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Culture plays a significant role in the variations observed in the manifestation, expression, and meaning of attachment behaviors. Africa is home to multiple cultures, with distinct organizations of caregiving relationships underlying the development of attachment. This review aims to consolidate knowledge about African attachment by describing studies of infant attachment conducted in Africa since Mary Ainsworth's Ugandan findings in 1967. Electronic databases were searched with the terms "Africa" ("attachment" or "bond") and "infant." Nine studies that assessed infant attachment style with self-report or observation methods were included, but spanned only five countries. The Strange Situation Procedure was most frequently used. Most studies described dyads living in peri-urban or township areas. Multiple socioeconomic factors affecting living conditions were identified, including, unemployment, financial difficulties, limited education, poor housing, single parenthood, lack of partner support, substance abuse, and depression. Overall distributions of attachment classification proportions appear consistent with global attachment-classification patterns. Despite adverse conditions, secure attachment was relatively widespread, and some populations had low rates of avoidant attachment. Relatively high rates of disorganized attachment were found when the category was included. Africa remains an understudied continent regarding infant attachment. The continent's cultural diversity may hold important truths necessary for understanding the complex relationship between infant and attachment figure., (© 2019 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.)

Copyright of Janus.Net: e-Journal of International Relations is the property of Universidade Autonoma de Lisboa, Observare / Observatorio de Relacoes Exteriores and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Africans' voices and contributions to communication scholarship are of interest to many Africanists. Some discourses have explored reasons for this interest. This article continues this conversation. It recognizes the challenges contributing to the limited influence of the African voice in global communication scholarship and contributes to the theorizing of the African media. There are a range of factors impeding robust African engagement in global communication scholarship. These factors are explored in this paper. However, African scholars should look beyond these factors. The first part of the article explores reasons for the lack of active African input in this discussion. The second part of the paper explores the peculiarities of Africa that should form building blocks for the emergence of African media typologies. The extant normative media theories fail to consider the realities of African governance structures and philosophies. These should lead to a media framework more reflective of the realities of Africa. Indeed, the article proposes a conversation of four media typologies that closely match the continental conditions: pragmatic authoritarianism, pragmatic progressive, pragmatic libertarianism, and civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of education in the development of an Eritrean cultural identity is explored against the background of a review of relevant educational provisions in pluralist societies. Multicultural education in Eritrea offers access to a common culture and also to a variety of specific cultures. (SLD)

This paper reviews the author’s evolving research experience in Asante from the late 1960s to the present. It situates and discusses his ever deepening involvement with Asante individuals over the intervening decades, and traces the ways in which some of these interlocutors played a vital role in expanding his knowledge of Asante history and culture. The argument is made that sustained personal interaction over time with both place and people is the fundamental key to the recuperation and understanding of the Asante past, and indeed of African history more generally. It is further argued that current academic conditions, and notably the lack of research time and funding, militate against the kind of deep investigation described in this autobiographical paper. One consequence is that research into and publishing on Africa’s past sometimes now tends towards the superficial, with the publication of work that is short on new information and its analysis in specifically historical and cultural terms, and long on “theorizing” about and “positioning” within the present concerns of the academy and its personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preliminary studies indicate that African educational systems reflected their socio-cultural being, and fit into the moral, economic and physical developments of its generation before colonial inception. Marker (2011) noted that education is one of the significant tools for colonial exploitation in Africa. Even in this postcolonial era, the contemporary African education or knowledge system is predominantly centered on foreign educational structures and standpoints. This undermines or alters the focus of African belief systems and culture. Africans must preserve and promote their traditional knowledge-based system regardless of its coexistence with foreign education in order to sustain and restore their self-respect and total emancipation. In order to elevate the rich cultural heritage of Africans and to promote the indigenous perspective, there must be a paradigm shift from foreign epistemologies to a decolonized knowledge-based system. Decolonizing knowledge is an effort to theorize one traditional knowledge system and entrench into the imposed foreign epistemology theories and interpretations in order to promote indigenous standpoints. According to Dreyer (2017), it seeks to construct and legitimize other knowledge systems by exploring alternate epistemologies, ontologies, and methodologies. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of visual narratives/digital storytelling within Digital Arts in decolonizing knowledge and promoting indigenous African cultures and viewpoints. An exploratory research approach through a narrative literature review was utilized to come out with scholarly suggestions from the stance of digital arts researchers. Additionally, an oral interview was conducted to seek views from Digital Arts professionals and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the current situation of the provision of speech-language services in East Africa. An overview of the educational opportunities, workforce density, communication rehabilitation planning, caseload, and ethical and/or cultural challenges is provided. A narrative review was performed. All papers referring to communication disorders in East African countries were identified from EMBASE, PubMed, ISI Web of Science: Science Citation Index Expanded, and ISI Web of Science: Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science using the following search terms: speech therapy, speech pathology, speech-language pathology, speech-language rehabilitation, speech-language therapy, logopedics, East Africa, communication disorders, communication difficulties. Two concepts were combined with a Boolean operator 'AND'. At present, there is an alarming shortage of speech-language pathologists in East Africa. This issue is mainly related to the limited availability of educational programs in speech-language pathology. Although more and more universities are beginning to offer such educational programs, the number of available speech-language pathologists is still too low to meet the needs of all children with communication disorders. In addition, speech-language pathologists are often faced with different cultural and ethical obstacles when they provide intervention to East African children with communication disorders. These speech-language pathologists are therefore challenged to take a broader view of their role as a therapist. These alternative roles often include training of other individuals in the context of community-based rehabilitation. In the future, it will be important to carefully consider the development of sustainable learning opportunities in East African contexts. Initiatives, for example, "train-the-trainer" workshops, are needed to support the speechlanguage pathologists. Existing models like the communication disability model can aid to create holistic frameworks for the development of sustainable speech-language services in the East African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963) is widely known as a champion for the political rights of African Americans, founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), aggressive advocate of Pan-Africanism, staunch supporter of female suffrage, and one of the creative forces behind the Harlem Renaissance. Further still, Du Bois is known for his storied debates with Booker T. Washington and his magisterial "Souls of Black Folk" (1903). Those who study Du Bois and religion uniformly show how religion constituted a major part of his social scientific analysis of the world. Others document how a latent spirituality informed Du Bois's outlook on politics, economics, and society. Most of this work analyzes Du Bois's major studies and only minimally makes use of Du Bois's creative writing, with even less attention on what he wrote for "The Crisis," the NAACP's magazine that he edited from 1910 to 1934. This essay complements the existing scholarship on Du Bois and religion by attempting to more fully utilize what the author calls his "Crisis corpus." More specifically, by utilizing the latest scholarly perspectives, the author offers pedagogical strategies by sharing document-based lessons on Du Bois and religion from his own experience teaching in a secondary setting and university classroom. He discusses how he incorporates columns from the NAACP's "The Crisis" magazine into lessons on early twentieth-century America. Reading the contents of "The Crisis"--in particular the appearance of religion on its pages--can provide a more nuanced understanding of the rapid changes that defined the first few decades of twentieth-century American history. (Contains 31 notes.)

Africa's history and ecology were shaped by colonization. The European invasion of eastern nations had a significant influence on the environment. The technical advancements due to colonization have been both beneficial and detrimental to the colonized countries. The harmful consequences have prompted several researchers and African writers to conduct a critical examination of the interaction between humans and their environment in terms of race, culture, economy, power, and belonging. Ben Okri is an internationally acclaimed poet, writer, artist, and public speaker. In his trilogies The Famished Road, Songs of Enchantment, and Infinite Riches Okri has depicted the repercussions of colonization and the process of decolonization on the individual and the environment in order to understand the African reality. This paper highlights the interconnection of nature and culture which is considered as one of the main tenets of African culture and tradition. Okri employs magical realism as a literary method to emphasize the interplay between the human and natural worlds. Okri has included vivid imagery of verdant forest that has been deforested and wounded. According to the Yoruba mythology, the forest is frequently associated with magic and the supernatural world, in keeping with West African customs. Therefore, the exploitation of the natural world has led to the abandonment of traditional values which is well depicted. Further, the paper attempts to examine the effect of colonialism in eroding the spirit world and the physical world in terms of social structure and the degrading culture and its relationship with the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If we cannot do this, if Classics remains the preserve of a White enclave, then it is hard to see a future for the subject in South Africa.[23] Twenty-five years later, people may well ask if Classics in South Africa, historically the country in Africa with the most extensive network of university Classics departments, and the most international, but almost wholly White, Classics ecosystem, still remains that "White enclave". But for what we have been able to produce, we hope that this attempt will lead to a more sustained and serious conversation on decolonizing Classics in Africa, including what we can learn from the history of Classics in Africa and what strategies, challenges, and prospects there are for us to navigate. B David van Schoor b 's paper, 'For an African elenchus: colonial and post-colonial misprisions and Classics in Africa', attempts a refutation (hence, an elenchus) of two prevalent errors of interpretation - Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism - to point the way forward for future Humanities and Classics in Africa. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between board attributes and national culture on firms' investment decisions. Design/methodology/approach: The study used data from listed firms from seven Sub-Saharan Africa countries. Descriptive analysis was performed to provide the background statistics of the variables examined. This was followed by regression analysis, which constitutes the main data analysis. Findings: The multiple regression analysis results indicate a negative relationship between uncertainty avoidance (UAI) and corporate investment decisions. The study also found that there is a negative relationship between the interaction between UAI and the number of independent board members and corporate investment decisions. Originality/value: This study is one of the few to measure the influence of governance variables and national culture on corporate investment decisions in Sub-Sahara Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Africa, the culture of veiling by Muslim women is profound. Several forms of textile and art feature in the use of the veil across Africa, reflecting how that garment has become culturally embedded in the region. It is true that Islam's integration with African cultures is very much alive and visible. The story of veiling became prominent in Africa under Ottoman rule and in the context of cross-cultural intergroup relations through the trans-Saharan trade routes. This paper focuses on the history of the veil as a spiritual, artistic, political, and economic factor in the identity-making of Muslim women in Africa. The historical method is adopted to interrogate the complexities associated with veiling, using photographic representations, books, and journals. Photographic representations of women's dress in the Ottoman Empire provides a way to understand how permeated African societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the centre of African underdevelopment are slave trade and colonization. Expectedly, these two issues have been in the front burner of academic discourse, especially in Africa. While the literature is stuffed with forms and causes of colonialism, this current article contributes to the existing literature by interrogating the relationship between colonialism and some selected parts of Nigerian culture. The paper therefore examined the effects of colonialism on African culture, the relationship between colonisation and Nigeria's cultural crisis, including the challenges it poses for her identity. Using descriptive analysis and evidence-based research method, the study found that certain aspects of valued Nigerian culture were being eroded, especially as it related to the role of purity in religion and marriage. Findings further showed that the enthusiastic assimilation of Western culture by the younger generation was suggestive of a culture whose future is on a knife-edge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to contribute to the indigenisation discourse by illustrating how dominant discourses and cultural practices explain and perpetuate social problems. We argue that focussing on the fundamental issue of a cultural conceptualisation of social problems will contribute positively to the development of the indigenous social work practice framework. As social work education forms an important foundation for how future social work practices will be performed, we interviewed 15 social work practicum students in Ghana about the cultural underpinnings of social problems. Themes developed from the interview data suggest that culture plays a key role in conceptualising social problems in Ghana. Although not often, culture tends to underpin and perpetuate social problems, such as streetism, child marriage and child neglect. Social work practice within the indigenous framework should aim at addressing the negative impacts of the cultural undertones of social problems. Social work practitioners should increase advocacy and knowledge sharing on the cultural explanations of social problems and collaborate with community leaders to change cultural values and norms that have negative ripple effects on children, young people and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2003, Norway implemented an 'Introduction Programme' that aimed to increase labour market inclusion among newly arrived immigrants. Its main objectives were to facilitate free courses in Norwegian language training and social studies, and education or on-the-job training. The participants were given an allowance to attend the programme. This paper uses administrative register data to evaluate the effect of the Norwegian introduction programme on female immigrants' employment and earnings prospects. The sample consists of female immigrants from Asia or Africa who immigrated to Norway 18 months before or after the implementation of the introduction programme. The study measures their probability of being employed and their mean earnings 4–6 and 7–9 years after immigration. The results show that the Norwegian introduction programme had a small but significant effect on women's employment, but not on their earnings. This article suggests that the small effect of the programme on employment and non-effect on earnings may imply a displacement effect rather than an improvement in language skills and labour market skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of racial identity in the process and outcome of aesthetic surgery is gaining increasing attention in bioethical discourse. This paper attempts an ethical examination of the racial identity issues involved in aesthetic surgery. Dominant moral values in Western culture are explored in the evaluation of aesthetic surgery. The paper argues that African values are yet to receive the universal attention they arguably deserve especially in the rethinking of values underlying aesthetic surgery as racial transformation. Through a consideration of some moral-aesthetic values in the Yorùbá-African culture, this paper further re-evaluates the ethics of aesthetic surgery. The paper contends against the propagation of aesthetic surgery as a new form of bolstering racial divides and identity in the evolving cosmopolitan age. The position defended in the paper is that some values from Yorùbá-African culture are useful in the consideration of the ethics of aesthetic surgery and more importantly, in avoiding the racial identity bias embedded in aesthetic surgery. The paper concludes that if due consideration is perhaps given to some African moral-aesthetic values in the global aesthetic surgery industry, some of the evolving moral and racial complexities would be better mediated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: It is often believed that the type of religion that a group of people follow (Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, etc.) can account for significant and important cultural differences, with implications for business ethics, corporate and social responsibility, and other business-related variables. The alternative view is that the cultural differences between religions are either trivial or are actually misinterpreted ethnic or national differences. The purpose of this paper is to compare and evaluate these two views. Design/methodology/approach: The authors focus on Africa, the most religious region of the world, whose cultures should therefore be especially susceptible to the effect of religion. We used latest data from 100 religious groups, following 19 religions, and living in 27 countries, from the nationally representative Afrobarometer. The items in the authors' analysis reveal cultural ideologies concerning key cultural domains, such as inclusive–exclusive society (gender equality, homophobia and xenophobia), the role of government and the role of religion in politics. These domains are related to cultural conservatism versus modernization and have clear implications for management. The authors compare the group-level effect of belonging to a certain nation to the effect of belonging to a certain religion. Findings: A hierarchical cluster analysis produced crystal-clear national clusters, with only one of the 100 religious groups systematically clustering outside its respective national cluster. The authors did not obtain a single cross-national cluster of coreligionists. Variation between nations was far greater than between religious groups and the latter was most often statistically insignificant. A comparison of Muslims with other religions revealed that Muslims are not generally more conservative, although they do have a marginally greater tendency to be less gender egalitarian. The authors conclude that the African national environments have a much stronger impact on cultural differences than do religions. The effect of the latter, compared to the former, is negligibly small and often insignificant. Thus, they find no evidence that religions can produce a powerful discriminant effect on some of the most important elements of culture. Research limitations/implications: Non-Abrahamic religions are poorly represented in Africa. Therefore, we could not assess their effect on culture. Nevertheless, it seems that attempts to explain cultural differences in values and ideologies in terms of religious differences are misguided, even in a cultural environment where religion is very strong. Practical implications: The findings could help improve executive training in cross-cultural awareness, purging it from erroneous views on the origins of cultural differences. Managers should avoid simplistic explanations of the values and ideologies of their employees in terms of their religious affiliation. Social implications: Simplistic (yet very popular) explanations of culture as a function of type of religion should be avoided in society at large, too. The idea that different religions generate different cultures is not only dubious from a scientific perspective but also socially dangerous as it may lead to religious intolerance. Originality/value: This is only the second study in the history of the whole cross-cultural field that provides a multinational and multidenominational comparison of the effect of nations versus religious denominations on culture. Highlights: Religions are often portrayed as sources of important cultural differences. We compared differences in cultural modernization between religions and between nations in Africa. Variation between 27 African countries dwarfed that between 100 religious groups. Practically all religious groups yielded perfectly homogeneous national clusters. We did not observe a single cluster of coreligionists from different countries. We conclude that nations have a strong effect on cultural differences whereas religions have a minimal effect at best. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that organizational behaviour and business relations in African countries reflect preindustrial social norms typical of kinship based, rural communities such as in-group/out-group differentiation, reliance on kinship and the use of gift-exchange to create and strengthen social bonds. Design/methodology/approach – Two books on African management are interpreted using anthropological and sociological theory as the analytical perspective. Findings – The analysis of the two works suggests that the preindustrial patterns described in the anthropological literature play a central role in African management and business. Practical implications – The paper concludes that manager should recognize the negative effects that may follow from a rejection of these socio-cultural patterns of behaviour. Originality/value – It introduces Marshall Sahlins’ theory of social distance and reciprocity showing how this theory explains behaviours in and between African organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The visual arts were fully represented within the culture of liberation that flourished within South Africa’s liberation movements. However, relatively little has been written about visual arts representing the armed struggle. This paper aims to explore the visual arts created around the armed struggle; and begin to position this within a broader understanding of the culture dynamics that emerged as part of Southern Africa’s liberation movements, and the armed struggle in particular. Most scholars agree that music, poetry and dance were integral cultural expressions within the liberation movements; styles often developed within military camps, then were adopted throughout ‘liberated zones’. In contrast, military structures provided little or no space to practice the visual arts. Active military personal had little time or resources to create visual artworks, no storage and exhibition space, and little access to reproduction or distribution. Visual representation of fighters - both in photographs and realistic portraits - could create a security risk if taken by the enemy. Unlike music and writing, most visual art of the armed struggle was therefore produced within the mass movements, and in solidarity movements supporting the armed struggle. This paper discusses direct (in some cases personal) experiences of problems confronting visual artists of the armed struggle; and solutions artists found for these. It places the failure to recognize the visual art of the armed struggle within a broader failure to explore the integration of armed resistance with cultural practice and belief in the struggle for democratic societies in Southern Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the independence of many African countries, Christianity has been gaining freedom through indigenizing the church. Christian churches in Africa are self-indigenizing, self-innovating, and self-criticizing their practices and theologies. However, women in African churches remain in an uncomfortable zone. African, biblical, and missionary cultures have been named as sources of discrimination of women in the church. This paper deploys a 'theology of presence' to claim that contemporary Pentecostal Christianity (CPC) in Africa, with some continuity in African worldview and biblical cultures, has touched upon and answered women's complex and challenging questions that for a long time have been denied by Christian missionaries. The paper shows how theology of presence, in the 'witnessing' and 'healing' practised by CPC, has been transforming the missiological factor for women. The paper suggests learning from other models for transformation than policies and gender mainstreaming tools, since these have had little impact. The paper recommends research on hermeneutical reading of the Bible and providing more innovative skills to help women break the silence of being violated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States is entering a "post-European" reality, where the centers of world economics and politics have shifted. The world is increasingly dominated by Asia, and Third World nations represent America's most influential long-term economic and cultural partners. American educators must adopt their world view to the emerging global reality.(MLW)

Current humanity is experiencing extraordinary levels of material and ideal connectivity. Change being constant and stability exceptional and provisional; one has to expect a significant acceleration of change in the next hundred years. The core question is therefore: What kind of future is being shaped for the next generations, our grandchildren and greatgrand children? Without going too far back in time, it is fair to say that the current world was shaped by two different, successive and antinomic global processes: imperial expansion, colonization and domination on the one hand, and resistance, struggle for liberation, and the search for a more equitable world order on the other hand. Against all the odds, European imperialism, civil war, wars of aggression, and Western ostracism, China was an influential actor in the struggle for liberation of Africa from colonialism, got its rightful place in the international world order and is now the second economy of the planet. Globalization resulted in the emergence of a de facto multipolar world, with different models of societies and organizational cultures. These are dialectic processes constantly in operation, but there is however a third crucial area of interest, generally taken granted, that of people and culture. Peaceful relations and sustainable economic development backed by greater cultural and demographic connectivity are better options for the construction of a novel future for humanity. Universities and higher education institutions can play an important role in spearheading and implementing these new orientations for the construction of a future peaceful and sustainable human world in which war will be outlawed. This paper outlines what academics can do to promote such a vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the public frenzy over Thabo Mbeki's speech, "I am an African" that was delivered in 1996, South Africa has since become a subject of debate as to who is an African and what constitutes as African. This has been going on for almost two decades and a half now. Mbeki's speech appears to have evoked solemn questions relating to the issues of identity and culture. Subsequent to that speech, the South African public began to question what it meant to be African. The central point of enquiry was: what makes one an African? Is it the color of their skin? Their citizenship? Or is one merely an African because others regard him or her as such? These and many other questions arise when one touches upon the subject of Africans. These perplexing questions, however, are not only unique to the South African context; they apply, to some extent, to the general continent of Africa. With talks and debates about African renaissance, decoloniality, and indigenization, the question of African identity and culture resurfaces. Here, the discussion hubs around the issue of African persona and what it means to be authentically African. By means of document analysis, this paper critically employs a philosophical approach in order to grapple with the subject of identity and culture. This is done through a systematic discussion of the following facets: (a) history, (b) identity, and (c) culture. These three facets are therefore critically engaged in order to establish what constitute an African and what can be characterized as an African identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The emergence of the Chinese aid consensus has come to have profound implications for sustainability. The Beijing Consensus "sovereignty doctrine" of non-interference, presents a stark contrast to the Washington Consensus architecture of imposed conditionalities and the serving of geopolitical interests. For this reason, from Africa's perspective, the Beijing Consensus appears to represent the preferred comprehensive meta-narrative for Africa. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the attributes of "good" aid architecture in relation to the peculiarities of Africa's challenges. Design/methodology/approach - In examining its principles, objectives, framework differences and impact, the Beijing model shows that it supports the human rights which "unleash", empower and protect self-directed development grounded in ownership and in the strategic interests of recipients. Findings - The Washington Consensus has been problematic for African development because it is economistic and exclusively instrumentalist. While conceding to this shortcoming, the inability of the consensus to appreciate the unique and complex development problems of Africa is more troubling. Comparing the two, the Beijing Consensus, which is multidimensional and encompasses the intrinsic and non-economic roles of development aid, with the consequence of over-emphasizing expanding local policy, is adjudged practical for Africa. The conclusion is that the dominant Washington Consensus is too poorly articulated and structured to respond to declared determination for ownership, mitigating capabilities deprivation, and improving development control. Originality/value - This paper has argued that the basic approach of the Beijing Consensus has been more generous and more attractive for sustainable development in Africa. Much more important, perhaps, is the ability of the consensus to appreciate the unique and complex development problems which occur as a consequence of donor deafness on limited rights and conditionalities. In sum, the Beijing Consensus results in exclusionary changes of "less magnitude and speed" and promotes poverty reduction and sustainable development. Taken together, these factors and practices mean that the Beijing Consensus best serves the staircase of a nation's pathway to indigenous development, when compared with the Washington Consensus. Such a comprehensive meta-narrative that builds alliances and creates a foundation for enlightened and effective politics of development aid will "unleash", empower and protect the full potential of Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Analytical Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduces the articles published in the July 2005 issue of the periodical "African Studies". Authors who contributed to the issue; Topics of the articles; Issue's focus on developments in African culture during the post-apartheid era.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue which considers some of the contemporary debates in managing people in Africa. Design/methodology/approach - The papers that constitute this special issue were selected from submissions to various events hosted by the Africa Research Group, a community of scholars committed to researching Africa, and from a more general call for submissions. Findings - The papers highlight the changing picture of the African organisational landscape and provide both theoretical and empirical insights about the opportunities and challenges of managing people in a culturally complex continent. Originality/value - Taken together, the papers make an important contribution by engaging current debates and demonstrating potential new areas for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional festivals have become a prominent topic of research because of their social-cultural values. The values, and beliefs of a people are demonstrated through festivals. However, thus far, limited research has been conducted on the more profound issue of the possible contribution of festivals as a cultural symbol. This study aims to portray the symbols of the Abraka people's culture through the Ovwuvwe festival celebration. The Ovwuvwe festival was chosen as the study area, due to its rich and unique cultural heritage, with the main aim of creating an avenue in preserving and displaying the cultural heritage of the Abraka people through the Ovwuvwe festival celebration. Through participation, interviews and critical observation, this paper demonstrates the cultural symbol of the Abraka people through Ovwuvwe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Oeconomica is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Guidelines on psychosocial interventions in postconflict areas commonly mention that interventions should be based on local needs and be built on culture-specific expertise. This paper is based on a dissociative cult, the Kiyang-yang (KYY), in Guinea Bissau. In a previous article, we used a refined definition of the concept of idiom of distress to analyze the dissociative behavior displayed in KYY as a symbolic language addressing politically dangerous truths. This paper uses the concept of “collective trauma processing” to analyze how the idiom offered the local population a pathway to mitigate the consequences of protracted and widespread political violence. The paper first argues that the field of psychotraumatology lacks a comprehensive ecological theory on trauma. Moreover, within clinical psychology and psychiatry, little attention is paid to local cultural healing mechanisms addressing traumatic stress. This paper is an effort to study such mechanisms in their own right. To compare trauma processing mechanisms across the globe, we propose to analyze trauma processing mechanisms with the help of a comprehensive model discerning five ontological dimensions that are considered to be involved in suffering and are addressed in healing approaches. Our paper describes similarities and differences between psychological healing traditions and collective trauma processing within the West African context of Guinea Bissau. We will illustrate how the KYY movement uses the idiom of dissociation as both a collective expression of distress and as a vehicle to process social suffering and traumatic stress as a circular phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The context of African and Eastern emerging markets often requires research methods to be adapted for culture and less sophisticated levels of human development. Recently there have been calls from scholars to increase African contributions to knowledge creation by being open to an interpretivist approach. This conceptual paper responds to the appeals by describing ways in which researchers may supplement existing knowledge by repositioning their worldviews from an outsider (etic perspective) perspective to that of an insider (emic perspective), taking on a range of culturally-relevant skills and attitudes. Being explicit about the contextual assumptions and boundary conditions of a study facilitates a shift from acontextual generalizable research to rich and detailed explications grounded purely in the gathered data; such an approach enables the emergence of new theories which may later be tested empirically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]