The Research Climate in Francophone West Africa and Liberia (Report on a Mission for the Research Liaison Committee of the African Studies Association in June-July, 1967)

1968 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Kopytoff
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
African Studies ◽  
Liaison Committee ◽  
Research Climate ◽  
June July

The Research Climate in Eastern Africa (Report on a Mission for the Research Liaison Committee of the African Studies Association, July-September, 1967)

1968 ◽  
Vol 11 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Vernon McKay
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
African Studies ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Liaison Committee ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Conflicting Evidence ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Climate

The formulation of valid generalizations about the climate for research in the social sciences and humanities in eastern Africa is a perplexing task. When one thinks one has reached a useful generalization, one is likely to be confronted with conflicting evidence. Moreover, changes are occurring with increasing frequency. In Zambia, for example, certain kinds of research especially important for political scientists were banned in July, 1967. Two main conclusions may nonetheless be drawn from my 175 interviews in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda, Ethiopia, and the United Kingdom on behalf of the Research Liaison Committee of the African Studies Association. It was encouraging to find many informants, both African and expatriate and in both government and academic circles, who emphasized the need for more research, especially for studies geared at least in part to help African governments in their economic, social, and educational development planning. Foreign scholars who comply with the established research procedures and behave with tact and common sense are still welcome throughout the area. However, this optimistic judgment must be qualified by a less favorable conclusion. The evidence indicates that the research climate is deteriorating in certain respects. In particular, the new clearance procedures, which often cause months of uneconomic delay, will probably not only become somewhat more restrictive in countries that already have them, but will probably be adopted in other countries as well.

African Studies and the Study of the Future

1974 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-7
Author(s):  
Uma O. Eleazu
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
West African ◽  
African Studies ◽  
The Future ◽  
Heads Of State ◽  
Porto Novo

Imagine a conference of West African heads of state or government held in 1870 to discuss what West Africa would be like in the year 1900. The list of participants at such a conference might well have included Lat Dior, the darnel of Cayor (Senegal), Samouri Toure (Guinea), his enemy Tie-ba of Sikasso, the President of Liberia, Obas of Benin and Lagos, King Gezo, King Gelele, King Tofa (Porto Novo), King Ja-ja (Opobo), Chief Na-na (Itshekiri), Sultan Attahiru of Sokoto, and Asantehene Prempeh.

Mary Kingsley 1896–1899

2020 ◽  
pp. 109-132
Author(s):  
Sarah LeFanu
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
West African ◽  
African Studies ◽  
Mary Kingsley ◽  
South African War ◽  
The People ◽  
British Colonial

This chapter explores how Mary Kingsley believed the British merchants and traders in West Africa were better placed than missionaries or colonial officials to understand West African beliefs, laws and social practices; she supported the liquor trade. It looks at her two major books, Travels in West Africa and West African Studies, analyzing Kingsley’s literary style and the challenges her observations and arguments posed to the British colonial authorities and the Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain. In this chapter we see the emergence of Kingsley as a political campaigner for the rights of Africans, as she campaigns against the Hut Tax that was imposed on the people of Sierra Leone in 1898. The South African War offered her an excuse to leave England and return to the Africa she loved.

scholarly journals Inter-Comparison of AIRS Temperature and Relative Humidity Profiles with AMMA and DACCIWA Radiosonde Observations over West Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 2631
Author(s):  
Marian Amoakowaah Osei ◽  
Leonard Kofitse Amekudzi ◽  
Craig R. Ferguson ◽  
Sylvester Kojo Danuor
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Water Vapour ◽  
Radiosonde Data ◽  
Weather Information ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
High Impact Weather ◽  
Mean Square Difference ◽  
June July ◽  
Humidity Profiles

The vertical profiles of temperature and water vapour from the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) have been validated across various regions of the globe as an effort to provide a substitute for radiosonde observations. However, there is a paucity of inter-comparisons over West Africa where local convective processes dominate and radiosonde observations (RAOBs) are limited. This study validates AIRS temperature and relative humidity profiles for selected radiosonde stations in West Africa. Radiosonde data were obtained from the AMMA and DACCIWA campaigns which spanned 2006–2008 and June–July 2016 respectively and offered a period of prolonged radiosonde observations in West Africa. AIRS performance was evaluated with the bias and root mean square difference (RMSD) at seven RAOB stations which were grouped into coastal and inland. Evaluation was performed on diurnal and seasonal timescales, cloud screening conditions and derived thunderstorm instability indices. At all timescales, the temperature RMSD was higher than the AIRS accuracy mission goal of ±1 K. Relative humidity RMSD was satisfactory with deviations <20% and <50% for both lower and upper troposphere respectively. AIRS retrieval of water vapour under cloudy and cloud-free conditions had no significant difference whereas cloud-free temperature was found to be more accurate. The seasonal evolution of some thunderstorm convective indices were also found to be comparable for AIRS and RAOB. The ability of AIRS to capture the evolution of these indices imply it will be a useful dataset for the African Science for Weather Information and Forecasting Techniques (SWIFT) high impact weather studies.

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