Enfance, âge et développement chez les Wolof du Sénégal

RésuméLe discours qui désigne les étapes de l’enfance chez les Wolof du Sénégal mobilise des séries associatives différentes selon les périodes d’âge envisagées. Les termes utilisés font allusion au corps et aux qualités sensibles pour la construction du social. Ils reflètent les représentations qu’ont les adultes des changements d’état et de sphères de préoccupation marquant les différentes phases de l’enfance. L’analyse des interactions et des dialogues entre jeunes enfants et adultes familiers fournit des outils pour mettre au jour les attentes implicites des adultes, et leurs représentations des compétences de l’enfant à certains âges clés, comme celui où émerge chez l’enfant la capacité de comprendre, expliquer et prédire les représentations mentales.AbstractThe vocabulary referring to the stages of childhood among the Wolof in Senegal hinges on different series of associations depending on the age. To socially construct ages, these terms allude to the body and sensory qualities. They reflect adults’ ideas about how these stages change and about the preoccupations characteristic of these stages. Analyzing interactions and dialogues between young children and adults close to them sheds light on adults’ unspoken expectations and their ideas about abilities at certain key stages, such as the age when the child starts having the ability to understand, explain and predict mental representations

Important issues for feminist nutrition research – a case study from the savanna of West Africa

SUMMARY Nutrition education usually aims to change the practices of individual mothers. It may divert attention from real problems, increase anxiety or be dangerously inappropriate. This article argues that nutritionists should work at the community, policy and planning levels to create an environment where good nutrition becomes possible. The author describes her experiences with nutrition education, intersectoral cooperation, and nutritional monitoring. She summarises crucial issues for nutritional research and stresses the importance of learning from the mothers and taking their expressed needs as the major research orientation. RESUMEN Problemas importantes para la investigación de la nutrición feminista. Un estudio de caso en la sabana de Africa Occidental En general, la educación en nutrición intenta cambiar las prácticas de las madres a nivel individual. No obstante, puede distraeer la atencion de los problemas reales, incrementar la ansiedad en incluso resultar peligrosamente inadecuada. Este articulo argumenta que los nutricionistas deberian trabajar en los niveles de comunidad, planificación y politica para crear un ambiente en que la buena nutrición sea factible. La autora describe sus experiencias en educación nutricional, cooperación intersectorial y control de nutrición, resumen problemas cruciales para la investigación en esta área y enfatiza la importancia que tiene el aprender de las madres y adoptar sus necesidades explicitas como la orientación principal en la investigación. RESUMES L'importance de la recherche sur la nutrítion fémìnine: une étude de cas particulier dans la Savane d'Afrique de l'Quest L'enseignement de la nutrition a généralernent pour but de changer les habitudes de chaque mére. Il peut détourner l'attention des vrais problèmes augmenter l'anxiété ou être dangereusement inadéquat. Cet article soutient le fait que les hygiénistes alimentaires devraient tiavailler au niveau de la communauté, de la politique et de la planification afin de créer un environnement favorable a la bonne nutrition. L'auteur décrit ses experiences en ce qui concerne l'enseignement de la nutrition. la coopération íntersectorielle et la contrôle nutritionnel. Elle rèsume les points cruciaux pour les chercheurs en nutrition et souligne l'importance d'apprendre a partir des mères et de prendre leurs besoins comme ligne de conduite principale de la recherche

Validación de las competencias laborales del puesto de Dependiente Comercial en la Sucursal Comercial Caracol Varadero

The main goal of this work is to validate the labor competencies of the position of Shop Clerk at the Caracol Varadero Este Commercial Branch, by applying here an integrating methodological procedure that guarantees the success of the Competencies Management System. This system is divided into two parts, the first is dedicated to the characterization of the organization and the diagnosis of the human capital integrated management. The second deals with the methodology to be used, starting from the results obtained from the employment of that methodology. This work is a new and an available tool for the organization, that allowed to draft the position professiogram and integrate it to the position profile which is the base to increase the organization`s productivity, efficiency and effectiveness with view to a continue improvement. The solutions resulted from the competencies approach application originated a group of improvements that are a reference framework to be used in organizations to strengthen the Integrated Human Capital Management System.El presente trabajo persigue como objetivo fundamental validar las competencias laborales del puesto de Dependiente Comercial en la Sucursal Comercial Caracol Varadero Este, a través de la aplicación de un procedimiento metodológico integrador para lograr el éxito del Sistema de Gestión por Competencias en la entidad. El mismo está estructurado en dos epígrafes, el primero dedicado a la caracterización de la organización y se diagnostica el estado de la gestión integrada del capital humano. En el segundo se aborda la metodología a utilizar con los resultados obtenidos de la aplicación de dicha metodología. El trabajo constituye una herramienta novedosa y asequible para la entidad, que permitió redactar el profesiograma, e integrar al mismo al calificador del cargo, lo cual sirve de base para elevar la productividad, eficacia y eficiencia de la organización, tributando al mejoramiento continuo. Las soluciones provenientes del enfoque por competencias asintieron en consecuencias principales, vinculadas con la obtención de un grupo de mejoras como resultado de su implementación; todo lo cual deja un marco de referencia, para ser utilizado en organizaciones en aras de fortalecer el Sistema de Gestión Integrada de Capital Humano

Seismic structure across the rift valley of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 23°20′ (MARK area): Implications for crustal accretion processes at slow spreading ridges

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‘An elephant cannot fail to carry its own ivory’: Transgenerational ambivalence, infrastructure and sibling support practices in urban Uganda

This article examines how urban Ugandans navigate family support systems through a focus on the under-researched area of sibling care practices. We conceptualise such systems as transgenerational infrastructure to capture the complex flows, negotiations and dilemmas of both inter- and intra-generational relationships, orderings and power, situating family support practices within their spatial, structural and social contexts. Drawing on grounded narratives of lived experience collected in Jinja, Uganda, the article offers an alternative interpretation to what is commonly portrayed as a weakening of family support systems in sub-Saharan Africa. We develop a transgenerational ambivalence perspective which allows for a deeper understanding of the heterogeneity and fluidity of family support as an ethical practice replete with complex emotions and dilemmas shaped in the junctures between social norms, agency, resources and material conditions. Through focusing on working-age Ugandans, we demonstrate the potential for a transgenerational ambivalence approach to make visible contradictions at structural and subjective levels and focus greater attention on the importance of sibling relationships and birth order than is evident in the existing intergenerational literature. This can help researchers in the task of linking family dynamics to the growing precarity and uncertainties of life in the marginal socio-economic contexts of urban sub-Saharan Africa

Crustal structure of the propagating TAMMAR ridge segment on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 21.5°N

Active ridge propagation frequently occurs along spreading ridges and profoundly affects ridge crest segmentation over time. The mechanisms controlling ridge propagation, however, are poorly understood. At the slow spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 21.5°N a seismic refraction and wide-angle reflection profile surveyed the crustal structure along a segment controlled by rapid ridge propagation. Tomographic traveltime inversion of seismic data suggests that the crustal structure along the ridge axis is controlled by melt supply; thus, crust is thickest, 8 km, at the domed segment center and decreases in thickness toward both segment ends. However, thicker crust is formed in the direction of ridge propagation, suggesting that melt is preferentially transferred toward the propagating ridge tip. Further, while seismic layer 2 remains constant along axis, seismic layer 3 shows profound changes in thickness, governing variations in total crustal thickness. This feature supports mantle upwelling at the segment center. Thus, fluid basaltic melt is redistributed easily laterally, while more viscose gabbroic melt tends to crystallize and accrete nearer to the locus of melt supply. The onset of propagation seems to have coincided with the formation of thicker crust, suggesting that propagation initiation might be due to changes in the melt supply. After a rapid initiation a continuous process of propagation was established. The propagation rate seems to be controlled by the amount of magma that reaches the segment ends. The strength of upwelling may govern the evolution of ridge segments and hence ultimately controls the propagation length

A gestural repertoire of 1-2year old human children : in search of the ape gestures

This project was made possible with the generous financial help of the Baverstock Bequest to the Psychology and Neuroscience Department at the University of St Andrews.When we compare human gestures to those of other apes, it looks at first like there is nothing much to compare at all. In adult humans, gestures are thought to be a window into the thought processes accompanying language, and sign languages are equal to spoken language with all of its features. While some research firmly emphasises the difference between human gestures and those of other apes, the question about whether there are any commonalities has rarely been investigated, and is mostly confined to pointing gestures. The gestural repertoires of nonhuman ape species have been carefully studied and described with regard to their form and function – but similar approaches are much rarer in the study of human gestures. This paper applies the methodology commonly used in the study of nonhuman ape gestures to the gestural communication of human children in their second year of life. We recorded (n=13) children’s gestures in a natural setting with peers and caregivers in Germany and Uganda. Children employed 52 distinct gestures, 46 (89%) of which are present in the chimpanzee repertoire. Like chimpanzees, they used them both singly, and in sequences; and employed individual gestures flexibly towards different goals.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe