Reconceptualising teacher education in the sub-saharan African context

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Tourists' Perceptions of Heritage Tourism Development in Danish-osu, Ghana

His paper examines the tourist perceptions at Danish, Osu-Ghana within the dark tourism or slavery heritage contexts. Using Cohen's (1979) typology of tourist experience, we differentiate between tourist knowledge of a heritage site relative to socio-demographic indices

Intergenerational Education Effects of Early Marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper analyzes the evolution of the effects on educational inequality of early marriage by looking at the impact of whether women had married young on their children’s schooling outcomes for 25–32 countries (Demographic and Health Surveys) in 2000 and 2010 for Sub-Saharan Africa. We also explore indirect pathways—mother’s education, health, and empowerment as well as community channels—operating from early marriage to child schooling and assess the presence of negative externalities for non-early married mothers and their children on education transmission in communities with large rates of child marriage. In our econometric analysis we employ OLS, matching, instrumental variables, and pseudo-panel for a better understanding of changes over time. Our results show that early marriage is still a significant source of inequality, though its impact has decreased across time: girls born to early married mothers are between 6% and 11% more likely to never been to school and 1.6% and 1.7% to enter late, and 3.3% and 5.1% less likely to complete primary school, whereas boys are between 5.2% and 8.8% more likely to never been to school and 1% and 1.9% to enter late, and 2.3% and 5.5% less likely to complete primary school. Second, child marriage increases gender inequality within household’s with girls losing an additional 0.07 years of schooling as compared to boys if born to early married mothers. Third, our estimates show that mother’s education and health mediate some of the effect of early marriage and that the large prevalence of child marriage in a community also impairs educational transmission for non-early married mothers. Fourth, empowering of young wives can weaken other channels of transmission of education inequalities. Overall, our findings highlight the need to target these children with the appropriate interventions and support to achieve the greater focus on equity in the global post-2015 education agenda

The impact of bullying on students’ learning in Latin America: A matching approach for 15 countries

We examine the impact of bullying on learning and non-cognitive outcomes for sixth grade students in 15 Latin America countries using data from the Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE) learning survey. We apply OLS and propensity score matching to attenuate the impact of confounding factors. Matching results show that students being bullied achieve between 9.6 and 18.4 points less in math than their non-bullied peers whilst in reading between 5.8 and 19.4 lower scores, a 0.07-0.22 reduction in the standard deviation of test scores. Thus, substantial learning gains could be accomplished by anti-bullying policies in the region

"Diasporas,” Mobility and the Social Imaginary: Getting Ahead in West Africa

The article presents the lecture "'Diasporas,' Mobility and the Social Imaginary: Getting Ahead in West Africa," by Emmanuel Akyeampong, that was delivered as the keynote lecture at the 27th Annual Conference of the Third World Studies in Elmina, Ghana in November 2009. It explores the impact of the African Diaspora and the slave trade and examines how Africans are establishing transnational connections in contemporary society.African and African American StudiesHistor

For Prayer and Profit: West Africa's Religious and Economic Ties to the Gulf 1960s to the Present

West Africa’s historic ties of trade and Islam with the Arabian Peninsula date back to the 7th and 8th Centuries CE. On independence from colonial rule several African countries turned to the Arab world for official development assistance (ODA). The period from the 1990s has seen Gulf businesses making important financial investments in West African real estate and telecommunications. The Gulf has become an important source of consumer and capital goods for West Africa, as well as a buyer of African exports like coffee, cocoa, and timber. African professionals work in the Gulf, though Asians remain dominant in the Gulf labor force.African and African American StudiesHistor

China in West Africa’s regional development and security plans

This article argues that we are presently in another global economic transition. The old centres of growth have witnessed serious economic reverses with several countries going into ‘receivership’ in the West – Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Northern Ireland, and possibly Spain and Italy. The fastest growing economies in the world are no longer in the West but in developing regions such as Africa and Asia. China has emerged overnight as the second largest economy with predictions that it would overtake the United States within the next generation. China’s economy has gone from one of export-driven growth to the prospect of continued growth based on internal demand, driven by one of the fastest and largest growing middle classes in history. South–South trade also holds great promise as one of the engines of continued growth for China. China’s recent rise began with its designation as the world’s ‘factory’ by Western multinational companies in the 1980s, seeking to increase their profit margins by outsourcing production to areas with cheap but disciplined labour. As China moves beyond the initial phase of labour-intensive industries to more technologically advanced industries, it has turned to developing countries in continents such as Africa for raw materials, investment and business opportunities in areas such as the construction of infrastructure (roads, railways, hydroelectric dams and so on).African and African American Studie

Ties that Bound: Slave Concubines/Wives and the End of Slavery in the Gold Coast, c.1874-1900

African and African American Studie

Trapped in low performance? Tracking the learning trajectory of disadvantaged girls and boys in the Complementary Basic Education programme in Ghana

This study examines the link between initial school performance on subsequent learning for marginalised children in the Complementary Basic Education programme in Northern Ghana. Specifically, we focus on whether initial low performance of girls and boys differentially affects learning trajectories. Drawing on longitudinal data, we find a significant association between initial and subsequent low performance as students transit into formal education, even after taking account of other potential factors. Boys are more likely than girls to improve from low attainment as they move into formal school. As such, girls are at particular risk of maintaining low levels of learning, and therefore warrant greater support within both complementary and mainstream schooling contexts.UK Department for International Development (DFID

Rum, Gin and Maize: Deities and Ritual Change in the Gold Coast during the Atlantic Era (16th century to 1850)

This paper examines the incorporation of rum and gin as powerful spiritual drinks in pre-colonial Gold Coast, particularly in the context of state formation and warfare, and the growing importance of maize, side by side with the indigenous yam, as the food of gods. Through food and drink, we analyze changing notions of spiritual efficacy, the ascendancy of war deities, and interrogate how shifts in socio-political contexts aligned with those in the spiritual realm. Why were European liquors like gin, rum, and schnapps incorporated into ritual on the Gold Coast and not others? We juxtapose geographically dispersed ritual landscapes, contrasting the Atlantic coast and its immediate hinterland with a case study from the northern Guan in our endeavor to understand how far-reaching were Atlantic processes, as well as the “logic” of ritual transformation.African and African American StudiesHistor