African Studies Commons^™

Ferdinand Oyono, Kasongo Mulenda Kapanga

Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Faculty Publications

Ferdinand Oyono was a Cameroonian statesman and a Francophone novelist of the first generation of African writers who became active after World War II. He entered the literary scene at a time when writers such as his fellow Cameroonian Mongo Beti and the Senegalese Sembene Ousmane and Leopold Sedar Senghor were at their peak. Oyono and Mongo Beti are known as "the forefathers of modern African Identity" for their anticolonial novels.

Stakeholders' Roles In Prioritizing Technical And Vocational Education And Training In Postconflict Liberia, Edward S. Forh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Postconflict governments and counterparts have collaborated to provide skills training to communities as a critical postconflict development strategy. In these undertakings, the role of community members remains largely undefined. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to understand the perceptions held by rural community members regarding the role they played in influencing government's policy priority for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) as a local human development strategy in postconflict Liberia. The conceptual framework was based on human capital theory and concepts of motivation and achievement. Fourteen participants were purposefully selected for the study. Data were collected …

Prevalence Of Hypertension And Its Correlates In Lusaka Urban District Of Zambia: A Population Based Survey, Fastone M. Goma, Selestine H. Nzala, Olusegun Babaniyi, Peter Songolo, Cosmos Zyaambo, Emmanuel Rudatsikira, Seter Siziya, Adamson S. Muula

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Background

Hypertension is a leading cause for ill-health, premature mortality and disability. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence and associated factors for hypertension in Lusaka, Zambia.

Methods

A cross sectional study was conducted. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated to assess relationships between hypertension and explanatory variables.

Results

A total of 1928 individuals participated in the survey, of which 33.0% were males. About a third of the respondents had attained secondary level education (35.8%), and 20.6% of males and 48.6% of females were overweight or obese. The prevalence for hypertension was 34.8% (38.0% …

Thomas Jefferson In Nairobi: The United States, Kenya, And The Democratization Debate, Cullen Haskins

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This work is an intellectual history focussing on the ideas surrounding the implimentaiton of democratic systems in Africa, and specifically Kenya, at the end of the cold war. Taking the constitutional change to multi-party politics in Kenya in late 1991 as its fulcrum, this work examines the ideas about democracy put forth by politcians and policy-making cirlces in the United States and Kenya during this period. The work begins with an examination of the attitudes toward democracy in Africa as expressed at the U.S. congressional hearings on aid to Africa in 1991, and ends with an afterward looking at the …

War Don Don And Fambol Tok, Polly Thistlethwaite

Publications and Research

Reviews two documentary films about the aftermath and reconciliation of the Sierra Leone Civil War 1991-2002.

Democratic Strength And Terrorism: An Economic Approach, Brian P. Winter

CMC Senior Theses

There has been much literature about the economic effects of terrorism in democratic countries, but this literature often considers democracy to be a binary variable. This paper sought to explore how the effects might differ depending on the strength of a democracy. In the end, I found that the numbers of attacks and the effects of those attacks do not follow a linear path. The results for autocracies and anocracies require further analysis, but democracies have revealed interesting results. It seems that democracies as a whole have more terrorist attacks, but, within this group, the more democratic a country is …

Changing Incentives: How Electoral Reform Can Help Remove An Ethnic Focus In Political Competitions In Kenya, Carliann Brashier

CMC Senior Theses

Prior to the presidential elections in December 2007, Kenya was viewed as one of the few politically stable and economically prosperous countries in Africa, a paradigm for other African countries to emulate.  At least this was the view held widely in the Western world.  Missing in this analysis were the growing ethnic tensions which, although not a new phenomenon to Kenya (the precedence was established during the colonial era), had grown increasingly volatile during the past two decades.  The 2007 controversial election results revealed even sharper bitterness and divisions among Kenyans.  Ethnic lines were drawn and the country experienced two …

History Education And Identity Formation: A Case Study Of Uganda, Takako Mino

CMC Senior Theses

History education builds the foundation of a common past necessary for the formation of group identity. Evaluating History curricula is important because group identity guides people’s political behavior. This Uganda case study demonstrates how different actors have manipulated History education in order to enhance the saliency of ethnic, national, and regional identities. The expansion of nationalized education and the teaching of Ugandan, East African, and African history have contributed to fostering the rise of national consciousness in Uganda. Greater awareness of national identity has promoted national integration while marginalizing non-school educated people.

Overcoming The Obstacles To Sustainability In Ghana, Ashley M. Scott

CMC Senior Theses

For several decades following its independence from Great Britain, Ghana’s policies continued to promote over-extraction of natural resources to the detriment of its economy and rural communities.  Agricultural and forestry policy has gradually evolved to foster more sustainable and equitable practices, as in building partnerships with the private sector to fund infrastructure improvements.  Policy has recently recognized the dire need to adopt agricultural practices and means of forest resource extraction that are compatible with ecological stewardship.  However, many shortcomings are still apparent.  Large logging operations completely disregard forestry regulations with impunity, whereas rural sustenance extractors are severely punished in the …

Immigration And Identity Politics: The Senegalese In France, Justine Dodgen

CMC Senior Theses

As immigrants arrive in a new culture, they must modify their behaviors to adapt to their host society. Through a review of current literature, I will examine the psychological and sociological aspects of immigration and the effects on migrant identity. I will argue that migrants most desire a bicultural identity, in which they retain some elements of their ethno-cultural identity while adopting some values of French society. The construction of a bicultural identity presents a challenge due to the particular philosophical foundations of the French nation-state and French culture. In the next chapter, I will analyze the challenges Senegalese migrants …

Experiences And Perceptions Of Pregnant Unmarried Adolescent Girls In Nigeria, Priscilla N. Asonye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sexual activity among unmarried adolescents is a major public health problem in Nigeria, because unmarried pregnant girls are more likely to have multiple sex partners and are less likely to use contraceptives, putting them at greater risk for sexually transmitted diseases (STD), unplanned pregnancy, abortion, social isolation, and poverty. Teen pregnancy and STD rates are on the rise in Nigeria, yet few data exist on the experience of the adolescents themselves. This phenomenological study was designed to explore the in-depth experiences of 10 pregnant, unmarried adolescent girls aged 16-19, including the factors contributing to their sexual activity. An ecological model …

A Case Study Of Primary Healthcare Services In Isu, Nigeria, Raymond Ogu. Chimezie

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Access to primary medical care and prevention services in Nigeria is limited, especially in rural areas, despite national and international efforts to improve health service delivery. Using a conceptual framework developed by Penchansky and Thomas, this case study explored the perceptions of community residents and healthcare providers regarding residents' access to primary healthcare services in the rural area of Isu. Using a community-based research approach, semistructured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 27 participants, including government healthcare administrators, nurses and midwives, traditional healers, and residents. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi's 7-step method for qualitative data analysis. Key findings included …

Tarnished Golden Years: Older Offenders With Mental Health Problems And Late Life First Time Offenders, Brianne Stanback

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Older offenders (offenders 50 years and older) are a distinct groups within the U.S. correctional system. Studies 1 and 2 were intended to investigate mental health and stressors among jailed older offenders.

Study 1 examined the prevalence rates of mental health disorders and explored the relationship between mental health disorders and stressors. Participants 50 years and older (N=330) from the 2002 wave of the Survey of Inmates in Local Jails (SILJ) were studied via descriptive analysis, factor analysis, and a logistic regression to determine which variables were related to the probability of having a mental health problem. 65.8% of participants …

Kimberly Lanegran On Child Soldiers: Sierra Leone’S Revolutionary United Front. By Myriam Denov. Cambridge, Uk: Cambridge University Press. 2010. 234 Pp., Kimberly Lanegran

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Child Soldiers: Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front. By Myriam Denov. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 2010. 234 pp.

A Missiological Study Of The Phenomenon Of Dual Allegiance In The Seventh-Day Adventist Church Among The Yoruba People Of Nigeria, Paul Adekunle Dosunmu

Dissertations

Problem

Many Africans and members of other traditional societies of the world who still hold to a supernaturalistic and spiritualistic worldview visit diviners, shamans, spiritualistic herbalists, and the traditional medicine men and women who use enchantments, divination, charms, invocation of the spirit world, etc. They engage in such practices for various reasons which include, to diagnose and treat various ailments, both physical and psychological which plague their clients, a quest to know the future through divination, and also for the preparation of different kinds of charms and medicines. Christians, including some Yoruba Adventists, also engage in such consultations, a practice …

African Water: An Experience With Project Management In Bulima, Tanzania, Robert Sharp

Honors Theses

Details the author's experiences researching, designing, and implementing a water system for a boarding school in Africa.

Écriture Et Oralité Dans L’Oeuvre De Calixthe Beyala, Gloria Nne Onyeziri

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

A reading of several works of Beyala will help us consider the way orality works for African women and to suggest new forms of the symbolic representation and of narrative framing drawn from the speech of the people. Reference to their African culture, to their consciousness of cultural identity, helps characters such as Édène, Loukoum and Beyala to define themselves and to lay claim to a critical and self-confi dent voice. They learn from orality the ways of saying of the wise, what is to be retained and transmitted through traditional culture and what aspects of collective memory are better …

Calixte Beyala Ou La Réécriture De La Littérature Coloniale Française, Frieda Ekotto

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This article shows how Calixthe Beyala, in Le petit prince de Belleville (1992) and Maman a un amant (1993), presents the character of the child as producer of sociopolitical and historical discourse. By using the child as narrator, Beyala rewrites the colonial literature of the interwar period extending from Francis Carco to Mac Orlan from a less noble perspective. As producer of certain racist discourses, the child is singled out as the one who represents life and assures the future of the community.

Calixthe Beyala Chez Les Scandinaves, Ylva Lindberg

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The study focuses on the circulation of literature in the world and it takes as an example the publication of the literary works of Beyala in Scandinavia. The reception of her novels is analyzed on the basis of commentaries by critics in Swedish media. The analysis shows that the Swedes construct their own image of the author. In order to find interpretation tools they link her texts to their own literary patrimony and they take into account the exoticism inherent in her novels. It thus becomes legitimate, apt to serve current ebates in Sweden, for example about feminism and cultural …

Enjeux Du Message Anticolonialiste En Métropole Dans Les Années 1950 : La Critique Journalistique De Trois Romans De Mongo Beti Et De Ferdinand Oyono, Vivan Steemers

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This paper examines the effectiveness of the anticolonialist message in three novels published in 1956 by two Cameroonian writers -- Mongo Beti and Ferdinand Oyono-- by analyzing in particular their reception by French metropolitan reviewers. African writers of the 1950s depended exclusively on the metropolitan literary institutions and authorities for their recognition, i.e. the publishing houses and press of the colonial power. Mongo Beti and Ferdinand Oyono were among the first francophone African novelists to criticize the colonial regime. Nevertheless, important differences exist in the Africanist discourse of the critics who reviewed the novels when they were first published. We …