The nexus between the traditional system of governance and the local government system in Karamoja, Uganda

In the 1990s several countries in Africa adopted decentralisation policy reforms that coincided with a renewed interest in traditional institutions. This development has since sparked an intense debate on the compatibility of traditional systems of governance with decentralisation. The present article documents a case study conducted in Uganda’s Karamoja sub-region, a stronghold of traditionalism despite local government reforms. It concludes that although the traditional system of governance could help to link local communities with the modern local government system, the two structures have not been harmonised. Instead, they run on parallel and contradictory paths, which has had negative consequences for local governance and service delivery. The paper advocates blending the two to form a hybrid system in which they complement each other rather than being a source of conflict.

Shaykh Abdullah Fahim's Views on Salawat in a Psychological Perspective

Psycho-religion is classified as the highest spiritual psychotherapy in the field of psychology. This is because the field involves religion that works to increase confidence thus speeding up the healing process. One of the therapies that fall into this category is the practice of reciting Salawat. This practice is common in traditional institutions of learning institutions in the Malay world. In some places, this practice becomes part of the curriculum of study. Some recite it as remembrance, and some recite it in the form of melodic performances such as qasidah, hadrah and so on. This study, however, is limited to the views of prominent educators in Malaya, Shaykh Abdullah Fahim (1869 - 1961) to practice reading the Salawat. The main objective of this study is to look at Shaykh Abdullah Fahim's thoughts on Salawat from a psychological perspective. This study uses a fully qualitative method. For data collection purposes, an archival approach was used. The conclusion of the study was made by using an inductive approach that is by summarizing the findings in general. The study found that the practice of Salawat from the point of view of Shaykh Abdullah Fahim has potential development benefits in terms of emotions, behaviour, and motivation.Keywords: Shaykh Abdullah Fahim; Salawat; psycho-religion; psychologyAbstrak: Psikoreligius tergolong psikoterapi spiritual tertinggi dalam bidang psikologi psikoterapi. Hal ini dikarenakan bidang tersebut melibatkan agama yang berfungsi untuk meningkatkan kepercayaan diri sehingga mempercepat proses penyembuhan. Salah satu terapi yang termasuk dalam kategori ini adalah praktik membaca salawat. Praktik ini sudah menjadi tradisi di lembaga-lembaga lembaga pembelajaran tradisional di dunia Melayu. Di beberapa tempat, praktik ini menjadi bagian dari kurikulum studi. Ada yang membacanya untuk dzikir, dan ada pula yang membacanya dalam bentuk sesajen seperti qasidah, hadrah dan sebagainya. Namun penelitian ini terbatas pada pandangan tokoh pendidik di Malaya, Syekh Abdullah Fahim (1869 – 1961) tentang amalan membaca salawat. Tujuan utama dari penelitian ini adalah untuk melihat pemikiran Syekh Abdullah Fahim tentang salawat dari perspektif psikologis. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif penuh. Untuk tujuan pengumpulan data, pendekatan arsip digunakan. Kesimpulan penelitian dibuat dengan menggunakan pendekatan induktif yaitu dengan meringkas temuan secara umum. Studi ini menemukan bahwa praktik salawat dari sudut pandang Syekh Abdullah Fahim memiliki potensi manfaat pengembangan dalam hal emosi, perilaku, dan motivasi.Kata Kunci: Shaykh Abdullah Fahim; salawat; psiko-religius; psikologi

Overview of Education in Ethiopia: Traditional Institutions and Language Perspectives

This article briefly introduces the phases of education in Ethiopia in the last 150 years and the impact of traditional institutions on languages. The intention of this report is to present the background section of a PhD (Gemechis, 2020) defended at Ghent University in September 2020. It is believed that the period of modern education in Ethiopia is shorter when compared with that of traditional education, which lasted for more than a century. Modern or “Western” education was launched in 1908, and Western educational ideas have flourished since the early twentieth century; but the traditional approach characterised Ethiopian education throughout the history of this ancient nation (Hoot, Szente and Mebratu, 2004). This article aims to review the past 150 years of education in Ethiopia in connection with historical trends and the influence of traditional institutions on education in general and languages in particular. Respondents discuss the fact that that, unlike the Orthodox and Missionary churches in Ethiopia, some of the traditional institutions such as the Waaqqeffannaa of Oromoo Institution were not allowed to reflect their values and languages. The study reveals that traditional institutions have played a crucial role in education in Ethiopia. Furthermore, understanding the impact of languages in education is important in teaching and learning in general. However, the findings confirm that there was no structure that could equally understand and accommodate all traditional institutions to contribute to the education of Ethiopia in the past. This article concludes with the recommendation that there should be a well-established implementation system on the languages and cultural institutions that could attract all nations and nationalities to promote their traditional institutions. For instance, there are no language and cultural policies aimed at sustainability.

OFLEBO, an online teacher-training programme for teachers of French in Botswana as an example of professionalisation

Technology has influenced not only our everyday lives, but our education systems and the opportunities for teacher development. The introduction of information and communications technology has presented new training platforms to respond to the needs of the workforce. While traditional institutions have greatly impacted teachers, there are now other viable outlets through which many of the required 21st century skills, such as professionalism, can be satisfied. Our project OFLEBO is one such example, an online training tool targeting the teaching of oral skills for in-service teachers of the French language in Botswana. This area was chosen because of the teachers’ admission on finding teaching oral skills a challenging task. This paper therefore aims to study the professionalisation of teachers through the OFLEBO project. Professionalisation as a process is continuous, and practice is its focus, therefore the aim is to inspire the evolution of classroom practices concerning the teaching of oral skills.

Traditional Institutions' Management of Sacred Forests in Tanzania: History, Narratives, and Evidence from Njombe Region, 1880s-2019

<p>Forest management entails interdependence between nature and society at different levels and systems. In Africa, one example of the interdependence of nature and society is ‘sacred forests,’ groves of trees with special religious importance to a people’s culture. In Tanzania, sacred forests are comparatively small in area, scattered over the entire country, and primarily managed by local village lineages, or kinship groups. In these communities, the close interaction in a small-scale society acts as a monitoring and sanctioning device. The patches of sacred forests have historically been managed as part of local tradition. Their management demonstrates Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), the linkages between biodiversity and cosmology, and the intersection between the social and the natural sciences. Scholars of traditional forestry in Tanzania have for decades compared sacred woodlands with the state- or private-owned forests. Comparing these different forest management systems cultivated a ‘relic stance’ in much of the scholarship regarding sacred groves. The predominant tone of sacred forest scholarship has been to describe sacred landscapes as static communal sites without exploring their associated constitutive dynamics. In such an interpretation, sacred forests have been regarded as remnants of the primordial past, a frozen view of these fragments of woodlands. Studying sacred groves without considering the institutions that uphold them is problematic, as it assumes traditional institutions have continued to be stagnant, interacting with sacred forests in the same way throughout time. This thesis studies traditional institutions’ management of sacred forests by the Bena people of Njombe, southwest Tanzania, 1880s–2019. The Bena are a largely unstudied group. The study uses a qualitative, mixed-method research approach, including interviews in Swahili and Bena, documentary evidence from the Tanzania National Archives, anthropological reports, participant observation, and online documentaries. In applying a mixed-method approach, the thesis bridges history, anthropology, ethnography, and ecology to study forest management as an ongoing process of interdependence between nature and society. Rather than exclusively looking at the sacred forests as geographic locations, this study underscores their socio-ecological aspect and asserts traditional institutions’ dynamics as a key in explaining their history in Njombe. Thus, the thesis not only foregrounds the existence of such patches of forests in Njombe but also unpacks the institutional, cultural politics to reveal the contestations and appropriations around the symbolic, cultural, economic, and ecological value of sacred sites among the Bena community. By using a knowledge-practice-belief complex systems lens, this thesis expands beyond simplistic narratives of inertness, to focus on historical, cultural, economic, and political dynamics that are internal and external to communities that have often helped sustain sacred groves’ traditions or contributed to their degradation. The thesis argues that the Bena sacred forests are embedded in a cultural matrix which is very different from the socio-cultural, economic, political, and ecological landscapes from which they evolved. While managing sacred forests was traditionally an integral part of cultural systems designed to sustain livelihoods and spiritual well-being of the community, the relationship between the land and culture has shifted dramatically within different historical periods, altering the steadiness of the sites. In pre-colonial Njombe, chiefs and elders controlled the use of natural resources, but the relationships of the inhabitants to the forests changed with shifting social and environmental conditions. During German and British colonial rule, differences in perception of the landscape defined the contest over sacred forests between the indigenous people and the foreigners. The materially driven world has increasingly necessitated redefinition of sacred landscapes in post-colonial Njombe. The meanings attributed to sacred forests, derived from traditional Bena cosmology and which drive current conservation policies, have changed, and adapted to new circumstances. The shift represents the flexibility and evolution of local institutions and ecological knowledge, which illustrates the power of fluid, dynamic local communities. The change also emphasises the divergent approach of current conservation programs, which view sacred forests as static and contained.</p>

Traditional Institutions' Management of Sacred Forests in Tanzania: History, Narratives, and Evidence from Njombe Region, 1880s-2019

<p>Forest management entails interdependence between nature and society at different levels and systems. In Africa, one example of the interdependence of nature and society is ‘sacred forests,’ groves of trees with special religious importance to a people’s culture. In Tanzania, sacred forests are comparatively small in area, scattered over the entire country, and primarily managed by local village lineages, or kinship groups. In these communities, the close interaction in a small-scale society acts as a monitoring and sanctioning device. The patches of sacred forests have historically been managed as part of local tradition. Their management demonstrates Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), the linkages between biodiversity and cosmology, and the intersection between the social and the natural sciences. Scholars of traditional forestry in Tanzania have for decades compared sacred woodlands with the state- or private-owned forests. Comparing these different forest management systems cultivated a ‘relic stance’ in much of the scholarship regarding sacred groves. The predominant tone of sacred forest scholarship has been to describe sacred landscapes as static communal sites without exploring their associated constitutive dynamics. In such an interpretation, sacred forests have been regarded as remnants of the primordial past, a frozen view of these fragments of woodlands. Studying sacred groves without considering the institutions that uphold them is problematic, as it assumes traditional institutions have continued to be stagnant, interacting with sacred forests in the same way throughout time. This thesis studies traditional institutions’ management of sacred forests by the Bena people of Njombe, southwest Tanzania, 1880s–2019. The Bena are a largely unstudied group. The study uses a qualitative, mixed-method research approach, including interviews in Swahili and Bena, documentary evidence from the Tanzania National Archives, anthropological reports, participant observation, and online documentaries. In applying a mixed-method approach, the thesis bridges history, anthropology, ethnography, and ecology to study forest management as an ongoing process of interdependence between nature and society. Rather than exclusively looking at the sacred forests as geographic locations, this study underscores their socio-ecological aspect and asserts traditional institutions’ dynamics as a key in explaining their history in Njombe. Thus, the thesis not only foregrounds the existence of such patches of forests in Njombe but also unpacks the institutional, cultural politics to reveal the contestations and appropriations around the symbolic, cultural, economic, and ecological value of sacred sites among the Bena community. By using a knowledge-practice-belief complex systems lens, this thesis expands beyond simplistic narratives of inertness, to focus on historical, cultural, economic, and political dynamics that are internal and external to communities that have often helped sustain sacred groves’ traditions or contributed to their degradation. The thesis argues that the Bena sacred forests are embedded in a cultural matrix which is very different from the socio-cultural, economic, political, and ecological landscapes from which they evolved. While managing sacred forests was traditionally an integral part of cultural systems designed to sustain livelihoods and spiritual well-being of the community, the relationship between the land and culture has shifted dramatically within different historical periods, altering the steadiness of the sites. In pre-colonial Njombe, chiefs and elders controlled the use of natural resources, but the relationships of the inhabitants to the forests changed with shifting social and environmental conditions. During German and British colonial rule, differences in perception of the landscape defined the contest over sacred forests between the indigenous people and the foreigners. The materially driven world has increasingly necessitated redefinition of sacred landscapes in post-colonial Njombe. The meanings attributed to sacred forests, derived from traditional Bena cosmology and which drive current conservation policies, have changed, and adapted to new circumstances. The shift represents the flexibility and evolution of local institutions and ecological knowledge, which illustrates the power of fluid, dynamic local communities. The change also emphasises the divergent approach of current conservation programs, which view sacred forests as static and contained.</p>

Political Economy of Development in the Indian State of Nagaland: Issues and Challenges

The state of Nagaland came into existence in 1963, with the union government granting special status to the state under Article 371A of the Indian constitution. These special provisions safeguard the indigenous social and customary practices and economic resources from the interventions and policies of the union government sans state legislature’s concurring resolution on the same. The special status while protecting the aforementioned rights of the Nagas creates a contrasting duality of sorts—in that modern market based democratic and economic institutions coexist with the traditional institutions. This blending of the old and the new often creates contestations and contradictions within the state’s political, social and economic spheres. In understanding these issues besieging Nagaland, neoliberal narratives of development economics and policy prescriptions thereof may be ill-disposed. The present article attempts to unravel the factors arresting economic development in the state by analysing various macroeconomic indicators. It is suggested that at the core lies the conflict between an attempt to establish a modern market-based economy with private ownership and that of a tribal-community based economic rights with customary laws and practices. The imperative role of the state government is emphasised to provide a mechanism for resolving the economic questions and ushering in development while preserving the rights of the indigenous people.

Democratic Principal (Kula Babong) Leadership Model: Examining the Role of Du'a Moan Watu Pitu in Sikka Krowe Community

Preserving culture is an important aspect of the life of indigenous peoples because it is identical to a lifestyle that is still guided by local customs. The process of cultural preservation in indigenous peoples cannot be separated from the important role of the community as an academic locus and Du'a Mo'an Watu Pitu as the responsible one. Based on this reality, this study aims to determine the leadership model of a democratic school principal based on local wisdom and examine the role of du'a moan watu pitu in maintaining the Kula babong culture (democracy) in the Sikka Krowe community. The research method used in this research is descriptive qualitative with an ethnographic approach. The subjects in this study were 4 principals of private and public schools, four Sikka krowe traditional leaders who inhabit each region, and culturalists in the Krowe Ethnic community, Sikka krowe Regency, East Nusa Tenggara. Data collection techniques used are observation, interviews and documentation. The results showed that the school principal's leadership model was based on the values of Sikka Krowe's local wisdom: the value of honesty, the value of courage, the value of kula babong, and charisma. Du'a Mo'an Watu Pitu's role in preserving the Kula Babong culture (democracy) is to maintain the integrity of traditional institutions, perform traditional rituals, resolve social conflicts and uphold justice.

Playing the Game and Pulling the Fingers: Working for and against the modern University

<p>Todays’ universities are constantly evolving, and yet they are deeply traditional institutions that bring together often contradictory agendas, with multiple roles and expectations for those working within. I look towards the academics within these universities in order to get a better understanding of what happens when the personal meets the institutional. By reflecting on my time as a student, and talking with thirteen New Zealand academics and post-graduates who in various ways challenge dominant ideas around academia, I aim to broaden and disrupt the academic imagination. Rather than think of this project as an academic study on academia, I like to think of it as me, a student, re-telling the stories of academics; seeking their wisdom, tactics and gaining inspiration from their ability to ‘do’ academia their way, even in today’s tight confines.</p>