African Studies Commons^™

1st Annual Walter Rodney Speakers Series (2013)

Groundings

We take a look at the semester-long project to bring together intellectuals from all backgrounds and education. Included: A brief synopsis of the Series and a photo narrative.

10th Annual Walter Rodney Symposium Wrap Up

Groundings

We take a look at the monumental occasion that was the 10th Annual Walter Rodney Symposium, held on March 22nd and 23rd, 2013. Included: A brief synopsis of events and a photo narrative of the Symposium

Introduction

Groundings

This is the Introduction for Groundings Vol. 1, Iss. 1.

Cover And Table Of Contents

Groundings

This is the Cover and Table of Contents for Groundings Vol. 1, Iss. 1.

Black Is Decidedly Not Just Black: A Case Study On Hiv Among African-Born Populations Living In Massachusetts, Chioma Nnaji, Nzinga Metzger

Trotter Review

Black or African American is a racial category that includes the descendants of enslaved Africans as well as members of foreign-born black communities who migrated to the United States from places abroad, such as Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Grouping native-born and foreign-born blacks into a single homogeneous racial category may make it easier to track disease and health outcomes; however, it masks the different cultural experiences, histories, languages, social and moral values, and expectations that influence health beliefs, attitudes, practices, and behaviors. It also ignores such factors as migration, which forces foreign-born populations to examine both their traditional …

The Somali Diaspora In Greater Boston, Paul R. Camacho, Abdi Dirshe, Mohamoud Hiray, Mohamed J. Farah

Trotter Review

Our nation was founded on and thrives on immigration. One of the newest immigrant groups in the Boston area are Somalis. They are among the largest of the new populations of African immigrants. While precise numbers are very difficult to determine, there are approximately 8,000 in the Greater Boston area and another 2,000 estimated across the rest of Massachusetts. Very few studies have examined Somalis in the United States, and no studies exist on the community in Boston or Massachusetts.

It is an interesting sociological question to ask how similar the Somali experience has been in the United States (and …

It’S In The Backbone: Dance From Africa Through The Diaspora, An Interview With Deama Battle, Deama Battle, Kenneth J. Cooper

Trotter Review

Classically trained in dance, DeAma Battle became interested in Africa-rooted dance in the 1960s. She started performing the traditional dances from Africa that spread, via the Atlantic slave trade, to the United States, the Caribbean, and South America. She not only has performed those steps and movements, Battle has studied them, with master dancers from West Africa, Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba. One of her teachers and mentors was Chuck Davis, a leading African American teacher of traditional African dance. Her research has probed deeper, into the field abroad, on dance-study tours to Haiti, Jamaica, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, and other …

“Nous Souffrons” Examining The Problems Facing Urban Refugees In Yaoundé, Cameroon, Morgan Walbert

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper is the product of a study that examines the experiences of urban refugees in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Refugees around the world, often victims of unthinkable human rights abuses, are forced to rely fully on the hospitality and protection of the international community. This unique relationship between a refugee and his/her host state can present serious challenges to both parties. This research examined the resources available to refugees in Yaoundé, evaluated their effectiveness, and explored possibilities for improving the experience of these urban refugees. I utilized eighteen structured interviews with refugees and four follow-­‐up in depth interviews with three refugees …

Black, White And Rainbow All Over: The Segregation Present Among Cape Town’S Pride Festival, Lucy Stockdale

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My ISP works to illuminate the racial segregation that is still present within Cape Town’s LGBT community, particularly during the celebration of gay and lesbian rights, known as the Pride festival that takes place annually in the end of February. I do this through discussing the privilege that comes with access to both information about Pride and the location of the events that take place. By looking at Pride as a parade for the white gay man to celebrate the rights he was granted twenty years ago, I work to openly discuss how a history of exclusion has lived on …

Musical Influence On Apartheid And The Civil Rights Movement, Katherine D. Power

Student Publications

Black South Africans and African Americans not only share similar identities, but also share similar historical struggles. Apartheid and the Civil Rights Movement were two movements on two separate continents in which black South Africans and African Americans resisted against deep injustice and defied oppression. This paper sets out to demonstrate the key role that music played, through factors of globalization, in influencing mass resistance and raising global awareness. As an elemental form of creative expression, music enables many of the vital tools needed to overcome hatred and violence. Jazz and Freedom songs were two of the most influential genres, …

The Plight Of Kenyan Domestic Workers In Gulf Countries, Caroline Muthoni Gikuru

Master's Theses

Kenya’s economy remains the regional leader within the East African Community (EAC) and among East African countries at large. However, political instability such as the 2007 post-election violence and the region’s social and political instability trickling into Kenya, have negatively affected the country’s economic growth. To bridge the economic gap, Kenyan women are seeking employment in the domestic service sector in the Gulf Countries, with Saudi Arabia being the most popular destination. At their destination countries, some domestic workers are subjected to various forms of abuse by their employers, leaving the worker without recourse due to the lack of legal …

Livelihood Security Among Refugees In Uganda: Opportunities, Obstacles, And Physical Security Implications, Karen J. Norris

Student Publications

This research project was designed to investigate the challenges refugees face in securing a livelihood, to understand the extent to which the United Nations, the government of Uganda, and various aid groups are able to assist refugees in achieving self-reliance, and the capacity that refugees have to empower themselves. It also endeavors to expose any disparities between nationality groups, and the impact of these differences. Furthermore, this project aims to explore the impact of refugee livelihood security on regional physical security and community stability.

The study found that despite international and national policies, and efforts by both non-governmental organizations and …

Fearless: Jessie Pierce, Jessie M. Pierce

SURGE

A vocal advocate for socio-environmental justice issues and a believer in the potential for social change in the developing world, Jessie Pierce ’14 fearlessly travels, volunteers, and researches to promote awareness and change. Studying abroad last year for both semesters, spending one semester in Denmark and one in India, gave Jessie the interest, skills, and drive to continue pursuing a deeper understanding of these issues while at Gettysburg. [excerpt]

Fearless: Maurice Phiri, Maurice W. Phiri

SURGE

As the class of 2017 joins Gettysburg College, we recognize first-year student, Maurice Wezi Phiri, who already has already showed his fearless commitment to social justice. [excerpt]

Fearless: Christine Serwan And Sam Holmes, Christine M. Serwan, Samuel R. Holmes

SURGE

This week, we’re recognising the fearless work that Christine Serwan ’13 and Sam Holmes ’13 will be doing over the next two years during with the Peace Corps. [excerpt]

Whose Gay Town Is Cape Town? An Examination Of Cape Town’S Gay Village And The Production Of A Queer White Patriarchy., Mollie Beebe

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My ISP works to illuminate the diversity of LGBTQI experiences and lives in Cape Town. I do this through discussing the privilege necessary to "come out" in Cape Town and, subsequently, have access to The Pink Village, Cape Town's gay district. By Bringing in theory on "coming out" as a white experience and the queer movement as re-centering white normativity, I work to openly discuss how a history of exclusion has lived on in Cape Town's gay district and pushed the more marginalized gay communities out of the city center. Through academic research, participant observation in both the gay village …

Power, Race, And The Neglect Of Science: The Hiv Epidemics In Sub-Saharan Africa, Eileen Stillwaggon, Larry Sawers

Economics Faculty Publications

This work addresses racial stereotyping and the effect it has in distorting AIDS policy for sub-Saharan Africa.

Coming To America: The Social And Economic Mobility Of African Immigrants In The United States, Tobi E. Afolayan

Inquiry Journal 2011

No abstract provided.

Affirmative Action As A Dimension Of Diversity Management: Perceptions Of South African Sport Federations, Anneliese Goslin, Darlene Kluka

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Affirmative action in the transformation process of South African sport aims at balancing the concerns of white sport participants with the aspirations of participants of color. The aims of this study are to determine perceptions of South African sport federations in diversity management and the affirmative action profile of South African sport federations, and to suggest strategies to manage affirmative action. A Likert scale questionnaire evaluated perceptions of 32 sport federations on affirmative action factors. Below-average scores were recorded on affirmative action policy and the provision of specialized training opportunities. Political rather than managerial reasons are regarded as the leading …

The Emerging National Culture Of Kenya: Decolonizing Modernity, Olubayi Olubayi

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Kenya exists as a legitimate nation state that is recognized by the United Nations and by other countries. This paper is an exploration of, and a response to, the following two questions: "Is there a national culture of Kenya?" and "what is the relationship between the national culture of Kenya and the 50 ethnic cultures of Kenya?" The evidence indicates that a distinct national culture of Kenya has emerged and continues to grow stronger as it simultaneously borrows from, reorganizes, and lends to, the 50 ancient ethnic cultures of Kenya. The emerging national culture of Kenya has several strong dimensions …

Representation In Kenya, Its Diaspora, And Academia: Colonial Legacies In Constructions Of Knowledge About Kenya's Coast, Jesse Benjamin

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

This paper explores the construction of knowledge in Kenya in the context and aftermath of colonialism and underdevelopment. Those communities that were politically and economically marginalized in Coast Province over the past century were also displaced in terms of academic opportunities, resulting in fewer social science scholars from Mijikenda and other non-Swahili communities in both Kenyan and diaspora universities. Underdevelopment studies in Africa and Kenya are briefly reviewed, and the colonial history of asymmetric social relations at coastal Kenya is traced. Finally, key debates over identity and history are examined within this context and shown to be exacerbated by diasporic …

The Role Of The Kenyan Diaspora In Constructing A New Political Culture And Identity, Eric Masinde Aseka

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

This paper focuses on the need for and the prospects of a congenial politics of identity construction in Kenya as spearheaded by the country's diasporic communities. It identifies and interrogates the intersection of consciousness and historical experience as the basis of such identity construction. It posits the leadership function as a critical component in this process and points out how mismanagement of the African polity has led to swelling ranks of refugees. These émigrés have contributed to the making of a global Africa embodied in the Black Diaspora. This diaspora can help reconstruct the politics of identity within Kenya as …

Topographie Idéale Pour Une Agression Caractérisée : Roman De L’Émigration, De La Ville Ou De L’Écriture?, Charles Bonn

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Published in 1975 after a wave of anti-Algerian racist attacks in France, this novel is first and foremost a statement of urban space, whose labyrinthian subway lines merge with those of writing, and participate in the drawing of spatiality. But this writing, which disconcerts the documentary expectation of the readers, betrays that expectation : instead of describing the daily life of the emigrant, it seizes his marginalization in order to represent itself, both as a victim who is sacrificed like the hero without name of the novel and as the ridiculous object of a narcissistic and ludic utterance.

Faire Taire Les Silences Du Corps Noir, Cilas Kemedjio

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

From the middle passage to modern day red light districts, from human zoos to the “compassionate” forum of the TV screen, the display of the black body has long formed the narrative thread of a monologue uttered by a West pleased with the sound of its own voice. The staging of the black body can be said to have rendered black voices silent, and this study sets out to break this silence.

The Impacts Of Migration On Establishment Of Social Capital And Environmental Degradation In Kibwezi, Kenya, Eveily Freeman

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Educational Decision-Making, Gender, And The Question Of Sustainable Development In Rural Kenya, Nathan Ziegler

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Ethnic Federalism: Its Promise And Pitfalls For Africa, Alemante G. Selassie

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Self-Sufficiency Ecological Stress And Rural Poverty In Kibwezi Division Kenya, James Fitzsimmons

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Créativité Esthétique Et Enrichissement Du Français Dans La Prose Romanesque D'Ahmadou Kourouma, Gerard Marie Noumssi, Rodolphine Sylvie Wamba

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

It becomes clear that Ahmadou Kourouma's literary work is marked by the predominance of authentically African techniques of expression (semantax). With this in mind, the present study tries to analyse its linguistic manifestations as techniques of aesthetic creativity and of the enrichment of the French language through the writing of novels. This is why we have serialized and described the expressive neologies in the corpus of our study while pointing out their stylistic effects: the Negro-African imagery. Still in the same perspective the strategies identified and analyzed help to illustrate a narrative polyphony resulting from highly oralized contexts with the …

Kenyan Women And The Harambee: Community Development Or Unpaid Work?, Anne Gathuo

Trotter Review

Since gaining independence from Britain in 1963, the Kenyan government has encouraged self-help activity, known as "harambee" which is aimed at supplementing government efforts in the provision of social services. The term harambee conjures positive images of community spirit and people pooling together for a common cause. Indeed, the term is synonymous to community development. The United Nations Report on Community Development and Economic Development defines community development as the process by which the efforts of the people themselves are combined with those of government authorities to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of communities, to integrate these communities …