SOCIAL SCIENCES

National identity and democracy in Africa

Medarbetare:	Palmberg, Mai
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	1999
Ämnesord:	Africa, National identity, Democracy, Migration, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

"This is not a contribution to nation-building. I hope it helps disrupt nation-building". These words by film-maker Zackie Ahmat gave a kick-start to the discussions at the international conference on "National Identity and Democracy" held at the University of the Western Cape 14-18 March 1997, and they also introduce the theme for the book with some of the best contributions to the conference. Ahmat's understanding of "nation-building" was the kind of cultural homogenisation ordered from above which has been the rule in many parts of the world, not least in Africa. Nation-building has here often been been a hypocritical cloak for the hegemony of an elite, sometimes mobilising support from just one cultural group. By the title of the conference the organisers wanted to invite a discussion both on the insight that building a nation and building democracy are not necessarily twins, and on the risks of the misuse of power in the name of the nation. South Africa represents a possible and hopeful departure from the homogenisation model, with its explicit pluralism expressed in the adoption of 11 official languages. Six of the papers deal with the South African experiment, with an examination of the policy of non-racialism and the specific challenges posed by migrant workers, group identities and the themes of gender and nation. Other chapters are case studies from national identity formation on the contested cultural terrain in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Angola, Nigeria, and Tanzania. The book also contains an annotated bibliography.

Micro-regionalism in West Africa : evidence from two case studies

Upphovspersoner:	Söderbaum, Fredrik | Taylor, Ian
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	Regional cooperation, regional integration, regional development, regionalization, case studies, West Africa, Sahel, Niger, Nigeria, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This collection seeks to complement and advance recent studies on regionalism in Africa and the implications that this has for the continent’s development. The two case studies on cross-border micro-regionalism in the borderlands of Mali-Burkina Faso and Niger-Nigeria are part of the work of the West Africa Borders and Integration (WABI). WABI is a research institute that looks at cross-border developments in West Africa, particularly at the convergence between political will and regionalisation on the ground. Providing a challenge to the considerable number of state-centric, formalistic and not seldom overly idealistic studies in this field, the two cases show quite clearly that formal borders either essentially do not exist in the Westphalian sense, being ignored by local populations and traders, or, are strategically used by (often self-styled) representatives of the state to extract resources and rents. In either case, the Eurocentric notion of fixed boundaries and bordered delineations has little purchase in the West African Sahel.

The Nordic countries and Africa : old and new relations

Upphovsperson:	Wohlgemuth, Lennart
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2002
Ämnesord:	Aid policy, Development aid, trade, Africa, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

The Institute has asked one representative from each Nordic country to give an account of how their respective countries have dealt with Africa over the years (in some cases even over the centuries) but with an emphasis on the last 50 years. They were also asked to indicate what role Africa has played in the politics, trade, etc. of their countries. The diversity of the invited authors’ backgrounds and fields of specialisation is reflected in their contributions, but the authors have one thing in common: a long experience from, and deep engagement in, Africa’s development.

Afrika i det tjugonde seklet

Upphovsperson:	Davidson, Basil
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2001
Ämnesord:	Africa, History, Colonialism, Decolonization, Independence, Nationalism, Political development, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

Ny omarbetad upplaga. Afrikas moderna politiska och sociala historia presenteras här insiktsfullt och översiktligt på ett sätt som gör den till ett standardverk i sig och en oundgänglig bakgrund till de enskilda afrikanska ländernas historia. Boken har skrivits i skuggan av de kriser som många afrikanska samhällen och institutioner drabbades av i slutet av 1900-talet och som fortfarande pågår. Bokens författare, den kände afrikaexperten Basil Davidson, diskuterar orsakerna till sönderfallet och de afrikanska staternas sårbarhet. Men han tar också itu med de industrialiserade ländernas misslyckanden att förändra förhållandet mellan de rika länderna i nord och de fattiga i syd. Boken avslutas med en diskussion om hur Afrika idag söker sina egna lösningar. I boken finns ett detaljrikt och praktiskt index och flera specialritade kartor. Den är lämplig som studie- och referensbok på gymnasiet och i vuxenutbildningen. Basil Davidson är en brittisk journalist och historiker som skrivit ett 20-tal böcker om Afrikas historia. Han har nått en stor publik i sina strävanden att framställa Afrikas historia ur ett afrikanskt perspektiv med afrikanska källor.

The institutional context of poverty eradication in rural Africa : proceedings from a seminar in tribute to the 20th anniversary of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Medarbetare:	Havnevik, Kjell | Sandström, Emil
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2000
Ämnesord:	Africa, Poverty alleviation, Rural Areas, Conference papers, International Fund for Agricultural Development, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This volume presents papers focusing on politico-economic reforms in Africa and their impact on different groups of rural poor; and on the role that access to assets can play in addressing poverty issues. The volume also covers IFAD's twenty years of experience, new challenges and opportunities in smallholder development in East and southern Africa, and knowledge creation and dissemination in the context of strategic partnerships and alliances.

Begging and almsgiving in Ghana : Muslim positions towards poverty and distress

Upphovsperson:	Weiss, Holger
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	Muslims, Islam, Economic conditions, Marginality, Poverty alleviation, Social welfare, Social security, Political islam, Ghana, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

The vast majority of Muslims in Africa generally do not 'objectify' concepts such as poverty and religion in discussion. Poverty is a situation for 'ordinary' poor people in rural or urban poor areas where people seek to make marginal gains in income to avoid ever-threatening destitution and social disintegration. Most of these 'ordinary' poor people, especially poor and illiterate women, do not really believe that things can change. There exists, however, in all Muslim societies and communities in Africa a minority that criticize social and political conditions in society with the stated aim of striving for an Islamic solution to poverty and injustice. The common denominator for this group is that they are urban educated Muslims, having both a traditional educational background and, usually but not always, a modern, secular one, too. For them, the concept of poverty more readily forms part of a religious discourse involving feasible strategies for change. Their basic idea is to highlight the possibilities of generating new forms of financial resources by combining Islamic ethics and norms with a modern development-oriented outlook. Their vision is the usability of obligatory almsgiving in a modern context, namely that, instead of the traditional individual-centred 'person-to-person' charities, zakāt or obligatory almsgiving should be directed to become the source of communal and collective societal improvement. This study focuses on the conditions of poverty and the debate among Muslims in Ghana, a West African country with a substantial but largely economically and politically marginalized Muslim population.

Bushmen and diamonds : (un)civil society in Botswana

Upphovsperson:	Good, Kenneth
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2003
Ämnesord:	Botswanana, politics, democracy, Diamonds, Human rights, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

Botswana's democracy is often considered to be a comparatively advanced and positive example of an African state in terms of political culture and the notion of "good governance". This paper challenges the assumption that the country's current political and socio-economic system is, in fact, exemplary. It highlights some of the limitations by focussing on the particular situation of the Bushmen/San as a margina-lized minority denied citizens' rights and losing out against the material interests accompanying the exploration and exploitation of diamonds, the most lucrative natural resource contributing to Botswana's "success story".The author has on previous occasions presented and published related analyses within the research network on "Liberation and Democracy in Southern Africa" (LiDeSA), which is currently coordinated through the Nordic Africa Institute. This publication is another result of the collaboration within this project.

Politics, property and production in the West African Sahel : understanding natural resources management

Upphovspersoner:	Lund, Christian | Benjaminsen, Tor A.
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2001
Ämnesord:	natural resources, land ownership, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

Understanding natural resources management requires an interdisciplinary approach. Through a number of case studies from the West African Sahel, this book links and explores natural resources management from the perspectives of three distinct but interrelated spheres (politics, property and production) and within a broad and empirically based political ecology. Natural resources management is first of all profoundly political. Seen from above, it is constantly the object of planning efforts where one 'master-plan' follows another, each sponsored by one of the major international donors. Policies and plans are again informed by global discourses of 'decentralisation', 'disengaging the State', 'democratisation' or 'desertification'. Seen from below, natural resources management is always the object of power struggles and politicisation linked to property rights to land. Property may in fact be one of the most comprehensive, yet at the same time most elusive, concepts in the natural resources debate. To say that someone has a 'right' to land is to summarise in one word a complex and highly conditional state of affairs. African and Sahelian land tenure is a field where property relations are multifarious, overlapping and competing. The prospects for African and Sahelian production systems and their influences on the environment are also contested. The conventional belief says that these systems are marked by agricultural stagnation and environmental degradation, but this is increasingly being questioned or qualified. Under certain policy environments production systems and resources seem to follow more optimistic paths. Such emerging experiences which cut against the grain of conventional perceptions of the Sahelian environment should encourage us to rethink both Sahelian research and policy formulation.

South Africa and global apartheid : continental and international policies and politics

Medarbetare:	Bond, Patrick
Utgivare:	Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2004
Ämnesord:	Africa, South Africa, Post apartheid, NEPAD, international economic relations, International politics, Globalisation, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This study covers a variety of political and economic aspects of Africa's and South Africa's relationships to the world. The author considers the context of global apartheid, in terms of international stagnation, uneven development and African marginalisation, and evaluates the South African setting as a telling site of worsening inequality. Where does then the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) stand on the largest economic and political problems? South Africa's other proposed global reforms are also discussed. Finally, the author records an emerging ideology based not on commodification via globalisation but on decommodification and deglobalisation, and the strategies, tactics and alliances required for African and international progress. CONTENT The context of global apartheid Class apartheid in South Africa NEPAD economics and global apartheid Whose NEPAD? South Africa’s frustrated international reforms Conclusion: African anti-capitalism? Figures and Table

On Africa : scholars and African studies

Upphovspersoner:	Wohlgemuth, Lennart | Melber, Henning
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	Africa, research, research workers, educational research, research policy, africanists, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This volume is based on contributions to a seminar which was organised in honour of the Institute’s retiring Director Lennart Wohlgemuth in December 2005. African scholars presented their views on “The Role of Africa in ‘African Studies’”, while Nordic scholars and policy makers responded. The deliberations offer a spectre of relevant approaches on both academic as well as policy oriented research and advisory work in and on Africa.The contributions aim at bridging the gap between academics and practitioners. They share a common commitment to African affairs and seek to support and promote these in the international context. Contributors include:Olu Ajakaiye and William Lyakurwa, the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)Adebayo Olukoshi, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA)Göran Hydén, University of FloridaArne Tostensen, Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen

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