eng

Multi-habitation : urban housing and everyday life in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe

Upphovsperson:	Schlyter, Ann
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2003
Ämnesord:	Urban housing, Home ownership, Living conditions, Zimbabwe, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This is a study of everyday life and the quality of living in a poor neighbourhood of Chitungwiza, an independent Zimbabwean town about thirty kilometres south of Harare city centre. In the official view, this is a home-ownership neighbourhood. However, there are usually many families living in multi-habitation on each property, and lodgers outnumber owners. Within a restricted area people have to negotiate over, and adapt their use of space. Their ability to do so differs, depending on whether they are owners, tenants or lodgers, women or men, children, adults or elderly, and whether they are gainfully employed or not. The outcome of these negotiations and adaptations decisively affects their feeling of being at home in the house and the neighbourhood. The histories told by the people who are given voice in this report point to housing as highly significant in their coping with poverty, and to multi-habitation as affecting their agency as urban citizens.

Again at the crossroads : Rwanda and Burundi, 2000-2001

Upphovsperson:	Reyntjens, Filip
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2001
Ämnesord:	conflicts, Rwanda, Burundi, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This report is the third overview by Filip Reyntjens on recent developments in Rwanda and Burundi. The first one "Talking or Fighting?" (published 1999) covered the period 1998-1999, the second one "Small States in an Unstable region"covered the period 1999-2000. In the new publication the political evolution of Rwanda and Burundi is investigated in a broader regional geopolitical context.

Mapping Darfur

Medarbetare:	Rosquist, Catrin | Norberg, Carin
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	Sudan, Darfur., Civil war, ethnic conflicts, Dispute settlement, Peace Agreement, International cooperation, Conference reports, Peace and conflict research, Freds- och konfliktforskning

The Darfur Peace Agreement was signed on 5 May 2006 in Abuja, Nigeria. It has not brought safety to the people of Darfur. The humanitarian crisis continues to be deeply worrying despite aspirations to achieve improved conditions for the suffering population of Darfur. The report Mapping Darfur is published one year after the peace agreement was signed. It is based on a series of seminars during February and March 2007 organised by the Nordic Africa Institute, the Life and Peace Institute and ABF Stockholm. The key intention was to increase knowledge and good understanding of the underlying causes of the crisis in Darfur through contributions from different actors and observers, such as academia, politicians and humanitarian aid workers.

Contentious politics, local governance and the self : a Tanzanian case study

Upphovsperson:	Kelsall, Tim
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2004
Ämnesord:	Civil Society, democracy, politics, Social government, Arumeru district, Tanzania, Political science, Statsvetenskap

The Governance Agenda is the framework that currently organises the West’s relations with Africa. The present work is an attempt to see Governance through the lens of a contemporary, local history. The report analyses three periods of contentious politics at local level in Tanzania and two multi-party elections. It provides a window on mismanagement in local government, it examines the intervention by national and local elites in district conflicts, and it points to the difficulties ordinary people face in holding their leaders to account. The argument of the report is that current approaches to the study of Governance overlook an essential ingredient for its potential success: namely, the sociological conditions in which forms of collective action conducive to improved political accountability become possible at a grassroots level. The analysis aims to show that economic diversification and multiple livelihoods have given rise to a reticular social structure in which individuals find it difficult to combine to hold their leaders to account. People have fragmented identities formed in networks of social relations, which impedes the emergence of strong collective identities appropriate to effective social movements.

Liberia - the eye of the storm : a review of the literature on internally displaced, refugees and returnees

Upphovsperson:	Nilsson, Desirée
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet; Sida
År:	2003
Ämnesord:	conflicts, Refugees, Living conditions, Humanitarian assistance, Liberia, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

One of the most prominent, and from a humanitarian and human rights perspective most troubling aspects of internal conflicts during recent years is the plight of the internally displaced persons, and refugees. Forced to leave their homes in search of refuge, internally displaced persons often find themselves with little protection, with unclear rights, and without safe livelihoods. While their most important support generally comes from the communities receiving them, which often have very few resources, international humanitarian organisations have not been able to agree on clear mandates with regard to who should have the overall responsibility for assisting them. Although the international community is better organised to care for those who have crossed borders and become refugees, it is still struggling to finetune and coordinate available aid instruments and to mobilize sufficient resources in order to facilitate their post-conflict return, resettlement and reintegration. As this literature review of internally displaced persons, refugees and returnees shows in relation to Liberia, there are ongoing conflicts where we lack sufficient understanding of migration patterns and the socio-economic conditions of the displaced, an understanding which is a prerequisite for designing appropriate preventive and mitigating action. This review also highlights the severe lack of protection of civilians in Liberia, children in particular, which leads to forced recruitments to local armed groups as well as exposure to sexual violence.

The inconvenient indigenous : remote area development in Botswana, donor assistance, and the first people of the Kalahari

Upphovsperson:	Saugestad, Sidsel
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2001
Ämnesord:	anthropology, indigenous people, Social anthropology, Socialantropologi

The book deals with the relationship between the government of Botswana and its indigenous minority, known as Bushmen, San, Basarwa, or more recently N/oakwe, and tries to understand why the San people remain a marginalised minority in a country that since Independence in 1966 has committed itself to a democratic and non-racial agenda. The use of the concept 'indigenous' is controversial in Botswana and in the rest of Africa, and the book asks thought-provoking questions about the responsibility of the state, the role of the international community and the need for representative organisations. While there have been dozens of books published on the ethnography of the San, this is the first book that places them in the comparative context of indigenous peoples' struggle for recognition. An in-depth documentation and analysis is given of a series of events in 1992 and 1993 that were crucial in establishing San indigenous organisations and identities, and the emergent San organisations are followed from the communities in Kalahari to international meetings in Geneva.

African families in a global context

Upphovsperson:	Therborn, Göran
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2006
Ämnesord:	Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, demographic change, family, family structure, gender roles, social problems, Sociology, Sociologi

The family is one of the most important institutions of African societies. Where is it going today? How is it affected by global processes, cultural and political as well as economic? How does it compare with family developments in other parts of the world? These are questions, which this report addresses. It deals with – the African family in a comparative global context, focusing on patriarchy, sexuality and marriage, and fertility;– biological and social reproduction in Ghana under conditions of globalization and structural adjustment;– Nigerian marriage relations under the impact of current conditions;– family changes in the North (Britain) viewed from and compared with a family perspective from the South (South Africa).

Regionalism and regional integration in Africa : a debate of current aspects and issues

Medarbetare:	Melber, Melber
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2001
Ämnesord:	regionalization, Globalization, regional integration, Political science, Statsvetenskap

A Consultative Workshop on "Regional Integration in Africa" was organised by and at the Nordic Africa Institute on March 8 and 9, 2001. The contributions compiled in this volume were related to this policy oriented but academic endeavour. They identify and review current issues of regionalism and regional integration within the era of globalisation in the African context. Their approaches present different theoretical and regional perspectives which provide new insights, challenge existing concepts and perceptions and contribute to an enriched debate.

Ethiopia : the challenge of democracy from below

Medarbetare:	Bahru, Zewde | Pausewang, Siegfried
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet; Forum for Social Studies, Addis Ababa
År:	2002
Ämnesord:	Democratisation, Governance, Local government, Traditional authority, Peasantry, Land reform, Political power, Ethiopia, Political science, Statsvetenskap

Constitutionally Ethiopia is a federal democratic state although in practice it is dominated by one political coalition. The opposition parties claim they have no chance of challenging the incumbent. The rural majority, as ever, feel controlled from above, unable to influence political decisions. Observers describe elections as manipulated and non-representative of the will of the people for whom the word "democracy" frequently appears to be synonymous with domination and coercion. Democracy is a concept reflecting European philosophies, struggles and concerns. Many Ethiopian ethnic groups have traditions which may offer more satisfactory and culturally acceptable foundations for a "sovereignty of the people" through time-honoured ways of voicing political ideas, ironic observations and vital interests. In line with modern urban life Ethiopians also organise and express their interests in non-governmental organisations, the independent press and advocacy groups representing political and social alternatives. The contributors to this book analyse the democratic potential of these movements and practices, their ability to give a voice to the view from below and their potential contribution to a more genuine participation by the majority of Ethiopians in democratic decision making and bringing the sovereignty of the people a step closer to reality.

Education in Ethiopia : from crisis to the brink of collapse

Upphovsperson:	Negash, Tekeste
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2006
Ämnesord:	educational systems, educational crisis, languages of instruction, English language, Ethiopic languages, Social change, Ethiopia, Other social sciences, Övrig samhällsvetenskap

The main focus of the study is the deepening crisis of the Ethiopian education system. This study reconstructs the growth of the crisis of the sector during the last four decades. It then discusses the implications of the crisis in terms of communication breakdown; absence of analytical capacity at system level; the fragmentation of society; loss of political legitimacy and perpetuation of authoritarian power. Although the education sector has greatly expanded its mpact on poverty alleviation has so far been insignificant. The poverty landscape has changed to the worse during the last fifty years. This is largely due to the fact that the Ethiopian education system is based on false premises. At the centre of the crisis is the use of English as medium of instruction. The proficiency in English is so low that its continued use as a medium of instruction can only lead to the collapse of the education system. The study argues that it is only through language (readily understood and practised) that collective life and the world can be interpreted in an integrated manner. The replacement of English by Ethiopian languages all the way from the primary to tertiary levels is one of the factors that could strengthen the survival potential of the Ethiopian political community. The study is relevant for policy makers and students of development studies on the role of education in social change in Africa south of the Sahara.  

Sidor