African Studies Blog

Here are some of the news articles on the Zimbabwean elections today.

Voters forced to polls

A Leader Lost to Despair

A Man Who Once Loved Mugabe

Coercion Seen in Zimbabwe in a Runoff With One Candidate

Complex Ties Lead Ally Not to Condemn Mugabe

Complex Ties Lead Ally Not to Condemn Mugabe

Robert M. Baum, Department of Religious Studies, University of Missouri-Columbia has reviewed in H-Africa Harry G. West’s  Kupilikula: Governance and the Invisible Realm in Mozambique. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.  The book is an insightful ethnographic study of the relationship between sorcery, politics, and the changing role of the state.

H-Africa has published a  detailed review by Steven J. Salm, Department of History, Xavier University of Owusu-Ansah’s Historical Dictionary of Ghana 3rd ed.  This edition is an update to the second edition published in 1995.  It includes the events of the second term of J J Rawlings as President through the 2000 elections that brought John Kufour to power.

The Economist  has two excellent pieces on the crisis in Zimbabwe.  An article in the Middle East and Africa section narrates in detail the atrocities against members and supporters of the opposition party.  An opinion article asks Zimbabwe’s neighbors to help rescue the people of Zimbabwe from Mugabe. 

The Economist  reviews China in Africa written by Chris Alden, a British academic who specialises in Asian-African relations.  The book sheds some light on the complexities of China’s engagement with Africa by providing a clear overview of China’s involvement with Africa.

Time Magazine’s 5o best websites 2008 includes AfriGadget a site dedicated to simple, sustainable inventions in Africa.  Some of the innovative efforts showcased on this site have covered efforts to create biodiesel fuel out of local pine nuts in Sierra Leone, and programs to build bicycles out of bamboo in Ghana and Kenya.

Here is an abstract of an informative UNICEF report on FGM titled “Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Statistical Exploration,” the full text article is available from  ELDIS .

This report outlines a study aiming to estimate the prevalence of Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) across and within countries, as well as the circumstances surrounding the practice. The study presents a global assessment of FGM/C levels and examines differentials in prevalence according to socioeconomic, demographic and other proximate variables, including type of FGM/C, practitioners and attitudes towards ending the practice. It further seeks to highlight patterns that exist within the data, illustrate how much can be learned by disaggregating variables and suggest how these data can be used to strategically inform programmatic efforts.

Conclusions and recommendations include:

• FGM/C prevalence rates are slowly declining in some countries
• strategies to end FGM/C must be accompanied by holistic, community-based education and awareness-raising
• programmes must be country specific and adapted to reflect regional, ethnic and socioeconomic variances

The Library, Documentation and Information Department of the African Studies Centre Leiden has compiled a web dossier on Disability in Africa to coincide with the photo exhibition Helden op Stokken on display at the African Studies Centre from 26 June until 17 September 2008. The dossier opens with a brief introduction outlining the situation of Africans with disabilities and recent initiatives to promote their rights and improve their well-being.

The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) has launched a new internet-based data service.

It brings UN statistical databases within easy reach of users through a single entry point (http://data.un.org). Users can search and download a variety of statistical resources of the UN System. At present there are 14 databases and 6 glossaries covering  a whole range of statistics including Population, Industry, Energy, Trade and National Accounts

Useful features to aid research include country profiles, advanced search and glossaries.

Wieder, Alan, 1949-

Teacher and comrade : Richard Dudley and the fight for democracy in South Africa.

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2008.

Koenings, N. S.  Theft : stories. 1st ed. New York : Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Co., 2008.

 Juma, Calestous.  The 2006 Hinton Lecture : redesigning African economies : the role of

engineering in international development. London : The Royal Academy of Engineering, 2006.