African Studies Commons^™

Restoring Eden: The Role Of Christianity On Environmental Conservation: A Case Of Karatu District, Arusha, Tanzania, Taylor Allen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In order for environmental conservation to be effective it must have a method of translating to people’s everyday values. Developing countries which include mostly bio-diversity hotspot areas are important to maintain sustainable development. Due to most of these countries following an organized religion, predominantly Christian, an alternative method of conservation may be successful to motivate citizens to participate in efforts. In order for this to be successful, members of the congregation must agree that there is a religious obligation to care for the environment. For Christianity this obligation is discussed by the creation story in the bible. This paper will …

Something Old, Something New: Historicizing Same-Sex Marriage Within Ongoing Struggles Over African Marriage In South Africa, Michael W. Yarbrough

Publications and Research

This article examines contemporary struggles over same-sex marriage in the daily lives of black lesbian- and gay-identified South Africans. Based primarily on 21 in-depth interviews with such South Africans drawn from a larger project on post-apartheid South African marriage, the author argues that their current struggles for relationship recognition share much in common with contemporaneous struggles of their heterosexual counterparts, and that these commonalities reflect ongoing tensions between more extended-family and more dyadic understandings of African marriage. The increasing influence of dyadic understandings of marriage, and of associated ideals of romantic love, has helped inspire same-sex marriage claims and, in …

Book Review: Rwanda Before The Genocide: Catholic Politics And Ethnic Discourse In The Late Colonial Era, Randall Fegley

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Livelihoods Of The People Of Mazumbai: A Collection Of Stories And Portraits, Tanga Region, Tanzania, Joseph Baldus

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite rapid urbanization in Tanzania, agriculture remains central to the nation, the economy, and the livelihoods of a large portion of the population. Smallholder farmers account for the vast majority of agricultural production, yet are an extremely vulnerable population due to poverty, single-sourced income, and climate-dependency for both subsistence and cash-crop agriculture (Rapsomanikis, 2015). This report explores these dynamic rural livelihoods through interviews and portrait photographs in a case study on Mazumbai, Tanga region, Tanzania. Semi-structured interviews explore the people’s modes of economic subsistence, domestic lives, education, challenges, and life stories. Excerpts from these interviews combined with portrait photographs create …

Perception And Prejudice: Sino-Ghanaian Relations Within The Service Sector And The Wavering Perception Of China On The Global Stage, Jodi-Ann (Juexuan) Wang

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Opinions on the impacts of China in Africa differ from one observer to the next, be it in media, academic, or elsewhere. While most general discourses have been nuanced and coherent, there is nevertheless a prevailing sentiment of unbridled fear and Sinophobia, or anti-Chinese populism. Based on a two-sided study in Ghana, this research uses Chinese-Ghanaian employment relations as a way of entry to analyze and explore cross-cultural understandings, or lack thereof, that leads to conflict. From there, this paper examines the style of politicized media in broadcasting Sino-Ghanaian (Chinese-Ghanaian) engagements and its role in creating the anti-Chinese populism on …

Church And State: The Impact Of Christianity On South African Politics During And Post-Apartheid, Calista Struby

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Within the South African context, there exists an intimate relationship between religion and politics. South Africa by definition is a secular society however data indicates that the South African population that is overwhelmingly religious. According to a General Household Survey published in 2015, 86% of the South African population identifies with some form of the Christian faith (“General Household Survey,” 2015). Historically religious civil society has played a prominent role in shaping the political climate and the political involvement of South African citizens. During Apartheid, Christianity played an influential role in the ideological formation and justification of the Apartheid political …

Challenges To Democratic Inclusion And Contestation Of Space: Contemporary Student Activists In Transforming South Africa, Momo Wilms-Crowe

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Twenty-four years into democracy, in a time marked by stark inequality and rising levels of political disillusionment, student activists are key players in the pursuit of a more just, more equitable, and more democratic South Africa. Using universities as spaces to contest, disrupt, and challenge the status quo, student activists challenge narratives of youth political apathy and act as agents of change, encouraging society to meet the goals established in the 1996 Constitution, the document enshrining the very promises they were born into believing would be their reality. Through mobilization and organizing, student actors boldly engage in questions of substantive …

"Les Droits Ne Sont Pas Respectés": A Study Of The Effectiveness Of The Moroccan Law In Protecting The Human Rights Of Sub-Saharan Female Migrants, Meghan Gragg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper aims to determine to what extent Moroccan law is protecting female Sub-Saharan migrants against human rights abuses and in the process, it attempts to determine what the Moroccan government needs to do differently to protect this population. Female migrant women from Sub-Saharan Africa are a population that suffers human rights abuses because of their dual positionality as both women and Sub-Saharan migrants: both of which are discriminated populations in Morocco. The research was carried out by communicating with lawyers and non-governmental organization (N.G.O.) team members who work with women to determine the common legal and social problems affecting …

In The Balance: Pathways To Economic Integration For Migrants In Morocco, Kyla Fanning

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper explores the relationship between migrants seeking socio-economic integration in Morocco, the organizations facilitating that integration, and the Moroccan government, which determines the bounds within which socio-economic integration takes place. A background in government policy on migration and economic integration, as well as previously gathered data on the ways in which migrants integrate into the economy, forms the foundation for the study. Data collection and analysis from three organizations providing programs within Morocco to support migrants' economic integration provides insight into the ways in which policies and migrants' needs influence the programs that NGOs and other community organizations provide …

What Does It Mean To Respect One’S Mother? A Narrative Approach Exploring Maternal Respect Through The Perspectives Of Zulu Mothers And Their Children, Sarah Robertson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper attempts to synthesize both background research and interview content on respect, specifically respect for mothers from their children in Cato Manor. Cato Manor is populated with largely single-mother, matriarchal households of Zulu identifying people.

I conducted eight interviews with four mothers and their children, with the “children” ranging in age from 19 to 29. I requested that my participants share as many stories with me as possible in order to help me write my findings in a narrative approach. I asked about a variety of topics, including what respect is in general, what it means to respect one’s …

“If You Seek, You Know You Will Find And If You Find You Have Cancer, Why Do You Seek?” Knowledge And Practices Regarding Cancer Screening And Prevention In Cato Manor, Lilly Hennessey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The incidence of cancer continues to increase in South Africa, creating a serious concern for public health. There are currently several cancer awareness programs operating in the Durban area, but little is known as to whether they are having a positive impact on communities. This project aimed to understand the knowledge and practices regarding cancer screening and prevention in Cato Manor, KwaZulu-Natal. In doing so, it assessed the effectiveness and knowledge of current programs which work to increase cancer awareness.

This study used a mixed methodology approach. Surveys were given to 30 residents of Cato Manor to gain a quantitative …

Exploring The Space Between Healers: A Narrative Approach To Understanding The Relationship Between Traditional Healers And Biomedical Practitioners In Kwazulu-Natal, Marisa Delsignore

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite playing essential and parallel roles in the lives of patients, there exists a frictional, imbalanced relationship between traditional healers and Western doctors in South Africa. While national policy encourages a seamless system rooted in both Western science and indigenous knowledge, biomedical institutions are hesitant to accept traditional medical practices, which are based on less tangible and more spiritually-oriented elements. This research project turns to these two ideologically different entities to assess their perspectives on the roles of themselves and the other within the context of the South African health system.

Responses from semi-structured interviews with seven health practitioners from …

Who And What Is Amazigh? Self-Assertion, Erasure, And Standardization, Alexis Colon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research focuses on the identity of the indigenous peoples of Morocco, or the Amazigh. While this culture has endured different iterations of colonization, self-assertion and activism in favor of preserving culture and improving conditions for Amazigh can often be viewed as controversial to the elites of Morocco. This controversy, however, does not stop Moroccans from proclaiming their Amazigh background or portraying their culture. This paper aims to describe qualitative data taken from numerous interviews on the subject of self-identification of Amazigh and different hopes and expectations for the continuation of the language and culture of Amazigh among common peoples.

Sufis In A 'Foreign' Zawiya: Moroccan Perceptions Of The Tijani Pilgrimage To Fes, Joel Green

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this ISP is to investigate Moroccan perceptions of sub-Saharan members of the Tijaniyya during the completion of their religious pilgrimage to Fes. The relationship between Moroccans andTijani pilgrims is particularly complex as it occurs at an intersection of various identities, most prominently including race, religion, class and nationality. This project focuses on Moroccans who work in the area surrounding the shrine of Ahmed al-Tijani and either market their business towards Tijani pilgrims or frequently serve Tijani pilgrims as customers. In the course of interviews with five Moroccans, three major themes emerged: 1. Condemnation of Tijani religious practice. …

Missing Youth: The Absence Of The Young Moroccan Voice In The Nation, Reid Leiter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Morocco has long maintained stability in a region historically known for fluctuating sociopolitical climates, considerably in part to a robust constitutional monarchy. However, the 20 February movement that coincided with the 2011 Arab Spring showed that the government is vulnerable to an energetic, organized, and a vocal youth population. Now, seven years after a constitutional referendum aimed at installing more democratic processes was passed, the growing youth populous feel more detached from their nation than ever, ignored by the government and monarchy, and ultimately lacking a voice in Moroccan politics. By excluding their voice and ignoring their opinions, the government …

Renegado: Immigrant Identities And Aspirations Of White Muslim Converts In Morocco, Paul Williamson Kiefer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

If one turns over enough stones in Morocco, they will come across hundreds of Western converts to Islam, most of whom are white. Some are obvious: one might spot a blue-eyed Belgian wearing a jellaba on a train to Fes or a Danish woman in a hijab running a bakery in central Casablanca. Others might be mistaken for tourists, like an American woman with her hair pulled back into a ponytail seated in the corner of a high-end café in Rabat. These converts are immigrants, and most chose to live in Morocco as a form of hijra, or migration for …

Amjambo Africa! (September 2018), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue... Eid Al-Adha .......................... Page 2

Results Conference ................Page 2

Host Community....................Page 3

World Refugee Day................Page 8

National Night Out ................Page 9

November Elections.............Page 13

Arabic Summer School ........Page 15

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Review Of From Somalia To Snow: How Central Minnesota Became Home To Somalis By Hudda Ibrahim, Stephanie Chambers

The Journal of Social Encounters

When I first started studying the Somali diaspora I searched for books to fill the void in my understanding of Somali culture and life. I tracked down a wonderful book that discussed basics of Somali culture, politics, and life. That book, Somalis in Minnesota by Ahmed Yusuf, provided a sense of the Somali experience and helped me understand the journey from Somalia to the state of Minnesota. Although Yusuf’s book didn’t offer the sort of interpersonal detail in Hudda Ibrahim’s book From Somalia to Snow, Yusuf’s book was extremely helpful. Together these books offer those interested in the Somali-American …

Review Of Making Refuge: Somali Bantu Refugees And Lewiston, Maine By Catherine Besteman, Ellen Block

The Journal of Social Encounters

Catherine Besteman conduced fieldwork in the late 1980’s in the small village of Banta in southern Somalia. Implausibly, she was reunited with many of her former friends and interlocutors in Lewiston, Maine two decades later, laying the ground for this impressive ethnographic study. In Making Refuge, Besteman traces the experiences of Somali Bantu refugees from Somalia, through the Kenyan refugee camps, and to their resettlement in the United States. She shows how the prevailing view of refugees as “apolitical, docile, and dependent recipients” (Pg. 29), and as passive and grateful objects of humanitarian aid is both misconstrued and morally deficient. …

Refugee Socio-Cultural Integration And Peaceful Co-Existence In Uganda, Sharon Sylvia Nambuya, Joseph Okumu, Ronald Pagnucco

The Journal of Social Encounters

The dramatic increase in the number of refugees globally has led to increased attention to conflicts between refugees and communities in the countries where they have sought refuge. Three durable solutions are used for the placement of refugees: voluntary repatriation to their home country if conditions there permit; permanent settlement and local integration in the receiving country; and resettlement in a third country. Permanent settlement and local integration is seen as good option although there still exists gaps in understanding the integration process and if it leads to peaceful co-existence between refugees and members of the host community. This study …