African Languages and Societies Commons^™

Supplying Slaves: The Disguise Of Greener Pastures: An Exploratory Study Of Human Trafficking In Uganda, Kyla Johnson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study was to evaluate labor migration in Uganda with a specific focus on the role labor recruitment agencies play in transporting people and how certain circumstances such as lack of knowledge of safe migration can leave people vulnerable to human trafficking. Labor externalization is beneficial specifically for developing countries because it provides jobs for the robust and available labor in these countries. Nonetheless, when reports appear that young girls are stranded abroad in the middle east after being taken there for work, labor recruitment agencies are first to receive the blame. Although Uganda issued a ban …

Home And Healing In The In-Between: Migrant And Refugee Mental Health In Tunisia, Donia Torabian

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research is a study of migrant conceptions of home and healing in Tunisia. It seeks to understand the ways in which migration, trauma, and healing interact as lived experiences for people who migrate for various reasons to Tunisia. Using past research from Terre d’Asile and Médecins du Monde, the research seeks to understand the main risk and protective factors of migrant mental health. The research is a qualitative study of the ways in which migrants identify with having experienced trauma and the healing practices they may have brought to or learned in Tunisia. It also hopes to build connections …

A Study Of Stambeli In Digital Media, Nneka Mogbo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research paper explores stambeli, a traditional spiritual music in Tunisia, by understanding its musical and spiritual components then identifying ways it is presented in digital media. Stambeli is shaped by pre-Islamic West African animist beliefs, spiritual healing and trances. The genre arrived in Tunisia when sub-Saharan Africans arrived in the north through slavery, migration or trade from present-day countries like Mauritania, Mali and Chad. Today, it is a geographic and cultural intersection of sub-Saharan, North and West African influences.

Examining The Culture Of Poverty Argument In Morocco: How Development, Criminalization, Education, And The Makhzen Craft Perceptions, Raegan Loheide

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper explores if and how stakeholders in Moroccan poverty reduction invoke the culture of poverty argument. The thesis originally proposed by Oscar Lewis has been used and transformed to justify a variety of policies or lack thereof over the past several decades and varies according to history and cultural context. We understand the notion of what it means to be poor in Morocco through the lens of NGOs working with vulnerable populations. The organizations interviewed in this research were all connected to government or foreign aid funding, which inserts a particular development and Western oriented lens to solutions. Although …

Multicultural Narratives: Language As A Site Of Struggle For Amazigh Rights Activism In Morocco, Joyce Lee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Moroccan constitutional monarchy’s officialization of the Amazigh language in 2011 was its response to a building coalition for Amazigh rights, which simultaneously narrowed and broadened the scope of the Amazigh Rights movement. This study’s purpose was to analyze Tamazight as it has currently manifested in the urban space of Rabat as a site of struggle for Amazigh people. The questions the study attempts to answer are: a) Has the Moroccan government found success in its chosen goal of standardization of the Tamazight language in schools? b) Do Amazigh activists share this same goal? c) Whose needs do the goals …

Local Perceptions Of Cannabis And Cannabis Laws In Morocco: Unpacking Past Laws, Moroccans' Perceptions, And Exploring Organizational Efforts, Shadae Tingman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In Morocco, cannabis production and consumption are illegal, both medicinally and recreationally. The cultivation of the plant is among the top five in the world. This research will explore many aspects of cannabis in Morocco. There is much literature that exists surrounding the agricultural, economic, and political implications of cannabis, but this research will focus on social perceptions of cannabis and cannabis laws of local Moroccans. This research will explore past government attempts to legalize marijuana and why they did not pass. It will also explore the work of local youth organizations (that focus on cannabis) to understand what they …

"Returning To My Father" : A Decolonial Reading Of Lk 15:11-32 Towards A Reconstruction Of African Theological Anthropology For Authentic Sacramental Ethics Via Indigenous Divinity Graduate Schools., Besem Etchi

Graduate Student Research Symposium

This paper makes three hermeneutical contributions: (1) By uncovering the Indigenous Norse zero-point subtext structuring today's Catholic liturgy, the paper constructs ancestral primacy as the delinking methodology for indigeniztion; (2) By emphasizing ritual as transformative technology for identity and relationship, in its wielding of neurolinguistic programming, the paper establishes indigenous epistemology as the proper spatial locus for any symbolic exchange that emerges authentic sacramental ethics; (3) By discussing the possibilities that creating indigenous Divinity graduate schools in African countries offers, a path of realizing sociopolitical stability and harmony in African states as a communal body is systematized.

With the ritual …

African Affinity Mask, Giselle M. Strauss

Toyon: Multilingual Literary Magazine

N/A

The Tongue-Tied Imagination [Table Of Contents], Tobias Warner

Literature

Should a writer work in a former colonial language or in a vernacular? The language question was one of the great, intractable problems that haunted postcolonial literatures in the twentieth century, but it has since acquired a reputation as a dead end for narrow nationalism.

Focusing on the case of Senegal, Warner investigates the intersection of French and Wolof. Drawing on an under-studied corpus of novels, poetry, and films in both languages, the book traces the emergence of a politics of language from colonization through independence to the era of neoliberal development.

Refusing to see the turn to vernacular languages …

Amjambo Africa! (March 2019), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

Warm Snow.............................Page 6

Portland Brothers...................Page 7

Fikiria.................................Page 8 &9

Lewiston High School ............Page 9

Asylum Seekers ....................Page 11

Clothing Closet List..............Page 12

The Pedagogies Of Sex Trafficking Postcolonial Fiction: Consent, Agency, And Neoliberalism In Chika Unigwe's On Black Sisters' Street, M Laura Barberan Reinares

Publications and Research

Amnesty International’s 2015-16 push for the decriminalization of sex work sparked yet another international debate on sex trafficking, with the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), together with a long list of celebrities and iconic feminists such as Gloria Steinem, claiming that such measure will only worsen sex trafficking, among other problems, and myriad pro-sex work feminists vouch-ing exactly the opposite.1 This dispute is by no means new-as of 2018, it remains at an impasse-but, interestingly, while sociologists and women’s studies scholars have been discussing sex trafficking issues for decades now, and despite its intimate relation to postcolonialism and globalization, …

A Study Of Precolonial Urban Africa, Molly Cooper

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

Africa’s precolonial era of urban development lasted from approximately 3000 BC until the colonial era began in the sixteenth century AD. During this period, urban centers were built in regions of high ecological and economic potential, such as the Mediterranean coast, the Nile towns of Nubia, West Africa, and the Sub-Saharan region of Africa. Studying key cities in each of these areas demonstrates the rich history of precolonial Africa as well as the continued influence of these sophisticated cultures. Using historical records, archeological findings, and analysis of urban trends of cities such as Carthage, Meroe, Djenne, and the Great Zimbabwe, …

Neocolonialism And Globalization: The Dual Phenomena Of Exploitation And Underdevelopment In Modern Africa, Jack Riegert

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

Since the 1960s till date, African independence has been a mirage. Real freedom for African countries had been redefined by the impact of neo-colonialism and globalization. While neo-colonialism simply means indirect hegemonic control of former colonies or developing countries by former European colonizers and Western powers, globalization is the integration of global economy marked by free trade, free flow of capital, and the exploitation of cheaper foreign labor and raw material markets. Under neo-colonialism and the globalized world, though presumed independent, Africa is still dominated and exploited. Kwame Nkrumah, perhaps one of the most influential African leaders of history, aptly …

Gdr Involvement In South Africa: When Does Solidarity Become Engagement?, Edward Vaughan

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

The German Democratic Republic (GDR) was one of the most influential forces during the Cold War in Southern Africa. Thanks to their assistance, revolutionary groups such as the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) and the African National Congress (ANC) were able to stand up against the Apartheid government in South Africa aided by the United States. This project examines the GDR support and solidarity measures during the Cold War and if the GDR‘s involvement in this area constitutes active engagement with the conflict. Since the German reunification, research into the specific policies of the GDR and its connection to …

The African American Political Party Flip, Shanna Riley

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

My paper discusses the African American political party flip during the 1930s-1960s. Throughout my research, I found that there were many factors in the African American political party flip which began in the 1930s and continued into the 1960s. After analyzing the origin of the Democratic and Republican parties, I found that the latter supported freeing slaves during the 1800s. I will discuss how presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson each handled Civil Rights during their times in office, and how this impacted the African American vote. Each president saw the power of African American voters, and knew that …

Reframing Aesthetic Theory In The Caribbean Through Derrida’S Theory Of Deconstruction, Micaela Deogracias

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

There has been an ongoing struggle to pinpoint the definition of Caribbean aesthetic. Although still framed through Western values of beauty and significance, the Caribbean has been making strides towards breaking out of the artistic definitions of the Eurocentric art history canon. A means of doing so is evident in the works of Livia Ortiz Ríos, a Puerto Rican abstract expressionist artist who frames her art through the Chaos Theory and Derrida's Theory of Deconstruction. The latter's discussion of binary comparisons beautifully mirrors the present binary comparison of Caribbean art to Western art. This work will focus on Derrida's Theory …

A Modern Mother: Harriet Powers, Alyssa Johnson

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

The proposed presentation, “A Modern Mother: Harriet Powers (1837-1911),” was inspired by Linda Nochlin’s provocative question, “Why have there been no great women artists?” While the question is simple and concise, it enlists a number of responses. The most common response to this question, as pointed out by the contemporary group of artists known as the Guerilla Girls, is to counter with the question: “Why haven’t more women been considered great artists throughout Western history?” The reframing of Nochlin’s question implies the presence of greatness among the female ranks of artists, and allows for discovery and celebration of those forgotten. …

Colorism: The Effect Of Interracial Racism, Hannah Mcdermott

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

It is clear that issues involving race have plagued the growth of the United States since the early stages of the land's development. However, through Wallace Thurman's novel The Blacker the Berry, he is able to illustrate the struggles of racism within the African American society, having detrimental effects on the psychological aspect of racism as well. My paper focuses on the main character, Emma Lou, who faces both public and personal racism throughout her upbringing. Focusing on the problems that discrimination brings forward, the novel hones in on African Americans in education, family, the work place, and even …

Haitian Carnival: The Art Of Resistance, Kari Boroff

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

This paper explores the different characters that are represented during Haitian Carnival, where participants mask their identities in order to act out mythological and political tales, emphasizing the corruption, politics, and social issues of Haiti through costume and drama. These characters which can appear bizarre, comical, or terrifying, embody subjects such as Haiti’s successful slave revolt in 1791, elements of Vodou, satirical representations of political figures, and social issues such as AIDS. Moreover, this raw, powerful, expressive side of Haitian Carnival can be compared to the artwork of André Eugène, whose work is characterized by and embodies the haunting, provocative …

A Passage To Bowling Green: A Chronological Exploration Of James Baldwin’S Connection To Bgsu’S Ethnic Studies Department, Blaze Campbell

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

James Baldwin became connected to Bowling Green State University’s (BGSU) Ethnic Studies Department starting in the late 1970s, making four visits to campus, once as a guest speaker, once as a Write-in-Residence, and twice as a Distinguished Visiting Professor. The purpose of this paper is to understand how the relationship between BGSU and Baldwin developed. I constructed a historical, chronological narrative utilizing primary sources including various documents from BGSU’s archival collection to understand Baldwin’s affiliation with the university.

Baldwin’s 1977 visit to BGSU was his first public lecture in the United Sates since his departure to France years prior. Additionally, …