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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.
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.
Betriebliche Ausbildung in Hessen 2015 : Stand und Entwicklung
IAB-Betriebspanel-Report Hessen
(2016)
Eingangs wurden die wachsenden Herausforderungen der betrieb-lichen Ausbildung beschrieben. Die Daten des IAB-Betriebspanels des Jahres 2015 zeigen, dass sich die Probleme nicht weiter verschärft haben. Insbesondere der Rückgang der Zahl der nicht besetzten Ausbildungsstellen ist hier zu nennen, auch wenn die Zahl nach wie vor hoch ist. Da parallel hierzu auch die Zahl der angebotenen Ausbildungsstellen zurückging, ist die Intensität der betrieblichen Ausbildung in Hessen deutlich niedriger als in der Vergangenheit. Da auch die generelle Ausbildungsbeteiligung leicht zurückging, kann von einer reduzierten Dynamik des Ausbildungsmarkts gesprochen werden. Inwieweit dies nur eine Momentaufnahme ist, lässt sich derzeit noch nicht absehen. Dass es strukturelle Faktoren sind, die hierbei eine Rolle spielen, ist in jedem Fall deutlich: Besonders große Schwierigkeiten, Ausbildungsstellen zu besetzen, haben wie in der Vergangenheit, die kleineren Betriebe sowie Betriebe des Baugewerbes. Dies sind zugleich Betriebe, die traditionell besonders viel ausbilden, um die eigenen Bedarfe zu decken. Folgerichtig ist in diesen Betrieben auch die Bereitschaft am höchsten, erfolgreiche Ausbildungsabsolventen weiter zu beschäftigten, um so die eigenen Potenziale zu binden und einen möglichen Attraktivitätsnachteil zu kompensieren. Generell zeigt die Übernahmequote, dass die Betriebe wohl die Zeichen der Zeit erkannt haben: Noch nie im Zeitraum der Panelbeobachtung wurden mehr Jugendliche in ihrem Ausbildungsbetrieb übernommen wie im Jahr 2015. Dies lässt sich als deutlicher Indikator werten, dass die ausbildenden hessischen Betriebe stärker als in der Vergangenheit die Notwendigkeit sehen, eigene Fachkräfte heranzuziehen und zu binden.
As Julius Nyerere once noted, Africa has largely been the continent of peace, though this fact has not been widely publicised. In reality, Africa possesses dynamic potentials for resolving contradictions and violent ruptures that colonial authorities, post-colonial states and global actors have failed to capture and capitalise upon. Drawing on the everyday experience of rural and urban people in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Zambia, this book brings into conversation leading Japanese scholars of Southern Africa with their African colleagues. The result is an exploration in comparative perspective of the fascinating richness of bottom-up 'African potentials' for conflict resolution in Southern Africa, a region burdened with the legacy of settler capitalism and contemporary neoliberalism. The book is a pacesetter on how to think and research Africa in fruitful collaboration and with an ear to the nuances and complexities of the dynamic and lived realities of Africans.
In Compagnon ! Journal d'un noussi en guerre: 2002-2011 Garvey tells the story of intimate and professional life in Côte dIvoire during a decade of civil war. During that period Garvey played an important role in the paramilitary group FLGO-Abidjan, part of the militarised wing of the so-called patriotic movement who supported President Laurent Gbagbo. Compagnon! is the outcome of the collaboration of Marcus Mausiah Garvey and the anthropologist Karel Arnaut which began in 2009 when Garvey showed Karel his autobiography-in-progress. Since that day both became companions in a long, challenging but often intensely creative and reflective literary project which led, among other things, to this book.
Mit dem vorliegenden Abschlussbericht zum IAB-Betriebspanel Hessen 2015 werden die Ergebnisse aus vier Reporten zusammengeführt sowie um ausgewählte Daten zur Betriebs- und Beschäftigtenstruktur ergänzt. Ziel des Berichtes ist es, aktuelle und repräsentative Daten zur Beschäftigungs- und Qualifikationsstruktur, zum betrieblichen Aus- und Weiterbildungsverhalten, der Beschäftigungsdynamik sowie zur Situation älterer und einfach beschäftigter Arbeitnehmer in Hessen bereitzustellen. Die demografische Entwicklung gilt als eine der zentralen Herausforderungen der Zukunft. Sie beeinflusst die Beschäftigungssituation in den Betrieben bereits heute nachhaltig. So ist der Anteil der Betriebe mit einem hohen Anteil älterer Beschäftigter an der Gesamtbeschäftigung seit 2002 kontinuierlich gestiegen. In immer mehr Betrieben machen Ältere mindestens die Hälfte der Belegschaft aus und auch ihr Anteil an der Gesamtbeschäftigung stieg seit 2011 deutlich an. In Anbetracht der demografischen Entwicklung und prognostizierten Fachkräfteengpässe wird erwartet, dass die Potenziale verschiedener Beschäftigtengruppen stärker genutzt werden. In Kapitel 2 werden neben den Beschäftigtenanteilen der Älteren sowie dem betrieblichen Weiterbildungsverhalten in Bezug auf diese Beschäftigtengruppe auch die Beschäftigungsverhältnisse von Frauen genauer betrachtet, denn Frauen sind nach wie vor in atypischen Beschäftigungsformen besonders stark vertreten. Die Ausweitung ihrer Beschäftigung bildet ein bislang nicht ausgeschöpftes Potenzial zur Fachkräftesicherung. Den Betrieben stehen mit der betrieblichen Aus- und Weiterbildung zwei Instrumente zur Verfügung, mit denen sie aktiv auf die Fachkräftesituation einwirken können. Die duale Berufsausbildung gilt dabei als zentrale Strategie zur Generierung qualifizierter Arbeitskräfte. In Kapitel 3 des vorliegenden Berichts werden aktuelle Entwicklungen der betrieblichen Ausbildungssituation in Hessen sowie Übernahmequoten erfolgreicher Ausbildungsabsolventen diskutiert. Die betriebliche Weiterbildung stellt eine Möglichkeit dar, Nach- oder Anpassungsqualifizierung von bereits beschäftigten, aber noch nicht ausreichend qualifizierten Arbeitskräften zu erreichen. In Kapitel 4 wird neben der betrieblichen Weiterbildung auch das Potenzial von Beschäftigten mit einfachen Tätigkeiten, die meist gering oder formal gar nicht qualifiziert sind, diskutiert. Mit Blick auf die prognostizierte geringere Nachfrage nach dieser Tätigkeitsgruppe und den höheren Bedarfen an Fachkräften liegt es nahe, die bestehenden Potenziale der einfach Beschäftigten stärker zu nutzen, um dem drohenden Fachkräftemangel innerbetrieblich entgegenzuwirken. Aus- und Weiterbildungsaktivitäten dienen neben der Bereitstellung benötigter Qualifikationen auch der Bindung von qualifizierten Beschäftigten. Besonders in Zeiten konjunktureller Konsolidierung und des demografischen Wandels in denen Fachkräfte verstärkt nachgefragt werden, verfügen diese über verbesserte Verhandlungspositionen und vermehrte Optionen. Folglich müssten Betriebe ihr Potenzial zur Bindung der Beschäftigten stärker nutzen. Das Kündigungsverhalten der Arbeitnehmer beeinflusst, neben der Personalsuche und dem Neueinstellungsverhalten der Betriebe, die personelle Dynamik in den Betrieben. Für 2015 wird erwartet, dass sich die Personalbewegungen in hessischen Betrieben dynamisch zeigen, d.h. es werden viele Neueinstellungen und mittlere Zahlen an Personalabgängen prognostiziert. In Kapitel 5 wird zudem diskutiert, ob sich die Möglichkeiten, qualifizierte Arbeitskräfte zu rekrutieren und zu halten zwischen Betrieben, die in der Aus- und Weiterbildung aktiv sind und denjenigen, die weniger aktiv sind, systematisch unterscheiden. Die Darstellungen zur Betriebs- und Beschäftigtensituation in Hessen für das Jahr 2015 basieren auf Daten, welche bei 1.046 Betrieben in Hessen erhoben wurden. Grundgesamtheit der Bruttostichprobe ist die Betriebsdatei der Bundesagentur für Arbeit, welche alle Betriebe mit mindestens einem sozialversicherungspflichtig Beschäftigten enthält. Damit Aussagen zu allen Betrieben in Hessen möglich sind, werden die Daten zu den Einzelbetrieben nach Betriebsgröße und Wirtschaftszweig gemäß der tatsächlichen Verteilung der Betriebe in Hessen gewichtet (ausführlich hierzu Kapitel Datengrundlage und Methodik). Die Angaben sind nach der Gewichtung repräsentativ für alle hessischen Betriebe und Dienststellen mit mindestens einem sozialversicherungspflichtig Beschäftigten. Sie erlauben nach Wirtschaftszweigen und Betriebsgrößen statistisch gesicherte Aussagen. Wo immer dies möglich ist, werden kurz- und mittelfristige Entwicklungen nachgezeichnet sowie Erwartungen für die Zukunft dargestellt. Eine differenzierte Darstellung der Ergebnisse nach Wirtschaftszweigen und Größenklassen der Betriebe findet sich immer an den Stellen, wo dies möglich und sinnvoll ist.
Folgende zentrale Erkenntnisse liefert die Befragung der Betriebe der Region Rhein-Main: Knapp jeder fünfte Betrieb der Region hat in den vergangenen zwei Jahren Zuwanderer neu eingestellt, im Produzierenden Gewerbe sogar rund jeder vierte.
Die Mehrheit der Betriebe stellte Zuwanderer überwiegend aus EU-Staaten ein, im Dienstleistungsbereich wurden in vielen Betrieben auch Personen aus Drittstaaten eingestellt. Die große Mehrheit der Betriebe stellte hierbei Personen ein, die schon in Deutschland lebten, nur zehn Prozent der einstellenden Betriebe warb gezielt im Ausland an. Etwa ein Viertel aller Betriebe plant, zukünftig Zuwanderer einzustellen; unter den Betrieben mit ungedeckten Arbeitskräftebedarfen sogar mehr als die Hälfte. Die Herkunft der Zuwanderer spielt dabei kaum eine Rolle: Für etwa 80 Prozent der Betriebe ist es egal, ob die Arbeitskräfte aus der EU oder aus Drittstaaten stammen.
Der fehlende Bedarf ist der Hauptgrund, keine Zuwanderer einstellen zu wollen. In Betrieben mit Bedarfen stehen vor allem mangelnde Sprach- und Fachkenntnisse einer Beschäftigung von Zuwanderern entgegen. Die Einstellungsvoraussetzungen, die Zuwanderer erfüllen müssen, sind breit gestreut: Die Betriebe erwarten mehrheitlich sowohl Sprachkenntnisse als auch fachliche und soziale Qualifikationen; ein anerkannter Abschluss ist weniger bedeutsam, finanzielle Aspekte spielen keine Rolle. Seitens der Betriebe werden unterschiedliche Unterstützungsangebote zur Integration in Betracht gezogen, die von alltagspraktischen Fragen bis zur gezielten Weiterbildung reichen. Nur ein Viertel der Betriebe sieht sich außerstande, Zuwanderern spezifische Unterstützung zuteilwerden zu lassen. Die Agenturen für Arbeit und die Job-Center sind die meist genannten Akteure, wenn es um die Gewinnung von Zuwanderer für die Betriebe geht. Das Anerkennungsgesetz als Instrument zur besseren Arbeitsmarktintegration von Personen mit ausländischem Berufsabschluss ist den Betrieben bislang nur wenig bekannt. Entsprechend gering ist die Bedeutung des Gesetzes für die Personalrekrutierung der Betriebe.
Abschließend lässt sich festhalten, dass die hier gewonnen Ergebnisse die der Vorgängerstudie „Kultur und regionale Wirtschaft“ bestätigen. Die Ausgangsthese eines positiven Einflusses der Kulturbranche auf die regionale Wirtschaft kann auch hier für die ergänzte Variable der SVB und GEB in der Kulturwirtschaft nicht erwiesen werden. Während sich für die Region FrankfurtRheinMain sogar ein signifikanter, leicht negativer Einfluss der Kultur auf das BIP pro Kopf ergibt, lässt sich für die Region Stuttgart und auch im Rahmen der Gesamtbetrachtung der beiden Regionen kein signifikanter Zusammenhang feststellen. Der Kreativwirtschaft kann dagegen ein positiver Einfluss auf die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung einer Region zugeschrieben werden. Sowohl für die Region Stuttgart als auch die Region FrankfurtRheinMain hat sich im Rahmen der ergänzenden Betrachtung ein signifikanter positiver Zusammenhang ergeben. Auch besteht in beiden Regionen ein positiver Zusammenhang zwischen der Entwicklung der SVB und GEB in der Kreativ- und Kulturwirtschaft (zusammen betrachtet) und dem BIP pro Kopf. Auch diese Ergebnisse können als Anreiz gesehen werden, bisherige Sichtweisen und verbreitete Annahmen über Kultur und deren Einfluss auf die regionale Wirtschaft zu diskutieren. Abschließend sei auch hier angemerkt, dass von diesen Ergebnissen natürlich nicht die gesellschaftliche, politische und individuelle Bedeutung von Kultur tangiert wird.
Der dritte Report beschäftigte sich mit der Frage, wie sich die Weiterbildungsaktivitäten der hessischen Betriebe 2015 im Allgemeinen und in Bezug auf die Weiterbildung von einfach Beschäftigten im Speziellen darstellten und entwickelten. Insgesamt zeigte sich, dass die Weiterbildungsbereitschaft der hessischen Betriebe trotz leichter Veränderungen weiterhin auf einem vergleichsweise hohen Niveau lag. Die betriebliche Weiterbildung blieb in hessischen Betrieben ein zentrales Instrument in der Personalentwicklung. Besonders aktiv zeigten sich dabei die Betriebe aus den Dienstleistungssektoren und die Kleinbetriebe. Zudem scheinen Betriebe Anreizstrukturen für eine Teilnahme an Weiterbildungen zu schaffen. Sie übernahmen in den meisten Fällen die Kosten für eine Weiterbildung und Weiterbildungen fanden hauptsächlich während der Arbeitszeit statt, wodurch weniger Freizeit in Anspruch genommen werden musste. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass sich das Verständnis der Weiterbildung als betrieblich zu organisierende Aufgabe weiterhin verfestigte. Die Präferenzen für bestimmte Weiterbildungsmaßnahmen haben sich nach wie vor kaum verändert: Externe Kurse blieben die beliebteste Art der Weiterbildung, die 2015 sogar um wenige Prozentpunkte hinzugewann. Die eher flexible Form der Weiterbildung am Arbeitsplatz verlor jedoch etwas an Bedeutung. Ein weiterhin viel diskutiertes Thema bleibt die Nutzung von Nach- bzw. Weiterqualifizierung der einfach Beschäftigten, zu denen vor allem un- und angelerntes Personal zählt, als Potenzial der betrieblichen Fachkräftesicherung. Es hat sich herausgestellt, dass diese Tätigkeitsgruppe in Weiterbildungsmaßnahmen weiterhin stark unterrepräsentiert war. Dies könnte jedoch neben den bestehenden Unterschieden zwischen den Wirtschaftszweigen und den Betriebsgrößen, unter anderem mit der eingeschätzten Gefährdung des betrieblichen Fortbestehens bei hohem Wettbewerbsdruck und den unbesetzten Stellen für qualifiziertes Personal zusammenhängen. Das auf die Weiter- bzw. Nachqualifizierung abzielende Förderprogramm WeGebAU der Bundesagentur für Arbeit spielte in hessischen Betrieben kaum eine Rolle. Alles in allem besaßen Weiterbildungen in hessischen Betrieben einen hohen Stellenwert. Die betrieblichen Weiterbildungen in Hessen waren allerdings von Selektivität geprägt. Nicht alle Beschäftigungsgruppen waren gleichermaßen vertreten. Die bestehenden Potenziale in der unterrepräsentierten Tätigkeitsgruppe der einfach Beschäftigten sollten zukünftig im größeren Ausmaß aktiviert und genutzt werden, um flexibel und passgenau auf kommende Entwicklungen sowohl im technologischen Fortschritt als auch auf sich verändernde Strukturen am Arbeitsmarkt reagieren zu können.
Beschäftigungsprognose 2017/2018 für die Region Rhein-Main : IWAK-Betriebsbefragung im Herbst 2016
(2016)
Folgende Beschäftigungstrends in der Region Rhein-Main sind für die Jahre 2017 und 2018 zu erwarten: Die Gesamtbeschäftigung in der Region Rhein-Main wird bis Ende 2017 voraussichtlich um 1,9 Prozent steigen, was einem Zuwachs von hochgerechnet 40.000 Beschäftigten entspricht. Die Zahl der sozialversicherungspflichtig Beschäftigten steigt mit 2,0 Prozent ähnlich stark an. Die künftige Beschäftigungsentwicklung verläuft in den Wirtschaftszweigen unterschiedlich. Mit weitgehender Stagnation rechnen bis Ende 2017 die Finanz- und Versicherungsdienstleistungen, die Energie- und Wasserversorgung sowie Erziehung und Unterricht. Insbesondere die Bereiche Verkehr und Lagerei, Handel, Baugewerbe sowie wirtschaftliche und wissenschaftliche Dienstleistungen rechnen mit überdurchschnittlichen Beschäftigungszuwächsen bis Ende 2017. Die Unterschiede zwischen der erwarteten Entwicklung der Gesamtbeschäftigung und der sozialversicherungspflichtigen Beschäftigung sind zwischen den Wirtschaftszweigen eher gering. Jobmotor der Region bleiben die kleineren Betriebe: Bis Ende 2017 erwarten Kleinstbetriebe einen Beschäftigungszuwachs von über vier Prozent. Kleine und mittelgroße Betriebe erwarten durchschnittliche Zuwächse von zwei Prozent. Großbetriebe erwarten eher unterdurchschnittliche Beschäftigungszuwächse. Auch mittelfristig erwarten die Betriebe in der Region Rhein-Main eher einen Anstieg der Beschäftigung; für Ende 2018 wird mit einem Zuwachs von rund drei Prozent im Vergleich zu Ende 2016 gerechnet. Hierbei ist aber zu berücksichtigen, dass Prognosen über einen längeren Zeitraum auch mit höheren Unsicherheiten verbunden sind. Auch in diesem Zeithorizont rechnen die kleinen Betriebe mit deutlich mehr Beschäftigten als die mittelgroßen Betriebe. Großbetriebe erwarten auch bis Ende 2018 eine unterdurchschnittliche Entwicklung der Beschäftigung.
Das vorliegende Papier stellt in Kurzform die wichtigsten Ergebnisse des Projektes „regio pro – Flächendeckende Einführung des Frühinformationssystems zur Qualifikations- und Beschäftigungsentwicklung in Hessen“ dar. Der gesamte Projektzeitraum erstreckte sich vom 01.06.2011 bis zum 31.12.2016. Gefördert wird das Projekt vom Hessischen Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Energie, Verkehr und Landesentwicklung aus dem Europäischen Sozialfonds und Landesmitteln.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Scholars, especially those interested in understanding how leadership has inhibited academic freedom and hindered effectiveness of institutions of higher learning have for long been engaged by the very important manner in which governance and leadership of higher education institutions in Africa is constituted and managed. The fact that there has been a dearth of work based on the experiences of those who have served as university leaders has created a major gap. Questions remain on how leaders of higher education institutions are identified, how they are prepared, the personal predispositions that individuals bring to the exercise of such positions and their personal experiences regarding what energizes or inhibits the performance of their work. Until recently, presidents in most African countries served as chancellors of public universities, identification of those who served as university leaders was largely a political process. But much has changed, with most countries establishing oversight bodies and the overall governance of higher education institutions divorced from the day-to-day political processes. Trails in Academic and Administrative Leadership in Kenya provides a personal account of the experiences in higher education leadership from an individual whose tenure in leadership straddled the two eras. In this book, Prof. Michieka provides an account of how his early education prepared him for roles in academic and institutional leadership in Kenya. The author shares his experiences on the trails he had to navigate as an academic, a vice-chancellor and a chairperson of university council at a time when universities in Kenya were transiting from extreme government administrative control to a greater degree of operational autonomy. Readers will find in this work thought-provoking insights on how leaders of higher education institutions in Kenya have had to balance between demands of the political system and the need to safeguard academic traditions in the everyday management of the institutions.
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.
The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and the Growth of the University Sub-sector in Uganda, 2002-2012, narrates the experience of the Ugandan NCHE in the establishment, development and regulation of higher education institutions in Uganda from 2002 to 2012. In this period, student numbers in higher education institutions increased from about 65,000 to some 200,000 and university institutions from about ten to more than triple the number. The book discusses the role of a regulatory agency in the delivery of higher education, the relations of universities and colleges with such an agency, its impact on developing university capacities, and leadership in creating and refining higher education ideas. The experience of Ugandas regulatory agency, the NCHE, in those ten years should help both the Ugandan and other African countries higher education stakeholders in sharing lessons learned from this one case study. The author sees the roles of regulatory agencies as vital in the initial stages of building a higher education sub-sector and in periods of system transitions such as the current journey from elite to mass systems but is of the view that the university remains the home of knowledge creation, dissemination, and its application in society.
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.
Achieving a new integration of Africa into the world economy in the neoliberal era prompts discussion of the success and failure of economic policies undertaken so far in African countries; And how to address the factors that currently hamper Africa's development in a globalized economy. What does globalization mean for Africa? What changes does it imply? Which models of development impose, and under what conditions? A comprehension essay is presented in this book.
What are the issues discussed today by African philosophers? Four important topics are identified here as important objects of philosophical reflection on the African continent. One is the question of ontology in relation to African religions and aesthetics. Another is the question of time and, in particular, of prospective thinking and development. A third issue is the task of reconstructing the intellectual history of the continent through the examination of the question of orality but also by taking into account the often neglected tradition of written erudition in Islamic centres of learning. Timbuktu is certainly the most important and most famous of such intellectual centres. The fourth question concerns political philosophy: the concept of 'African socialisms' is revisited and the march that led to the adoption of the 'African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights' is examined. All these important issues are also fundamental to understanding the question of African languages and translation.
This book brings together recent and ongoing empirical studies to examine two relational kinds of politics, namely, the politics of nature, i.e. how nature conservation projects are sites on which power relations play out, and the politics of the scientific study of nature. These are discussed in their historical and present contexts, and at specific sites on which particular human-environment relations are forged or contested. This spatio-temporal juxtaposition is lacking in current research on political ecology while the politics of science appears marginal to critical scholarship on social nature. Specifically, the book examines power relations in nature-related activities, demonstrates conditions under which nature and science are politicised, and also accounts for political interests and struggles over nature in its various forms. The ecological, socio-political and economic dimensions of nature cannot be ignored when dealing with present-day environmental issues. Nature conservation regulations are concerned with the management of flora and fauna as much as with humans. Various chapters in the book pay attention to the ways in which nature, science and politics are interrelated and also co-constitutive of each other. They highlight that power relations are naturalised through science and science-related institutions and projects such as museums, botanical gardens, wetlands, parks and nature reserves.
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?
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.
This book presents a comparative history of slavery and the transition from slavery to free labour in Zanzibar and Mauritius, within the context of a wider comparative study of the subject in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds. Both countries are islands, with roughly the same size of area and populations, a common colonial history, and both are multicultural societies. However, despite inhabiting and using the same oceanic space, there are differences in experiences and structures which deserve to be explored. In the nineteenth century, two types of slave systems developed on the islands while Zanzibar represented a variant of an Indian Ocean slave system, Mauritius represented a variant of the Atlantic system yet both flourished when the world was already under the hegemony of the global capitalist mode of production. This comparison, therefore, has to be seen in the context of their specific historical conjunctures and the types of slave systems in the overall theoretical conception of modes of production within which they manifested themselves, a concept that has become unfashionable but which is still essential. The starting point of many such efforts to compare slave systems has naturally been the much-studied slavery in the Atlantic region which has been used to provide a paradigm with which to study any type of slavery anywhere in the world. However, while Mauritian slavery was 100 per cent colonial slavery, slavery in Zanzibar has been described as Islamic slavery. Both established plantation economies, although with different products, Zanzibar with cloves and Mauritius with sugar, and in both cases, the slaves faced a potential conflictual situation between former masters and slaves in the post-emancipation period. Another interesting focus in this book is the largely un-researched subject of female slaves. In Zanzibar, the privileged role of the suria whose status was defined by Sharia law was explored; and in Mauritius, the manumission of female slaves was explored as they formed the majority among manumitted slaves. The book will certainly prove helpful to those involved in comparing the Atlantic slave system with that of the Indian Ocean for the better understanding of both.
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 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.
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.
The papers in this collection present the numeral systems of more than twenty Nigerian languages. The papers mainly emanate from a workshop on the numeral systems of Nigerian languages organised by the Linguistic Association of Nigeria during its 23rd Annual Conference which was held at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The workshop arose from awareness created by Dr. Eugene S.L. Chan on the need for Nigerian linguists to document this severely endangered but very important aspect of natural languages. The quantum of mathematical computations - addition, multiplication, subtraction, or a combination of two or all of these - involved in the numeral systems of Nigerian languages is remarkable. The papers reveal that a variety of numeral systems do exist, such as: binary, decimal, incomplete decimal, duodecimal, quinary, quaternary, ternary, mixed, body-part tally systems, and much more. The book is a resource about how different languages manipulate their numeral systems.
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.
#RhodesMustFall. Nibbling at Resilient Colonialism in South Africa by Francis Nyamnjoh was awarded the 2018 Fage & Oliver Prize. This book on rights, entitlements and citizenship in post-apartheid South Africa shows how the playing field has not been as levelled as presumed by some and how racism and its benefits persist. Through everyday interactions and experiences of university students and professors, it explores the question of race in a context still plagued by remnants of apartheid, inequality and perceptions of inferiority and inadequacy among the majority black population. In education, black voices and concerns go largely unheard, as circles of privilege are continually regenerated and added onto a layered and deep history of cultivation of black pain. These issues are examined against the backdrop of organised student protests sweeping through the country's universities with a renewed clamour for transformation around a rallying cry of 'Black Lives Matter'. The nuanced complexity of this insightful analysis of the Rhodes Must Fall movement elicits compelling questions about the attractions and dangers of exclusionary articulations of belonging. What could a grand imperialist like the stripling Uitlander or foreigner of yesteryear, Sir Cecil John Rhodes, possibly have in common with the present-day nimble-footed makwerekwere from Africa north of the Limpopo? The answer, Nyamnjoh suggests, is to be found in how human mobility relentlessly tests the boundaries of citizenship.
Soyinka's Language
(2016)
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.
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.
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.
The Landmarks Series is a research and publications outfit funded by the Landmarks Research Foundation to publish recent outstanding doctoral dissertations on any aspect of Nigerian linguistics, languages, literatures and cultures. This study is a departer from most previous work on Yoruba Grammar in the sense that rather than being purely a descriptive grammar; it attempts to provide a theoretical analysis of the internal and external syntax of Yoruba nominal expressions using the Chomskyan Principles and Parameters approach to syntax. This Generative theory attempts to characterize the grammar of all natural languages in terms of a set of universal principles that all languages share, and a set of parameters along which languages may vary. The book emphasizes the empirical motivation behind major theoretical proposals in that framework, and shows how views on the nature of universal grammar and cross-linguistic variation have developed over the years as a consequence of a massive increase in cross-linguistic syntactic research.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Powers of the Knife
(2016)
What if you discovered that you come from an ancient family of Shadow Chasers, with a duty to protect others from an evil Army of Shadows? Nom is an outsider at school. When she and Zithembe become friends, life still seems ? well ? a little ordinary. But when an army of monsters threatens their world, it's all up to the two of them - and the start of a journey into the dreamworld on a quest that will change their lives. Powers of the Knife is the first book in the Shadow Chasers trilogy. It's an African fantasy adventure ? one part family saga, one part hero's quest.
The Rules
(2016)
Teenage Adam obeys the rules and dreams big, of real soccer boots and of playing for South Africa one day. Jasmine, his twin sister, is street-smart and lives by her own rules. She dreams too, of a life outside of poverty. Meanwhile she saves all her coins in a glass jar on the top of Auntie Fouzie's cupboard. But things are changing. The country is facing a general election, Daddy didn't come home again last night, and Uncle Grootman is sitting in a wheelchair. Then Germany beats Brazil seven goals to one.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This multidisciplinary work shows the movement today of academic research in social sciences in Senegal.
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.
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.
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.
A Casualty of Power
(2016)
'He boarded the inter-city bus and set off on the six-hour journey to Lusaka - Christopher Columbus en route to discover a new world. Hamoonga Moya's journey would take him a long way from the township of his youth on the Zambian Copperbelt. Life in the capital brought him new friends, and new ideas, and his journalism studies introduced him to ethical dilemmas. Should we take sides when looking at the social impact of the Chinese-owned mines? Who should we blame for the impoverishment of our citizens - the new owners, or the government that made the sale? Is a stadium worth more than a hospital? Outside the classroom, Hamoonga's life, and his hope for the future, were soon entangled in a web of greed, international crime, and betrayal. Only in the end will he know who his true friends are.
Outside the Lines
(2016)
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.
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.
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.
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.
The dawn of the twenty-first century heralded an apparent change of fortunes for most sub-Saharan African economies, with annual growth averaging over 5% for fifteen years. However, this was not accompanied by structural transformation: poverty, food insecurity, unemployment and inequality persist. Structural transformation has not been - and indeed cannot be - delivered by market forces and neo-liberal economic policies; it requires a state committed to development, and to achieving it in a democratic way. To what extent do the countries of Southern Africa exhibit the characteristics of such a 'developmental state'? What steps, if any, do they need to take in order to become one? The book answers the questions with respect to South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola and Malawi. Godfrey Kanyenze and his colleagues have assembled a distinguished team of writers to take the temperature of the regional political economy, and chart a path for its future development.