The Making of Dangerous Communities: The "Peul-Fouta" in Ebola-Weary Senegal

Epidemics of contagious diseases often motivate the social constitution of "dangerous communities." These communities are defined as having a high potential to further spread the diseases involved to a wider public. Migrant communities' links with sick people in places of origin that are badly affected by such diseases ostensibly justify the construction of these communities as epidemic dangers to their places of residence. But this depiction of certain groups as health threats is always grounded in other long-standing narratives about the populations targeted. Such narratives often portray those targeted as radically different from the wider body politic and stigmatise them in multiple ways. The situation of the Peul of Guinean origin in Senegal at the height of the Ebola virus disease outbreak in the Mano River Basin sheds light on these processes of sociogenesis and their implications for epidemic control and prevention.Um Epidemien einzudämmen, werden vielfach einzelne soziale Gruppen als "Risikogruppe" definiert. Ihnen wird ein hohes Gefährdungspotential zugeschrieben, zur weiteren Verbreitung der Infektion in der Bevölkerung beizutragen. Potentielle Kontakte von Migranten zu Erkrankten in ihrer Herkunftsregion, die von der Infektion stark betroffen ist, scheinen deren Bewertung als Infektionsrisiko für die Bevölkerung am Wohnort zu rechtfertigen. Doch der Definition sozialer Gruppen als Gesundheitsrisiko liegen immer andere, schon lange existierende Narrative über die betreffende Bevölkerungsgruppe zugrunde. In diesen Narrativen unterscheiden sich die Mitglieder der Gruppe erheblich von der Gesellschaft insgesamt und werden in vielfältiger Weise stigmatisiert. Die Lage der aus Guinea stammenden Peul im Senegal auf dem Höhepunkt des Ebola-Ausbruchs im Mano River Basin wirft ein Licht auf solche soziogenetischen Prozesse und ihre Implikationen für die Kontrolle und Prävention von Epidemien

Mutual Gains from Hostile Confrontations: Land Boards, Their Clients and ‘Self-allocation’ in Botswana

This article argues that hostile confrontations between state and societal actors pursuing divergent goals can sometimes end up empowering both. In Botswana, successful efforts by less powerful clients to reclaim the power to allocate land from land boards through various stratagems ended up also strengthening the land boards and also the state. By tricking land boards into legitimizing plots on which they had squatted, clients brought their land interests to the awareness of the land board and contributed to bettering land board records. The better records enable land boards to allocate land and resolve disputes in more informed ways. Better records also provide state officials with valuable information that various state agencies can use to tax, police, plan and implement various social projects better. In presenting this argument, the article contributes to the state-in-society discourse by showing that we need not limit the possibility of positive sum gains to situations where state and societal actors collaborate toachieve mutual goals

The Grave Preferences of Mourides in Senegal: Migration, Belonging, and Rootedness

Burial in cemeteries created by and on the orders of Cheikh Amadou Bamba, the founder of the Mouride Sufi order in Senegal, is said to guarantee passage to paradise. While many Mourides, understandably, prefer to have their corpses transported for burial in these cemeteries, others opt to be interred elsewhere. Focusing on the commune of Joal-Fadiouth in Senegal, I argue that the choices of Mourides concerning place of burial are influenced by histories of migration in the commune and the processes through which people develop ties to the area. In explaining Mourides' divergent preferences, the paper sheds light on broader questions of identity and rootedness, evolving conceptions of "place of origin" - as well as illuminating interactions between the religious and non-religious spheres in the lives of many Africans. I draw mainly on ethnographic research in the Thies and Diourbel Regions of Senegal.Die Bestattung auf Friedhöfen, die von Cheikh Amadou Bamba, dem Gründer der Mouriden Sufi-Bruderschaft im Senegal, angelegt wurden, soll den Weg ins Paradies gewährleisten. Während viele Mouriden es daher vorziehen, ihre Leichen für die Bestattung auf diese Friedhöfe transportieren zu lassen, entscheiden sich andere für eine Beerdigung anderswo. Am Beispiel der Gemeinde Joal-Fadiouth im Senegal argumentiert der Artikel, dass die Entscheidungen der Mouriden hinsichtlich ihres Bestattungsortes von Migrationsgeschichten in der Gemeinde und den aufgebauten Beziehungen zu dem Gebiet beeinflusst werden. Um die unterschiedlichen Vorlieben der Mouriden zu erläutern, beleuchtet der Artikel weitergehende Fragen nach Identität und Verwurzelung sowie sich entwickelnden Vorstellungen des "Herkunftsorts" - und betrachtet die Wechselwirkungen zwischen den religiösen und nicht religiösen Bereichen im Leben vieler Afrikaner. Der Artikel beruht vor allem auf ethnographischer Forschung in den Regionen Thies und Diourbel im Senegal

Relationship between propagation direction of gravity waves in OH and OI airglow images and VHF radar echo occurrence during the SEEK-2 campaign

We report simultaneous observations of atmospheric gravity waves (AGW) in OI (557.7nm) and OH airglow images and VHF radar backscatter from field-aligned irregularities (FAI) in the <i>E</i>-region during the SEEK-2 (Sporadic-<i>E</i> Experiment over Kyushu 2) campaign period from 29 July to 9 August 2002. An all-sky imager was operated at Nishino-Omote (30.5 N, 130.1 E), Japan. On 14 nights, 17 AGW events were detected in OI and OH airglow images. AGW propagated mostly toward the northeast or southeast. From comparison with the <i>E</i>-region FAI occurrence, which is detected by a nearby VHF radar (31.57MHz), we found that AGW tended to propagate southeastward during FAI events. This result suggests that the interaction between AGW and <i>E</i>-region plasma plays an important role in generating FAI. Furthermore, polarization electric fields generated directly by AGW may contribute to the FAI generation.<br><br> <b>Keywords.</b> Atmospheric composition and structure (Airglow and aurora), Ionosphere (Ionospheric irregularities, Mid-latitude ionosphere

ホーフマンスタールの文学における中心と「中心点」 : 後期作品を中心として

学位の種別:課程博士University of Tokyo(東京大学

Methylxanthine sensitization of human colon cancer cells to 186Re-labeled monoclonal antibody

金沢大学大学院医学系研究科Tumor cells lacking the functional p53 suppressor gene may arrest at the G2 phase of the cell cycle after exposure to ionizing radiation, resulting in increased radioresistance. Methylxanthines (MTXs), such as pentoxifylline (PTX) or caffeine (CAF), can inhibit the G2-phase checkpoint arrest of damaged cells and thus radiosensitize them. However, the effect of MTX in cells irradiated with low-dose-rate β-emission is not well understood. Methods: A clonogenic assay was performed with LS180 human colon cancer cells lacking the functional p53 suppressor gene. Cells were irradiated with increasing concentrations of 186Re-mercaptoacetyltriglycine (186Re-MAG3)-labeled A7 monoclonal antibody against colorectal cancer (0-925 kBq/mL) at 37°C in 5% CO2 for 24 h in the presence or absence of PTX (0-2 mmol/L) or CAF (0-5 mmol/L). The enhancement ratio (ER) with MTX was calculated as a ratio of 50% cell-killing concentration of 186Re-MAG3-A7 in control cells to that in cells treated with PTX or CAF. The cell cycle distribution was analyzed with a flow cytometer. Results: The concentration of 50% cell kill was 474 kBq/mL 186Re-MAG3-A7. Both PTX and CAF dose dependently enhanced the cytotoxicity of 186Re-MAG3-A7: ERs of 0.5 mmol/L PTX, 2 mmol/L PTX, 1 mmol/L CAF, and 5 mmol/L CAF were 1.50, 2.18, 1.54, and 2.63, respectively. Flow cytometry showed that the percentage nonirradiated cells in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle was 11.3% ± 1.66%. On the other hand, cells exposed to 186Re-MAG3-A7 accumulated in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle (40.2% ± 1.46%), which was inhibited by the presence of 1 mmol/L PTX (19.8% ± 8.12%) or 2 mmol/L CAF (26.9% ± 6.21%). Conclusion: Cellular modulation of the cell cycle with PTX and CAF radiosensitized LS180 colon cancer cells exposed to 186Re radiation

Liberty and moral ambivalence: Postsocialist transitions, refugee hosting, and bodily comportment in the Republic of Guinea

Guinean hosts viewed Liberian refugees with the same ambivalence and fascination that many held for their own children, who were embracing the consumerist ethos of Guinea's postsocialist 1990s. Loma‐speaking farmers’ categories for evaluating historical change and refugee comportment grew out of metaphors of embodied agency and morality. These categories challenge some aspects of both Guinean elites’ and contemporary anthropologists’ understandings of the meaning of post–Cold War social change. [subaltern historiography, embodiment, Guinea, West Africa, fast capitalism, postsocialism]Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111138/1/amet12128.pd

Exploring Intersections: The Language Question Again!

Many African countries have undertaken transitions to democratic rule since the early 1990s. While giving many people the rare opportunity to vote in competitive and pluralistic elections, there have been limits to the empowering effects of these transitions for many. The paper argues that the continued use of English, French and Portuguese in state and academic activities has minimised the empowering effects of these democratic transitions. The use of such languages contributes critically to limiting the ability of many Africans lacking fluency in them to participate in two important moments that define the possibilitiesand limits of democratic decision-making. First, it limits their ability toparticipate in discourses that determine what aspects of social realities should be subjected to democratic decision-making and what aspects should be insulated from popular participation. Second, it minimises the ability of many to contribute to discourses that define the appropriate ways of contesting whatever elements of political economies are included in the democratic space. International politico-economic institutions and external epistemic communities have had excessive influence on these two moments of decision-making. The paperargues that generations of African scholars have collaborated in this process of disempowerment by refusing to take a concerted and determined stance against the dominant role of French, English and Portuguese on the continent. Because of this role, we should regard African scholarship as a force seeking to create a space for itself within a closed discursive and practical space rather than a radical force seeking to eliminate closure of discursive and practical spacesgenerally