| 1. |
- Amanor, Kojo Sebastian
(författare)
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Land, labour and the family in southern Ghana : a critique of land policy under neo-liberalisation
- 2001
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This 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.
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| 2. |
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Associational life in African cities : popular responses to the urban crisis
- 2001
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This book is about the multitude of associations that has emerged in African cities in recent years. In many cases, they are a response to mounting poverty, failing infrastructure and services, and more generally, weak and abdicating urban governments. Some associations are new, in other cases existing organisations are taking on new tasks. Associations may be neighbourhood-based, others may be city-wide and based on professional groupings or a shared ideology or religion. Still others have an ethnic base.
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| 3. |
- 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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| 4. |
- 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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| 5. |
- 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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| 6. |
- Dahl, Gudrun
(författare)
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Responsibility and partnership in Swedish aid discourse
- 2001
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In 1997 the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs elaborated a 'New Policy for Africa'. Its purpose was to co-ordinate the country's cultural assistance, trade and development aid to African countries by giving these activities a frame of common goals and an ideological rationale, emphasising 'partnership' rather than 'solidarity' or 'aid'. This paper analyses the metaphors and paradoxes of the rhetorical draping of the policy as presented in the main report and the speeches of various officials. Of particular concern is what image of moral and reciprocal relations the policy mediates.
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| 7. |
- Davidson, Basil
(författare)
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Afrika i det tjugonde seklet
- 2001
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Ny omarbetad upplaga. Afrikas moderna politiska och sociala historia presenteras här insiktsfullt och översiktligt på ett sätt som gör den till ett standardverk i sig och en oundgänglig bakgrund till de enskilda afrikanska ländernas historia. Boken har skrivits i skuggan av de kriser som många afrikanska samhällen och institutioner drabbades av i slutet av 1900-talet och som fortfarande pågår. Bokens författare, den kände afrikaexperten Basil Davidson, diskuterar orsakerna till sönderfallet och de afrikanska staternas sårbarhet. Men han tar också itu med de industrialiserade ländernas misslyckanden att förändra förhållandet mellan de rika länderna i nord och de fattiga i syd. Boken avslutas med en diskussion om hur Afrika idag söker sina egna lösningar. I boken finns ett detaljrikt och praktiskt index och flera specialritade kartor. Den är lämplig som studie- och referensbok på gymnasiet och i vuxenutbildningen. Basil Davidson är en brittisk journalist och historiker som skrivit ett 20-tal böcker om Afrikas historia. Han har nått en stor publik i sina strävanden att framställa Afrikas historia ur ett afrikanskt perspektiv med afrikanska källor.
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| 8. |
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Encounter images in the meetings between Africa and Europe
- 2001
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In 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.
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| 9. |
- Eriksson Baaz, Maria, 1971, et al.
(författare)
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Same and other : negotiating African identity in cultural production
- 2001
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The idea of African Otherness has occupied a central role in discourses on cultural production in Africa, whether film, literature, music or the arts. These claims, articulated both by 'Western' and 'African' critics and consumers, means that particular criteria and standards are adopted in relation to cultural production in Africa. The claim to African Otherness is gaining new strength in the wake of globalisation, but it is also increasingly challenged by a number of contemporary artists. This book deals with the question of relevance and meaning of the signifier in various fields of contemporary cultural production in Africa: literature, film, sculpture, music, popular drama.
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| 10. |
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Identity and beyond : rethinking Africanity
- 2001
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Proceedings (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This Discussion Paper presents the plenary presentations by the three main speakers during the Nordic Africa Days, with an introduction offering an overview and comment on the various approaches on Gender and Power in African Contexts, Africanity as an Open Question and Rethinking Power in Africa.
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