African Studies Commons^™

Femme Nue, Femme Noire : Tribulations D’Une Vénus

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This article examines the return, in two contemporary novels, of the figure of the “naked black woman” as an emblematic site of difference. Two women of African origin take back this twice-appropriated figure and use it to question the ways in which the materiality of the body is again being written into contemporary postcolonial society. The aim of the essay is to underline the means and meaning deployed in these new appropriations of African icons, while pointing to some possible limits to the symbolic passage from the colonial imagination to a postcolonial one.

Emerging Threats To National Security And Development In Africa

Emmanuel Wekem Kotia

A presentation to students of the PhD and Masters Programs in International Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University.

I Am Not A Dictator; I Am A Defender: The Rhetoric Of Coup D’État In Francophone Africa, Isaac Asare Kwakye

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the rhetorical strategies used by coup leaders in Francophone Africa to authorize their actions and garner public support. Focusing on recent military takeovers in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger since 2020, I investigate how coup leaders construct narratives of legitimacy within the context of contemporary geopolitical dynamics. I utilize Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze speeches by three key coup leaders: Colonel Assimi Goïta, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, and General Abdourahamane Tchiani. My analysis reveals four interconnected rhetorical frameworks: framing interventions as emergency measures, cultivating savior personas, weaponizing anti-colonial grievances, and deploying anti-corruption narratives. A comparative analysis of …

Bantu Education, And Its Living Educational And Socioeconomic Legacy In Apartheid And Post-Apartheid South Africa, Matthew Gallo

Senior Theses

Despite its 25th anniversary of democratic governance, the Republic of South Africa still reels from its past Apartheid legacy, especially in its education sector. One famous Apartheid policy was Bantu Education, which legally restricted the delivery of educational services to black South Africans during Apartheid. Because of Bantu Education and its lasting legacy in South Africa, many black South Africans have historically and continue to be denied access to quality education, depriving them of employment and other socioeconomic opportunities. This paper explores both educational and socioeconomic factors, such as school curriculum and vocational training, to demonstrate the important and foundational …

The Economic Decline Of Zimbabwe, Chidochashe Munangagwa

Gettysburg Economic Review

For the past decade, Zimbabwe has been experiencing an economic decline that has resulted in an inflation rate of 231 million percent and an unemployment rate of over 90 percent. Past research has concluded that the economic decline of Zimbabwe has mainly been caused by poor monetary policies and failure of fiscal policies to control the budget deficit. This research aimed to closely examine some of these policies that the Zimbabwean government implemented, the effects of these policies on economic activity, employment and inflation levels in the country. By interviewing many economic analysts in Zimbabwe, I managed to gather the …

Aiding Or Abetting? An Analysis Of Medical Humanitarian Aid In Complex Humanitarian Emergencies, Claire Dunn

Honors Theses

Medical humanitarianism is generally viewed very positively by society. Selfless humanitarians are going to war-torn, disaster-affected, or otherwise undesirable locations to provide medical care to those who are in need. However, when considered more carefully, it becomes clear that there are many problematic aspects of humanitarian aid. That is not to say that humanitarian aid is unnecessary, but rather that humanitarian actions are likely to have some unintended consequences or fail to live up to their potential no matter how well-meaning the intentions. Acknowledging that medical humanitarianism is but a single component of the response to complex humanitarian emergencies and …

Sports In Africa, Past And Present

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

These groundbreaking essays demonstrate how Africans past and present have utilized sports to forge complex identities and shape Africa’s dynamic place in the world.

Since the late nineteenth century, modern sports in Africa have both reflected and shaped cultural, social, political, economic, generational, and gender relations on the continent. Although colonial powers originally introduced European sports as a means of “civilizing” indigenous populations and upholding then current notions of racial hierarchies and “muscular Christianity,” Africans quickly appropriated these sporting practices to fulfill their own varied interests. This collection encompasses a wide range of topics, including women footballers in Nigeria, Kenya’s …

The Crisis Of Images: A Reading Of Feed A Child’S Controversial 2014 Advertisement

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This work reads Feed A Child’s 2014 South African fund raising campaign advertisement (http://goo.gl/cRboV7) through Stuart Hall’s Encoding/Decoding model of communication. Utilizing concepts from Stuart Hall’s model this paper draws attention to racial questions raised by the commercial. Even though the commercial’s stated purpose is to raise awareness of unequal social conditions in South Africa, its visual elements are racially offensive. The turmoil generated by the commercial is the consequence of the complex structure of its message, and the fact that its meaning is not determined solely by the organization’s stated intentions. This work explores the way that the processes …

Asymmetric Benefits: The Ethio-Eritrea Common Market (1991 To 1998), Worku Aberra

International Journal of African Development

Economic theory suggests that a common market between two or more countries improves overall well-being, but it creates winners and losers in each country. Recent empirical findings also show that the overall impact of a common market on per capita income depends on the similarity of economic development between member countries. A common market among developed countries results in the convergence of per capita income while a common market among developing countries results in the divergence of per capita income. The difference in outcome, some economists suggest, is due to variations in comparative advantage between member states and the rest …

Explaining Rwanda’S 1994 Genocide

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.