Issues in Academic Leadership

Occupying administrative positions in any organization is an enormous and difficult task, especially in universities and other higher institutions of learning where the culture and conventional practices demand shared governance and collective decision making. Even more complex is when such positions are occupied by minorities who need to weigh a lot of factors in their decision making in order to effectively navigate and accomplish their duties and objectives. This chapter offers a brief theoretical insight into administrative leadership in the academy. More importantly, it provides the narratives of the personal experiences of administrators in the United States and Guyana; people whose gender and racial backgrounds categorize them as minorities. Sharing such experiences aligns with the purpose of this book and also provides some learning opportunities for people in the diaspora who aspire to become administrators in the academy and minorities who are currently doing the job.

Applying Data Triangulation to Explain Parenting Experiences in the African Diaspora

This study investigated African diaspora parenting in the United States. Three different sources of data were analyzed: parents' focus group discussions, interviews from children and parents, and YouTube videos made by African immigrant children living in the United States. This study applied the thematic analysis methodology, and the results validate other studies that found that parenting is influenced by culture. The results also show that African immigrant parents in the United States use abstract yet multifaceted approaches to parenting, while their children acculturate faster but are also aware of their African cultural heritage. Overall, this chapter underscores the importance of triangulation in studying ethnic minority groups, not only in the way that it precludes lumping their stories together, but also how this method reduces bias and increases the relevance of data.

African Diaspora Academics

Internationalization of higher education is not new to Africa. It helped in the establishment of several African universities in the continent's post-colonial period. In addition, thousands of African students had the opportunity to study in foreign universities through various exchange programs. However, internationalization has also led to African academics migrating into the diaspora in the West and other parts of the world, leading to the phenomenon of Africa's brain drain. This chapter examined the negative consequences of the brain drain and advocates its reversal by suggesting that African diaspora academics can be mobilized to help expand capacities in African universities and education in totality. It urges African governments and university administrators to provide leadership in this regard, especially by offering sufficient incentives to African diaspora academics to help revitalize and strengthen the continent's education sector.

Knowledge and Skills Transfer as Peace-Building Mechanisms

Somalia has been involved in a prolonged war that commenced in the 1990s, and millions of her citizens have fled their homeland in search of protection and safety in other countries, particularly in the West. This chapter therefore examined the Somali diasporas with particular focus on their levels of knowledge and skills transfer as contributions to peace and nation building in their homeland. It also examined how their engagement on issues such as transnational networking, remittances, investments in the economy and education, media development, advocacy, politics and governance, as well as humanitarian endeavors have helped build capacities in the country. The chapter highlights the opportunities and challenges faced by Somali diasporas, especially the uncertain security atmosphere in the country.

Dispossession of Land Cultures

This chapter examined and presents the results of a heuristic and arts-based research and ongoing critical review of the Lowcountry heirs' property ownership and the recurrent generational challenges, governmental influences, and tourism impact on land dispossession and retention along the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. In critically investigating this phenomenon of land dispossession, this study relied on Leavy's concept of coherence as it assessed the paucity of contemporaneous narratives of voices of women landowners. Land tenure, voice and land dispossession, freedom as ownership, and the culture of home/place are also explored as the legacy of the African diaspora, specifically among women landowners.

Navigating Academia Away From Home

This study examined different adjustment challenges experienced by African-born faculty members in higher education in the United States. Using the critical race theory as a framework and in-depth interviews of a purposive sample of nine African-born academics selected from across the U.S., the authors explored the factors that militate against the smooth transition of these diaspora faculties in higher education in the country and offer insights into a better understanding of their needs and experiences. The findings show that African-born academics in U.S. higher education face challenges in communication, differences in academic systems, and culture, especially in the power distance between students and instructors. The authors offer recommendations for aspiring diaspora and African-born faculties and the policymakers in U.S. universities and colleges that hire these professionals.

Diversity and the Media

This chapter investigated the curricula of journalism and mass communication programs in African universities. Sixty-seven programs in public and private universities located in all regions of the continent were examined. The major findings show that diversity and the media courses were taught in 58% of the sample. Programs in the sample from North Africa did not have the course or its equivalent. And, with the exception of Southern Africa, most of the programs in other regions of Africa mainly limit their diversity courses to gender issues. To better prepare journalism students for the coverage of a diverse world, this study recommends that diversity and the media courses be requirements in journalism and mass communication programs in Africa, with the courses expanded to include other elements of diversity such as social class, age/generation, race/ethnicity, religion, and geographical/physical location.

Researching African Diasporas

Intercontinental migrations, forced or volitional, are not new to Africans. While several research and studies have been conducted on the impact of migration on host countries as well as the brain-drain experienced by African countries, there is a scarcity of research on the real experiences of African migrants. This chapter proposes such research, using the life course perspective and qualitative research strategy in order to get a broader understanding of the lives of African diasporas. The life course perspective highlights the transitions, social meanings, and cumulative nature of the migrants' experiences, while the qualitative approach allows for tapping into the lived experiences of individuals through their personal narratives. Both are necessary for a more purposeful examination and realistic understanding of the African diaspora.

The Nigerian Health Workforce in a Globalized Context

Nigerian health professionals are impacted by several global forces bearing down on them, one of which is the positive economic prospects associated with emigrating to work abroad. This emigration is an aspect of increased global mobility which has had an adverse effect on the Nigerian health economy. This is important globally because countries with the smallest healthcare workforce capacities such as Nigeria have the poorest health outcomes. The emigration of health professionals from Nigeria will continue until domestic structures such as improved healthcare infrastructures, job security, and financial rewards change for the better. Thus, it is important that measures aimed at supporting the Nigerian health workforce be implemented with a focus on building and managing for sustainability within the context of international interdependency. Accordingly, this chapter is aimed at creating a theoretical framework for building capacities and managing the challenges of the Nigerian health workforce vis-à-vis the opportunities offered by globalization.

Facebook Communities of African Diasporas and Their U.S. Embassies

This study explores how the Nigerian, Ethiopian, and Egyptian diasporas in the United States use their Facebook groups to create their imagined communities. It also draws a parallel between their use of Facebook and how the embassies of their countries of origin use the same platform in performing their official duties. Six hundred Facebook posts drawn for the groups and the embassies were content-analyzed for this study. The results show that the three African diaspora groups have more pragmatic uses of their Facebook communities, such as the exchange of services, advice and information on day-to-day living, while their embassies use the platform more for public relations objectives in planning their official communication that emphasizes nation-branding, the promotion of their various countries, and for other diplomatic chores.