The Nordic Africa Institute
Not a member yet
1081 research outputs found
Sort by
Biafran ghosts : The MASOB Ethnic Militia and Nigeria’s Democratisation Process
No full textThe Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), an ethnicmilitia, emerged in the Igbo-speaking region of Nigeria in 1999, shortly after military rule ended and Olusegun Obasanjo took office as elected President. MASSOB’s stated goal is the struggle for Igbo self-determination and the re-emergence of a new sovereign state in the eastern part of the country to be known as the ‘United States of Biafra’, thereby raising the spectre of a possible break up of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This Discussion Paper examines the circumstances of MASSOB’s emergence in a period of political transition and considerable uncertainty as the Nigerian armed forces began to prepare to relinquish their grip on power, and the specific ways the promoters of this ethnicmilitia movement have shaped Nigeria’s still unfolding democratization process since 1999
Beyond ”Gender and Stir” : Reflections on gender and SSR in the aftermath of African conflicts
No full textAs a policy field largely characterised by handbooks and manuals, gender and Security Sector Reform (SSR) has been insufficiently studied and analysed. Analytical discussion of what gendering SSR means is quite rare, as is the study of the already gendered nature of the security institutions that are the subject of intervention. This policy dialogue unpacks aspects of the discourses and practices regarding gender and SSR. It highlights limitations and problems both in the conceptualisation of gender and its incorporation into practical SSR work. The publication also demonstrates how researchers and policymakers often have divergent views of what gendering SSR means. Finally, it calls for closer and more constructive dialogue between researchers and practitioners, a dialogue which acknowledges the conditions and constraints in these two spheres of work.Contents: Beyond ‘Gender and Stir’ / Maria Eriksson Baaz and Mats Utas -- Research on Gender and SSR in Africa / Cheryl Hendricks -- Women’s Participation in UN Peace Operations / Kathleen Jennings Foregrounding the In/Visibility of Military and Militarised Masculinities / Paul Higate -- Beyond Militarised Masculinity / Maria Eriksson Baaz and Maria Stern -- Perspectives from Both Sides of the Thin Blue Line / Jennifer Erin Salahub -- Towards a Gender-sensitive Police and Army / Ramadan Fabrice -- Young Women in African Wars / Chris Coulter, Mariam Persson and Mats Utas</p
African conflicts and Informal Power : Big Men and Networks
No full textThrough a variety of indepth case studies – from DRC to Somalia to Liberia amongst others – this book shows how important informal political and economic networks are in many of the continent’s conflict areas.Contents: -- Introduction: Bigmanity and network governance in African conflicts / Mats Utas -- Part 1: Country case studies -- 1. Informal political structures, resources and the Ugandan army; military entrepreneurialism in the Ugandan-Congolese borderland / Koen Vlassenroot and Sandrine Perot -- 2. Big Man Business in the Borderland of Sierra Leone / Maya Mynster Christensen -- 3. The politics of impersonation: Corps habillés, Nouchis, and subaltern Bigmanity in Côte d'Ivoire / Karel Arnaut -- 4. Demobilized or remobilized? Liberia's remaining rebel structures in post-war security settings / Mariam Persson -- 5. 'Castles in the sand': Informal networks and power brokers in the Northern Mali periphery / Morten Böås -- Part 2: Thematic case studies -- 6. Critical states and cocaine connections / Henrik Vigh -- 7. African Big Men and international criminal justice: the case of Sierra Leone / Gerhard Anders -- 8. Big Man bargaining in African conflicts / Ilmari Käihkö -- 9. Intermediaries of peace or agents of war: the role of ex-midlevel commanders in Big Man networks / Anders Themnér -- 10. The Big Men commanding conflict resources in Africa: the DRC case / Ruben de Koning</p
The one who has not eaten cannot pray : Tightroping between wordly and spiritual well-being in rural Cameroon
No full text
Water
No full textWater in the archaeology of ritual and religion includes water as a perspective and water as empirical data. The life-giving waters in society and religion are the fresh waters in their many facets in the hydrological cycle. Water is always in a flux. The fluid matter changes qualities and capacities wherever it is, and it always takes new forms. This transformative character of water is forcefully used in ritual practices and religious constructions. Water represents the one and the many at the same time, and the plurality of ritual institutionalizations and religious perceptions puts emphasis on water’s structuring principles and processes in culture and the cosmos. Water is fundamental in many ritual practices and to conceptions of the divinities and cosmos in prehistoric religions, and consequently the study of water in ritual and religion may reveal insights into both what religion is and how devotees perceive themselves, the divine spheres, and their own religious practices and rituals. The pervasive role of water-worlds in society and cosmos unites micro and macro cosmos, creates life, and legitimizes social hierarchies and religious practices and beliefs. Water is a medium which links or changes totally different aspects of humanity and divinities into a coherent unit; it bridges paradoxes, transcends the differenthuman and divine realms, allows interactions with gods, and enables the divinities to interfere with humanity. Water is a medium for everything—it has human character because we are humans; it is a social matter but also a spiritual substance and divine manifestation with immanent powers; and, still, it belongs to the realm of nature as a fluid liquid. The hydrological cycle links all places and spheres together, and water transcends the common categories by which we conceptualize the world and cosmos (Tvedt and Oestigaard 2006). The religious water-worlds, cosmologies, beliefs, and ritual practices are evident in the archaeological record, mythology, and written sources. Hence, it is necessaryto identify different types of water, the particular qualities associated with each of them,and how water materializes as religious and ritual structures, practices, and beliefs
A gendered perspective on the impact of conflict in the Horn of Africa
No full textThis Policy Note focuses on the gendered consequences of the militarisation of the Horn of Africa. Despite being in different ‘moments’ of conflict, the countries of this region share features of extreme social, economic and political violence, which impact negatively on their citizens. Protracted refugee and refugee-like conditions, extreme disinvestment in social programmes, increasing militarisation and political repression adversely affect women, thereby further entrenching gender disparities. Concerted national and international efforts and resources should support local democratic initiatives to find political solutions to these protracted conflicts and advance the struggle against sexual and gender-based violence and discrimination