean of these small businesses, government at national, provincial and city levels should develop policies to grow the SMME economy, develop township economies, and manage the informal economy and street trading. They need to incorporate the businesses owned by migrant entrepreneurs, rather than exclude and demonize them. These businesses make an invaluable contribution to Johannesburg's economy despite operating in a non-enabling political and policy environment.
This is report is the most comprehensive study yet of the contribution of migrant and refugee entrepreneurs to Cape Town's local economy. The survey of over 500 entrepreneurs engaged in trade, services and manufacturing in different areas of the city dispels some of the more prevalent myths that o#en attach to the activities of migrants. The vast majority are not 'illegal foreigners', but have a legal right to be in South Africa and to run a business. Most are highly motivated individuals who enter the informal economy to earn revenue to support themselves, their families, and because they have a strong entrepreneurial motivation. Contrary to the claims of South African competitors, the vast majority are not successful because they are engaged in shadowy business practices. What emerges from the survey is that while migrant entrepreneurs undoubtedly have strong social networks, their businesses are highly individualistic in terms of organization, ownership and activity in a competitive business environment. This report demonstrates their positive economic contributions to Cape Town and examines the challenges they face in running a successful business operation in the city. It goes beyond the rhetoric of inclusion to demonstrate with hard evidence exactly why migrant and refugee entrepreneurs should be accepted as an integral and valuable part of the local economy.
As there are different races and people in the world, so there are different cultures - meaning that cultural diversity is inevitable. Through human contact and association cultures meet. In such meetings every individual and culture projects itself as worthy, and should be held in high esteem. In today's world it is not encouraging to be ethnocentric - always taking action or inactions that crystallize and project a feeling of one's own culture or racial superiority. Such attitude obstructs meaningful interaction, human relations, tolerance and co-operation. Conversely, the skill and ability to tolerate and communicate effectively with people from diverse cultures is a social activity which begins from thought to behaviour, in both spoken and non-spoken versions. The book contains 19 essays, structured into five parts.
The legal protection of intellectual property in Nigeria is the focus of this book. Its nine chapters dwell on copyright trademarks, patents, industrial designs and the legal protection of intellectual property in Nigeria. An overview is given of the law relating to the subject in order to facilitate a solid grounding in the law as a starting point from which various political, theoretical or other perspectives can be developed. There is substantial reliance on the relevant Nigerian statutes on copyright, trademarks, patents and industrial designs as contained in the Laws of the Federation 2004, and also on the reported cases decided in this area by Nigerian courts over the years. References are also given to the case and statutory laws in some other jurisdictions, especially where Nigerian legislative enactments need a reform. It is straightforward and comprehensive, intended as a basis both for undergraduates and for postgraduate courses, in addition to being useful to teachers, lawyers, judges, magistrates and accessible for general readership.
Insights into Uganda
(2016)
Insights into Uganda' is a selection of newspaper articles written by columnist Kevin O'Connor for the Sunday Monitor, drawn almost entirely from 2007 to 2015. Divided into 13 chapters ranging from sex to religion and from inequality to the environment, the 193 articles are always thoughtful, often provocative and sometimes humorous. The text is further enlivened by Moses Balagadde's cartoons. Kevin provides a multitude of insights into Ugandan society, which amply reflect both the title of his column, Roving Eye, and his catchphrase, 'For the observer of human behaviour every scene has its interest'.
Innovations in Achieving Sustainable Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa addresses roles and issues related to social and institutional innovations and approaches in food security in Southern and Eastern Africa. They include implementation of food security policy, rural livelihood and agricultural innovation, land consolidation for food security, interdisciplinary school-based health for food security, harnessing indigenous and modern knowledge for food security, household food resource handling for food security, institutions for technological innovation, role of land tax in food security, trade protectionism and food security, and gender-power relations in food security.
This report presents the results of a SAMP survey of informal entrepreneurs connected to cross-border trade between Johannesburg and Maputo during 2014. The study sought to enhance the evidence base on the links between migration and informal entrepreneur-ship in Southern African cities and to examine the implications for municipal, national and regional policy.
Dictated by overall (economic, social, political, technological, etc) realities that unfold at different times, the growth and development dictums have been reshaped and reframed continually, in an effort to accommodate and respond to emerging issues. Within the overarching theme of sustainable development, human development and inclusive growth and development are, for example, among the recent focuses of the global and national development agenda. The backdrop to this is that as individuals, communities, and societies get richer, the worrying levels of inequalities, exclusion and disparities are becoming an area of concern, drawing the attention of governments, planners, civil societies, researchers and academia. An overarching current issue has been an appreciation of high economic growth in the last 10 years, but which is marred by pervasive levels of poverty and inequality. Indeed, Africa, through Agenda 2063, has acknowledged the need for inclusive and sustainable development, as is also the commitment of the Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) of the United Nations.Edited by Prof. Herman Musahara, this anthology entitled Inclusive Growth and Development Issues in Eastern and Southern Africa presents issues, challenges and progress in Rwanda, Mauritius, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Uganda. The issues covered include: trade; rural-urban linkages; the dynamics of poverty, vulnerability, and welfare; social policies for inclusive and sustainable development; productivity and informality; and financial direct support systems to the poor. The chapters are based on first-hand data, secondary data from different databases and systematic reviews of academic literature. Drawing on the findings and conclusions of the individual chapters, the book distills together the key lessons and also puts forth recommendations for policy and practice. As such, it is a good reading for researchers, policy and decision makers, academia and graduate students.
Marja-Liisa Swantz has spent a lifetime conducting participatory action research in Tanzania, and In Search of Living Knowledge encapsulates her reactions. She started her career in 1952 in Tanganyika as an instructor to the first generation of women teachers at Ashira Teacher's Training College, situated on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. In the first years of Tanzania's independence from Britain, she devoted five years (1965-1970) to participant research in a coastal Zaramo village near the capital city of Dar es Salaam. The research culminated in her book, Ritual and Symbol in Transitional Tanzanian Society, and a doctorate in Anthropology of Religion, which she received from the Swedish University of Uppsala in 1970. The author further developed the Participatory Approach to research while serving as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Dar es Salaam from 1972 to 1975. After becoming a lecturer at the University of Helsinki she continued to develop Participatory Action Research with Tanzanian and Finnish doctoral candidates in a project in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, known as Jipemoyo. She continued to apply the participatory approach in research projects as Director of the Institute of Development Research at the University of Helsinki, where she taught anthropology, and as a Senior Researcher at the World Institute for Development Economics Research Institute in Helsinki in the 1980s. Since retirement, the author has continued her research, writing, and participation in development projects in Tanzania, including projects in Mtwara and Lindi from 1992 to 1998, and for 12 years while involved in a Local Government Cooperation project between Hartola in Finland and Iramba in Tanzania.
If You Must Fall Bush
(2016)
If You Must Fall Bush brings the wide-ranging poetic voice of Nsah Mala to readers one more time as he explores themes ranging from the wanderlust syndrome of the twenty-first century to issues of corruption and the emasculation of African traditional values. Reading the collection is like delving into a treasure trough since each page brings to the limelight a new poem with a refreshing idea and manner of articulation that makes the collection even more thrilling. The collection is a critique of the ill-informed opinion of youths who feel that far-off lands are greener pastures.
This book contains papers which focus on the twin subjects of globalisation and information/communication technologies (ICTs). They express either fear or optimism regarding their effects on the survival of indigenous cultures, languages and literature. This book is a must read for anyone who is interested to learn more about the role of globalisation in the erosion of cultural as well as linguistic diversity, and the impact of ICTs in the development of indigenous languages in Africa.
Zimbabwean history is rooted in ethnic and cultural identities, inequalities, and injustices which the post-colonial government has sought to address since national independence in 1980. Marginalisation of some ethnic groups has been one of the persistent problems in contemporary Zimbabwe. Of particular significance to this book is the marginalisation of the BaTonga people of north-western Zimbabwe - a marginalisation whose roots are right back to the colonial era. Post-colonial Zimbabwe's emphasis on cultural identity and confirmation has, however, prompted the establishment of community museums such as the BaTonga Community Museum (BCM), to promote cultures of the ethnic minorities. This book critically examines the effects and socio-economic contribution of the BCM to the local communities and other sectors of the economy. It draws extensively on and problematizes prevalent debates on the biography of things to surface out the primacy of agency in heritage and sustainability.
Gravitas: Poetic Consciencism for Cameroon is the poets requiem for the geographical expression code-named Cameroon. Vakunta speaks with the audacity of a daredevil and the certitude of a seer. This long poem has the twin virtues of gravity and clarity of purpose. The poet eschews the banality and sophistry characteristic of poetry for poetrys sake. Passion, sarcasm, and incisive irony are the hallmarks of this long didactic poem. The poet subscribes to Salman Rushdies pronouncement that a poets duty is to say the unutterable, name the unnamable, unmask masquerading miscreants and shame the scum of society. In this poem, music serves as a clarion call for examination of conscience, and alcohol ceases to serve as opium of the people. A bittersweet potion, this book echoes the defiant voice of a son-of-the-soil at odds with his native land gone topsy-turvy.
Grace and Other Stories
(2016)
This collection of short stories explores the survival of the fittest in the hardship and poverty of a remote village in Matabeleland. Bongani Sibanda draws his characters and their situations with a sardonic eye and caustic humour. Sibanda satirises churches which enrich their leaders with the tithes of the poor, and draws our attention to self-proclaimed pastors who use the gospel of nationalism and patriotism to persuade their congregants to desist from supporting opposition politics. The church is also a source of the villagers weekly entertainment, with its cleansing ceremonies and the interrogation of witches: belief has a place, but so too does theatre. Patriarchy, family hierarchies, and the traditional position of women and children, all fall under Sibandas wry but compassionate scrutiny. We feel an intimacy with the villagers as we learn about how they cope: with no self-pity, little ambition, but a fierce determination to survive.
When Amin Cajee left South Africa to join the liberation struggle he believed he had volunteered to serve 'a democratic movement dedicated to bringing down an oppressive and racist regime'. Instead, he writes, in this powerful and courageous memoir, 'I found myself serving a movement that was relentless in exercising power and riddled with corruption'. Fordsburg Fighter traces an extraordinary physical journey - from home in South Africa, to training in Czechoslovakia and the ANC's Kongwa camp in Tanzania to England. The book makes a significant contribution to the hidden history of exile, and documents Cajee's emotional odyssey from idealism to disillusionment.
There is considerable evidence from across the African continent that a significant proportion of cash remittances to rural areas is spent on food. However, bidirectional food remitting - its drivers, dimensions and impacts - is an underdeveloped research and policy area. This report therefore reviews the current state of knowledge about food remittances in Africa and aims to make a number of contributions to the study of the relationship between migration and food security.
Flame and Song
(2016)
PKK's soul-warming memoir tells of a life enriched by song, literature, food and spirituality at the heart of a loving family. Born into a newly independent Uganda, she grew up in a volatile political landscape but never lacked the inspiration and protection of generations of friends and relatives. Her story travels from her expansive childhood homes in Uganda, to the novelties of living in Addis Ababa, before settling in Cape Town, her current home. But no matter how far her journeys take her, it's clear that home is not only about places but people.
The book covers both the theoretical and practical aspects of the functioning of federal systems on the African continent. The reader gets an opportunity to familiarise him/herself in greater details with the Nigerian federation in its past and present, vis- -vis the national question and the problem of fiscal federalism. The book also reveals the subject of ethnic federalism in its pure form as exemplified in Ethiopia Furthermore, analyses the use of hybrid, quasi-federative policy instruments in countries like Tanzania, Republic of South Africa, Sudan, Kenya and others. It addresses the issue of the opportunistic use of the federal idea, its abuse in various socio-economic and political circumstances (Nigeria), as well as the occasional and sometimes very short exposition of federalism (Madagascar) and confederalism (Senegambia). In general, the articles in the book present federalism from different angles, revealing the complex and contradictory nature of the concept and the ambiguous experience of its implementation in the African reality.
In this book Klaus Fiedler offers a candid critique of religious faith healing claims - a critique that extents to the Voluntary Male Medical Circumcision Campaign (VMMCC). The book reveals the lack of substantive evidence to back such healing claims and the contradiction between the VMMCC claims and the consequences of those claims in sexual health and practice.
The diamond fields of Chiadzwa, among the world?s largest sources of rough diamonds have been at the centre of struggles for power in Zimbabwe since their discovery in 2006. Against the backdrop of a turbulent political economy, control of Chiadzwa?s diamonds was hotly contested. By 2007 a new case of ?blood diamonds? had emerged, in which the country?s security forces engaged with informal miners and black market dealers in the exploitation of rough diamonds, violently disrupting local communities and looting a key national resource. The formalisation of diamond mining in 2010 introduced new forms of large-scale theft, displacement and rights abuses. Facets of Power is the first comprehensive account of the emergence, meaning and profound impact of Chiadzwa?s diamonds. Drawing on new fieldwork and published sources, the contributors present a graphic and accessibly written narrative of corruption and greed, as well as resistance by those who have suffered at the hands of the mineral?s secretive and violent beneficiaries. If the lessons of resistance have been mostly disheartening ones, they also point towards more effective strategies for managing public resources, and mounting democratic challenges to elites whose power is sustained by preying on them.
European Music Portfolio (EMP) – Maths: 'Sounding ways into mathematics' : teacher’s handbook
(2016)
Music and mathematics share an odd character: many people believe that they are not good at one or the other (or both). However, ‘I cannot sing’ or ‘I never understood mathematics’ will probably not keep them from having successful careers, and nor will it change the opinions others have about them.
The project ‘European Music Portfolio – Sounding Ways into Mathematics’ (EMP-Maths) aims towards a different understanding with regards to this character. Everyone can sing and make music, and everyone can do mathematics. Both topics are integral parts of our life and society. What needs to be improved is our ability to give students opportunities to like them.
This teacher’s handbook presents activities with different mathematical and musical content in order to offer teachers resources, ideas and examples. These activities are designed to be expandable, adaptable to different contexts, and adjustable to the needs of each teacher and their students. Furthermore, these activities are not just planned to be carried out individually; a teaching unit could be used to make sense of them, or they could even be developed in connection with each other.
Apart from this teacher’s handbook, the project provides a continuing professional development (CPD) course, a webpage (http://maths.emportfolio.eu) from which all materials can be downloaded, and an online collaboration platform. A general overview of related literature and research is available in separate documents. Additional teacher booklets provide related materials and a brief overview of the theoretical background, and are the basis for the CPD courses. The project ‘Sounding Ways into Mathematics’ is related to the EMP-Languages project ‘A Creative Way into Languages’ (http://emportfolio.eu/emp/).
The major objective of the research is to produce evidence-based knowledge on the social and economic impacts of labour migration by looking at the challenges and opportunities of Ethiopian labour migration to the Gulf and South Africa. On the one hand, international migration from Ethiopia could be considered as an aspect of development problem. The major push factors that forces Ethiopian migrants to the Gulf and South Africa are economic/developmental problems ranging from lack of employment opportunities to wage differentials. On the other hand, international migration could be considered as an important resource that could be tapped for accelerating socio-economic development. At the general level, this research aims to examine the successes and failures of policies and institutions in realising the potentials of international migration for socio-economic development of the country and minimizing its adverse impacts. At the same time, the growing problem of illegal migration will be examined.
Combined together in three volumes are the author's writings on labour and employments relations in Nigeria spanning over three and a half decades. Volume three covers the dynamics of public sector employment relations and starts with a general review and critique of organised labour's perceptions of and contributions to the development crisis in Nigeria.
Combined together in three volumes are the author's writings on labour and employments relations in Nigeria spanning over three and a half decades. Volume one covers the Nigerian industrial relations industrial relations institutional and legal framework, trade unions and trade unionism, wage bargains and conflict relations.
Elections and Governance in Nigerias Fourth Republic is a book about Nigerian politics, governance and democracy. It at once encompasses Nigerias post-colonial character, its political economy, party formation since independence, the role of Electoral Commissions, as well as, indepth analyses of the 1999, 2003 and 2007 general elections that involved extensive fieldwork. It also presents aspects of the 2011 and 2015 general elections, while discussing the state of democratic consolidation, and lessons learned for achieving good governance in the country. It is indeed, a must read for students of politics, academics, politicians, statesmen and policy makers, and in fact, stakeholders in the Nigerian democracy project. The book stands out as a well-researched and rich documentary material about elections in Nigeria, and the efforts so far made in growing democracy.
The management of elections is increasingly generating impassioned debate in these East African nations - Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The bodies that manage and conduct elections are, therefore, coming under intense citizen and stakeholder scrutiny for the manner in which they are composed, how they organise and perform their mandates, and the outcomes they achieve. The effectiveness of electoral management bodies (EMBs) has largely been influenced by the impact of political violence on election management reforms in East Africa. Even in countries where EMBs are the products of reforms initiated in the aftermath of violent disputes over elections, they still face enormous challenges in dealing with electoral disputes and anticipating election-related crises. Although changes to constitutions and the laws in these countries have sought to make EMBs independent and, therefore, more inclined to deliver free, fair and credible elections, there are many issues that determine their impartiality and their ability to allow for the aggregation and free expression of the will of the people. These shortcomings negatively impact on democracy. This volume assembles case studies on the capacity of EMBs in these five East African countries to deliver democratic and transparent elections.
The authors take a detailed look at the economic competence and financial literacy of young adults, especially of those who start an apprenticeship or who take up their studies at an university. Economic competence and financial literacy are of special interest within this group, because these young people are – mostly for the first time in their lives – responsible for autonomously managing their own financial affairs and deal with economic challenges.
Over a century much of Africa south of the Sahara embraced the Christian religion. Malawi, where 80% of the population identify as Christian is no exception, nor are the Ngonde at its northern border with Tanzania. While it is difficult to find someone who does not claim to be a Christian, African traditional religion is by no means dead and often practiced by many. While the two religions are not 'mixed', but they are both realities in many a Christians life, though realities of a different kind. The author explores the intricate and often varied relationship between the two and considers factors which increase or decrease dual religiosity.
Diary of a Dismissed Delegate : Public Good at the Mercy of Bureaucracy and Sycophancy in Cameroon
(2016)
Diary of a Dismissed Delegate is the personal story of the trials and travails of George Ngwane as a civil servant in Cameroon. With documented evidence in support, the book delves into the destructive machinations of the bureaucracy and sycophancy at the heart of the Cameroonian public service, and its detrimental effects on meritocracy and the public good. It is a system where the personalisation of power devalues virtue, devotion and dedication to truth and the call of justice. For a country that has the ambition to recapture her lost middle income status, one that boasts of a huge critical mass of human capital, and that has all the potentials of a double digit economic development, political patronage and intolerance to creative freedom must be anathema.
Development Perspectives from the South : Troubling the Metrics of [Under-]development in Africa
(2016)
Not so long ago, The Economist described Africa as a hopeless continent. This damning description specifically referred to the development status of Africa. While the debate on the political and socio-economic [under-]development of Africa had been raging on prior to the Economists daring but controversial pronouncements, it intensified from thereon. Many concerned people from within the continent and elsewhere have reproved the proclamation but mainly in newspapers and the broadcast media. Not enough has been done by development scholars to critically reflect on the description and status of Africas development condition in a nuanced and systematic fashion. Yet, it is through incisive reflections and systematic engagements with Africas situations and circumstances that directions and solutions to the African development predicament could be forged. The present volume is an attempt to open up a constructive dialogue between the Global North and the Global South on the African [under-]development conundrum. The book is an eye opener to African governments, social scientists, policy makers and development scholars concerned with the urgent need to rethink, reimagine and retheorise Africas development gridlock.
There is no denying the havoc HIV/AIDS has wrecked around the globe. The worst impact is seen in the developing world and in impoverished communities in the developed world. However, being HIV positive is not a death sentence. Why then do many still die from it? Denial is the Killer is a fictionalisation of the reality on why and how the persisting vestiges of HIV/AIDS devastation can be stopped.
The year 1999 was a watershed in the history of Nigeria as it witnessed the peaceful transfer of power from the military to the political class. Given Nigeria's tumultuous history of successive military interventions, this development was the first 'genuine' transition that saw the military elite transferring political power to civilians without itching to stage a comeback. This edited volume, composed of 22 chapters discusses the form, trajectory and substance of democratic governance in post-military Nigeria between 1999 and 2014. It is a compilation of well researched essays and narratives on Nigerian government and politics. The book is a multi-disciplinary assessment of Nigeria's democratic strides, including contributions from scholars in a broad range of disciplines such as history, sociology and anthropology, political science, economics, international relations, among others. The book examines the factors responsible for the resilience of the current democratic governance structures, in spite of centripetal and centrifugal forces frustrating democratic consolidation in the country. It equally interrogates these factors and makes appropriate recommendations for overcoming them. Key themes covered in the book in the Boko Haram insurgency, governance and corruption, militancy, sharia law, Islamic banking amongst others. It sheds light on contending issues affecting, afflicting and retarding the country's progress. Issues like ethnicity, electoral corruption, human rights abuses, privatization of national assets, kidnapping and armed robbery, overbearing leadership personality and many more are critically discussed. Local government autonomy and the challenges of grassroots development and civil service administration are also thoroughly analysed. Democratic Governance and Political Participation in Nigeria 1999-2014 is a detailed, exhaustive, deep, stimulating and captivating narrative of the Nigerian situation. It is enthusiastically recommended for those who wish to know more about contemporary Nigerian history. As a collection of contemporary issues on the Nigerian government and politics, the book is recommended for courses in politics and governance in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. It is an invaluable companion for both graduate and undergraduate students as well as scholars of African politics.
Decentralisation and Community Participation : Local Development and Municipal Politics in Cameroon
(2016)
This book explores how policies of decentralisation and community participation adopted in Cameroon in 1996 have played out on the ground since 2004. These reforms were carried out amid economic crisis, structural adjustment and political upheaval. At the time, popular sentiment was that change on the economic and political fronts was imperative. However, the ruling elite, some of whom had been shuttling around the state apparatus since independence, feared that succumbing to popular demands for change was tantamount to political suicide, as was the case elsewhere on the continent. These elites thwarted opposition demands for a sovereign national conference to discuss constitutional reform. The Francophone-dominated elite fiercely objected to Anglophone demands for the restoration of the Federal state that was dissolved in 1972. Instead, decentralisation was presented as an authentic forum for grassroots autonomy and municipal councils as credible arenas for community participation in local development. This study adopts an interdisciplinary approach to unearth the permutations of decentralisation and community participation in Cameroon. It explores how local actors have responded to the implementation of state policy of decentralisation. Further, it documents how local issues observed in Bali in the North West Region and Mbankomo in the Central Region of Cameroon impact and are impacted by national policies and processes.
Dangerous Pastime
(2016)
Customary Law Ascertained Volume 3 is the third of a three-volume series in which traditional authorities in Namibia present the customary laws of their communities. It contains the laws of the Nama, Ovaherero, Ovambanderu, and San communities. Volume 2 contained the customary laws of the Bakgalagari, the Batswana ba Namibia and the Damara communities. Recognised traditional authorities in Namibia are expected to ascertain the customary law applicable in their respective communities after consultation with the members of that community, and to note the most important aspect of such law in written form. This series is the result of that process, It has been facilitated but the Human Rights and Documentation Centre of the University of Namibia, through the former Dean of the Law Faculty, Professor Manfred Hinz.
The book is an introduction to the study of culture, with emphasis on the dynamism factor intrinsic and susceptible to generating growth, development initiatives and change, especially in religion and other aspects of Nigerian society. The collection of 19 papers is organised into five parts: Concepts and Theoretical Alignments, Social Institutions in Culture Change and Development, Religious Traditions and Change Experience, Votaries and Sectarian Reaction to Culture and Religious Change, and Pastoral Objective and the Management of Cultural Diversity and Change in Christianity.
Critical Issues in Nigerian Property Law, a collection of writings in honour of Professor Jelili Adebisi Omotola, SAN, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, who died on the 29th of March 2006, has ten chapters that closely examine not only the current state of Property Law in Nigeria, but also recent developments and other challenges that have surfaced since the infamous Land Use Act of 1999. The book is clearly a useful contribution to a growing body of knowledge on property law and practice in Nigeria.
The present volume, which is the 5th in the Nigerian Linguists Festschrift Series, is devoted to Professor Munzali A. Jibril, a celebrated icon in university administration, and an erudite Professor of English Linguistics. The title of this special edition was specifically chosen to crown Professor Jibril?s academic prowess in both English and indigenous Nigerian languages, and to mark and laud his official departure from active university lectureship. 72 assessed papers are included from the many submitted. Papers cover the main theme of the volume, i.e. the interaction between English and indigenous Nigerian languages, and there are a number of papers on other secular areas of linguistics such as: language and history, language planning and policy, language documentation, language engineering, lexicography, translation, gender studies, language acquisition, language teaching and learning, pragmatics, discourse and conversational analysis, and literature in English and African languages. There is also a rich section devoted to the majwor ?traditional? fields of linguistics - phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics.
Claude E. Ake, radical African political philosopher of the first four decades of the postcolonial era, stands out as a progressive social force whose writings continue to have appeal and relevance long after his untimely death in 1996. In examining Akes intellectual works, Jeremiah O. Arowosegbe sets out the framework of his theoretical orientations in the context of his life, and reveals him as one of the most fertile and influential voices within the social sciences community in Africa. In tracing the genesis and development of Akes political thought, Arowosegbe draws attention to Akes compelling account of the material implications and political costs of European colonisation of Africa and his conception of a different future for the continent. Approaching his subject from a Gramscian and Marxist perspective, Arowosegbe elucidates how Akes philosophy demonstrates the intimate entanglement of class and social, cultural and historical issues, and how, as a contributor to endogenous knowledge production and postcolonial studies on Africa, Ake is firmly rooted in a South-driven critique of Western historicism. It is Arowosegbes conviction that engaged scholars are uniquely important in challenging existing hierarchies, oppressive institutions, and truth regimes and the structures of power that produce and support them; and much can be drawn from their contributions and failings alike. This work contributes to a hitherto neglected focus area: the impact across the continent of the ideas and lives of African and other global South academics, intellectuals and scholar-activists. Among them, Ake is representative of bold scholarly initiatives in asserting the identities of African and other non-Western cultures through a mindful rewriting of the intellectual and nationalist histories of these societies on their own terms. In foregrounding the contribution of Ake with respect to both autochthonous traditional insights and endogenous knowledge production on the continent, Arowosegbe aims at fostering the continuance of a living and potent tradition of critique and resistance. Engaging with the lingering impact of colonialism on previously colonised societies, this timely book will be of immense value to scholars and students of philosophy and political science as well as African intellectual history, African studies, postcolonial studies and subaltern studies.
Claiming Agency. Reflecting on TrustAfrica's First Decade takes an in-depth look at an African-led foundation that set out to do things differently. Founded in 2006, when solutions to Africa's challenges were often developed outside its borders, TrustAfrica sought to practice a kind of philanthropy that both benefits Africans and actively supports their agency. Now, at the ten-year mark, the book asks, what does this kind of philanthropy make a difference? If so, how? What are its unique ways of working? The answers are found in chapters that reflect on how TrustAfrica and its partners advanced a range of issues - from women's rights, small-holder agriculture, and democratic reform in Liberia and Zimbabwe to international criminal justice and illicit financial flows. In a clear-eyed look at money and power, the authors observe that donor funds all too often come with strings that constrict African agency - and recommend ways in which donors from Africa and the global north can foster independent action and strengthen movements for change.
Malawi Assemblies of God church embarked on a feasible journey of Vision 2020 that included every established church to plant one church and send one student to Bible school each year. From the time this vision was adopted, some churches have responded positively and some are still struggling on where and how to get involved. This booklet is a church planting and growth manual that will assist those that feel it is too difficult to plant and raise a church and those who would like to add knowledge in their task.
The Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college environment is marked by increasingly stark juxtapositions between what needs to be achieved in the post-school education sector and the increasing difficulty of current conditions. The 'triple challenge' of poverty, inequality and unemployment weighs heavily on the social, political and economic fabric of the country and expectations are high that the TVET colleges can make a pivotal contribution to counter these challenges. Despite laudable increases in TVET enrolment, the education system needs to work harder to accommodate the weight of demand for post school further education and training (FET) band qualifications from young people not in education, employment or training. At the same time, it is vital to secure adequate quality in TVET programmes which depend so much on the competence and commitment of college lecturers.
The educational imagination is the capacity to think critically beyond our located, daily experiences of education. It breaks away from the immediacy of personal understanding by placing education within wider, deeper and longer contexts. Boundaries of the Educational Imagination develops the educational imagination by answering six questions: What happens when we expand continuously outwards from one school to all the schools of the world?; What happens if we go inside a school and explore how its material equipment has changed over the past 300 years?; What is the smallest educational unit in our brain and how does it allow an almost infinite expansion of knowledge?; What is the highest level of individual development we can teach students to aspire towards?; What role does education play in a world that is producing more and more complex knowledge increasingly quickly?; How do small knowledge elements combine to produce increasingly complex knowledge forms? Each question goes on a journey towards limit points in education so that educational processes can be placed within a bigger framework that allows new possibilities, fresh options and more critical engagement. These questions are then pulled together into a structuring framework enabling the reader to grasp how this complex subject works.
This book illuminates the complex and constantly shifting social and cultural dynamics that shape people's identity. Specifically, the volume focuses on the intersections of gender with, culture and identity, and at different historical epochs; on the way men and women define themselves and are defined by diverse peoples and cultures across time and space in sub-Saharan Africa. The discussions presented in this anthology primarily focus on 'being' as 'a state' or 'condition', defined by sex identity, and how this identity shifts, and hence 'becoming', assuming diverse meanings in disparate societies, contexts, and time. The discourse, therefore, moves from how the perception of the self in cultural and historical contexts has informed actions and at some other times shaped interpretations given to historical facts, to how changing economic realities also shape the definitions and constructions of social and relational issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. The historical trajectories of Islamic religion, colonialism and Christian missionary activities in sub-Saharan Africa have shaped the worlds of the peoples of the region and impacted on gender relations.
This newly edited volume, Bali Nyonga Today covers about thirty years of (1985-2015) developments in Bali Nyonga, Cameroon. Already well-established as a city-state prior to German colonization in the 19th century, Bali Nyonga continues to adapt to national and global changes since its incorporation into the modern state of Cameroon. With fresh contributions from 12 leading scholars, this volume covers a wide variety of themes and issues including; geographical and historical updates on Chamba migration and settlement in its present homeland in Northwestern Cameroon, an in-depth description of Bali Nyonga cultural associations within the country and the Bali diaspora in the United States, the coexistence of traditional and modern religious worldviews, traditional medicinal practices and life-cycle rituals of significance. Of noteworthy are two chapters devoted to Mungaka, the language of the Balis and its revival in the context of new language policies and developments in African linguistic. Spiced with numerous photos, many of which have never been published, the book is a welcome addition to studies in contemporary African history, culture and society.
The political economy of Azerbaijan has been interlinked in the internal and external relations of the country. This is exit for energy policy. It explains the qualitative socio-historical and political leap forward, referring to the efforts of President Heydar Aliyev, who signed the PSA with transnational energy corporations in 1994. According to this publication, the construction of multiple oil and gas pipelines represents the success of Azerbaijan's independent energy policy. Azerbaijan as a Regional Economic Driver: Opportunities and Challenges emphasises leading sectors of Azerbaijan's economy such as transport, construction, agriculture, information and communications technology, tourism and banking. It is noteworthy that the book refers to 'Azerbaijan 2020' when explaining the country's policy to transform itself from an energy-based economy to a knowledge-based one. This publication serves to recognise Azerbaijan as a reliable partner in international relations. It also scrutinises advantages and disadvantages of trade-off between strategic choices oriented to the European Union and/or the Eurasian Union.
Asomne amwue nda (Sorrow in the House) is an exposition of brutality, suffering, and sadness associated with destruction; citizens running scared, living in fear and don't know what to do. The poems illustrate how Africans find themselves lost in the midst of destruction. The collection exposes the emotions and sad feelings of soldiers and civilians; their experiences as a result of instability and suicide attacks. The poems are an expression of sorrow for a society that was once hailed for its communality but now is in ruins with conflicts and misunderstanding tearing society apart.
Why did African men leave their homes to work on the mines of the Witwatersrand? How did a woman searching for her husband make a life in the city? What happened to a family or community forcibly removed from their homes or their land? How did racial classification destroy families and communities? What thoughts went through a detainee's mind during their long hours in prison? How did black people in South Africa manage to keep the fires of resistance burning under such harsh social, political and economic conditions? How did people born into such a hopeless present keep their dignity and resolve? With a foreword by Zakes Mda, and a mixture of famous and seemingly forgotten struggle writers, this anthology tackles the history of colonialism and Apartheid from the ground up. Through a blend of history and story-telling, it opens a window onto the ways ordinary, everyday life was shaped by the forces of history. It displays the anger, suffering, love, joy, courage and enduring humanity of ordinary people and communities striving for dignity, freedom and justice.
The most extensive urban demographic transitions ahead will take place in Africa and Asia. These transitions occur in regions where the majority of inhabitants remain trapped in vulnerable employment, which limits the capacities to plan, save, invest, and afford critical amenities, as well as limits the horizons of what is considered possible. Yet, the aspirations for mobility, security, consumption, and attainment are enormous. How can different rationalities and practices of everyday sociality be more effectively connected to the prevailing concepts informing formal political and policymaking projects? How can incommensurable facets of urban life be folded into each other as a matter of an enlarged political practice? There is no pre-existent map that tells us how to link these equally important dimensions of urban life. Thus, any effort to consider the relationship between them is by necessity an experiment.
The once acrimonious debate on the existence of African philosophy has come of age, yet the need to cultivate a culture of belonging is more demanding now than ever before in many African societies. The gargantuan indelible energised chicanery waves of neo-colonialism and globalisation and their sweeping effect on Africa demand more concerted action and solutions than cul-de-sac discourses and magical realism. It is in view of this realisation that this book was born. This is a vital text for understanding contextual historical trends in the development of African philosophic ideas on the continent and how Africans could possibly navigate the turbulent catadromous waters, tangled webs and chasms of destruction, and chagrin of struggles that have engrossed Africa since the dawn of slavery and colonial projects on the continent. The book aims to generate more insights and influence national, continental, and global debates in the field of philosophy. It is accessible and handy to a wider range of readers, ranging from educators and students of African philosophy, anthropology, African studies, cultural studies, and all those concerned with the further development of African philosophy and thought systems on the African continent.
This volume, titled Africas Growing Role in World Politics,' includes a selection of papers dedicated to the problems of the contemporary international relations and foreign policies of the African states. Most of these papers were presented at the panels, held within the framework of the 13th International Conference of Africanists Society and Politics in Africa: Traditional, Transitional and New (Moscow, Russia, May 27-30, 2014). The book contains many articles devoted to the Western countries policies in Africa. On the background of the ongoing competition between Washington and Beijing, the US Administration has recently increased the amount of attention it pays to the continent. European Union is also actively developing its strategic partnership with Africa. The authors analyze thoroughly the ongoing cooperation between African states and a great emerging donor and investor - China. They particularly address the question about possible implications of Chinas African policy for the countries of the continent. Major attention is given to Sudan and South Sudan. One of the urgent problems addressed by this book is the situation with African IDPs and refugees, their life conditions in camps and the measures for their transition to normal life.
Africa's Best and Worst Presidents seeks to deconstruct the current superstructure that colonialism created and maintains. It chastises and challenges Africans, academics in the main, to revisit and write a true history of Africa. Written by Africans themselves, such rewritten histories should aim to counter the counterfeit narratives which have proliferated, poisoned and diminished African sense of self and self-confidence. The history centred on African perspectives and experiences should go a long way in our quest to truly unfetter Africa from dependency, desolations and mismanagement. This book calls upon all Africans to stand up fearlessly and tirelessly to take on decadent and despotic regimes that have always held Africa at ransom as they get lessons from the best managers of state affairs on whose feats they must expand. The option to critique, cross-examine and dissect past African presidents and their excesses is aimed at giving the young and frustrated generations of Africans the intellectual resources they need to arm themselves in resolve and pursuit of Africa's emancipation.
Despite all the talk about African Renaissance, much of the continent is plagued by poverty and instability. To break out of that cycle, the guardians of African heritage (the old independence freedom fighters turned political leaders and their successors) and much of Afrocentric literature rightly promotes African ideas and solutions for African problems. While the idea in itself is noble, the danger is for Africa to close itself off and ignore 'outside' technical and intellectual innovations that it desperately needs to advance further. Africa through Structuration Theory - ntu-joins the discourse by attempting to restore intellectual freedom and convincingly defends structuration theory not only as the way forward for Africa but also as a legitimately African concept. It is innovative, refreshing and deserves to be heard across the world and appreciated especially by African graduates,'current and future'leaders of various African institutions or businesses, non-Africans who might hesitate to refer to such a theory when trying to understand and deal with African problems and the wider public who constitute the audience for this book. New in this edition: All chapters have been tightened up to make a clearer and more robust case. Chapter three, in particular, has been developed further in an attempt to demonstrate how Ubuntu is an African version of structuration theory. Overall, having both approached the subject from a rational perspective and presented Ubuntu in its preferred version, it became imperative to discuss the status/role of the African body in the expression of human agency and characterise different leadership practices in Africa that do not necessarily reflect the ideals of Ubuntu. Hence, Chapter 6: Body sociology and Africa and Chapter 7: The FS (fear and self-scrutiny) methodology of Ubuntu: a mapping of the field.
Abdilatif Abdalla: Poet in Politics celebrates the work of Abdilatif Abdalla, one of Kenya's most well-known poets and a committed political activist. It includes commentary essays on aspects of Abdilatif Abdalla's work and life, through inter-weaving perspectives on poetry and politics, language and history; with contributions by East African writers and scholars of Swahili literature, including Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Said Khamis, Ken Walibora, Ahmed Rajab, Mohamed Bakari, and Sheikh Abdilahi Nassir, among others. Abdalla became famous in 1973, with the publication of Sauti ya Dhiki (Voice of Agony), a collection of poems written secretly in prison during three years of solitary confinement (1969-72). He was convicted of circulating pamphlets against Jomo Kenyatta's KANU government, criticizing it as 'dictatorial' and calling for political resistance in the pamphlet, 'Kenya: Twendapi?' (Kenya: where are we heading?). His poetry epitomizes the ongoing currency of classic Swahili form and language, while his work overall, including translations and editorships, exemplifies a two-way mediation between 'traditional' and 'modern' perspectives. It makes old and new voices of Swahili poetry and African literature accessible to a wider readership in East Africa, and beyond. Abdalla has lived in exile since 1973, in Tanzania, London, and subsequently, until now, in Germany. Nevertheless, Swahili literature and Kenyan politics have remained central to his life.
A Grammar of Igala
(2016)
The book establishes 28 phonemic consonants and 7 vowels, as well as lexical and grammatical tones in Igala. It shows the canonical syllable types as V and CV with no complexity, and relates resyllabification to the retiming of segments as tone bearing units and the duration of their mora. The work discusses nine word classes, as well as ideophones and clitics in Igala. There are splitting verbs of various structures and fully-fledged pronouns with morphologically toneless clitic counterparts that are toned in their syntactic context, among other elements of the Igala morphology. The work establishes clitics as generally bearing the grammatical tones of various categories as a result of their morphological tonelessness and their availability for post-lexical tone assignment. It also accounts for the generally complex interaction of clitics and tones in the organisation of the morphosyntax and the tone-syntax interface. Igala has both verbal and nominal extensional affixes with various semantic features. Some interesting discussions in the Igala syntax include the structural and functional types of serial verb constructions, the detransitivizing process of verb movement in object demoting structures, coreferentiality in relativised constituents and the future/non-future temporal distinction. Complementary binominals are conjoined with a specified binominal morpheme, and their rigidly irreversible structures have implications in the Igala semantics. The binominals demonstrate a grammatically specified pattern defined over a conceptual space, showing the network among conceptual categories, such as kinship, marital, social, hunter-hunted, more-less and cause-effect relationships as reflected in the Igala grammar.
A Giant Tree has Fallen
(2016)
This book memorialising the life and work of Ali AlAmin Mazrui comprises more than 130 tributes written by people ranging from heads of state to journalists. Presented here are those tributes for which copyright permissions were received from among the hundreds that appeared online and print. In preparing this book, it was made very clear that, unlike other books of tributes to great men and women, there would be no segmentation of the sections based on writers' and speakers' positions in life. Instead, it was decided that the tributes be presented in alphabetical order based on writers' and speakers' last names. The decision hinged on the fact that Mazur would not have apposed any segmentation of people by class, race, ethnicity and gender etc. Nonetheless, out of great respect for Mazur's immediate family members, their tributes are presented first, followed by those from his global family members. Also included at the beginning of the book are three chapters that comprise an introductory essay, a brief biography of Mazur, and an essay on metaphorical-linguistic analysis of the tributes that follow. The book also has a preface by the coeditors and a forward by Salim Ahmed Salim, the former Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania and Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now known as the Africa Union. Dr. Salim, who served as the Secretary-General of the OAU from 1989 to 2001, was Mazuri's friend and contemporary. Mazruri once described Salim as 'Mr Africa' and the 'first real postcolonial Secretary-General of the OAU'.