African Studies Commons^™

Peacekeeping In Sierra Leone And Mali, Ishaka Kondeh

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the effectiveness of peacekeeping missions in promoting democracy, protecting human rights, and implementing Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) programs in post-conflict Sierra Leone and Mali. By analyzing the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), this research explores the impact of these missions on Mali still in conflict and long-term peacebuilding. The study focuses on three critical areas: supporting democratic governance, ensuring human rights protections, and successfully reintegrating former combatants into society. Through a comparative approach, this research analyzes why some peacekeeping missions succeed and then …

Growing Up Ghanaian: The Well-Being Of Ghanaian Children In The United States And Ghana, Akua Bemma Opoku

Dissertations and Theses

Children’s subjective well-being is a child’s judgment of their well-being. Subjective well- being can have positive and negative indicators. Positive indicators include but are not limited to safety, feeling happy, and feeling excited. Negative indicators include but are not limited to lack of safety, lack of confidence, and sadness. Children’s ethnic background and their relation to their ethnic background may influence their subjective well-being. Research focusing on ethnic identity and child well-being has found positive associations. Research has also found a relationship between the context of family, school, peers, religion, community, and ethnic identity. This comparative phenomenological study aimed to …

Ethnic Conflict In Côte D’Ivoire, Ayouba Doumbia

Dissertations and Theses

Since the early days of independence, the African continent has been the theatre of many ethnic conflicts. While people, in general, assume these conflicts to be political and blame the conflicts on authoritarian regimes, they dismissed the fact that conflict between ethnicities is a phenomenon that has occurred for hundreds of years and in all corners of the Earth. Entire countries have been devastated by years of ethnic strife. Once ethnic conflict breaks out, it is difficult to stop. Conflicts in the Balkans, Rwanda, Chechnya, Iraq, and Darfur are among the deadliest examples from the late 20^th and early …

The Battle For The Battle Of Adwa: Collective Identity And Nation-Building, Joseph A. Steward

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

On March 1^st, 1896, an Ethiopian army lead by Emperor Menelik II dealt a shocking defeat to the invading Italian forces in the Battle of Adwa. In victory, Menelik was able to exert his authority over a vast territory which included both the historical, ancient kingdoms of the northern and central parts of Ethiopia, and also the vast, resource-rich territories in the west and south which he had earlier conquered. The egalitarian nature of the victory united the various peoples of Ethiopia against a common enemy, giving Menelik the opportunity to create a new Ethiopian nation.

The …

"What About The Men? Investigating Alcohol Consumption, Masculinities, And Risky Sex In Peri-Urban Eswatini, Aaron Jackson Levine

Dissertations and Theses

This study focuses on the narratives Swazi men create around drinking, masculinity, and sexual behavior. Alcohol myopia theory, motivational-expectation theory of drinking, and Connell's theory of masculinities were used to create research that details how alcohol and the cultural environment of gendered social drinking intertwine and interact with each other to form the gender structure of eSwatini. Twenty Swazi men were sampled by convenience, given semi-structured interviews, and questioned about their perceived and internal reasoning for the drinking of themselves and others, the observed drinking behaviors of others, their own drinking behaviors, how they viewed women in and accepted women …

The Importance Of Property Rights In The Developing World: A Study And Comparison Of Zimbabwe And Botswana, Luke A. Scarpa

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Senegal’S Unsustainable Economic Growth., Amadou Konteye

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Living Between Worlds: Arrival And Adjustment Experiences Of The Somali Community In Portland, Oregon, Neil A. Panchmatia

Dissertations and Theses

Since the early 1990s Oregon has witnessed an economic and politically based influx of immigrants and refugees. Most refugees resettled in Oregon initially settled in the greater Portland metro area, and Portland currently ranks eleventh among cities around the country that resettle international refugees. This research focuses on the reception and resettlement experiences of one sub-group of refugees and immigrants: those from Somalia. In the Portland area, Somalis are a largely marginalized social group. They live on the peripheries of society and are often segregated (physically as well as culturally) in what is historically a racially and culturally homogenous state. …

Settler Visions Of Health: Health Care Provision In The Central African Federation, 1953-1963, Catherine Janet Valentine

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines healthcare provision in the Central African Federation, the late colonial union between the British colonies of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland (the later independent nations of Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi respectively). Unusually in federal formations, healthcare delivery in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland became a federal function. "Settler Visions of Health" seeks to explain how the white settler elite reconciled the language of development and multiracial partnership with the underlying values of a settler society. Throughout its short existence, the Federal Health Service maintained a celebratory narrative of success designed to legitimize and justify both …

Manufacturing Consent In The Maghreb: How Mohammed Vi Of Morocco Survived The Arab Spring, David Michael Duke Ii

Dissertations and Theses

The Arab Spring of 2011 revealed stark variation in the durability of different types of authoritarian regimes. Kings and emirs demonstrably outperformed their republican peers. This paper provides a qualitative study of the Moroccan monarchy in order to better explain this pattern. The findings of an original media content analysis support the paper's thesis that Morocco's King Mohammed VI maintained his throne by effectively using a historically derived position of concentrated power and immense wealth to manipulate potential opposition and dominate public discourse. This multi-causal mechanism of manufactured consent helped create and sustain the monarch's domestic legitimacy while alienating his …

Household Water Filter Use Characterization In Rural Rwanda: Signal Interpretation, Development And Validation, Sarita Lucia Tellez Sanchez

Dissertations and Theses

Access to safe drinking water is an important health factor in many developing countries. Studies have shown that unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation practices leads to diarrheal disease, which is one of the leading causes of death of children under five in developing countries. Provision and proper use of household water filters have been shown to effectively improve health.

This thesis is focused on the refinement and validation of algorithms for data collected from pressure transducer sensors that are used in household water filters (the Vestergaard Frandsen LifeStraw Family 2.0) deployed in Rwanda by the social enterprise DelAgua Health. …

An Examination Of Factors That Catalyze Lgbtq Movements In Middle Eastern And North African Authoritarian Regimes, Michael Anthony Figueredo

Dissertations and Theses

Citizens' increased access to the internet is transforming political landscapes across the globe. The implications for civil society, culture, religion, governmental legitimacy and accountability are vast. In nations where one does not typically expect "modern" or egalitarian ideals to be prevalent among highly religious and conservative populations, those with motivations to unite around socially and culturally taboo causes are no longer forced to silently acquiesce and accept the status quo. The internet has proven to be an invaluable tool for those aiming to engage in social activism, as it allows citizens in highly oppressive authoritarian regimes to covertly mobilize and …

Terrorism In Nigeria: Culmination Of Economic Disenfranchisement, Social Marginalization And Political Instability, Olalekan Afolabi

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Developing A Language In Education Policy For Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Case Study, Nancy Murray

Dissertations and Theses

The dismantling of apartheid laws, the all-race elections of 1994, and a new Constitution signal opportunities for fundamental change in South Africa's educational system and language policies. This study describes the development, still in progress, of a new language in education policy. The primary focus is on the various issues involved in the making of a policy--the assumptions and principles which provide the foundation for a new policy, the active participants in the policy debate and formulation, the perceptions of the role of English in South African society and schools, English as the medium of instruction, and possible consensus at …

Commercial Activities And The Geography Of Movement In A West African Urban Market: A Study Of Market-Stall Traders In Onitsha With Implications For Transport Policy, Krys Chukwuma Ochia

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to understand the non home-based travel behavior of urban market traders in Onitsha, Nigeria, where 58-70% of the labor force is engaged in trading.

Relevant trip-inducing variables--gender, location, a means of personal transportation, size of stall and, type of good sold--were selected to assist in theorizing about the travel behavior of traders. Using a systematic sampling methodology, 246 stalls were selected and the MLR model was applied in data analyses.

The results show that a typical stall is occupied by either one or two traders. There are three male traders for every female trader …

Egypt And The Soviet Union, 1953-1970, John W. Copp

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze in detail the many aspects of the Soviet-Egyptian friendship as it developed from 1953 to 1970. The relationship between the two is extremely important because it provides insight into the roles of both Egypt and the Soviet Union in both the history of the Middle East and in world politics. The period from 1953 to 1970 is key in understanding the relationship between the two states because it is the period of the genesis of the relationship and a period in which both nations went through marked changes in both …

The Impact Of The Multinational Corporations On Leading Issues And Policy Making In Less Developed Countries (A Case Study On Kenya), Wamukota Francis W. Wambalaba

Dissertations and Theses

The era of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) is so significant in the development of the Less Developed Countries (LDCs) as was the era of the Industrial Revolution in the development of the now More Developed countries (MDCs). It could be referred to as one of the major economic frontiers in the LDCs as is the computer frontier in the MDCs now. Naturally, there are problems of distrust, fear of eventual crisis, uncertainty of the correct path and a pain in policy making. Coupled with the North/South delicate relationship, the MNC's acceptability in LDCs is of mixed feelings.

In this paper, we …

Integration In West Africa: An Empirical Examination Of Ecowas, Stephen C. Adkisson

Dissertations and Theses

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was established by treaty in 1975 to promote the economic and political well-being of its 16 regional members. As a coordinated effort of geographically associated states ECOWAS joins an expanding group of regional integration schemes created by developing countries.

As an international organization with some claim to supranational authority the success of the ECOWAS scheme is of practical and theoretical importance. Success in this sense implies an increasing level of interaction among the ECOWAS members and the development of a regional economic and political position toward non-member states. This coordination of member …

The Sasswood Ordeal Of The West Atlantic Tribes Of Sierra Leone And Liberia: An Ethnohistoriographic Survey, Sarah Louise Davies

Dissertations and Theses

The sasswood ordeal of poison presents a divinatory ritual which has been used in criminal cases by the traditional African of Sierra Leone and Liberia. For at least six hundred years, the peoples of these present countries have imposed this strictest of ordeals on their moral transgressors; and the practice has survived, despite the protestations of nineteenth-century missionaries and the encroachment of the western world.

The investigation of the historical evidence of the sasswood ordeal among the West Atlantic tribes of Africa has three basic purposes. First, because of the paucity of interpretive data on the sasswood ordeal, the primary …

Nigerian Nationalism: A Case Study In Southern Nigeria, 1885-1939, Bassey Edet Ekong

Dissertations and Theses

Modern Nigeria is a creation of the British who because of economic interest, ignored the existing political, racial, historical, religious and language differences. The task of developing a concept of nationalism from among such diverse elements who inhabit Nigeria and speak about 280 tribal languages was immense if not impossible. The traditionalists did their best in opposing the British who took away their privileges and traditional rights, but their policy did not countenance nationalism. The rise and growth of nationalism was only possible through educated Africans. Colonialism brought Nigeria in contact with the West and western culture, but the impact …