A THEOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL REFLECTION ON DIGITAL ECCLESIOLOGY FROM AN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

: In the heat of the Covid-19 pandemic, many church leaders were compelled to use digital information and communication technology to maintain their presence and fellowship with their followers and other believers. The unprecedented incorporation of media technology into the church’s structures and activities (due to the pandemic) has brought about the urgent need to explore the nature and quality of this digitally-mediated presence from a theological and ethical perspective. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to identify and concretely address key theological and ethical issues emerging from the church’s current digital experimentation with technologically-mediated worship. The paper uses a literature-based approach to critically examine data on digitally-mediated services obtained from journal articles, theses/dissertations and books. The main argument is that although digitally-mediated Christian ministry has theological, biblical and historical foundations, it is not appropriate (under normal circumstances) to replace offline church services with online church services. Therefore, the use of the digital space must complement (but not replace) the use of the analogue space for Christian ministry. This is very important especially in the African context where illiteracy rate is high and majority of the people do not have reliable access to electricity and internet facilities. The paper ends with recommendations for the post-pandemic church in its quest to navigate between the digital and analogue spaces in its operations

Responding to land degradation in the highlands of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia:

Improving the long-term sustainability and resilience of smallholder agriculture in Africa is highly dependent on conserving or improving the quality of the natural resource. Conservation agriculture is conceived around more integrated and effective management strategies for provisioning both food and other ecosystem services. If unattended to, land degradation would reduce agricultural productivity and increase pressure on marginal environments in the Tigray highlands of Ethiopia, adversely affecting food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers. This paper answers some pertinent questions about mass mobilization of free compulsory labor for ecological restoration in Tigray. It details perception of changes in climate; the process of collective decisionmaking; resistance, documentation, and enforcement of rules; methods of conflict resolution; knowledge and information networks; arrangements for benefit sharing of communal resources; and the role of gender in mass mobilization for communal work. We analyzed data collected from 20 villages in 3 districts in the Tigray region through a household survey using a structured questionnaire, focus group discussions, and personal observations. The results reveal that the people are motivated to provide their free labor to restore the ecology to increase agricultural productivity and production to avoid food insecurity and improve their general livelihood. Availability of institutions in terms of grassroots organizations and rules and regulations was a major factor in the positive response to the call for action. The commitment of the government at both the national and local levels (through sensitization and mobilization for group formation and provision of tools and construction materials); the ethnic homogeneity of the population; and the existence of the Orthodox Church, where most of the people were members, were major factors for the success of the community mobilization for collective action in Tigray. Social networking with neighbors, the clergy, and leaders of grassroots organizations provided the knowledge and information on climate variability and solutions required to conserve the ecology and improve human livelihood. We also observed that there were no differences in gender division of labor except that women worked half the workload of men in a day; the women also did the cooking and cleaned up the surroundings after eating at the site. Both men and women played active roles in leadership with regard to mobilization of people, communal work planning and scheduling, conflict resolution, and sharing of community products. An impact assessment of the ecological conservation in Tigray on agricultural productivity and production and food security would be useful. It will be interesting to replicate the study in other areas in Ethiopia and other countries where the societies may not be homogenous to find out the level of commitment of the people to communal work.Collective action, ecological restoration, free labor, Land degradation,

Sustaining and Growing the Informal Sector in Ghana Using Management Consulting: A Case Study of the Fashion SMEs in Kumasi Metropolis

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the informal sector could be made relevant and sustainable using management consulting, by examining why entrepreneurs use or do not use consultants. A representative sample size of 210, made up of 200 fashion businesses and 10 consulting firms participated. Structured questionnaires and interviews were used for the data gathering.  Stratified random sampling technique was used. Chi-square test of association, correlation and logistic regression were used to determine the relationships or associations of variables. The study revealed that even though the skills level of entrepreneurs is low they are reluctant to engage the services of consultants Keywords: informal sector, fashion, SME, entrepreneur, management consulting, micro-enterprises DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/13-22-07 Publication date: November 30th 202

Urban Public School Libraries and Educational Reform: The Case of the Detroit Public Schools

This article explores the implications of school reform on school libraries using the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) as a case study in urban librarianship. A literature review on the role and impact of school librarians in K-12 education is included to help illustrate the role of school libraries in public school reform. Two DPS reforms are selected for closer evaluation: a 2002 district-initiated reform and a 2008 state-mandated reform. The article concludes by offering a list of recommendations to help strengthen DPS reform goals and objectives by utilizing the professional knowledge and resources of school librarians in the district. These recommendations are shaped by the author’s personal and professional experiences as a former school library media specialist in DPS and as a college professor who teaches school and urban librarianship courses

Cultural Inquiry: A Framework for Engaging Youth of Color in the Library

This article describes the conceptual underpinnings of a learning approach described as cultural inquiry. This learning approach grew from the author’s work with a diverse group of African American youth in an after school book club, named Circle of Voices. The purpose of describing this learning approach is to help youth services librarians develop strategies for engaging youth of color in the library. An equally important goal of this work is to provide a theoretical framework for explaining some of the cultural disconnects that youth of color experience while learning in mainstream schools and libraries. Some of the theoretical influences of this learning approach, which are described in this article include: social constructivist theory, critical pedagogy, and the Afrocentric idea in education. Contrasts are drawn between the conceptual underpinnings of information inquiry and cultural inquiry. Lastly, Callison’s four phases of inquiry are used to contextualize real world examples of cultural inquiry from the Circle of Voices book club

INFLO-Mation: A Model for Exploring Information Behavior through Hip Hop

This paper explores the insights that hip hop might afford young adult library researchers who study information behavior, particularly in online environments. A Critical Race Theory (CRT) approach was used to explain how existing information behavior models describe youth experiences in ways that mask their unique racialized experiences and culturally specific information-creating behaviors. Using CRT’s counter-storytelling method, a new model called INFLO-mation is introduced, featuring a continuum of information behaviors captured within three descriptive categories of creativity: Rhythm, Rhyme, and Remix (R3). Findings include a discussion the INFLO model, its classification scheme, and illustrative examples from contemporary teens’ digital media practices rooted in hip hop culture

Teaching Race in Cyberspace: Reflections on the “Virtual Privilege Walk” Exercise

Teaching for Justice describes the efforts of LIS faculty and instructors who feature social justice theory and strategies in their courses and classroom practice

Critical Race Theory and Education: Mapping a Legacy of Activism and Scholarship

This chapter explores the intellectual origins and historical precursors of Critical Race Theory (CRT), a lively branch of critical social theory. One of the goals of this work is to help novice educational scholars learn more about the history of CRT and to specifically see how it is used by contemporary scholars in the field of education to address a range of equity issues. The chapter begins by contextualizing contemporary discourse on race and education. It then chronicles the life work of key individuals whose antiracist, anti- colonial ideas and actions helped lay the foundation for the body of legal thought that was eventually coined “CRT” during the Civil Rights Era. The legal origins of CRT are discussed and definitions of key CRT constructs are outlined. The chapter concludes with a close examination of two articles that exemplify how educational scholars are using CRT to address equity issues around research and teaching