Based on fieldwork in Ngxingxolo in 1997-1998, this study highlights some of the key changes that have taken place in the way rural livelihoods have been made in Mooiplaas location, situated 45 km... Show moreBased on fieldwork in Ngxingxolo in 1997-1998, this study highlights some of the key changes that have taken place in the way rural livelihoods have been made in Mooiplaas location, situated 45 km outside the city of East London in the Eastern Cape Province (South Africa). In line with developments elsewhere in Africa, there has been an accelerated shift away from agrarian lifestyles in the rural Eastern Cape, especially since the 1970s. The process of de-agrarianization has occurred more rapidly in South Africa than elsewhere in Africa and can be traced back to the country's early industrialization and the subsequent emergence of the migrant labour system that integrated rural populations into a subcontinental capitalist economy. The working lives of most absent migrants was focused on effecting savings in the city in order to create a rural resource base that could sustain them in retirement. To achieve this men needed women to stay at home in the countryside and work for the 'umzi' (rural homestead). Return migration, regular remittances and immobility of rural women were the key aspects that kept the agrarian economy going in Mooiplaas. In the late 1980s and 1990s the economic and social situation in Mooiplaas changed because of young men and women leaving the village for the city. Without a ready supply of young male and female labour and a serious drought to contend with, the agricultural output of households fell sharply. By the 1990s, pensions and welfare payments had replaced male remittances as the main source of income in Mooiplaas. As the final control of household income increasingly shifted from men to women, there was a shift in household investment from cattle, conceptualized as men's animals, to poultry, which were regarded as women's animals. Show less
Although ECOWAS was never intended as a regional security structure and its official mandate lies primarily in the economic realm, ECOWAS has developed a high profile with regard to cooperation on... Show moreAlthough ECOWAS was never intended as a regional security structure and its official mandate lies primarily in the economic realm, ECOWAS has developed a high profile with regard to cooperation on political and security issues. This has come about primarily through the intervention, under ECOWAS auspices, in the Liberian civil war. Although this intervention was protracted and controversial and suffered numerous setbacks, the countries responsible managed to see it through. The result was that the intervention force Ecomog (ECOWAS Cease-fire Monitoring Group) stayed in Liberia and finally was able, in 1997, to put a peaceful end to the civil war by way of internationally supervised elections. This study analyses ECOWAS's intervention in the Liberian civil war, with an emphasis on its role as a multilateral, third party actor. The chapters deal successively with the institutions involved in the Liberian operation; the mandates concerned and the working methods employed by, or in the cadre of, ECOWAS; and the actual practice of the intervention. The final chapter extrapolates, from Ecomog's vicissitudes, certain key factors that conditioned its successes and failures Show less
This paper presents a preliminary genealogy of all Somali 'clans'. Somali kinship is based on patrilineal descent, but there are no equivalents in the Somali language for the words 'clan' and ... Show moreThis paper presents a preliminary genealogy of all Somali 'clans'. Somali kinship is based on patrilineal descent, but there are no equivalents in the Somali language for the words 'clan' and 'lineage'. The Somali terminology for the levels of social segmentation is complex, amongst others because of processes of territorial dispersion and social change. The present author distinguishes the following levels of descent: clan-families, clan moieties or territorial divisions, clans, subclans, lineages, and sublineages. An appendix lists the main political organizations and/or 'warrior' or 'warlord' groups and their dominant (sub)clan in 1999. [PREFERABLY USE THE ENLARGED 2nd EDITION AT http://hdl.handle.net/1887/14007] Show less
This study analyses Dutch foreign policy towards Liberia during the civil war between 1990 and 1997 with the aim of identifying policy options for the improvement of the Dutch contribution to... Show moreThis study analyses Dutch foreign policy towards Liberia during the civil war between 1990 and 1997 with the aim of identifying policy options for the improvement of the Dutch contribution to international interventions in violent conflicts in Third World countries. An introductory chapter on sources and concepts is followed by a chapter on the background and causes of the civil war in Liberia. Ch. 3 deals with interventions by other external actors - the United States, the OAU and the United Nations, and Ecomog (ECOWAS Cease-Fire Monitoring Group). Ch. 4 focuses on the role of the Netherlands, paying attention to both project interventions and political and diplomatic initiatives. The Dutch policy is assessed and conclusions are presented in ch. 5. Show less
This bibliography is a listing of all materials that have ever been published or written on the subject of urban agriculture in Africa up to 1998. It records all books, chapters in books,... Show moreThis bibliography is a listing of all materials that have ever been published or written on the subject of urban agriculture in Africa up to 1998. It records all books, chapters in books, discussion and conference papers, periodical literature and all types of academic theses, dissertations and unpublished documents. The bibliography contains 526 entries organized in six chapters, namely Africa general, Northern Africa, Western Africa, Eastern Africa, Central Africa and Southern Africa. Apart from Chapter 2, which contains the entries dealing with Africa in general, the five regional chapters are organized alphabetically according to the respective countries in each region. Show less
This original study discusses the role of women in developing and dispersing caring power, and, vice versa, the role of caring power in constituting ‘women’ as modern social subjects - processes... Show moreThis original study discusses the role of women in developing and dispersing caring power, and, vice versa, the role of caring power in constituting ‘women’ as modern social subjects - processes which began around 1800. The concept of caring power is based on the historian/philosopher Foucault’s concept of pastoral power, but takes into account the vital role played by gender. The agents of caring power were inspired by the ideal of serving the well-being of individual ‘others’ - seen as fellow-human beings - and thereby the interest of society as a whole. The motivation for this care for the other was both humanitarian and religious.The book argues that the rise of caring power was the context in which women began to feel responsible for 'those of their own sex', and to organize themselves in all female organizations, the start of the women’s movement. In the process, they carved out new gender identities for themselves and the women under their care.This profound historical change is illustrated by a study of the work of reformers Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) and Josephine Butler (1828-1906), whose impact is traced in Britain and the Netherlands. Show less
