Pub Date : 2022-02-01DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.68.3.09
Hope Eze
Eze reviews Histories of Dirt: Media and Urban Life in Postcolonial Lagos by Stephanie Newell.
埃兹评论了斯蒂芬妮·纽厄尔的《肮脏的历史：后殖民时代拉各斯的媒体和城市生活》。
{"title":"Histories of Dirt: Media and Urban Life in Postcolonial Lagos, Stephanie Newell","authors":"Hope Eze","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.3.09","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.3.09","url":null,"abstract":"Eze reviews Histories of Dirt: Media and Urban Life in Postcolonial Lagos by Stephanie Newell.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45403723","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 : 2022-02-01DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.68.3.05
Mitja Potocnik, Kwame Adum-Kyeremeh
Abstract:This article examines the background to transformations in the traditional funeral rites of the Ga ethnic group of Accra, the capital city of Ghana. It finds that major changes in Ga customs and traditions began appearing in the late nineteenth century, when colonial authorities moved the capital of the then Gold Coast from Cape Coast to Accra, the core of the Ga traditional communities. Although important political, social, and economic changes were to be expected, customs and tradition, in particular, underwent considerable changes. This article, using qualitative, historical, and ethnographic methods, examines how factors associated with growth and modernization in Accra, especially after World War II, helped transform Ga cultural practices. It helps explain the importance of multidisciplinary research and contributes to studies in the interrelations of modernization, custom, and tradition.
{"title":"Transformation of Ga Death and Funeral Rites in Accra, Ghana","authors":"Mitja Potocnik, Kwame Adum-Kyeremeh","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.3.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.3.05","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article examines the background to transformations in the traditional funeral rites of the Ga ethnic group of Accra, the capital city of Ghana. It finds that major changes in Ga customs and traditions began appearing in the late nineteenth century, when colonial authorities moved the capital of the then Gold Coast from Cape Coast to Accra, the core of the Ga traditional communities. Although important political, social, and economic changes were to be expected, customs and tradition, in particular, underwent considerable changes. This article, using qualitative, historical, and ethnographic methods, examines how factors associated with growth and modernization in Accra, especially after World War II, helped transform Ga cultural practices. It helps explain the importance of multidisciplinary research and contributes to studies in the interrelations of modernization, custom, and tradition.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"106 - 89"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44964036","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 : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.68.2.02
Jennifer L. De Maio
{"title":"Contesting Power Online: Campaigning via Twitter in Kenya’s 2017 Elections","authors":"Jennifer L. De Maio","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.2.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.2.02","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43314165","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 : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.68.2.04
G. Bob-Milliar, Karen Lauterbach
Abstract:The level of political trust in a country is an important factor for the survival of its political system. Many democratic states have experienced declines in political trust. In Ghana, lack of trust in opposition parties and many public institutions is widespread. Ghanaians trust religious organizations and traditional authorities more than political parties and state institutions; it is, however, political parties that govern and implement public policy. So, what generates trust in Ghanaian parties and political trust more broadly? This article draws on ethnographic data and Afrobarometer survey data to answer this question. We argue that political trust in Ghana is strongly linked to a high degree of party loyalty and political partisanship, and therefore trust largely follows party affiliation. At the same time, factors such as economic performance in government and internal politics and fractions influence the generation of trust. Our analysis shows that political trust in Ghana largely reflects party loyalty but is influenced by a democratic ethos relating to government performance vis-à-vis citizens and internal party politics. This means that the understanding of political trust in Ghana (and elsewhere) must take into consideration the particular histories of political parties, as well as their relationship to power and control of public institutions, and not focus solely on government performance.
{"title":"The Generation of Trust in Political Parties in Ghana","authors":"G. Bob-Milliar, Karen Lauterbach","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.2.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.2.04","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The level of political trust in a country is an important factor for the survival of its political system. Many democratic states have experienced declines in political trust. In Ghana, lack of trust in opposition parties and many public institutions is widespread. Ghanaians trust religious organizations and traditional authorities more than political parties and state institutions; it is, however, political parties that govern and implement public policy. So, what generates trust in Ghanaian parties and political trust more broadly? This article draws on ethnographic data and Afrobarometer survey data to answer this question. We argue that political trust in Ghana is strongly linked to a high degree of party loyalty and political partisanship, and therefore trust largely follows party affiliation. At the same time, factors such as economic performance in government and internal politics and fractions influence the generation of trust. Our analysis shows that political trust in Ghana largely reflects party loyalty but is influenced by a democratic ethos relating to government performance vis-à-vis citizens and internal party politics. This means that the understanding of political trust in Ghana (and elsewhere) must take into consideration the particular histories of political parties, as well as their relationship to power and control of public institutions, and not focus solely on government performance.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"81 - 98"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42200802","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 : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.68.2.07
Jessika A. Bohlmann, M. Chitiga‐Mabugu, Darlington Mushongera
Tshepo, a young South African, has faced huge life challenges in the last four years as he has struggled to focus on his studies amid numerous student protests against the hiking of university fees. Despite these challenges, he was determined to complete his undergraduate degree, which he did at the end of 2020. The story of Tshepo and the evidence found in our current research highlight how Africa's young people confront high rates of unemployment. Bohlmann et al argue that unless governments and society take steps to curb the scourge of youth unemployment, social unrest and an exodus of youth out of the continent are likely. They pose a few questions that take them away from the usual questions asked and researched when it comes to youth unemployment. These questions and others can set a new agenda for studies on youth unemployment in Africa.
{"title":"Youth and Unemployment: Our Present Problem and a Missed Opportunity","authors":"Jessika A. Bohlmann, M. Chitiga‐Mabugu, Darlington Mushongera","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.2.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.2.07","url":null,"abstract":"Tshepo, a young South African, has faced huge life challenges in the last four years as he has struggled to focus on his studies amid numerous student protests against the hiking of university fees. Despite these challenges, he was determined to complete his undergraduate degree, which he did at the end of 2020. The story of Tshepo and the evidence found in our current research highlight how Africa's young people confront high rates of unemployment. Bohlmann et al argue that unless governments and society take steps to curb the scourge of youth unemployment, social unrest and an exodus of youth out of the continent are likely. They pose a few questions that take them away from the usual questions asked and researched when it comes to youth unemployment. These questions and others can set a new agenda for studies on youth unemployment in Africa.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"142 - 148"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45903734","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 : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.68.2.06
S. Roop, K. Tronvoll
Abstract:This article explores the effects of the Tanzanian constitutional review process undertaken from 2011 to 2015 by Zanzibar's government of national unity (GNU), which was operative between 2010 and 2015. Central to this analysis is the historicity of constitutionalism in Tanzania and political antagonism and violence in Zanzibar. The reconciliation agreement of 2009 brought relative stability to the isles; however, the start of the constitutional review process led the GNU partners to take opposite stands on key issues of the union framework and Zanzibar autonomy, rekindling identity distinctions and deep-rooted enmity. This discourse, together with other proximate factors, explains the withering of the reconciliatory spirit within Zanzibar's unity government during the constitutional review process, leading ultimately to the collapse of the process and the discontinuation of the GNU. As it was expected that the aborted constitutional review process would be resumed after the 2020 elections, the lessons learned from the first phase of the process will be vital to understanding its possible completion.
{"title":"Constitutional Discord and Division in Tanzania: The Breakdown of the Government of National Unity in Zanzibar","authors":"S. Roop, K. Tronvoll","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.2.06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.2.06","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article explores the effects of the Tanzanian constitutional review process undertaken from 2011 to 2015 by Zanzibar's government of national unity (GNU), which was operative between 2010 and 2015. Central to this analysis is the historicity of constitutionalism in Tanzania and political antagonism and violence in Zanzibar. The reconciliation agreement of 2009 brought relative stability to the isles; however, the start of the constitutional review process led the GNU partners to take opposite stands on key issues of the union framework and Zanzibar autonomy, rekindling identity distinctions and deep-rooted enmity. This discourse, together with other proximate factors, explains the withering of the reconciliatory spirit within Zanzibar's unity government during the constitutional review process, leading ultimately to the collapse of the process and the discontinuation of the GNU. As it was expected that the aborted constitutional review process would be resumed after the 2020 elections, the lessons learned from the first phase of the process will be vital to understanding its possible completion.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"123 - 140"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41546894","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 : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.68.2.05
Susann Ludwig
Abstract:In this article, I explore how possibilities materialize in public spaces and how the potential of multiple possibilities can be studied ethnographically. Ficgayo, a multipurpose venue in the city Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, is the protagonist in this endeavor. Examining the relationship between this venue and possibilities, the article presents empirical accounts, which enable broader theoretical reflections focused on the experience of doing ethnographic research, urban practices, and temporality. Beyond notions of space and place, it suggests understanding Ficgayo as a case of materialized relationality, which emerges as a product of the researcher becoming-with Ficgayo, along with multiple practices in the now. It argues for the epistemological potential of a spatial perspective and, thus, a possible way of knowing cities in Africa beyond binary notions.
{"title":"This Is Ficgayo: An Explorative Account of How Possibilities Materialize in Urban Africa","authors":"Susann Ludwig","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.2.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.2.05","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:In this article, I explore how possibilities materialize in public spaces and how the potential of multiple possibilities can be studied ethnographically. Ficgayo, a multipurpose venue in the city Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, is the protagonist in this endeavor. Examining the relationship between this venue and possibilities, the article presents empirical accounts, which enable broader theoretical reflections focused on the experience of doing ethnographic research, urban practices, and temporality. Beyond notions of space and place, it suggests understanding Ficgayo as a case of materialized relationality, which emerges as a product of the researcher becoming-with Ficgayo, along with multiple practices in the now. It argues for the epistemological potential of a spatial perspective and, thus, a possible way of knowing cities in Africa beyond binary notions.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"101 - 121"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48427625","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 : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.68.2.01
Sarah J. Bishop
Abstract:Ethnicity is highly politicized in Ethiopia, where Gambella region, on Ethiopia's southwestern border, has suffered from prolonged cycles of retaliatory ethnic violence. Among the Anywaa ethnic group in Gambella, song plays a role in producing ethnic consciousness, particularly since it is a medium for teaching and advising. Anywaa singers construct and valorize an Anywaa ethnic identity in their lyrics, and listeners value these songs for teaching them about their culture and gaining advice on how to act. Simultaneously, the variability in listeners' interpretation of songs highlights the ambiguous, processual nature of ethnicity. In the light of such sentiments, scholars should attend closely to the roles of expressive culture in ethnic movements and conflicts.
{"title":"Song and the Production of Anywaa Ethnicity in Gambella, Ethiopia","authors":"Sarah J. Bishop","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.2.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.2.01","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Ethnicity is highly politicized in Ethiopia, where Gambella region, on Ethiopia's southwestern border, has suffered from prolonged cycles of retaliatory ethnic violence. Among the Anywaa ethnic group in Gambella, song plays a role in producing ethnic consciousness, particularly since it is a medium for teaching and advising. Anywaa singers construct and valorize an Anywaa ethnic identity in their lyrics, and listeners value these songs for teaching them about their culture and gaining advice on how to act. Simultaneously, the variability in listeners' interpretation of songs highlights the ambiguous, processual nature of ethnicity. In the light of such sentiments, scholars should attend closely to the roles of expressive culture in ethnic movements and conflicts.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"26 - 3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43660570","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 : 2021-09-12DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.68.1.01
K. Geyer, E. Kahu, K. Tuffin
Abstract:Nonwhite women still commonly work as maids in white or affluent South African households despite the fall of apartheid more than twenty years ago. Their employers provide insight into the renegotiation of privilege when they move to a country that has different understandings of race and servitude. The accounts of eight white South African immigrants living in New Zealand are here deconstructed via Foucauldian discourse analysis. As these immigrants reflect on their past, they camouflage an oppressive and prejudicial relationship through notions of friendship and compassion. Their struggles with opposing ideologies reveal well-rehearsed racial scripts, which buffer the impact of white supremacy that is culturally inappropriate in New Zealand. These scripts suggest that South African emigrants take their “post” apartheid space with them, challenging a status quo that transcends spatial boundaries.
{"title":"Camouflaged by Compassion: South Africans’ Paradoxical Understandings of Domestic Employment Relations following Emigration to New Zealand","authors":"K. Geyer, E. Kahu, K. Tuffin","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.1.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.1.01","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Nonwhite women still commonly work as maids in white or affluent South African households despite the fall of apartheid more than twenty years ago. Their employers provide insight into the renegotiation of privilege when they move to a country that has different understandings of race and servitude. The accounts of eight white South African immigrants living in New Zealand are here deconstructed via Foucauldian discourse analysis. As these immigrants reflect on their past, they camouflage an oppressive and prejudicial relationship through notions of friendship and compassion. Their struggles with opposing ideologies reveal well-rehearsed racial scripts, which buffer the impact of white supremacy that is culturally inappropriate in New Zealand. These scripts suggest that South African emigrants take their “post” apartheid space with them, challenging a status quo that transcends spatial boundaries.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"20 - 3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44210088","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 : 2021-09-12DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.68.1.05
Julius A. Amin
Abstract:Historical literature traces the origin of Cameroon’s anglophone crisis to the failure to implement the Foumban Constitutional Agreement. The current study adds a new perspective: based on extensive field work in Cameroon and a variety of primary and secondary sources, it argues that the crisis, which began in October 2016, degenerated into violence because of a catalog of miscalculations made by President Paul Biya’s regime. It argues that the crisis has devastated life in the anglophone region and recommends what needs to be done to turn the tide there. It fills an important gap in the literature on the crisis and the struggle for change and contributes to postcolonial Cameroonian and African historiography overall.
{"title":"President Paul Biya and Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis: A Catalog of Miscalculations","authors":"Julius A. Amin","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.1.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.1.05","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Historical literature traces the origin of Cameroon’s anglophone crisis to the failure to implement the Foumban Constitutional Agreement. The current study adds a new perspective: based on extensive field work in Cameroon and a variety of primary and secondary sources, it argues that the crisis, which began in October 2016, degenerated into violence because of a catalog of miscalculations made by President Paul Biya’s regime. It argues that the crisis has devastated life in the anglophone region and recommends what needs to be done to turn the tide there. It fills an important gap in the literature on the crisis and the struggle for change and contributes to postcolonial Cameroonian and African historiography overall.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"122 - 95"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45822583","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}
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