This study examines the nexus between space and society in West Africa using the Nigeria–Benin borderlands as a case study. Indeed, governmental institutions in the region have used the state as the major unit of policy formulation thereby
Regional integration from “below” in West Africa
A study of transboundary town-twinning of Idiroko (Nigeria) and Igolo (Benin)
Olukayode A. Faleye
Djénéba Traoré
“Reflection must precede actions and decisions.” —the West Africa Institute Throughout its history, Regions & Cohesion has been committed to promoting citizen perspectives on regional integration. Such approaches to region-building are a
The Appropriation of Bicycles in West Africa
Pragmatic Approaches to Sustainability
Hans Peter Hahn
Bicycles have a wide range of functions and roles in West Africa. They have vital functions for everyday necessities, but they also constitute prestige objects. The appreciation of bicycles in Africa started very early, almost simultaneously with their diffusion as consumer goods in Europe. However, the adoption of bicycles followed a specific pathway, which is explained in this article within the conceptual framework of appropriation. Cultural appropriation highlights the significant modifications of bicycles in Africa and the abandonment of some functions like braking. In spite of the technical simplifications, modified bicycles are perceived as having higher value, by virtue of their fitness for the tough roads and their increased reliability. Appropriation results in a specific “Africanized“ bicycle, which makes possible a prolonged usage. This essay argues that the “Africanized“ bicycle constitutes a model of sustainability in matters of transport, one which is not sufficiently recognized in current debates about sustainable innovations.
Engaging Anthropology in an Ebola Outbreak
Case Studies from West Africa
Emilie Venables and Umberto Pellecchia
The largest Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in history severely affected the three West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea during 2014 and 2015. As we write in March 2017 the region is still considered Ebola free since the last
Theodore Randall
This article discusses the medically pluralistic character of malaria prevention and treatment-based health-seeking behaviour among the inhabitants of a predominantly Jola village in the Gambia, West Africa. Through the presentation of ethnographic data obtained between 2003 and 2004, the paper demonstrates that traditional health services - represented by traditional medical practitioners and medicinal plant usage - among the Jola appear as much, if not more accessible, available, affordable and acceptable than the biomedical services - represented by biomedical practitioners and antimalarial medication usage - provided by the Gambian government health system. This accessibility, availability, affordability and acceptability occur to the extent that many of the villagers suggest that traditional health services become incorporated into the Gambian government health system. The need to integrate traditional and biomedical services becomes especially relevant given the existence of traditional services within the context of biomedical hegemony and limited Jola accessibility, availability and affordability of biomedical services.
Introduction
Understanding Experiences and Decisions in Situations of Enduring Hardship in Africa
Mirjam de Bruijn and Jonna Both
internalization (i.e., realities of duress). The articles in this section are all based on ethnographic and biographical studies situated in specific parts of Central and West Africa, where the conditions of life exemplify the notion of duress as we propose it
Doing <em>bizness</em>
Migrant smuggling and everyday life in the Maghreb
Line Richter
Drawing on extensive fieldwork among Malian migrants and connection men, this article investigates the sociality of facilitating migrant journeys and illegal border crossings in the Maghreb. Dominant discourses portray smugglers as participating in highly organized networks of unscrupulous people taking advantage of innocent migrants. I counter such narratives by zooming in on West African migrants involved in the facilitation of illegal border crossings. This bizness consists of ensembles of temporary practices and relations embedded in everyday life with linkages to historical and regional practices of brokering and hosting. This perspective invites us to move conceptually from focusing on different (stereo) types of smugglers to considering smuggling practices; to make sense of the phenomenon, we need to pay less attention to fixed social positions and more to the transient social poses adopted by those involved.
Degrees of Permeability
Confinement, Power and Resistance in Freetown's Central Prison
Luisa T. Schneider
; in fact, getting caught completes his dramaturgy. Through exposing wrongdoing with wrongdoing, his performance exposes the police's weakness. In his study of the West African Hauka, who use mimicry and mockery to negotiate colonialism, Paul Stoller
In The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2020
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 88–104
A Social Negotiation of Hope
Male West African Youth, ‘Waithood’ and the Pursuit of Social Becoming through Football
Christian Ungruhe and James Esson
The popularity of football in West Africa is now so pervasive that even the most inattentive visitor to the area would struggle to overlook the sport’s hypnotic hold over the hearts and minds of children and youth. A journey through any town in the
Investigating the Investigators
French Colonial Attempts to Supervise Its Policing System during the 1930s*
Ruth Ginio
Modern policing in France developed in parallel with the extension of French rule from the coast of West Africa into its hinterland. Indeed, as several recent studies have shown, colonial policing was an integral part of colonization and the
In Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jun 2020
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 43–61