THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES: ORAL COMMUNITIES AND COMPETITIVE LINGUISTIC WORK IN WESTERN KENYA

2012 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIE MACARTHUR

ABSTRACTThis article examines the history of efforts to create a standard written language in western Kenya. In the 1940s, the Luyia Language Committee worked to standardise one Luyia language out of a set of diverse, distinct, and yet mutually intelligible linguistic cultures. While missionaries worked to imbue translations with ideals of Christian discipline, domestic virtue, and civilisation, local cultural entrepreneurs took up linguistic work to debate morality, to further their political agendas, and to unite their constituents. Rather than subsume linguistic difference, these efforts at standardisation reveal the dynamism of oral communities, and how they encouraged a culture of competitive linguistic work. Examination of these efforts challenges previous historians' insistence on the role of linguistic consolidation in the making and unmaking of political communities in colonial Africa.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Sarali Gintsburg ◽  
Luis Galván Moreno ◽  
Ruth Finnegan

Abstract Ruth Finnegan FBA OBE (1933, Derry, Northern Ireland) took a DPhil in Anthropology at Oxford, then joined the Open University of which she is now an Emeritus Professor. Her publications include Oral Literature in Africa (1970), Oral Poetry (1977), The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town (1989), and Why Do We Quote? The Culture and History of Quotation (2011). Ruth Finnegan was interviewed by Sarali Gintsburg (ICS, University of Navarra) and Luis Galván Moreno (University of Navarra) on the occasion of an online lecture delivered at the Institute for Culture and Society at the University of Navarra. In this trialogue-like interview, Ruth tells about the childhood experiences that were decisive for her interest in orality and storytelling, about her education and training as a Classicist in Oxford, the beginnings of her fieldwork in Africa among the Limba of Sierra Leone, and her recent activity as a novelist. She stresses the importance of voice, of its physical, bodily dimensions, its pitch and cadence; and then affirms the essential role of audience in communication. The discussion then touches upon several features of African languages, classical Arabic and Greek, and authoritative texts of Western culture, from Homer and the Bible to the 19th century novel. Through discussing her childhood memories, her assessment of the development and challenges of anthropology, and her views on the digital transformation of the world, Ruth concludes that the notion of narrative, communication, and multimodality are inseparably linked.


1987 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 369-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Spaulding

Near the center of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan lies a tract of broken, elevated terrain about the size of South Carolina. The region, by common convention, is called the Nuba Mountains, and the people who live there, through a familiar if misleading generalization, the Nuba. The inhabitants of the Nuba Mountains have long attracted the attention of students of African languages and cultures, for in these respects they exhibit very great diversity among themselves as well as distinctiveness in relation to the Arab and Nilotic cultural traditions that dominate the surrounding lowlands on every side. No scholar has yet deliberately undertaken to write a history of the Nuba, but many have found themselves constrained to make tangential statements or assumptions about Nuba history in the course of constructing studies with some other primary focus. The sum of these tangential comments and assumptions may read as the current state of Nuba historiography. The present study addresses a stimulating clash of opinion among those whose interests have led them to comment peripherally on the more remote Nuba past. The issue at stake is the existence, or non-existence, of a state form of government among the Nuba in precolonial times.Students of the Nuba during the colonial and post-colonial periods have seldom failed to assign considerable importance to the role of successive Sudan governments in directing the destiny of the Nuba, however they may differ in assessing the quality of this intervention.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 8-14
Author(s):  
Gennadiy N. Kocheshkov ◽  
Pyotr G. Agrafonov

The topic of this article is European Latin-language sources of the 15th – 16th centuries, having their subject distinctive features of Yaroslavl land as well as the events that took place here. During this period Latin played the role of the main tool for the exchange of international information and it was the written language of the scientific community. Therefore, most of the works of foreign travellers of the 15th – 16th centuries including the materials about the Russian state is written in the classical Latin. Some of these works are texts devoted to Yaroslavl land. Information provided in these works make up a significant complex on the history of Yaroslavl land describing various aspects of its life. Depending on the nature of literary activity, interests, goals and methods of receiving information European authors covered topics related to natural and geographical features of the land, they described the economy, trade and other occupation of the population, characteristic features of cities or everyday life of Yaroslavl residents. But most of all foreign authors are naturally interested in the following questions of the history of these territories, their state-political organisation, administrative division, management principles and the religious sphere. Due to the limited Russian sources of the history of Yaroslavl land of this time, the testimonies of foreign authors become particularly significant. The richness of information often makes them extremely valuable.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Arceneaux

AbstractIntuitions guide decision-making, and looking to the evolutionary history of humans illuminates why some behavioral responses are more intuitive than others. Yet a place remains for cognitive processes to second-guess intuitive responses – that is, to be reflective – and individual differences abound in automatic, intuitive processing as well.


2001 ◽  
Vol 120 (5) ◽  
pp. A442-A442
Author(s):  
P TSIBOURIS ◽  
M HENDRICKSE ◽  
P ISAACS

Crisis ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sami Hamdan ◽  
Nadine Melhem ◽  
Israel Orbach ◽  
Ilana Farbstein ◽  
Mohammad El-Haib ◽  
...  

Background: Relatively little is known about the role of protective factors in an Arab population in the presence of suicidal risk factors. Aims: To examine the role of protective factors in a subsample of in large Arab Kindred participants in the presence of suicidal risk factors. Methods: We assessed protective and risk factors in a sample of 64 participants (16 suicidal and 48 nonsuicidal) between 15 and 55 years of age, using a comprehensive structured psychiatric interview, the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), self-reported depression, anxiety, hopelessness, impulsivity, hostility, and suicidal behavior in first-degree and second-relatives. We also used the Religiosity Questionnaire and suicide attitude (SUIATT) and multidimensional perceived support scale. Results: Suicidal as opposed to nonsuicidal participants were more likely to have a lifetime history of major depressive disorder (MDD) (68.8% vs. 22.9% χ2 = 11.17, p = .001), an anxiety disorder (87.5% vs. 22.9, χ2 = 21.02, p < .001), or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (25% vs. 0.0%, Fisher’s, p = .003). Individuals who are otherwise at high risk for suicidality have a much lower risk when they experience higher perceived social support (3.31 ± 1.36 vs. 4.96 ± 1.40, t = 4.10, df = 62, p < .001), and they have the view that suicide is somehow unacceptable (1.83 ± .10 vs. 1.89 ± .07, t = 2.76, df = 60, p = .008). Conclusions: Taken together with other studies, these data suggest that the augmentation of protective factors could play a very important role in the prevention of incidental and recurrent suicidal behavior in Arab populations, where suicidal behavior in increasing rapidly.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Mangiavillano ◽  
S Carrara ◽  
E Dabizzi ◽  
F Auriemma ◽  
V Cennamo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

1997 ◽  
pp. 3-8
Author(s):  
Borys Lobovyk

An important problem of religious studies, the history of religion as a branch of knowledge is the periodization process of the development of religious phenomenon. It is precisely here, as in focus, that the question of the essence and meaning of the religious development of the human being of the world, the origin of beliefs and cult, the reasons for the changes in them, the place and role of religion in the social and spiritual process, etc., are converging.


Author(s):  
Dr. Manisha ◽  
Dr. Ruchi Jindal

Background: The term "ovarian cancer" includes several different types of cancer that  arise from cells of the ovary, most commonly, tumors arise from the epithelium or lining cells of the ovary.  Ovarian cancer risk is positively associated with higher consumption of dietary cholesterol and eggs, and inversely associated with a higher intake of vegetables. High consumption of fats may increase circulating estrogen levels, thus increasing the possibility of cell damage and proliferation that is responsible for cancerous growth. Material & Methods: The present study was conducted at Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital, Udaipur (Rajasthan). Total  100 cases (females) attending the obstetrics and gynecology department for some gynecological and other problem  were selected for this study between the age of 40-60 years, who were attending cancer centre at GEETANJALI MEDICAL COLLEGE AND  HOSPITAL, Udaipur (Rajasthan).                GROUP I: - It consisted of healthy females control subjects (n=50) .By routine examination and tests, we ensured that all the subjects were healthy and there were no signs and symptoms or history of ovarian tumor and diseases GROUP II: - It consisted of ovarian cancer females subjects (n=50) with a history of ovarian tumor. Results:   Higher level of cholesterol, LDL, VLDL and low level of HDL are found in ovarian cancer patients. Conclusion: The present study we highlights the importance and role of serum lipid profile in diagnosis, prognosis and recurrence of the disease. The study shows that serum level of cholesterol, LDL, VLDL was elevated in  patients of ovarian cancer while low level of HDL are found in ovarian cancer patients. Key words: lipid profile, ovarian cancer.


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