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(Alte)rnative Realities in Ghana; An Africanfuturist Travelogue into the World Buildings of Contemporary Ghanaian Female Alte musicians
Get PDFIn this research paper, I will use Africanfuturism as a lens through which I explore Ghanaian female alte musicians’ contributions to the growing Africanfuturistic imaginaries. Overall, this research aims to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on Ghanaian female Alte musicians and highlight their significance in shaping alternative realities. I will employ a qualitative research methodology, including interviews with two Ghanaian female alte musicians, and content analysis of their music videos, lyrics, and musical productions. By delving into their personal experiences and artistic expressions, the paper seeks to uncover how these artists challenge traditional gender roles, explore cultural identities, and address social issues within the context of Ghanaian society through their musicality
Climate Change, Malnutrition, and HIV: The Impact of Food Insecurity on HIV Response in Sub-Saharan Africa
Get PDFClimate change is a key driver of an unprecedented global food crisis, exacerbated by rising temperatures and the vulnerability of crop yields. Sub-Saharan Africa is particularly susceptible, and case studies demonstrate the fragility of food systems in the region, leading to severe food insecurity and famine in the face of climate shocks.
There are a variety of health implications, particularly the syndemic relationship between malnutrition and HIV. HIV interacts bidirectionally with malnutrition, creating a vicious cycle of poor clinical outcomes. Expanding access to antiretroviral therapy in Sub-Saharan Africa is hindered by rampant food insecurity, including inadequate food intake, reduced dietary diversity, and compromised treatment adherence for people living with HIV.
Studies show that nutritional interventions positively impact ART adherence and clinical outcomes. Contrasting approaches of aid organizations reveal successes, like UNAIDS, WFP, and PATH, against pitfalls, such as PEPFAR in Mozambique. Despite progress, challenges persist, including the recent focus on climate change resilience, underlying inequalities, and the need for more diversified and climate-resilient nutrition programs.
Mitigation efforts should focus on building resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa\u27s food systems, integrating diversified nutrition support into HIV treatment programs, and collaborative efforts among major aid organizations to effectively address food security and HIV response
Lha, Lu, and Shipda: Religious Landscape in a Conservation Area
Get PDFLiving in a political, cultural, and geographic border region between Nepal and Tibet (People’s Republic of China), the families of Tsum Valley face many demands from their sociopolitical, religious, and economic climate. Practicing Tibetan Buddhism, the people uphold a set of rules implemented by the community with leadership from Serap Dorje Drukpa Rinpoche over 100 years ago that prohibits the intentional murder of all animals. Hailed by leaders and scholars as a haven of biodiversity conservation due to this customary-turned- municipal law, Tsum Valley also exists within Manaslu Conservation Area governed by an entity of the federal government of Nepal that seeks to promote biodiversity conservation and ecotourism. Furthermore, in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Tsum is Beyul Kyimolung, a major point on a pilgrimage circuit. The people traditionally engage in agropastoralism and trade as economic subsistence strategies, but some have started to practice ecotourism in Tsum and labor migration to major cities around the world.
In this work I ask: to what extent does the culture of Tsum work towards biodiversity conservation, as others claim? How does the built (art and architecture) and natural (plants, animals, springs, rivers, mountains) landscape itself contribute to spiritual relationships between humans and other-than-human beings? How do Tsumpa families negotiate relationships with the environment between the interests of the Manaslu Conservation Area Project, municipality, agropastoralism, and ecotourism
Biodiversidad de Plantas en la Reserva Natural Urbana Punta Popper en Río Grande: Una Propuesta para Senderos para la Gestión de la Conservación y Métodos de Campo Replicables en un Etorno Educativo
Get PDFThe Patagonian Steppe is an ecoregion that is rich in plant biodiversity (both native and introduced), and the Urban Nature Reserves like Punta Popper in Río Grande provide an opportunity to preserve these sensitive species and educate the public, especially students, about the value of this trophic level. However, many beautiful species are being affected by human activities in the Reserve: such as the mismanagement of the trail systems which has led to erosion of the sand dunes, and the pressures of rapid urban expansion contributing to trash pollution. It is essential that stakeholder communities have access to information and solutions which can bring educational benefit, social benefit, and ecosystemic benefit to the area. This preliminary study examines the biodiversity of plants in the Punta Popper Urban Nature Reserve in order to inform future management decisions and to develop educational activities and resources for the use of educators in Río Grande. Considering the management component, there appears to be a pattern of decreasing biodiversity, moving from inland out to the point of the peninsula. This pattern could be indicative in a regime shift from a Fueguian steppe pasture to an Elymus dune dominated regime. In terms of the educational component, the methods developed in this study could be used as a field work lesson plan to teach highschool students in Río Grande while starting to build a long term data set to monitor changes in future given climate change.
La estepa patagónica es una ecorregión que tiene una riqueza de plantas (nativas y especies introducidas), y las Reservas Naturales Urbanas como Punta Popper en Río Grande son espacios de oportunidad para preservar algunas de las especies sensibles y educar al público, especialmente estudiantes, sobre el valor de este nivel trófico. Sin embargo, muchas especies nativas y bonitas son amenazadas por actividades humanas en la Reserva Natural Urbana Punta Popper como la mala administración de los senderos lo que lleva a más erosión de los médanos y las presiones de rápida expansión urbana como altos niveles de basura. Es esencial que las comunidades encuentren información y soluciones que puedan traer beneficios educativos, culturales, y ecosistémicos. Este estudio examinó la biodiversidad de plantas en la Reserva Natural Urbana de Punta Popper, para informar decisiones de manejo en el futuro y para desarrollar actividades y recursos educativos por docentes en Río Grande. Considerando decisiones de manejo, parece que hay un patrón de menos biodiversidad lo más lejos de la península. Eso es un indicación de un cambio en régimen de una ecosistema pastizales de la estepa Fueguina a una dominada de dunas de Elymus. En términos de educación, los métodos desarrollados en este preliminar estudio podrían ser usados como un plan de lecciones para enseñar estudiantes en escuelas secundarias en Río Grande cuando empezando un conjunto de datos a largo plazo para monitorizar este espacio por cambios en esta época de cambio climático
Exploration of the Implementation of an Integrated Electronic Laboratory Information Management System on Quality Diagnostics Service Indicators at a County Level Public Hospital in western Kenya.
Get PDFUnderinvestment in pathology and laboratory capacity caused by low visibility in research and in prioritization by public health leaders results in limited effective healthcare coverage and an estimated 1.1 million premature deaths annually in Low-and-Middle-Income Countries. Kenya’s public health laboratories provide a median 41% of the Essential Diagnostic List to their patients and in Kisumu County, as much as 44.2% of the population has little to no access to essential diagnostics. The government of Kisumu implemented the county Health Laboratory Strategic Plan 2018-2022 to address this public health challenge. Little information exists on the effectiveness of these initiatives and the realized impact on laboratory quality diagnostic services in the era of COVID-19. This study explored the implementation of one of the Strategic Plan’s initiatives, an electronic diagnostics data system at a county-level health facility, and the impact that has had on Malaria diagnostics from 2018 to 2022. This study found that the implementation of this electronic data system was not associated with increases in Malaria testing or informed treatment. It found that patients under 5 years old treated for Malaria were 1.07 times more likely to be treated presumptively in 2020 than in 2018. There have been significant decreases in all patients and total tests performed for Malaria since 2018 in spite of a significant Malaria positivity peak in 2020. More research needs to be done on the causes of these decreases and ways in which laboratory test results can better inform provider testing and treatment priorities
An Exploratory Study into Empowering Grade 10 and 11 Learners through Critical Engagement with South African Literature: A Case Study in Cato Manor
Get PDFThis qualitative research project explores how critical engagement with Black South- African authored literature empowers the voices of grade 10 and 11 students in the Cato Manor township of South Africa. Located within a Freirean educational framework, this research utilizes a critical pedagogy approach to empower student voices through representation in texts, deconstruction of a knowledge hierarchy, problem-posing pedagogy, and exposure to themes of racial pride and self-agency in selected literature. This study employs a general qualitative design paradigm consisting of engagement with 3 focus groups of 10-11 learners spanning grades 10 and 11 in Cato Manor public secondary schools. The researcher utilizes participatory observation and facilitation to implement self-created lesson plans of reading and discussing chosen texts with the learners. This data concludes that through empowering book selections and intentional culture creation, students use relatable literature to vulnerably express challenges faced in the township, critically debate philosophical themes, and experience encouragement through dialogue of texts. This research advocates for greater access to Black South African authored literature for adolescence to increase benefits seen in critical thinking, connection to peers, and self-confidence
EU Migration Policy: Analyzing the Coercive Responses of Transit Countries Within the EU’s Framework of Externalization
Get PDFThis paper seeks to analyze the intersection between the EU’s increasingly securitized and externalized policies towards migration, and instances of the weaponization of migration on the EU’s external borders. Although scholars have analyzed cases in which states harness migrants as political weapons, depoliticized most depictions apply a moralistic lens that frames these cases as aberrant, decontextualized, and political events. This paper will complicate understandings of the weaponization of migration by analyzing how EU policies of externalization and securitization systematically shape the environment in which it becomes politically advantageous for leaders, such as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Alexander Lukashenko, to resort to the coercive manipulation of migration flows. This paper will illustrate how the EU, by treating migrants as first and foremost a matter of state security, creates the transactional logic that recent incidents of coercive engineered migration then harness as a tool against the Union. The current study will draw on information garnered from four interviews with experts in migration diplomacy and international relations, as well as a multitude of peer-reviewed secondary sources. It builds upon theories in the fields of security studies, migration diplomacy and the weaponization of migration
Poland and the Ukraine War: A Geopolitical Analysis
Get PDFPoland’s geopolitical role has enhanced since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As such, Poland’s ambitions have increasingly important implications for regional, European, and global security. The paper attempts to address this phenomenon by posing the following research question: how does Poland pursue its interests in the Ukraine War? Employing qualitative methods on data collected from three formal interviews, one virtual interview, one informal interview, four statements from Poland’s leaders, and a variety of secondary sources, the study aims to answer this question modeling Gyula Csurgai’s (2019) geopolitical analysis framework. The research question is addressed in two ways. First, the author examines why it is in Poland’s interests to support Ukraine in the conflict using seven geopolitical factors. Second, this paper identifies four of Poland’s strategic objectives. In doing so, it highlights how geopolitical factors influence Polish strategy and how Poland pursues its geopolitical goals. Overall, the study finds that Poland’s motivations in the conflict are multidimensional; additionally, that the Ukraine War presents both a threat and an opportunity for Polish ambitions
Women in sustainable leadership: A case study on the perspectives, opportunities, and challenges of biologist and conservationist Estrela Matilde
Get PDFDespite the relatively small population of 8,000 occupants and the minimal international recognition of the Island of Príncipe, located off of the Gulf of Guinea on the Western Coast of Central Africa, the region has increasingly become a leading example of sustainable practices to be taken on a global scale in the near future to combat our current climate crisis. This case study explores the sustainable practices that Príncipe has learned to embrace under the leadership of Portuguese conservation biologist and project manager for the NGO Fundação Príncipe, Estrela Matilde. Estrela integrates social, cultural, and environmental conservation to align with the United Nations’ definition of sustainability, “meeting the needs of the present while simultaneously taking into consideration the state of future generations” (UN, n.d.). This study first explores secondary research on the Tropical Island, often referred to as a ‘desolate paradise’ with a highly vibrant ecosystem and a uniquely large number of endemic plant and animal species including the Príncipe Starling and Speirop birds as well as five of the seven endangered types of sea turtles; The Green Turtle, Olive Ridley, Hawksbill, Leatherback and the Loggerhead (Africa\u27s Eden, n.d.). It then incorporates new, primary data through a focused interview with Estela to explore an aspect of her identity that has shaped her reality which literature has largely lacked to consider; the influence and, in turn, the challenges that she has experienced as a female leader in a society built on deep-rooted patriarchal narratives. This study aims to reach beyond merely dissecting Estrela’s sustainable agenda on the Island, but to reveal her experience and open a space for other females to relate on similar issues of being seen, being heard, and being valued in society today
Views of Judaism and Jewish People in Jordan: Political, Social, Historical, and Religious Considerations
Get PDFThe purpose of this research was to find out what the general view of Judaism and Jewish people is within Jordan and what factors play into these views. There were a few aspects of this topic that were specifically focused on in this study. The impact of Israel on the way that Jewish people are perceived was one of the main topics explored. Part of this was looking at the history of Judaism and Jewish people in the Arab World and how the relationship between them and their non-Jewish neighbors changed after the creation of Israel. As a majority Muslim country, the interplay between Judaism and Islam and the way this influences the views of Jordanians was also a main theme in the research with a focus on the status of Jews as “the People of the Book”. Data was mainly gathered through a survey that was given to university students in Amman, Jordan. Three interviews were also conducted, two with professors at universities in Amman, and one with one of the survey participants