SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

Africa in the new millenium

Upphovspersoner:	Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges | Suttner, Raymond
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2001
Ämnesord:	political reform, Globalisation, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

The contributions to this Discussion Paper were prepared for a workshop on "Africa in the new millennium" held in Stockholm in May 2001. The idea of the workshop was not to counter "negative" perceptions of Africa with "positive" ones. Nor was it to arrive at finalised ideas or prescriptions for governments or the continent as a whole. The aim was to raise important questions, which may help contextualise and deal with the problems facing the continent. It was an attempt to go below the surface of immediate crises and open up a debate around Africa and its international relations. It is hoped that publication of these papers will encourage further debate, and contribute towards realising the goal of African recovery.

Cross-border trade and the parallel currency market - trade and finance in the context of structural adjustment : a case study from Kano, Nigeria

Upphovspersoner:	Hashim, Yahaya | Meagher, Kate
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	1999
Ämnesord:	Nigeria, West Africa, International Trade, Trade liberalization, Currencies, Exchange Rate, French Franc area, Structural Adjustment, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

A "new regionalism" is gathering pace in West Africa, underpinned by the growing activities of informal cross-border traders. The authors of this study challenge the assumptions of the World Bank that the expansion in informal cross-border trade is a vindication of the market liberalising thrust of structural adjustment, and that adjustment policies have, in an organic manner, improved the effectiveness of an "independent" bourgeoisie that is emerging out of this trade as an agent of regional integration. Instead, they make the case for the adoption of what they call a "development approach" for tapping the benefits of the informal currency markets, as an alternative to the "market coercion" of structural adjustment.

Music as instrument of diversity and unity : notes on a Namibian landscape

Upphovsperson:	Mans, Minette
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2003
Ämnesord:	Namibia, music, cultural identity, Nation-building, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This report explores the interface between recent socio-political changes in Namibia, and the way they are reflected in emergent musical practices and identities within the country. The potential tension between unity and diversity is investigated within musical landscapes in traditional and contemporary frames. Sadly, diversity is often seen to be the precursor of divisiveness rather than a product of human creativity and ingenuity. Based on a decade of field research undertaken mainly in the north and central areas of Namibia since 1993, this report poses questions about fundamental purposes of music-making, and the conscious response of people to the contemporary Namibian socio-political situation. It provides a broad overview of music emanating from different cultural practices in Namibia, and relates this to the State's political strategies for ensuring unity and nation-building through policy-making, education and broadcast media. The changes that occur in musical practices are seen as strategic cultural choices and ongoing identity-formation.

Same and other : negotiating African identity in cultural production

Upphovspersoner:	Palmberg, Mai | Eriksson Baaz, Maria
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Cultural Images and Expressions | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2001
Ämnesord:	development, Culture, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

The idea of African Otherness has occupied a central role in discourses on cultural production in Africa, whether film, literature, music or the arts. These claims, articulated both by 'Western' and 'African' critics and consumers, means that particular criteria and standards are adopted in relation to cultural production in Africa. The claim to African Otherness is gaining new strength in the wake of globalisation, but it is also increasingly challenged by a number of contemporary artists. This book deals with the question of relevance and meaning of the signifier in various fields of contemporary cultural production in Africa: literature, film, sculpture, music, popular drama.

Global restructuring and land rights in Ghana : forest food chains, timber and rural livelihoods

Upphovsperson:	Amanor, Kojo Sebastian
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainsitutet
År:	1999
Ämnesord:	Ghana, West Africa, Land tenure, Food production, Forestry, Structural adjustment, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

The report highlights the long history of commodification of land and labour in Ghana, linked to speculative activites and more recently to the activities of international capital, agribusiness, international agricultural centres and agencies of the state. It makes the case for a new land, agrarian and natural resource regime that prioritises domestic economic needs to provide security of livelihood to the generality of the people.

Nile Basin cooperation : a review of the literature

Upphovsperson:	Mohamoda, Dahilon Yassin
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2003
Ämnesord:	Nile river, Water resources, Regional cooperation, Literature surveys, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

Two interrelated developments can be identified in the Nile basin, during the last decade: an emphasis on potential conflict over the Nile waters on the one hand, and an evolving process of basin-wide cooperation on the other. The history of the Nile basin is dominated by tensions and conflicts. Relationships between major Nile basin countries are usually described in terms of mutual distrust and confrontation. The Nile basin, moreover, has frequently been referred to by many observers and analysts as an example where conflict over water resources as a result of water scarcity will lead to armed confrontation. Recent years, on the other hand, have witnessed a growing cooperation among the basin countries. The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is a case in point. All the ten countries that share the Nile waters agreed, for the first time, to cooperate on development of the Nile basin. This is a significant step, although a number of serious problems and challenges remain. Many donors have made formal pledges to support the initiative. This paper reviews literature on the Nile basin cooperation and issues related to this process, focusing on more recent publications. The literature on utilization and management of the Nile waters related to basin-wide cooperation efforts has been growing fast during the last decade. At least seven books have been published on the subject between the years 2000 to 2002, while the number of papers presented at conferences and articles in various journals and on the Internet is enormous. This review discusses and covers a wide range of issues, which include: debate on water scarcity and its potential consequences in general, and its implications for the Nile basin countries in particular; legal aspects of utilization of the Nile waters focusing on the UN Watercourse Convention of 1997; conflicts and major attempts at cooperation; divergent views and interests of the basin countries; and challenges and prospects of the recent basin-wide cooperation.

Common security and civil society in Africa

Medarbetare:	Wohlgemuth, Lennart
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	1999
Ämnesord:	Africa, Civil Society, Conflicts, International security, Regional security, Partnership, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This book is the outcome of a conference on Common Security and Civil Society in Africa, held in 1997, and organised jointly by the Nordic Africa Institute and the Common Security Forum, based at the Centre for History and Economics, King's College and the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. The idea that security is to be achieved by cooperation more than by confrontation, and that it is an economic and social as well as a military condition, has been a commonplace of international politics for some 20 years. The geometry of common or extended security is complex. But it usually involves an extension of the domain of security, of the sources of security, and of the characteristics of security. Among these diverse kinds of security, it is political security which has come into particular prominence at the end of the 1990s, most strikingly in Africa. Political security, in the sense of legal and political institutions such that individuals feel secure both in their individual rights and in the development of political culture, has come to be seen as the foundation of all other kinds of security. The papers presented in this volume seek to go 'beyond the war of images', to imagine a different and more secure future, and they are concerned with five major themes: economic and social change; the prevention of violent conflict; the causes of conflict; political security; the international politics of development partnership.

Political and economic liberalisation in Zambia 1991-2001

Upphovsperson:	Rakner, Lise
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2003
Ämnesord:	economic development, economic reform, Donors, political development, Zambia, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

As one of the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa, in 1991 Zambia experienced  a peaceful transition to multi-party rule. The new government, Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), also committed itself to implementing an economic reform programme. The international donor community in turn generously rewarded the new government’s commitment to both political and economic change. Despite the optimistic forecasts in 1991, both the political and economic liberalisation processes in Zambia are today characterised by their partial implementation. Zambia has joined the vast majority of African reforming governments and entered into a 'transitional grey zone' in terms of democratic reforms, and remains stuck in a 'partial reform syndrome' characterised by a permanent economic crisis. What can explain the Zambian development trajectory? Why were some elements of the economic reforms implemented soon after the 1991 elections while other vital reform processes were postponed? To what extent did the processes of political and economic reform reinforce or hinder one another? This book analyses the implementation of political and economic liberalisation in Zambia during the first two election periods (1991-2001). Focussing on the negotiations between government and the key domestic interest groups, as well as the dialogues between the MMD government and the international donor community, the book argues that despite a disastrous socio-economic record, the processes of political and economic liberalisation proceeded concomitantly without seriously affecting or undermining each other. Contrary to expectations linked both to the political and economic reform processes, executive dominance increased in Zambia in the 1990s. Stressing continuity rather than change, the analysis of Zambia's reform processes suggests that the practices of patronage politics associated with authoritarian regimes are compatible with processes of political and economic liberalisation.

Tales of the nation : feminist nationalism or patriotic history?

Upphovsperson:	Bull-Christiansen, Lene
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2004
Ämnesord:	Zimbabwe, feminism, nationalism, identity, literature, Yvonne Vera, history, Matabeleland, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

In light of the uses and misuses of history in Zimbabwean politics in recent years, this research report focuses on how versions of the country’s liberation war history have become a site of struggle over the definition of Zimbabwean national identity. As identity politics’often do, Zimbabwean nationalism draws on a wide field of cultural symbols of identity and political discourses of inclusion and exclusion. Therefore, the report takes a cross-disciplinary approach to the issue of national identity by mapping out the imaginary field of Zimbabwean nationalism. This approach opens up the possibility of cross-reading the political discourses of the President and the ruling party ZANU (PF) with opposing voices such as those in the works of the author Yvonne Vera. This cross-reading shows how Vera's novels and the political discourses participate in the struggle over Zimbabwean national identity by offering different versions of the nation’s history in the form of patriotic history, feminist nationalism, or narratives of difference. In this way the research report adds to our understanding of power and resistance in Zimbabwean politics of national identity.

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.

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