African Languages and Societies Commons^™

Reaching For The Heart: An Analysis Of Language As A Weapon Of Empathy For Three Capetonians, Sarah Mcdonald

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this paper, I examine the role that cross-cultural language study plays in the lives of three Capetonians in order to explore its capacity to foster empathy between people of different backgrounds. Framed in the context of South African history and modern academic discourse around language use in educational and public spaces in the country, I present the stories of my three interviewees and analyze particular experiences that they relayed in order to trace trends of empathy and understanding through their language use.

Through my discussion of this qualitative data, I reach the conclusion that language can be an effective …

The Power Dynamics Of Language: An Analysis Of The Positionality Of Amazigh Language In Morocco, Jessica Schwed

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In 2001, in an unprecedented act, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, stated in a speech that he would take actions to create an organization dedicated to the protection of Amaizgh language and culture. A few months later, he issued a royal Dahair that created the Insitut Royale de la Culture Amazighe (IRCAM), an organization that was tasked with protecting the Amazigh language and culture, as well as, advising King Mohammed VI on all matters related to Amazigh language and culture. The creation of this institution led to the start of a standardization process, whereby the IRCAM has committed to creating …

An Analysis Of Positive Coping Mechanisms Utilized To Overcome Trauma In Post-Genocidal Rwanda, Danielle Marvin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

From April 7th to July 1st of 1994, one million Rwandan people were brutally murdered by their friends and neighbors in the meticulously planned and government-sponsored Genocide against the Tutsi. Survivors witnessed killings and sexual assault, had their lives threatened, lost multiple family members, and hid under dead bodies to evade the killers. To make matters worse, trust within communities and even within families was destroyed as Hutu perpetrators turned against Tutsis they had, days earlier, been inviting to family events. After the genocide, PTSD rates among adults in Rwanda were estimated at 20.5% for men and 30% for women …

'You Become A Rock': Conceptions Of Motherhood And Lessons Of Race As Told And Photographed By Four Mothers From Cape Town, South Africa, Kaitlin Abrams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study will discuss conceptions of motherhood and lessons of racial identity through the lens of four women from Cape Town, South Africa. Utilizing both semi-structured interviews and photovoice, stories of motherhood are told as a journey from childhood to adulthood, in which one’s experience of being mothered influences decisions in current motherhood. In interviews, mothers pinpoint conceptions of good motherhood that encompass both financial support for one’s children and attentiveness, informed mostly by one’s race and class background. Additionally, experiences surrounding discrimination and silencing in childhood differ between races, later informing the way that mothers chose to share lessons …

Whiteness Under Pressure: Race, Masculinities, And The Negotiation Of Power In A Transforming South Africa, Sarah Bradach

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study expands upon whiteness studies that aim to interrogate whiteness and render it visible in contexts where it may operate as the norm, and explore its relationship with expressions of dominant and subordinated masculinities in post-apartheid South Africa. Using the lived experiences of white men in South Africa, the researcher examines themes of power and dispossession in relation to expressions of masculinities during the country’s recent economic, political, and social transformation. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather data surrounding participants’ experiences of transformation, the majority of which took place at a bowling club outside of Durban. …

Subversion And The State: Politics Of Moroccan Hip-Hop And Rap Music, Grace Findlen-Golden

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper examines the political significance of recent developments within the Moroccan hiphop scene in the period following the “Arab Spring.” Since its emergence in the 1980s, Moroccan hip-hop has been used as a medium through which artists have been able to comment on social and political issues. During the past two decades with Morocco under the rule of King Mohammed VI, the content and implications of this art have undergone a transformation, particularly with regard to political commentary and artists’ relationship to the state. This research explores the evolution of hip-hop and rap music in Morocco over that time …

The Sacred Forest And The Mythical Python: Ecology, Conservation, And Sustainability In Kom, Cameroon, C. 1700-2000, Walter Gam Nkwi Dr

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Scholars have taken a keen interest in the social and cultural meanings of the African landscape in the reconstruction of the continent’s history (Giblin, 1992; Spear, 1997; Wagner, 1995). But how much did Africans know of their environmental past? This article explores the indigenous history of ecology, focusing on the medicinal forest (ak’u mii-fii) and the mythical python (iigw-im) and their link with livelihood and sustainability in Kom, Cameroon. The paper argues that the Kom people have always been conserving their forests since the pre-colonial era. During the colonial period and especially in the 1930s many hectares of land including …

"Ewondo In The Classes, French For The Masses." Mother-Tongue Education In Yaoundé, Cameroon., Parker Henry

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cameroon is home to over two hundred eighty native languages coming from three language families, making it one of the most linguistically diverse countries on Earth. Despite this, native languages hold very few domains in Cameroonian society. In recent years, several experimental programs have begun to implement native languages in schools citing that children learn best in their mother tongue. Among these include ELAN-Afrique, an initiative put forth by La Francophonie with the main aim of helping students better learn French by way of their mother tongue. This paper seeks to differentiate the benefits prescribed or expected by overhead actors …

Shifting Mental Health From The Back Burner: An Investigation Of The Mental Health Treatment Gap, Eva Hanorah Stanton

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research project is to investigate solutions to the so-called ‘mental health treatment gap’. The need for scholarship in this area is underscored by the recent tragedy in the Gauteng province, which has brought the neglect of the mental health sector into the public eye. Through semi-structured interviews with six key stakeholders in the fields of mental health and health policy this project seeks to better understand the causes of the mental health treatment gap and the impact National Health Insurance (NHI) rollout may have on access to quality mental healthcare. Sub-themes explored include: the integration of …

Discourses Of Psychiatry And Culture: The Interface Between Western And Traditional Medicine In The Treatment Of Mental Illness, Madeline Molot

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mental illness is a burden of disease that, in many countries, is neglected; South Africa is no exception. There are many reasons for this, including but not limited to a lack of specialized mental health personnel in primary care settings, a budget that favors South Africa’s communicable disease epidemic, and a continued stigma around mental illness. Whenever discussing the healthcare system in South Africa, however, it is important to note another parallel system of care, one with little to no budget or regulation: that of traditional healing. It is estimated that over 70% of South Africans have at some point …

Kul Shae Mizean—Moroccan Rhetoric Of Racism: Obscured Moroccan Racism And Its Effects On Sub-Saharan African Refugees’ Integration In Rabat, Hannah Mangen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper aims to examine the overarching rhetoric surrounding racism against the Black

community in Morocco, specifically targeted toward refugees and migrants, and how the presence of racism—and the absence of a public conversation about its manifestation in Morocco—impacts the extent to which Sub-Saharan African[1] refugees feel they have been able to integrate. This is an attempt to find how the blindness of the majority of Moroccans to racism promotes its perpetuation and hinders refugees’ integration, and to understand how, by acknowledging and speaking out against racism, the human rights of refugees can be better advocated for by NGOs …

The Acts Of Subjugation And Repatriation Of Africa And Its People Through The Viewfinder, Mariah Morales

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

No abstract provided.

Monuments, Movements, & Memory: The Visual And Spatial Implications Of The Shooting At Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Megan G. Zembower

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

This paper focuses on the dichotomous relationship of race relations and visual culture in the American South, with a particular focus on the shooting of nine black Americans at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17, 2015 by Caucasian South Carolinian Dylann Roof. Prior to the shooting, Roof posted images of himself posed in front of various Confederate landmarks in South Carolina to online social media platforms. Using these images as evidence, I contend that Roof’s racist motivation for the crime was, in part, fostered by the surrounding environment that memorializes fallen Confederate soldiers …

Vohou-Vohou: A Search For Post-Colonial Cultural Identity In Cote D’Ivoire, Olivia Keefer

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

This paper addresses the Vohou-Vohou movement (1970s-1980s) in Cote d’Ivoire. Through an explanation of the region’s history, the paper brings to light the motivations of the movement and its founders. The work of Youssouf Bath, Théodore Koudougnon, and Kra Nguessan are the focus of this paper to represent the movement’s style, formation, and impact on Cote d’Ivoire culture. Vohou-Vohou developed a decade after Cote d’Ivoire gained independence from French colonial control, and the movement became an inward return to local culture. The artists had an interest in rejecting the West. A visual representation of the rejection is seen through Vohou-Vohou …

Painting Photographs: Absence On Mohammed Mahmoud Street, Kirsten Stricker

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

The Egyptian Revolution prompted an outpouring of art. It filled the streets of Cairo, a city that had lacked any street art prior to the revolution, with large murals and art of every kind. Ammar Abo Bakr says that his massive murals are not art — they are news. His works are a protest against the censorship and selective reporting of the mainstream media. Bakr is best known for his large mural on Mohammed Mahmoud Street near Tahrir Square, Cairo. The mural is massive and contains many elements. One element consists of paintings of mothers holding photographs of their children …

The Essence Of Bogolanfini: Thinking About Ethical Design With African Inspiration, Sierra N. Bailey-Van Kuren

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

Bogolanfini are intricately designed textiles created by Bamana women in Mali. The cloths are created through a natural process, producing rich designs and motifs that address stories, narratives, female-specific ideas or relate to historical events. Each textile is hand made for a particular individual and given to her as she enters adulthood, an event marked by puberty and clitoridectomy. During this time, the cloth is used to absorb blood from the operation, a process transferring the woman’s spirit into the bogolanfini. As she progresses through life, the utility of her bogolanfini extends to absorbing her life-blood during menstruation, first intercourse …

Rethinking The "Anonymous:" Simeon Agbetuyi And The Yoruba Example, Caroline Bastian

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

In looking at “Traditional” and “Contemporary” African Art, it is clear Western culture still struggles with recognition of the individual African artist. For example, most museum exhibitions displaying local or more continent-based African art still tend to embody a flawed sense of “traditional” art created by a culture rather than an individual. In contrast, contemporary African art stresses the importance of the singular artist, their personal style, historical context, and cultural motivation. Part of the problem stems from colonialism, when many Western “collectors” seized any art they deemed valuable and “exotic,” taking it away from context leaving behind all information …

African Mask Display In Context, Elise C. Aronson

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

African masquerade is deeply interconnected with the community in which it performs. However, in Western-based exhibition display, the mask becomes the sole object of scrutiny and interest, decontextualizing it from its holistic dimension and multi-media interface. In fact, much of masquerade’s cultural significance is lost if the dynamic multimedia display of which the mask is part becomes alienated from its holistic context, reducing it to a mere static object hung on a wall. The argument can be raised, to mount a mask on a white wall or behind glass, especially grouped among other masks from Africa, as many museums do, …

Renee Green: Combination Artist, Cail P. Lininger

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

Renée Green, a combination artist, engages viewers in multi-faceted and diverse topics without directly addressing the central theme. In Partially Buried In Three Parts (1991-1996), Green utilizes films shot in a “home-movie” fashion and site-specific archiving to curate complex dialogues across three different locations: Kent State in 1991, exploring the shootings in 1970 and Robert Smithson’s installation, Partially Buried Woodshed; Germany and the United States and what it means to be a displaced national undergoing culture shock; and Korea, in war and peace. Green originally displayed all three in an installation designed to invoke feelings of nostalgia amidst confusion regarding …

Media In The Murid World: Analysis Of Inscribed Faith And Religious Identity In Murid Agencies’ Media Approach, Macodou Fall

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

Previous studies about Muridiyya have mostly focused on the economic and political influences of the Senegalese Sufi Islamic Brotherhood founded by Shaykh Amadu Bamba at the end of 19^th century. At the beginning, Muridiyya was a reactive force to colonialism and it aimed to propose alternatives to Western cultural and economic domination. However, the rapid growth of Muridiyya was possible via the creation of decentralized Murid organizations and groups called dahiras (religious associations). Prior to the rise of dahiras, Murid’s religious ideology spread throughout daaras (Quranic schools), which intended to initiate Murid talibes (disciples) to Islam and the …