The bulk of the book is based on papers presented during two virtual conferences hosted by the University of Leiden (Netherlands) in 2021. At the Africa Knows! Conference, a panel was devoted to ... Show moreThe bulk of the book is based on papers presented during two virtual conferences hosted by the University of Leiden (Netherlands) in 2021. At the Africa Knows! Conference, a panel was devoted to ‘The language issue and knowledge communication in Africa.’ It was initiated by the Universities of Ilorin (Nigeria) and Chemnitz (Germany). The papers by Eleshin, Oloruntoba-Oju, Sanon-Ouattara, Van Pinxteren, and Zatolokina were all first presented at this panel, before being peer-reviewed for this volume. The central theme of the conference was the decolonization of Africa’s knowledge production and related processes. The second conference was the 10th World Congress on African Languages and Linguistics (WOCAL) in June, where a workshop took place under the auspices of the Edinburgh Circle on the Promotion of African Languages, entitled ‘Let’s turn to policy.’ The papers by Alfredo, Dissake, and Nguere and Smith were also first presented during this workshop before being peer-reviewed for this volume. In general, the position taken by the editors is that using indigenous languages in education can make an important contribution to national development as well as to personal empowerment. Africa is characterised in part by its continued use of former colonial languages in education. However, sixty years after independence, it seems high time to question this colonial heritage. In the context of global and digital communication today, old African values of multilingualism and culture-specific communicative strategies should not be neglected, but revalued and revived in new ways. We do not deny the importance of a good command of international languages. However, this should not be at the expense of indigenous languages. The introduction to the book argues that a transition towards increased use of African languages in formal domains will not only be necessary and practically possible, it will become inevitable. Show less
Koude Oorlog in koloniaal Afrika. De Sovjet-Unie en de VS, met bondgenoten Cuba en Zuid-Afrika,steunen strijdende partijen met geld, wapens, training en manschappen. Ideologisch gezien is het... Show moreKoude Oorlog in koloniaal Afrika. De Sovjet-Unie en de VS, met bondgenoten Cuba en Zuid-Afrika,steunen strijdende partijen met geld, wapens, training en manschappen. Ideologisch gezien is het conflict in Angola onderdeel van de Koude Oorlog, de twee grootmachten strijden hier niet alleen om geopolitieke invloed, maar ook om toegang tot een bodem vol olie, diamanten en andere mineralen. Het zijn de jaren zeventig: demonstraties in Nederland tegen onrecht, kernwapens, de oorlog in Vietnam en de staatsgreep in Chili. Vele Nederlandse comités geven steun aan wat de derde wereld genoemd wordt. In 1974 ben ik net klaar met mijn specialisatie public health en besluit als arts Angola te gaan helpen een progressief gezondheidssysteem op te bouwen. Het socialistische beleid van de MPLA biedt mogelijkheden. Na zes maanden voorbereiding word ik in december 1975 uitgezonden door het Medisch Komittee Angola (MKA). Het Angolese ministerie van gezondheid stuurt mij eerst naar de noordelijke provincie Cabinda. Samen met artsen, verpleegkundigen en een vroedvrouw, probeer ik inhoud te geven aan mijn solidariteit met de onderdrukte bevolking. Na zes maanden word ik als enige Nederlander door het ministerie overgeplaatst naar de zuidelijke provincie Huambo, net bevrijd van de bezetting door de UNITA en het Zuid-Afrikaanse apartheidsbewind. In dagboeken schrijf ik over mijn leven in die Koude Oorlog. Strijd om Angola (1975 – 1978) is een getuigenverslag van een tijdsgeest, keuzes die een betrokken mens in het leven kan maken, een gevoel van solidariteit, de wil om op te staan tegen onrecht met alle bijbehorende uitdagingen. Show less
In "The Objects of Life in Central Africa" the history of consumption and social change from 1840 until 1980 is explored. By taking consumption as a vantage point, the contributions deviate from... Show moreIn "The Objects of Life in Central Africa" the history of consumption and social change from 1840 until 1980 is explored. By taking consumption as a vantage point, the contributions deviate from and add to previous works which have mainly analysed issues of production from an economic and political perspective. The chapters are broad-ranging in temporal and geographical focus, including contributions on Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola. Topics range from the social history of firearms to the perception of the railway and include contributions on sewing machines, traders and advertising. By looking at the socio-economic, political and cultural meaning and impact of goods the history of Central Africa is reassessed. Show less
This edited volume focuses on mobile phone use in specific African communities, namely those that have a long history of mobility and are regarded as marginal in the national economic, social and... Show moreThis edited volume focuses on mobile phone use in specific African communities, namely those that have a long history of mobility and are regarded as marginal in the national economic, social and/or political context. It was in such regions that the most intensive dynamics were expected to be seen following the introduction of the mobile phone. Contributions: Introduction: mobile margins and the dynamics of communication (Mirjam de Bruijn, Inge Brinkman and Francis Nyamnjoh); Mobilit‚ et moyens de communication au Gu‚ra (Chad) (Djimet Seli); La connexion des marges: marginalit‚ politique et technologie de d‚senclavement en Basse Casamance (Sud du S‚n‚gal) (Fatima Diallo); 'Angola my country, Cape Town my home': a young migrant's journey of social becoming and belonging (Imke Gooskens); Transnational migration and marginality: Nigerian migrants in anglophone Cameroon (Tangie Nsoh Fonchingong); Les femmes hadjaraye du Gu‚ra … l'‚cole de l'alphab‚tisation (Khalil Alio); From foot messengers to cell phones: communication in Kom, Cameroon, c. 1916-1998 (Walter Gam Nkwi); Grandeur ou misŠres des cabines t‚l‚phoniques priv‚es et publiques au Mali (Naffet Ke‹ta); Informationandcommunication technology and its impact on transnational migration: the case of Senegalese boat migrants (Henrietta Nyamnjoh); Identities of place: mobile naming practices and social landscapes in Sudan (Siri Lamoureux). [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
This chapter examines what democratic transition in the 1990s has meant for women in southern Africa. It focuses in particular on the impact of democratization processes on political participation... Show moreThis chapter examines what democratic transition in the 1990s has meant for women in southern Africa. It focuses in particular on the impact of democratization processes on political participation by women, notably women's representation in parliament in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This is compared with developments in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, where the introduction of multiparty elections has generally resulted in women's marginalization in parliament. Comparison of the representation of women in parliament in the SADC region under the one-party State and after the democratic transition reveals that the tendency is towards better representation of women. Factors impacting on the representation of women in politics include a country's state of development, the quota system, women's pressure groups, and electoral systems. Linking the UNDP's gender-related development index (1998) to the representation in parliament-index, the author concludes that there is no visible relationship between women's representation in parliament and the quality of life for women in southern Africa. Notes, ref Show less
Since the late 1980s evidence has been emerging in support of rumours of South African involvement in the southern African ivory trade from the mid-1960s onwards. There is some evidence that, from... Show moreSince the late 1980s evidence has been emerging in support of rumours of South African involvement in the southern African ivory trade from the mid-1960s onwards. There is some evidence that, from the early mid-1970s, elements of the South African government and its security forces began actively to encourage their allies in Rhodesia, Mozambique and Angola to acquire ivory and sell it through South Africa. The first really authoritative evidence that the South African Defence Force (SADF) was indeed implicated in the ivory trade in Angola especially came from Colonel Jan Breytenbach, one of the founding officers of the South African Special Forces, who had seen active service in southern Angola from 1970 on. An interview with Breytenbach, conducted at his home in the Cape Province on 8 December 1989 by Ross Reeve, working on behalf of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), is reproduced here. In the interview, Breytenbach gives considerable detail concerning his earlier allegations that UNITA had smuggled ivory on a huge scale for many years, in complicity with officers of the SADF. A brief postscript notes that considerable doubt remains as to the precise degree of SADF involvement in the ivory trade and that the South African government has instituted (in 1994) a judicial inquiry into the alleged smuggling of and illegal trade in ivory and rhinoceros horn. Show less
South Africa's policy of destabilisation of neighbouring countries was closely associated with the rise of South Africa as a leading middleman in the international ivory trade. South African-based... Show moreSouth Africa's policy of destabilisation of neighbouring countries was closely associated with the rise of South Africa as a leading middleman in the international ivory trade. South African-based traders, acting in partnership or with protection from officers of the South African Military Intelligence Directorate, imported raw ivory from Angola, Mozambique and points further north and re-exported it to markets in the Far East. This was a source of income both for the South African secret services and for individuals associated with them. The same trade routes were also used for trade in other goods, including rhino horn, drugs, gems, currency and weapons. This was not only as a means of earning money but also a technique of destabilisation in itself. The extent of South Africa's involvement in this trade, although suspected by some conservationists, was difficult to prove and did not form the target of any concerted campaign by the leading conservation groups world-wide. In this respect, the strength of the South Africa lobby in the World-Wide Fund for Nature seems to have played a significant role. Since the ending of South Africa's military presence in Namibia and Angola in 1989, the Military Intelligence officers, Special Forces officers and others who conducted the wars for the defence of white South Africa have been intent on the struggle inside South Africa itself. There is evidence that such counter-insurgency specialists are now using Mozambique in particular as a base for operations inside South Africa. Moreover, they continue to have an interest in the ivory and rhino horn trades. Former officers of specialist counter-insurgency units have also found employment as game wardens in national parks. The bold proposals currently being implemented to create large new game parks along the South African-Mozambican border, using modern management techniques and involving local communities in their management, have important implications for politics and national security. Show less
Sum.: For 40 years (1950-1990) the South African Communist Party (SACP) was banned by a government that represented international communism as the source of all political evil. The conditions of... Show moreSum.: For 40 years (1950-1990) the South African Communist Party (SACP) was banned by a government that represented international communism as the source of all political evil. The conditions of exile go some way towards explaining the SACP's continuing attachment to Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy. As the Communist Party of the Soviet Union collapsed, followed by the USSR itself, the SACP did not renounce its faith in Marxism-Leninism. Its reaction was simply to admit the failings of socialism in Eastern Europe and then continue much as before. The practical consequences of the quasi-Stalinist regime which the SACP introduced in ANC camps in Angola, especially, were unknown to people back home in South Africa. The fact that the SACP was such a militant foe of apartheid, but did not have a record in government to defend, has contributed to its popularity among black South Africans today. It is arguably the only communist party in the world whose popularity is on the increase. Show less
