African Languages and Societies Commons^™

Métissage Culturelle: Identity, Aesthetics, And The Social Roles Of Portraiture In Saint Louis Du Sénégal, Shailee Wilson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

With so clear a history, geography, and memory located in the colonial area, this study explores how contemporary St.Louis, du Sénégal expresses a synthesis of two identities. Métissage culturelle, defined as Franco-African mixed cultural heritage, is rooted in both the public and imaginative identities of St.Louisans creative, artistic, and political force, was heavily influenced by social upheaval and transformation post Independence. This essay argues that nineteenth century portrait photography was an outlet for Sénégalais to create their alternative, self-defined identities in response to changes within their social and cultural environment. Portrait photography is discussed through two frameworks, the social role …

Writing For A Future Audience Contemporary Children's Literature In Wolof, Mariana Robertson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Wolof as a whole is a language in transition from oral to written. The immense oral tradition of stories and songs in Wolof is increasingly being supplemented by new literature. This movement is visible across all genres of literature, but I am particularly interested in literature for children, both because it has been largely ignored in the existing research on Wolof literature, and because I think that children’s literature written in local or indigenous languages is important for increasing literacy and keeping these languages alive and vibrant. I will provide an analysis of the activities of two authors of Wolof …

The Moudawana Syndrome: Gender Trouble In Contemporary Morocco, Jimia Boutouba

Modern Languages & Literature

The present article examines the way Zakia Tahiri’s film Number One (2009) foregrounds a renewed understanding of gender and gender relations in contemporary Morocco, especially in the wake of the New Family Code Reform (Moudawana), which has revolutionized women’s status by increasing their power in the private as well as the public spheres. It centers not on the oft-studied subject of women and the regulation of femininity in Arab countries, but on the complex relationship between masculinity and performance, highlighting the sociocultural norms that have shaped and affected the performance of masculinity in Arabo-Muslim contexts. In particular, this study examines …

Credit Card System In Ghana: An Investigation Of Why Credit Cardsare Not Widely Used In Ghana And How Widespread Use May Be Implemented, Emmanuel Andoh

Masters Theses

Credit card systems offer economic advantages to many families and individuals across the globe. In economically developed countries and most emerging ones, the credit card system helps individuals, businesses, and even government agencies, speed up business transactions and access to short term loans. However in developing countries such as Ghana this is not the case. The result is that many people find it very difficult to buy goods and services without having cash at hand. Moreover a vast majority of people have to carry bags of money to travel across cities, towns and villages in the country to trade and …

The Growing Women’S Political Activism In Africa 1990-2010: An Explanatory Analysis Of Institutions And Contexts, Sylivia Juta

Dissertations

Women all over the world face significant social, cultural, political, and economic barriers that prevent them from obtaining leadership positions. Africa is no exception. However, in the past four decades, Africa has shown a remarkable increase in the number of women gaining political leadership positions, in particular as representatives in parliaments. Due to this remarkable increase in the number of women in parliament in africa, there is a dearth of literature exploring this phenomenon more systematically. Most studies on women’s representation focus on the context of developed countries. The few studies on the African continent are mostly single case studies …

"Synthesizing Cubism And Surrealism: Wifredo Lam's 1940s Cuban Works", Kelsey Winiarsky

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

As a modernist artist, Wifredo Lam used issues of racial degradation and colonialism as a catalyst to create work that directly addressed issues of colonialism in Cuba. Akin to Picasso’s process of appropriating of African motifs within a modern, Cubist style, Wifredo Lam created and appropriated a pastiche of both Surrealistic and Cubist styles into his 1940s paintings. The utilization of these modern styles engendered Lam’s international reputation while providing him with a powerful, creative outlet to express his struggle as an Afro-Cuban. Through the use of African masks and the Santería religion in his paintings during this time period, …

"Africa In The Museum: The Politics Of The Display Of African Material Culture At The Field Museum", Kristin Otto

Africana Studies Student Research Conference (2013-2019)

In this paper, I will analyze how museum exhibitions use material culture to construct and present a narrative about Africa. Exhibiting material culture reflects the power, authority, and ideology of the exhibitor, sometimes at the expense of the displayed culture’s agency in representation. Museums have a particularly infamous history of distorting African culture in exhibits, often validating racist ideologies. Consequently, zealous museum critics have begun to question the relevance of museums in the future public education. The public, however, continues to visit museums and experience exhibits featuring African objects. Based on the challenges and controversies museums exhibiting African objects face …

Le Rapport Entre La France Et Le Rwanda Au Passé, Au Présent, Et À L’Avenir, Claire Nadolski

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Le Rwanda est un pays d’Afrique centrale de l’est. Peuplé d’environ 10. 942.950 millions d’habitants parlant français, anglais, et Kinyarwanda. Bien que la France n’ait jamais colonisé le Rwanda, les deux pays ont un rapport très spécial. L’évènement historique auquel tout le monde pense est, sans aucun doute, le génocide au Rwanda et « l’Opération Turquoise » dans laquelle les Français ont aidé et protégé les Hutus qui tuaient des millions de Tutsis dans le but « soidisant » de la paix. Le génocide est un élément très important dans l’histoire du Rwanda, mais ce n’était pas la seule partie …

Introduction Fed Up: Creating A New Type Of Senegal Through The Arts, Molly Krueger Enz, Devin Bryson

School of American and Global Studies Faculty Publications with a Focus on Modern Languages and Global Studies

Present-day Senegal is home to a vibrant cultural milieu that, in many respects, is reflective of that which its first president, Léopold Sédar Senghor, and the Senegalese cultural eminences grises endeavored to promote during the early postcolonial period. As Elizabeth Harney has noted, Senghor “regarded art as a medium of change—a tool that could be used to advance his cultural, political, and economic development plans. Consequently, he envisioned the artist as a representative of and advocate for a new nation.” Today, there exists a burgeoning scene of young authors, artists, actors, and musicians who are continuing in this Senghorian cultural …

Nafissatou Dia Diouf’S Critical Look At A “Senegal In The Midst Of Transformation”, Molly Krueger Enz

School of American and Global Studies Faculty Publications with a Focus on Modern Languages and Global Studies

Nafissatou Dia Diouf is a Senegalese author who has garnered recognition both in her home country and internationally since she began publishing in the 1990s. Her work, including fiction, poetry, children’s literature, and philosophical essays, portrays diverse topics as they relate to her country such as education, marriage, polygamy, maternity/paternity, the influence of the West, the roles of business and government, and the power of the media. Diouf provides her reader with a comprehensive yet critical view of Senegal and shows how her homeland is affected by and reacts to the changes it currently faces. In a recent interview, Diouf …

A Longitudinal Case Study Of The Impact Of Democracy On Food Security In Ghana And Implications For Theory Development, Katelyn Marie Colaric

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reports the results of a qualitative, longitudinal case study of Ghana that examined the impact of democracy on food security within Ghana since its democratization in 1992. First, the study reviews existing literature about food security, a newly-emerging concern in political science, as well as the literature on democracy and human rights. To fill the gaps in existing literature regarding the impact of democracy on food security, [and the author finds it overzealous to prove that democracy always benefits food security levels across varying states, cultures, and years] the thesis examines food security developments in Ghana, a developing …

Jora: Complete Volume 1, Issue 1

Journal of Retracing Africa

We are pleased to announce the inaugural issue of Journal of Retracing Africa (JORA). For centuries, Africa’s socioeconomic and political development has been dictated by a dynamic and complex coalescence of external and domestic forces. Narratives on Africa abound. Many, unfortunately, hold myths, misconceptions, and misrepresentations of issues and events surrounding the continent. The launching of JORA is an attempt to offer a thoughtful and balanced reconstruction of African societies, histories, and cultures. By providing a platform for scholars to provide their unique perspectives on all aspects of the African experience, JORA makes a valuable contribution towards producing an account …

The Editor's Preface

Journal of Retracing Africa

No abstract provided.

Review Of Barz, Gregory And Cohen, Judah M., Eds. The Culture Of Aids In Africa: Hope And Healing Through Music And The Arts. New York: Oxford, 2011, Xvii + 538 Pp., Aje-Ori Agbese

Journal of Retracing Africa

No abstract provided.

Review Of Yewah, Emmanuel And Dimeji Togunde, Eds. Across The Atlantic: African Immigrants In The United States Diaspora. Illinois: Common Ground, 2010, Vii + 174 Pp., Amadu Jacky Kaba

Journal of Retracing Africa

No abstract provided.

Review Of Honwana, Alcinda. The Time Of Youth: Work, Social Change, And Politics In Africa. Sterling, Va: Kumarian Press, 2012, Xiv + 222 Pp., Mwenda Ntarangwi

Journal of Retracing Africa

No abstract provided.

Review Of Allina, Eric. Slavery By Any Other Name: African Life Under Company Rule In Colonial Mozambique. Charlottesville: University Of Virginia Press, 2012, Xiii + 255 Pp., Salome C. Nnoromele

Journal of Retracing Africa

No abstract provided.

Review Of Bruder, Edith, Ed. The Black Jews Of Africa: History, Religion, Identity. Oxford: University Press, 2011, Xii + 283 Pp., Raphael Chijioke Njoku

Journal of Retracing Africa

No abstract provided.

Review Of Vansina, Jan. Being Colonized: The Kuba Experience In Rural Congo, 1880-1960. Wisconsin: The University Of Wisconsin Press, 2010, V + 342 Pp., Ogechi E. Anyanwu

Journal of Retracing Africa

No abstract provided.

Review Of Arnfred, Signe. Sexuality And Gender Politics In Mozambique: Rethinking Gender In Africa. Suffolk, United Kingdom: James Currey, 2011, Ix + 310 Pp., Aje-Ori Agbese

Journal of Retracing Africa

No abstract provided.

Review Of Anyanwu, Ogechi E. The Politics Of Access: University Education And Nation-Building In Nigeria, 1948-1960. Calgary: University Of Calgary Press, 2011, Xvi + 298 Pp., Saheed Aderinto

Journal of Retracing Africa

No abstract provided.

Review Of Dávila, Jerry. Hotel Trópico: Brazil And The Challenge Of African Decolonization, 1950–1980. Durham, Nc: Duke University Press, 2010, Ix + 312 Pp., Phil E. Muehlenbeck

Journal of Retracing Africa

No abstract provided.

The Dynamics Of Forced Neoliberalism In Nigeria Since The 1980s, Olumide Victor Ekanade

Journal of Retracing Africa

Abstract: Over the last 30 years, the logic of market liberalization has increasingly permeated the social and economic facets of political and economic discourse to such an extent that the core values about the responsibilities and obligations of nation-states to their citizens have been strained. The welfarist ethos featuring in the public fi nance of some European and North American countries for much of the twentieth century included values such as equity and access, which manifested in the subsidization and aff ordability of social amenities. The welfarist concept, premised on the experience of western European economies, was based on the …

The Security Challenges Of Drug Trafficking In West Africa: Why Agenda-Setting Matters, Felix Kumah-Abiwu

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

Reproduced with permission of the editor. Available at http://www.africa-upeace.org/images/pdfs/Publications/PEACEBUILDING.pdf

Language Ideologies In Morocco, Sybil Bullock

Anthropology Department Honors Papers

The process of decolonization in Morocco has created new spaces for displaying national identity, most notably through the development of official policies regarding the acquisition, promotion, and performance of language in the public sphere. The flow of languages into the Moroccan linguistic mosaic has facilitated the transmission of beliefs about language as well. These beliefs are far from neutral, for each language possesses symbolic capital that grants access to explicitly demarcated domains of power. In this thesis, I examine the construction of national power that resides in discourses on multilingualism in Morocco. In the process, I uncover the sources of …

Autotraduction, Traduction Interculturelle Et Intersémiotique Dans La Quarta Via De Kaha Mohamed Aden, Simone Brioni

Department of English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Adversity Influencing Regard For Education In Northern Uganda: A Phenomenological Study Of Langi Mothers' Value Of Learning, Pamela Pryfogle

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study explored the Northern Ugandan Langi mothers' regard for education in the aftermath of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) conflict and occupation and in the on-going experience of adversity. As both targets and victims of LRA savagery, the Langi and Acholi people have endured over 22 years of war, displacement, and devastation. This phenomenological study specifically identified 9 Langi mothers who were survivors of LRA perpetrated atrocities and live today in adverse village environments. The study used guided interviews and art with storytelling/narrative to elicit a rich, thick, essence of lived experience and to answer the question: How have …

African Poetry Book Fund-African Poetry Library Manual: How To Manage And Set Up The Library., Lorna M. Dawes, Charlene Maxey-Harris

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

The African Poetry Library Initiative, an initiative of the African

Poetry Book Fund, is a collaborative venture to establish

accessible and user-friendly small poetry libraries on the African

continent to support aspiring and established poets and to give

them access to contemporary poetry in books and journals, and

to serve as a resource for poets interested in publication in Africa

and around the world. The initiative will be guided by

collaboration between US and UK publishers of poetry, literary

arts organizations, poet’s libraries and literary journals and

African libraries, writers co-ops or cultural centers, and poets and

will be coordinated …

Slavocracy's Collective Atlantic: Utopian And Dystopian Discourse In Contemporary Narratives Of Slavery, Jalaine Nicole Weller

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A number of contemporary narratives of slavery speak to a collective experience of the transatlantic slave trade and engage that space as a narrative contact zone of heterogeneous interpretations of slavery. These interpretations emphasize the multiplicity of black and white subjectivity and the personal struggle to self-create utopian relational experience within and without the dystopian reality of enslavement. Overall, it is the Atlantic--as a physical space, temporal triangle, and personal experience--that facilitates this collective experience.

Subsequently, this project intends to explore what I am calling the "Collective Atlantic," which is a concept that applies to the following contemporary narratives of …

How Civil Society Represents Women: Feminists, Catholics, And Mobilization Strategies In Africa, Alice J. Kang

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

In recent years, civil society has risen to speak on behalf of underrepresented groups in Africa. In particular, civil society has advocated for the representation of women’s interests. Yet, relatively little is known about the full range of actors who seek the representation of women’s interests, mobilize around women’s issues, and articulate specific preferences. Some of these actors include not only feminists, but also religious activists who may clash over women’s issues. This gap in knowledge, moreover, extends to non-democratic countries. Who in civil society seeks to influence the representation of women’s interests and how, in both democratic and authoritarian …