African History Commons^™

Some Dimensions Of Farmers'-Pastoralists' Conflicts In The Nigerian Savanna, Mayowa Fasona, Eniola Fabusoro, Comfort Sodiya, Vide Adedayo, Felix Olorunfemi, Peter Omu Elias, John Oyedepo, Grace Oloukoi

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

The savanna ecosystem covers about 48.5% of Nigeria’s land area. It is a national common for intensive cropping and extensive grazing. Fierce competition for land and water resources among the crop farmers and pastoralists is a common feature. This article shares insights from two separate, but linked, studies conducted in the Nigerian savanna on the livelihood and food security of the local peasant farming communities and the vulnerability of the settled Fulani agro-pastoralists’ livelihoods. Household interviews, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews were employed among both the farming and agro-pastoralist communities. 191 respondents in 11 local farming communities and …

Agenda Setting In Uganda: Influencing Attitudes On Land Through Policy And Persuasion, Anne Pitsch Santiago

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

The Government of Uganda (GoU) has been actively advocating land reform and modernization, as demonstrated in the National Development Plan 2010-2015 and other official documents. With the adoption of these policies, there has been a rise in contentious relations between different actors within society, and while widespread violence has been kept in check, reports of small-scale violence over land continues, and dissatisfaction with government land policy exacerbates land tensions and the potential for larger-scale violence remains a serious potential threat. The research questions explored in this article are: in what ways and through which strategies does the GoU attempt agenda …

The Laimbwe Ih'neem Ritual/Ceremony, Food Crisis, And Sustainability In Cameroon, Henry Kam Kah

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

This article examines rituals and ceremonies associated with food sustainability, sufficiency, and/or insufficiency among the Laimbwe people of Boyo and Menchum Divisions of northwest Cameroon from earliest times to the 21st century. Food is important to sustainable livelihood in many rural communities in Cameroon and explains the organization of elaborate food-related ceremonies and rituals. Cameroon’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has recognized the importance of food and has recently embarked on the modernization of farming techniques and practices throughout the country in its “Second Generation” agriculture program. The population is mobilized annually through an official launching of the farming …

Gendering Peacebuilding In Post-Conflict Northern Uganda, Amanda J. Reinke

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Approximately 1.8 million northern Ugandans were internally displaced during conflict between the Ugandan government and Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels (1987-2006). The ethnographic and qualitative research findings presented in this article illuminate the need to address structural violence, not just physical violence, in the aftermath of conflict, and to pay particular attention to how conflict and peacebuilding processes are gendered. Although gender-sensitive approaches to peacebuilding have increased in recent years, especially among scholars, in practice these processes often still fail to adequately address the myriad needs of survivors and to understand the complex interplay between gender, conflict, and post-conflict rebuilding. …

An Assessment Of Rural Household Vulnerability In The Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands Region, Northeastern Nigeria, Ahmadu Abubakar Tafida, Mala Galtima

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

The Hadejia-Nguru wetlands have long been recognized as a World Heritage Site notably for its supportive role to wild birds from Europe, Asia, and Australia. At times the functions of the wetlands have been tremendously jeopardized due to dwindling resources and thus affecting the lives of more than 1.5 million people. A number of projects were initiated by different international communities, such as the Department for International Development (DFID), aimed at fostering sustainable utilization of the natural resource base to improve the well-being of the people. The interventions have rarely succeeded, perhaps due to the lack of understanding of rural …

Introduction: Sustainable Livelihoods, Conflicts, And Transformation, Brandon D. Lundy, Akanmu G. Adebayo

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Introduction to the Journal of Global Initiatives Volume 10, Number 2 "Sustainable Livelihoods and Conflict."

Nigeria: The Matrix Between Fragility Of Livelihoods And Conflict, Abiodun Odusote

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

In recent times, there has been an increased outbreak of conflicts across the globe, particularly in areas experiencing livelihood fragility. Available literature suggests that in a society where livelihoods are threatened, minimal, or non-existent, the people are generally more overwhelmed and prone to violence and conflict. This paper consolidates the available literature on livelihoods and conflict, with the aim of identifying the nexus between the two concepts. The author particularly interrogates the matrix between fragility of livelihoods and armed conflicts, with emphasis on Boko Haram and the Niger Delta conflicts. The article notes that there seems to be a large …

The Application Of Geospatial Analytical Techniques In The Assessment Of Land Use Conflicts Among Farmers And Cross-Boundary Nomadic Cattle Herders In The Gombe Region, Nigeria, Whanda J. Shittu, Mala Galtima, Dan Yakubu

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

In Nigeria, many land use conflicts among the teeming rural agrarian communities in the northern parts of the country are often wrongly attributed to ethno-religious differences while ignoring the salient role environmental degradation, climate change, and urbanization play in exacerbating the conflicts. The two traditional farming groups (crop producers and cattle herders) that contribute immensely to the country’s food security are in constant conflict, thereby threatening sustainable agricultural production. The objective in this article is to investigate the nature and extent of land use changes in the Gombe region using geospatial analytical techniques and assess the implications on land conflicts. …

Spiers, Edward. The Victorian Soldier In Africa: Studies In Imperialism. Manchester And New York: Manchester University Press, 2013. 212pp. [Book Review], Samson K. Ndanyi

Journal of Retracing Africa

No abstract provided.

South African Marriage In Policy And Practice: A Dynamic Story, Michael W. Yarbrough

Publications and Research

Law forms one of the major structural contexts within which family lives play out, yet the precise dynamics connecting these two foundational institutions are still poorly understood. This article attempts to help bridge this gap by applying sociolegal concepts to empirical findings about state law's role in family, and especially in marriage, drawn from across several decades and disciplines of South Africanist scholarly research. I sketch the broad outlines of a nuanced theoretical approach for analysing the law-family relationship, which insists that the relationship entails a contingent and dynamic interplay between relatively powerful regulating institutions and relatively powerless regulated populations. …

Caravanserai, Trade Routes, And Dark Mothers, Eahr Joan

Re-Genesis Encyclopedia

The caravanserai (or Turkish kervansaray) was a roadside area, structure or inn for pilgrims, traveling tradespeople, and their animals providing lodging, substance, trade and marketing opportunities. In addition to providing food and temporary lodgings, many caravanserais also included a black madonna temple, shrine room, holy of holies, sacred cave or adjacent rock shelter. Tethered to the advancement of the caravanserai, was also the spread of African rites and rituals, black madonna temples, and dark goddesses. This was especially apparent with the Phoenicians.

Devotion to the great goddess of the Levant was prolonged by the Phoenicians who lived along the …

Dark Mother Tan-Tan Of Morocco, Eahr Joan

Re-Genesis Encyclopedia

The dark African Palaeoart figure known as Tan-Tan from Morocco appears to be the earliest of the Afrocentric (dark mother) figures. Surrounding sediments indicate that the timeline is c. 500,000 to 300,000 BCE. In Bednarik’s archaeological report, “A Figurine From the African Acheulian 1,” the Tan-Tan female icon is c. 400,000 BCE * and represents the oldest known figure, therefore predating the Late-Acheulian Berekhat Ram. Even though both Tan-Tan and the Berekhat Ram show evidence of ocher (or ochre), the Tan-Tan figure is the first “known instance of pigment application, although older indirect evidence of such a practice does exist.” …

The Origin And Development Of Tigrinya Language Publications (1886 - 1991) Volume One, Abraham Negash

Staff publications, research, and presentations

Tigrinya is a Semitic language spoken in Eritrea and in the Tigray Region of Northern Ethiopia. Tigrinya is one of the nine languages in Eritrea. It was one of Eritrea's official languages (along with Arabic) during the short-lived federation with Ethiopia (1952-1962). When Ethiopia officially annexed Eritrea in 1962, Amharic also formally replaced Tigrinya and Arabic; and was established as an official language by the imperial government of Ethiopia. In 1993, when Eritrea officially declared its independence through referendum. Tigrinya regained its status as a working language.

Tigrinya has its own alphabet of 32 letters adopted from Ge'ez, a language …

The Royal Navy's Employment Of Black Mariners And Maritime Workers, 1754-1783, Charles Foy

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

The Royal Navy has been portrayed as an institution that embodied liberty, regularlyemploying and relying upon blacks to keep its vessels afloat and to implement Britain'sblue water policy. Despite the critical role black naval seamen played, their employmentwas shaped more by regional practices than by Admiralty edicts. The result was that blackswere often treated inequitably. Black seamen had less access to pension benefits andwere not promoted in the same numbers as working-class white seamen. In England andNew York, blacks were largely kept out of royal dockyards and received less favourablecompensation than whites. In contrast, while blacks were employed in great …

A Good Measure Of Sacrifice: Aspects Of Zambia’S Contribution To The Liberation Wars In Southern Africa, 1964-1975, Clarence Chongo

Zambia Social Science Journal

From the early 1960s, and throughout the 1970s, southern African liberation movements successfully waged wars of national liberation, forcing white minority regimes to negotiate independence under black majority rule. This success partly stemmed from extensive diplomatic, military, and material support extended to various liberation movements by regional alliances such as the frontline states and transnational state actors and solidarity movements. This article examines salient aspects of Zambia’s contribution as a prominent regional actor to the liberation wars in southern Africa. In doing so, it underlines the nature and significance of Zambia’s support for the liberation movements. I argue that Zambia’s …

The Student Researcher 2016 (Title Page, Preface, Table Of Contents), Selena Sanderfer Faculty Advisor

The Student Researcher: A Phi Alpha Theta Publication

No abstract provided.

Universalizing Primary Education In Sierra Leone: Promises And Pitfalls On The Path To Equity, Grace Pai

Publications and Research

What barriers remain in the progress towards achieving Universal Primary Education (UPE), and how does the UPE agenda affect out-of-school children? Through a mixture of historical, quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis, this study examines these questions using the developing context of Sierra Leone as a case study.

Findings from over 100 interviews show that first of all, the most salient barrier that prevents children from participating in primary school is the fact that school is not free de facto in spite of the national abolishment of primary school fees in 2004. Rather than commonly cited constraints such as a …

Lasting Legacies: Contemporary Struggles And Historical Dispossession In South Africa, Robin L. Turner

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Contemporary postapartheid South African land struggles are haunted by the long shadow of historical dispossession. While apartheid-era forced removals are justifiably infamous, these traumatic events were moments in the more extended, less frequently referenced, and more expansive process that fundamentally shaped the South African terrain well before 1948. The South African Republic's mid-nineteenth-century assertion of ownership of all land north of the Vaal River and south of the Limpopo marked the start of a long process of racialized dispossession that rendered black people's residence in putatively white areas highly contingent and insecure throughout the former Transvaal. This article analyzes the …

Hashtag Activism And Why #Blacklivesmatter In (And To) The Classroom, Prudence Cumberbatch, Nicole Trujillo-Pagán

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Freedom From Want: Famine Relief In The Horn Of Africa, Christian T. Ruth

Theses and Dissertations--History

The United States, during both the Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan administrations, pursued humanitarian relief in the Horn of Africa and East Africa with an eye towards Cold War politics. During the Carter administration the focus was on Ethiopia and the regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam, while during the Reagan administration the United States’ efforts were mainly targeted towards Sudan and the regime of Gaffar Nimeiry. In both instances, the United States was concerned with the politics of the Cold War, trying to create a more positive image of the U.S. abroad by relieving world hunger, while also propping up …