African Languages and Societies Commons^™

Factoring As A Financing Alternative For African Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Robert Lumbuye Tomusange

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the main drivers of economic growth and employment. African SMEs are constrained by a lack of access to finance. In line with the pecking order theory, capital-constrained SMEs are expected to seek external finance. However, due to credit rationing, African SMEs have limited success raising finance. Factoring could enable African SMEs to gain access to finance, as underwriters mainly place the risk on the receivables as opposed to the firm itself. Despite its benefits, factoring has not taken root in sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the obstacles and …

And I Heard 'Em Say: Listening To The Black Prophetic, Cameron J. Cook

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis aims to explore how conceptions of the black prophetic tradition, as discussed by thinkers Cornel West and George Shulman, might be expanded into the realm of African American musical traditions and genres. I argue that musical genres like the blues and hip-hop function as an affective discourse that aesthetically, politically and religiously function as sites of resistance to white supremacy and provide alternate pathways to liberation as compared to more canonical instantiations of the black prophetic. In particular I provide close readings of performances and art by Nina Simone and Kanye West.

An Analysis And Response To The Fear Of Evil Spiritual Forces Among Kamba Christians In The Light Of Biblical And Ellen G. White Teachings, Joseph Mutune Ndisya

Dissertations

This research aimed to discover whether there are any reasons from the Scriptures and writings of Ellen G. White regarding fear of evil spiritual forces. Thus research aims to understand the historical, cultural and religious reasons Kamba Christians frequently live in fear and dual allegiance. Biblical solutions will be suggested to permanently eliminate that fear. Fear is often so great that born-again Christians carry protective devices and practices which they believe will ward off the invading evil spiritual forces.

The Old Testament writings were examined to see how God wanted His people to relate to any evil power. The Old …

The Story Of Swahili, John M. Mugane

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Swahili was once an obscure dialect of an East African Bantu language. Today more than one hundred million people use it: Swahili is to eastern and central Africa what English is to the world. From its embrace in the 1960s by the black freedom movement in the United States to its adoption in 2004 as the African Union’s official language, Swahili has become a truly international language. How this came about and why, of all African languages, it happened only to Swahili is the story that John M. Mugane sets out to explore.

The remarkable adaptability of Swahili has allowed …

Cfp - Pan-African/Palestinian Solidarities

South

This collection seeks to assemble and make visible the historical and contemporary voices of bi-directional solidarity between Palestine and the Pan-African world. Shared struggles against colonialism, racism, apartheid, settler violence, historical erasure, patriarchy, class exploitation, and other forms of oppression link Pan-African and Palestinian communities throughout all periods of their often intertwined and overlapping histories. This is particularly true in the period of anti-colonial independence struggles, especially following the 1967 war, and in the global BDS movement today. But it is also continuous throughout the twentieth century, and especially since the Nakba in 1948. Because much of this history is …

Into The Red: A Look Into The Reasons Why Refugees Decide To Flee, Settle Or Migrate To And From Morocco, Fadeelah E. Holivay

Master's Theses

This research paper explores some of the main reasons why refugees and asylum seekers, particularly from sub-Saharan African countries, embark on a journey and decide to settle, flee or migrate to and from Morocco. Because of this phenomenon, Morocco has seen a 96% increase of refugees migrating to the borders of Morocco each year for the past three years. Many say that this astonishing increase of migrants choosing Morocco is due to such factors as: wars breaking out regionally across central African and Middle Eastern countries causing them to flee; Morocco being a culturaly diverse francophone country whose laws and …

Are We Experiencing A ‘Post–Method’ Era In Second Language Teaching?, Rodrick G. Ndomba

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Approaches to Second Language teaching have been changing over time. The pivotal force behind the changes globally has been the quest for the best approach. New methods have emerged as old ones are discarded, with less prospects to achieve the best. This paper revisits the chronology of events characterizing the war of methods globally, and highlights key current issues underlining English language teaching in Tanzanian secondary schools. Central to the battle on methods is the need for proper preparation of English language teachers amid claims that their linguistic and methodological standards have been on the decline over decades. Indeed, the …

Similar’ Language Contact But ‘Different’ Language Change: Historical Lessons From Loanwords In Tanzanian Bantu Communities, Amani Lusekelo

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper contributes to the on-going discussion about integration of foreign cultures into African communities, one of the areas documented by Sam Maghimbi. It articulates the results of human contacts through examination of loanwords for similar semantic notions across Bantu languages of Tanzania. The rationale for this study emanates from a lacuna in previous works that focused on phonological and morphological changes, and undervalued the power of internal semantic modifications that accommodate new concepts. The paper analyses loanwords of individual words that surround three contact areas: western (formal) education, Christian religion, and (modern) healthcare. The paper shows that contact situations …

Generational Inversions: 'Working' For Social Reproduction Amid Hiv In Swaziland, Casey Golomski

Anthropology

How do people envision social reproduction when regular modes of generational succession and continuity are disrupted in the context of HIV/AIDS? How and where can scholars identify local ideas for restoring intergenerational practices of obligation and dependency that produce mutuality rather than conflict across age groups? Expanding from studies of HIV/AIDS and religion in Africa, this article pushes for an analytic engagement with ritual as a space and mode of action to both situate local concerns about and practices for restoring dynamics of social reproduction. It describes how the enduring HIV/AIDS epidemic in Swaziland contoured age patterns of mortality where …

Chercheurs D’Afrique Et Archive Coloniale, Jean-Pierre Karegeye

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The main goal of this article is to demonstrate that discourse on the Rwandan genocide has an origin. In other words, the hamitic myth transcends the question of race and is present in its most radical form in the events of 1994 in Rwanda. However, the myth itself is not intrinsically genocidal, but it did clear the path. The danger arose when the myth was demythified, that is to say, perceived as historic reality and scientific knowledge, and entered a new environment of genocide discourse. To proceed based on the notion of archive is to approach the genocide in relation …

Matière Grise De Kivu Ruhorahoza : Un Nouveau Discours Filmique Pour Le Rwanda?, Charles J. Sugnet

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Films like Hotel Rwanda, Sometimes in April, and Shooting Dogs have codified certain ways of representing the 1994 Rwandan genocide, with realist aesthetics, epic sweep, and aspirations to historical authenticity. A young Rwandan director, Kivu Ruhorahoza, has won two major prizes at the Tribeca Festival for his 2011 feature Grey Matter, a breakthrough film that is different from its predecessors in almost every respect. Ruhorahoza’s film is intimate, cosmopolitan, metaphorical, and avant-garde; it requires some effort to understand, yet it is extremely moving. On the 20th Anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, it offers new ways of understanding the consequences …

Bernard Binlin Dadié, Le Père De La Littérature En Côte D’Ivoire, Claire L. Dehon

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

To fully understand today’s literature in the Ivory Coast, it is important to remember its first steps. A general overview of the main ideas and characteristics of Bernard B. Dadié’s literary works demonstrates the audacity and originality of the first Ivorian who wrote in French, and who helped impose French as the national language in the Ivory Coast.

The Influence Of Underlying Factors And The Relationship Of Hiv/Aids Among African Americans In Shreveport, Louisiana And Surrounding Areas, Frederick T. Ellis Sr.

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The significance of this study was to evaluate multiple underlying factors among African Americans in Shreveport, Louisiana and the influence of those factors on their relationship with HIV/AIDS. This is extremely important for two very reasons. First, in the past 30 years since the initial presentation of HIV/AIDS into society, a shift in the demographic of the infected individuals has resulted in African Americans becoming the new face of HIV/AIDS in the United States. Secondly, African Americans are only 12 to 13% of the United States population, but they represent more than 45% of all new HIV/AIDS cases reported annually. …

Esquisse D’Un Projet Épistémologique Pour La Science Politique Dans Une Afrique Post-Génocide, Mame-Penda Ba

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This article attempts to answer two main questions: “What does it mean to teach political science in an African university when oneself is African?” and “what social realities are we documenting (or should we document)?” As a political scientist, I came to ask myself these questions based on my encounter with the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda, and based on the questions that this major event had kindled in me. My encounter with the subject of “genocide” was in all respects an upheaval because I understood suddenly a large weakness in the way political science was taught at Université …

The Imam And The Pastor: Attempts At Peace In Nigeria Using Interfaith Dialogue, Jinelle Piereder

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

2014 Common Book Convocation: Naomi Benaron, Author Of "Running The Rift.", Naomi Benaron

Common Book Program

Naomi Benaron earned an MFA from Antioch University and an MS in earth sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She teaches creative writing through UCLA Writers Extension and is a writing mentor for the Afghan Women’s Writing Project. An advocate for African refugees in her home community of Tucson, Ariz., she has also worked with genocide survivor groups in Rwanda. She won the G. S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction for her collection, Love Letters from a Fat Man. She is a marathon runner and an Ironman triathlete.

Fearless: Margaret Jennifer Johnson, Christina L. Bassler

SURGE

Fearless Margaret “Jennifer” Johnson arrived on campus in the fall of 2011, she wasted no time in looking for opportunities to get involved. During her first year, she joined the Gettysburg Gospel Choir as treasurer, rebuilt houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina during an Immersion trip with CPS, was a member of the BSU, and a Senate Rep for the NAACP. Her list of involvement in clubs and organizations continued to grow throughout her years on campus, however, she felt like a part of her was still absent on campus. [excerpt]

Once Upon Our Time: The Ancient Art Of Storytelling In A Contemporary West Africa, Harlee Keller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Storytelling is an art form that has been flourishing in Senegal since the country’s origin. Traditionally, storytelling was a communal endeavor, oral and interactive. As modernity crept up on Senegal storytelling began to change, oral tradition only partially surviving in rural settings, almost completely obsolete in big cities. I am particularly interested in how Wolof tales and oral storytelling are surviving in a modernizing Senegal. I think that storytelling is a form of cultural education for children and adults alike, and that preservation is dire for the survival of this art. I will discuss story structure, content and the opinions …

African-Born Women’S Birth Experiences In Worcester, Ma, Marianne Sarkis, Anneke Kat, Maya Baum, Bernadine Mayhungu

Local Knowledge: Worcester Area Community-Based Research

How do African Immigrant women interact with the Worcester healthcare system during pregnancy?

This study follows stories told by mostly Ghanaian women living in Worcester in order to understand their challenges in the maternal healthcare system. The researchers seek to understand cultural differences, socio-economic standing and communication challenges that have led to these women having one of the highest infant mortality rates in Worcester. The authors found that their interviews with healthcare providers shed the most light on what discrepancies exist between how the health care providers understand how this population experiences birth opposed to how these women experience birth …

“In Light Of Real Alternatives”: Negotiations Of Fertility And Motherhood In Morocco And Oman, Victoria E. Mohr

Student Publications

Many states in the Arab world have undertaken wide-ranging family planning polices in the last two decades in an effort to curb high fertility rates. Oman and Morocco are two such countries, and their policies have had significantly different results. Morocco experienced a swift drop in fertility rates, whereas Oman’s fertility has declined much more slowly over several decades. Many point to the more conservative religious and cultural context of Oman for their high fertility rates, however economics and the state of biomedical health care often present a more compelling argument for the distinct differences between Omani and Moroccan family …