Pub Date : 2023-05-24DOI: 10.1080/21681392.2023.2208688
P. Leshota, M. Mushonga
{"title":"Subverting the hegemony of Western ‘theological’ and cultural domination: King Moshoeshoe I and ‘hidden transcripts’ of resistance","authors":"P. Leshota, M. Mushonga","doi":"10.1080/21681392.2023.2208688","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2023.2208688","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37966,"journal":{"name":"Critical African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88798721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-04DOI: 10.1080/21681392.2023.2252657
Sireita Mullings-Lawrence
AbstractCommitted to rendering the realities of some of The Gambia's youth's lived experience, the paper explores how an art critique during the Visual Voices workshop served as a platform that enabled young people to draw upon visual methodologies to reflect upon and share some of the major concerns and challenges that The Gambia's youth population are forced to confront in one way or another. Drawing on the artworks of participants from the ArtFarm (AF), an artists’ and farmers’ collective, photographs taken during a ‘Jakarlo’, [Jakarlo is the Wolof word for face-to-face or confrontation] a youth wrestling event in Kerr Sering, a Gambian village, and discussions about migration as a new phenomenon with young people from the Abuko Youth Association [See https://www.facebook.com/abukoyouthassociation/] (AYA), the paper explores the ways in which young people are engaging in traditions of visual and performing arts, wrestling, and migration in new ways. The discussions reveal the significance of their practice and engagement as youth leaders and active citizens in The Gambia. Simultaneously, we witness the power of visual narrative as a means of enabling an exploration into the themes that emerged from discussion and observation. These themes lead us to ask how The Gambia's young people have come to negotiate the social phenomena of wrestling, migration, and art as ‘new trends' rooted in ‘old’ practices, how tradition is held onto, and how have they taken on new forms within the youth landscape of The Gambia.Engagé à restituer les réalités de certains jeunes Gambiens à travers leur expérience vécue, l'article explore comment une critique d'art, lors de l'atelier Visual Voices, a servi de plate-forme permettant aux jeunes de s'appuyer sur des méthodologies visuelles afin de réfléchir et partager sur les principales préoccupations et défis auxquels la population des jeunes Gambiens est confrontée, d'une manière ou d'une autre. S'appuyant sur les œuvres d'art des participants de l'ArtFarm (AF) – un collectif d'artistes et d'agriculteurs, des photographies prises lors d'un ‘Jakarlo' – un événement de lutte pour les jeunes à Kerr Sering (un village gambien), et des discussions sur les migrations en tant que nouveau phénomène avec des jeunes de l'Association des jeunes d'Abuko (AYO), l'article explore les façons dont les jeunes s'engagent dans les traditions des arts visuels et du spectacle, de la lutte et des migrations de façons nouvelles. Les discussions révèlent l'importance de leur pratique et de leur engagement en tant que jeunes leaders et citoyens actifs en Gambie. Nous sommes simultanément témoins du pouvoir du récit visuel qui permet d’explorer des thèmes issus des discussions et de l'observation. Ces thèmes nous amènent à nous demander comment les jeunes Gambiens en sont venus à négocier les phénomènes sociaux de la lutte, de la migration et de l'art en tant que « nouvelles tendances » enracinées dans des pratiques « anciennes » ou comment le
{"title":"Jakarlo with BackWay: youth, old traditions, new trends, and clandestine migration within The Gambia","authors":"Sireita Mullings-Lawrence","doi":"10.1080/21681392.2023.2252657","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2023.2252657","url":null,"abstract":"AbstractCommitted to rendering the realities of some of The Gambia's youth's lived experience, the paper explores how an art critique during the Visual Voices workshop served as a platform that enabled young people to draw upon visual methodologies to reflect upon and share some of the major concerns and challenges that The Gambia's youth population are forced to confront in one way or another. Drawing on the artworks of participants from the ArtFarm (AF), an artists’ and farmers’ collective, photographs taken during a ‘Jakarlo’, [Jakarlo is the Wolof word for face-to-face or confrontation] a youth wrestling event in Kerr Sering, a Gambian village, and discussions about migration as a new phenomenon with young people from the Abuko Youth Association [See https://www.facebook.com/abukoyouthassociation/] (AYA), the paper explores the ways in which young people are engaging in traditions of visual and performing arts, wrestling, and migration in new ways. The discussions reveal the significance of their practice and engagement as youth leaders and active citizens in The Gambia. Simultaneously, we witness the power of visual narrative as a means of enabling an exploration into the themes that emerged from discussion and observation. These themes lead us to ask how The Gambia's young people have come to negotiate the social phenomena of wrestling, migration, and art as ‘new trends' rooted in ‘old’ practices, how tradition is held onto, and how have they taken on new forms within the youth landscape of The Gambia.Engagé à restituer les réalités de certains jeunes Gambiens à travers leur expérience vécue, l'article explore comment une critique d'art, lors de l'atelier Visual Voices, a servi de plate-forme permettant aux jeunes de s'appuyer sur des méthodologies visuelles afin de réfléchir et partager sur les principales préoccupations et défis auxquels la population des jeunes Gambiens est confrontée, d'une manière ou d'une autre. S'appuyant sur les œuvres d'art des participants de l'ArtFarm (AF) – un collectif d'artistes et d'agriculteurs, des photographies prises lors d'un ‘Jakarlo' – un événement de lutte pour les jeunes à Kerr Sering (un village gambien), et des discussions sur les migrations en tant que nouveau phénomène avec des jeunes de l'Association des jeunes d'Abuko (AYO), l'article explore les façons dont les jeunes s'engagent dans les traditions des arts visuels et du spectacle, de la lutte et des migrations de façons nouvelles. Les discussions révèlent l'importance de leur pratique et de leur engagement en tant que jeunes leaders et citoyens actifs en Gambie. Nous sommes simultanément témoins du pouvoir du récit visuel qui permet d’explorer des thèmes issus des discussions et de l'observation. Ces thèmes nous amènent à nous demander comment les jeunes Gambiens en sont venus à négocier les phénomènes sociaux de la lutte, de la migration et de l'art en tant que « nouvelles tendances » enracinées dans des pratiques « anciennes » ou comment le","PeriodicalId":37966,"journal":{"name":"Critical African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135011484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-04DOI: 10.1080/21681392.2023.2252182
Adrienne Cohen, Paul Ugor
Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
点击放大图片点击缩小图片披露声明作者未发现潜在的利益冲突。
{"title":"Introduction: African youth, popular arts, and cultural politics in everyday life","authors":"Adrienne Cohen, Paul Ugor","doi":"10.1080/21681392.2023.2252182","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2023.2252182","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).","PeriodicalId":37966,"journal":{"name":"Critical African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135011485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-04DOI: 10.1080/21681392.2023.2249726
Chizoba Imoka
AbstractFocusing on Nigeria, this paper explores the efforts of an online youth leadership programme, Days of Change, which succeeded in galvanising, uniting, and engaging Nigerian youth both online and offline, across social, class, and ethnic divides concerning nation building. The paper provides a unique example of the ways in which online media have become veritable sites of popular urban youth cultures, from which young people negotiate the unstable landscape of post-coloniality that the African state has foisted on its vulnerable youth population. More importantly, the paper seeks to lay the groundwork for further theorisations on how social media can be utilised as a vehicle for anti-colonial youth engagement Africa.Cet article se concentre sur le Nigéria, et explore les efforts d'un programme de leadership des jeunes en ligne - Days of Change - qui a réussi à galvaniser, unir et engager les jeunes nigérians à la fois en ligne et hors ligne, à travers les clivages sociaux, de classe et ethniques relatifs à la construction de la nation. L'article fournit un exemple unique de la manière dont les médias en ligne sont devenus de véritables sites de cultures populaires de jeunes urbains, à partir desquels les jeunes négocient le paysage instable de la post-colonialité que l'État africain a imposé à sa population de jeunes vulnérables. Plus important encore, le document cherche à jeter les bases de nouvelles théorisations sur la manière dont les médias sociaux peuvent être utilisés comme vecteur d'engagement anticolonial des jeunes en Afrique.Keywords: digital mediasocial activism in Africapopular cultureNigerian youthsocial media for social changedecolonizationMots clés: Médias numériquesactivisme social en Afriqueculture populairejeunesse nigériennemédias sociaux pour le changement socialdécolonisation Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Statement of EthicsThe research was conducted with approval from University of Toronto. My participations, observations and interviews were based on the full interest and consents of the children and their parents which I obtained through extended stays and interactions with the people in the villages. All interviewees have been anonymised and gave consent to be interviewed for the purposes of this research. At the time this study was conducted, University of Toronto did not require ethical approval to be sought for this type of research.Notes1 Chizoba Imoka. Journey to Being a Doctor. Chizoba Imoka.com. https://www.chizobaimoka.com/about2 Oxfam International. Nigeria: Extreme Inequalities in Numbers. https://www.oxfam.org/en/nigeria-extreme-inequality-numbers
摘要本文以奈及利亚为焦点,探讨网路青年领袖计划“改变的日子”(Days of Change)所做的努力,该计划成功地激励、团结并吸引奈及利亚青年线上和线下,跨越社会、阶级和种族的隔阂,参与国家建设。这篇论文提供了一个独特的例子,说明网络媒体已经成为名副其实的流行城市青年文化的网站,年轻人通过它来应对非洲国家强加给弱势青年人口的后殖民时代的不稳定局面。更重要的是,这篇论文试图为如何利用社交媒体作为非洲反殖民青年参与的工具的进一步理论奠定基础。这篇文章探讨了“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”,“变革的日子”。L 'article fournit联合国为例独特de la方式不莱斯媒体en界线是devenus de名副其实的网站德文化展开de年轻人的班,从desquels les年轻人negocient le风景不稳定de la post-colonialite,我即africain人口征收sa de年轻人的脆弱。再加上重要的补充,文件cherche jejeter les bases de nouvelles(新基础),即,社会基础(社会基础),即,社会基础(社会基础),即,社会基础(社会基础),即,利用,社会基础(社会基础),即,参与,反殖民主义,即,非洲青年。关键词:数字媒体非洲社会行动主义流行文化尼日利亚青年社会变革的社交媒体去殖民化mots - clens: msamdias numsamriq - activisme social en africa文化大众青年nigsamrien - samdias sociaux - pour - change social - sami - colonisation披露声明作者未报告潜在的利益冲突。伦理声明这项研究得到了多伦多大学的批准。我的参与、观察和访谈都是基于儿童及其父母的充分兴趣和同意,这是我通过长期停留和与村民的互动获得的。所有受访者都是匿名的,并同意为本研究的目的接受采访。在进行这项研究的时候,多伦多大学并没有要求对这类研究进行伦理批准。注1千叶伊莫卡。《医生之旅》Chizoba Imoka.com。https://www.chizobaimoka.com/about2国际乐施会。尼日利亚:人口极度不平等。https://www.oxfam.org/en/nigeria-extreme-inequality-numbers
{"title":"Digital media, popular culture and social activism amongst urban youth in Nigeria","authors":"Chizoba Imoka","doi":"10.1080/21681392.2023.2249726","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2023.2249726","url":null,"abstract":"AbstractFocusing on Nigeria, this paper explores the efforts of an online youth leadership programme, Days of Change, which succeeded in galvanising, uniting, and engaging Nigerian youth both online and offline, across social, class, and ethnic divides concerning nation building. The paper provides a unique example of the ways in which online media have become veritable sites of popular urban youth cultures, from which young people negotiate the unstable landscape of post-coloniality that the African state has foisted on its vulnerable youth population. More importantly, the paper seeks to lay the groundwork for further theorisations on how social media can be utilised as a vehicle for anti-colonial youth engagement Africa.Cet article se concentre sur le Nigéria, et explore les efforts d'un programme de leadership des jeunes en ligne - Days of Change - qui a réussi à galvaniser, unir et engager les jeunes nigérians à la fois en ligne et hors ligne, à travers les clivages sociaux, de classe et ethniques relatifs à la construction de la nation. L'article fournit un exemple unique de la manière dont les médias en ligne sont devenus de véritables sites de cultures populaires de jeunes urbains, à partir desquels les jeunes négocient le paysage instable de la post-colonialité que l'État africain a imposé à sa population de jeunes vulnérables. Plus important encore, le document cherche à jeter les bases de nouvelles théorisations sur la manière dont les médias sociaux peuvent être utilisés comme vecteur d'engagement anticolonial des jeunes en Afrique.Keywords: digital mediasocial activism in Africapopular cultureNigerian youthsocial media for social changedecolonizationMots clés: Médias numériquesactivisme social en Afriqueculture populairejeunesse nigériennemédias sociaux pour le changement socialdécolonisation Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Statement of EthicsThe research was conducted with approval from University of Toronto. My participations, observations and interviews were based on the full interest and consents of the children and their parents which I obtained through extended stays and interactions with the people in the villages. All interviewees have been anonymised and gave consent to be interviewed for the purposes of this research. At the time this study was conducted, University of Toronto did not require ethical approval to be sought for this type of research.Notes1 Chizoba Imoka. Journey to Being a Doctor. Chizoba Imoka.com. https://www.chizobaimoka.com/about2 Oxfam International. Nigeria: Extreme Inequalities in Numbers. https://www.oxfam.org/en/nigeria-extreme-inequality-numbers","PeriodicalId":37966,"journal":{"name":"Critical African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135011483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-04DOI: 10.1080/21681392.2023.2238096
Kofi Akpabli
The massive following that European soccer leagues enjoy in Africa, especially among urban youth, is an aspect of African youth cultures that scholarship has not adequately addressed. This paper explores the phenomenon and its implications for young people’s everyday identity politics, by focusing on how African popular cultures draw on global cultural trends to appeal to urban youth in local settings across the continent. Specifically, what is being analysed is how young people engage with global modernity by projecting their aspirations and desires through the fortunes of their adopted European soccer teams. Using the questionnaire interview method, I talked to nine Ghanaian youths living in Accra, Ghana’s capital, where there currently exists a vibrant youth support movement for foreign clubs. Findings from the interviews reveal that the glamour of European leagues trigger issues of identity, belonging, and politics among young Africans. While some consider their involvement in European leagues as an escape and a powerful protest to the comparatively unattractive soccer landscape on the continent, others perceive it as an expression of their global citizenship and belonging. Recognizing the enjoyment that young people elicit from the European soccer craze, the article argues that not only does the entertainment value of foreign soccer ‘absolve’ youth of their allegiance to foreign interests, but it also provides a powerful cultural avenue for them to vicariously participate in a modernity whose privileges they cannot access locally.
{"title":"Young Africans supporting European clubs: the case of football fans from Accra, Ghana","authors":"Kofi Akpabli","doi":"10.1080/21681392.2023.2238096","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2023.2238096","url":null,"abstract":"The massive following that European soccer leagues enjoy in Africa, especially among urban youth, is an aspect of African youth cultures that scholarship has not adequately addressed. This paper explores the phenomenon and its implications for young people’s everyday identity politics, by focusing on how African popular cultures draw on global cultural trends to appeal to urban youth in local settings across the continent. Specifically, what is being analysed is how young people engage with global modernity by projecting their aspirations and desires through the fortunes of their adopted European soccer teams. Using the questionnaire interview method, I talked to nine Ghanaian youths living in Accra, Ghana’s capital, where there currently exists a vibrant youth support movement for foreign clubs. Findings from the interviews reveal that the glamour of European leagues trigger issues of identity, belonging, and politics among young Africans. While some consider their involvement in European leagues as an escape and a powerful protest to the comparatively unattractive soccer landscape on the continent, others perceive it as an expression of their global citizenship and belonging. Recognizing the enjoyment that young people elicit from the European soccer craze, the article argues that not only does the entertainment value of foreign soccer ‘absolve’ youth of their allegiance to foreign interests, but it also provides a powerful cultural avenue for them to vicariously participate in a modernity whose privileges they cannot access locally.","PeriodicalId":37966,"journal":{"name":"Critical African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135011219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-13DOI: 10.1080/21681392.2023.2186906
Hannah Muzee, J. Endeley
{"title":"‘The more educated the better?’ Educational achievement and women’s voices during deliberation in the Ugandan parliament","authors":"Hannah Muzee, J. Endeley","doi":"10.1080/21681392.2023.2186906","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2023.2186906","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37966,"journal":{"name":"Critical African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91208977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.1080/21681392.2023.2176900
Rogers Asempasah, Samuel Ato Bentum
{"title":"In search of a post-transatlantic slave trade dwelling and conviviality: rethinking Ghana’s ‘Year of Return’ with Ama Ata Aidoo’s The Dilemma of a Ghost (1965)","authors":"Rogers Asempasah, Samuel Ato Bentum","doi":"10.1080/21681392.2023.2176900","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2023.2176900","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37966,"journal":{"name":"Critical African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85882891","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21681392.2023.2200011
L. Candelise, Antoine Kernen
In the field of health, China's contribution is generally addressed either through its cooperation programmes or by the opening of private clinics by Chinese ‘doctors’. In Yaoundé and Douala, some private practices have been opened and various works have highlighted their role in the dissemination of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Cameroon. Yet the craze for these structures did not last long. Today, while signs of their existence are still visible, many of these firms are closed. China's influence in the health field is, however, far from negligible, but it is taking place in unexpected areas. The circulation of goods and knowledge from China leaves more room for local reappropriation. Indeed, some Cameroonian traditional healers include knowledge from China in their daily practice through the use of ‘machines’ coming from China to ‘purify the body’, to ‘eliminate fat’, to regulate the tension, to ‘stimulate acupuncture points’ or ‘make diagnosis’ (using the quantum analyser or a ‘diagnostic machine’). From direct observations conducted between 2014 and 2021, this article presents the issues at stake for the practice of traditional healers by the modernization of the field through specific therapeutic devices and the quantum analyser coming from China into the health Cameroonian landscape. The paper demonstrates that the performance of the diagnostic machine has less to do with the concrete efficiency of the diagnosis of pathologies than with the dynamics of visibility vis-à-vis patients. The quantum analyser is, therefore, an interesting element revealing the constant process of renewal of medical pluralism in Cameroon, in which China is playing a central role today.
{"title":"A Chinese ‘modern’ device transforming the traditional healers’ practices in Cameroon","authors":"L. Candelise, Antoine Kernen","doi":"10.1080/21681392.2023.2200011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2023.2200011","url":null,"abstract":"In the field of health, China's contribution is generally addressed either through its cooperation programmes or by the opening of private clinics by Chinese ‘doctors’. In Yaoundé and Douala, some private practices have been opened and various works have highlighted their role in the dissemination of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Cameroon. Yet the craze for these structures did not last long. Today, while signs of their existence are still visible, many of these firms are closed. China's influence in the health field is, however, far from negligible, but it is taking place in unexpected areas. The circulation of goods and knowledge from China leaves more room for local reappropriation. Indeed, some Cameroonian traditional healers include knowledge from China in their daily practice through the use of ‘machines’ coming from China to ‘purify the body’, to ‘eliminate fat’, to regulate the tension, to ‘stimulate acupuncture points’ or ‘make diagnosis’ (using the quantum analyser or a ‘diagnostic machine’). From direct observations conducted between 2014 and 2021, this article presents the issues at stake for the practice of traditional healers by the modernization of the field through specific therapeutic devices and the quantum analyser coming from China into the health Cameroonian landscape. The paper demonstrates that the performance of the diagnostic machine has less to do with the concrete efficiency of the diagnosis of pathologies than with the dynamics of visibility vis-à-vis patients. The quantum analyser is, therefore, an interesting element revealing the constant process of renewal of medical pluralism in Cameroon, in which China is playing a central role today.","PeriodicalId":37966,"journal":{"name":"Critical African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83978051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21681392.2023.2200013
Guive Khan-Mohammad, Antoine Kernen
By proposing to approach African-Chinese relations through the lens of Chinese products, this special issue intends to reveal the many ways in which African agency manifests in globalization. Indeed, Africans are the leading actors in the arrival and dissemination of Chinese goods on the continent, challenging the purported omnipotence of Chinese actors. The focus on Chinese products also provides an innovative perspective on the transformation of contemporary African societies. The low price of Chinese-made goods has contributed to new consumption and business opportunities for many Africans. This has accompanied the continent’s entry into mass consumption. Finally, this special issue raises the question of the management of extraversion. The development of new entrepreneurial activities carries with it a subversive potential that calls into question the historical domination of African and foreign cosmopolitan elites on an increasingly multipolar process of extraversion. On a broader level, it questions the hierarchies and power structures of many sectors that have been going through deep restructuring in the wake of the arrival of Chinese goods.
{"title":"Chinese goods in Africa: new extraversions, orientations, and expressions of African agency","authors":"Guive Khan-Mohammad, Antoine Kernen","doi":"10.1080/21681392.2023.2200013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2023.2200013","url":null,"abstract":"By proposing to approach African-Chinese relations through the lens of Chinese products, this special issue intends to reveal the many ways in which African agency manifests in globalization. Indeed, Africans are the leading actors in the arrival and dissemination of Chinese goods on the continent, challenging the purported omnipotence of Chinese actors. The focus on Chinese products also provides an innovative perspective on the transformation of contemporary African societies. The low price of Chinese-made goods has contributed to new consumption and business opportunities for many Africans. This has accompanied the continent’s entry into mass consumption. Finally, this special issue raises the question of the management of extraversion. The development of new entrepreneurial activities carries with it a subversive potential that calls into question the historical domination of African and foreign cosmopolitan elites on an increasingly multipolar process of extraversion. On a broader level, it questions the hierarchies and power structures of many sectors that have been going through deep restructuring in the wake of the arrival of Chinese goods.","PeriodicalId":37966,"journal":{"name":"Critical African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76557644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-12DOI: 10.1080/21681392.2022.2154234
Sylvain Racaud
This article illustrates how rural margins and urban-rural relations in southwest Tanzania join up with transnational trade routes for Chinese goods. It examines the trade of low-cost imported goods from China (plastic sandals, cheap jewellery, various fashion accessories, cheap clothing, etc.) that are widely spread in Tanzania, up into the peripheral countryside. By examining the concept of trade routes, the article contributes to the literature on urban-rural relations in African Studies and ‘inconspicuous globalisation’ by proposing a contrary perspective, where rural areas viewed as areas of consumption of imported products. It then rescales the globalization analysis by situating urban-rural relations at the heart of local and global interconnections. The article demonstrates that geographically peripheral places and actors have a capacity to influence the direction of the global trade route as they combine complementarities between the urban-rural continuum and topological continuity of networks from local to global. The global trade geography is profoundly influenced by what goes on in its inconspicuous tentacles in upcountry regions, such as the Uporoto Mountains, where the global trade route relies on the dynamism of local agriculture, which is increasingly merging with other livelihoods. This is exemplified by the complementarities between trade and agriculture in terms of livelihood, circulation of capital, urban-rural mobility, and links to global scales, which highlight the de-agrarianization process and the development of a mass consumption society.
{"title":"Low-cost Chinese goods in Tanzania: the rise of transnational trade routes’ peripheral branches","authors":"Sylvain Racaud","doi":"10.1080/21681392.2022.2154234","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2022.2154234","url":null,"abstract":"This article illustrates how rural margins and urban-rural relations in southwest Tanzania join up with transnational trade routes for Chinese goods. It examines the trade of low-cost imported goods from China (plastic sandals, cheap jewellery, various fashion accessories, cheap clothing, etc.) that are widely spread in Tanzania, up into the peripheral countryside. By examining the concept of trade routes, the article contributes to the literature on urban-rural relations in African Studies and ‘inconspicuous globalisation’ by proposing a contrary perspective, where rural areas viewed as areas of consumption of imported products. It then rescales the globalization analysis by situating urban-rural relations at the heart of local and global interconnections. The article demonstrates that geographically peripheral places and actors have a capacity to influence the direction of the global trade route as they combine complementarities between the urban-rural continuum and topological continuity of networks from local to global. The global trade geography is profoundly influenced by what goes on in its inconspicuous tentacles in upcountry regions, such as the Uporoto Mountains, where the global trade route relies on the dynamism of local agriculture, which is increasingly merging with other livelihoods. This is exemplified by the complementarities between trade and agriculture in terms of livelihood, circulation of capital, urban-rural mobility, and links to global scales, which highlight the de-agrarianization process and the development of a mass consumption society.","PeriodicalId":37966,"journal":{"name":"Critical African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74065394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}