Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Tale Of Two Superpowers: Nigeria And China Relations, Faouziatou Aboudou Kabassi

Master's Theses

The study discusses the historical development of the Sino-Nigerian bilateral relations. The paper provides a detailed view of china's FDI in Nigeria and the diverse challenges faced by the oil rich country to develop its own economy through NEEDS as a result of china's economic power. China’s partnership with Nigeria is ideally for economic growth but practically poisonous to Nigeria’s development goals as China is solely pursuing its own interest and diverting its partner from working toward its NEEDS goal. A deep investigation of the relations should be reviewed for both countries. This will be needed to produce vital economic …

The Odious Debt System, Andrew Hanauer

Master's Theses

Over the past forty years, African countries have accumulated enormous quantities of external debt. Today, this debt is heavily burdensome; money spent on debt service is money that cannot be invested into infrastructure development, health, education, or other areas that might benefit the large number of Africans who live in poverty. Calls for debt forgiveness have led western institutions to forgive a portion of this debt, but have not addressed the question of whether or not this debt is legitimate in the first place.

Similarly, academic proposals for the classification and subsequent repudiation or forgiveness of so-called "odious debt" have …

Egyptian Civil Society (Transnational Vs. Local): The Distinction Between Theory And Practice, Jeremiah Davis

Master's Theses

Abstract:

The strength and dominance of political society, rather than the weaknesses of civil society, is arguably one of the primary reasons for massive civil uprising in Egypt led by independent, unaffiliated members of society. In many cases it appears that civil society was behind the Egyptian Revolution, although is this the case? Did the Revolution happen in spite of civil society? Just as the state can be a roadblock to development and democratization, civil society may also be detrimental to society’s growth. In this thesis, the development and civil society community is analyzed to discover the functions of CSOs …

Re-Evaluating Peacebuilding In The Democratic Republic Of Congo: A Case Study In Dongo, Wilita Sanguma

Master's Theses

Re-evaluating Peacebuilding in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A case study in Dongo

The Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo) is a country rich with natural resources centered in the heart of Africa. Since the colonial era, the country has seen more bloodshed than peace and development. From 1996 to 2003, Congo experienced the worst conflict since World War II, with over six million people dead. Despite having the largest United Nations peacekeeping troops present; Congo continues to be plagued by violence. This research thesis argues that the international community failed to promote a lasting peace in Congo because the international …

Do Culturally Engaging Reading Materials Matter? An Analysis Of Rural Libraries In Burkina Faso, Erica Ernst

Master's Theses

Academics have noted the lack of culturally relevant reading materials in African libraries. Book collections are primarily composed of donated materials from western countries intended for a western, rather than African audience. This research project aimed to gain insight onto children’s reading preferences in the rural Burkina Faso and to learn about the popularity of local photo books that were added in 2009. Quantitative methods examined library book checkout records in three categories of African, French, and local photo books. Additionally the library subscription records were used in order to gain information about the children including age, gender, and ethnicity. …

Promoting And Developing Oromummaa (Power Point), Asafa Jalata

Sociology Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

The Flow Of Water, Power, And Ideas: Water Commodification In Cape Town, South Africa And The Stratified Experiences Of Time And Space Compression, Jenna Washburn

Master's Theses

I use the neoliberalization of the water sector in Cape Town, South Africa in order to test my theory of unequal development. I assert that the neoliberal economic practices of water commodification, business-friendly tariff policies, and prepaid management devices keep people along the periphery from accessing water, power, and ideas – thus causing a stratification of time and space compression between the core and the periphery.

By painting a theoretical picture of world cities, I wish to complicate the dominant views of time/space compression and suggest that, much like development and arguably because of it, time and space compression actually …

Langue Et Identité Chez Leïla Sebbar. Vers Une Filiation Renégociée, Cécilia W. Francis

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

In Je ne parle pas la langue de mon père (2003), L’arabe comme un chant secret (2010a), as well as in other components of her intimate prose, Leïla Sebbar reflects on her sense of dispossessed identity due to linguistic exile and an unknown heritage, resulting from ruptures in her paternal filiation. Drawing from the works of Jacques Derrida, Régine Robin and Simon Harel, which form the basis of our argumentation, we examine various dimensions of the severed parental bond. The article proposes to examine how Sebbar’s autobiographical writings, which incorporate scenarios dealing with legacy transmission expressed in terms of auditory …

Mapping Xenophobic Violence In South Africa: Modeling Spatial Relationships Between Group Grievances And Opportunities To Measure The Propensity For Xenophobic Violence, Eric Holder

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Xenophobia can be defined as the hatred or fear of foreigners or strangers or of their politics or culture (Ngwane et al., 2008). This sentiment reached its tipping point in urban areas across the Republic of South Africa in May 2008 when mass, widespread and systematic attacks against African non-nationals took place across the country. Although previous research agrees on who played the various roles during this crisis event (Everatt, 2010), little research has been carried out to create a predictive model to assess where future violence could occur based on a set of conflict indicators. The purpose of this …

From Building Evaluation Capacity To Supporting Evaluation Capacity Development: The Cases Of Democratic Republic Of Congo, Niger, And South Africa, Michele Tarsilla

Dissertations

Building on both the current thinking among international development practitioners and the on-going scholarly debate on evaluation capacity development (ECD), this study aims to identify strategies that might help to strengthen national evaluation capacity in a variety of countries in a more inclusive and sustainable fashion in the future. Based on a case study design featuring an extensive literature review of specialized literature (both within and outside the evaluation field), a series of semi-structured interviews and three rounds of online validation sessions held with ECD researchers, funders and implementers; this study aims at three main objectives. First, in an attempt …

Liberation Of, Through, Or From Work? Postcolonial Africa And The Problem With “Job Creation” In The Global Crisis, Franco Barchiesi

Franco Barchiesi

The precarity of employment in an age of globally financialized capital cannot be reduced to the sociological problems of erosion of stable jobs with benefits and proliferation of insecure occupations. It is rather a political issue that interrogates the ability of state and capital to turn multitudes into governable and productive subjects. As such it is underscored by attempts by financial capital to “capture” living labor beyond the confines of production and across the social spectrum. It is also characterized by the widening gaps between official norms that center social inclusion around work ethic and economic activity and material realities …

Africa And The Perversities Of International Capital Flows, Howard Stein

Distinguished Lectures on Africa

Dr. Howard Stein is a professor in the University of Michigan’s Department of Afro-American and African Studies and he also teaches in the Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health.

A development economist educated in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, Dr. Stein has taught in both Asia and Africa. His research has focused on foreign aid, finance and development, structural adjustment, health and development and industrial policy.

The Impact Of Water On Girls' Formal Education: A Study Of Kenyan Secondary Schools, Jennifer Emick

Master's Theses

This study applies a human rights lens to view how the lack of access to potable water in Kenya’s rural areas impacts girls’ education. This research is intended to serve as a baseline for iteration and expansion, with the long-term goal of developing a greater understanding of the ways in which water development projects and the smarter provision of basic resources can be used as strategies for achieving gender equality in both education and civic participation.

A Critical Examination Of The Relationship Between The Use Of Gatekeepers, Trust, And Organisation Knowledge-Sharing, Deogratias Harorimana Dr

Dr Deogratias Harorimana

This thesis critically examines the relationship between gatekeepers, trust, and an organisation’s knowledge sharing. The research applied mixed methods with the case study approach. In this research the concept ‘gatekeeper’ is widely used to represent a class of those who are part of a knowledge management strategy; they collect information and knowledge and contextualise this before they can share it with the rest of the members of the organisation’s knowledge networks - within the formal and informal organisation. In this study, it was found that there was a strong relationship between the openness of a given firm, as regards its …

Book Review: Fragile States, Lohar Brock, Hans-Henrik Holm, Georg Sorensen, Michael Stohl, Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams

Africana Studies Faculty Publications

In an era when good governance features prominently on the global development agenda, there seems to be a corollary spotlight on state fragility. In this book - a quick read that covers much ground - the authors wade into the conceptual waters of state fragility with the following aims: (i) sketching more clearly its conceptual parameters, including its core characteristics; (ii) dissecting its connection to violent conflict; (iii) analyzing the role that international society has played in relation to fragile statehood; and (iv) laying out two proposals for tackling its intractability. These analyses are conducted through the prism of three …

East Versus West: Chinese And American Development Efforts And Perceptions In Cameroon, Grace Perkins

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Every year, donor countries pour billions of dollars of foreign aid into developing recipient countries. Humanitarian and “win-win” rhetoric generally accompanies the grant, hospital, school, or sports stadium. To a realist international relations scholar, it is highly unlikely that powerful nations like the United States and China donate anything without political or economic strategic interests in mind. How do American and Chinese strategic interests affect the quality of development aid? This paper seeks to answer this question in the context of Cameroon, a Central African state rich in resources and young minds but whose growth is hampered by its colonial …

Women Smuggling And The Men Who Help Them: Gender, Corruption And Illicit Networks In Senegal, Cynthia Howson

SIAS Faculty Publications

This paper investigates gendered patterns of corruption and access to illicit networks among female cross-border traders near the Senegambian border. Despite a discourse of generosity and solidarity, access to corrupt networks is mediated by class and gender, furthering social differentiation, especially insofar as it depends on geographic and socio-economic affinity with customs officers, state representatives and well-connected transporters. Issues of organisational culture, occupational identity and interpersonal negotiations of power represent important sources of corruption that require an understanding of the actual dynamics of public administration. While smuggling depends on contesting legal and social boundaries, the most successful traders (and transporters) …

Freeing Funds To Meet Priorities And Needs: Sikika’S Campaign To Curb Unnecessary Expenditure In Tanzania, Peter Bofin, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

In 2008 the Tanzanian Prime Minister, Mizengo Pinda, ordered government ministries to reduce unnecessary expenditure on workshops, allowances, seminars, and luxury vehicles. While populist commitments by leaders are not unusual in Tanzania, this particular one seemed to be a direct response to Sikika’s media and advocacy campaign. This case study shows that a focus on media outreach and raising public awareness may not be enough to bring about changes in contexts where budget allocation processes are closed and there are strong internal pressures to maintain the widespread patronage and rents that can be drawn from recurrent expenditures in the budget. …

Ghana: Budget Monitoring By Send-Ghana And Its Partners Helps Improve Nutrition For Children And Support Local Farmers, Tony Dogbe, Joana Kwabena-Adade, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

Between 2007 and 2010, the Social Enterprise Development (SEND-Ghana) Foundation, one of the IBP’s partners, monitored the performance of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP, a government program that integrates social protection interventions), engaging with 50 district assemblies, 50 focal civil society organizations (CSOs), and 50 District Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)/Citizens Monitoring Committees (DCMC) in seven regions across the country. SEND-Ghana used information from this monitoring exercise to promote improvements in the program with district assemblies and officials from collaborating ministries, departments, and agencies directly at the national, regional, and district levels, but also indirectly through the media.

The …

Promoting And Developing Oromummaa, Asafa Jalata

Sociology Publications and Other Works

As any concept, Oromummaa has different meanings on conventional, theoretical, and political, and ideological levels. Although the colonizers of the Oromo deny, most Oromos know their linguistic, cultural, historical, political, and behavioral patterns that have closely connect together all of their sub-identities to the Oromo nation. There is a clear conventional understanding among all Oromo branches and individuals on these issues. The Oromo national movement has gradually expanded the essence and meaning of Oromummaa. The colonization of the Oromo and the disruption of their collective identity and the repression and exploitation of Oromo society have increased the commitment of some …

In Appreciation Of Birago I. Diop: A Subtle Advocate Of Négritude, Winston E. Langley

Winston E. Langley

The closing weeks of the last decade brought with them the death of three distinguished world figures: Samuel Beckett, the Irish-French playwright, novelist, and poet; Andrei D. Sakharov, the Soviet nuclear physicist, human rights advocate, and leader in the international disarmament movement; and Birago I. Diop, the Senegalese poet, storyteller, and statesman. In the case of the former two, leading U.S. newspapers and other media paid merited tribute in the amplest of proportions; in case of the last, however, it was as if he had either never lived or had gained no standing of importance worthy of much attention. Diop …

A Geographical Analysis Of Hiv/Aids Infection In Nigeria, 1991-2001, Chinekwu Azuka Obidoa, Robert G. Cromley

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Abstract

Objectives: Within the gradually accumulating literature on the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Nigeria, investigations concerning the spatial dimensions of the infection are virtually non-existent. An understanding of the spatial dimensions of the epidemic is central in the development and implementation of appropriate intervention strategies. This study is a geographic analysis of HIV/AIDS infection in Nigeria from 1991 – 2001. The three objectives of this study were: 1) to examine the geographic pattern of the epidemic, 2) to examine the spatial-temporal trend and diffusion pattern of the epidemic, and 3) to explore the factors associated with the spatial …

Complementary And Adversarial Stances In State-Civil Society Relationships And Their Implications For Democratization And Development: The Case Of Ethiopia, Teshome Tadesse

International Conference on African Development Archives

State-society relations in Ethiopia have throughout history been one of cooperation rather than competition and destruction at least when it comes to the defense of the motherland. This short paper, attempts to examine the place of civil society vis-a-vis the all-powerful position of the state in Ethiopia and its behaviors in times of national danger or war where both complement each other and defeat the enemy. The states , during these times of national threats, go to a point where it literally begs national communities through traditional associations or civil societal groups and successfully repulses the aggressor. But once the …

Moving Forward In Sierra Leone: Community-Based Factors For Post Conflict Development, Whitney Mcintyre Miller

Education Faculty Articles and Research

War and conflict, while not manifested as economic or natural disaster, often bring the same consequences and damages and require similar capacity building. This article discusses the following four community-based factors, which contributed to the postconflict development of two communities in Sierra Leone, West Africa: (a) the inclusive involvement of community members for development and construction projects, (b) the use of culturally responsive practices in community building, (c) leadership that is directly connected with the community, and (d) the combination of traditional and local development practices with western and governmental practices. These factors were derived from an intensive five-week qualitative …

Racial Disparities In Sentencing In The U.S. And Georgia, Kamal Rattray, Nicole Lee

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Incarceration represents the ultimate use of coercive power, and in the state of Georgia, that power is being disproportionately levied upon people of color, particularly African Americans.1 According to 2011 statistics from the Georgia Department of Corrections, the total prison population statewide was approximately 53,341 inmates. The majority of that number were Blacks (33,069 inmates), followed by Whites (17,752 inmates), Hispanics (2,306 inmates) and other ethnic groups.

From The Ground Up: The Historical Roots Of Umuganda In Rwandan Economic And Political Development, Sarah Bates

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Umuganda, the ritual of communal labor practiced in Rwanda since pre-colonial kingdoms, has a long and varied history of implementation. Once an integral part of the patron-client relationship, umuganda originated as the exchange of cattle for feudal protection; currently, it is a system of mandatory labor being utilized for post-genocide political and economic development. Umuganda has been championed by both past and present presidential administrations as the foundational centerpiece of progress, yet it also served as an instrumental tool in mass participation during the genocide. This paper will focus on the historical roots and transformation of umuganda in order to …

The Oromo: Toward A Psychology Of Liberation And Oromo Empowerment, Asafa Jalata

Sociology Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

The Power To Say Who’S Human: Politics Of Dehumanization In The Four-Hundred-Year War Between The White Supremacist Caste System And Afrocentrism, Sam Chernikoff Frunkin

Africana Studies

No abstract provided.

Securing South Africa's Future Grandmothers Against Poverty And Aids As A Model For Social Development Change, Savannah Lynn Eck

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Focusing on the role of elder women in South Africa as a lens to understand the central connections among HIV/ AIDS, poverty and Human Security provides a distinct approach to analyze women's contributions to community development and social change. Drawing from the theories of Gender and Development and Human Security, this research aims to highlight HIV/ AIDS as a social and political security issue, while underscoring the vitality of the inclusion of women in the processes of peace building, reconciliation, education and social development. Furthermore, the influential role of elder women in South Africa will serve as a model in …

Dental Microwear Texture Analysis Of Pliocene Bovids From Four Early Hominin Sites In Eastern Africa: Implications For Paleoenvironmental Dynamics And Human Evolution, Jessica Renee Scott

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many researchers have suggested that Plio-Pleistocene climate change was a motive force for human evolution. The basic idea was that a shift toward drier, more open settings, led to adaptations for bipedality and the consumption of savanna resources, including large grazing mammals. However, more recent paleoenvironmental reconstructions suggest that Pliocene hominins occupied variable or mosaic habitats including both open and closed settings. Many techniques have been used to refine our understanding of the paleoenvironments of eastern Africa; however these have not led to consensus reconstructions. At Kanapoi, ecological diversity analysis indicates that at least part of the site was composed …