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Anthropology NewsVolume 50, Issue 4 p. 23-23 The Somali Bantu Experience: Using Multimedia Ethnography for Community Building, Public Education and Advocacy Catherine Besteman, Catherine Besteman Professor of anthropology at Colby College. In the 1990s she published two books and several articles about Somalia's civil war and Somali Bantu history and identity, and she currently collaborates with Somali Bantu refugees in Lewiston, Maine. See also her work on post-apartheid South Africa...

This study surveyed 45 selected primary and secondary schools in Botswana which aimed to identify how parent and community involvement in the governance of schools affect teacher effectiveness and improvement of learner performance. The study started from January 2005 to December 2006. Literature review, administration of questionnaires, interview schedules and local conferencing at the chiefs’ palaces (kgotla) and in churches were used to gather data. The conclusion that could be drawn is...

The ever increasing enrollment numbers and the corresponding dwindling educational resources in public schools have challenged the Ministry of Education in Malawi to introduce an instructional innovation (TALULAR) based on the use of locally available resources for teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to determine: (i) whether, and to what extent, the perceived characteristics of innovations and teachers’ demographic and employment variables are useful in predicting the...

In every culture and generation, hard work and virtue are regarded as passport to material success. African cultures are inherently ingrained with myths about work. The purpose of this article was to establish how curriculum is derived from myths and whether the contents of myths are directly or indirectly related to propensity to work and development of virtue. The article adopted an exploratory/descriptive approach. It attempted to treat the concept of myths and critically examined the...

Abstract This paper examines African livestock management across Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZs) to learn how they would adapt to climate change in the coming century. We analyze farm level decisions to own livestock and to choose a primary livestock species using logit models with and without country fixed effects or AEZ fixed effects. With a hot dry scenario, the results indicate that livestock ownership will increase slightly across all of Africa, but especially in West Africa and high...

The physical and optical properties of an atmospheric aerosol mixture depend on a number of factors.The relative humidity influences the size of hydroscopic particles and the effective radius of an aerosol mixture.In consequence, values of the aerosol extinction, the aerosol optical thickness and the Ångström coefficient are modified.A similar effect is observed when the aerosol composition changes.A higher content of small aerosol particles causes the effective radius of an aerosol mixture...

The aims of this study were to determine the distribution of serogroups and serotypes as well as the antimicrobial resistance pattern of Shigella isolates from Gondar patients with acute diarrhea. A cross-sectional study was conducted from August 2006 to February 2008. Stool specimens were received from study subjects and cultured. Isolates were confirmed by biochemical and serological tests. The isolates were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility by the disc diffusion method. Of the 1,200...

PreviousNext No AccessSymposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems 2009Humanitarian Engineering: Groundwater Investigation for St. Denis Secondary School, Makondo, UgandaAuthors: John M. JacksonCatherine K. SkokanDavid R. MuñozJohn M. JacksonColorado School of Mines, Golden, COSearch for more papers by this author, Catherine K. SkokanColorado School of Mines, Golden, COSearch for more papers by this author, and David R. MuñozColorado School of Mines,...

The past cannot be changed, but we can learn from it. The purpose of this article is to explore some of the lessons that can be learnt from the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The first of these is that the génocidaires should not be dehumanised. This is simply to engage in the very process that made genocide possible in the first place. Rather, they should be given a voice. As the work of authors such as Hatzfield, McDoom, Mironko and Straus demonstrates, perpetrators’ stories can offer an...

The question addressed in this paper is whether the beneficial effects of Primary School Action for Better Health (PSABH), an HIV prevention programme delivered in Kenyan primary schools, continue once students move on to secondary schools. Questionnaires were completed in December 2005 and January 2006 by all form 1-3 students in 154 randomly selected secondary schools. Students who had attended primary schools with PSABH programming were compared to those who did not on knowledge,...

Debate on how resource-rich countries and their health care professionals should help the plight of sub-Saharan Africa appears locked in a mind-set dominated by gloomy statistics and one-way monetary aid. Having established a project to link primary care clinics based on two-way sharing of education rather than one-way aid, our United Kingdom colleagues often ask us: "But what can we learn from Malawi?" A recent fact-finding visit to Malawi helped us clarify some aspects of health care that...

This paper reviews the role of language in addressing issues of instruction and diversity towards the achievement of the aims of basic education in Botswana. It also examines the role of indigenous languages in instruction in promoting and sustaining national educational goals as well as the development of a functional citizen. It further reviews the Botswana language in education policy and its implementation. The failures, inconsistencies between policy and practice, and real obstacles are...

This study analyses hydrological drought with due emphasis to ungauged catchments. Identification of hydrological drought and methods of unveiling its intrinsic multi-variate characteristics are investigated. The severity of drought has been examined using a multitude of methodologies. Quite often, absence of recorded long time streamflow data hinders a reliable drought analysis and understanding of the phenomenon in the past. Signatures of water stress are imprinted on tree rings. In this...

Abstract: School should be a ‘culturally safe’ place, particularly for those students in Christchurch who challenge the city's reputation as a culturally homogeneous space and are thus frequently open to discrimination. A case study focusing on Somali refugee adolescents highlights that Christchurch's secondary schools – like those elsewhere in New Zealand – are not a culturally safe, certain space for all students but rather spatially reconstruct inequalities of gender, class and ethnicity....

Language plays an important role in teaching and learning activities whether the teachers and learners are conscious or unconscious of this. Thus language and communication are the most important components of the school curriculum (Lopez, 2000, p.1). This is because there is a very close relationship between language and thought. As Muthwii (2002, p. 1) notes, “special problems arise in multilingual communities where learners frequently join the school system equipped with home languages...

School culture refers to a set of accepted beliefs and norms governing people's conduct in a school. Schools with a culture that favors teaching and learning French tend to have a longer history of offering French subject characterized by high expectations for and recognition of academic and co-curricula achievement, parental involvement, and career guidance and counseling. Such schools also tend to perform better in French in national examinations compared to schools without a French...

Globalization has continued to engender enormous debate, controversy, protest and demonstrations that are sometimes violent. The reactions against globalization and its implication to human development have been pronounced in the relationship between the developed rich Western world, which are the owners of the new technologies and the poor developing countries. Major critics of globalization from Africa have argued that globalization is destructive to African culture and development....

Relationships that developed between low‐income African American mothers and home visitors in a Parents as Teachers program were studied. Qualitative open‐ended interviews were conducted with mothers. Results indicated that even though the program was designed to deliver the same curriculum to all parents, there were differences in the focus of the visits. Mothers actively made efforts to shape the focus of the mother‐home visitor relationships. Diversity within mother‐home visitor...

Abstract Theological education is of crucial importance in the mission of the Church in Southern and Central Africa. This paper discusses the changes that have taken place in theological education in post‐independence Africa. The author argues that theological education during the colonial period was Euro‐centric. As a result, it did not respond adequately to the pressing problems faced by the African people such as colonial oppression, poverty, patriarchy and others. However, the situation...