scholarly journals ‘Newsworthy victims’: The killing of Maxwell Mahama and the culture of lynching in Ghana

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Odartey-Wellington ◽  
Amin Alhassan ◽  
Sarah MacRae

Following the 2017 killing of Maxwell Adam Mahama by a lynch mob in Ghana, this article engages with the subject of lynching in Ghana through a content analysis of newsmedia items relating to the practice. While reactions to Mahama’s killing invite optimism that lynching as a form of instant (in)justice is being problematized in Ghana, this study leads to a less optimistic position. State, media and public responses to Mahama’s killing were compared vis-à-vis similar killings of two police officers ‐ Jerry Wornoo and Richard Owusu-Sekyere ‐ in 1998. Drawing on the relevant literature, this study concluded that a number of factors combined to make Mahama, Wornoo and Owusu-Sekyere ‘newsworthy victims’. In contrast, victims in several lynching cases reported by Ghanaian media between 1999 and May 2017 were not deemed newsworthy, thus attracting less attention. Consequently, there have been missed opportunities following the Wornoo and Owusu-Sekyere killings to make critical systemic interventions in Ghana to prevent lynching. Hence, it is argued, the mere sensationalization of Mahama’s lynching may not trigger the requisite systemic social change. Recommendations are made to harness the momentum from Mahama’s killing to address instant (in)justice.

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olaitan Olutoyin ◽  
Stephen Flowerday

Background: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the bedrock of most economies of the world. Due to global competition, SMEs are making significant investments in information technology (IT) to improve their business processes. However, a study of extant literature on the subject of IT governance in SMEs has highlighted the fact that the implementation of structural controls to enable effective IT governance is often difficult, resulting in project failures and loss of income.Objectives: This paper seeks to examine ways by which SMEs can successfully adapt a suitable IT governance framework to manage its IT investments.Method: A content analysis of extant literature was done in this paper. The Technology–Organisation–Environment theory forms the theoretical basis of the proposed key pillars for an SME to evaluate its capability to embark on an IT governance initiative in order to obtain the desired results.Results: From the content analysis of relevant literature, the paper proposed three key pillars which should be in place before an SME adapts any IT governance framework to manage its IT investments. The key pillars are considered an important link between strategic IT governance plans and measurable successful outcomes.Conclusion: It was concluded that an SME would be better positioned for successful IT governance if it were to conduct a careful analysis of the components of these key pillars before embarking on the implementation of any IT governance framework.


2019 ◽  
Vol IV (IV) ◽  
pp. 476-486
Author(s):  
Sabahat Jaleel ◽  
Shabnam Gul ◽  
Zahid Akbar

China and India are rising powers of Asia. Both Asian giants have to adopt the policy of interdependence by growing economic ties; on the other side, they have a strict stance on border disputes. This article describes in detail the bilateral relationship between China-India, especially under the Modi doctrine, during his first term. Secondly, it also discusses the limitation of these growing ties and growing concerns for Pakistan. The basic argument of this article is that the growing economic interdependence will affect Pakistan, especially if this interdependence transfer from the economic to military dimension. The whole data is based on exploratory in nature. A qualitative research method has been used to achieve the research goals. Tools used for data collection include oral interviews and content analysis of the existing literature on the subject in the form of books, official reports and research articles. The relevant literature has been objectively analyzed to reach a meaningful conclusion.


Author(s):  
Iddrisu Adam Shaibu

This article critically explores the idea of savings from the New Testament perspective, particularly, using the Pauline fundraising strategy. It argues that the direction given by Apostle Paul regarding the fundraising of the Gentile Christians constitute an informal economic theory of savings. Content analysis was used in reviewing relevant literature for the study. It was established that the directions Paul gave to the Gentile Christians regarding the fund raising constitute informal savings principles. Additionally, Pauline fundraising strategies was eschatological and relational in nature. The paper concludes that Paul’s fundraising was centered on three concepts namely, generosity, gratitude and mission. In this regard, Paul’s fundraising economic theory had the sole aim of bringing social change in the lives of the Jewish Christians.


2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Hoffjan

This study introduces content analysis as a method of examining the accountant's role. The empirical study is based on 73 advertisements, which are directed primarily at employees who are affected by the management accountant's work. The findings of the study indicate that the subject of accountancy is used particularly in connection with promises of “cost reduction.” Consequently, the majority of advertisements use the accountant stereotype of “savings personified.” In a professional context, the work ethic of the management accountant is given particular emphasis in the advertisements. He/she identifies him/herself with his/her task to the maximum degree, is regarded as loyal to his/her company and, for the most part, is well organized in his/her work. However, the characterization of the management accountant as a well disciplined company-person conflicts with the negative portrayal of his/her professional qualities. In advertisements, the management accountant is portrayed as a rather inflexible, passive, and uncreative specialist who, as a result of these qualities, often demotivates others. The personal characteristics of the management accountant are shown in a negative light. This gives him/her the unappealing image of a humorless, envious, dissociated, and ascetic corporate-person.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-152
Author(s):  
Marcella Caprario

AbstractThis qualitative classroom study investigated the development of pragmatic competence in academic discussions through content analysis of student reflective writing. The aims of the study were: to understand the greatest challenges that students faced during the learning process, the causes of those challenges, and the most successful strategies that students employed to overcome the challenges. In addition, the analysis investigated other significant themes in the reflective writing that related to the students’ experiences in developing their pragmatic competence in discussions. Five advanced English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students at a Sino-US institution in China participated over the course of a semester. Results showed that common challenges included: hesitation resulting in missed opportunities to speak, lack of clarity when speaking, inability to repair communication breakdowns, and difficulty with listening comprehension. Self-reflection allowed the learners to understand the various reasons for the challenges they faced and to develop appropriate pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic strategies for coping with them. It also enabled the instructor to make suggestions suited to learners’ specific needs. In addition to revealing specific challenges, causes, and strategies that students employed, themes that emerged through content analysis included the impact of students’ emotional lives on their learning and performance, as well as the value of authentic communication in the development of pragmatic competence for academic discussions. This exploratory classroom investigation provides suggestions for teaching pragmatic competence in academic discussions and for additional classroom explorations that empower learners to develop autonomy.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002201832110274
Author(s):  
Philip NS Rumney ◽  
Duncan McPhee

The article explores the idea of ‘offender-centric’ policing in cases of rape, with its focus on suspect and offender admissions and behaviours. It features discussion of 11 cases, illustrating offender-centric pathways to charge or conviction, the challenges facing complainants, suspects and police officers, along with missed opportunities to focus on a suspect’s behaviour. The importance of victim care and support is discussed, and it is argued that victim care should accompany an offender-centric approach to rape investigation. It is also argued that there are potential dangers with offender-centric tactics, specifically, that without due care it may become a self-confirming investigative tool influenced by confirmation bias which may lead to flawed decision-making. The article concludes by arguing that offender-centric policing has benefits in those cases with suspects who engage in predatory behaviour, have a history of previously undisclosed sexual offending and domestic violence and other problematic behaviours. It also has value in focusing the attention of investigators on what steps were taken by a suspect to ascertain the complainant’s consent. While the offender-centric approach cannot address all investigative challenges in rape cases, it is a useful addition to existing strategies.


2000 ◽  
Vol 421 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
HERBERT E. HUPPERT

George Batchelor was one of the giants of fluid mechanics in the second half of the twentieth century. He had a passion for physical and quantitative understanding of fluid flows and a single-minded determination that fluid mechanics should be pursued as a subject in its own right. He once wrote that he ‘spent a lifetime happily within its boundaries’. Six feet tall, thin and youthful in appearance, George's unchanging attire and demeanour contrasted with his ever-evolving scientific insights and contributions. His strongly held and carefully articulated opinions, coupled with his forthright objectivity, shone through everything he undertook.George's pervasive influence sprang from a number of factors. First, he conducted imaginative, ground-breaking research, which was always based on clear physical thinking. Second, he founded a school of fluid mechanics, inspired by his mentor G. I. Taylor, that became part of the world renowned Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) of which he was the Head from its inception in 1959 until he retired from his Professorship in 1983. Third, he established this Journal in 1956 and actively oversaw all its activities for more than forty years, until he relinquished his editorship at the end of 1998. Fourth, he wrote the monumental textbook An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics, which first appeared in 1967, has been translated into four languages and has been relaunched this year, the year of his death. This book, which describes the fundamentals of the subject and discusses many applications, has been closely studied and frequently cited by generations of students and research workers. It has already sold over 45 000 copies. And fifth, but not finally, he helped initiate a number of international organizations (often European), such as the European Mechanics Committee (now Society) and the biennial Polish Fluid Mechanics Meetings, and contributed extensively to the running of IUTAM, the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. The aim of all of these associations is to foster fluid (and to some extent solid) mechanics and to encourage the development of the subject.


1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (29) ◽  
pp. 34-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorrian Lambley

How to accommodate and utilize the insights and the methodology of marxism – and, simply, its potential as a vehicle for social change – at a time when the popular perception of its political ideology stands discredited? Dorrian Lambley explores the dilemma through the specifics of developments in British theatre since 1968 – the stifling of the early radical impulses under political and economic pressures, which has produced, at best, a sense of marginalization, at worst a conviction of impotence. In proposing ways of working within this situation, Lambley draws on the writings of dramatists such as Edward Bond to suggest that marxism must recognize the most important of the liberal humanist emphases – ‘the presence of the subject’, but perceived within a marxist understanding of social relations. Dorrian Lambley is presently working on her doctoral thesis in the University of Exeter, where she helped to organize the conference ‘Theatre and the Discourses of Power’, on which she wrote in the ‘Reports and Announcements’ section of NTQ28 (1991).


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