INTRODUCTION: POST-GADDAFI REPERCUSSIONS IN THE SAHEL AND WEST AFRICA

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Bøås ◽  
Mats Utas
Keyword(s):  
West African ◽  
Northern Nigeria ◽  
Fair Share ◽  
Rapid Social Change ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
Trading Posts ◽  
Ocean Shipping ◽  
Full Effect ◽  
The World ◽  
Almost Open

The areas south of Libya have experienced more than their fair share of conflict and rapid social change. In earlier times, the main routes of trade, commerce and pilgrimage between West African and the Arab Peninsula passed through this region, also once inhabited by mighty warrior empires (see for example Bawuro 1972). However, as the empires along these routes faded away, and international ocean shipping opened up this part of Africa to the forces of global trade and capitalism, the centres of authority that once controlled this region also vanished. What remained was an almost open territory: unwelcoming and hard, but also a place of possibilities and the freedom to roam for those who had mastered the art of survival under such difficult conditions. This was the land of the Tuareg and other semi-nomadic groups who controlled cities and important trading posts such as Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal in contemporary Mali. This is the world of the Sahel and the parts of Western Africa that straddles Libya, and a region that currently includes Southern Algeria, Northern Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania and parts of Northern Nigeria. These are therefore also the countries and areas that have come to experience the full effect of what we define as post-Gaddafi repercussions.

“Jumble Sales Are the Same the World Over”

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Watson
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
West African ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Lesbian Relationships ◽  
Female Friendship ◽  
The World ◽  
Female Headed Households

This chapter analyzes the novels of the British writer Barbara Pym, which are often read as cozy tales of English middle-class postwar life but which, I argue, are profoundly influenced by the work Pym carried out as an editor of the journal Africa at the International African Institute in London, where she worked for decades. She used ethnographic techniques to represent social change in a postwar, decolonizing, non-normative Britain of female-headed households, gay and lesbian relationships, and networks of female friendship and civic engagement. Pym’s novels of the 1950s implicitly criticize the synchronic, functionalist anthropology of kinship tables that dominated the discipline in Britain, substituting an interest in a new anthropology that could investigate social change. Specific anthropological work on West African social changes underpins Pym’s English fiction, including several journal articles that Pym was editing while she worked on her novels.

The Boko Haram Reader

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Cook
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Northern Nigeria ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
Islamic Theology ◽  
Long Line ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
The World

Since it erupted onto the world stage in 2009, people have asked, what is Boko Haram, and what does it stand for? Is there a coherent vision or set of beliefs behind it? Despite the growing literature about the group, few if any attempts have been made to answer these questions, even though Boko Haram is but the latest in a long line of millenarian Muslim reform groups to emerge in Northern Nigeria over the last two centuries. The Boko Haram Reader offers an unprecedented collection of essential texts, documents, videos, audio, and nashids (martial hymns), translated into English from Hausa, Arabic and Kanuri, tracing the group's origins, history, and evolution. Its editors, two Nigerian scholars, reveal how Boko Haram's leaders manipulate Islamic theology for the legitimization, radicalization, indoctrination and dissemination of their ideas across West Africa. Mandatory reading for anyone wishing to grasp the underpinnings of Boko Haram's insurgency, particularly how the group strives to delegitimize its rivals and establish its beliefs as a dominant strand of Islamic thought in West Africa's religious marketplace.

scholarly journals Are we on track reaching SDG3 in 2030? Gap analyses for African & European countries including Russia

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
U Laaser ◽  
V Bjegovic-Mikanovic
Keyword(s):  
Mortality Rate ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
West African ◽  
Northern Africa ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Baltic

Abstract Background To reach the targets of SDG3 not more than a decade is left. How do the Low and Middle-Income Countries in Northern Africa - in the immediate neighborhood to Europe - compare to the 15 members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and well-developed European countries around the Baltic Sea (the “Northern Dimension”) incl. Russia? Methods We used quantifiable mortality indicators and targeted reductions until 2030, as published for SDG3.1/2/3 by the United Nations in 2015. To estimate progress or delay we used the methodology of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) based on the target year 2030, a year of observation, and a year at baseline. For the comparison between Northern Africa/Northern Europe we calculated for indicator 3.3 the Premature Years of Life Lost (PYLL) and for the comparison of Northern/Western Africa the more sensitive indicators 3.1 and 2, the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR), the Neonatal Mortality Rate NMR, and the under-five Mortality Rate (<5MR). Results In Northern Africa, only Algerian and Morocco will achieve the 2030 target 3.4 in time i.e., 2.5 and 7 years in advance, whereas Egypt, Libya and Tunisia are in delay Mauretania even by 14.5 years. The countries around the Baltic Sea likely will achieve the targeted reduction before 2030, Estonia on top already 2025, followed by Latvia and Finland in 2026, and the Russian Federation in 2027. Among the 15 West African states, Capo Verde has reached the targets 3.1 and 2 already, followed by Senegal (e.g., 4.0 years in advance for <5MR) and Ghana, whereas Guinea Bissau is positioned at the end with a delay of 4,2 years for MMR. The countries of Northern Africa are on track except for Algeria, with 6.2 years in delay for MMR and Mauretania for all indicators. Conclusions Whereas the European countries are well in advance of the SDG targets, Northern Africa shows a mixed picture and the countries of Western Africa with a few exceptions are in delay. Key messages European countries around the Baltic Sea and Russia are well on track for SDG3, reducing their premature mortality by one third until 2030. Whereas the European countries are well in advance of the SDG targets, Northern Africa shows a mixed picture and the countries of Western Africa with a few exceptions are in delay.

scholarly journals Re-assessing the Foundations: Worldwide Smallpox Eradication, 1957–67

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-93
Author(s):  
Sanjoy Bhattacharya ◽  
Carlos Eduardo D’Avila Pereira Campani
Keyword(s):  
Majority Vote ◽  
World Health ◽  
Significant Progress ◽  
Eradication Programme ◽  
World Health Assembly ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
The World ◽  
Complex Picture ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
National Governments

An expansive, worldwide smallpox eradication programme (SEP) was announced by the World Health Assembly in 1958, leading this decision-making body to instruct the World Health Organization Headquarters in Geneva to work with WHO regional offices to engage and draw in national governments to ensure success. Tabled by the Soviet Union’s representative and passed by a majority vote by member states, the announcement was subject to intense diplomatic negotiations. This led to the formation, expansion and reshaping of an ambitious and complex campaign that cut across continents and countries. This article examines these inter-twining international, regional and national processes, and challenges long-standing historiographical assumptions about the fight against smallpox only gathering strength from the mid-1960s onwards, after the start of a US-supported programme in western Africa. The evidence presented here suggests a far more complex picture. It shows that although the SEP’s structures grew slowly between 1958 and 1967, a worldwide eradication programme resulted from international negotiations made possible through gains during this period. Significant progress in limiting the incidence of smallpox sustained international collaboration, and justified the prolongation and expansion of activities. Indeed, all of this bore diplomatic and legal processes within the World Health Assembly and WHO that acted as the foundation of the so-called intensified phase of the SEP and the multi-faceted activities that led to the certification of smallpox eradication in 1980.

scholarly journals Antitoxic, Antifungal and Phytochemical Analysis of Medicinal Compounds of Guiera senegalensis Leaves

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-152
Author(s):  
Z.M. Anka ◽  
Vijender Singh ◽  
S.N. Gimba ◽  
Gunjan Singh
Keyword(s):  
Antifungal Activity ◽  
Phytochemical Analysis ◽  
Desert Area ◽  
Plant Metabolites ◽  
Secondary Plant Metabolites ◽  
Chemical Substances ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
Traditional Medicinal Plants ◽  
The World ◽  
Guiera Senegalensis

Millions of people in the world depend on traditional medicinal plants for treatment of many diseases.  They have curative properties due to presence of various complex chemical substances of different composition, which are found as secondary plant metabolites in one or more parts of these plants. These plant metabolites according to their composition are grouped as flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, saponins etc. Guiera senegalensis(Gs), which grows in abundance in semi-desert area of Western Africa such as Nigeria, has been used for treating specific diseases and wounds. The study is carried out to investigate the phytochemical analysis, toxicity, and the antifungal activity of Gs leaves extract. Keywords: Guiera senegalensis, Antifungal activity, Brine shrimp, toxicity, phytochemical analysis;

scholarly journals The World Flora Online 2020 project: will Cameroon come up to the expectation?

Rodriguésia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 961-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Michel Onana
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Flowering Plants ◽  
West African ◽  
Tropical Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Red Data Book ◽  
The World ◽  
Data Book ◽  
Plant Families ◽  
High Level

Abstract Biodiverse Cameroon has been highlighted as the top country in tropical Africa for plant species diversity per degree square, with a higher diversity than all other West African countries added together, and including two of the top documented centres of plant diversity in Tropical Africa. Despite its reduced taxonomic capacity, with only six active taxonomists a high level of botanical activity in the country has resulted in accomplishments such as the databasing of the YA Herbarium (over 60,000 records), which has an in-country collection coverage of almost 95% of the known plant species that are recorded for Cameroon. Other accomplishments are the Red Data Book of the Flowering Plants of Cameroon, several local checklists and published volumes of the Flore du Cameroun which covers 37% of the country's species. Currently the checklist of Cameroon records 7,850 taxa at species and infraspecific level. Resources are needed to support and heighten the profile of this small botanical community. Already thanks to strong collaboration between Cameroon and renowned botanical institutes of others countries, in particular France and United Kingdom, one hundred and thirteen plant families have been published and would help this country to complete the recording of its biodiversity towards contributing to the World Flora Online 2020 project.

Lactifluus foetens and Lf. albomembranaceus sp. nov. (Russulaceae): look-alike milkcaps from gallery forests in tropical Africa

Phytotaxa ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 277 (2) ◽  
pp. 159 ◽  
Author(s):  
ESKE DE CROP ◽  
KOBEKE VAN DE PUTTE ◽  
SERGE DE WILDE ◽  
ANDRÉ-LEDOUX NJOUONKOU ◽  
ANDRÉ DE KESEL ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
West African ◽  
Tropical Africa ◽  
Local Markets ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
Edible Fungus ◽  
Personal Consumption ◽  
Gallery Forests ◽  
Morphological Research

The ectomycorrhizal milkcap genus Lactifluus is commonly found within Central and West African gallery forests. During field expeditions in Cameroon and Togo, several collections of white Lactifluus species were found, resembling Lactifluus foetens. Molecular and morphological research indicates that these collections belong to two unrelated species, i.e. Lactifluus foetens and an undescribed taxon. The latter is here described as Lactifluus albomembranaceus sp. nov. from the gallery forests in Central and Western Africa. In Cameroon, at least, Lactifluus albomembranaceus is a popular edible fungus that is harvested for personal consumption and offered for sale at local markets.

Trans*textuality in William Shakespeare’s Othello: Italian, West African, and English Encounters

2018 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-429
Author(s):  
Susan Arndt
Keyword(s):  
Research Group ◽  
West African ◽  
Oral Literature ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Romeo And Juliet ◽  
Student Research ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
Methodological Challenges ◽  
Phd Thesis

Abstract William Shakespeare’s Othello (1604) displays a critical agenda towards the emerging colonialist discourse of his time and may have encountered, or even been influenced by, African oral literature. This thesis will be probed in this article by comparing Othello with the folktale “The Handsome Stranger” and the Trickster character, well known all across Western Africa, touching lightly on Leo Africanus’s The History and Description of Africa (1550) in the process. In doing so, Othello’s most acknowledged source text, “Un Capitano Moro” by Giovanni Battista Giraldi (1565), will be involved, thus complementing earlier comparative readings of “Un Capitano Moro” and Othello. This postcolonial comparative reading will finally embrace Ahmed Yerima’s adaptation of Othello, entitled Otaelo (2002). In doing so, the article will discuss striking parallels among all four texts, as well as differences and diversions. The latter are, however, not read as counter arguments to the possibility of an encounter; rather, discursive diversions are contextualised historically and trans*textually. Before delving into this analysis, the article will explore both historical probabilities and methodological challenges of reading African oral literature as possible sources of Shakespeare’s Othello, as well as theorise trans*textuality (as related to and yet distinct from Kristeva’s intertextuality and Genette’s transtextuality).This article has developed from two papers, one held in 2015 at a symposium dedicated to Michael Steppat in Bayreuth, who, ever since, accompanied this project with most helpful critical input; I owe him my sincerest gratitude. A second workshop on this topic was held in 2016 in Berlin in the presence of Shankar Raman, Christopher Joseph Odhiambo, and a student research group from Bayreuth with Taghrid Elhanafy, Weeraya Donsomsakulkij, Samira Paraschiv, and Mingqing Yuan. Taghrid Elhanafy dedicates her MA and PhD thesis to comparing Romeo and Juliet with several Arabic and Farsi versions of Layla and Majnun (Cf. Elhanafy 2018). Moreover, this article owes sincere gratitude to a most challenging and expert editing by Shirin Assa, PhD candidate at Bayreuth University, as well as Omid Soltani. Moreover, I wish to thank Dilan Zoe Smida and especially Samira Paraschiv for supporting me while doing research and working on notes and bibliography.

A Thousand Years

2019 ◽  
pp. 369-372
Author(s):  
Michael A. Gomez
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
West African ◽  
First Century ◽  
Modern World ◽  
African History ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Global Development ◽  
Artistic Creativity ◽  
National Movement ◽  
The World

This epilogue discusses how, some four hundred years after its fall, the world was reminded of imperial Songhay's former glory when, in early January of 2012, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawād—or the MNLA—attacked the towns of Menaka and Aguelhok, leading to the collapse of the national army in northern Mali. However, the twenty-first century was not the first instance in which the modern world reflected on West African anterior history, though prior occasions were largely artistic in nature. In any case, through both real-world events and artistic creativity, enactments of West Africa's medieval past have filtered into contemporary consciousness. Even so, in turning from the popular to the academic, histories purporting to convey a sense of global development since antiquity continue to ignore Africa's contributions, not merely as the presumed site of human origins, but as a full participant in its cultural, technological, and political innovations. The epilogue then summarizes the full trajectory of West African history examined in the previous chapters.

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