Building the state without peace or making peace without the state : a baseline study on the paradox of state-building and peace-building in Sierra Leone

This study takes a detailed look at the process of Peace-building and State-building in Sierra Leone after its bitter civil war. The paper focuses on four issues: identity politics; an effective national political culture; politics (and intrigues) involved in management of natural resource endowments; and the re-engagement of societies and communities at the margins of the state. It examines the outcomes of the settlement processes including the extent of the transformation of identity markers, and extracts lessons learnt from the peace process. Identity conversations in Sierra Leone’s state building process involve control and domination by political elites with manipulation of ethnic groups

Building the state without peace or making peace without the state : the paradox of state-building and peace-building in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone’s civil war resulted in the deaths of more than 100,000 people. Key issues around international assistance in the search for peace serve as crucial barometers in assessing how the past might predict the future of the country. This study posits that efforts to address four issues underline the state-building conversation and that lasting peace will depend on the extent to which these issues are addressed: identity politics; the search for a legitimate national political culture; the politics involved in management of natural resources; and the re-engagement of societies and communities at the margins of the state

Researching AIDS, Sexuality and Gender : Case Studies of Women in Kenyan Universities

The current HIV and AIDS regime has opened up unknown vistas in intellectual pursuits and knowledge creation. One such newly opened up area of research is studying HIV and AIDS in relation to gender issues. However, owing to the devastating nature of the epidemic, most studies tend to focus on women merely as an 'at risk' population leaving aside the wider sociological dimensions that pertain to women's sexuality in general, issues of AIDS related stigma and discrimination and how it impacts on women's careers as economic contributors to society. The uniqueness of the present study lies in the fact that it embodies the author's triangulated research into the tripartite dimensions of HIV and AIDS, women's sexuality, and gender-sociology, all against the backdrop of analysing actual experiences of career women in Kenyan universities

Invisibility, silence and absence : a study of the account taken by two Kenyan universities about the effects of HIV and AIDS on senior women staff

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Reframing state-building and peacebuilding narratives in Africa : final technical report

This report covers all aspects of the project from its inception, including progress realised on the proposal objectives, outputs produced, challenges and obstacles faced during the research process, and reflections and recommendations going forward. The notion of “conversation” is the thread that binds case studies and research, arguing that much conflict in Africa results from “conversations” around state-building, occurring in varied national contexts. Initial findings indicate the majority of African states are a product of many complex conversations – initially between colonial elites and African peoples and societies; and in the post-independence period, between governing elites and their people