| 31. |
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Beyond territory and scarcity : exploring conflicts over natural resource management
- 2005
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Proceedings (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The attainment of sound and sustainable environmental management is one of humanity's greatest challenges this century, particularly in Africa, which is still heavily dependent on the exploitation of natural and agricultural resources and is faced with rapid population growth. Yet, this challenge should not be reduced to Malthusian parameters and the simple question of population growth and failing resources.In this volume, ten anthropologists and geographers critically address traditionalMalthusian discourses in essays that attempt to move "beyond territory andscarcity" by:- Exploring alternatives to the strong natural determinism that reduces natural resource management to questions of territory and scarcity.- Presenting material and methodologies that explore the different contexts in which social and cultural values intervene, and discovering more than 'rational choice' in the agency of individuals.- Examining the relevance of the different conceptions of territory for the ways in which people manage, or attempt to manage, natural resources.- Placing their research within the framework of the developing discussion on policy and politics in natural resource management. The studies are drawn from a range of sub-Saharan African countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sudan. CONTENT Introduction. Quentin Gausset and Michael Whyte Land and Labour: Agrarian Change in Post-retrenchment Lesotho. Christian Boehm Social Resilience in African Dryland Livelihoods: Deriving Lessons for Policy. Michael Mortimore The Making of an Environment: Ecological History of the Kapsiki/Higi of North Cameroon and North Eastern Nigeria. Walter van Beek and Sonja Avontuur Agro-pastoral Conflicts in the Tikar Plain (Adamawa, Cameroon). Quentin Gausset Transhumance, Tubes and Telephones: Drought Related Migration as a Process of Innovation. Kristine Juul Understanding Resource Management in Western Sudan: A Critical Look at New Institutional Economics. Leif Manger Within, and Beyond, Territories: A Comparison of Village Land Use Management and Livelihood Diversificationin Burkina Faso and Southwest Niger. Simon Batterbury Moving the Boundaries of Forest and Land Use History: The Case of Upper East Region in Northern Ghana. Andrew Wardell Transnational Dimensions to Environmental Resource Dynamics: Modes of Governance and Local Resource Management in Eastern DRC. James Fairhead
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| 32. |
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| 33. |
- Bigsten, Arne, et al.
(författare)
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Is Uganda an emerging economy? : a report for the OECD project "Emerging Africa"
- 2001
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In 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.
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| 34. |
- Bigsten, Arne, et al.
(författare)
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Tanzania : is the ugly duckling finally growing up?
- 2001
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The 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.
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| 35. |
- Bigsten, Arne, et al.
(författare)
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The African economy and its role in the world economy
- 2008
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In a broad survey this issue of Current African Issues presents a multifaceted picture of the current state of the African economy. After a period of falling per capita incomes that started in the 1970s, Africa finally saw a turnaround from about 1995. The last few years have seen average per capita incomes in Africa grow by above 3 per cent per year on average, partly due to the resource boom but also due to improved economic policies. Africa receives more aid per capita than any other major region in the world and there is a significantly positive effect of aid on growth. One of the most notable aspects of the current process of globalisation is the increase in trade between Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, particularly China and India. The authors conclude with a call for policy coherence among donors. The politically most problematic areas for policy change of those discussed in the paper are not aid policy but trade policy and the European Union CAP (Common Agricultural Policy). This is a challenge to EU policy makers, since the latter areas are probably the most important to change if we take our commitment to development seriously.
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| 36. |
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| 37. |
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| 38. |
- Bovin, Mette
(författare)
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Nomads who cultivate beauty : wodaabe dances and visual arts in Niger
- 2001
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Why do young men use mirrors and make-up more than girls? Why do the Wodaabe nomads of West Africa have beauty parades for men? Wodaabe's extraordinary and unique live performances are often misunderstood by outsiders. The book provides some answers about these aesthetic activities. One answer is courtship and "wife-stealing ceremonies" involving enemy clans, another is ethnic identity. Beauty and existence are linked. Wodaabe dances and visual arts are not "exotic" but are arenas for social action and identity politics in the largely agricultural society of the arid regions of Niger, Nigeria and Chad. The author describes Wodaabe cultural choices as "active archaisation". Different art forms are analysed in the light of identity construction by the Wodaabe. Their elaborate cultivation of beauty in make-up, tattoos, body paintings, calabash carvings, embroideries, and architecture all follow the principle of symmetry and order in the cosmos. The author emphasizes the gendered aspects of social life and identity construction and explores masculinity among nomadic Wodaabe men, who are living sculptures displaying their beauty as a spiritual act, full of honour and dignity. The book has many colour photographs and examples of Wodaabe art.
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| 39. |
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| 40. |
- Brock-Utne, Birgit
(författare)
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Language, democracy and education in Africa
- 2002
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This publication comprises two papers, both written during January and February 2002 when the author was a guest researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI). In the first paper, "The Language Question in Africa seen in the Context of Globalisation, Social Justice and Democracy", the language question is looked at through the eyes of a social and political scientist. The choice of an official language in Africa is viewed as a question of social class, of power. What social classes profit from the continued use of European languages in Africa? Who benefits? Who loses? The focus here is not only on language use in education but also on language use in the courts and in the political domain, especially in South Africa. Examples are mostly drawn from South Africa and Tanzania, where the author is conducting two research projects in the area of language and education. The second paper, "The Battle over the Language of Instruction in Tanzania", describes two further research projects in which the author is currently involved. In this paper, the author focuses on the question of the language of instruction through the eyes of an educationist. The paper builds on recent research conducted in Tanzania by the author and her Tanzanian Master's degree students.
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