scholarly journals Conversations About Climate Risk, Adaptation and Resilience in Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 147-162
Author(s):  
Declan Conway ◽  
Katharine Vincent
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Climate Risk ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Climate Events

AbstractThis book contributes to previous and ongoing action to initiate and inform conversations about climate risk and the need for adaptation and resilience building. This involves blending insights from climate science about what the future climate will look like with experiences of the social science of response through adaptation, based on practical applications in a variety of contexts. In this chapter, we reflect on these conversations and what they mean for the growing adaptation agenda. We consider who needs to be involved in conversations about adaptation, how such conversations can be structured and the need to assess their outcomes. We profile important considerations relevant for tailoring climate information to make adaptation decisions and discuss the outcomes of different types of conversations. We conclude by noting the significance of recent major climate events and the rapidly evolving risk landscape in sub-Saharan Africa, and arguing that the need for these conversations is ever more evident. The experiences outlined in this book provide a starting point for conversations about adaptation that aim to inform future action.

Social Science Theory for Environmental Sustainability

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc J. Stern
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Persuasive Communication ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Social Science Theory ◽  
Science Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Communication Conflict ◽  
To Come ◽  
Sustainability Challenges

Social science theory for environmental sustainability: A practical guide makes social science theory accessible and usable to anyone interested in working toward environmental sustainability at any scale. Environmental problems are, first and foremost, people problems. Without better understandings of the people involved, solutions are often hard to come by. This book answers calls for demonstrating the value of theories from the social sciences for solving these types of problems and provides strategies to facilitate their use. It contains concise summaries of over thirty social science theories and demonstrates how to use them in diverse contexts associated with environmental conflict, conservation, natural resource management, and other environmental sustainability challenges. The practical applications of the theories include persuasive communication, conflict resolution, collaboration, negotiation, enhancing organizational effectiveness, working across cultures, generating collective impact, and building more resilient governance of social-ecological systems. Examples throughout the book and detailed vignettes illustrate how to combine multiple social science theories to develop effective strategies for environmental problem solving. The final chapter draws out key principles for enhancing these efforts. The book will serve as a key reference for environmental professionals, business people, students, scientists, public officials, government employees, aid workers, or any concerned citizen who wants to be better equipped to navigate the social complexities of environmental challenges and make a meaningful impact on any environmental issue.

Social Ontology and Model-Building: A Response to Epstein

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-192
Author(s):  
Nadia Ruiz
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Model Building ◽  
Social Ontology ◽  
Model Construction ◽  
Ontological Commitments ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social

Brian Epstein has recently argued that a thoroughly microfoundationalist approach towards economics is unconvincing for metaphysical reasons. Generally, Epstein argues that for an improvement in the methodology of social science we must adopt social ontology as the foundation of social sciences; that is, the standing microfoundationalist debate could be solved by fixing economics’ ontology. However, as I show in this paper, fixing the social ontology prior to the process of model construction is optional instead of necessary and that metaphysical-ontological commitments are often the outcome of model construction, not its starting point. By focusing on the practice of modeling in economics the paper provides a useful inroad into the debate about the role of metaphysics in the natural and social sciences more generally.

Slaves and society in Western Africa, c. 1445—c. 1700

1980 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Fage
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
The Social ◽  
African Slaves ◽  
Limited Supply ◽  
Sub Saharan

Published European first-hand accounts of the coastlands from Senegal to Angola for the period c. 1445-c. 1700 are examined to see what light they throw on the extent to which institutions of servitude in pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa were autonomous developments or a response to external demands for African slaves. It seems clear that when, in the early years of this period, European traders first approached societies along the western African coasts, they were commonly offered what they called ‘slaves’ in exchange for the goods they had brought. But it would be wrong to conclude from this that a slave class was necessarily a feature of western African coastal societies when these were first contacted by Europeans. It is clear, for instance, that the Europeans preferred to deal with societies which had developed monarchical governments, whose leaders had control of sufficient surpluses to make trade worthwhile. The evidence suggests that in these societies most individuals were dependants of a ruling and entrepreneurial elite, but that there was also social mobility. A category of dependants that particularly attracted the notice of the European observers was women, whom men of power and wealth tended to accumulate as wives (and hence as the potential mothers of still more dependants). The necessarily limited supply of women may have been a factor encouraging such men to seek to increase their followings, and thus their status, power and wealth, by recruiting other dependants by forcible, judicial and economic means. While many such dependants, or their offspring, would be assimilated into the social groups commanded by their masters, the latter were certainly willing to contemplate using recently acquired or refractory recruits in other ways, such as exchanging them for alternative forms of wealth.

Transcontinental Modernism. M&G as an Unité d’habitation and a factory complex in Mozambique

2010 ◽  
pp. 70-73
Author(s):  
Ana Tostões ◽  
Maria Manuel Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Social Program ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Architectural Heritage ◽  
Technological Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Overseas Territories ◽  
Architectural Modernism

With the aim of contributing to the documentation and conservation of the modern architectural heritage, this paper presents Monteiro & Giro Complex (M&G), built during the 50’s in Quelimane, Mozambique, with the goal of stressing the modernity of the social program and the technological approach. If one wants to gain a better understanding of the worldwide Diaspora of architectural modernism, it is essential to document and analyse the important heritage of sub–Saharan Africa. Modern architectural debates have been reproduced, transformed, contested and sometimes even improved in distant lands and overseas territories. These contradictory aspects of Modernist practice are revealed in the programmatic, technological and structural M&G industrial Complex.

scholarly journals Comparative Area Studies and the Study of the Global South

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-287
Author(s):  
Rudra Sil ◽  
Ariel I. Ahram
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Science Inquiry ◽  
Global South ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variation ◽  
Area Studies ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Range Theory ◽  
Sub Saharan

Comparative Area Studies (CAS) offers a template to bring the Global South back into the foreground of social science inquiry. CAS urges researchers to grapple directly with empirical variations derived from across the seemingly different global regions. CAS offers three comparative modes: intra-regional, cross-regional, and trans-regional. A number of scholars have used CAS’s comparative rubrics, even without knowing about the wider CAS agenda and program. CAS unsettles assumptions about discrete, fixed “regional” or civilizational blocks as well as about nomothetic theory-building aimed at universal or general laws. At the same time, CAS engages in the idea of medium-range theory-building, focusing empirical rigor and induction in order to create concepts and analyses that are portable yet contextualized. These macro-historical theories must be attentive to spatial and temporal variation in the social world. Claims of universalism are suspect. For the study of the Global South, in particular, CAS provides a path for aggregating and leveraging the wide range of observations and interpretations area specialists have to offer on regions as diverse as South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. CAS thus changes the division of labor within social science to allow greater input for scholarship derived from and originating in the developing world.

Cross-Border Funding and Microfinance Mission Drift: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-40
Author(s):  
Akem Forkusam
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Mission Drift ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Ssa Countries

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has become the top priority for international funders and they are now increasing their cross-border funding to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the region. This foreign funding is considered an additional source of capital for MFIs in the region who are facing difficulties in meeting the demand of the poor. However, these funds are provided by public and private funders who each have different motives. The paper examines the impact of these different sources of funding on microfinance performance and mission drift in SSA, which is the world’s poorest region. The study utilizes data from 212 MFIs in 30 SSA countries accessed over a three-year period (i.e. 2007, 2009, and 2011). The findings show that cross-border funding does not affect either the social or financial performance of MFIs when time and country effects are accounted for.

Inventing the Social

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Wilkie
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Creative Practice ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social

Inventing the Social, edited by Noortje Marres, Michael Guggenheim and Alex Wilkie, showcases recent efforts to develop new ways of knowing society that combine social research with creative practice. With contributions from leading figures in sociology, architecture, geography, design, anthropology, and digital media, the book provides practical and conceptual pointers on how to move beyond the customary distinctions between knowledge and art, and on how to connect the doing, researching and making of social life in potentially new ways. Presenting concrete projects with a creative approach to researching social life as well as reflections on the wider contexts from which these projects emerge, this collection shows how collaboration across social science, digital media and the arts opens up timely alternatives to narrow, instrumentalist proposals that seek to engineer behaviour and to design community from scratch. To invent the social is to recognise that social life is always already creative in itself and to take this as a starting point for developing different ways of combining representation and intervention in social life.

Social, Political, and Environmental Impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa

2018 ◽  
pp. 183-219
Author(s):  
Rhys Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Ssa Countries

Some of the most controversial aspects of China’s economic presence in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) relate to the social, political, and environmental impacts. Many of the claims that are made are based on anecdotal evidence, and there is a need for more systematic research on these aspects. In terms of social impacts, the chapter discusses employment, wages, working conditions, and labour rights. Political issues addressed include claims that China’s involvement supports authoritarian regimes, encourages corruption, and leads to conflict and political instability. These claims are not generally supported, and SSA countries have benefitted from the increased policy space that Chinese involvement gives them. The environmental effects of both increased exports to China and the activities of Chinese firms in SSA are analyzed. Contrasting case studies illustrate the negative impacts of China on forestry, and the positive effects of Chinese support for wind and solar power.

Turning on the township: financial inclusion in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 420-446
Author(s):  
Louise Whittaker ◽  
Graunt Kruger
Keyword(s):  
Financial Services ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Strategic Actions ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Economic Engagement

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore practitioner and academic conceptualisations about what drives individuals (who are the target of financial inclusion efforts) to adopt and use financial services. It compares this with individual’s personal subjectivities to understand how the similarities and differences might contribute to problems in financial inclusion efforts. Design/methodology/approach To uncover such conceptualisations, a Foucauldian discourse analysis of three texts is conducted. Findings The analysis uncovers the ways in which financial subjects are produced. Important points of discontinuity are evident between texts, pointing to potential failures within financial inclusion constructs. Distilling aspects of continuity between texts shows up three kinds of subjects produced predicated on the site of economic engagement as owners of bodies, tangible property and intangible property. These subjects are shown to all share concerns with income and expense management. The analysis shows that subject positions and strategic actions (including the use of financial service providers) are mutually reinforcing, and that therefore financial subjects will engage only to the extent that the product or service enacts their subject position. With the financial subject as the starting point, it is possible to understand the use or rejection of particular financial products and services. Research limitations/implications Asset building is proposed as a field of activity not currently considered part of mainstream financial inclusion, questioning the terms on which individuals are to be financially “included”. Originality/value Approximately 2 billion people globally, and 66 per cent of adults in sub-Saharan Africa, are excluded from the formal financial system. While financial inclusion is considered beneficial, many projects face significant challenges. This suggests insufficient understanding of what drives individuals to adopt and use financial services. This paper makes a contribution by exploring the gap between academics, practitioners and individuals using a method that has not previously been applied in this field, and uncovering differences in understanding that have not previously been explored. The insights into financial inclusion in provided in this paper are original in the literature.

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