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Land, labour and the family in southern Ghana : a critique of land policy under neo-liberalisation
No full textThis report is based on field work carried out in the Akyem Abuakwa area of the forest region of Ghana, a section of the country rich in agricultural land, gold, and diamonds. Through the field work which was undertaken and the empirical material generated, the author attempts to chart the processes and patterns of differentiation connected to land and land use in contemporary Ghana. In addition to class-related differentiation, he also identifies intra-household, generational and gender differences as well as their implications for the mobilisation of family labour and the emergence of new land and labour markets. The conclusions which the author draws challenge some of the dominant theoretical approaches to the land question in contemporary Africa, particularly the evolutionary property rights and communitarian approaches
Is Uganda an emerging economy? : a report for the OECD project "Emerging Africa"
No full textIn spite of serious external shocks and political destabilisation in part of the country, Uganda has remained a good economic performer since the late 1980s, with over a decade of high per capita growth in excess of three per cent. This study concludes that Uganda's medium to long-term success will depend on the achievements in institutional reforms, including raising the quality of the civil service, curbing corruption and implementing an effective regulatory framework. This is important as a poorly functioning public sector is both unable to uphold the rule of law, thus losing the public goodwill necessary for implementing new measures, and a burden on the private sector as it implies increased transaction costs. There is a widespread domestic and international concern that the civil strife in the Great Lakes Region might lead Uganda and its neighbours from the path of economic reform back to socio-economic instability
News from the Nordic Africa Institute : No. 3, October 2001
No full textContents: To Our Readers / Lennart Wohlgemuth -- Commentaries: Whither the Dividends of Democracy in Nigeria? / Jibrin Ibrahim -- Can Sanctions Work? The Case of Angola / Anders Möllander -- Research: Conflict in Africa—Post-Conflict Transition, the State and Civil Society / Ebrima Sall -- Aid and Poverty in Zambia: Mission Unaccomplished / Oliver S. Saasa -- Representations of WoDaaBe in Historical and Political Contexts / Kristín Loftsdóttir -- Biblical Mythology in André Brink’s Anti-Apartheid and Post-Apartheid Fiction / Isidore Diala -- Urban Youth Violence As a Socio-Cultural Phenomenon in Nigeria / Moses Mamman -- A Final Contribution from the Southern Africa Programme / Bertil Odén -- Interview: Interview with Mehari Gebre-Medhin / Karin Andersson Schiebe -- Institution: The Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, Scotland / Kenneth King -- Publishing -- Other activities: Conferences -- Seminars on Higher Education -- Zimbabwe’s International Book Fair 2001 -- Report from a Guest Writer / Ama Ata Aidoo -- Poem</p
Africa in the new millenium
No full textThe contributions to this Discussion Paper were prepared for a workshop on "Africa in the new millennium" held in Stockholm in May 2001. The idea of the workshop was not to counter "negative" perceptions of Africa with "positive" ones. Nor was it to arrive at finalised ideas or prescriptions for governments or the continent as a whole. The aim was to raise important questions, which may help contextualise and deal with the problems facing the continent. It was an attempt to go below the surface of immediate crises and open up a debate around Africa and its international relations. It is hoped that publication of these papers will encourage further debate, and contribute towards realising the goal of African recovery.CONTENTS -- Introduction/Raymond Suttner -- Political Reforms and Conflict Management in the African Democratic Transition/Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja -- Comments on Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja's contribution/Adebayo Olukoshi -- Globalisation and African Development/Yusuf Bangura -- Globalisation, Reforms and Growth in Africa: Some Comments/Steve Kayizzi-Mugerw
Who is ruling in South Sudan? : the role of NGOs in rebuilding socio-political order
No full textThis paper examines the role of NGOs in rebuilding socio-political order in South Sudan. It describes the socio-political determinants of the last ten years which will throw some light on the political stage in South Sudan and might contribute to the main question of who really has the political power and influence in South Sudan today.CONTENTS -- History of the conflict and INGO-involvement -- Present situation -- INGOs in South Sudan – The role of OLS -- The relationship between SPLM/A-SRRA and INGOs -- The 'Agreement on Ground-Rules'and the 'Memorandum of Understanding' between OLS/INGOs and SPLM -- Dimensions of the political impact of INGOs -- INGOs as peace-makers or war-mongers?Creating normality in an abnormal situation -- Shaping a ramshackle state: Ground-Rules as INGO-legislation and the Memorandum of Understanding as proxy for laws -- Civil society - The role of the churches, SINGOs, and new institution
Encounter images in the meetings between Africa and Europe
No full textIn 1995 the Nordic Africa Institute initiated a research project on cultural aspects of development and Nordic-African relations. One of the aims was to contribute to providing other images of Africa than the negative images of misery, war and catastrophes often conveyed by the mass media. Another was to encourage cultural aspects of change in Africa, and the dynamics of cultural production itself. It is indisputable that negative images of Africa increasingly dominate everyday reporting and therefore public opinion too. The generalised pessimistic pictures are in stark contrast to what those of us have experienced who have had the opportunity to visit Africa and work there. It was important not only to encourage alternatives to stereotypes and generalisations, which portrayed Africans as helpless victims, but also to try to understand how and why, and to what extent these images had developed. This was the theme of the first conference organised within the new project on culture, coordinated by Mai Palmberg. This research project was called "Cultural Images in and of Africa", and the seminar dealt primarily with the images of Africa developed in Europe. A selection of edited papers from this seminar is presented here.Contents: Questioning the Origins of the Negative Image of Africa in Medieval Europe / Annemette Kirkegaard -- An Eye-Witness, Hearsay, Hands-On Report from the Gold Coast: Ludewig F. Rømer's Tilforladelig Efterretning om Kysten Guinea / Selena Axelrod Winsnes -- Hottentot, Bushman, Kaffir: The making of Racist Stereotypes in 19th century Britain / Bernth Lindfors -- Labor Laws and Stereotypes: Images of the Khoikhoi in the Cape in the Age of Abolition / Zine Magubane -- "A Gentleman went to Zanzibar". Racism and humanism revisited / Mai Palmberg -- A Voyeur's Paradise... Images of Africa / Yvonne Vera -- Representing the Past in the Present: Memory-texts and Ndebele Identity / Björn Lindgren -- Gender Dimensions in the Images of Africans in Commercial Works of Art / I. Bolarinwa Udegbe -- Jungle Drums Striking the World Beat: Africa as an Image Factor in Popular Music / Johannes Brusila -- Beyond Black and White. Reinterpreting "the Norwegian Missionary Image of the Malagasy" / Karina Hestad Skeie -- Gendered images of Africa? The writings of male and female missionaries / Hanna Mellemsether -- Encounter Images in the Meetings Between Finland and South-West Africa / Namibia / Raisa Simola -- Monkey business in the Congo / Nicolas Martin-Granel -- The Development Gaze. Visual representation of development in information material from Danida / Hanne Løngreen -- I Often Tell People I Have Been to Africa... Swedish-African Encounters through the Aid Relationship / Anna Wieslander -- Africa remains the absolute difference. An interview / V. Y. Mudimbe -- I did not set out to deconstruct. An interview / Terence Ranger</p
Tanzania : is the ugly duckling finally growing up?
No full textThe title of this report is inspired by the great Danish author Hans Christian Andersen who in the child's tale "Den Grimme Ælling" ("The Ugly Duckling") tells the story of a particularly ugly duckling. She is so ugly, in fact, that she is despised and disliked by all other ducks and ducklings. After a long and painful period of time, however, she grows up - but not to become an ugly duck. Instead she becomes a beautiful white swan, admired by all. So Andersen's tale has a happy ending-at least as far as the ugly duckling goes. The major question tackled in this report is whether a similar fate is awaiting Tanzania. Having been something of an enfant terrible since the deep crisis in the early 1980s, economic progress since 1995 provides some hope that the duckling period is Tanzania is finally over. The study initially emerged as part of the "Emerging Africa" research program launched by the OECD's Development Centre in 1997. Comments from participants in that research program are gratefully acknowledged, particularly Jean-Claude Berthélemy (project leader), Aristomene Varoudakis and Ludvig Söderlind. Jean Bonvin, President of the Development Centre (until spring, 1999) guided the project from the start. The project was financed by generous grants from the governments of Switzerland and Belgium. CONTENTS -- An overview of long-run economic performance and political developments -- Macroeconomic Policies to promote stability -- Structural Policies to promote long-run growth -- Public sector management and economic performanc
The inconvenient indigenous : remote area development in Botswana, donor assistance, and the first people of the Kalahari
No full textThe book deals with the relationship between the government of Botswana and its indigenous minority, known as Bushmen, San, Basarwa, or more recently N/oakwe, and tries to understand why the San people remain a marginalised minority in a country that since Independence in 1966 has committed itself to a democratic and non-racial agenda. The use of the concept 'indigenous' is controversial in Botswana and in the rest of Africa, and the book asks thought-provoking questions about the responsibility of the state, the role of the international community and the need for representative organisations. While there have been dozens of books published on the ethnography of the San, this is the first book that places them in the comparative context of indigenous peoples' struggle for recognition. An in-depth documentation and analysis is given of a series of events in 1992 and 1993 that were crucial in establishing San indigenous organisations and identities, and the emergent San organisations are followed from the communities in Kalahari to international meetings in Geneva.CONTENTS -- PART ONE: THE PROBLEM -- INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND INTERNATIONAL TRENDS -- THE CULTURAL CONTEXT OF ETHNIC RELATIONS -- THE CHALLENGES OF NATION-BUILDING -- PART TWO: THE INDIGENOUS WORLD -- DIVERSITY IN ADAPTATION -- BANTU-SAN: RELATIONS AND CATEGORISATIONS -- PART THREE: GOVERNMENT ACTION -- THE BUSHMEN DEVELOPMENT INTERLUDE -- THE REMOTE AREA DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME AS RURAL DEVELOPMENT -- NORAD INVOLVEMENT -- BUSHMEN OR RADS? -- PART FOUR: EVENTS UNFOLDING -- THE BEGINNING: SPEAKING UP AT THE GABORONE SUN -- THE END OF THE BEGINNING -- TO FIND A VOICE -- FOR LAND, CULTURE AND A DIGNIFIED LIVELIHOO
Women informal traders in Harare and the struggle for survival in an environment of economic reforms
No full textThis report summarises the results of the fourth and final round of interviews carried out among informal sector women traders in Harare, Zimbabwe as part of a longitudinal study of their conditions of work and livelihood in the context of economic crisis and structural adjustment. The evidence which was available from the interview points to a deepening social crisis in Zimbabwe as attested to by the increasing crisis of subsistence and livelihood among the overwhelming majorette of the informal sector workers. Far from being the terrain where sections of the populace might be able to find economic liberation, the informal sector is, in fact characterised by serious internal differentiation, very low incomes, and an over-saturation that results in the inability of the women survey to do anything other than struggle at the margins for basic survival
Colapso e reconstrução política na Guiné-Bissau 1998-2000 : um estudo de democratização difícil
No full textIn this study of recent developments in Guinea Bissau Lars Rudebeck seeks to investigate how democratic rule emerges and functions in real life. His analysis extends far beyond the multi-party system and election procedures as he discusses contrasts in people's perceptions of democracy. He assesses their access to influential structures, the roles of civil and political society, of the military, and of international assistance and argues that complex power structures need to be addressed if democracy is to be consolidated.Contents: I. Introdução -- II. O conflict military na Guiné-Bissau em 1998-99 -- III. Uma nova situação política depois de 7 de Maio de 1999 -- IV. Transição visando as eleições de 28 de Novembro de 1999 -- V. Eleições legislativas e presidenciais -- VI. Última volta das eleições presidenciais e novo governo -- VII. Democratização na aldeia=”mudança”? -- VIII. Qual o future para a democracia recém-adquirida? </p