Pragmatics of African English in Digital Discourse, call for contributions
African linguistics book
This is a call for book contributions for  Pragmatics of African English in Digital Discourse edited by Innocent Chiluwa, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria; Presley Ifukor, University of Osnabrueck, Germany & Rotimi Taiwo, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Nigeria
The proposed publication aims at harnessing research results in the pragmatics of the varieties of English in Africa in the context of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). We encourage papers representing current state of the art research in linguistics/discourse pragmatics seen in the broad sense as a functional (i.e. social and cultural) perspective on digital discourse.
We invite scholars doing research in any of the varieties of new world Englishes particularly of African origin (e.g. Nigerian English, Cameroonian English, Kenyan English, South African English, Sierra Leonean English, Kenyan English, Tanzanian English etc) and CMC to submit proposals in the following subject areas:
- Electronic Mailing (Email)
- Instant Messaging (IM)
- Internet Relay Chats (IRC)
- Text messaging (SMS)
- Blogging
- Discussion forum
- Virtual community
- YouTube
- Facebook, etc.
Papers should highlight features of African English and show how these manifest in any of the above forms of CMC applying the following pragmatic principles/approaches:
- speech act theory
- Gricean, neo-Gricean and post-Gricean analysis of linguistic performance
- relevance theory
- Â (im)politeness
- pragmatic presupposition
- deixis
- intercultural pragmatics etc.
Submission Procedure:
Interested scholars and researchers are encouraged to submit a one-page chapter proposal on or before November 30, 2011, clearly stating the purpose of the chapter, its contents and how the proposed chapter meets the overall objectives of the proposed publication. A proposal should include the following information:
(a) Title of chapter
(b) Name of author(s),
(c) Affiliation
(d) Email
Submissions should be in Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by December 31, 2011. Upon acceptance of their proposals, authors will have until March 31, 2012 to prepare their chapters of 5,000-7,000 words. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Guidelines for preparing chapters will be sent upon acceptance of proposals. The book is tentatively scheduled to be published in third quarter of 2012 by one of Europe’s top language series publishers.
Please e-mail all inquiries and proposal submissions to:Â robineber@gmail.com
Full contact:
Dr Innocent Chiluwa
Department of Languages,
Covenant University, Ota
Nigeria
+234 803 353 6952
Crime and its Fictions in Africa, conference 2012
This is a call for papers for a conference on Crime and its Fictions in Africa to be held in  Connecticut, United States on March 23rd, 2012. Those interested in delivering papers as part of themed conference panels should submit abstracts to crimeinafrica@gmail.com by no later than December 9th 2011, with copies of accepted papers to be submitted no later than March 16th 2012.
Crime and its fictions in Africa: a conversation across disciplines
The story of Africa in the world is in some ways a history of crime: from the Atlantic slave trade to the Nigerian email scam, violence and illegality have often been the means by which the continent is inscribed in the Western imagination. On a more local level, crime has also served as the medium through which Africa and its peoples have negotiated engagement with globalization. Besides the obvious movement of illicit goods onto the global market, this is evident in the intricate international networks for smuggling people across the Sahara; in the prostitution rings that link parts of Africa to parts of Europe; and in the poaching syndicates driven by Asian demand for exotica such as rhino horn. The problematic role of law and/or its absence has long been the focal point of historical and social scientific work on Africa, though not without controversy over the line between voyeurism and observation.
Increasingly, fiction writers and literary scholars have also got in on the act. In South Africa, authors such as Deon Meyer and Margie Orford have topped the best-seller lists with their crime fiction, and the genre has gathered steam across the continent. What explains this development? What, if any, is the connection between the boom in writing about crime, and the problem of crime as it is experienced day to day? Finally, how can we both acknowledge crime¹s dominant place in African narratives (and narratives about Africa), and question the limitations of this negative paradigm?
We invite scholars from across the disciplines working on crime in Africa and related subjects to a conference at Yale University on March 23rd, 2012.
Young and established scholars are welcome at what we hope will be an open and informal forum for pondering these issues. Those interested in delivering papers as part of themed conference panels should submit abstracts to crimeinafrica@gmail.com by no later than December 9th, with copies of accepted papers to be submitted no later than March 16th.
Jeanne-Marie Jackson & Jacob Dlamini
Contact:Â crimeinafrica@gmail.com
Announcement ID: 187147
http://www.h-net.org/announce/
African Arts (UCLA) looking for submissions
African Arts is now accepting submissions through jOSS, an online submission and review system located at
http://africa.international.
You will need to first sign up to become an active user and then submit your paper. The new system requires that papers be submitted in two parts, one a .doc file of the text and the other a .doc or .pdf file of the images and captions. Instructions on how to use the system are on the site, as well as a link to their author guidelines.
We hope that using this system will smooth and speed up the review process for the journal. Authors will be notified when reviews are complete and a decision is made, but they can also check the site on their own initiative to see what progress has been made and to read the reviews.
Leslie Ellen Jones
Executive Editor
African Arts
African Studies Center
10363 Bunche Hall, UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1310
310-825-1218Â (office)
310-206-4746Â (fax)
http://afriartsedit@
Zambia : Flying toilets
Flying toilets are plastic bags that are used as toilets and are then disposed of. They have been particularly associated with the Kibera slums in Kenya. This IRIN NEWS reports on the reality of living with bad sanitation in Zambia, which shows how widespread the problem is.
Toilet in Kanyama via sustainable sanitation http://www.flickr.com/photos/gtzecosan/5269089104/Â (Creative Commons)
ZAMBIA: A plastic bag for a toilet
LUSAKA, 11 August (IRIN) – Charity Muyumbana, 45, has spent her entire adult life contending with recurrent flooding, poor drainage, and a lack of toilets in Kanyama, the sprawling Lusaka township where she lives.
“Most of the people use plastic bags to relieve themselves during the night. They find it more convenient because some toilets are up to 200m away from the house,” she told IRIN.
The situation in Kanyama represents a countrywide problem. According to a 2008 study by local NGO the Water and Sanitation Forum, only 58 percent of Zambians have access to adequate sanitation and 13 percent lack any kind of toilet.
While the government has improved water and sanitation in urban areas, this is not the case in unplanned, high density peri-urban settlements like Kanyama where residents complain that lack of space and poor soil make it difficult to construct latrines, and a haphazard road network has contributed to a serious drainage problem.
The over-used existing latrines attract vermin, and in the rainy season overflowing sewage pollutes wells causing water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera.
The links between poor sanitation and poor health are well known, said Amanda Marlin from the National Water Supply and Sanitation Council which carried out a study of the water supply and sanitation situation in 570 peri-urban and low-income areas of Zambia in 2006 and found that Kanyama is by no means unique.
“Sanitation at a basic level is making sure we separate human excreta from any contact by people or by animals,” said Marlin.
 Corruption
Kanyama’s poor drainage has made it prone to cholera during the rainy season, but a partially completed project by the government to construct a proper drainage system in the township was abandoned in October 2010.
According to research by the Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR), a local network of civil society organizations which advocates pro-poor development policies, the Treasury allocated 20 billion Zambian kwacha (US$4.05 million) for the construction of the drainage system, but only a fraction of that amount was paid to the contractor who completed about a third of the project.
The abandoned construction site has created another problem for the residents of Kanyama, said Diana Ngula of CSPR. “During the rainy season, water collects in those holes, creating a breeding ground for mosquitoes.”
She added that there had been no attempt by the government to investigate the apparent misappropriation of funds. Other observers note that 90 percent of Zambia’s water and sanitation budget comes from development partners including the World Bank and Water Aid.
“It would be pleasing to see government step up in terms of its own budget line,” said Barbara Kazimbaya-Senkwe, a water and sanitation specialist at the World Bank which has loaned the government $22 million to improve water and sanitation systems in Lusaka Province.
She added that the government had put in place a number of policies to improve the delivery of water, especially in rural areas, where, according to the World Bank, only 13 percent of the population has access to good sanitation facilities, and 58 percent to clean drinking water. One reform has been the removal of water budgets from local councils to ensure money is ring-fenced for the purpose of extending supply networks.
“The reform process has yielded some positive developments, but I can say there is still a lot of work that needs to be done,” Kazimbaya-Senkwe told IRIN.
Evans Chinyemba, a Catholic bishop in the Mongu Diocese in impoverished Western Province, said the water issue was “one that needs to be paid attention to”.
“We have a lot of rivers in Western Province. I think we have not tapped into those resources so that we can provide proper water to our people,” he told IRIN.
He added that while government was digging boreholes in some areas, they had not reached the whole province.
 Lack of funding
Government expenditure on rural water supply remained at a low level between 2005 and 2008, according to the 2010 Public Expenditure Review, conducted by the government of Zambia, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and other cooperating partners.
A government source who asked to remain anonymous said some progress had been made in providing clean drinking water and improving sanitation. However, the biggest challenge was lack of funding.
“There has been little or no progress towards the agreed target set by the government in its Fifth National Development Plan of allocating 3.5 percent of the national budget to water and sanitation. Sanitation has always been the most neglected and off-track of the Millennium Development Goals, with little funding or political will to address the crisis,” the official told IRIN.
Diseases related to poor drainage and polluted water supplies, such as malaria and diarrhoea, are major health problems in Zambia with diarrhoea accounting for nearly 7 percent of all reported illnesses and malaria claiming 50,000 lives a year (23 percent of all deaths in the country), according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
This report on line:Â http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=93479
© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org/
[This item comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States. Reposting or reproduction, with attribution, for non-commercial purposes is permitted. Terms and conditions:http://www.irinnews.org/copyright.aspx]
Suggested Books
- Barriers to the Demand Responsive Approach in Urban Sanitation: A Study of Zambia and South Africa
- Africa’s Water and Sanitation Infrastructure: Access, Affordability, and Alternatives (Directions in Development)
Related articles
- Zambia: A plastic bag for a toilet (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
- AFRICA: Sub-Saharan sanitation targets is two centuries away (sociolingo.com)
Nigeria : Vigilant things – Yoruba anti-aesthetics
 VIGILANT THINGS: ON THIEVES, YORUBA ANTI-AESTHETICS, AND THE STRANGE FATES OF ORDINARY OBJECTS IN NIGERIA
David T. Doris (University of Washington Press, 2011, $60 cloth, 978-0-295-99073-6)
From Amazon:Vigilant Things: On Thieves, Yoruba Anti-Aesthetics, and the Strange Fates of Ordinary Objects in Nigeria
Throughout southwestern Nigeria, Yoruba men and women create objects called aale to protect their properties-farms, gardens, market goods, firewood-from the ravages of thieves. Aale are objects of such unassuming appearance that a non-Yoruba viewer might not register their important presence in the Yoruba visual landscape: a dried seedpod tied with palm fronds to the trunk of a fruit tree, a burnt corncob suspended on a wire, an old shoe tied with a rag to a worn-out broom and broken comb, a ripe red pepper pierced with a single broom straw and set atop a pile of eggs. Consequently, aale have rarely been discussed in print, and then only as peripheral elements in studies devoted to other issues. Yet aale are in no way peripheral to Yoruba culture or aesthetics…
David T. Doris is associate professor of the history of African art and visual culture at the University of Michigan.
Suggested Books
- The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts
- Colloquial Yoruba: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series (Book Only))
Other African anthropology books
Related articles
- 2011 YORUBA HERITAGE AWARDS : Celebrating Successful Professionals and Change Makers of Yoruba Ancestry (afriqtalk.wordpress.com)
Côte d’Ivoire : The social aftermath of the political violence
This report from IRIN NEWS gives an idea of the terrible social implications of the political violence. Ordinary people have had their lives decimated.
Doorless homes and abandoned crops
TOA-ZEO, 8 August (IRIN) РCharred debris, doorless doorways and a few men and women clearing brushwood from around their homes: The village of Toa-Z̩o, 5km from the western Ivoirian city of Du̩kou̩, depicts the timid return of displaced families as fear and uncertainty linger.
Many homes were razed when armed men, residents said, attacked the village during post-election fighting in early 2011; of the houses still standing, most are without doors, windows and roofs.
“For now we’ve got no choice. We sleep in this house with no door. Too many mosquitoes and zero security,” said Dié Honoré, one of a handful of Toa-Zéo residents who have returned to the village. “We urgently need help putting doors back on our homes so people will have the courage to live back in the village.”
Residents said they did not know why the assailants had made off with doors; many said they figured it was to keep residents from returning. IRIN saw one house with the corrugated iron roof in place but with several evenly spaced gashes in it.
The damage is in the part of Toa Zéo where people of the local Guéré ethnic group live; homes are intact and shops functioning in areas of the village inhabited by the Baoulé, Malinké, Mossi and other groups who have lived and farmed here for decades.
The political violence following Côte d’Ivoire’s November 2010 presidential election hit in a context of longstanding land disputes in parts of the west between Guéré landowners and people from outside groups farming parcels of their land. [http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=92578 ]
Most of the 1,764 Guéré who lived in Toa-Zéo before the fighting still live in Duékoué at sites for internally displaced persons (IDPs). Last week most of them moved from the Catholic mission to a newly constructed site in town, with the help of the UN Refugee Agency and NGOs. Their decision to move to a new site instead of returning home points to continuing tensions and fear in parts of western Côte d’Ivoire recently overtaken by pro-Alassane Ouattara forces.
Too afraid to farm
Dié and others now staying in Toa-Zéo get by on the bit of food they can find. Some who have fields right next to the village can find cassava or bananas there. In normal times they would grow rice, cassava and bananas, but the conflict caused them to miss the planting season. One young man said he gets a bit of rice from family members living in Duékoué, and returns to the village with it.
Villagers said they cannot venture too far to tend to crops for fear of attacks. “I have a huge plantation of cocoa – I don’t even go there,” Dié told IRIN. “Since the war we fear going to our plantations to work. The assailants, when they came during the war, they killed a lot of people in the bush, in our plantations, so we are still afraid to go there.”
Guéré IRIN spoke with in Duékoué and nearby Guiglo pointed to the lack of homes and utensils as well as continued insecurity as obstacles to returning, saying the insecurity is the most problematic.
“I think if it were just the problem of damaged homes we could find a way to handle that,” said Douéyé Tahou Honoré, who lives at the new IDP site in Duékoué. “It’s more the insecurity. If we return to our village it’s so we can farm. But armed men are still blocking people from doing so.”
Many youths IRIN saw in Toa-Zéo said they spend a couple of nights there to assess conditions and work on the family home, then return to Duékoué.
The movement of populations between the IDP sites and their villages “is explained by the reigning atmosphere of insecurity, intimidation and uncertainty of receiving assistance in their zones of return”, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a 1 August report. [ http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/F_R_193.pdf ]
 Teachers commute
For those seeking to return “there is a pressing need for the rehabilitation of destroyed houses” for displaced families and people returning from Liberia, OCHA says.
Civil servants lost their homes too. Teachers from Toa-Zéo’s two primary schools currently live in Duékoué and walk to the village and back daily to hold classes. For now most of their students are from the section where Baoulé, Malinké and Mossi live, teacher Dan Léonard told IRIN.
“I get up at 4.30am in order to get to Toa-Zéo in time to start classes at 9.00am.” He said he and his colleagues are ready to work with communities on easing conflict, saying that before “the 2011 war” there had been problems between Guéré and other ethnic groups in the area for years. “Social cohesion does not exist in Duékoué – let’s face the facts. But we have to hope it can come now.”
Some non-Guéré in Toa-Zéo are eager for their landowners to return. When someone called out to a Burkinabé walking from his section of the village to the Guéré area, machete in hand, he replied: “I’m going to clean up my boss’s yard.”
This report on line:Â http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=93451
© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org/
[This item comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States. Reposting or reproduction, with attribution, for non-commercial purposes is permitted. Terms and conditions:http://www.irinnews.org/copyright.aspx
Suggested Books
Just published in 2011, this book gives a rare critical analysis of the war from the background of the history, languages, literature, and popular culture of the region.
A good overview.
Fast facts about the drought in the Horn of Africa
 IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, has an interesting article about the ongoing food crisis in the Horn of Africa.
photo credit: Matt and Kim Rudge
HORN OF AFRICA: Fast facts about the drought
NAIROBI, 5 August (IRIN) – The Horn of Africa is facing what has been called the worst drought in 60 years, with an estimated 12.4 million people urgently needing food.
Here are some points about the ongoing food crisis:
When to use the “F” word – Although some media reports have described the food crises in Kenya and Uganda as a famine, the UN says only five areas [ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93422 ] of southern Somalia are at that stage. The UN uses a system called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) [ http://www.ipcinfo.org/attachments/02_IPCBrief_EN.pdf ], which is a standardized tool.
The IPC uses five phases to classify the different levels of food insecurity:
- Â Level one is generally food secure;
- Â Level two is moderately/borderline food insecure;
- Level three refers to an acute food and livelihood crisis;
- Level four is a humanitarian emergency – severe lack of food access, death due to hunger, malnutrition and irreversible livestock asset stripping;
- Level five – famine or humanitarian catastrophe – occurs when there is a complete lack of food access and mass starvation, death and displacement.
According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Kenya is facing a humanitarian emergency, but is not at the famine phase. Parts of northern and northeastern Uganda [ http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/uganda_ol_2011_07_final.pdf ] are in phase two. Much of southern Ethiopia [ http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Full_report_188.pdf ] is in the emergency phase, while central and northern areas of the country are divided between phases two and three.
Looking back – There have been 42 droughts [ http://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gha-food-security-horn-africa-july-20111.pdf ] in the Horn of Africa since 1980, affecting an estimated 109 million people; with 47 million people experiencing drought in the region in the last decade alone. The most well-known famine took place in Ethiopia in 1984; some estimates put the death toll as high as one million.
 Surprisingly fertile – Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region, one of the areas now hit by famine, is traditionally the country’s bread basket, its main maize-producing area. In the past, the country produced enough grain to meet its basic market requirements. However, a combination of conflict – leading to displacement of many farmers and traders – and poor rains in recent years has drastically reduced production. In 2010, for instance, despite good Gu rains – from April to June – local cereals only supplied [http://www.fsnau.org/downloads/Somalia_Market_Functioning_July_2011.pdf ] about 40 percent of national consumption needs.
 Charity begins at home – While most of the US$2.4 billion required to feed people affected by the food crisis will come from rich countries, local populations and the diaspora are also doing their bit. Just one week after it began, the Kenyans for Kenya [http://www.kenyans4kenya.co.ke ] initiative has already raised more than $1.3 million from private citizens using mobile cash transfer services [ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=79594 ] and taking donations of as little as $0.10; the first consignment of food was sent from the capital, Nairobi, on 31 July.
According to media reports, remittances [Â http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=54469Â ] from the Somali diaspora to the worst-hit areas in the south of the country are up by 10 percent.
Feeding the malnourished – By the time help reaches them, many adults and children require therapeutic feeding to regain their strength and get back to a healthy weight. Some of the products WFP [ http://www.wfp.org/nutrition/special-nutritional-products ] uses to improve the nutritional intake of drought-affected people are:
- Â Fortified blended foods: Blends of partially pre-cooked and milled cereals, soya, beans, pulses fortified with vitamins and minerals. These are usually mixed with water and cooked as porridge and provide about 380 Kcal per 100g. The most commonly used FBF is corn soya blend.
- Ready-to-use foods: According to WFP, these are better suited to meet the nutritional needs of young and moderately malnourished children than fortified blended foods. Mainly used in emergency operations and designed to be eaten in small quantities as a supplement to the regular diet, ready-to-use foods such as Plumpy’doz [Â http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=82307Â ] contain peanut paste, vegetable fat, skimmed milk powder, whey and sugar; 100g provides more than 500 Kcal.
- High-energy biscuits: These wheat-based biscuits, which provide 450 Kcal per 100g, are fortified with vitamins and minerals and are usually used early on in emergency feeding programme, before cooking facilities are widely available.
- Sprinkles – This is a tasteless powder containing the recommended daily intake of 16 vitamins and minerals for one person; it can be sprinkled on to home-prepared food after cooking.
- Â Compressed food bars – made from baked wheat flour, vegetable fat, sugar, soya protein concentrate and malt extract, these bars are used in disaster relief operations when local food cannot be distributed or prepared. They can be eaten as a bar straight from the package or crumbled into water and eaten as porridge, and contain 250 Kcal and 8.1g of protein per 56g bar.
This report on line:Â http://www.IRINnews.org/
© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org/
[This item comes via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or itsMemberStates. Reposting or reproduction, with attribution, for non-commercial purposes is permitted. Terms and conditions: http://www.irinnews.org/copyright.aspx]
Suggested Books
Famine Crimes: Politics & the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa
Adapting to Drought: Farmers, Famines and Desertification in West Africa
Nigeria : Faculty of Arts International conference, 2011
This wide-ranging conference looks very interesting and should promote some good discussion. You’ll have to be quick to get your abstracts in as the closing date is August 31st. If you’re interested submit an electronic version of a 200 word abstract to either of the following emails: bsuartsinterconference@gmail.com; alloyihuah@yahoo.com; nyityoatsea72@yahoo.com on or before August 31st 2011. Registration, accommodation, Travel Arrangements and Exhibition shall be announced later.
FACULTY OF ARTS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, 2011
Date: 2011-11-09
Location: Â Â Â Nigeria
Conference Date: Â Â Â Â 2011-11-09
Announcement ID: 186887
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=186887Â
The 2011 Faculty of Arts International conference invites discussion on the interface between the Humanities and postmodernism in the transformational agenda of African nations. The conference is intent at providing a unique opportunity for Africans, Africanists and other serious scholars from all corners of the World to meet and interrogate the question, “What, if any, can the Humanities contribute to a better future for Africa”.
Certain broad trends are identifiable in the transformation of Africa during the last four decades. Beginning with the period of decolonization, the entrenchment of dictatorship with the intervention of the military in the art of governance, the ethnic conflicts, the dismantling of apartheid and the ongoing democratic engagements in some parts of Africa- some attention has been drawn to postmodernist discourses- interpreted in some sense as the revisioning/revamping of the world, making colonial centres heterogeneous spaces or decentrering the colonial presence and demilitarizing Africa for development.
Despite the fact that Africa’s development from pre-colonial to the capitalist mode of production is yet to take firm roots; the process has unleashed new social challenges, adopted some and transformed others under a totalitarian clime hitherto directed by dictatorial regimes. With the emergence of some young democracies in Africa, the continent has since 1989 been experimenting with a wide variety of options to transform her culture, institutions and peoples and de-entrap itself from the troas of double edged globalizing forces. Most of these options are scientifico-technological in nature, driven by economic theories of liberalism and free market enterprise to the neglect of more humane and human driven philosophies that seek and promote human personhood. There
are also some attempts not only to further democracy, but to create a corrupt free, just and humane society that guarantees fundamental human rights, basic freedoms and creates the Africa worth living in and dying for.
The 2011 Faculty of Arts International invites discussion on the interface between the Humanities and postmodernism in the transformational agenda of African nations. The conference is intent at providing a unique opportunity for Africans, Africanists and other serious scholars from all corners of the World to meet and interrogate the question of What, if any, can the Humanities contribute to a better future for Arfica.
SUB-THEMES:
- Theoretical Issues in the humanities/African Development
- Theoretical perspectives in postmodernism
- Philosophy, Religion and African Transformation
- Language, Literature and African Transformation
- The Arts (performing and creative, etc) and African Transformation
- African Knowledges and African transformation/Sustainable Development
- Ethical Issues and African Politics and Development
- The humanities, Ethics of politics and the politics of Values in
- African Democracies
- Indigenous African leadership and African Development
- Terrorism, Globalization and African Cultural Heritage
- Postmodernism and African Transformation
- African Cultural Renaissance and African development
- Language, Technology and African Development
- Pluralism and Dialogue in Africa in the 21st Century
- Ethnic Identities and Inter-group Relations in Postmodern Africa
- Any other related issue that contributes to a better future for Humankind
LEAD PAPER PRESENTERS: Prof. E.K. OGUNDOWOLE(UNILAG); Prof. R.B.BADEJOÂ (UNIMAID); Dr. ZACHRTS A GUNDU (ABU, ZARIA)
Contact:Â alloyihuah@yahoo.com
Via H-AfrArts
H-Net Network for African Expressive Culture
E -Mail:Â H-AFRARTS@H-NET.MSU.EDU
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~artsweb/
Call for Papers for the Eastern Africa Journal of Humanities and Sciences
The following call for papers should be of interest to African scholars in East Africa and others interested in the region.
Call for Papers for the Eastern Africa Journal of Humanities and Sciences (EAJHS)
Eastern Africa Journal of Humanities and Sciences publishes papers on all aspects of arts, humanities and social sciences of interest and relevance to Eastern Africa. The journal is published twice a year. Manuscripts should be submitted electronically, as attachments, to: eajhs@cuea.edu or research@cuea.edu
Submission requirements:
- All manuscripts should be submitted electronically
- Use MS Microsoft, Times New Roman, 12 point font, double space
- A 200 word abstract with six key words
- A separate first cover page containing Author’s details  title, name, institutional affiliation, address, e-mail, etc. (Author’s name should not appear on any other page).
- All submitted papers are sent to respected anonymous peer reviewers.
- Articles should not exceed 25 double-spaced pages including references/bibliography.
- APA is the preferred manual style  guidelines are provided on request.
Editorial address:
All correspondence to be addressed to: The Editor, Eastern Africa Journal of Humanities and Sciences, The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, P O Box 62157, 00200  City Square, NAIROBI, Kenya
Email: eajhs@cuea.edu or research@cuea.edu
Posted by Prof. Maurice N. Amutabi, Ph.D, Editor, EAJHS
There is no processing fee charged to authors of papers accepted for publication
Eastern Africa Journal of Humanities &  Sciences (EAJHS)
Guidelines for Contributors
The Eastern Africa Journal of Humanities and Sciences invites manuscripts that are academic in nature, and which reflect on high degree of original research.
1. Â Submission of Manuscript
Manuscripts for publications should be sent to the Editor (c/o The Department of Research, The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, P O Box 62157, Nairobi  Kenya; Tel: 254-2-891601-6; Fax: 254-2-891084; Email: eajhs@cuea.edu <research@cuea.edu>  Articles not submitted by e-mail should be on diskette in Ms Word format, accompanied by four (4) hard copies.
2. Â Originality
The manuscripts must be original material which has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere.
3. Â Reference Citations
Manuscripts should follow the style in the 5th edition of the American Psychological Association Manual (2001).  Footnotes should be
avoided.
a) Â Â Direct Quotations of Source
Provide the author, year and specific page citation in text and a complete reference in the reference list.
Thus:
In the text (Were, 1998, p 160)
Were (1998) found that’ female students perform better in humanities than male students’ (p.172)
*
At the End of the Article
Were, P. J. (1998).  Girls and Science Education.  Nairobi:  New Kemit Publishers.
Where there are more than one publication for the same author, show the difference by adding a, b, c, d. etc.
b) Â In the narrative
Cite the name of the author and year of publication, e.g. Okoko (2001).  If the name of the author appears as part of the narrative, cite only the year of publication in parentheses, e.g. Okoko (2001) conducted as study Å
4. Â Â Type Format
Manuscripts should be formatted to the following specification.
Paper size: Â Â Â Â Â A4
Font type: Â Â Â Â Â Â Times New Roman
Font size: Â Â Â Â Â Â 12 point
Paragraphs: Â Â Â Â Justified, doubled-spaced (except tables)
Margins:        Top and bottom  1 inch; left and right 11Ž2
5. Â Length
The manuscript, including all references, tables and figures, should not exceed 20 pages.
6. Â Abstract
Each manuscript should be preceded by an abstract of up to 200 words on a separate page.
7. Â Copyrights
Authors of articles are responsible for obtaining written permission to reproduce copyrighted material in their manuscripts.
8. Â Reproduction
No reproduction of any articles should be made without the permission of the publishers.
9. Â Approval
The inclusion of an article in the Eastern Africa Journal of Humanities and Sciences does not indicate approval by the editors of the views expressed in it.
Prof. Maurice N. Amutabi (Ph.D),
Department of Social Sciences
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Catholic University of Eastern Africa
P.O BOX 62157-00200 CITY SQUARE
NAIROBI, Kenya
http://www.kessa.org/about_us
New website on the African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean World
New website on the African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean World from the Schomburg Center for research in Black Culture.
Over the course of nearly 20 centuries, millions of East Africans crossed the Indian Ocean and its several seas and adjoining bodies of water in their journey to distant lands, from Arabia and Iraq to India and Sri Lanka.
Called Kaffir, Siddi, Habshi, or Zanji, these men, women and children from Sudan in the north to Mozambique in the south Africanized the Indian Ocean world and helped shape the societies they entered and made their own.
Free or enslaved, soldiers, servants, sailors, merchants, mystics, musicians, commanders, nurses, or founders of dynasties, they contributed their cultures, talents, skills and labor to their new world, as millions of their descendants continue to do. Yet, their heroic odyssey remains little known.
The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean World traces a truly unique and fascinating story of struggles and achievements across a variety of societies, cultures, religions, languages and times.
http://exhibitions.nypl.org/
Suggested Books
The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean
Ocean of Letters: Language and Creolization in an Indian Ocean Diaspora (Critical Perspectives on Empire)
Niger : Saharan Crossroads, views from the South, Conference Report
REPORT: By Ismael M. Montana (Northern Illinois University)
Saharan Crossroads: Views from the South Hotel Ténéré, Niamey, Niger Republic, 7-10 July 2011
The West Africa Research Association (WARA) together with the American Institute of Maghrib Studies (AIMS) hosted the second international Saharan Crossroads Conference which took place at Ténéré Hotel in Niamey (Niger) between the 7th and the 10th July 2011.
This second conference with the theme of “Saharan Crossroads: Views from the South†brought together delegates and participants from many of the countries bordering the Greater Sahara from Morocco and Algeria in the North, to Mauritania, Senegal and Mali in the West, and other countries south of the Sahara including, Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana, even South Africa. Up to thirty-six participants including academics, students, artists, professionals, NGO workers and policy-makers as well as participants from the US and several European countries such England, France and Belgium travelled to Niamey to exchange their thoughts about the Saharan-Sahelo world and its environs. The event brought into contact scholars and professionals of West Africa and North Africa, most of whom were visiting the region for the very first time. The Executive Director of the Council for American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC), Dr. Mary Ellen Lanes, the Director of the West Africa Research Association (WARA), Dr. Jennifer Yanco, and the Director of the West Africa Research Center (WARC) in Dakar, Dr. Ousmane Sene and Dr. Wendy Wilson Fall of Kent State University and former director of WARC joined the conference participants. The conference was funded by the generous support of the Educational and Cultural Bureau of the United States, the West African Peace Initiative and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.
The Saharan Crossroads Conference in Niamey is part of series of conferences organized by WARA and AIMS. The goal of these conferences is to strengthen the cultural, artistic and historical links among scholars and the peoples living within and across the Sahara Desert. The idea behind these conferences began as a workshop held at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2004 where the Saharan crossroads perspective was developed. The first international conference which was held in Tangier, Morocco in 2009 brought together over thirty scholars and artists who reflected on the cultural and historical ties of the people of North Africa to their southern neighbors by way of trans-Saharan caravans and the development of common Saharan identities.
This year, the focus was on both historical and contemporary developments, with an eye to exploring the intellectual and cultural production of Saharan identities in West African countries and their links to North and Northwest Africa.  Participants discussed the shared artistic traditions, cultures, and histories that create a strong bond among African countries connected to the Saharan-Sahelo world. By seeking to promote cultural exchanges among the regions of Africa linked by the Sahara Desert in the pursuit of peaceful coexistence and the promotion of peace, the conference did not loose sight of contemporary issues facing the region. Regional harmony and interdependence are demonstrated in countless ways, particularly through artistic expressions such as music, theater, dance, literature, cinema, architecture, and the decorative arts.  In putting these diverse common connections at the center of our attention for this event, the organizers of this conference undertook a noble objective of promoting scientific and cultural cooperation among the African countries around the Sahara.
In terms of the program, the conference was kick-started with an opening ceremony that included speeches from the event sponsors, Jennifer Yanco and Ousmane Sene (WARA), and Dr. Mary Ellen Lane who spoke of CAORC’s role in enhancing intra-African educational and research co-operation, and commended the role of the WARA office in Dakar in strengthening this goal in the Western African region. Her Excellency, Ambassador Bisa Williams (United States Ambassador to Niger Republic) encouraged and challenged the conference organizers and participants to capitalize on this historic meeting and foster academic and cultural cooperation between their respective institutions and Niger particularly. Other local dignitaries who welcomed the conference participants included Professor Aboubacar Adamou, former Minister of Higher Education and former Minister of National Education, former Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Letters and Social Sciences, who is a professor of Geography and a specialist of the Saharan regions of Agadez at Université Abdou Moumouni of Niger; and Mr. Kounou Hassane, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, who welcomed the participants on behalf of the President of the Republic of Niger.
Throughout the three-days of the conference, the participants enjoyed high-level presentations and discussions in French, Arabic and English organized around thematic sessions as follows:
Session 1: Saharan Ties of History
Session 2: Crossing the Saharan: Culture and Identity Re-formation in Africa;
Session 3: Â Patterns in Circulation: Trans-Saharan Artisanry and Design;
Session 4: Religion and Law
Session 5: Music, Arts and Ritual Performance
Session 6: Women, Knowledge and Power in the Sahel
Session 7 Legacy of Slavery in the Central Sudan and Across the
Sahara and the Atlantic Divide
Session 8: Culture, Art, and Governance in Muslim Northern Nigeria
Session 9: Architectural Cultures
Session 10: Language and Writing
Session 11: Crossed Histories and Traditions
The program featured the premiere screening of a documentary film by Cynthia Becker (Boston University) entitled “From Slave to Master: Women and Gnawa Possession Trance.†Each of these sessions and the film screening was followed by intense question and answer periods, always continuing till the next session.
Other entertainment features of program included musical performances, folk and Bori ritual dance performed by various local musicians and musical troupes as well as improvised music sessions between Nigerien and Moroccan and Algerian artists. Another highlight of the program included visits to the National Museum of Niger, the artisan markets, and a memorable boat ride on the Niger River.
The conference organizers specifically chose Niger as the ideal venue for the Saharan Crossroads: A View from the South conference, given its central position in the Sahel both past and present as a crossroad linking communities on both sides of the Sahara. The conference highlighted this particular position of Niger as a hub of cultural and economic exchange between the populations of North Africa and West Africa who share the Saharan space. Niamey (the capital city of Niger) was also an obvious venue for the event, given its strong academic institutions such as the Institut de Recherche en Sciences Humaines (IRSH) that houses the Department of Arabic and Ajami Manuscripts from Niger and neighboring Muslim West African countries, Université Abdou Moumouni, and LASDEL (Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherche sur les Dynamiques Sociales et le Développement Local).
The conference concluded with the Organizing Committee, Abdourahmane Idrissa (Princeton University); Ghislaine Lydon (University of California, Los Angeles) and Scott Youngstedt (Saginaw Valley State University) reflecting on the quality of the program and presenting awards recognizing the wonderful support of Dr. Mary Ellen Lane, the Executive Director of CAORC; Dr. Jennifer Yanco, the Director of WARA; and Ousmane Sene, Director of WARC for their instrumental roles in fostering academic cooperation in the region.
This Saharan Crossroad Conference: A View from the South in Niamey succeeded in bridging intellectual conversations, building social and professional relationships and carrying forward the Saharan Crossroads initiative. The complete conference program is available at: (http://www.bu.edu/wara).
H-AfrArts
H-Net Network for African Expressive Culture
E -Mail:Â H-AFRARTS@H-NET.MSU.EDU
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~artsweb/
Africa Mali : Shopping in Bamako
I’ve just got back from market. So what you might say. I enjoy going but I find it exhausting. I think it is just the press of people mostly.
photo credit: Rafa http://www.micamara.es
We went to Medina Coura market right across town. To get there we have to cross the new bridge across the Niger into the city of Bamako. We then fight our way through the intense traffic right to the other side of town and drive down the main market street avoiding donkey carts, pus pus (wheelbarrows) and people. The next question is ‘where to park?’. We have to drive a long way down a side street, do a three-point turn and then try and squeeze onto the side of the road. For once there were no 10 or 11 year old boys waiting to ‘guard’ the car. So we leave it there and hope for the best. The next problem is crossing the road. We weave in and out of stationary and not so stationary cars and motorbikes and arrive on the outskirts of one of the biggest markets in town.
Medina Coura market is a bit like an iceberg. The bit you see from the street is just the tip – it goes for what seems like kilometres back from the road with windy passageways between the myriad stores. It is built on the natural rock so walking through is quite hazardous. The stalls we want to go to are right in the middle of the market in the area where little natural light penetrates. A group of women run a cooperative – dying and selling ‘bazan’ cloth. This is white damask which is dyed often using batik or a lost wax process. I always try and buy my cloth from these ladies. First we get waylaid because I spot a rather nice looking jewellery stall. This is costume jewellery not fine jewellery but it ‘looks’ like gold and seems to be well made. I want some finery for a celebration party this week when my government department finally moves into their new building. While we were at the jewellery stall a young lad sidled up to us with a large carrier bag. It used to be cardboard boxes but now it’s plastic bags. He was offering to carry my goods for me as I bought things in the market. We employed him. I found my ladies and we got some nice material for not bad prices. Then we started the long trek back to the car. On the way I bought a very large brown plasic wash bowl. I have this idea of creating an oasis on my back veranda and I want it to make a fountain with. Perhaps I’ll write more on that another time!
Finally in major contrast to the market we went to a large supermarket in town. This one has caused a certain level of culture shock recently. They have just finished renovations and it is now a two floor supermarket with an underground parking lot. WOW! It has also expanded the things you can buy there – at a price.
(Pages from my old diaries)