In november 2014 was er opschudding over een bericht dat de Hogeschool van Amsterdam haar studenten niet naar Afrika liet reizen vanwege ebola en toenemende onveiligheid. Door het Afrika... Show moreIn november 2014 was er opschudding over een bericht dat de Hogeschool van Amsterdam haar studenten niet naar Afrika liet reizen vanwege ebola en toenemende onveiligheid. Door het Afrika-Studiecentrum en in sociale media werd daar fel op gereageerd: het stigmatiseert Afrika. Er werd gedaan alsof het alleen in Afrika onveilig zou zijn en heel Afrika werd over één kam geschoren. De HvA nuanceerde haar uitingen; veel hogescholen en universiteiten evalueerden hun eigen reisbeleid. De reisadviezen van het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken blijken daarbij leidend: www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/reisadviezen. Eind november was dit de situatie in de wereld: code rood gold voor delen van het Midden-Oosten, Afrika en Azië, naast delen van Oekraïne, de Kaukasus en Colombia, Paraguay en de Filipijnen. Binnen Afrika liep er een 'rode gordel' door de Sahara, verder de Centraal Afrikaanse Republiek en de Hoorn in. Ook Guinee, Liberia en Sierra Leone (door ebola getroffen) en delen van het Grote Merengebied waren rood. Van de 54 Afrikaanse landen waren er 24 geheel of deels rood. Maar tal van landen en gebieden zijn geel en de Seychellen en het grootste deel van Marokko zijn groen. Show less
Inhabitants of poor, rural areas in the Global South heavily depend on natural resources in their immediate vicinity. Conflicts over and exploitation of these resources - whether it is water, fish... Show moreInhabitants of poor, rural areas in the Global South heavily depend on natural resources in their immediate vicinity. Conflicts over and exploitation of these resources - whether it is water, fish, wood fuel, minerals, or land - severely affect their livelihoods. The contributors to this volume leave behind the polarised debate, previously surrounding the relationship between natural resources and conflict, preferring a more nuanced approach that allows for multiple causes at various levels. The contributions cover a wide array of resources, geographical contexts (Africa, Asia and Latin America), and conflict dynamics. Most are of a comparative nature, exploring experiences of conflict as well as cooperation in multiple regions. This volume finds its origin in an innovative research programme with the acronym CoCooN, steered by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO/WOTRO) and involving universities and civil society partners in many countries. It presents the conceptual approaches adhered to by each of seven interdisciplinary projects, ranging from green criminology and political ecology to institutional analysis, legal pluralism and identity politics. The volume will be of interest to academics and practitioners concerned with an understanding of conflict as well as cooperation over natural resources. Show less
This volume, which is dedicated to the Dutch legal scholar Gerti Hesseling (1946-2009), examines issues of law, land dispute and conflict mediation in Africa. The focus is on how citizens, State... Show moreThis volume, which is dedicated to the Dutch legal scholar Gerti Hesseling (1946-2009), examines issues of law, land dispute and conflict mediation in Africa. The focus is on how citizens, State institutions and concerned (inter)national actors attempt to find solutions to land disputes. The issues at stake include land access and land use, State politics and democratization efforts, the relationship between constitutional/State law and customary law, the challenges of urban and rural conflicts, border issues, and conceptions of (human) rights. The 15 chapters are grouped into four thematic parts: 1. Historical and cultural aspects (Walter van Beek, Wim M.J. van Binsbergen on Zambia, Peter Geschiere, Patrick Chabal); 2. Land issues and economics (Abdou Salam Fall, Mayke Kaag, Yaram Gaye and Marieke Kruis on Senegal, Romborah R. Simiyu and Dick Foeken on Kenya, Piet Konings on the Bakassi dispute beween Cameroon and Nigeria); 3. Politics and constitutional law (Jan Abbink on Ethiopia, Babacar Kant‚, Fatima Diallo on Senegal, Moussa Djir‚ on Mali); 4. The challenges of law and conflict (Janine Ubink on Namibia, Han van Dijk on Chad, Mirjam de Bruijn and Egosha E. Osaghae). The book further includes a recollection of Gerti's commitment to the LASDEL Institute in Niger by Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan and Mahaman Tidjani Alou and a bibliography of her works. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
The people of Guéra known as Hadjaraye (from Arabic: the mountain dwellers) have experienced all the atrocities of war and the sufferings of drought that caused them to emigrate. In the early 1970,... Show moreThe people of Guéra known as Hadjaraye (from Arabic: the mountain dwellers) have experienced all the atrocities of war and the sufferings of drought that caused them to emigrate. In the early 1970, the ecological conditions worsened and changed for ever, giving way to cyclic droughts which resulted in chronic famine in the years 1973-1974 and 1984-1985. During the same decade the civil war gained a foothold in this area and ravaged it. Even though the Hadjaraye used to practice traditional migration during peaceful times, another form of migration has been imposed upon them by the new circumstances. A massive outflow of population ensued. Waves of Hadjaraye started moving from one place to another within the Gu‚ra region itself, as well as outside the region and the country. - This constant mobility will definitely yield social as well as cultural and linguistic effects. The study investigates language attitude among the Hadjaraye migrants of the Gu‚ra region in the two neighboring regions of Chari-Baguirmi and Salamat in Chad. - Results suggest that while social integration is successful due to the common lingua franca the host and migrant communities share, the future of the mother tongues of the immigrants is at stake, because they will be spoken in a reduced circle, namely at home only. So, even though at an initial stage they are spoken, in the end they will be gradually abandoned, not in favor of the host regions languages, but in favor of the Chadian Arabic which is also the lingua franca in Chad. Linguistic borrowing, bilingualism, code mixing, code switching are the results stemming from these language contacts. However this depends largely on the attitude of the migrant community. This actually seems to indicate that the immigrants are not likely to pass on their languages to the next generations in the distant future. The ultimate outcome will be the loss of language which will inevitably lead to the loss of identity of the migrants. Show less
This article explores the reasons for, and the repercussions of, a virulent and protracted crisis in the South West Province of anglophone Cameroon during the 1990s caused by the emergence of a... Show moreThis article explores the reasons for, and the repercussions of, a virulent and protracted crisis in the South West Province of anglophone Cameroon during the 1990s caused by the emergence of a Pentecostalism-inspired revival movement within the Roman Catholic Church. The so-called Maranatha movement and main-line Catholicism were viewed by both parties as incompatible, almost leading to a schism within the Church. The originally internal Church dispute gradually became a particularly explosive issue in the region when the politics of belonging, fuelled by the government and the regional elite during political liberalization, became pervasive. Includes bibliographical references, notes and summaries in English and French. [Journal abstract] Show less
This chapter examines the deteriorating relations between autochthons and allochthons in the coastal forest area of anglophone Cameroon, present-day South West Province. This province is one of the... Show moreThis chapter examines the deteriorating relations between autochthons and allochthons in the coastal forest area of anglophone Cameroon, present-day South West Province. This province is one of the few regions along the West African coast where a plantation economy was established during the German colonial period (1884-1916). The plantation economy stimulated large-scale labour migration to the coastal estates, particularly from the other anglophone province, North West Province. Following large-scale settlement of northwestern migrants in the South West, the 'autochthonous' population began to resent their increasing domination in demographic, economic and political terms. The present chapter examines why the current obsession with the autochthony-allochthony issue in South West Province relates foremost to relations between inhabitants of the two anglophone provinces. The South-West elite's fear of renewed North-West domination during the political liberalization of the 1990s was one of the main reasons for their incitement of the autochthonous minority against the dominant and exploitative northwestern settlers. Includes bibliographical references, notes, and summary. Show less
