The Rise of New Forms of Power in Africa: The Emergence of Big Men in the Afar Region of Ethiopia

This article chronicles the emergence of a new form of power in the Afar Region of Ethiopia. The Afar people are predominantly Muslim pastoralists who live in a territory referred to as the Afar-Triangle (located in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea). Fieldwork for this study was conducted on Dobi in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, the second largest salt mining site in Ethiopia. In 2004, Dobi fell under the control of an individual by the name of As Mohammed Humed Yayyo. This article focuses on this specific Big Man. Since his emergence, this Big Man became the sole power figure who grants access to mine salt on Dobi and who collects taxes. The nature of the relation between the Big Man and the Ethiopian State has been fluid and is characterised by collaboration and conflict.

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Le Journaliste et le Griot. Les Traces de L’oralite dans la Presse Ecrite Africaine

Afrika Focus ◽

10.1163/2031356x-0150102003 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 15 (1-2) ◽

pp. 13-47

Author(s):

Marie-Soleil Frère

Keyword(s):

Oral Tradition ◽

Democratic Process ◽

Public Speech ◽

Narrative Style ◽

The Social ◽

Institutional Renewal ◽

French Speaking ◽

New Type ◽

New Form ◽

Big Men

The Journalist and the Griot. Tracing the Oral Tradition in the African Press This paper will show the similarities between the journalist's role and narrative style and those of the griot1, a key player the traditional exercise of power. The new private press appeared in French-speaking Africa as a part of the democratic process at the beginning of the 1990’s, in the context of politic liberalization (multipartism, institutional renewal) and in the flow of a new type of political speech that allows contradictions, critiques and debates. The journalist, that had mostly been the mouthpiece of the governments until then, has acquired a new role as a confer-power in a democratizing regime. Nevertheless, the journalist may in some ways be compared to the traditional griot. First, his new form of speech is very close to the oral style of the griot. The stylistic characteristics, the use of metaphors and images, the way the story is built are common to both “story-tellers”. Secondly, they both criticize the “Big Men”, express the people’s frustrations and use irony to desacralised those in power. Thirdly, they occupy an “in between” position in society because, at the same time, they belong to the social group they are speaking or writing for, while being looked at as a different “cast” practising the power of public speech. The papers concludes that the griot and the journalist can play a role that enforces the democratization process in the sense that they make people share common values but they can also weaken the process by oversimplifying or hiding social problems and by supporting stereotypes and illusions.

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ENHANCING DISPERSION-CURVE IMAGES FROM ABUNDANT PASSIVE SEISMIC SOURCES USING MULTICHANNEL ANALYSIS OF SURFACE WAVE (MASW) METHOD AT A SALT MINING SITE

10.4133/sageep2013-195.1 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Julian Ivanov

Keyword(s):

Surface Wave ◽

Dispersion Curve ◽

Seismic Sources ◽

Mining Site ◽

Multichannel Analysis ◽

Passive Seismic ◽

Masw Method ◽

Salt Mining

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The journalist and the griot. Tracing the oral tradition in the African Press.

Afrika Focus ◽

10.21825/af.v15i1-2.5547 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 15 (1-2) ◽

Author(s):

Marie-Soleil Frère

Keyword(s):

Oral Tradition ◽

Democratic Process ◽

Public Speech ◽

Narrative Style ◽

The Social ◽

Institutional Renewal ◽

French Speaking ◽

New Type ◽

New Form ◽

Big Men

This paper will show the similarities between the journalist's role and narrative style and those of the griot, a key player the traditional exercise of power. The new private press appeared in French-speaking Africa as a part of the democratic process at the beginning of the 1990's, in the context of politic liberalization (multipartism, institutional renewal) and in the flow of a new type of political speech that allows contradictions, critiques and debates. The journalist, that had mostly been the mouthpiece of the governments until then, has acquired a new role as a conter-power in a democratizing regime.Nevertheless, the journalist may in some ways be compared to the traditional griot. First, his new form of speech is very close to the oral style of the griot. The stylistic characteristics, the use of metaphors and images, the way the story is built are common to both "story-tellers". Secondly, they both criticize the "Big Men", express the people's frustrations and use irony to desacralised those in power. Thirdly, they occupy an "in between " position in society because, at the same time, they belong to the social group they are speaking or writing for, while being looked at as a different "cast" practising the power of public speech. The papers concludes that the griot and the journalist can play a role that enforces the democratization process in the sense that they make people share common values but they can also weaken the process by oversimplifying or hiding social problems and by supporting stereotypes and illusions. KEY WORDS :African press, griot, oral tradition, politics

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Fine Structure of Platelet Interaction with a New Microcrystalline Collagen Preparation

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100050305 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 32 ◽

pp. 58-59

Author(s):

W. H. Zucker ◽

R. G. Mason

Keyword(s):

Fine Structure ◽

Platelet Aggregation ◽

Hydrochloric Acid ◽

Whole Blood ◽

Platelet Adhesion ◽

Hemostatic Agent ◽

Native Collagen ◽

Fibrillar Morphology ◽

Clinical Interest ◽

New Form

Platelet adhesion initiates platelet aggregation and is an important component of the hemostatic process. Since the development of a new form of collagen as a topical hemostatic agent is of both basic and clinical interest, an ultrastructural and hematologic study of the interaction of platelets with the microcrystalline collagen preparation was undertaken.In this study, whole blood anticoagulated with EDTA was used in order to inhibit aggregation and permit study of platelet adhesion to collagen as an isolated event. The microcrystalline collagen was prepared from bovine dermal corium; milling was with sharp blades. The preparation consists of partial hydrochloric acid amine collagen salts and retains much of the fibrillar morphology of native collagen.

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The staining pattern of the tropomyosin sequence is displayed in a new paracrystal

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100142372 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 44 ◽

pp. 150-151

Author(s):

M.K. Lamvik ◽

L.L. Klatt

Keyword(s):

Amino Acid ◽

Amino Acid Sequence ◽

Staining Pattern ◽

Banding Patterns ◽

Mass Thickness ◽

New Form

Tropomyosin paracrystals have been used extensively as test specimens and magnification standards due to their clear periodic banding patterns. The paracrystal type discovered by Ohtsuki1 has been of particular interest as a test of unstained specimens because of alternating bands that differ by 50% in mass thickness. While producing specimens of this type, we came across a new paracrystal form. Since this new form displays aligned tropomyosin molecules without the overlaps that are characteristic of the Ohtsuki-type paracrystal, it presents a staining pattern that corresponds to the amino acid sequence of the molecule.

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