African Studies Commons^™

Bridging The Gap On Schistosomiasis: A Cross-Sectional Study Examining The Knowledge Gap And Common Attitudes And Practices Regarding S. Mansoni Infections Among Varying Education Levels In Luanda K’Otieno, Western Kenya, Kathy Zhang

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Background: Schistosomiasis is considered one of the most prevalent neglected tropical diseases in the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the most effective strategy for schistosomiasis control is through preventive chemotherapy with praziquantel (PZQ). In order to successfully control morbidity rates, the WHO recommends mass treatment targeting high risk groups, such as school-age children and adults considered to be at risk.

Methods: This cross-sectional study examined the effects of the National School-Based Deworming Programme (NSBDP) on knowledge of schistosomiasis and subsequent prevalence rates and intensity. A total of 43 residents in Luanda K’Otieno were interviewed, and 34 of …

Working For The Worker? A Study Of The Union Générale Tunisienne Du Travail (Ugtt), Ava Erfani

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study attempts to explore the nature of the Tunisian national trade union, the Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT), as it operates in Tunisia today. This was achieved by conducting in-depth interviews with Tunisians living in the greater Tunis area in the fall of 2019. Through the lens of both those affiliated with the UGTT and those who have no ties to the organization, an image of the UGTT is able to be revealed as a conspicuous entity. Is its aim to hold power in government? Or rather stay outside of the sphere of national politics to effect change? …

How Is Disability Seen? An Auto-Ethnographic Exploration Of Disability In Urban Townships In Ethekwini, South Africa, Connie Chao

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Disability is a topic that is often overlooked and not seen in day to day life. Disability may be visible or invisible to others, and individuals may have varying attitudes and opinions towards people with disabilities. Disability can also be conceptualized in different ways depending on if one takes on a bio-medical model or a social model of disability. In this study, I explored how disability is seen, both literally and metaphorically in urban townships in the eThekwini Municipality in South Africa. I conducted semi-structured interviews with individuals with disabilities and community members at large to understand people’s perspectives on …

A Study Of Scars: Narratives Of Unintentional Childhood Injuries In Cato Manor, Carolyn Fox

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study is to identify the specific types of injuries children experience growing up in Cato Manor, specifically, KwaMasxha, to understand how community members process and make meaning of their injuries over time, and to analyze the social determinants of health in Cato Manor that have been conducive to these injuries.

In order to learn about experiences of unintentional childhood injuries in Cato Manor, data was collected using a qualitative, narrative-based approach. I conducted interviews with young adult community members aged 19 to 27 years, asking about their personal experiences with childhood injuries as someone who grew …

Health And Education: Perspectives On The Role Of Schools In Health Promotion, Miranda Powell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this study was to understand learners’ perceptions of the role schools play in health promotion. Health promotion encompasses health education and can be highly effective in the school setting. Given the high rates of HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, early sexual debut, and abuse, health education is highly important in South African schools. All learners are required to take Life Orientation classes, which cover many topics including health education. Comparing the views of what learners expect, experience, and the curriculum, my study addressed the gaps in Life Orientation classes with regards to health promotion education.

For this study I …

Church Of The Scattered: Navigating Cultural Identity In The Protestant Churches Of Senegal, Joy Kirkland

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Senegal is a country renowned for its peaceful religious pluralism in the midst of turmoil and demographic change in neighboring West African nations. Though the vast majority of the population adheres to Sufi Islam, they seem to live in peace and cooperation with the prominent Catholic minority. Wedged between these well-established groups, Protestantism struggles to distinguish itself. Protestant missions have been planted in Senegal for over a century, but the church remains small with almost no cultural presence, and up to 80% of its members are non-Senegalese. This paper will present some preliminary basic research about this oft-ignored community in …

The Practice Of Dhikr Among Senegalese Taalibe Baay Women: Individual Devotion, Communal Well-Being, Natalie Marsh

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For Sufis, dhikr—the practice of invoking the Name of God—pervades the fabric of everyday life. For Taalibe Baay (disciples of Ibrahim Niasse) living in Senegal, dhikr takes on particular significance in relation to the experience of tarbiya, an intense spiritual initiation aimed at achieving a vision of God. If tarbiya is the door to the spiritual path, some Taalibe Baay say, then dhikr is a tool by which disciples can continue to progress along this path, purifying themselves internally and reaffirming their connection to God each time they perform these prayers. But for some Senegalese Taalibe Baay women, dhikr seems …

Disability And Migration: How Systems Of Violence Intersect With The Production And Experience Of Disability For Migrants In Morocco, Frances Condon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project investigates the perspectives and experiences of physically disabled, chronically ill, or bodily-impaired migrants from south of the Sahara living in Rabat, Morocco. Increasing interest in disabled migrants’ rights from international organizations risks erasing those being ‘protected’ if it does not attend to the intersections of race, class, citizenship, and gender as they relate to the production and experience of disability for migrants. Produced by and for the (white) global North, I argue that traditional Euro-American disability studies scholarship is ill-equipped to address the issues faced by disabled migrants in post-colonial contexts. In addition to being ineffective, the uncritical …

Understanding Residential Segregation: Community Relations And Marginalization For Migrants From South Of The Sahara In Rabat, Morocco, Ben Hickman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Migrants from South of the Sahara living in Rabat face violence as they attempt to navigate public space. The majority of these migrants live in the neighborhoods of Takkadoum and Yacoub al Mansour. Even within these two neighborhoods, migrants must manage and avoid racially motivated violence. This paper explores these two neighborhoods and the lives of migrants within these neighborhoods, how they find or create safe space, community relations between migrants and Moroccans, and their experience of segregation/separation. Understandings of defended neighborhoods and immigrant integration founded a theoretical basis for this paper, thus better exploring how migrants settle in new …

The Female Worker: An Analysis Of Women Residing Along The Moroccan-European And U.S.- American Borderlands, Marlen G. Renderos

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My independent research project is a comparative study focusing on women experiences among the Mexican-U.S. borderlands and Moroccan-European borderlines. For the Mexican-U.S.American context, I will focus on females maquiladora workers and stay-at-home wives. For the Moroccan-European context, I will focus on the mujeres mulas – women mules. My paper will discuss the ways in which society and governments run under a male-dominated lens contributing to the placement of women in vulnerable positions.

“Not Yet A Priority:” The Intersectional Exploration Of Labor Market Access For People With Disabilities, Anona Neal

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Approximately one in four families in Morocco are affected by disability. Of those affected by disability, many are in vulnerable situations, because there is an explicit linkage between having a disability and likelihood of experiencing poverty. The primary reasons for this phenomenon include lack of access to education, employment and health care. Following the Arab Spring, the Moroccan government implemented Article 166 which explicitly banned workplace discrimination against people with disabilities (PWD); however, only 13% of those affected by disability of working age can find employment. In this paper, I investigate the obstacles PWD face that prevent them from accessing …

Ontogenesis Of The Sella Turcica Among Egyptians: Forensic And Radiological Study, Wafaa Mohamed El-Sehly, Fatma Mohamed Magdy Badr El Dine, Mohamed Samir Shaban

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

Introduction: The sella turcica has gained importance as a stable bony landmark in cephalometric studies.
Aim of the work: The aim of the work was to explore the changes that accompany postnatal ontogeny of the sella turcica until full development, and to verify its contribution in age estimation and sexual assignment among Egyptians.
Subjects and methods: Six selected measurements of the sella turcica of 215 Egyptian patients were assessed using Multidetector Computed Tomography (MDCT). The patients represented different ages and were referred to the Radiodiagnosis and Intervention Department. The gathered data were then subjected to statistical analysis including correlation and …

Amjambo Africa! (September 2019), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue... Maine’s Way of Life................Page 9

ILAP Statement ....................Page 16

Review Of Infected Kin: Orphan Care And Aids In Lesotho, Cassandra L. Workman

The Journal of Social Encounters

In the opening vignette, “A Story about Joala,” we readers are brought to the highlands of Lesotho to share homebrewed beer with brewers, research participants, and the authors. This experience of sharing a drink asks us to consider what it means to share in Lesotho, what the ties are that hold people together. Like the communal sharing of food, sharing joala is a defining social activity and as we learn throughout the ethnography, one that is important in the creation of kin. Indeed, this book is presented though a kinship-first perspective.

Using this framework and ground-up analytical methodology, Block and …

Review Of The Practice Of Islam In America: An Introduction, Aisha Ghani

The Journal of Social Encounters

The demand, indeed urgency, within the American Academy for courses on Islam has perhaps never been greater than at current. Yet, the very conditions that create this urgency also produce anxieties for those fulfilling this pedagogical role. The challenge confronting many of us - knowing that our students will enter the classroom with ideas/questions about Islam stemming, in large part, from what they’ve encountered through popular media and the news – is how to carry out this work in a way that both acknowledges this abiding, even if delimiting, contemporary context without allowing our teaching to be subsumed by it. …

Africa Faith And Justice Network And The Damages Of Land Grabbing: The Case Of The Brewaniase Community, Ghana, Sr. Eucharia Madueke

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay discusses the procurement of farmland around the town of Brewaniase in the Volta Region of Ghana by the New York based agribusiness Herakles Farm (HF). The essay highlights some of the repercussions of land grabbing by foreign corporations that seek only profit and do not fulfill promises made to locals who lease their land for a better life. It provides information on the efforts of Africa Faith & Justice Network (AFJN), a faith-based Washington DC non-governmental organization, to enable the local communities to avert land grabs and its damages. The essay aims to help African communities and individuals …

"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 …

Amjambo Africa! (August 2019), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

Welcome Feast........................Page 8

My Life as a Refugee ............Page 11 by Veronica Kaluta

Wedding of Irene Yao & Romeo Adji....................Page 13

The South African Women's Movement: The Roles Of Feminism And Multiracial Cooperation In The Struggle For Women's Rights, Amber Michelle Lenser

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the historiography of South Africa’s recent past, focus has been most heavily placed on apartheid and the anti-apartheid movement, with much emphasis placed on male involvement and men as the primary agents of change in the country. Women are largely viewed as playing a supportive role to male activists throughout the movement, and far less has been written on female involvement or women’s activism in its own right. Running parallel to the anti-apartheid movement, however, was a women’s movement characterized by women across the racial and socioeconomic spectrum struggling to secure their own rights in a very hostile and …

Age Of Concrete : Housing And The Shape Of Aspiration In The Capital Of Mozambique, David Morton

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Age of Concrete is a history of the making of houses and homes in the subúrbios of Maputo (Lourenço Marques), Mozambique, from the late 1940s to the present. Often dismissed as undifferentiated, ahistorical “slums,” these neighborhoods are in fact an open-air archive that reveals some of people’s highest aspirations. At first people built in reeds. Then they built in wood and zinc panels. And finally, even when it was illegal, they risked building in concrete block, making permanent homes in a place where their presence was often excruciatingly precarious.

Unlike many histories of the built environment in African cities, Age …