They Bleed But They Don’t Die: Towards a Theoretical Canon On Ga-Adangbe Gender Studies

Contemporary African women are often cast as existing below the glass ceiling. African women who are perceived as having overcome this glass threshold are therefore seen and celebrated as exceptional. Against this background, this essay offers conceptual tools with which to examine the lives of historical and contemporary women in Ga traditional society of Ghana, living beyond the glass ceiling. Drawing a distinction between the role of women in the modern nation-state and traditional societies, this study asserts that unlike the situation in modern governance, structures and practices of Ga traditional societies have enabled Ga women to live beyond the glass ceiling. Acknowledging the non-static and dynamic evolution of Ga traditional society, this paper explores how Ga women exercise public and private power in Ga society

Temporal variation in Plio- Pleistocene Antidorcas (Mammalia: Bovidae) horncores: the case from Bolt's Farm and why size matters

Morphological differences in samples of fossil (Antidorcas recki) and modern (A. marsupialis) springbok horncores suggest that the ancestral species shows less sexual dimorphism than is observed in the horn dimensions of modern springbok. This pattern may prove useful when evaluating fossil springbok specimens in South African Plio-Pleistocene faunal assemblages. Undated Antidorcas craniodental specimens from Pit 3, Bolt's Farm (Cradle of Humankind, Gauteng, South Africa) have previously been referred to A. recki by Cooke.l However, comparison with numerous other springbok samples suggests that these specimens are more likely to represent male and female fossils of the extant species, A. marsupialis. This re-evaluation adds weight to the fossil evidence implying that the modern form of springbok is a southern African endemic species which first appeared around 1.5-1.0 million years ago in Swartkrans Member 1. Bolt's Farm Pit 3 fossils are inferred to be of a similar age

The Genetic Structure and History of Africans and African Americans.

Africa is the source of all modern humans, but characterization of genetic variation and of relationships among populations across the continent has been enigmatic. We studied 121 African populations, four African American populations, and 60 non-African populations for patterns of variation at 1327 nuclear microsatellite and insertion/deletion markers. We identified 14 ancestral population clusters in Africa that correlate with self-described ethnicity and shared cultural and/or linguistic properties. We observed high levels of mixed ancestry in most populations, reflecting historical migration events across the continent. Our data also provide evidence for shared ancestry among geographically diverse hunter-gatherer populations (Khoesan speakers and Pygmies). The ancestry of African Americans is predominantly from Niger-Kordofanian (approximately 71%), European (approximately 13%), and other African (approximately 8%) populations, although admixture levels varied considerably among individuals. This study helps tease apart the complex evolutionary history of Africans and African Americans, aiding both anthropological and genetic epidemiologic studies

On the causes of the African slave trade

This paper offers an integrated analysis of the forces shaping the emergence of the African slave trade over the early modern period. We focus our attention on two questions. First, why most of the increase in the demand for slaves during this period came exclusively from western Europeans. Second, and of most relevance for present-day development outcomes, why was the overwhelming majority of slaves of African origin. Technological differences in manufacturing technology, the specificities of sugar (and other crops') production, and the cultural fragmentation of the African continent all play a role in the analysis. Supporting evidence for each of our claims is provided from a broad corpus of relevant literature

Scientific innovation for the sustainable development of African agriculture

The African continent has considerable potential to reap the benefits associated with modern agricultural biotechnology. Plant biotechnology and breeding represent an invaluable toolbox to face the challenges of African agriculture, such as food and nutrition security, environment protection, soil fertility, and crop adaptation to new climatic conditions. As Africa has only relatively recently adopted agricultural biotechnology, it has the opportunity to harness the immense knowledge gathered over the last two decades while avoiding some of the difficulties experienced by early adopters. High-level research and education systems together with a specific regulatory framework are critical elements in the development of sustainable biotechnology-based agriculture and industry. The more actors that are involved in Research & Development applied to nutritionally and important local crops, the faster Africa will generate its future African innovators. Here, we discuss the contribution of plant biotechnology to a transformative African agriculture that combines intensification of land productivity and environmental sustainability

Child Labor in the Gold Coast: The Economics of Work, Education, and the Family in Late-Colonial African Childhoods, c. 1940-57

Historical knowledge of childhood in the Gold Coast (modern Ghana) is sparse and too often disconnected from a global historiography that has convincingly demonstrated the "child" to be a social construct. In contemporary discourse the "African child" is most commonly portrayed as either aspiring scholar or helpless victim—images that are echoed in the fleeting appearances of children in Africanist historiography. This essay, by contrast, explores the economic aspects of childhood in the colonial periphery and paints a more complex picture of the "African child." Children in the twentieth-century Gold Coast were vital economic actors and agents: at once producers, consumers, and accumulators of wealth. They remained so despite the political and commercial upheavals of the colonial period. Exploring the economic use and the social purpose of child labor illuminates both the material experience of children and their place in the household and wider society—and it sheds light, too, on the question of why both illiteracy and child labor are stubbornly persistent in modern Ghana

A People’s Journey, A Nation’s Past: The National Museum of African American History and Culture

On September 24, 2016, the National Museum of African American History and Culture was opened to the public after almost two decades of planning and more than a century of fighting for a memorial for African Americans. Starting in 1915, when a group of United States Colored Troops sought a memorial for their fallen soldiers, African Americans have worked to have their history remembered on a national scale. A congressional commission for a museum dedicated to African Americans was signed in 1929 by Calvin Coolidge, but the stock market crash in October prevented the museum from being built. The memorial was pushed to the back burner until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s galvanized the need for a museum again. In 1986, a joint resolution proposed by Representatives Mickey Leland of Texas and John Lewis of Georgia as well as Senator Paul Simon of Illinois marked the beginning of the modern fight for a museum dedicated solely to African Americans. [excerpt

Rethinking Nigeria’s Development Using African Traditional Communication Media for National Orientation

This paper examines the problem of poor orientation of most Nigerian citizens, especially the rural dwellers, occasioned by the dearth and failure of modern media in rural Nigeria; a phenomenon that has led to a major setback in participatory governance and national development in a country. The objective of the paper is to investigate the causes of modern media failure in national orientation and development in Nigeria and to examine the need to adopt traditional African media as a viable alternative in Nigeria’s national orientation and development programme especially at the grassroots. This paper assumes that African traditional communication media as effective tools have been ignored in the national orientation programmes despite their relevance to national development. The paper adopts an analytical research method to examine secondary sources of data on the constraints of modern media in rural Nigeria and the viability of African traditional media in Nigeria’s national orientation and development’s efforts. Findings reveal that most Nigerian citizens, especially rural dwellers, do not understand national orientation messages because they are broadcast in English rather than their respective languages and the broadcasts are made on modern media channels that exist in urban areas. Findings also reveal that that government’s lack of political will, high cost of setting up community media, absence of professional journalists and selfish interests of Nigerians are factors responsible for the non-existence of modern media channels in rural Nigeria. Findings also reveal that African traditional media is very compatible to the communication needs of rural Nigerians. The paper concludes that the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Nigeria has had reduced effectiveness and therefore, recommends the use of African traditional communication media in addition to the use of modern media such as television, radio and print materials to accord Nigerians the necessary orientation that will commit the citizens towards the task of national development

[Review of] Simon Gikandi. Reading the African Novel

Gikandi, has added an excellent critical work to his earlier volumes on new African writers. Employing the techniques of modern criticism, he analyzes significant works of eleven African writers including, among others, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Ferdinand Oyono, and Ayi Kwei Armah. He is concerned with the form-content relationship in the novels examined, as well as the part played by centers of consciousness of main characters. As he states, he set out to show how ... life and consciousness move from external reality of the novel to interiority

A Critical Evaluation Of Traditional African Family System And Contemporary Social Welfare

Beyond reasonable doubt, the influence of Western culture and civilizations has enervated traditional African family systems, and their functions as providers of social welfare. Hitherto, traditional African family and clan by extension served as the plausible medium by which Africans proffered solutions to those social, economic and other existential problems found within their communities. However, measuring and evaluating the successes of the various social welfare programs organized by the family and clan was a difficult task to achieve. It seems the services rendered merely controlled the social problems but did not improve the standard of living of the victims. This paper seeks to critically analyse the traditional African family system and its role as a provider of social welfare and argues that it can complement the Western models towards holistic social integration. Thus this work adopts the theory of change as a tool for understanding how Western models of social welfare should be integrated with traditional African approaches to care for the ‘weak’ in the society. Advocating for a paradigm shift from the modern models of providing social welfare to the traditional African family and clan model is consequent upon the claim that the latter is more embracing in approach