Pub Date : 2021-09-12DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.68.1.04
M. Chiweshe, I. Mahiya
Abstract:Narratives around the everyday experiences of corruption in urban Harare provide multiple perspectives on how Zimbabweans create specific moral repertoires to make sense of their actions. They highlight how ordinary people speak to the dissonance of engaging in actions they deem immoral, such as paying and receiving bribes. Our research is based on interviews with fifteen respondents involved in livelihood options where bribery or petty corruption is an everyday occurrence. We utilize the concept of moral economy to show how people make sense of their actions in contexts where survival often involves participating in transactions constructed as immoral. We demonstrate that the respondents have created mechanisms to make sense of and excuse their actions as necessitated by the need for survival in difficult contexts. This has thus led to specific moral economies in urban Harare.
{"title":"Corruption and the Morality of Everyday Life in Urban Harare, Zimbabwe","authors":"M. Chiweshe, I. Mahiya","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.1.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.1.04","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Narratives around the everyday experiences of corruption in urban Harare provide multiple perspectives on how Zimbabweans create specific moral repertoires to make sense of their actions. They highlight how ordinary people speak to the dissonance of engaging in actions they deem immoral, such as paying and receiving bribes. Our research is based on interviews with fifteen respondents involved in livelihood options where bribery or petty corruption is an everyday occurrence. We utilize the concept of moral economy to show how people make sense of their actions in contexts where survival often involves participating in transactions constructed as immoral. We demonstrate that the respondents have created mechanisms to make sense of and excuse their actions as necessitated by the need for survival in difficult contexts. This has thus led to specific moral economies in urban Harare.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"73 - 92"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45251144","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.68.1.02
K. Harris
Abstract:This article analyzes the history and politics of Kenya’s Constituency Development Fund (CDF). The fund, which reflects historic expectations about legislators’ behavior, has evolved along with the Kenyan state since its inauguration in 2003. Challenges to legislators’ autonomy over its management reflect a fragmentation of political authority, as politicians seek control over resources to signal their commitment to development and establish themselves as leaders in their communities. The article draws on more than 150 original interviews with CDF stakeholders, records from Kenya’s Parliamentary Hansard, reports from civil society organizations, and news articles from Kenyan media.
{"title":"“A Leader Is Associated with Development”: Kenya’s Constituency Development Fund in Historical Perspective","authors":"K. Harris","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.1.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.1.02","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article analyzes the history and politics of Kenya’s Constituency Development Fund (CDF). The fund, which reflects historic expectations about legislators’ behavior, has evolved along with the Kenyan state since its inauguration in 2003. Challenges to legislators’ autonomy over its management reflect a fragmentation of political authority, as politicians seek control over resources to signal their commitment to development and establish themselves as leaders in their communities. The article draws on more than 150 original interviews with CDF stakeholders, records from Kenya’s Parliamentary Hansard, reports from civil society organizations, and news articles from Kenyan media.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"23 - 46"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46768602","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.68.1.03
B. Ndiaye
Abstract:Accumulating resources for mass action in francophone West Africa involves seeking financial, media, and popular backing. Many prominent social movements have succeeded in finding the necessary resources for their activism, but they often face apprehensions concerning the legitimacy and origin of their resources. Focusing on the Y’en a marre movement in Senegal, this article argues that resource mobilization presents several challenges for francophone African activists, some of which can delegitimize their struggles for social change and expose them to governmental surveillance and repression. The article primarily explores the benefit and inconvenience of traditional and social media for mass action. It examines the evolution of Senegalese youth engagement in social change and the origin of the financial resources of Y’en a marre.
摘要：在讲法语的西非，为大规模行动积累资源包括寻求资金、媒体和民众支持。许多著名的社会运动成功地为他们的激进主义找到了必要的资源，但他们经常面临对其资源的合法性和来源的担忧。本文聚焦于塞内加尔的Y'en a marre运动，认为资源调动给讲法语的非洲活动家带来了一些挑战，其中一些挑战可能会使他们争取社会变革的斗争失去合法性，并使他们面临政府的监视和镇压。本文主要探讨了传统媒体和社交媒体对群众行动的好处和不便。它考察了塞内加尔青年参与社会变革的演变以及Y'en a marre财政资源的来源。
{"title":"Social Movements and the Challenges of Resource Mobilization in the Digital Era: A Case from Francophone West Africa","authors":"B. Ndiaye","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.1.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.1.03","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Accumulating resources for mass action in francophone West Africa involves seeking financial, media, and popular backing. Many prominent social movements have succeeded in finding the necessary resources for their activism, but they often face apprehensions concerning the legitimacy and origin of their resources. Focusing on the Y’en a marre movement in Senegal, this article argues that resource mobilization presents several challenges for francophone African activists, some of which can delegitimize their struggles for social change and expose them to governmental surveillance and repression. The article primarily explores the benefit and inconvenience of traditional and social media for mass action. It examines the evolution of Senegalese youth engagement in social change and the origin of the financial resources of Y’en a marre.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"49 - 71"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45440712","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.68.1.06
Hudson Dafe Egere
Abstract:This study explores what constitutes a Niger Delta Community and differentiates communities from other forms of geopolitical entities and groups. Previous studies treat geopolitical entities denoted as communities as villages, towns, and ethnicities. This study proposes that they be defined by geopolitical factors that go beyond these terms. A qualitative research method through fifty semistructured interviews is applied in obtaining and analyzing evidence from Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers states in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, to evaluate key arguments supporting this claim. It was discovered that the political and geographical subdivisions of postcolonial local government areas and, in some cases, the traditional and geographical sections of precolonial clans or kingdoms define contemporary Niger Delta communities. These determinations emphasize the factors that delineate such a community from gray terms used as its denotation. This article clarifies the definitional characteristics of these communities that help distinguish their municipal status from typical villages, towns, or ethnicities in the region.
{"title":"A Contemporary Geopolitical Delineation of Niger Delta Communities: Identity in Coastal Nigeria","authors":"Hudson Dafe Egere","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.1.06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.1.06","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This study explores what constitutes a Niger Delta Community and differentiates communities from other forms of geopolitical entities and groups. Previous studies treat geopolitical entities denoted as communities as villages, towns, and ethnicities. This study proposes that they be defined by geopolitical factors that go beyond these terms. A qualitative research method through fifty semistructured interviews is applied in obtaining and analyzing evidence from Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers states in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, to evaluate key arguments supporting this claim. It was discovered that the political and geographical subdivisions of postcolonial local government areas and, in some cases, the traditional and geographical sections of precolonial clans or kingdoms define contemporary Niger Delta communities. These determinations emphasize the factors that delineate such a community from gray terms used as its denotation. This article clarifies the definitional characteristics of these communities that help distinguish their municipal status from typical villages, towns, or ethnicities in the region.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"125 - 144"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44077053","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.68.1.07
A. Hutson
Senegal is one of the world's biggest producers of ocean plastic waste. On its beaches, except those of the most elite ocean resorts catering to the Senegalese well-to-do and European tourists, one cannot miss the evidence of Senegal's rank of twenty-first biggest ocean polluter in the world. Here, Hutson discusses Senegal's ocean plastic waste problem.
{"title":"In the Ocean: Senegal’s Plastic Waste Problem","authors":"A. Hutson","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.1.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.1.07","url":null,"abstract":"Senegal is one of the world's biggest producers of ocean plastic waste. On its beaches, except those of the most elite ocean resorts catering to the Senegalese well-to-do and European tourists, one cannot miss the evidence of Senegal's rank of twenty-first biggest ocean polluter in the world. Here, Hutson discusses Senegal's ocean plastic waste problem.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"68 1","pages":"145 - 150"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45213801","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 : 2021-08-01DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.68.1.08
D. Vanderburgh
{"title":"Dance in West Africa: Analysis and Description in Relation to Aspects of Communication Theory, Ulrike Groß","authors":"D. Vanderburgh","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.1.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.1.08","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45777246","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 : 2021-08-01DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.68.1.09
P. Okpalaeke
{"title":"Of Life and Health: The Language of Art and Religion in an African Medical System, Alexis Bekyane Tengan","authors":"P. Okpalaeke","doi":"10.2979/africatoday.68.1.09","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.1.09","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42765300","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}
Abstract:In Africa, colonialism, decoloniality, and decolonization are implicated not just socially and culturally, but also politically. These topics are connected to questions of the knowledge curriculum and knowledge production. The introduction to this special issue, entitled "Politics and Decolonization in Africa," provides a theoretical primer for, and summarizes, four articles focusing on and engaging with these topics.
{"title":"Politics and Decolonization in Africa: Theoretical Pointers and a Preamble","authors":"Edwin Etieyibo, Obvious Katsaura, Muchaparara Musemwa","doi":"10.2979/AFRICATODAY.67.4.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/AFRICATODAY.67.4.01","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:In Africa, colonialism, decoloniality, and decolonization are implicated not just socially and culturally, but also politically. These topics are connected to questions of the knowledge curriculum and knowledge production. The introduction to this special issue, entitled \"Politics and Decolonization in Africa,\" provides a theoretical primer for, and summarizes, four articles focusing on and engaging with these topics.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"67 1","pages":"3 - 8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42918003","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 : 2021-06-09DOI: 10.2979/AFRICATODAY.67.4.02
Aghogho Akpome
Abstract:To civilize and rescue certain populations from self-destruction was a cardinal aim of colonization, which reflected the supposition that colonized people were evolutionarily, culturally, intellectually, and morally deficient and therefore incapable of attaining advanced levels of sociopolitical organization. This article explores how contemporary discourses of corruption in Africa echo these discredited narratives, which I critically analyze using a combination of postcolonial and poststructuralist approaches to discourse as an ideational structure. I conclude with two broad arguments: first, that the focus of these narratives on the perceived moral deficiencies of so-called African leaders misrepresents complex historical, social, and structural conditions; second, that, by constantly questioning Africans' capacity to govern themselves, these narratives sabotage efforts toward decolonization while providing subtextual justifications for continued neocolonial relations between the West and Africa.
{"title":"Discourses of Corruption in Africa: Between the Colonial Past and the Decolonizing Present","authors":"Aghogho Akpome","doi":"10.2979/AFRICATODAY.67.4.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/AFRICATODAY.67.4.02","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:To civilize and rescue certain populations from self-destruction was a cardinal aim of colonization, which reflected the supposition that colonized people were evolutionarily, culturally, intellectually, and morally deficient and therefore incapable of attaining advanced levels of sociopolitical organization. This article explores how contemporary discourses of corruption in Africa echo these discredited narratives, which I critically analyze using a combination of postcolonial and poststructuralist approaches to discourse as an ideational structure. I conclude with two broad arguments: first, that the focus of these narratives on the perceived moral deficiencies of so-called African leaders misrepresents complex historical, social, and structural conditions; second, that, by constantly questioning Africans' capacity to govern themselves, these narratives sabotage efforts toward decolonization while providing subtextual justifications for continued neocolonial relations between the West and Africa.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"67 1","pages":"11 - 28"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69665023","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 : 2021-06-09DOI: 10.2979/AFRICATODAY.67.4.03
H. McEwen
Abstract:To make sense of contemporary efforts of the US conservative "pro-family" movement to advance anti-LGBTIQ+ and antifeminist agendas in Africa, this article takes a decolonial approach to the notion of the nuclear family. Beginning with the colonial history of the gender binary and hierarchy, it first discusses how the notion of the nuclear family ideal became fused with notions of race, racial hierarchy, and civilization. Its second half discusses the rise of the international pro-family movement and the colonial ideology that the movement reproduces, focusing on campaigns and networks in Africa. It identifies and examines three key elements of pro-family ideology that demonstrate the ways in which the movement reproduces colonial power relations: efforts to define, universalize, and politicize a particular conception of the family. Analysis concludes that these components of pro-family advocacy reveal that the movement's opposition to inclusive sex- and gender-based rights for LGBTIQ+ individuals reinforces Western epistemic power and authority over families and recapitulates colonial-era power relations between Global Norths and Souths.
{"title":"Inventing Family: Colonial Knowledge Politics of \"Family\" and the Coloniality of \"Pro-family\" Activism in Africa","authors":"H. McEwen","doi":"10.2979/AFRICATODAY.67.4.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/AFRICATODAY.67.4.03","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:To make sense of contemporary efforts of the US conservative \"pro-family\" movement to advance anti-LGBTIQ+ and antifeminist agendas in Africa, this article takes a decolonial approach to the notion of the nuclear family. Beginning with the colonial history of the gender binary and hierarchy, it first discusses how the notion of the nuclear family ideal became fused with notions of race, racial hierarchy, and civilization. Its second half discusses the rise of the international pro-family movement and the colonial ideology that the movement reproduces, focusing on campaigns and networks in Africa. It identifies and examines three key elements of pro-family ideology that demonstrate the ways in which the movement reproduces colonial power relations: efforts to define, universalize, and politicize a particular conception of the family. Analysis concludes that these components of pro-family advocacy reveal that the movement's opposition to inclusive sex- and gender-based rights for LGBTIQ+ individuals reinforces Western epistemic power and authority over families and recapitulates colonial-era power relations between Global Norths and Souths.","PeriodicalId":39703,"journal":{"name":"Africa Today","volume":"67 1","pages":"31 - 49"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42090178","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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