This volume attempts to dig deeper into what is currently happening in Africa's agricultural and rural sector and to convince policymakers and others that it is important to look at the current... Show moreThis volume attempts to dig deeper into what is currently happening in Africa's agricultural and rural sector and to convince policymakers and others that it is important to look at the current African rural dynamics in ways that connect metropolitan demands for food with value chain improvements and agro-food cluster innovations. It is essential to go beyond a 'development bureaucracy' and a state-based approach to rural transformation, such as the one that often dominates policy debate in African government circles, organizations like the African Union and the UN, and donor agencies. Show less
During the current economic and political crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, urban dwellers tend to display a large measure of creativity in the invention of survival strategies, the development of... Show moreDuring the current economic and political crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, urban dwellers tend to display a large measure of creativity in the invention of survival strategies, the development of social networks, and the construction of imaginative practices. This collective volume explores the importance of the urban neighbourhood in these creative processes. Two different approaches to the neighbourhood are pinpointed. The first perceives the neighbourhood as a geographical domain in which people are engaged in a variety of activities to advance their material and immaterial well-being, making use of the 'wealth' of opportunities, assets and forms of 'capital' (natural, physical, financial, human and social). The second approach sees the neighbourhood not as necessarily geographically bounded, but as created and defined by human beings. These 'neighbourhoods' may take the form of self-help organizations, associations, churches, etc. or may be based on gender, generational, ethnic and occupational identities. The two approaches do not necessarily exclude each other. The volume contains contributions on Nakuru, Kenya (Samuel OwuorandDick Foeken), Douala, Cameroon (Piet Konings; Basile Ndjio), Kampala, Uganda (Emmanuel Nkurunziza), Kano, Nigeria (Katja Werthmann), Accra, Ghana (Deborah Pellow), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (Eileen Moyer), Lom‚, Togo (Charles Piot), Mongo, Chad (Mirjam de Bruijn), and Aioun el Atrouss, Mauritania (Kiky van Til). [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
This book has been nominated for the Conover-Porter Award 2008 - This bibliography on Islam in contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa has been prepared as part of the African Studies Centre/Centre d'Étude... Show moreThis book has been nominated for the Conover-Porter Award 2008 - This bibliography on Islam in contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa has been prepared as part of the African Studies Centre/Centre d'Étude d'Afrique Noire project entitled "Islam, the Disengagement of the State, and Globalization in Sub-Saharan Africa" that was funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The present bibliography lists over 4,000 references to secondary literature in European languages about Islam in contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa. It supplements and updates two existing bibliographies, Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Partially Annotated Guide by Samir Zoghby and Islam in Africa South of the Sahara: A Select Bibliographic Guide by Patrick Ofori, both of which were compiled in the 1970s. Since then, there has been considerable academic interest in Islam in Africa and publications such as the Paris-based journal Islam et Sociétés au Sud du Sahara have regularly informed readers about new publications on Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa. The main objective of the present work is to bring together bibliographical information that has been published in different publications and to provide individuals interested in the topic with a simple and practical research tool. Show less
The case studies in this book on mobility in sub-Saharan Africa critically discuss dichotomous interpretations of mobility and reject the idea that migration indicates a breakdown in society. They... Show moreThe case studies in this book on mobility in sub-Saharan Africa critically discuss dichotomous interpretations of mobility and reject the idea that migration indicates a breakdown in society. They adopt the approach that sedentary and mobile worlds converge and that mobility is part of the livelihood system of African people. Contents: Mobile Africa: an introduction (Mirjam de Bruijn, Rijk van DijkandDick Foeken) - Population mobility in Africa: an overview (Han van Dijk, Dick FoekenandKiky van Til) - Territorial and magical migrations in Tanzania (Todd Sanders) - Moving into another spirit province: immigrants and the 'mhondoro' cult in northern Zimbabwe (Marja Spierenburg) - Cultures of travel: Fulbe pastoralists in central Mali and Pentecostalism in Ghana (Mirjam de Bruijn, Han van DijkandRijk van Dijk) - Mobile workers, urban employment and 'rural' identities: rural-urban networks of Buhera migrants, Zimbabwe (Jens A. Andersson) - Migration as a positive response to opportunity and context: the case of Welo, Ethiopia (Jonathan Baker) - Multi-spatial livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: rural farming by urban households - the case of Nakuru town, Kenya (Dick FoekenandSamuel O. Owuor) - Urbanisation and migration in sub-Saharan Africa: changing patterns and trends (Cecilia Tacoli) - Processes and types of pastoral migration in northern C“te d'Ivoire (Youssouf Diallo) - Mobility and exclusion: conflicts between autochthons and allochthons during political liberalisation in Cameroon (Piet Konings) - Population displacement and the humanitarian aid regime: the experience of refugees in East Africa (Patricia Daley) Show less
This review of Dutch research on environmental issues in sub-Saharan Africa is based on an inventory of some 80 research programmes carried out in the Netherlands during the 1990s. An analysis of... Show moreThis review of Dutch research on environmental issues in sub-Saharan Africa is based on an inventory of some 80 research programmes carried out in the Netherlands during the 1990s. An analysis of the research themes indicates that most of the research concentrates on the exploitation of natural resources, analysed either from the angle of production systems in conjunction with the development of sustainable technologies, or within the wider context of livelihood strategies, at both household and village level. The urban habitat, environmental policy, and environmental economics have received a great deal less attention. Show less
Ce rapport présente un aperçu de la littérature sur la démocratisation en Afrique au sud du Sahara (1989-1992). D'abord, les auteurs évoquent un certain nombre de traits dominants de la vie... Show moreCe rapport présente un aperçu de la littérature sur la démocratisation en Afrique au sud du Sahara (1989-1992). D'abord, les auteurs évoquent un certain nombre de traits dominants de la vie politique en Afrique qui forment l'arrière-plan nécessaire à comprendre les changements actuels concernant la démocratisation. Ensuite ils résument le débat scientifique sur la démocratie en Afrique dans la période 1960-1989, qui a ses racines dans les mouvements d'indépendance et se concentre sur l'échec des modèles Westminster/Élysée. Ils décrivent les arguments tels qu'ils ont été employés pour légitimer l'État à parti unique et, finalement, l'État sans parti. Au cours des années 70 on s'inquiéta de la répression grandissante et de l'évolution stagnante dans les pays africains. Ce n'est qu'au cours des années 80 que l'attention se tourna vers la société civile. Dans le contexte économique et politique radicalement changé à la fin des années 80, on attache une plus grande valeur à la démocratie. La question fondamentale de savoir si la démocratie est un concept universel ou purement occidental, et les différentes définitions de la démocratie, ont conduit à des discussions sur l'État et la société civile, la fonction du multipartisme dans la démocratisation, "good governance", la démocratie et le droit et la démocratie et le développement. Finalement, les auteurs font le bilan du processus de démocratisation actuel en Afrique. Show less
