29th
AFSAAP conference
2006
Macquarie University
Africa:
Reconstruction and Renaissance
ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS
~~~ Papers presented at the Postgraduate Workshop are shown (PGW) ~~~
Christine Cheater
‘Peace is every child’s right’: The Machel
Report
In 1990, the Christian Science Monitor having noted that 750,000
children had died in the war in Mozambique, at least 250,000 had been orphaned
and children as young as ten years old were being used as soldiers both in and
outside Mozambique. The United Nations ordered an international research project
to study this issue and develop initiatives to help young victims of war in
Africa to look towards a reasonably happy and productive future. As chairman of
Mozambique's National Organization of Children and president of the country's
UNESCO commission, Graca Machel was asked to chair this study which was
published by the UN on November 11, 1996. Usually referred to as the Machel
Report, Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, had a profound impact both in
Africa and globally. In Africa programs were developed to reintegrate child
soldiers back into their communities and to resettle displaced children.
Globally the UN adopted an optional protocol to its Conventions on the Rights of
the Child which made the conscription of children for armed conflict a human
rights issue.
This paper places the Machel Report into historical context, looks at it
recommendations and their implications, and briefly outlines its impact on the
treatment and study of children in war zones.
Liz Dimock
The politicisation of women at the Cape
in the closing years of the nineteenth and into the early twentieth century: a
case study that examines women of the Molteno, Solomon, Schreiner and other
families.
The paper is based mainly on the
archives of these three families, focusing on relatively unexplored matters
around the correspondence, diaries, notebooks and other papers of women in those
families. The archives are part of the manuscript collections of the University
of Cape Town.
The politicisation of women in the late nineteenth century is not a new topic
and an introductory section examines the historiography and broader questions of
women’s suffrage in South Africa against a background of race and class.
The core of the paper concerns a network of white women, tracing their histories
through the last quarter of the century, their contact with each other, their
links through their male relatives to the political movements of the period at
the Cape and to the imperial relationship with Britain. The paper considers
Anglo-Boer relations through the same network of women, and shows how women in
this network became increasingly involved in broader international issues.
Geoffrey Hawker
Parliamentary Challenges in South Africa
The South African national parliament
is blended uniquely with a presidential system of government, and the
conjunction raises questions about the capacity of the parliament to control the
executive in a continent marked by strong presidential systems. The
overwhelming dominance of a single party, the African National Congress, in the
National Assembly, and the evolving but still weak position of the upper house,
the National Council of Provinces, also causes many to question the salience of
the parliament. Yet, the executive government has been challenged by the
operations of parliamentary committees and by dissent within its own backbench,
and more generally in the legislative and budgetary process. In addition, the
creation of nine new provincial parliaments has to some extent tempered the
power of the central government. This paper suggests that parliament’s oversight
of the executive is unfolding in ways that challenge conventional views of the
relationship.
Ruth Jackson
Safe motherhood in Ethiopia
Most Ethiopian traditional cultures
have fatalistic world views about childbirth; pregnancy is a “normal” event
because women get pregnant and give birth. Women and children also die in
childbirth; that is also a “normal” yet unfortunate event. Pregnancy is
described as a period of preparation to survive labour, to prepare for the
detachment of mother and child, to become two lives. It is a place or state
between life and death. Still, women worry about the health of their child and
of dying in childbirth. Maintaining tena during pregnancy describes the
necessary emotional, spiritual and physical preparations; birth is not just
about physical wellbeing. Traditional birth attendants place their belief in
Maryam, the overall protector of labour and childbirth, the midwife of midwives
and the one who gave birth to Jesus Christ to protect them.
This paper explores how the imperative from international reproductive policy
makers, especially in response to the Millennium Development Goals, is to reduce
high rates of maternal death and disability in countries such as Ethiopia,
through the transfer of modern health service interventions such as the
provision of emergency obstetric care, safe abortion services and skilled
attendants at birth. Just as the imperative for developing countries has been
modernisation as development; reproductive health policies are based on
modernisation by means of Western technology and its success with biomedicine.
Such approaches suggest that devoting resources to health care and delivery
assistance may make a difference to maternal mortality levels as these two
variables are connected to health care—the proportion of women receiving trained
assistance at delivery and the percentage of GDP spent on health services are
both statistically significant in reducing maternal mortality levels (Shiffman
2000:283) . However, this approach ignores the historical, structural and
cultural elements may shape maternal mortality levels in Ethiopia.
To a large extent, public health discourse about reproductive health begins with
the view that perceptions of risk are absent in traditional societies;
consequently, “traditional culture” might be an “obstacle to health” (Obermeyer
2000b). Given that 85 per cent of Ethiopia’s population live in rural areas
with the vast majority of people living more than 10 kilometres from the nearest
health facility, only five per cent of women in Ethiopia deliver in a health
centre or hospital. This means that 95 per cent of women deliver at home with
the assistance of family members, traditional birth attendants or with no
assistance at all. This paper offers an interpretation about women’s
reproductive health in rural Ethiopia and whether “traditional culture” is an
“obstacle” to reducing maternal mortality and disability. A major issue that is
addressed is that of the social construction of women as mothers in Ethiopia
whereby ‘their reproductive role [is] central to the definition of their
identity and status’ (Pankhurst 1992:178). At the same time, the position of
women is dominated by patriarchal structures and the cultural norm yebalal
akal (the one from above knows). Yebalal akal influences the social
behaviour of the family, school, workplace, church and legitimates the idea that
people are unequal and that the natural state of things is inequity (Vaughan and
Tronvoll 2003). Following Obermeyer (2000b), I agree that women in Ethiopia are
not ignorant about the risks of childbirth, because they worry about the health
of their child and of dying in childbirth. But “traditional culture” is the way
meaning guides social structure and social relations. It can form a
constraint on women’s choices about what to do about risks in childbirth as it
reflects women’s options (or lack of them), consequently, traditional beliefs
need to be recognised and considered in the goal of safe motherhood in
Ethiopia.
References
Knutsson, A., 2004, "To the best of your knowledge and for the good of your
neighbour": A study of traditional birth attendants in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Göteborg
Obermeyer, C.M., 2000b, Risk, Uncertainty, and Agency: Culture and Safe
Motherhood in Morocco, Medical Anthropology, 19, pp 173 - 201
Pankhurst, H., 1992, Gender, Development and Identity: An Ethiopian Study,
Zed Books, London and New Jersey
Shiffman, J., 2000, Can Poor Countries Surmount High Maternal Mortality?,
Studies in Family Planning, 31 (4), pp 274 - 289
Vaughan, S., and K. Tronvoll, 2003, The Culture of Power in Contemporary
Ethiopian Political Life, Swedish International Development Cooperation
Agency (SIDA), Stockholm
Daniel Kark (PGW)
‘As wide as the
needs of society’: Mass Education in British Africa
This paper explores
post-war British colonial education policy. It deals specifically with the
formation of Mass Education policy for the African colonies. While Colonial
Office documents placed Mass Education – alongside local government reform – in
the fore of the post-war colonial development effort, the scheme was ambiguously
defined and poorly specified. Intended to foster the creation of African
initiative, benign individualism and a sense of citizenship, it was hampered by
ambivalent articulation and weak implementation. It failed to make any
noticeable impression upon the territories for which it was intended. But it did
serve a purpose, addressing international concern for social conditions in the
colonies.
Christine Khoza (PGW)
The role of parental education by gender
in explaining secondary education attainment of their children.’
This article analyses the role of
parental education by gender difference with regards to literacy on high school
attainment in South Africa. The study used census 2001 data set, which covers
the whole of South Africa. Analysis focuses on the 443 211 children who were
aged 21 years old at the time of census 2001 and were still staying with their
parents out of the overall 9 230 611 persons aged 21 years in 2001. Research
questions were; (a) what role does parental level of education plays in
explaining high school attainment of their children, (b) does educational level
of parents by gender make any difference on high school attainment of their
children, (c) to what extent do race and family size influence secondary school
attainment in South Africa. Logistic regression was used to predict the
probability of children attaining grade 12, given the parental educational
achievement. Children of both parents uneducated as well as those of uneducated
single mothers and fathers had the lowest probability of attaining high school
education. On the other hand, children of educated single mothers and those of
both parents educated were twice more likely (odds ratio=2.032 and 2.000
respectively) to attain secondary school education and above. Indian and White
children tended to complete secondary school education timeously as compared to
African and Coloured children. Children from small family households were more
likely to attain secondary school education than children from large family
households. There is a need to increase the percentage of students who graduate
from school on time, since this would enhance better educational levels of
future parents who would in turn educate their children beyond high school
level. Since it was found that educated females tend to educate their children
above secondary education level, there is a need to make an extra effort to
encourage girls to complete school.
A Kiprono Lang’at (PGW)
Deconstructing neocolonialism: a discourse analysis of education
and development in Kenya
Neocolonialism theories bring back to life
memories of colonial imperialism especially to the locals in countries such as
Kenya where, 43 years after the proclamation of self-governance, most rural
communities appear to be still awaiting the ‘true’ independence. The locals may
have seen the political ‘peace’ and sovereign recognition of their state but
many are yet to realise the education and development systems that will set them
free from being constructed by both their own government and non-government aid
agencies as impoverished subjects. Perceived from the Kenyan experience,
Spivak’s questions on ‘representability’ become not only relevant but more
importantly identify a need for studies that will attempt to give voice or
deconstruct the notions of the wamaskini (impoverished subjects) or in
Spivak’s words ‘the subaltern’. The question in Gandhi (1998: 1) made by
Spivak (1985) was ‘Can the subaltern speak?’ Indeed this was and still is a
contested question. And even though such studies as this current one attempt in
some way to let the selected impoverished subjects in Kenya speak in relation to
the NGO aided projects, the best it can offer is to add to the debates.
Max Kelly
Crisis and
development in Southern Africa – questioning policy and practice in uniting
humanitarian relief and development.
Countries of southern Africa have experienced
ongoing food security problems, exacerbated by HIV/AIDS and a range of complex
policy issues resulting in high levels of child malnutrition, mortality, ongoing
and deepening poverty, famine, insecurity, breakdown of social networks and high
reliance on aid, both food and other. The food and humanitarian crisis in
southern Africa is a slow onset crisis, with the current food crisis gaining
attention since 2001. Although climatic variability has impacted on food
security, the causes of the current crisis are much more complex. Southern
Africa is one of the least developed areas of the globe and the potential for
reversing the current levels of poverty and risk to communities across the
region seem extremely limited. This paper explores the range of factors
currently associated with the ongoing food crisis. The international response
has been strongly oriented to humanitarian aid, with perhaps an ever widening
gap between emergency relief and development. Policy for addressing food
security is analysed, and the impact of regional and national policy decisions
on the role of longer term community development is assessed. The paper
concludes that much greater attention needs to be paid to a coherent policy
framework for development n the region. Finally the question will be raised
how can humanitarian aid and longer term community development objectives be
reconciled to achieve better food security for individuals and households at
risk in the region?
Christine Khoza (PGW)
The role of parental education by gender
in explaining secondary education attainment of their children.’
This article analyses the role of
parental education by gender difference with regards to literacy on high school
attainment in South Africa. The study used census 2001 data set, which covers
the whole of South Africa. Analysis focuses on the 443 211 children who were
aged 21 years old at the time of census 2001 and were still staying with their
parents out of the overall 9 230 611 persons aged 21 years in 2001. Research
questions were; (a) what role does parental level of education plays in
explaining high school attainment of their children, (b) does educational level
of parents by gender make any difference on high school attainment of their
children, (c) to what extent do race and family size influence secondary school
attainment in South Africa. Logistic regression was used to predict the
probability of children attaining grade 12, given the parental educational
achievement. Children of both parents uneducated as well as those of uneducated
single mothers and fathers had the lowest probability of attaining high school
education. On the other hand, children of educated single mothers and those of
both parents educated were twice more likely (odds ratio=2.032 and 2.000
respectively) to attain secondary school education and above. Indian and White
children tended to complete secondary school education timeously as compared to
African and Coloured children. Children from small family households were more
likely to attain secondary school education than children from large family
households. There is a need to increase the percentage of students who graduate
from school on time, since this would enhance better educational levels of
future parents who would in turn educate their children beyond high school
level. Since it was found that educated females tend to educate their children
above secondary education level, there is a need to make an extra effort to
encourage girls to complete school.
Temesgen Kifle
The Gender Wage Gap in Eritrea
The continuing incidence of gender
inequality in education is a significant obstacle to social and human
development. One of the collective commitments of the world conference on
education for all was aimed at universalizing access and promoting equity. Since
then quite a good progress has been made towards gender parity in enrolment.
The major importance of investment in education is the benefits that accrue to
individuals in terms of lifetime earnings. The human capital theory explains
wage differentials as a consequence of differing human capital stock. According
to this theory, the attempt to break down barriers to women’s educational
achievement indicates progress in closing gender wage gap. However, the theory
is criticized for the reason that different rates of return on human capital
might arise due to discrimination.
The aim of this
paper is to estimate the gender wage gap in Eritrea and find the portion of the
gap that is explained by differences in human capital and the part of the gap
that is due to discrimination using the traditional wage decomposition technique
introduced by Blinder and Oaxaca (1973) and the method developed by Cotton
(1988). The analysis of gender wage gap is important because it provides an
essential reference point of measuring the progress of women and assessing the
effectiveness of several policy initiatives.
Patrick
Kimunguyi
Changing Paradigms or Symbolic Rhetoric?
Perspectives on the EU Development Policy
Until the 1990s, the African,
Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states unequivocally were Europe’s most preferred
developing country partners, and ACP-EU relations were the most visible and
important component of the EU development cooperation program. ACP-EU relations
began in 1957 and were elaborated in the Yaoundé and Lome conventions and the
present 2000 Cotonou Agreement. For many, the relationship became a ‘model’ of
future North-South relations or a ‘bridge between the rich and the poor’. This
paper contends that the present EU-ACP relationship is neither unique nor
successful but symbolic gesture demonstrating the EU’s breadth of commitment to
the South as it seeks to enhance a perceived role as a key player in
international relations.
Otieno Kisiara
Integrating refugee
information networks in resettlement cultural orientation programs: a
preliminary investigation report and research proposal.
This paper reports
on a preliminary examination of the pre-departure cultural orientation program
for refugees in East Africa seeking resettlement in the US. Refugees approved
for resettlement in the US are required by resettlement agencies to attend
cultural orientation classes offered by the International Organization for
Migration (IOM). The goal of these classes is to prepare the refugees for life
in the US. In this paper, I report on a brief examination of these classes, and
argue that while they offer valuable information for refugees, they don’t take
sufficient account of the refugees’ own information networks that may supply
additional and sometimes contradictory information about life in the US.
Wendy Levy (PGW)
In the Shadow of War: Australia's
relations with Sudan from Kitchener to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and
beyond.
This paper looks at the history of
Australian involvement with Sudan, in both government and non-government arenas.
It notes that much of our engagement has taken place in the shadow of conflict,
including the recent influx of Sudanese to Australia as refugees. It looks to
the future and opportunities for Australian involvement as peacekeepers and in
business ventures.
Patrick McAllister
Ubuntu
The notion of ubuntu (humanity, human kindness) has featured in many
aspects of politics in South Africa since 1994, and was prominent in the process
and practice of reconciliation represented by the work of the TRC. The paper
explores the origins and the etymology of the term and considers questions such
as the extent to which it is part and parcel of everyday African life as well as
its status as ideological concept.
Yasuo Mizobe
A Survey of
Gold Coast (Southern Ghanaian) Newspapers in the Latter Half of the Nineteenth
Century
In the Gold Coast,
the spread of Western education and the influx of educated Sierra Leoneans in
the second half of nineteenth century caused an increase in the population that
was literate in English. The expansion of the literate class activated
discussions in English, which formed the basis of the publication of newspapers.
Such newspapers could be regarded as one of the important written sources for
examining the contemporary historical issues of the Gold Coast; this is because
they allow us to directly access the discussions and arguments of the editors,
writers and contributors through the articles and letters that they contain.
However, when we refer to these articles and letters as historical documents, it
is indispensable to clarify the conditions under which the newspapers conveying
them were published. In order to elucidate these aspects, this paper surveys the
characteristics of the newspapers published in the Gold Coast in the latter half
of the nineteenth century, particularly with regard to the years, place and
frequency of publication; the newspaper’s price, number of pages and size; and
the names of the editor, publisher, proprietor and printer. The author also
examines the following questions: how many copies were published, what kinds of
people subscribed to or read these newspapers, how was the newspaper business
managed in those days, what was the tone of the press, and how did the colonial
authorities react to them?
Muchaparara Musemwa
The Farmers- Miners Dispute:
Contestation over Resources between White Settler Farmers and Miners in Colonial
Zimbabwe, 1903-1945.
This paper examines the meaning and
legacy of the struggles and conflicts over access to and control over natural
resources between white settler farmers and miners (prospectors) on the Gold
Belt in colonial Zimbabwe. Most writings on the development of mining and
agriculture in the colonial period have made passing references to this conflict
(Hone, 1969, Murray 1970, and Phimister 1988). Few have even emphasised the
compatibility between these two economic interests, arguing that as the mining
industry underwent reconstruction, and the capacity of European agriculture
increased, so too did the two major sectors of the economy consolidate their
business relationship (van Onselen, 1976). Notwithstanding their contributions
to the history of mining these approaches have tended to obfuscate the
deep-seated and significant contestations over natural resources and meaning,
which accompanied the development and reconstruction of the Rhodesian mining
industry for over four decades. Least documented is how the protracted
contention between the farmers and miners, and the environmental impact of
mining activities led to the introduction of conservation measures as well as
new environmental categories that were to have an enduring effect during the
formative stages of colonial development in colonial Zimbabwe. The controversy
also brought into sharp focus relations between various agencies, namely the
government departments, mining and agricultural interests. This piece of
colonial Zimbabwe’s environmental history brings a significant dimension to the
study of changing landscapes. It expresses the ways in which human communities
and the natural landscapes mutually constructed each other. Examining this
intra-racial struggle over resources illuminates the long-term and on-going
resource conflicts on the Gold Belt and beyond.
Namuunda Mutombo
Sources of respondent resistance in HIV
voluntary counseling and testing services (VCT) research in Zambia
The success of social research largely
depends on the respondents. This paper outlines factors that affected response
in the Zambia HIV voluntary counseling and testing study (ZHVCTS), which I
conducted between January and June 2006.
The method used to generate information for this paper is a by-product of the
overall research methodology used in the ZHVCTS. The ZHVCTS interviewed, among
others, people living with HIV/AIDS, health service providers including
traditional healers and policy makers using semi-structured questionnaires and
focus group discussion guides.
Bureaucracy, lack
of financial inducement and HIV/AIDS stigma, were the main inhibitors to
successful interviews. Other factors included the test effect and sense of
incompetence on the part of service providers to answer technical questions.
However, the underlying problems were the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS and the
commercialization of HIV/AIDS.
Apollo
Nsubuga-Kyobe
Tensions in African-Australian Families
(Anecdotal Melbourne Experiences): and What Appears to Connect with Family Court
Endeavours.
Theme: African-Australians
Cultural/Family Values Vs the Working of the Australian Family court.
What is termed “Family Values” include matters of cultural sensitivity thus
those from African-Australians’ perspective constitute key dimensions and
processes crucial to their everyday life. The African-Australians feel it is
critical to preserve the said values as part of the aspirations to preserve and
sustain their cultures in Australia within the Multi-cultural paradigms. In
certain circumstances, the same has tended to cause tensions in a family,
generally a result among other things from effects of transitions including
refugee experiences or other situations confronted before and after arrival in
Australia. On one hand, the Family Court of Australia is fully committed to
providing a service free from discrimination whether by race, religion or
gender. On the other the Court aspires to operate in a way relevant or that
accounts for the multi-cultural type of the Australian society (i.e. being
sensitive to cultural diversity). Given the above certain situations would
entangle Judges with difficulties from specific interpretations of the legal
provisions Vs cultural demands. While the legal provisions in Australia are
fundamentally framed based on the Western Cultural understanding,
inconsistencies arise in respect of some ethnic cultural practices, for example
some of which from the African-Australians’ background. The matter of
respecting cultural sensitivity appears to be creating dilemmas for the Family
Court, leave alone there being no such a thing as a definite “African Culture”.
Notable, the key African-Australians’ dominant culture(s) is/are yet to be
established.
Margaret O’Callaghan
Moving aside the shield of political
correctness
Much has been written about what could
be rightly called “The AIDS Industry” which has often taken the form of a new
“scramble for Africa”. But almost all of the writings, and especially official
documents, have been bland dissertations on what should be, rather than what is
and almost all players continue to maintain that position.
This paper attempts to draw aside “the shield of political correctness” and
explores some of the realities. The discussion will include the subject of
condoms, “zero grazing” , treatment, the role of traditional chiefs, donors,
churches and NGOs, forms of government denial, including suppression of data,
the role of Africans compared to outsiders, the role of conferences and other
talk fests, and, most importantly, the fear of finger-pointing to the main
causes of the spread of HIV.
The purpose is not
to be offensive or blaming but rather to provide evidence and motivation for a
more honest approach to the subject so that future assistance will be much more
effective, and therefore save more lives, and that donor money will be used more
appropriately.
Alan
Thorold
The revival of
Sufism in Malawi
Sufism has played
an important part in the history of Islam in Malawi. The early converts to Islam
were mainly Yao invaders who moved from Mozambique into what is now southern
Malawi and had strong links (formed through their involvement in the slave
trade) with the coast. Within a couple of decades of the major conversions in
the 1890s the Yao Muslims adopted aspects of the Sufi practice that was then
popular in many of the East African coastal towns. Many of the Muslim leaders or
sheikhs identified themselves with one of the Sufi orders and the central ritual
of the Sufis, the dhikr, became widespread. The beliefs and practices associated
with Sufism have been challenged by Muslim reformers for several decades, and
when I did fieldwork in Malawi in 1985-86 it seemed as though the reformers were
very much in the ascendancy. However, more recent fieldwork in 2004 revealed
some interesting signs of a revival of Sufism and an organised response to
reformist and fundamentalist versions of Islam.
Annie Stopford
Trans global families: The application of
African ethical and conceptual systems to African/western relationships and
families
In this paper I argue that African ethical and conceptual systems have
an important contribution to make to theorization of complex African-western
families which are forming in some locations around the globe. Drawing on my
research into transculturation in heterosexual African and non African
Australian relationships, I argue that despite enormous obstacles both in terms
of the hegemony of the monogamous nuclear family model, and patriarchal
attitudes toward female sexuality, "Africanisation" of relationship and family
structures can occur in western locations in ways which are not necessarily
antithetical to women's rights, responsibilities and desires.
Vera
Williams-Tetteh
Ghanaian funerals in Sydney: multicultural
influences on linguistic practices
The present study explores Akan funerals as a cultural and linguistic
practice through which the Ghanaian community sustains traditional norms, values
and beliefs in a western multicultural setting. Previous studies on Akan
funerary practices have focused on socio-economic roles of migrants in the home
country giving little regard to socio-cultural and sociolinguistic aspects of
these funerals abroad. Current trends in migration, refugee intake and
globalisation dictate that lesser known language groups and their accompanying
cultures need to be accounted for in their new (western) locations to give a
clear indication of that society and its history. One such location is
Australia. Its reputation as a multicultural country comes with the underlying
presence of lesser known and diverse language groups. The present study aims at
giving one such minority language group a representation in Australia’s
literature and history. Set in the paradigm of anthropological linguistics and
its accompanying theory of linguistic relativity, the present study employs the
ethnography of communication perspective to describe and lay bare analysable
communicative units in Akan funerals for the interpretation of embedded norms,
beliefs and values of salience to Akans as they occur in Australia.