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African First Ladies are categorised into two: the less powerful First Ladies, the behind-the-scene actors, making positive contributions to their spouses’ regime and the powerful First Ladies whose arbitrary powers and overarching presence pose real threat to the regime. Extant studies concentrate on the former and pay scant attention to the latter. Drawing on the activities of Patience Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s former First Lady, this paper explores the ways Patience and other powerful African First Ladies contribute to regime change in emerging African democracies. In doing so, the paper explores the anatomy of female power and its intricate interface with the Office of the First Lady, the framework for appropriating and exercising the power of the First Lady. The goal is to provide the theoretical basis for understanding the empirical, that is, the practical ways Patience Jonathan and other powerful First Ladies appropriate power and contribute to regime change in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite obvious gravitation towards child adoption in recent times, resistance to the practice is still strong among Igbos in southern Nigeria. The paper explains this resistance from the Igbo cultural orientation of the past, which survives in the present, and the socio-economic realities of contemporary times. It demonstrates how the Igbo socio-cultural contexts provide both a formidable force against the identity of the adopted and a basis to contest against such for socio-economic privileges in the contemporary context. The paper further explains the implications of this development – a gradual creation of a new group of the Igbo with unshared identity in urban centers, who unlike the conventional migrant Igbo, has little or no link with the 'traditional homeland'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The escalation of the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast region of Nigeria since 2009 has led to the death of thousands of people and left over 4 million displaced. Internally displaced persons were resettled by the Nigerian authorities in 22 IDPs camps in Borno and other states in the Northeast region and Abuja. Many of them were resettled in host communities with relatives, friends and also in informal IDP camps. What remains to be investigated is the International Christian Centre for Missions' intervention for the resettlement of the IDPs from the Northeast region at Uhogua in Edo State. This paper argues that the church's intervention was primarily to offer adequate protection to the IDPs from the minority Christian communities in the Northeast states, whose homes were devastated by Boko Haram. This paper investigates the Church's intervention being the only faith-based organization that is offering humanitarian assistance to IDP from the Northeast region at its camp in Edo State. It investigates the following: who initiated the idea and established the connections for the Church's intervention? Who identified and moved the IDPs from the Northeast to the camp? What is the nature of ICCM's intervention and challenges faced by the church? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a historical and ethnological review about the Anioma people of Nigeria. The popular narrative regards the Anioma land as Benin kingdom territory, and generally describes the people as Benin immigrants or refugees in their present locale. This brand of thought has been amplified to the extent that their past is distorted, and they are now experiencing crisis of identity and with time, they will be as little informed about their past. The paper deploys the critical historical analysis method to interrogate the origin of the Anioma clans. It depends on primary source materials which consist of archival and oral testimonies obtained from the field and supplemented with available secondary materials. The paper argues that any workable hypothesis on Anioma identity in the present time must begin with a plausible explanation of the original groups. It shows that the current identity crisis among Anioma people has much to do with the event of the Nigerian civil war. It concludes that although there were external stimuli into Anioma area, such had been absorbed linguistically over time, the innovations they came with reinterpreted completely in the climate of the aboriginal Igbo culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the neglected subject of the beginnings of civil aviation in Nigeria in the aftermath of World War I. Until now, the literature on civil aviation in British colonial Africa had focused largely on Kenya, Central and South Africa and on post-World War II West Africa. This paper, relying on previously unexploited archival material, examines policy debates and options considered by the Colonial Office, the Air Ministry and the Nigerian colonial government. The unique, pioneering aviation drive of Nigeria's Governor Hugh Clifford took place in the context of immediate post-World War I dynamics: economic vicissitudes, Anglo-French rivalry in West Africa and the policy interface between London and the colonies. This paper demonstrates that aviation development in Nigeria had roots in the early 1920s, and that the initiative was not a metropolitan monopoly, thereby illustrating the extent of colonial gubernatorial autonomy vis-à-vis London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the cultural imperatives to determining democratic survival in Nigeria. It observes that the general notion that cultural inequality may systematically obstruct democratic participation by the members of subordinated groups is trite. It argues rather that the current crisis faced by democracy is linked essentially to the lack of a space capable of dealing with both social complexity and cultural pluralism. The paper is a desk study borrowing heavily from secondary sources of data and review of extant literature. While not pretending about the potential for ethno-cultural and religious violence imminent in Nigeria's attempt at democratic consolidation, findings, however suggest that in a multicultural society like Nigeria, democracy has the potential to flourish if the different cultural groups understand and tolerate one another by enlarging the space for public participation and debates naturally encapsulated in the principle of popular rule. It recommends that a practical engagement with federal democracy, rooted in the principle of federalism, remains an attractive model for the survival of Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One key achievement of European colonialism is the attempt to introduce the institutions of Westphalia-model state to Africa. However, deprived of the imperative necessities for the development of a sound national spirit required for nations which have only recently come to self-consciousness, the modern state structure is not serviceable in Africa. Despite all that has been written about it, the failings of state-building in Africa remain widely misunderstood. Some, in particular the governments in the African state and their apologists, attribute it almost exclusively to external debacles. Others attribute it, almost entirely, to developmental policy failure. The paper argues, from the emblematic cases, that it is the product of an explosive mix of the two. The paper concludes that the unprogressive nature of the African state mirrors, among others, citizens’ selective inaction but now, to move the continent forward, the African peoples must take proper ownership of their societies to forge responsive nation-states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the panic-buying of COVID-19 vaccines by wealthy countries for their citizens, otherwise known as 'vaccine nationalism', and the quest to develop local capacity for the production of vaccines in Nigeria. The paper argues that in the light of the global race, and attempts by countries to urgently secure the COVID-19 vaccines for their citizens, it behoves on the government of Nigeria to invest in the health security of its citizens and put aside the over-dependency on charity and goodwill of Western countries at every turn. The paper concludes that vaccine nationalism can spur the development of home-grown capabilities not just for vaccine against COVID-19 but vaccines and other novel therapeutic or prophylactic products for the prevention and treatment of endemic and emerging disease. This will in turn create jobs, improve healthcare delivery, curb medical tourism and stem the tide of migration of health professionals. The methodology is descriptive in approach, relying on personal observation and data gleaned from journals, magazines and Newspapers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were initiated as a new chapter in international development and contributed to the use of global goals and the setting of targets as a key tool for defining the international development agenda. Given this growing significance, little is known about how they affect key stakeholder policy preferences, and their wider implications on Universal Primary Education in Nigeria as the second goal (MDG2), which inadvertently neglects secondary and tertiary educations. Domesticating the MDGs and building on the loopholes identified by MDG 2, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were introduced as a broader version of the MDGs. While Goal 2 of the MDGs focuses on achieving Universal Primary Education, Goal 4 of the SDGs addresses quality education across all levels of education. In this regard, this paper focuses on the relationship between the university system and the SDG4. Drawing on data from secondary sources, this paper argues that in order to ensure that the SDGs achieve a remarkable quantum leap in the area of education, the training and development of academics at Nigerian universities must be optimised and prioritised. Relying on the human capital theory, the paper opines that training academics in universities is one of the strategies towards realising Goal 4 of the SDGs. This is because university academics are the major determinants of the quality of academic activities that go on in universities, which are critical to the education system that is in turn a catalyst of development on a sustainable scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines issues of gender relations within the context of dominant patriarchy as represented in Samobaba's Yorùbá Bollywood comedy skits. Seun Shamsudeen, popularly known as Samobaba, has produced several audio-visual skits, clipped from Indian films (also known as 'Bollywood'), therefore generating intercultural dialogues for his skits. In these skits, dialogue in Yorùbá language is grafted on verbal and gestural communications in the Indian film pre-text. While the paper engages the gender question in five selected texts on his Instagram platform, its reading of the skits is undergirded by the framework of appropriation, especially in the recent sense of the theory advanced by Matthias Krings in African Appropriation: Cultural Differences, Mimesis and Media. The jocular elements of his comedy are made more visible through the appropriation aesthetics which in turn become instruments through which the subject of gender is brought to the fore. In the end, the paper submits that Samobaba's Yorùbá Bollywood is a projection of digital imaginaries that deserve further scholarly attention. This is because, apart from its entertainment potentials, it provides another platform through which gender relations are interrogated and, in the process, patriarchy is contested and sometimes subverted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the place and role of chiefs and their institution in the governance and development of rural society in South Africa, using a case study of six tribal authorities in the Moses Kotane Local Municipality, North West Province. It examines whether chiefs have taken active development roles in their communities, and how they are perceived by society vis-à-vis community councillors. It argues that active roles and endorsement by the people are evidence of the significance of chiefs in the rural governance structures. In the studied tribal authorities, chiefs assumed central development roles, by initiating development projects, mobilizing stakeholders, and providing information to their people that ensured compliance with government COVID-19 regulations. While development and service delivery issues are the mandate of the community councillors and council, people saw the chiefs as best suited to spearhead development in their areas, because of their proximity to society and knowledge of their needs. The paper argues that the institution of the chiefs constitutes an accountable leadership that acts in the interests of all people, and chiefs should be incorporated in rural governance structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper incisively engages with the ways in which African leaders are not assertively demanding restitution of their material artifacts dispossessed in the eras of enslavement and colonization. It questions indigenous people’s struggles for restitution of materialities colonially dispossessed beyond a simplistic view of decentering their hierarchy and ownership. Besides, the paper critically interrogates why Euro-America scholarship generously offers resilience discourse as perhaps the most important conceptual addition to international policy making in the last few decades to Africa, but it ironically does not care to restitute dispossessed material artifacts back to indigenous African peoples. The paper argues that colonial dispossession is about recentering indigenous people as masters and owners of material artifacts via restitution. Using coloniality of dispossession/theft this paper proposes a framework of restitution that aims to address resilient colonial dispossession enacted by the West. It is pointed out that decolonization will be achievable through restitution of indigenous material artifacts. I engage in the topic of restitution of material artifacts, particularly in the context of Asante people of Ghana. The paper contends that restitution of dispossessed material artifacts would empower indigenous peoples in Africa and strategically position them in global geopolitics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Akoko is a Yoruba subgroup in south-western Nigeria, where people from different origins are found in clusters of autonomous communities. A common identity of Akoko is heterogeneity of its cultures. This heterogeneity is more profound in its social practices, such that there is fundamental departure from general Yoruba tradition. Drawing evidence from Akoko's social relations, this paper discusses peculiarity of social grading system in pre-colonial Isua Akoko (an Akoko community). Like many communities in this sub-group, the history of origin of Isua is shrouded in migrations and connections from different directions such as Edo and Yoruba. This diversity makes the history interesting to gender, particularly the cultural fluidity in its social grading system. The grading was crucial to Isua's identity. This paper argues that social grouping cannot be homogenised between the two sexes: while males were grouped through age, females were categorised with the parameters of marriage and procreation. However, these trajectories of female grouping created a vacuum of uncelebrated women: the infertile and childless that did not have progeny. Inculcating these women in social grouping makes this research germane. With focus on Isua, the paper advances existing scholarship by discussing intersections that knit gender and micro history. The paper is approached from historical perspective with the methodology of narration and critical analysis of data. Theory of African womanism is used to interpret gender narratives in the sources and analyse data. This study concludes that social grading in Isua reflects gendering unique to its history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article ostensibly underscores the interpretation of gender, structural inequalities and violent identity-interplay in selected novels in Zimbabwe. It vigorously examines the effects of the state of disaster on Zimbabwean's post 2017 experience. A plethora of themes ranging from the entangled past, stunted memories of the present were exemplified in the article. The paper epitomises how trends in the novels emanate from African literature, with specific reference on the fictional writings in Zimbabwe delineating and it depicts social issues of both the past and present which have haunted Zimbabwean social constructs. After Zimbabwe's independence on 18 April 1980, Zimbabweans anticipated euphoria that independence would usher in the desired peace. The political ruling class from the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) promised a strong political framework and commitment to the course of women's liberation. The achieved independence did not bring about the anticipated freedom but promoted the dichotomy among women and men and also, that of Black and White that had earlier preoccupied the defunct Rhodesia. Relying mainly on female novel writers, the paper hinges on Tsitsi (1988) Nervous Conditions, Vera's (2002) The Stone Virgins and other works in passing to delineate trends in the constructions of characters' responses to identities created by masculine stereotypes. This article explores Butler's theory of performativity to argue that there is an ambiguous link between the past and present, the depiction of gender violence and structural inequalities in the postcolonial Zimbabwean literary space which were largely demonstrated in Zimbabwean novels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attempted erasure and inferiorisation of indigenous languages by the colonisers have robbed and continue to rob African people of the authority to self-define. As a result, numerous knowledge forms African languages transmit have disappeared or lost meaning. With vehement calls from African people, world over, to reclaim African ways of being, we have decided to explore the manner in which language is central to reclaiming of African healing practices. While colonialism managed to marginalise indigenous languages in colonised lands, these languages have not been completely erased and they could play a role in building Humanities literature, which is relevant to the experiences of Africans in conqueror South Africa. In this paper, we use the IsiXhosa expression of 'Ukucelwa ukuzalwa' to illustrate how ordinary African practices carry a spiritual meaning. We also illustrate how this concept loses meaning when it is translated into English. Ukucelwa ukuzalwa could be literally explained as a process of requesting blood relations yet the English translation turns the process into a bride price negotiation. This loss of meaning occurs when it is absorbed into the Western value system. Thus, there is a potential for epistemological dissonance at every attempt to translate from one language to another [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper unpacks the discursive construction of black Zimbabwean identities through multimodal WhatsApp status update posts by Zimbabweans on the WhatsApp social media platform. Cognisant that WhatsApp constitutes part of the public sphere where public discourses are generated and shaped, it explores and interrogates how status update content provoke and inspire identity discourses that perpetuate unequal racial relations that we argue are rooted in colonialism and its legacies. It deploys netnography to collect data through online participant observation over a one-year period. Theoretically, the data analysis deploys Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis and Coloniality to demonstrate that the analysed posts generate meaning through interactions across multiple modes and that racial stereotypes articulated in the data texts are rooted in notions of Western colonial hegemony. The paper argues that the WhatsApp status posts constitute semiotic modes that articulate and disseminate ideological value-positions that ridicule blackness and extol white racial supremacy. It is concluded that hidden in the status posts are white racial hegemony and negative attitudes against black racial identity, widely consumed and which, if left unchallenged, undercut what anti-colonial struggles sought to correct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scholarly discourse on migrants and land access in peri-urban spaces is advancing theoretically and empirically. This paper contributes to this important discourse by examining the structures and networks used by migrants of international descent in accessing and securing the much coveted land in peri-urban spaces of destination countries. The study is qualitative, based on an ethnographic inquiry among Malawian migrants in Lydiate, an informal peri-urban squatter settlement in Zimbabwe's Norton town. The finding of the paper is that migrants resort to alternative institutions including kinship, political networks and investors in accessing and securing land in peri-urban spaces. Migrants also establish themselves through the occult, a religious and ritual-based form of authority that is associated with deathly symbols. Because it is feared by adherence and indigenes alike, the occult is able to yield and guarantee land to migrants seeking it in its name. Migrant squatter settlements, therefore, emerge as dynamic spaces with novel forms of authority that regulate access to resources. Beneath the semblance of chaos that characterizes squatter settlements, there is another different 'world'; ordered and shared by those who constitute it. The paper further argues that, the reason why migrants turn to alternative forms of authority in accessing and securing land is not because they prefer it; very often, there are no formal institutions that they can turn to. What this means for academia and policy makers is that, there is a broad scope of players that need to be engaged in the planning and governance of peri-urban spaces in the age of transnational mobility. These players include political patrons, investors, and other primordial forms of authority which include kinship and the feared occult. These players not only need to be understood but also require to be engaged in the ongoing construction and governance of peri-urban spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the evolution and development of the road transport business in Tivland from the 1960s to 2015. Tivland is located in Benue State, central-Nigeria. The contention is that the advent of British colonial rule led to the construction and expansion of footpaths into motorable roads in Tivland. Tiv entrepreneurs took this advantage by engaging in the transport business. Therefore, transport entrepreneurship was a watershed in the economic development of Tivland. The paper made use of both primary and secondary data, and its approach is descriptive, narrative, and analytic. The paper finds out that the road transport business has contributed to the socio-economic development of Tivland. However, the transport business among the Tiv was beleaguered with some daunting challenges: bad roads, lack of finance, lack of loan facility, mismanagement, stiff competition from outsiders, lack of insurance cover, and extortion of drivers by security personnel. As a way out of these challenges, the study suggests that roads should be repaired and new ones open up to reach areas of production in Tivland. There is also a need to make loan facilities available to aspiring Tiv entrepreneurs to support their businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My paper offers an interpretative approach using visual analysis. In doing so, the paper contributes a discourse on artworks by the South African artist, Nelson Makamo, and focuses on the images drawn from black children. And 'the predominant theme, black child, is examined as African vernacular rooted images. He uses the motif of the African child to reflect on different'lived experiences of black children in South Africa. Thus, his paintings and drawings were selected and 'analysed for their formal content and contexts, and the discussion is framed by the insight gained through interviews with the artist'. While several ideas are reflected in each of the works analysed, the works highlight the contemporary social issue of homelessness experienced by rural-urban migrants, the early training of a black child in carrying out responsibility, the socio-ethical humanism in African communities, especially in the upbringing of black African child, and the effects of technology on regard for African cultural values in a young African child who adopts headphone in the postcolonial era. Through these, it is argued that Makamo's representations of 'black African children engage a discourse that contributes to global contemporaneity'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports on a study that was conducted to explain the state of Curriculum Studies in Zimbabwe from 2004 to 2014. Data were collected from 51 articles published in three local education journals and semi-structured interviews with 18 authors selected through convenient, purposive and stratified sampling, across three academic staff categories of professor, senior lecturer and lecturer. Issues focused on in the articles, the manner in which they are discussed and the authors' views on these aspects were studied. The concept of knowledge democracy was employed to explore how the articles contributed to the field of Curriculum Studies. The findings highlight how authors attempted to strike a balance between the use of international theories and local discourses. We argue that the perspectives used by the authors should be understood as being both survivalist and tactical. Significant shifts from, for example, Western theories and discourses mainly indicated the influence of the post-independence politics and educational ideals within Zimbabwe. The paper concludes that writing about indigenous knowledge, alongside other contextual and cultural issues points to possibilities for the realisation of knowledge democracy in the field of Curriculum Studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a study of the decline of Aboh’s economic influence in the Western Niger Delta owing to Europe’s increasing influence in the internal affairs of the Niger Delta in the era of legitimate trade. It evaluates the extent to which European commercial activities influenced Aboh’s trade with other groups of the Western Niger Delta and how they reacted to the European commercial penetration of the Niger Delta interior. The paper depended on primary and secondary sources of data on the subject. The primary sources are largely colonial intelligence reports and oral testimonies from the field and supplemented with available secondary sources. It deploys descriptive and analytical methods to address the subject. The paper argues that Aboh’s pre-eminence as the key player in the trade of the Lower Niger was challenged by European commercial interests. Thus, the paper is a detailed long-run analysis of this well-known argument about European interest within a West African context. The findings show that Aboh lost its middleman position to European penetration into the Niger Delta hinterlands. It concludes that European commercial activities in the area granted economic gains to other Western Niger Delta groups originally under Aboh’s influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quest for the relevant skills necessary for socio-economic transformation in Africa partly explains the drive by African countries to attract investments by multinational corporations (MNCs) – the custodians of modern skills and technology. While the literature is replete with analyses of liberal policies and incentives offered to encourage investments by multinational corporations, little scholarly attention appears to have been paid to the need to incorporate MNC skills policies and programmes into the national skills agenda. In Nigeria, like many developing countries, several years of MNC operations have not resulted in any meaningful alignment of multinational skills development programmes with national aspirations for human capital formation. It is against this backdrop that this article examines the skills development challenge in Nigeria vis-à-vis the efforts of multinational corporations in the area of skills development. The article is anchored in the Human Capital Theory of Gary S. Becker and Protectionist Narrative of Joel Bakan. The article engaged with key-informant interviews (5) and in-depth interviews (19) conducted in selected multinational companies, government agencies concerned with skills development and Organised Labour Federations in Nigeria. The paper has found that there is somewhat incongruence in MNCs' skills development practice and national aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zimbabwe's socio-economic crises are well debated but not so much how they encroach on subjectivities. This paper discusses hustling as a multidimensional practice wrought by the crises and used by unemployed youth to get by. Using material from intensive fieldwork done in 2009–10 in Beitbridge on the border with South Africa, the paper discusses subjectivities spawned by and through hustling. With a premium on survival and managing uncertainty, hustling enlists ordinary citizens, law enforcement agents and others and blurs the line between work and crime as well (il)licit and (il)legal. Through the concept of 'schizoid subjectivities', the paper illustrates not only paradoxes of policy incoherencies and contradictions that create opportunities for hustling, perpetuate uncertainty for hustlers and deepen distrust among actors, but also edgy and conflicted lives of actors. The paper concludes that in the absence of viable alternative employment hustling is likely to continue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The language question is topical in Africa because of colonial hegemonies by colonial and languages of global communication such as English, French, and Portuguese. English hegemony in dominant domains fosters the coloniality of language in liberated territories such as Zimbabwe. Part of the decolonising agenda in Africa was to rename the public space so that it reflected the character and heritage of the liberated Africans. This paper establishes the coloniality of culture as expressed through language and heritage displayed in toponyms. The research argues that the renaming process in Zimbabwe did not produce equality or African bias on names used to name and re-name towns, suburbs, and airports. While some elements of the Zimbabwean linguistic landscape were renamed as a decolonising process most of the new names still bear colonial forms as colonialism affected even African identities that are used in the renaming. Renaming in Zimbabwe was biased towards correcting names than changing them, and this process has concentrated on Shona names at the exclusion of other languages and cultures. Conclusions from the paper are important for policymakers as they seek to decolonise names through re-naming. The nexus between toponyms and identity opens up opportunities for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interrogates the identities in the representations of women adorned in African cultural dress forms in contemporary Nigerian paintings. While many studies have explored the subject of African dress forms from other viewpoints, not many are known to investigate the topic from the perspective of contemporary Nigerian paintings. It is for this reason I purposively selected five paintings from different artists in which they represented women adorned in African dress forms to communicate the expressions of personal, social, religious, and cultural identities within different contexts. Although the contemporary paintings give clues to the expressions of identities in dress, the ideas and meanings conveyed were also interrogated in each work. In engaging the paintings in close case study interrogations, the paper combines formal analysis and cultural history methodologies. Formal analysis is adopted for the analysis of the formal elements in each painting, whereas cultural history is used to contextualise each painting within the culture and history that is recalled to give the representation its proper identity. Besides, the close case study analysis reveals that the artists drew inspiration from the personal aesthetics of women adorned in African dress forms in different Nigerian cultures. Through the representations, three notable African cultural identities are manifested, which include Yoruba, Gwari, or Gbagyi and Hausa cultures, aside from other identities interrogated in each painting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper appraises the way Facebook and WhatsApp social media users construct or obfuscate their identities and that of their followers and/or audience. Social media users post their statuses and what is on their mind on the public domain. These posts are presumed to 'project' the sender's identity dis/aligning themselves with readers or potential readers. The discursive processes involved are crucial for the appraisal of how identities are constructed or obfuscated. Language is at the centre of identity co-construction or obfuscation. Engaging the Appraisal and Social Constructionism theoretical frameworks, the paper examines identity construction or obfuscation from the three levels of analysis: lexical, textual pragmatic and interactional levels. Data for analysis is purposively sampled. Observation and group discussions are utilised to appraise the discursive socio-semantic meanings of the status and posts on social media. The paper argues that identities are largely obfuscated than constructed on social media. Identities are never unified, fragmentation of identities in differing situations and contexts compound obfuscation of identities in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses methodological reflections based on an empirical research project on gay rights advocacies in Ghana. It engages the possibility of emotional harm on researchers in the fieldwork that may not be inherently captured by universities' ethical procedures. In the event that ethical procedures consider harm to the researcher, the word 'harm' is often defined within the parameters of physical injury and not emotional ones. This paper concludes that researchers dealing with 'vulnerable' participants should be better equipped in terms of building emotional fortitude. This could be attained by making emotionality a part of research ethical processes. This would help deal with the attendant emotional rollercoaster researchers experience on the field. This is important because being conscious of emotionality shapes the way researchers perceive and relate to the underlying emotions that accompany the narrations of research participants in the quest to be reflexive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Akokoland is a conglomeration of many towns located in the north-eastern part of Yorubaland. There exists many colonial documents with narratives to the effect that, colonial rule profited the Akoko communities that were brought under it. This paper, however, argues that colonial rule adversely impacted and altered the workings of the kingship institution in the period under review in Akokoland. Through a gristmill of sources, the paper discusses how power politics was used as a divide-and-rule tactic to enforce loyalty and consequently alter well developed traditional political institutions using the kingship institution in Akokoland as case study. The paper reveals that colonial enterprise in Akokoland was tailored towards the pursuit of power and rewards rather than the welfare of the people through political opportunism paid for by the establishment of harsh tax regimes and the imposition of political control of non-Akoko towns on the people of Akokoland by the agents of colonial administration. Beyond this, the kingship institution in Akokoland has continued to show resilience and remains a potent pillar of societal cohesion, viable grass root mobiliser, interpreter of government policies and viable agent of inclusive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how musicians sympathetic to MDC appropriate, exploit, and ultimately seem to fall victim to the narrative traps present in Chimurenga music and its role in Zimbabwe's political history. In this paper MDC's Chimurenga music videos and songs are analyzed to bring out deep lying meanings and placed in a historic context. The paper analyses how the visual and lyrical content contest the 'authorized' version of Chimurenga to the extent of creating a new understanding of Chimurenga discourse and Chimurenga music. The selected video text helps identify lines of appropriation and contamination/mutation as it traces and contextualizes the evolution of the MDC war song up to a point it generically becomes similar to the traditions of Chimurenga established in the 70s. It is crucial to look at how a sense of 'memory' is 'extracted' as well as how it is re/packaged, re/distributed and received or contested in the service of MDC's counter hegemonic propaganda. In this vein, we do not seek just to point moments or points of appropriation but also instances of mutation/violation that the MDC music videos usher into the narrative of the Chimurenga discourse especially in a post-colonial context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patterns of research funding in the UK clearly evidence unequal awarding to the detriment of applicants of African descent. This paper presents a case from 'within' this larger machine of knowledge production: a failed funding application made by two applicants to establish a social science network connecting African/ist scholars in Northern Ireland (UK) to those of its neighbouring Republic of Ireland (EU). Rated highly in the positive peer reviews of those appointed by the funding agency, the deficit cannot be readily placed on the content of the application nor on the universities of the applicants at the time, both highly positioned within the institutional stratifications in the UK and ROI. To illuminate from within this darker side of structural knowledge delegitimation in the global North, we situate this application as an insider example of the conditions which militate against advancing marginalised study areas. We do so to work against the prevailing impression of such work being impossible; turning to that which is not structurally delineated by institutions nor national funding mechanisms. In publishing this paper, we re-assert our ethical obligations and agency as intellectuals to bring to light the defunding of such endeavours and the larger genealogies of influence in our times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is currently facing a global pandemic, code-named the Covid-19, which is seriously wrecking a devastating blow on world health care system. Since the first index case was reported in Lagos, Nigeria, in February, 2020, the Federal and State Governments have put measures in place to curtail the spread of the deadly virus in the country. Some of the measures include the constitution of the Presidential Task Force (PTF), provision of isolation and treatment centres for confirmed cases, and the pronouncement of lockdown order by the President and some State Governors. Amidst these measures, cartoonists (artists, or authors in literary context) have taken to the media to creatively present humorous and satirical depictions of the pandemic and social realities in the fight against it. This study, thus, analyses the humorous and satirical depiction of the pandemic, the state of the Nigerian health sector, and the country's major actors in the fight against the scourge, using selected cartoons from the Nigerian context. These cartoons can be classified as graphic literary texts that can be subjected to different interpretations. The cartoons/texts are selected from the Facebook pages of popular Nigerian cartoonists/authors. A total number of ten (10) cartoons/texts were randomly selected between March and April 2020. The number of cartoons was limited to ten (10) in order to accommodate the rigour of qualitative analysis, which, in turn, informed one of the limitations of the study. This study adopts two (2) models/theories in interpreting the cartoons, which are Suls's (1983) Incongruity Resolution (IR) model, a linguistic tool of lexicalisation, re-lexicalisation, and shared sociocultural knowledge used to explicate humour and satire in the cartoons, and Structuralism, which requires human behaviour (as represented in texts or cartoons) to be understood in the context of a broad social system (otherwise called structures) in which they exist. This study observed that the cartoons are not just independent texts or images, but that they are products of the Nigerian social condition, and that understanding them requires a level of familiarity with their contexts of production.It also revealed that, as a means of visual communication, the cartoons exposed the realities in the country and refused to be relegated to simply satirical images of issues and events in the country's history. The analysis showed that cartoons are an important part of the discourse on the pandemic. Equally, the paper revealed that, the cartoonists have deployed both verbal and non-verbal incongruity to present comical images that show beliefs of Nigerians about the pandemic and the level of the country's preparedness in flattening the curve of the contraction of the virus. Although the paper is concerned with Covid-19 in the Nigerian context, it is limited to the linguistic and literary analysis of the pandemic in selected cartoons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigated the relationship between Nigeria’s national questions and ethnic identity crises. The study employed a qualitative approach as its method of data gathering and analysis with the adoption of secondary sources. It contended that Nigeria’s political history is riddled with conflicts and instability occasioned by the crisis of identity which has jeopardised the country’s national unity and political integration. The paper concluded that ethnicity as a major sentiment causes social and political quagmires which constitutes serous national questions and further negatively influences development in Nigeria. As a result, this conundrum not only affects Nigerian national integration but also the level of harmony, patriotism and loyalty to the legitimacy of the Nigerian state. The paper recommended that, to stem the tide of ethnicity crises, there is the need to demystify and deconstruct ethnicity, regionalism and promote, through dogged political mobilisation and sensitisation, a sense of belonging among the diverse groups that constitute the Nigerian state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spread and prevalence of COVID-19 in several countries had effected several parts of human relations, political governance and shuttered individual and corporate livelihoods. While works have being developed to provide understanding of the issues related to COVID-19 pandemic, the focus of such works has largely been on industrialised world, neglecting Africa. But undeniable is that the pandemic created new ways of social relations and affected economic well-being on the continent. Using online research survey instrument, the paper examined the effects of COVID-19 containment measures, its effects on social relations, and its effect on individual and household economy. All the 325 respondents, who were randomly selected from across the country to participate in the survey, returned the online questionnaire. Inferential and descriptive statistics were utilised for data analysis. Among others, the paper found that as a result of the COVID-19 induced social distancing and lockdown in Nigeria, economically, individual and household finances and income declined; and socially, Nigerians were separated from friends, families and colleagues, and were deprived of their social lifestyle, which were negative for their mental health. It concluded that COVID-19; and social distancing and lockdown had adverse effect on the social and economic life of Nigerians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an Afrocentric perspective, this paper investigates the concept of ethnic stereotype, the divergent experiences of white and black migrants, and how negative stereotyping of Africans has contributed to the xenophobia against black migrants in Africa and across the globe. One critical question addressed in this paper is why Africans hate migrants from other African countries but respect white migrants. The answer to this question is the same reason black migrants in Western nations are oppressed and discriminated against by their white hosts. This paper shows that this problem is rooted in the longstanding malicious stereotype of black inferiority that developed in the context of slavery and colonialism. If stereotyping is about creating ‘otherness,’ then the white man has assumed the position of the ‘ultimate other’ in the African mind. The internalization of colonialism and oppression also makes many Africans consider their fellow black men the ‘inferior other.’ The paper demonstrates that deconstructing anti-black stereotypes is key to addressing Afrophobia. This will require deliberate efforts to regain the African mind from the colonial-fabricated lies about Africa and the denigration of black people that have pervaded the global epistemological space. Positive pictures of African culture and history must be projected, which calls for the decolonizing of the media and the formal education system. This paper also traces the origins of anti-black stereotyping, an important history that must be uncovered to restore the self-esteem of black people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the concept of social and environmental sustainability is not a new philosophy in African cultures and can easily be practiced among Africans based on a better appreciation of their indigenous philosophies. It attempts to explore how the Ubuntu philosophy of humanness manifests in the Adinkra symbols to give an in-depth understanding, which shows how African societies share commonality in their concepts and to establish that African indigenous philosophies mirror strongly social and environmental sustainability dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals. It further attempts to show a purview of Ubuntu extended that illustrates that social and environmental sustainability is inseparable in African philosophies. By method, the research purposefully selected six (6) Adinkra symbols and discursively analysed how they explain the Ubuntu Philosophy and their link to socio-environmental sustainability. From the findings, Adinkra symbols reflected the Ubuntu’s common values, which are compassion, mutuality and solidarity, and metaphorically showed their connection to socio-environmental sustainability and thus creates agency and deep appreciation for acting on the Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated politeness types constructed between doctors and patients during medical consultations in private hospitals in Akure, Nigeria. While the earlier studies on doctor-patient interactions in the Nigerian context employed Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory and Leech’s politeness maxims, this study adopted Akio Yabuuchi’s hierarchy politeness. Yabuchi’s model of hierarchy politeness was employed as a framework to identify the types of politeness. It investigates how politeness type influences linguistic choices and hierarchical behavior in doctor-patient interactions. The politeness types constructed are institutional politeness, symmetrical politeness, and quasi-institutional politeness. Common strategies used by doctors and patients to negotiate hierarchy within the politeness’ constructions include veneration and comprehension strategies. Asymmetry is customary between doctors and patients in Nigerian private hospitals; although patients pay for the consultations, doctors seem to act as the superior participant by constructing desired politeness type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between South Africa and China has not reached its full potential but has gathered great impetus and simultaneously stirred up controversy. Two important issues that have arisen concerning this relationship are whether the engagements between the two countries are mutually beneficial or asymmetrically favour one country over the other. This paper interrogates South Africa-China relations between 2009 and 2019, an epoch in which the relationship between the two nations became convoluted as much for what it entailed as for what it excluded. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 participants, and the information that was gathered was supplemented with a review of the literature within the context of the relationship. We found that South Africa-China relations go beyond the issues of minerals and other related natural resources. We also found that while there are elements of asymmetry in this relationship in economic terms, this asymmetry is somewhat exaggerated. We, therefore, recommend that regardless of this exaggeration, South Africa must place itself in a position to define terms of engagement with China and put in place measures to demarcate such perceived asymmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This theoretical paper endorses that Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a severe acute respiratory syndrome that the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a world pandemic on the 8th of March 2020 has exposed a plethora of opportunities and inequalities in education. To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries of the world enforced some form of lockdown and restrictions, and that affected the culture of social institutions including the African university. The effects of lockdown and restrictions on human contact and movement resulted in the innovations in pedagogic and assessment practices that shifted from the traditional face-to-face approach to the digital online mode. While being guided by Bourdieu's cultural capital theory, the study examines the narratives of the digital divide gap in African university education. The study also borrows from Lloyd Morrisett, an American experimental psychologist who contributed to the digital divide gap theory. The study acknowledges that learners, teachers, and administrators from poor universities and communities in Su-Saharan Africa (SSA) encountered challenges such as internet accessibility, infrastructure, power supply, technical knowledge, and training, and cost of data. The study certifies that there are a plethora of inequalities related to the digital divide gap that was ignored and still needs to be mitigated. The study recommends the need to upgrade the information and communication technologies (ICTs) and related infrastructure to the reach of many including the vulnerable and marginalized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Musicians generally react to the issues that affect people in the communities where their music emerges. This is evident in some songs that are sung by Zimbabwean musicians following high rate of migration in the country. This movement has caused disintegration of various families, hence musicians find it worthy voicing out the implications of these economic hardships on the social cohesion of family. In that sense, music becomes a powerful repository of popular sentiments about all aspects of the society, from its norms and values to its economy and politics. It is against this backdrop that the paper seeks to examine the songs sung by Zimbabwean Shona musicians about the effects of migration on the family. Using content analysis of the selected songs, the researcher uses four songs, namely, Batai mazwi, Yerent and Muhope ndinewe and Dzika ngirozi. Guided by the Africana womanist perspective, the research established that family relations of people in Zimbabwe have been negatively affected by migration due to economic challenges bedeviling the country. It can be concluded that musicians play a significant role in articulating issues that affect people in their different situations in society. In other words, they act as a voice of the voiceless majority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature and pattern of sustenance of democratic rule in Nigeria since the inception of the fourth republic which followed the exit of military rulers in 1999 have continued to generate scholarly debates. The conundrum of whether or not the country has freed itself from the ominous influence of the culture of military rule is a huge concern. Using former President Obasanjo and current President Buhari as case studies, this article examines the extent to which the reemergence of Nigeria's former military Heads of State as civilian administrators since 1999 has affected constitutionalism and democratization in Nigeria's political leadership. The patterns of administration of civilian government as well as democratic infractions of both regimes are considered. The paper relies on secondary data and the descriptive method of analysis. The Military Transition Model, a strand of Transition Theory, was used as a framework for further clarification. Rather than improve on the tenets of democracy, findings show that elements of absolutism and arbitrary rule are strongly perceptible. There are no convincing proofs that the reappearance of Nigeria's former military rulers into political leadership is reinforcing the country's long awaited democratization processes. The current political leadership in Nigeria has not demonstrated sufficient political will to eschew the dregs of contempt for rule of law. The study concludes that problems of democratic infractions are prevalent in the current political system largely due to the persisting influence of military culture of political leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Afropolitanism has become a very contentious keyword in the lexicon of current African cultural and literary studies. This is evident in several essays written on it which emerged in the 21st century. Two streams of Afropolitanism serve as take-off points for the debate and essays on the concept. The first is the perspective on the New African diaspora of Selasi. The second is Africa's rhizomatic cultural 'unity-in-diversity' in the continent from Achille Mbembe. Both streams share commonalities in terms of transnational human mobility, socio-cultural pluralism and Africanised hybridity they espouse. Critical responses to the concept of Afropolitanism are also divergent. They border on what is Afropolitanism and what it is not. Thus, drawing from the foregoing, this paper within a descriptive and analytical approach mediates on the debates on Afropolitanism by reviewing its extant literature. It mapped the possible kinship and differences which Afropolitanism shares with Afropolitan, cosmopolitanism, and Afrocentrism. It closed with a brief commentary on notable Afropolitan literature and a modest suggestion towards the need for what it calls 'Critical Afropolitanism'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the yoke of Babylon weighed on the exiled Judeans, music became one of the ways to let off their tension. Although they could not sing the joyful songs of the LORD, they composed lyrics about the depressing condition of being uprooted from their land of identity, Zion. Using the hermeneutics of identification, this article equates the experience of Judeans with the experience of many Zimbabweans in the diaspora, due to the worsening economy spanning from the Mugabe era up to the so-called ‘new dispensation’ under Mnangagwa. Just like the Judeans, some exiled Zimbabwean singers have also composed lyrics which express their pain in the diaspora and their longing to return to Zimbabwe. Despite having developed multiple roots in the diaspora, some still identify themselves with their rukuvute ‘umbilical cord’ back in their motherland, Zimbabwe. It is the argument of this paper that the loss of a structured, consistent and dependable world where cherished symbols of meaning are ridiculed and rejected and where value systems are diminished provides an important point of contact between the ancient texts (Psalm 137) and contemporary experience of diasporic Zimbabweans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From antiquity to present, there are notable women who have exercised agency in the best interest of African people. Names such as Nehanda, Queen Nzingah, Queen Mother Yaa Asante waa, Rosa Parks among many others are towering examples of women whose contribution to affirmation of life can only be doubted by those who are against Africa’s liberation and development. This paper pursues the intense interest in the contribution of mothers (both male and female) to affirmation of life in songs of Tocky Vibes, namely, ‘Mhai’, ‘Ndikagaya’, and ‘Aenda nenyika.’ The artist’s expression of the role of mothers in strengthening individuals as members of a family and community is quite inviting and revealing. The songs recognise the contribution of mothers to empowering young members of a society and fully prepare them for life. Among a plethora of other life-enhancing characteristics, the artist reveals that mothers groom individuals, provide love, strength, vision and purpose in life. Nothing short of recognition and recentering of motherhood finds expression in the songs. Motherhood is retrieved from the periphery that Eurocentrism has located it to firmly position it at the centre of positive child development. Critical appreciation of songs is inspired and guided by Africana womanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many studies have been devoted to interrogating the political history of the centralized Igala society and the enormous influence of the Atta and Achadu institutions on the Igbo polity and economy, little scholarly attention has been paid to analyzing, in reverse order, the influence of Igbo culture on the Igala society. Despite the precarious placement of women in traditional Igala-Igbo Nsukka borderland, the Umu-ada (women) institution represents one of the means through which women organize and assert power while promoting collective peace, security, development and socio-cultural transformation. We argue that the diffusion and adaptation of Umuada heritage in this region is traceable to geography, the influence of inter-ethnic marriage, trade, burial and funeral rites. The similarities and differences in organization and impact of this women institution in both Igbo Nsukka and Igala communities are appraised to show the preponderance of cultural dispersals in contemporary Nigeria. This paper relied on the use of both primary and secondary data. Primary data was obtained through oral interviews with aged Umuada (women) members of Igbo Nsukka-Igala communities including men. Oral data were intermeshed with secondary literature, especially published books and journal articles. The collected data were qualitatively analyzed using the cultural diffusion theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debates on hate speech regulation have divided scholars and practitioners. While the liberals largely argue that hate speech ban is anti-democratic and counter-productive for preservation of fundamental human rights, the humanists posit that hate speech is harmful and its regulation is relevant in order to avert the collateral damage/harm it inflicts on human dignity and equality of human beings. Despite the significant efforts in Africa to regulate hate speech, its debates focus on United States and Western Europe. Thus, the account of hate speech regulation in African context is largely understudied. This study therefore examines the impact state regulation of hate speech on sustainable democracy in Africa. Using the qualitative dominant mixed methods approach and data generated from Nigeria and Kenya, the paper argues that state regulation of hate speech presents an opportunity for fostering order, advancing national cohesion, reducing hate speech and promoting inclusive governance for all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion and economic status. The paper concludes that implementing hate speech legislation alongside other non-legal, dialogue-based, egalitarian, voluntary approaches are relevant for diminishing hate speech and the harms it engender as well as promoting sustainable democracy in Africa and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration of people from a certain area to a new destination is as old as human history. It is often made as a result of factors necessitating the movement either in the form of pull and push factors. In Ethiopia too, there has been various peoples' movements since whenever in history from their home areas to new destinations across the country. Some have resulted for permanent settlements and full-fledged citizenship in the areas they settled but it has also produced very complicated relations in some. Besides individual oriented movements in search of better opportunities, there were also state operated movements based on the severity of circumstances. This paper, therefore, is dedicated to comment on the political and citizenship status of state operated settlers in Ethiopia in light of the experiences of Settlers in Asossa woreda, Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State (BGRS) of Ethiopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the character and social organisation of community protests in South Africa. South Africa’s protests have been critiqued for their supposedly sporadic and unorganised nature befitting of the descriptor, ‘popcorn protests’. Based on the findings of this study, the researcher argues that although these protests are short-lived the movements behind them are not. A closer examination of the processes that activists follow before and after the protest event reveals the social organisation of these protests. The paper explains how and why the deep organising structures harbor participatory potential, albeit with their ineffectiveness so far. The researcher triangulated data from in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of territorial belonging remains one of the regular flashpoints of conflicts in contemporary politics. With identity overlap and context-dependent instrumentation of belongingness, the question of how one identity classification attains preponderance over others in the overlap and the character of the associated conflicts compel studying every instance as a unique case. This paper interrogates the instrumentation of multiple levels of indigeneship mobilisation in inclusion politics in tertiary education institutions in Nigeria. Qualitatively drawing from vice-chancellor’s selection politics in University of Nigeria, this paper found that four incentives drove the preponderance of ethno-territorial indigeneship mobilisation over other levels of indigeneship mobilisation in the institution. First, politically, the collective interests of the dominant Igbo ethnic group were held paramount in the ethnic territory. Second, the rationales for the collective interest of the ethnic group were widely acknowledged by all communal settlements on the ethnic territory. Third, democratically, the phenomenon ensured the rule of the majority in vice-chancellors’ selection politics. Fourth, the merit prerogative of the academy, breached in inter-ethnic struggle, remained sacrosanct in intra-ethnic competition for the choice position. These exemplify the situation of many federal tertiary education institutions in Nigeria and become their prominent trademarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the post-military experiences of junior rank Rwandan army deserters living as exiles in South Africa. It attends to the constructions, practices and subjective understandings of their peacebuilding efforts. It examines how, under circumstances of real and or perceived threat, these deserters navigate Rwandan state surveillance and violence in South Africa where they have become potential political and military disciplinary targets. These erstwhile soldiers are labelled traitors and therefore a threat to Rwanda’s national security and they live like people who are ‘on the run’. I argue that the real or perceived presence of the Rwandan state, in the form of an opaque network of state agents and informers, abductors and cyber spyware strips the exile context of its capacity to afford peaceful after-army lives to Rwandan army deserters. The paper draws from an ethnographic study that was conducted among Rwandan army deserters whereby deep hangouts, life histories and in-depth interviews were used to gather data. It is mainly underpinned by theoretical insights from Bourdieu’s theory of practice and Vigh’s notion of social navigation. This paper centers army desertion in analyses of militarism, peacebuilding and transition in African contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Eastern Africa coast has been a complex contact theatre between overseas peoples and the local population. These interconnections have over time produced mixed identities and cultural adaptation processes, expression, and transmission which are foundations of present-day Eastern Africa histories. The musician – historian's account reflects the coastal identities as not simply painful and isolated historical creations upon a place, but also a part of global processes of cultural productions and affirmation. Through YouTube video, the coastal musician retells the coast's history thereby preserving memory and lessons leant. The creative artist unveils the history – in an effort to gain inspiration from a cultural and commercial identity formation process. This paper, through Vitali Maembe's YouTube music video, Little Town Bagamoyo, seeks to highlight the narrative that music exposes in retelling East African coast story. It seeks to underscore that as forces of history continue to shape coastal civilization identities, the artist articulates a counter-hegemonic meaning to life, through music and narration in a global internet platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]