Power and Dynastic Conflict in Mampon

1895 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 167-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.C. McCaskie
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Historical Materials ◽  
Political Center ◽  
Present Context ◽  
Structuralist Framework ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Territorial Division

The analysis of the relationship between oral and written documentation and the expression or articulation of political power and interest is now extremely sophisticated for the Asante case, yet it remains obstinately one-sided, as Asante history has tended to be interpreted from the political center, Kumase. Some scholars have intermittently called for another, more broadening and less constraining, perspective, and a very few have acted upon this plea by considering the nature of historic Asante society from various points on the ‘periphery.’ Among other things the present paper is a contribution to this ill-developed but much-needed ‘view from the periphery,’ even though the ‘periphery’ in the present case is as politically central as could be envisaged without resorting to the heavily researched Kumase perspective. I deal here essentially with oral historical perceptions of power--and struggles for it and validations of it--in the major territorial division of Mampon, but first I address one or two more general points, obvious perhaps, but usefully alluded to in the present context nonetheless.First, there is now a respectably large literature concerning the use (and usefulness) of African oral historical materials. This literature evinces two broad tendencies. One is a very proper scepticism about and mistrust of the regrettably widespread reliance on unsupported oral tradition. The other is an intellectualist attempt to divorce such traditions from ‘actual’ historical experience by interpreting them within a synchronic, often ‘structuralist,’ framework. Both approaches are valid, but they are ultimately ordained by a simple absence of ‘external’ or qualifying data. Asante is favored here in the sense that the ability to cross-check between oral memory and the written record is the most developed for all of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Relationship between Theatre and Ritual in the Sogo bò of the Bamana from Mali

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-240
Author(s):  
Marie Kruger
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Associate Professor ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Repetitive Nature ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Metaphorical Expression ◽  
The University ◽  
Shifting Boundaries ◽  
The Relationship

The Sogo bò, primarily an animal masquerade, can be distinguished from Western theatre through its use of a fluid space with shifting boundaries between spectator and performer. An oral tradition dictates the characterization, scenario, and content. The resemblance to ritual can be found in structural elements such as its repetitive nature and the use of non-realistic performance objects and motions. As in ritual, there is a clear sense of order, an evocative presentational style, and a strong collective dimension. The functional resemblance lies in the complex metaphorical expression through which relationships and values are symbolized, objectified, and embodied in a highly artistic way. Marie Kruger is an associate professor and the Chair of the Department of Drama at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, where puppetry is offered as a performance and research option. Her research is focused on masquerades in Africa and the various contemporary applications of puppetry in sub-Saharan Africa.

scholarly journals HIV and cardiovascular disease in sub-Saharan Africa: Demographic and Health Survey data for 4 countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard E. Egede ◽  
Rebekah J. Walker ◽  
Patricia Monroe ◽  
Joni S. Williams ◽  
Jennifer A. Campbell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Health Survey ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Logistic Models ◽  
Population Data ◽  
Demographic And Health Survey ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Background Investigate the relationship between two common cardiovascular diseases and HIV in adults living in sub-Saharan Africa using population data provided through the Demographic and Health Survey. Methods Data for four sub-Saharan countries were used. All adults asked questions regarding diagnosis of HIV, diabetes, and hypertension were included in the sample totaling 5356 in Lesotho, 3294 in Namibia, 9917 in Senegal, and 1051 in South Africa. Logistic models were run for each country separately, with self-reported diabetes as the first outcome and self-reported hypertension as the second outcome and HIV status as the primary independent variable. Models were adjusted for age, gender, rural/urban residence and BMI. Complex survey design allowed weighting to the population. Results Prevalence of self-reported diabetes ranged from 3.8% in Namibia to 0.5% in Senegal. Prevalence of self-reported hypertension ranged from 22.9% in Namibia to 0.6% in Senegal. In unadjusted models, individuals with HIV in Lesotho were 2 times more likely to have self-reported diabetes (OR = 2.01, 95% CI 1.08–3.73), however the relationship lost significance after adjustment. Individuals with HIV were less likely to have self-reported diabetes after adjustment in Namibia (OR = 0.29, 95% CI 0.12–0.72) and less likely to have self-reported hypertension after adjustment in Lesotho (OR = 0.63, 95% CI 0.47–0.83). Relationships were not significant for Senegal or South Africa. Discussion HIV did not serve as a risk factor for self-reported cardiovascular disease in sub-Saharan Africa during the years included in this study. However, given the growing prevalence of diabetes and hypertension in the region, and the high prevalence of undiagnosed cardiovascular disease, it will be important to continue to track and monitor cardiovascular disease at the population level and in individuals with and without HIV. Conclusions The odds of self-reported diabetes in individuals with HIV was high in Lesotho and low in Namibia, while the odds of self-reported hypertension in individuals with HIV was low across all 4 countries included in this study. Programs are needed to target individuals that need to manage multiple diseases at once and should consider increasing access to cardiovascular disease management programs for older adults, individuals with high BMI, women, and those living in urban settings.

scholarly journals The Regime-Switching Behaviour of Exchange Rates and Frontier Stock Market Prices in Sub-Saharan Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
Maud Korley ◽  
Evangelos Giouvris
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Stock Markets ◽  
Regime Switching ◽  
Markov Switching ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Var Model ◽  
High Volatility ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Fx Market

Frontier markets have become increasingly investible, providing diversification opportunities; however, there is very little research (with conflicting results) on the relationship between Foreign Exchange (FX) and frontier stock markets. Understanding this relationship is important for both international investor and policymakers. The Markov-switching Vector Auto Regressive (VAR) model is used to examine the relationship between FX and frontier stock markets. There are two distinct regimes in both the frontier stock market and the FX market: a low-volatility and a high-volatility regime. In contrast with emerging markets characterised by “high volatility/low return”, frontier stock markets provide high (positive) returns in the high-volatility regime. The high-volatility regime is less persistent than the low-volatility regime, contrary to conventional wisdom. The Markov Switching VAR model indicates that the relationship between the FX market and the stock market is regime-dependent. Changes in the stock market have a significant impact on the FX market during both normal (calm) and crisis (turbulent) periods. However, the reverse effect is weak or nonexistent. The stock-oriented model is the prevalent model for Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Irrespective of the regime, there is no relationship between the stock market and the FX market in Cote d’Ivoire. Our results are robust in model selection and degree of comovement.

Urban Studies of Accra

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Grant
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Urban Studies ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Contact Points ◽  
Urban Impacts ◽  
Sub Saharan

Accra is one of the largest and most important cities in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this article is to assess the evolution of urban studies in Accra and its main historical and contemporary foci. Early knowledge on urban Accra is fragmentary and orientated toward European contact points and urban plans, ostensibly from the gaze of Europeans. Writings from Euro-Africans such as Carl Reindorf provide a different prism into the precolonial, indigenous, urban society, whereas most indigenous urban knowledge was situated in the oral tradition at this time. Around independence, officially appointed social anthropologists wrote about an indigenous community in Tema and surveyed the multiethnic Accra environment. From independence in 1957 until the early 1980s, social scientists viewed the urban settlement as an alien, Western intervention. Local scholarship on Accra was sidelined as the academy in a poor, emergent nation became preoccupied with the genesis of nation-state building and the establishment of viable academic departments in national universities, and growing proportions of migrants regarded “home” as somewhere else, that is, ancestral villages. In the 1970s Accra was inserted into world history and social history, and social scientists began to study residential geographies, but scholarship at the city-scale remained sparse. Engagement with world and social histories and the social sciences demonstrated that history matters, but not in linear and teleological ways. The liberalization era ushered in by structural adjustment policies (SAPs) in 1983 invigorated studies of Accra’s urban impacts and effects. Much of this research was disseminated by international scholars, as Ghanaian scholars had to contend with the negative impacts of SAPs on their own universities and households. Since the turn of the 21st century, scholarship on Accra, and African cities in general, has been increasing. Diverse research questions and a multiplicity of methodologies and frameworks seek to engage Western urban theories and other variants, undertake policy-relevant work, assess ethnic and residential dynamics, contribute to international urban debates, and advance postcolonial and revisionist accounts of urbanism. Viewed at the third decade of the 21st century, scholarship on Accra is of diverse origins, encompassing scholarship from locals, members of the diaspora, and international urbanists, and a promising tilt is local–international collaborations co-producing knowledge.

scholarly journals Cohort profile: internal migration in sub-Saharan Africa—The Migration and Health in Malawi (MHM) study

BMJ Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. e014799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Anglewicz ◽  
Mark VanLandingham ◽  
Lucinda Manda-Taylor ◽  
Hans-Peter Kohler
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Reference Group ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Extensive Information ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Mental And Physical Health ◽  
Use Of Health Services ◽  
Migration And Health ◽  
Selection Of

PurposeThe Migration and Health in Malawi (MHM) study focuses on a key challenge in migration research: although it has long been established that migration and health are closely linked, identifying the effect of migration on various health outcomes is complicated by methodological challenges. The MHM study uses a longitudinal panel premigration and postmigration study design (with a non-migrant comparison group) to measure and/or control for important characteristics that affect both migration and health outcomes.ParticipantsData are available for two waves. The MHM interviewed 398 of 715 migrants in 2007 (55.7%) and 722 of 1013 in 2013 (71.3%); as well as 604 of 751 (80.4%) for a non-migrant reference group in 2013. The total interviewed sample size for the MHM in both waves is 1809. These data include extensive information on lifetime migration, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, sexual behaviours, marriage, household/family structure, social networks and social capital, HIV/AIDS biomarkers and other dimensions of health.Findings to dateOur result for the relationship between migration and health differs by health measure and analytic approach. Migrants in Malawi have a significantly higher HIV prevalence than non-migrants, which is primarily due to the selection of HIV-positive individuals into migration. We find evidence for health selection; physically healthier men and women are more likely to move, partly because migration selects younger individuals. However, we do not find differences in physical or mental health between migrants and non-migrants after moving.Future plansWe are preparing a third round of data collection for these (and any new) migrants, which will take place in 2018. This cohort will be used to examine the effect of migration on various health measures and behaviours, including general mental and physical health, smoking and alcohol use, access to and use of health services and use of antiretroviral therapy.

Innovation, institutions and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa – an IV estimation of a panel threshold model

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Ato Forson ◽  
Rosemary Afrakomah Opoku ◽  
Michael Owusu Appiah ◽  
Evans Kyeremeh ◽  
Ibrahim Anyass Ahmed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Innovation Policy ◽  
Threshold Model ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Panel Regressions ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThe significant impact of innovation in stimulating economic growth cannot be overemphasized, more importantly from policy perspective. For this reason, the relationship between innovation and economic growth in developing economies such as the ones in Africa has remained topical. Yet, innovation as a concept is multi-dimensional and cannot be measured by just one single variable. With hindsight of the traditional measures of innovation in literature, we augment it with the number of scientific journals published in the region to enrich this discourse.Design/methodology/approachWe focus on an approach that explores innovation policy qualitatively from various policy documents of selected countries in the region from three policy perspectives (i.e. institutional framework, financing and diffusion and interaction). We further investigate whether innovation as perceived differently is important for economic growth in 25 economies in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1990–2016. Instrumental variable estimation of a threshold regression is used to capture the contributions of innovation as a multi-dimensional concept on economic growth, while dealing with endogeneity between the regressors and error term.FindingsThe results from both traditional panel regressions and IV panel threshold regressions show a positive relationship between innovation and economic growth, although the impact seems negligible. Institutional quality dampens innovation among low-regime economies, and the relation is persistent regardless of when the focus is on aggregate or decomposed institutional factors. The impact of innovation on economic growth in most regressions is robust to different dimensions of innovation. Yet, the coefficients of the innovation variables in the two regimes are quite dissimilar. While most countries in the region have offered financial support in the form of budgetary allocations to strengthen institutions, barriers to the design and implementation of innovation policies may be responsible for the sluggish contribution of innovation to the growth pattern of the region.Originality/valueSegregating economies of Africa into two distinct regimes based on a threshold of investment in education as a share of GDP in order to understand the relationship between innovation and economic growth is quite novel. This lends credence to the fact that innovation as a multifaceted concept does not take place by chance – it is carefully planned. We have enriched the discourse of innovation and thus helped in deepening understanding on this contentious subject.

scholarly journals Constructing a measure of health literacy in Sub-Saharan African countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 907-915
Author(s):  
Heather F McClintock ◽  
Julia M Alber ◽  
Sarah J Schrauben ◽  
Carmella M Mazzola ◽  
Douglas J Wiebe
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
National Study ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Good Internal Consistency ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
High Health Literacy

Abstract We sought to develop and evaluate a health literacy measure in a multi-national study and to examine demographic characteristics associated with health literacy. Data were obtained from Demographic Health Surveys conducted between 2006–15 in 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Surveys were the same in all countries but translated to local languages as appropriate. We identified eight questions that corresponded to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) definition of health literacy. Factor analysis was used to extract one measure of health literacy. Logistic regression was employed to examine the relationship between demographic characteristics and health literacy. A total of 224 751 individuals between the ages of 15 and 49 years were included. The derived health literacy measure demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.72) and good content validity. The prevalence of high health literacy overall was 35.77%; females 34.08% and males 39.17%; less than or equal to primary education 8.93%, some secondary education 69.40% and ≥complete secondary 84.35%. High health literacy varied across nations, from 8.51% in Niger to 63.89% in Namibia. This is the first known study to evaluate a measure of health literacy relying on the NAM definition utilizing a large sample from 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our study derived a robust indicator of NAM-defined health literacy. This indicator could be used to examine determinants and outcomes of health literacy in additional countries.

scholarly journals The Coupling Coordination Relationship between Tourism Competitiveness and Economic Growth of Developing Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2350
Author(s):  
Xia Wang ◽  
Danli Liu
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Entropy Weight ◽  
Developing Regions ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Entropy Weight Method ◽  
Weight Method ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Relationship

On the basis of the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model and information entropy weight method, this study examined the relationship between tourism competitiveness and economic growth of 56 developing countries from 2008 to 2017. The results show that: (1) the overall status of the CCD between tourism competitiveness and economic growth was in a state of unbalance that was mainly caused by the lag of economic growth, which demonstrates the important contribution of tourism in developing regions. (2) the CCD has been gradually improving since 2008, and the differences amongst the CCDs of developing countries have been shrinking and (3) the spatial distribution of the CCD between tourism competitiveness and economic growth has heterogeneity. Latin America & the Caribbean, and East Asia & the Pacific have the highest CCD, whereas Sub-Saharan Africa witnessed severely unbalanced development between tourism competitiveness and economic growth in 2008–2017.

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