African Studies Commons^™

Restoring Eden: The Role Of Christianity On Environmental Conservation: A Case Of Karatu District, Arusha, Tanzania, Taylor Allen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In order for environmental conservation to be effective it must have a method of translating to people’s everyday values. Developing countries which include mostly bio-diversity hotspot areas are important to maintain sustainable development. Due to most of these countries following an organized religion, predominantly Christian, an alternative method of conservation may be successful to motivate citizens to participate in efforts. In order for this to be successful, members of the congregation must agree that there is a religious obligation to care for the environment. For Christianity this obligation is discussed by the creation story in the bible. This paper will …

Livelihoods Of The People Of Mazumbai: A Collection Of Stories And Portraits, Tanga Region, Tanzania, Joseph Baldus

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite rapid urbanization in Tanzania, agriculture remains central to the nation, the economy, and the livelihoods of a large portion of the population. Smallholder farmers account for the vast majority of agricultural production, yet are an extremely vulnerable population due to poverty, single-sourced income, and climate-dependency for both subsistence and cash-crop agriculture (Rapsomanikis, 2015). This report explores these dynamic rural livelihoods through interviews and portrait photographs in a case study on Mazumbai, Tanga region, Tanzania. Semi-structured interviews explore the people’s modes of economic subsistence, domestic lives, education, challenges, and life stories. Excerpts from these interviews combined with portrait photographs create …

Pemban Farmer Agency In Adapting To Climate Change, Rachael Hood

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As a result of climate change, agricultural societies will be challenged by a variety of altered conditions, including increased severe weather events, saltwater intrusion, pest and disease outbreaks, and higher temperatures. The island of Pemba, in the Zanzibar archipelago, is home to many small-scale agriculturalists. During this study, I interviewed Pemban farmers in the districts of Wete and Micheweni about their awareness of the impacts of climate change and the mitigation strategies that they have implemented. The results from Pemba were compared to relevant academic literature regarding climate change to explore whether disparities exist between models of climate change in …

Correlations Between Reef Health And Vertical Zonation On Ushongo Village Reef And Fungu Zinga Reef, Daniel Gates

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

While the existence of vertical zonation on coral reefs is well-known, the driving mechanisms and the influence each has is not clear. This study seeks to investigate the influence of reef health on vertical zonation. Reef health is used as a potential factor since it is essentially a broad description of reef diversity. Therefore, a healthy reef which is very diverse is likely to have more and different interspecies interactions than an unhealthy one. This project investigates whether these altered interactions results in different depth distributions of various coral types, categorized broadly by colony shape. Reef health did not seem …

Kisumu County Hospital Patient Demographic Analysis: Looking Toward Universal Health Coverage, Lauren Scheffey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Universal health coverage is priority sought after by developed and developing nations alike, and Kenya sits on the list of countries seeking to achieve this goal in the coming years. The definition of “coverage” can vary by country, but three criteria are commonly found in the discussion of UHC globally: access, affordability, and quality. Affordability is determined by the state’s healthcare financing system; quality refers to the services provided by health facilities; and access, at least in part, concerns the geographic placement of health services providers in relation to the population they intend to serve. This geographic element is the …

Repatriation Of Rwandan Returnees In Kigali: Integration Of Those Born And Raised On Exile As A Result Of The 1959 Violence Wave, Cristina Taulet Sanchez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study explores the repatriation process of millions of Rwandans that returned to Kigali after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, focusing on those that were born and raised in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Burundi as a result of the ethnic violence in 1959 and its aftermath. To complete this project, both theoretical and empirical research was conducted, including academic perspectives, numerical data analysis, and one-on-one interviews on the field. By examining the previous living conditions in the host countries, alongside the process of return and resettlement once in Rwanda, this study presents the physical and emotional …

"Les Droits Ne Sont Pas Respectés": A Study Of The Effectiveness Of The Moroccan Law In Protecting The Human Rights Of Sub-Saharan Female Migrants, Meghan Gragg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper aims to determine to what extent Moroccan law is protecting female Sub-Saharan migrants against human rights abuses and in the process, it attempts to determine what the Moroccan government needs to do differently to protect this population. Female migrant women from Sub-Saharan Africa are a population that suffers human rights abuses because of their dual positionality as both women and Sub-Saharan migrants: both of which are discriminated populations in Morocco. The research was carried out by communicating with lawyers and non-governmental organization (N.G.O.) team members who work with women to determine the common legal and social problems affecting …

What Does It Mean To Respect One’S Mother? A Narrative Approach Exploring Maternal Respect Through The Perspectives Of Zulu Mothers And Their Children, Sarah Robertson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper attempts to synthesize both background research and interview content on respect, specifically respect for mothers from their children in Cato Manor. Cato Manor is populated with largely single-mother, matriarchal households of Zulu identifying people.

I conducted eight interviews with four mothers and their children, with the “children” ranging in age from 19 to 29. I requested that my participants share as many stories with me as possible in order to help me write my findings in a narrative approach. I asked about a variety of topics, including what respect is in general, what it means to respect one’s …

“If You Seek, You Know You Will Find And If You Find You Have Cancer, Why Do You Seek?” Knowledge And Practices Regarding Cancer Screening And Prevention In Cato Manor, Lilly Hennessey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The incidence of cancer continues to increase in South Africa, creating a serious concern for public health. There are currently several cancer awareness programs operating in the Durban area, but little is known as to whether they are having a positive impact on communities. This project aimed to understand the knowledge and practices regarding cancer screening and prevention in Cato Manor, KwaZulu-Natal. In doing so, it assessed the effectiveness and knowledge of current programs which work to increase cancer awareness.

This study used a mixed methodology approach. Surveys were given to 30 residents of Cato Manor to gain a quantitative …

Exploring The Space Between Healers: A Narrative Approach To Understanding The Relationship Between Traditional Healers And Biomedical Practitioners In Kwazulu-Natal, Marisa Delsignore

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite playing essential and parallel roles in the lives of patients, there exists a frictional, imbalanced relationship between traditional healers and Western doctors in South Africa. While national policy encourages a seamless system rooted in both Western science and indigenous knowledge, biomedical institutions are hesitant to accept traditional medical practices, which are based on less tangible and more spiritually-oriented elements. This research project turns to these two ideologically different entities to assess their perspectives on the roles of themselves and the other within the context of the South African health system.

Responses from semi-structured interviews with seven health practitioners from …

Think Outside: Exploring The Influence Of Nature On The Individual And Of The Individual On Society, Brielle Wells

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This video project has an overarching goal to question the influence the natural environment has on the development of individual people and society as a whole. It begins by looking into the important role played by creativity in societal and economic development. From here a brief background is given on the requirements of maintaining and producing a creative environment. The piece alludes to the possibility that a relationship with nature has a deeper meaning than just being conducive to creativity. It also shows the effects pollution has had on the work of local artists and briefly the challenges faced by …

Who And What Is Amazigh? Self-Assertion, Erasure, And Standardization, Alexis Colon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research focuses on the identity of the indigenous peoples of Morocco, or the Amazigh. While this culture has endured different iterations of colonization, self-assertion and activism in favor of preserving culture and improving conditions for Amazigh can often be viewed as controversial to the elites of Morocco. This controversy, however, does not stop Moroccans from proclaiming their Amazigh background or portraying their culture. This paper aims to describe qualitative data taken from numerous interviews on the subject of self-identification of Amazigh and different hopes and expectations for the continuation of the language and culture of Amazigh among common peoples.

The Root Of Racism: How Slavery Has Led To The Condition Of Discrimination Against Sub-Saharan Africans And Migrants In Morocco, James Artis Iii

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Slavery is the oldest and most central form of discrimination and while most have knowledge on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade that of the Sub-Saharan and Middle Eastern Slave trade in which current day North Africa and Middle East contributed to both sexual and military exploitation of Sub-Saharan Africans is often forgotten. The historical implication that going along with North African and Middle Eastern salve trade contribute to the discrimination dehumanization and otherization of sub-Saharan Africans and their perception in North Africa.

Sufis In A 'Foreign' Zawiya: Moroccan Perceptions Of The Tijani Pilgrimage To Fes, Joel Green

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this ISP is to investigate Moroccan perceptions of sub-Saharan members of the Tijaniyya during the completion of their religious pilgrimage to Fes. The relationship between Moroccans andTijani pilgrims is particularly complex as it occurs at an intersection of various identities, most prominently including race, religion, class and nationality. This project focuses on Moroccans who work in the area surrounding the shrine of Ahmed al-Tijani and either market their business towards Tijani pilgrims or frequently serve Tijani pilgrims as customers. In the course of interviews with five Moroccans, three major themes emerged: 1. Condemnation of Tijani religious practice. …

“I Hope Whiteness Means Nothing”: A Narrative Exploration Of Whiteness As Identity In South Africa, Mackenzie Berry

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In post-apartheid South Africa, whiteness and the legacy of its codification shape the social, political, and economic landscape of the country. Though white studies in South Africa emerged as an investigation of how whiteness operates as a social identity post-apartheid, the field is still developing. This narrative project examines how whiteness has been constructed in South Africa as identity and property, referencing South African history for context. The project explores “whiteness as identity” as opposed to “white identity” in recognition that whiteness manifests in many forms, including as an identity but also within institutions and in economic, social, political, and …

Missing Youth: The Absence Of The Young Moroccan Voice In The Nation, Reid Leiter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Morocco has long maintained stability in a region historically known for fluctuating sociopolitical climates, considerably in part to a robust constitutional monarchy. However, the 20 February movement that coincided with the 2011 Arab Spring showed that the government is vulnerable to an energetic, organized, and a vocal youth population. Now, seven years after a constitutional referendum aimed at installing more democratic processes was passed, the growing youth populous feel more detached from their nation than ever, ignored by the government and monarchy, and ultimately lacking a voice in Moroccan politics. By excluding their voice and ignoring their opinions, the government …

Renegado: Immigrant Identities And Aspirations Of White Muslim Converts In Morocco, Paul Williamson Kiefer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

If one turns over enough stones in Morocco, they will come across hundreds of Western converts to Islam, most of whom are white. Some are obvious: one might spot a blue-eyed Belgian wearing a jellaba on a train to Fes or a Danish woman in a hijab running a bakery in central Casablanca. Others might be mistaken for tourists, like an American woman with her hair pulled back into a ponytail seated in the corner of a high-end café in Rabat. These converts are immigrants, and most chose to live in Morocco as a form of hijra, or migration for …

Perception And Prejudice: Sino-Ghanaian Relations Within The Service Sector And The Wavering Perception Of China On The Global Stage, Jodi-Ann (Juexuan) Wang

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Opinions on the impacts of China in Africa differ from one observer to the next, be it in media, academic, or elsewhere. While most general discourses have been nuanced and coherent, there is nevertheless a prevailing sentiment of unbridled fear and Sinophobia, or anti-Chinese populism. Based on a two-sided study in Ghana, this research uses Chinese-Ghanaian employment relations as a way of entry to analyze and explore cross-cultural understandings, or lack thereof, that leads to conflict. From there, this paper examines the style of politicized media in broadcasting Sino-Ghanaian (Chinese-Ghanaian) engagements and its role in creating the anti-Chinese populism on …

Amjambo Africa! (September 2018), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue... Eid Al-Adha .......................... Page 2

Results Conference ................Page 2

Host Community....................Page 3

World Refugee Day................Page 8

National Night Out ................Page 9

November Elections.............Page 13

Arabic Summer School ........Page 15

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Slave Trade Route: A Regional And Local Development Catalyst, Chukwunyere Ugochukwu

Geography and Planning Faculty Publications

The conservation of and focus on slave export points turned tourist monuments in Cape Coast and Elmina, Ghana, are incomplete without linkages to other complicit places in the interior that together completes the chain of darkness, the trade in humans along the Atlantic coast of Ghana, as well as in the interior. Completed, it will highlight the infrastructure of the slave business, the domestic, as well as the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. When the chain (route) of the different complicit communities in the interior to these export monuments along the Atlantic coast is conserved, it shall herald a completeness to the …