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case studies

Women and the informal economy in urban Africa : from the margins to the centre

Upphovsperson: Kinyanjui, Mary Njeri
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | London ; Uppsala : Zed Books ; Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2014
Ämnesord: Africa, Kenya, Nairobi, Informal sector, Hidden economy, Women, Economic conditions, Women workers, Urban planning, Women’s role, gender roles, case studies, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
In this highly original work, Mary Njeri Kinyanjui explores the trajectory of women's movement from the margins of urbanization into the centres of business activities in Nairobi and its accompanying implications for urban planning.While women in much of Africa have struggled to gain urban citizenship and continue to be weighed down by poor education, low income and confinement to domestic responsibilities due to patriarchic norms, a new form of urban dynamism - partly informed by the informal economy - is now enabling them to manage poverty, create jobs and link to the circuits of capital and labour. Relying on social ties, reciprocity, sharing and collaboration, women's informal 'solidarity entrepreneurialism' is taking them away from the margins of business activity and catapulting them into the centre.Bringing together key issues of gender, economic informality and urban planning in Africa, Kinyanjui demonstrates that women have become a critical factor in the making of a postcolonial city.

China and India, "rising powers" and African development : challenges and opportunities

Upphovsperson: Roy, Sumit
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, African International Links | Uppsala, Sweden
År: 2014
Ämnesord: Africa, China, India, Globalization, economic development, international trade, investment, international economic relations, International relations, development, Sustainable development, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Angola, Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, case studies, Political science, Statsvetenskap, economics, Nationalekonomi
In this report, the challenges and opportunities arising from the growing ties between two key “Rising Powers,” China and India, and Africa are more fully explored. This trend has given rise to speculative, exaggerated and ideological responses and a mixture of anxiety and hope. What is needed is an interdisciplinary political economy study to investigate the ways in which global, regional and national linkages in the relationship impact on the prospects of sustainable development in Africa. The necessity for this is underscored by the growing influence of the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in reshaping the world.In this frame, the focus is on the nature of the shift in China’s and India’s strategic vision of Africa in terms of politics, ideology and economic development. This shift impinges on trade and investment and, in turn, the scope for inducing structural economic change in the context of colonial and postcolonial tensions. Comparative observation of countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, particularly Ethiopia in the former, illustrates their capacity to cope with the new powers. This is a critical aspect of the continent’s complex interplay with states and institutions within and beyond its borders. Ultimately, African nations have to individually and collectively confront the challenges and opportunities stemming from their evolving relationships with these Rising Powers.

Displacement Economies in Africa : Paradoxes of Crisis and Creativity

Medarbetare: Hammar, Amanda
Utgivare: London : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2014
Ämnesord: Africa South of Sahara, Development strategy, economics, politics, Displaced persons, Refugess, Labour mobility, Forced migration, Social conflicts, case studies, Regional security, Livelihood
Large-scale displacement - whether caused by war, state-related political or development projects, different forms of political violence, structural crisis, or even natural disasters - evokes many stereotyped assumptions about those forcibly displaced or emplaced. At the same time there is a problematic lack of attention paid to the diversity of actors, strategies and practices that reshape the world in the face (and chronic aftermath) of dramatic moments of violent dislocation. In this highly original volume, based on empirical case studies from across sub-Saharan Africa, the authors reveal the paradoxical effects, both intended and unexpected, that displacement produces, and that manifest themselves in displacement economies.

Africa's world trade : informal economies and globalization from below

Upphovsperson: Lee, Margaret C.
Utgivare: London
År: 2014
Ämnesord: Economic relations, international economic relations, Globalization, China, Africa, Foreign relations, trade, case studies
Are Africa's world markets really contributing to development across the continent for individuals, nations and regions? This is the key question posed by Margaret Lee in this provocative book, in which she argues that all too often the voices of African traders are obscured amid a blizzard of statistical analysis. However, it is these very voices - from those operating on the ground as formal or informal traders - that must be listened to in order to form a true understanding of the impact trade regimes have on these individuals and their communities. Featuring a wealth of oral histories from across sub-Saharan Africa and beyond, including Africans in China, Africa's World Trade offers a unique insight into how the complexity of international trade agreements can shape the everyday lives of ordinary Africans.

Beyond ”Gender and Stir” : Reflections on gender and SSR in the aftermath of African conflicts

Medarbetare: Eriksson Baaz, Maria | Utas, Mats
Utgivare: Uppsala, Sweden
År: 2012
Ämnesord: Africa, conflicts, Police, Armed forces, Defence policy, gender roles, Peacekeeping, Women’s participation, Security sector reform, Post-conflict reconstruction, case studies, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
As a policy field largely characterised by handbooks and manuals, gender and Security Sector Reform (SSR) has been insufficiently studied and analysed. Analytical discussion of what gendering SSRmeans is quite rare, as is the study of the already gendered nature of the security institutions that are the subject of intervention. This policy dialogue unpacks aspects of the discourses and practices regarding gender and SSR. It highlights limitations and problems both in the conceptualisation of gender and its incorporation into practical SSR work. The publication also demonstrates how researchers and policymakers often have divergent views of what gendering SSR means. Finally, it calls for closer and more constructive dialogue between researchers and practitioners, a dialogue which acknowledges the conditions and constraints in these two spheres of work.

Globalization and restructuring of African commodity flows

Medarbetare: Fold, Niels | Nylandsted Larsen, Marianne
Utgivare: Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2008
Ämnesord: Economic performance, international trade, Commodities, Commodity markets, Capital movements, Marginality, Globalization, Economic analysis, case studies, Africa, Business and economics, Ekonomi
African countries have been incorporated into present processes of economic globalization in a more nuanced way than is usually claimed. Obviously, structural changes and economic growth have not been on the scale seen in other developing country regions, Southeast Asia in particular. However, the increasing global interaction between functionally integrated foci of production and services has also affected Africa in ways that are changing the material foundations of economic and social life on the continent. These processes are not uniform throughout Africa, but affect local, national and regional actors and institutions in diverse and complex ways. In short, globalization in Africa is an uneven process, integrating or re-integrating some localities and communities in global flows of goods, finance and information, while marginalizing or excluding others. The aim of this book is to grasp the diversity of these globalization processes in a systematic way by adopting a common analytical framework, the Global Value Chain approach. Commodity-specific data in two or more countries are taken as a point of departure and the variations and similarities in linkages between local, national, regional and global chain segments are examined. The book is based on original quantitative and qualitative data, collected during fieldwork by the authors.

Navigating youth, generating adulthood : social becoming in an African context

Medarbetare: Christiansen, Catrine | Utas, Mats | Vigh, Henrik E.
Utgivare: Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2006
Ämnesord: youth, adolescents, children, Social environment, Living conditions, human relations, Social and cultural anthropology, case studies, Africa, Social anthropology/ethnography, Socialantrolopologi/etnografi
This book focuses on the lives and experiences of young people in Africa. On agents who, willingly or unwillingly, see themselves as belonging to the socio-generational category of youth and the ways in which they seek to shape and unfold their lives in a positive manner. Rather than seeing youth as either a social or cultural entity in itself, or as a predefined life-stage, the book argues for an exploration of how youth position themselves and are positioned within generational categories. In studying young people, social scientists must conceptualise youth as both social being and social becoming; a position in movement. It is from the duality of being positioned and seeking one's own socio-generational position that this book engages in the debate on contemporary African youth.

Promoting adolescent sexual and reproductive health in East and Southern Africa

Medarbetare: Klepp, Knut-Inge | Flisher, Alan J. | Kaaya, Sylvia F.
Utgivare: Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet; HSRC Press
År: 2008
Ämnesord: adolescents, Reproductive health, Sexual behavior, Sex education, Health programmes, Health services, aids prevention, Social change, case studies, East africa, Southern Africa, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
In Africa, as in many parts of the world, adolescent reproductive health is a controversial issue for policy makers and programme planners. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to HIV and AIDS and to a host of other problems such as sexually transmitted infection, unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortions, sexual abuse, female genital mutilation and unsafe circumcision. Yet many countries don't have adolescent health policies and much remains to be done to ensure that adolescents can access appropriate sexual and reproductive health services. Articulating new perspectives and strategies to promote adolescent sexual and reproductive health, the authors of this volume, comprise a network of researchers working in east and southern Africa. They make a unique attempt to bring together the social and biomedical sciences and to disseminate concrete empirical evidence from existing programmes, carefully analysing what works and what doesn't at the local level. The chapters are built on the premise that sexual and reproductive health behaviour is multifaceted and that interventions must operate on several levels - individual, organisational and governmental - and must reach young people in schools, communities, workplaces, and health-care institutions. Cognisant of recent research and the ethical difficulties facing researchers, the authors provide practical guidance for practitioners and policymakers wishing to promote adolescent sexual and reproductive health at the policy and institutional levels and in local communities.

African conflicts and Informal Power : Big Men and Networks

Medarbetare: Utas, Mats
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet; Zed Books
År: 2012
Ämnesord: Africa, conflicts, Foreign intervention, Dispute settlement, International politics, International relations, Post-conflict reconstruction, State, Local government, Political power, Informal sector, case studies, Political science, Statsvetenskap
Through a variety of indepth case studies – from DRC to Somalia to Liberia amongst others – this book shows how important informal political and economic networks are in many of the continent’s  conflict areas.

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