scholarly journals Savoir Traditionnel et Conservation de la Biodiversité dans le Rift Albertin: cas des Peuples Pygmée et Lega Riverains de la Réserve Naturelle d’Itombwe à l’Est de la RD Congo

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (32) ◽  
pp. 319
Author(s):  
Mangambu Mokoso Jean De Dieu ◽  
Aruna Sefu Josué ◽  
Byalungwe Muhindo Adrien ◽  
Lubula Bawela Clovis ◽  
Lwimo Mukenge Manassé ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Traditional Culture ◽  
Nature Management ◽  
Traditional Practices ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Développement Durable ◽  
Customary Practices ◽  
Management And Conservation

Cet article se focalise sur la nécessité d'intégrer, de réconcilier les pratiques coutumières des peuples riverains (Pygmées et Lega) avec les pratiques de gestion moderne de conservation de la biodiversité afin de préserver et de protéger la Réserve Naturelle d'Itombwe (RNI, réserve de catégorie VI de l'UICN). Pour récolter les données sur le terrain dans les villages Lega et Pygmées proches de la RNI, trois techniques ont été utilisées (documentaire, focus group et entretiens semi-structurés). Les résultats obtenus nous ont permis de découvrir les modes de protection de la nature et les normes locales propices au développement durable dans la gestion et la conservation de la nature. Ils montrent qu'il est utile de prendre en compte les pratiques traditionnelles et les expériences vécues pour comprendre l'importance du monde vivant de ces deux peuples. Certaines plantes et certains animaux protégés par les Us et coutumes de deux peuples sont aussi des espèces protégées et interdites par la Convention sur le Commerce International des Espèces de Faune et de Flore Sauvages Menacées d'Extinction (CITES). Malheureusement, la forte croissance démographique, le christianisme, la modernité ainsi que la relation entre la pauvreté et la culture traditionnelle ont remis en cause ces pratiques culturelles et le nonrespect de coutume. Ces croyances, loin d’être stables et immobiles, sont souvent capables d’intégrer des formes de nouveauté et de s’adapter à des modalités variables. En dépit de ces obligations, les occasions s’offrent au niveau coutumier pour la bonne gestion de la nature. Il revient aux acteurs de la conservation tant nationale qu’internationale de s’approprier ces pratiques costumières pour une bonne gestion de la biodiversité. This paper focuses on the need to integrate and reconcile the customs and practices of the riparian peoples (Pygmies and Lega) with the practice of modern management and conservation of biodiversity in order to preserve and protect the Itombwe Nature Reserve (INR, which is an IUCN Category VI Reserve). To collect field data in Lega and Pygmy villages bordering the INR, three techniques was used (documentary, focus group and individual interviews). The studies uncovered ways of protecting nature and local sacredness that are conducive to sustainable development in nature management and conservation. They show us that it is useful to take into account traditional practices and lived experiences to understand the importance of the living world of these two peoples. In addition, some plants and animals protected by local knowledge are among the species protected and prohibited by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The strong demographic growth, Christianity, modernity as well as the grafting between poverty and traditional culture have challenged these cultural practices and the respect of customs. These beliefs, far from being stable and immobile, are often able to integrate forms of novelty and adapt to changing modalities. In spite of these obligations, opportunities exist at the customary level the good management of nature. It is up to national and international conservation actors to appropriate these customary practices for good biodiversity management.

Advocating Positive Traditional Culture to Eradicate Harmful Aspects of Traditional Culture for Gender Equality in Africa

Obiter ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-62
Author(s):  
Norah Hashim Msuya
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Traditional Culture ◽  
Traditional Practices ◽  
African Culture ◽  
African Countries ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Human ◽  
Harmful Traditional Practices

The struggle for equality for all and the abolition of discriminatory, harmful cultural practices affecting women has been occurring in the world for some time now. Most African countries outlaw harmful, discriminatory traditional practices, although they persist, causing the violation of domestic and international human rights laws. Outside efforts to eliminate these practices are often met with suspicion or hostility from communities, because Africans generally believe that these are their valuable, traditional practices. The aim of this article is to discuss alleviating harmful traditional practices suppressing gender equality in Africa by practically supplementing the law. The study examines African culture versus gender equality historically to pinpoint colonialism’s influence in current gender equality. Colonial administration influenced lives politically, economically and socially, including culture and traditions. Efforts to eradicate harmful traditional practices are most effective when originating from within the culture, as focussing on international human rights is often perceived as culturally imperialistic in African countries.

scholarly journals Counter-talk as symbolic boundary drawing: Challenging legitimate cultural practices in individual and focus group interviews in the lower regions of social space

2021 ◽  
pp. 003802612110144
Author(s):  
Riie Heikkilä ◽  
Anu Katainen
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Moral Boundaries ◽  
Popular Classes ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Symbolic Boundary

In qualitative interviews, challenges such as deviations from the topic, interruptions, silences or counter-questions are inevitable. It is debatable whether the researcher should try to alleviate them or consider them as important indicators of power relations. In this methodological article, we adopt the latter view and examine the episodes of counter-talk that emerge in qualitative interviews on cultural practices among underprivileged popular classes by drawing on 49 individual and focus group interviews conducted in the highly egalitarian context of Finland. Our main aim is to demonstrate how counter-talk emerging in interview situations could be fruitfully analysed as moral boundary drawing. We identify three types of counter-talk: resisting the situation, resisting the topic, and resisting the interviewer. While the first type unites many of the typical challenges inherent to qualitative interviewing in general (silences, deviations from the topic and so forth), the second one shows that explicit taste distinctions are an important feature of counter-talk, yet the interviewees mostly discuss them as something belonging to the personal sphere. Finally, the third type reveals how the strongest counter-talk and clearest moral boundary stemmed from the interviewees’ attitudes towards the interviewer herself. We argue that counter-talk in general should be given more importance as a key element of the qualitative interview. We demonstrate that all three types of counter-talk are crucial to properly understanding the power relations and moral boundaries present in qualitative interviews and that cultural practices are a particularly good topic to tease them out.

Disability and Social Exclusion

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina I. Tobias ◽  
Sourav Mukhopadhyay
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Community Activities ◽  
Individual Interviews

This article explores the experiences of social exclusion of individuals with visual impairment (IWVI) as they negotiate their daily lives in their homes and societal settings in the Oshana and Oshikoto regions of Namibia. Employing qualitative research approach, this research tried to better understand the lived experiences of IWVI. Nine IWVI with ages ranging from 30 to 90 years were initially engaged in focus group discussions, followed by semi-structured in-depth individual interviews. The findings of this research indicated that IWVI experience exclusion from education, employment and social and community participation as well as relationships. Based on these findings, we suggest more inclusive policies to address social exclusion of IWVI. At the same time, this group of individuals should be empowered to participate in community activities to promote interaction with people without visual impairments.

An Ethos of Deconstruction in Multi-Cultural and Multi-Religious Contexts

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 368-385
Author(s):  
Johann-Albrecht Meylahn
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Traditional Practices ◽  
Ethical Norm ◽  
Ethical Conflicts ◽  
Textual Space ◽  
Alternative Practices ◽  
Dominant Narratives

The essay will focus on the role of Derrida’s différance in opening a space for an alternative ethos in religious or cultural plural contexts. In postcolonial contexts individual human rights, as the universal norm, is challenged by religious and cultural traditional practices. Some of the traditional practices are incompatible with individual rights and this is aggravated in a postmodern context as there is no universal meta-narrative to arbitrate between the conflicting practices. The result of this conflict is often a stalemate between the universal rights of individuals, often marginal individuals (children, homosexuals and women), over against religious and cultural values and traditions of the particular local context or religious or cultural group. The question this article focuses on is how deconstruction can help to move beyond such ethical conflicts. The article proposes that deconstruction can offer a way of reading, interpreting and understanding these cultural practices within their contexts, by taking the various practices (texts) within their contexts seriously as there is no beyond the text. This reading creates an inter-textual space between the various dominant narratives for the emergence of an alternative ethos. This emerging ethos is not presented as the ethical norm, but rather as an open, expectant attitude towards all the texts involved. This attitude can maybe open the space for alternative practices beyond the stalemate in multi-religious and multi-cultural contexts.

scholarly journals Livelihoods Used by Street Children for Survival in Bamako, Mali

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Oumou Diallo ◽  
Guang Xin Wang ◽  
Hamadoun H. Toure
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Street Children ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Bus Station

<p>This study is based on the livelihood used by street children for survival in Bamako, Mali. Two bus stations were selected for this study: Sogoniko bus station and Medina bus station. Most buses leave from these stations to the vicinity of the country. Data was collected through individual interviews (one by one), focus group discussions and interviews. A sample of one hundred and twenty street children aged between 8 and 17 years were selected for this study. Thirty people were also selected to give their opinions on street children. The results indicate that most of street children survive by selling small objects and through begging, 32.5% and 22.50% respectively. Our survey indicates that there are different factors pushing them to the streets, and as a way of survival on the streets, there is need to be organized, hence, they are organize themselves into groups for protection against violence and aggressions.</p>

scholarly journals Examining Distance Learners in Hybrid Synchronous Instruction: Successes and Challenges

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Enilda Romero-Hall ◽  
Cristiane Rocha Vicentini
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
The Other ◽  
Distance Learners ◽  
Electronic Journals ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Successes And Challenges

This paper reports on a case study investigating distance learners participating in graduate-level hybrid synchronous instruction. This research helps inform the design of hybrid synchronous instruction in which face-to-face and distance learners engage in class sessions. Data were collected using electronic journals, individual interviews, and a focus group. The results of the data analysis provide evidence that in this case, hybrid synchronous instruction improved the study habits of distance learners. On the other hand, the case study results also revealed that there are challenging pedogogical aspects which the distance learners had to overcome during hybrid synchronous instruction. Among such challenges were the interactions, relationships, and communication exchanges between distance learners, their face-to-face counterparts, and the instructor.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Effectiveness of Rhizobium Inoculants and Micronutrients as Technologies for Nepalese Common Bean Smallholder Farmers in the Real-World Context of Highly Variable Hillside Environments and Indigenous Farming Practices

Agriculture ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malinda Thilakarathna ◽  
Tejendra Chapagain ◽  
Bhawana Ghimire ◽  
Roshan Pudasaini ◽  
Bir Tamang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Agronomic Traits ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Crop Rotations ◽  
Traditional Practices ◽  
Farming Practices ◽  
Yield Losses ◽  
Vegetative Biomass ◽  
On Farm

Studies have shown the potential of rhizobia and associated micronutrients to enhance symbiotic nitrogen fixation in legumes. Tens of millions of smallholder farmers, however, farm on mountain hillsides in highly variable soil and microenvironments, with different crop rotations, inputs and cultural practices. Here, on the terraces of the Nepalese Himalayas, we evaluated rhizobium inoculants (local, exotic), micronutrients (molybdenum, boron) and their combinations as technologies for smallholder farmers under highly variable microenvironments and traditional practices. The study was conducted as a series of participatory on-farm trials with 39 terrace farmers in two mid-hill districts of Nepal (Dhading, Kaski) from 2015 to 2017. Plots were measured for relevant agronomic traits. As expected, when comparing treatment plots with adjacent control plots within each farm, the results demonstrated tremendous farm-to-farm variability for nodulation, vegetative biomass, shoot nitrogen content, grain yield, and grain N content. Despite the variation observed, the data showed that the number of farms that showed yield increases from the rhizobium interventions, compared to those that suffered yield losses, was generally 2:1. We discuss potential experimental and socio-agronomic reasons for the variable results, including rainfall, which appeared critical. The results demonstrate the promise of rhizobium interventions for hillside smallholder farmers, even in a highly variable context.

Child rearing practices of the San communities in Botswana: potential lessons for educators

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-137
Author(s):  
Annah Anikie Molosiwa ◽  
Dipotso Galeforolwe
Keyword(s):  
School Culture ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Child Behaviour ◽  
Child Rearing ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Failure To Progress

Several studies conducted among the San communities in Botswana have attributed failure to progress in school by the San children to inappropriate languages of instruction, insensitivity of the school culture and curriculum to their culture and learning styles. These studies have not really looked at all the contextual issues that influence child behaviour and development to the extent that they achieve their learning status. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate San’s child-rearing practices and how they transmit their cultural practices to their children. Data were gathered qualitatively through narratives, focus group discussions and interviews. The results revealed that the San are yearning for an educational system that is inclusive of their cultural practices and language, as well as having San teachers in their schools.

scholarly journals The constructions of early childhood practitioners’ literacy needs on an in-service Bachelor of Education course

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Hackmack
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Academic Literacy ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Academic Literacies ◽  
Assessment Task ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Bachelor Of Education ◽  
The Individual

Background: Academic literacy(ies) is a major determining qualifier for success in a university qualification. Academic literacy(ies), in this study, are seen as social practices or discourses that occur within specific academic disciplines. Students therefore needed to ‘learn’ the academic literacy(ies) discourse of the faculty.Aim: This study investigated the way lecturers and the course facilitators understood literacies and their students’ literacy demands.Setting: The early childhood practitioners were attempting to obtain a B.Ed degree on a piloted degree career path at a university.Methods: Data were collected from individual and focus group interviews, one assessment task, and one assessment report from each respective course. Two lecturers and two course facilitators participated in the individual interviews, and three lecturers and three course facilitators participated in the focus group interviews.Results: The study revealed that the course facilitators’ and lecturers’ understanding of literacies was not cognisant of literacy as a set of social practices, nor of the enormous changes students needed to make at the level of identity to progress in their academic careers.Conclusion: The findings from the study showed a disjuncture between the understanding of the meaning of academic literacies by course facilitators and lecturers. A focused and cohesive discussion on academic literacy needs to occur in order to facilitator the practitioners’ progress.

Striving against the ‘Nafs’

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-120
Author(s):  
Mulki Mohamed Al-Sharmani
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Islamic Tradition

I analyze how Somalis in Helsinki re-interpret religious norms on marriage in light of: 1) the challenges of socioeconomic hardships and marginalization in Finland; and 2) ethical principles in Islamic tradition that underlie religious rulings such as striving against the selfishness of the ‘nafs’ (self) and seeking spiritual advancement. I examine how norms on spousal roles and rights are contested and reinterpreted. I highlight how young women, in particular, foreground the ‘ethical' in their religious understandings of marriage norms. I explore if Veit Bader’s1 concept of ‘internal religious governance’ can analytically explain these processes. I draw on data from individual interviews and focus group discussions with women and men; and interviews with mosque imams and a clan elder.

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