African Studies Commons^™

Kourouma 2000 : Humour Obligé!, Annik Doquire Kerzberg

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Ahmadou Kourouma's novel Allah n'est pas oblige belongs to the rich literary vein of texts, both autobiographical and fictitious, that are written in French, for adults, portraying children. This novel stands out however through the young narrator's humor as well as through the tragic nature of its topic: child-soldiers. This article analyzes the humor, presenting it as the only possible and thus the "obliged" mode of narrating and reading the atrocities of recent tribal wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Le Bilakoro À L'Honneur: Les Prix Et Les Titres Honorifiques D'Ahmadou Kourouma, Carrol F. Coates

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The prix de la Francite, awarded by the journal Etudes franqaises, brought to Ahmadou Kourouma the publication of his first novel, Les soleils des independances, and exceptional renown for the author of a single novel. He received two other prizes when Les soleils ... was republished in Paris in 1970. After a "silence" of some twenty years, during which he was working as an actuary and an insurance expert in various countries, Kourouma surprised the literary world by publishing, in 1990, a second novel, Manne, outrages et defis. This novel along with two more, En attendant le vote des betes …

En Attendant Le Plan Marshall : Consommation Endogène De La Littérature Camerounaise, Pierre Fandio

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Despite the numerous forms of "aid" it has always received, Africa remains the only continent on the fringe of the tremendous development that the rest of the world has been experiencing in the last two centuries. The sectorial analysis of the literary works in this paper illustrates how the implementation of the various "Marshall Plan" is meant to bring about the development of a whole continent and a country like Cameroon. This could be done by involving actors of the cultural domain in the analysis of data and formulation of solution. Such development could give a boost to profitable endogenous …

A Heroic Law Teacher: Dean Leonard Gering, Russell L. Weaver

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Selected Factors That Influenced A State's Collapse: A Historical Analysis Of The Case Of Sierra Leone, I. Betty Williams Conteh

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Throughout the 1990s the United Nations Human Development Index, an annual report that measures human development, depicted Sierra Leone as one of, if not the poorest nation on the planet. In 2001, the same report depicted 162 countries in terms of human development and Sierra Leone ranked 162. This Sub-Saharan nation experienced a total collapse of its state and society beginning in 1990. The United Nations and the rest of the international community are only now beginning to work towards putting Sierra Leone together again.

This study investigate factors that led to the collapse of Sierra Leone--factors such as …

Leadership: The Missing Variable In The Economic Development Of Sub-Saharan Africa, Osei K. Bonsu

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Contemporary economic theories, modernization and dependency, have overlooked the fact that the development process depends on the interaction of social factors. Specifically, the theories have ignored the role of leadership in analyzing economic development. This dissertation seeks to incorporate the importance of leadership into the analysis of development. It argues that sub-Saharan African countries have not developed economically because leaders in the region have been less than successful in establishing a culture conducive to industrialization. African leaders have failed to establish the high moral and scientific cultures necessary to promote economic progress. In place of those cultural attributes, the leaders …

No. 10: Criminal Tendencies: Immigrants And Illegality In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

South Africans believe that immigrants are largely responsible for the post-1994 crime wave in the country. In a national survey of South African citizens conducted recently by the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP), for example, respondents were asked what, if anything, they had to fear about people from neighbouring countries (McDonald 2000: 209). Almost half the population (48%) felt that migrants were a “criminal threat” (compared to 37% who thought they were a threat to jobs and the economy, and 29% who thought they were a health threat). The simplistic, and largely unsubstantiated, association of foreignness with criminality, job-stealing and …

No. 24: Spaces Of Vulnerability: Migration And Hiv/Aids In South Africa, Brian Williams, Eleanor Gouws, Mark Lurie, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

Seventy per cent of the 36 million people infected worldwide with HIV live in Sub-Saharan Africa and within this region the countries of Southern Africa are the worst affected. The eight countries with the highest rates of infection are in Southern Africa, followed by six countries in East Africa, and then five other countries, only one outside Africa. The reasons why the highest rates of infection in the world occur in Southern Africa are unclear. Although the countries of the region have much in common, their histories over the last twenty years have been very different.

A number of different …

No. 23: Gender And The Brain Drain From South Africa, Belinda Dodson

Southern African Migration Programme

South Africa is experiencing a substantial “brain drain”, underestimated in official emigration statistics. Yet there is uncertainty over issues such as why some leave and others stay, whether people who leave do so for good, and whether the brain drain will accelerate in the future. The surveys upon which this paper is based aimed to add some substance to the debate on the loss of core skills to the South African economy. They present a profile of the skilled population of South Africa and provide some insight into the factors determining emigration potential. Two distinct surveys were conducted: one of …

No. 25: Zimbabweans Who Move: Perspectives On International Migration In Zimbabwe, Daniel Tevara, Lovemore Zinyama

Southern African Migration Programme

The movement of people across political boundaries has generated considerable debate in Southern Africa. There is a compelling need for Southern African countries to harmonise regional migration policies and to ensure the freer movement of people across the region. However, it must be noted that disparities in levels of development are still evident in the economies of the region. There are fears in countries such as South Africa and Botswana that the freer movement of people will flood them with migrants from the less developed countries. There are also concerns in all the countries of SADC that freer movement will …

No. 09: Transnationalism And African Immigration To South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

The demise of formal apartheid has created new and as yet only partially understood opportunities for migration to South Africa. Legal migration from other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, for example, has increased almost ten-fold since 1990 to over four million visitors per year. South Africa’s (re)insertion into the global economy has brought new streams of legal and undocumented migrants from outside the SADC region and new ethnic constellations within. The easing of legal and unauthorized entry to South Africa has made the country a new destination for African asylum-seekers, long-distance traders, entrepreneurs, students and professionals (Bouillon 1996; Saasa …

No. 07: Evaluating Refugee Protection In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

South Africa’s policy on refugees has its origins in the country’s much-criticized Aliens Control Act (96 of 1991) (ACA), which in numerous respects has failed to provide adequate guarantees to applicants (de la Hunt 1998,2002: 123; Human Rights Watch 1998:170; Handmaker 1999a, 1999b). Until the recent implementation of its first ever Refugees Act (Act 130 of 1998) in April 2000, South Africa’s policy on refugees depended on the ACA, with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) responsible for enforcement.

This paper evaluates the process of refugee policy reform that began in 1996. This process led to the Refugees Act in …

No. 08: Thinking About The Brain Drain In Southern Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

The movement of skilled people from one country to another is one of the most hotly contested public policy questions today. Debates amongst politicians, academics and bureaucrats about the scale and character of skilled migration, and the policies required to address these movements, are taking place in countries throughout the world (Zweig and Changgui 1995; Odunsi 1996; Phillips 1996; Carrington and Detragiache 1998; Iredale 1998; Iqbal 1999). As the opportunities for skilled personnel to move increases with globalization and the shift to a service economy (Sassen 1988, 1998), as the costs of international travel decrease, and as the ability to …

Horror Unmasked: Truth Or Fiction?, Lars Buur, Eric Harper

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

A Country Unmasked: Inside South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Alex Boraine. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 448pp.

Explaining Rwanda’S 1994 Genocide, Paul Magnarellav

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Mahmood Mamdani, When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001. 364 pp.

and

John A. Berry and Carol Pott Berry (eds.), Genocide in Rwanda: A Collective Memory. Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 1999. 201 pp.

The Horn Of Africa : Regional Security Crisis And The Possibility Of A Security Framework, Hassan Sheikh Ali Nur

Student Works (2000-2009)

This research deals with the regional security crisis in the Horn of Africa and the possibility of a security framework. The study gives more details of the two leading schools in International security analysis that is the Realist and the Transnationalist schools of thought. The study shows how the traditional approaches failed 10 identify and address the most pressing current security concerns of the poor states. The study also traces the history of the Horn of Africa's current security situation and existing regional security cooperation structure. The study suggests "Cohesion Security Approach" as a new guideline in thinking about security …

Black Internationalism: Embracing An Economic Paradigm, Jeffery M. Brown

Journal Publications

The seemingly inexorable march toward a more unified political and economic world order poses strategic and leadership challenges to States, international organizations, and local activists unimaginable a generation ago. Supporters of this process argue that easing international economic regulatory restrictions, creating a more predictable legal order, and liberalizing investment standards will benefit the global economy by rendering financial transactions more efficient, thereby increasing trade and investment opportunities. Globalization poses important conceptual challenges to international law and international trade scholars committed to defending local interests and historically marginalized people against the perceived adverse effects of accelerated global economic expansion. Critics argue …

L'Enfance Échouée Comme Source De Drame Dans En Attendant Le Vote Des Bêtes Sauvages, Kasongo Mulenda Kapanga

Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Faculty Publications

En attendant le vote des betes sauvages peut être lu com me une analyse discursive de la problématique de l'identité de la classe dirigeante. Qui sont réellement les dirigeants africains dont la mauvaise gouvernance a poussé le continent au bord de la banqueroute? Tout remonterait à l'enfance qui, dans le cas de cette élite, a été paralysante. L'analyse met en lumière une enfance bâclée gelée dans une idéologie de servitude.

Restorative Justice And Collective Responsibility: Lessons For And From The Rwandan Genocide, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

Genocide struck Rwanda in 1994. Since then, national and international trials have endeavored to promote reconciliation, deterrence, peace, justice, and human rights. This article posits a disconnect between these trials and the attainment of their avowed goals. This disconnect emerges in part from the influential agendas of international lawyers who equate selective criminal prosecution with the "rule of law" and espouse criminal prosecution as the preferred and uniform response to mass atrocity. Creating a presumption in favor of criminal prosecution has dampened the need to explore whether such trials actually are suitable for the particular afflicted society. A socio-legal analysis …

The Structure Of Legal Education In South Africa, John B. Kaburise

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Are More Children A Blessing? Determinants Of The Demand For Children In Jimma, Ethiopia, Bedassa Tadesse, Sisay Asefa

International Conference on African Development Archives

Based on data from a cross-section of urban households in Southwestern Ethiopia, in this paper, we examine some endogenous household characteristics that could be targeted through market-based policy measure(s). We use a count data model and the theory of consumer behavior to first identify some important socio-economic determinants of the demand for children. Then, we simulate the average number of children desired by a woman of median household characteristics and the extent to which an exogenously set population policy goal of lower fertility can be achieved. Finally, we present the extent by which market based policy measures could help reduce …

1st Annual International Conference On Contemporary Development Issues In Ethiopia, Western Michigan University

International Conference on African Development Archives

No abstract provided.

“Today's Children, Tomorrow's Leaders”: Are We Neglecting The Agents Of Change?, Assegedetch Hailemariam

International Conference on African Development Archives

There is an abundant body of knowledge that suggests that early experience influences later human behavior. This paper reviews and analyzes existing literature to demonstrate that human development, at the individual level, has far reaching consequences on social, economic and political development of a people. For instance, education, one measure of human development, has been inaccessible to more than 50% of school age children in Ethiopia. To effect fundamental changes in Ethiopia, attention and resources must be dedicated to children’s well being and potential. In addition, the paper discusses early psychological processes in human development in contrast to the current …

Nationalism As A Contingent Event: Som Ereflections On The Ethio-Eriterean Experience, Mesfin Araya

International Conference on African Development Archives

What is politically significant and what really attracts scholarly research in any nationalism is the awakening of the masses - i.e. the effective transition from elite-based to mass-based nationalism; this study is concerned with that transition in the Eritrean experience in the modern political history of Ethiopia.

Financing Small Famer Development In Ethiopia, Haileleul Getahun

International Conference on African Development Archives

Agriculture in Ethiopia is the most important sector, as measured by its contribution to total output, employment, and export earnings. Small –scale peasant farming is the most predominant mode of cultivation, and it is the peasant farmer who has suffered the most from the lack of capital, lack of technology and deterioration of the soil. Although agriculture remains the backbone of the Ethiopian economy, production has been declining since the 1960s while the rate of population growth has been steadily rising. Thus Ethiopia, which could once feed itself, has been importing food on a large scale. The fall in agricultural …

Differential Adoption Of Technologies And Its Implications For Policy Choice Between Equity And Growth, Beyene Tadesse

International Conference on African Development Archives

Government policies often attempt to create simultaneous impact on economic efficiency and equity. The Ethiopian government optimistically has targeted to simultaneously achieve at improvement in agricultural efficiency (growth) and equitable distribution of the benefits by all farmers in the whole part of the country. However, many scholars most often argue that growth and equity are inversely related in most development processes. Thus, the main objective of the paper was to evaluate the interhousehold and interregional technology adoption pattern (implies both growth and equity). The conceptual relationship of growth and equity, and experiences in adoption studies were first assessed. Then three …

Ethiopia, The Tplf And Roots Of The 2001 Political Tremor, Paulos Milkias

International Conference on African Development Archives

No abstract provided.

Reflections On Development In Ethiopia, Paul B. Henze

International Conference on African Development Archives

I visited Ethiopia frequently and traveled extensively in all parts of the country during the Derg period. I observed firsthand the deleterious effects of the Derg's attempt to turn the country into a communist "people's republic".1 Since the fall of the Derg in May 1991 I have made eleven visits to Ethiopia (with a twelfth scheduled for June 2001), usually for periods of several weeks, totaling well over a year of travel in the country in all. During these same years I have also spent time in 16 other post-communist countries, ranging from Slovenia and Armenia to Mongolia, observing the …

Perspectives On Institutional Reform And Development In Ethiopia: The Critical Role Of Building Enabling Institutions For Economic Growth And Development, Sisay Asefa

International Conference on African Development Archives

This paper provides some normative perspectives on sustainable economic and political reform in contemporary Ethiopia, by focusing on the need to establish enabling institutions for economic growth and development. The paper begins with the basic premise that poverty in Ethiopia is primarily a problem of institutional failure, and that at a successful economic reform not only must be focused on poverty-focused economic growth in a country where about 50 percent of the population is below the poverty line, but it must also be accompanied with institutional reform and development that may result in a positive-sum outcome for all constituent groups …

Sustainable Small Hydropower Development In Ethiopia Case Study Ropi Hydropower Plant (Bilate Basin, Ethiopia), Zelalem Hailu, H.B. Horlacher

International Conference on African Development Archives

The paper considers a case study of the Ropi hydropower site in the Bilate basin in Ethiopia to show the effect of seasonal variability of river flow on the magnitude and reliability of power supply.