CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES RESEARCH REPORT 2019-2020 THE CENTER WOULD LIKE TO THANK

Modesta Abugu for coordinating the project and Jenna Agres for design and layout. Cover photos courtesy of Sebastian Elischer, Yekatit Tsehayu, Frederick Madore, and Vincent Girier Dufournier. tableTABLE of contents OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THE CENTER ...... 4 FROM THE DIRECTOR ...... 6 NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT WORKING GROUP ...... 8 CHINA-AFRICA WORKING GROUP ...... 9 WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN LIVESTOCK VACCINE VALUE CHAINS ...... 10 CPET GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE ...... 11 RESEARCH TUTORIALS ABROAD ...... 12 ISLAM IN AFRICA IN GLOBAL CONTEXT ...... 14 CARTER CONFERENCE 2019 ...... 15

FACULTY REPORTS STEVEN BRANDT - Southwest Ethiopia Archaeological Project (SWEAP) ...... 18 CHARLES BWENGE - Does Translation Separate Indigenous Knowledge from its Related Language? ...... 19 ERIC COKER - Health Effects of Urban Air Pollutants in East Africa ...... 20 ELIZABETH DEVOS - Mentoring for Education in Emergency Care: Rwanda ...... 21 SEBASTIAN ELISCHER - Political Attitudes and Identities of University Students in Kenya ...... 22 NANCY ROSE HUNT - ’Madness,’ Violence, and Vulnerability in Bukavu ...... 23 PHILLIP JANZEN - Atlantic Intermediaries ...... 24 ABDOULAYE KANE - Senegalese Hometown Associations and Development Interventions ...... 25 NICHOLAS KERR - Quality of Elections and Voter Turnout in Nigeria ...... 26 ROSE LUGANO - Using Computational Methods to Document and Preserve Kidaw’ida ...... 27 FRÉDÉRICK MADORE - Muslim Minorities in Southern Benin and Togo ...... 28 FIONA MCLAUGHLIN - Trans-Saharan Literacies ...... 29 CALISTUS NGONGHALA - Mathematical Frameworks for Studying the Ecology of Poverty and Disease ...... 30 MARIT ØSTEBØ - Village Gone Viral ...... 31 TERJE ØSTEBØ - Researching Islam, Ethiopia, and Africa ...... 32 RENATA SERRA - Promoting Dialogue between Researchers and Policy-makers ...... 33 ADRIENNE STRONG - Maternal Mortality and the Ethics of Care in Tanzania ...... 34 OLIVIER WALTHER - Foreign Interventions and Transnational Insurgencies in the Sahara-Sahel ...... 35

2 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 STUDENT REPORTS MOSUNMOLA ADEOJO - Victorianism in Nigeria ...... 38 ELIJAH ADONGO - Style(s) and Knowledge of Contemporary African Choral Music ...... 39 KAMLA ARISTIDE - Genetic Diversity, Diet and Habitat Quality of the African Manatee ...... 40 SHAMBAVI BHUSAN - African Migrant Experiences in India ...... 41 JESSICA CASIMIR - Cumulative Disadvantage and Weathering among Caregivers in South Africa ...... 42 KAREN COKER - Air Pollution’s Impact on Respiratory Health in Dakar ...... 43 WILLIAM DYER - Tigrinya Gender Morphology ...... 44 DIANE EZEH - Experiences of African Students in United States ...... 45 MACODOU FALL - Islam, Popular Culture and Ajami Literature in Senegal ...... 46 JAMIE FULLER - Mobile Women and Social Reproduction in Senegal ...... 47 RYAN GOOD - Visualizing Drought in Kenya ...... 48 MACKENZIE GOODE - Understanding Human-wildlife Conflict and Conservation Attitudes ...... 49 VICTORIA GORHAM - State, Society, and Nation-Building in Tanzania and Kenya ...... 50 KYUNG HONG - Surgery for Biliary Atresia in Low-resource Settings? Outcomes in Rwanda ...... 51 PAPA HOYECK - Peste des Petits Ruminants and the Livestock Sector in Senegal ...... 52 KIMBERLEY LEDGER - Tick Abundance and Diversity in Kruger National Park ...... 53 LEANDRA MERZ - Human-wildlife Coexistence in Zambia’s Game Management Areas ...... 54 MILT MOISE - Alienation, Boredom, and the Invisible African ...... 55 FEZILE MTSETFWA - Climate and Land Use Impacts on Savanna Trees ...... 56 STEPHANIE MUENCH - Evaluation of Livestock Systems Innovations in Rwanda ...... 57 ZOE MUNGAI-BARRIS - Kenyan Perceptions of Chinese-made Kangas Entering the East African Marketplace ...... 58 CHRISTOPHER MUNTZNER - Nouns in Khoekhoe ...... 59 CRISTOVÃO NWACHUKWU - Post-Nationalist Preoccupations in African Short Stories ...... 60 MATTHEW PFLAUM - Conflict, Food Security and Pastoralism in the Sahel ...... 61 ROMY RAJAN - The Postcolonial Novel in India and Kenya ...... 62 RILEY RAVARY - Exclusion through Boundary (Re)making in a Protected Area ...... 63 SARAH STAUB - Artemisia Trainings in Benin ...... 64 YEKATIT TSEHAYU - Religious Entrepreneurs and Female Migration ...... 65

AFRICAN STUDIES QUARTERLY ...... 67 AFRICAN STUDIES JOURNALS AT UF ...... 68 AFRICAN BUSINESS UPDATE ...... 69 FLAS FELLOWSHIPS ...... 70 THANKS TO OUR DONORS ...... 71 SUPPORT GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH ON AFRICA ...... 72

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 3 ABOUT THE CENTER

ONE OF THE NATION’S PREMIER GRADUATE STUDY OF AFRICA AT INSTITUTIONS FOR TEACHING AND THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA RESEARCH ABOUT AFRICA

Founded in 1964, the Center for African Studies at UF Graduate study with a focus on Africa can be carried has been continuously designated a U.S. Department of out in virtually every graduate or professional program Education Title VI National Resource Center for Africa across the university. Prospective students are encouraged for nearly 40 years. It is currently one of only 10 such to consult the websites of the individual programs for centers nationally, and the only Africa NRC located in admissions procedures and criteria. Students in any a sub-tropical zone. Title VI funding to CAS supports graduate program at UF have the option of pursuing a research, teaching, outreach, and the development of Graduate Certificate in African Studies. We also encourage international linkages in Africa. them to consult the Center’s website and to contact us when they submit their applications. The Center has over 100 affiliated teaching and research faculty in all of the core disciplines in the humanities Complementing formal coursework, a regular and dynamic and social sciences, as well as in agriculture, business, series of lectures, conferences and other activities open to engineering, education, fine arts, natural res ources and all interested graduate students provide rich opportunities environment, journalism and mass communications, law, for interdisciplinary exchange and discussion about Africa. tourism, and natural sciences. Graduate study on African Most significantly, a number of dynamic CAS-sponsored issues may be pursued in any of these fields. Center faculty interdisciplinary working groups organize speakers and maintain ties with universities across the African continent, events that bring together faculty and graduate students including institutions in Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, with shared interests, providing students with unique Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, opportunities for research and professional development. South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The Center’s innovative and influential on-line journal, the African Studies Quarterly, is the first fully peer-reviewed electronic journal devoted to the field. ASQ plays an important and largely unique role in facilitating the publication of research on and from Africa, and offers invaluable professional training for UF graduate students who serve on its editorial board.

4 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 5 FROM THE DIRECTOR

BRENDA CHALFIN

and long trial of vaccine development. Along with rising to meet the challenges of the current health crisis, 2019-2020 has been an important year for activating new networks and initiatives in African Studies. In June 2019 CAS launched its first Global Health Institute for a cohort of 24 Florida high school students. This one-week residential program introduced students to research and professional pathways through lectures and hands-on learning with UF experts with Africa expertise. College of Public Health’s Eric Coker was faculty lead assisted by graduate students Modesta Abugu and Riley Ravary. The Global Health Institute is part of the Center’s wider 2018-2022 Health, Science and Technology initiative supported by US Department of Education and UF Provost. Diversifying K-12 curricula, Global Science Studies curriculum develop- ment focused on Africa-based scientists and science lessons is underway in the College Brenda Chalfin, CAS Director and Riley Ravary, CAS Graduate Assistant with UF Alumni of Education. The 2019 Carter Conference (from left to right): Moses Nyago (MA 2017), Nicholas Kiggundu, (PhD 2010), “Energy in Africa: From Techno-politics to Vincent Sembatya, (PhD 2001), Gabriel Kasozi, (PhD 2007), John Wasswa, Techno-Futures” likewise brought science (PhD 2009) at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, October 2019. and technology into conversation with African political economy. University of Florida Center of Anesthesiology Samsun Lampotang June 2019 marked the ninth year of our for African Studies is a whirlwind and team from UF’s Center for Safety, AFLI summer language institute. Attracting of activity, especially on Friday Simulation and Advanced Learning 60 students from institutions from around afternoons when we hold our Technologies have devised a DIY ventila- the country, we offered Akan, Amharic, weekly Baraza and during our many tor. CAS is assisting with dissemination Swahili, Wolof, French, Portuguese, Zulu conferences and symposia attracting of the open-source design to partners and Igbo. In conjunction with Luce scholars and practitioners from across Africa. UF Artist-in -Residence Foundation support, CAS and UF’s Center around the world. The Center’s vibrant Qudus Onikeku, founder and director of for Global Islamic Studies, professor of research agenda depends on the constant Lagos-based Q-Dance Center, used digi- religion Ben Soares directed a 3-week traffic of people and ideas between tal media to bring artists and audiences summer institute on Lived Islam in Africa. Africa and the UF campus. Upsetting the from around the world together for the Summer 2019 also brought two exciting usual flow of academic life, I write this 2020 DanceGATHERING performing Research Tutorial Abroad opportunities from home where I have been for the arts festival. The dynamic performances for undergraduate students funded in past month due to the global COVID19 and artist interviews capture the vibrancy conjunction with UF International Center. pandemic. We are approaching week six of of public life we miss in sequestra- Assistant professor of Political Science remote learning and slowly mastering the tion. Anthropology PhD student and Nicholas Kerr traveled to Nigeria with art of Zoom teaching and check-ins with Emerging Pathogens Institute researcher Martina Onyenwe and Nick Rowe to colleagues, family, and friends near and far. Felicien Maisha, based in Goma, DR carry out surveys on youth candidates Being stuck in place does not mean we Congo, shared some of the lessons and elections in Lagos. David Blackburn, cannot reach out or continue learning and learned from the Ebola outbreak regard- associate curator of amphibians and reptiles collective problem-solving. A few exam- ing the ‘new normal’ of restricted mobil- at the Florida Museum of Natural History, ples: CAS faculty affiliate and Professor ity and contact tracing and the promise traveled to Gabon with Dani Hayes and

6 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 Amber Singh to conduct research on welcomed two Fulbright faculty, Tasiyana and community organizations, UF Creative biodiversity. African Studies minor Zoe Javangwe from Zimbabwe and Lilian Writing faculty Uwem Akpan planned a Mungai-Barris received an inaugural CLAS Lem Atanga from Cameroon. As part of Writer’s Forum featuring local authors and Undergraduate Scholar Award for research the Luce Foundation Grant on Islam in a new generation of writers addressing the on textile markets in Nairobi. Africa, Dr. Musa Ibrahim joined CAS as a African experience in the US. Broadening longstanding institutional postdoctoral scholar. One of the most memorable experi- partnerships, in October 2019 I traveled to Sparking research innovation and ences of the year was sitting around a table Kampala, Uganda to renew CAS’s cooper- collaboration, the Center’s working groups with SPOHP’s planning team watching clips ative agreement with Makerere University remain important settings for knowledge from the little known film, I Heard it through initiated in 1992. This was an exciting sharing. In addition to the well-established the Grapevine (Pat Hartley & Dick Fontaine, opportunity to connect with UF gradu- Social Change and Development, Natural USA/UK, 1982), made available courtesy ates who populate the highest ranks of Resource Management, and Islam in Africa UF Professor of English Leah Rosenberg Makerere and hold positions of influence groups, a new working group, States and and Harvard Film Archives. The film ends across the country (see photo). I also pur- Institutions in Africa, was launched under with Achebe and Baldwin standing side by sued research in collaboration with Dr. the leadership of political science faculty. side on St. Augustine beach in 1980, the Kareem Buyana and students at Makerere’s The Architecture and Design in Africa waves of the Atlantic roaring behind them. Urban Action Lab. In January 2020 I visited group in collaboration with the School Exquisitely framed, the scene echoed their Japan’s Kyoto University to celebrate the of Architecture hosted Nigeria-based 1980 keynote address at UF, where Baldwin launch of an MOU fostering research col- architect James Inedu George, who remarked to Achebe, “My brother, whom laboration and student exchange between co-taught a design-build studio. I met yesterday – who I have not seen in our institutions. Led by former UF faculty New cross-campus and cross- four hundred years; it was never intended member and current KU Professor Kaoru community initiatives extend an already that we should meet.” The film sparked an Kitajima, the visit provided a chance to broad network of cooperation. CAS impassioned discussion about the on-going expand ties with Kyoto’s Center for African Outreach Director Agnes Leslie played an connections and disconnections across Area Studies, which, like UF, has active instrumental role in the Alachua County African and African-American studies. research programs in the West African School Board’s mandate to bring African The students at that moment insisted Tropics, Horn of Africa and Madagascar. and African-American Studies into the that the conference close with a student African Studies on campus at UF K-12 curriculum, making the first year of roundtable interrogating ‘the future of continues to flourish. Programming with programming a great success. Extending blackness’ on campus and in the world – a the College of the Arts under the leader- our regional reach, CAS co-hosted a framing eloquently offered by English PhD ship of Dean Onye Ozuzu has taken off. student research forum on African and student Cristovão Nwachukwu. Despite The hire of assistant professor Alvaro African American politics at Tuskegee regret about postponing the forum, at Luis Lima, a specialist in Modern and University. It included students and faculty that moment I knew that our collective Contemporary African Art, fills an impor- from UF, Morehouse University, including return to the 1980 meeting had already tant gap. The newly established Center Oumar Ba (UF PhD ’17), and FAMU. provided inspiration to a new generation for Arts Migration and Entrepreneurship Temple University’s Benjamin Talton gave of Africanists for whom transnational (CAME) offers vast potential for collabora- a fabulous keynote addressing cross- and transdisciplinary perspectives are tion around performing arts and business cutting US, Africa and Caribbean black second nature. These sorts of exchanges, and technology innovation. Director Osubi intellectual and activist worlds. spontaneous, well-informed, offering new Craig, Artist-in-Residence Qudus Onikeku Sadly, due to suspension of on-campus understandings and possibilities in the and Arts Management specialist Hajarat Alli activities this spring, some of the most world are at the core of our research and in a short time made themselves fixtures of important activities on our calendar educational mission at CAS. UF’s African Studies community. Several were postponed. This includes the all We welcome you to read on and learn Africanists joined the College of Liberal important Achebe|Baldwin @ 40 event more about our community of engaged Arts and Sciences. With an established planned for April 2020 to commemorate scholars and researchers at UF. research program in Madagascar, the historic meeting of these two literary Primatologist Kim Valenta joined the giants at UF in 1980. Rescheduled for Brenda Chalfin, Center for African Studies Anthropology faculty. Philip Janzen, who Oct. 22-23, 2020, planning for the event Director, & Professor of Anthropology studies Afro-Carribbean interactions, joined involved a wide-range of stakeholders. In the Department of History. In addition, we conjunction with Alachua County Library

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 7 NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT WORKING GROUP

KIMBERLEY LEDGER, LEANDRA MERZ, FEZILE MTSETFWA AND AUDREY SMITH

The Natural Resources Smith were president and vice president, and developing collaboration networks. Management in Africa (NRM) working respectively, in the 2018-2019 academic year. Matt Lindenberg, president of the Global group is dedicated to promoting In the 2018-2019 academic year, Conservation Corps, spoke about his interdisciplinary research that NRM hosted 6 events. Cheryl Palm, a UF organization’s unique efforts to tackle addresses pressing issues of natural professor in Agricultural and Biological rhino poaching in Southern Africa. Ara resource management in Africa. We are Engineering gave a presentation titled Monadjem joined us from the University interested in how ecosystems and human “Managing soils for food security and of Swaziland to discuss his research on the institutions are impacted by rapid global conservation in Africa.” Greg Kiker, also structure of African bat communities. change. We also study how communities from UF’s Department of Agricultural and Finally, we initiated our first annual 5 meet their social and ecological needs. Biological Engineering spoke on the impact Minute Research Symposium Competition, The NRM group is diverse with of elephants on vegetation in Kruger which was very successful. Students from members from Geography, Anthropology, National Park, South Africa. In addition a variety of disciplines presented short Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, to the UF faculty, we held a round-table overviews of their research on natural Sociology, and other departments. In the discussion where three graduate students resource management throughout Africa. past few years, we have hosted international presented their research related to gender Lauriane Yehouenou, won first place for scholars from South Africa, Swaziland, and natural resource management. Ryan her research on “Modelling timber and Ghana, Mauritius, Brazil, Kenya, and Good presented his research on gender non-timber forest products: an attempt to Guatemala in addition to guest speakers norms in Lake Victoria’s fisheries sector. bridge biodiversity conservation and rural from University of Florida and throughout Leandra Merz discussed gender roles populations’ well-being.” Jack Hartfelder the United States. within community irrigation projects near and Lorna McCallister tied for 2nd place The NRM group was founded by Limpopo National Park, Mozambique. for their research on avian connectivity and faculty and graduate students in 2005. Since Audrey Smith shared her research on pollination, respectively. 2013, the NRM group has hosted over 35 agricultural intensification, food security, Our group continues to grow and we events. The group is jointly advised by and gender in Tanzania. look forward to even more opportunities Dr. Robert McCleery in Wildlife Ecology We hosted two guest speakers from to network and collaborate on natural and Conservation and Dr. Brian Child in outside the UF community, which provided resource management issues in the coming Geography. Fezile Mtsetfwa and Audrey valuable opportunities for sharing research academic year.

8 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 CHINA-AFRICA RELATIONS: THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE AND ITS IMPACT ON AFRICA

AGNES NGOMA LESLIE, ANITA SPRING AND MICHAEL LESLIE

What is the impact of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on African countries? Launched in 2013 by China’s President Xi, the BRI is an ambitious attempt by China to create massive infrastructure development and extensive political influence stretching from Beijing to Western Europe, through the Horn of Africa to the rest of the continent, linking them to China with land and maritime corridors (the “new silk roads”), of Congo, Central African Republic, Benin, the unequal economic relationship between and intensifying economic, political, and Comoros, Lesotho, Equatorial Guinea, China and Africa is undermining Africa’s cultural interactions. Initially, 66 countries Eritrea, Mauritius, Sao Tome and Principe, quest for self-reliance and self-sufficiency. in Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, Burkina Faso, Malawi and Guinea Bissau. He proposed a counter narrative of African and East Africa were included in the To understand the impact of the BRI agency, asserting that African governments initiative, which has now grown to some on Africa, the China Africa Working Group are not powerless in relation to China, while 120 participating countries, including many engaged scholars and students in symposia acknowledging that the power differential African nations. The massive project aims related to China and its impact on the between China and individual African to strengthen China’s connectivity with the continent. The working group’s theme in countries does fundamentally structure world. It combines new and old Chinese- the past academic year was on China’s Belt their relations. funded projects, covers an expansive and Road Initiative (BRI) and its impact on This was the third conference geographic scope, and includes efforts the continent. The 2019 research initiative organized by the China Africa Working to strengthen hard infrastructure, soft culminated in a two-day conference held group examining the Africa-China infrastructure, and cultural ties. at the University of Florida that assembled engagement. The first conference (“China- Alternatively called the ‘Chinese scholars from Africa, Asia and Europe to Africa Relations: Political and Economic Marshall Plan,’ the BRI (formerly ‘One examine the BRI as it relates to and impacts Engagement and Media Strategies”), and Belt, One Road’) did not initially include African countries. The conference analyzed second conference, (“China-Africa Relations: African countries, and was centered on China’s evolving relationship with African Theoretical and Practical Perspectives on Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The countries through the prism of media African ‘Migrants’ in China”) have been extension to Africa was an afterthought. reporting, infrastructure development, and published as separate special issues in the While dozens of countries have signed foreign direct investments. African Studies Quarterly, with Agnes Ngoma on with the objective of expanding The first session featured papers and Leslie as guest editor. their infrastructure, increasing foreign presentations by six journalists and media The China Africa Working Group investment, expanding trade, others have scholars, examining how the BRI in Africa research and initiative has culminated in been cautious about accepting China’s is covered by the press from different the introduction of a survey course on extensive loans and investments. By 2019, nations with varying geopolitical, cultural China Africa Relations. Beginning in spring 40 African countries had signed on to and economic interests. Together, they 2020, the Center for African Studies and the BRI, with 14 countries demurring. unveiled the ideological frames deployed Department of Political Science are offering Among the 14 holdouts are some of the in both promoting and reporting the BRI, an undergraduate course: “China and Africa most politically and economically stable and speculated on their implications for Relations: Political, Economic and Cultural countries in Africa, including Botswana the success of the BRI project. Papers Engagement.” The course will introduce and Mauritius, which have carefully in the second session focused on China’s students to the evolving nature of China scrutinized Chinese projects and adopted human and capital investment, in both Africa relations from a historical perspective. a wait-and-see attitude. eSwatini (formerly formal and informal institutions in Africa. Swaziland) is not expected to sign on to The concluding session focused on Agnes Ngoma Leslie is master lecturer and outreach the BRI since it does not have diplomatic foreign direct investment in transportation director for the Center for African Studies. Anita relations with China and has defied China corridors and infrastructure. Spring is professor emerita of anthropology. Michael by recognizing the Republic of Taiwan. Keynote speaker Cobus van Staden Leslie is associate professor in the Department of Other countries that have not signed on to wrapped up the conference by interrogating Telecommunications, College of Journalism and the BRI include the Democratic Republic the dominant narrative, which claims that Communications.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 9 ADVANCING WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN LIVESTOCK VACCINE VALUE CHAINS IN NEPAL, SENEGAL AND UGANDA SANDRA RUSSO, RENATA SERRA, SARAH MCKUNE, NARGIZA LUDGATE, KATHLEEN COLVERSON, AND DANIEL ACOSTA distribution but lack economic incentives to reach every livestock keeper or improve their technical competency. In Senegal, where we are looking at both the poultry and the small ruminant value chains in the region of Kaffrine, we have found that knowledge of vaccines is widespread among livestock keepers, and women are key participants in the Around the world, livestock are improve their abilities to reach women and value chains, especially in that of poultry. often owned by individuals, rather underserved livestock owners. By applying However, remote geographical location than by households. Furthermore, a Gendered Intersectional Transformative and mobile herding practices prevent those who manage animals are not the Approach (GITA), we aim for inclusive many livestock owners, especially among same as those who benefit from livestock participation of all livestock owners. the Fulani, from being reached by animal ownership. Livestock ownership and Preliminary work in all three countries health services in a timely fashion. A fur- management rules within households can has mapped the livestock vaccine value ther problem is that many para-vets and range from rigid to fluid, e.g., children chains and already revealed interesting animal health workers, particularly females, can own goats, but taking care of the results. UF graduate students (Gangga lack either the skills or the means to reach goats is done by the mother and the sales Adi, Pierre William Blanc, Papa Hoyeck, a sufficiently large clientele to be finan- (and income) handled by the father. In and Olga Munoz) conducted scoping cially sustainable—and thus tend to scale our project, Advancing Women’s Participation fieldtrips, in some cases involving key back or operate only in conjunction with in Livestock Vaccine Value Chains in Nepal, informant interviews and focus group dis- national vaccination campaigns. Senegal and Uganda, funded through cussions along with host country students In Nepal, we are learning that availabil- Canada’s International Development and country coordinators. In Uganda, ity of PPR vaccine as a public good does Research Center (IDRC), we ask, “What decades of unrest among the pastoralists not guarantee vaccine uptake by communi- keeps women from getting their livestock in northeastern Karamoja Subregion has ties due to social, cultural, economic and vaccinated?” We are focusing on those meant lack of basic government services infrastructure-related barriers. Lower caste animals most often owned or managed including education, public health, vet- livestock owners remain outside the com- by women, which are small ruminants erinary services, and roads. Furthermore, munication networks that would give them and poultry, and in three countries where the mobility and dispersion of nomadic necessary information about vaccines or similar projects and collaborations by UF pastoralists in Karamoja represent major vaccination campaigns. PPR vaccine is not researchers already existed. operational challenges for veterinary ser- sold at local agro-shops or from vaccina- When women’s livestock are not vac- vices and vaccinators to reach animals. tors. Accessibility of vaccines is further cinated, their animals remain a reservoir Women livestock keepers are particularly constrained by livestock keepers’ geo- for the disease and can re-infect the other constrained by social norms and practices graphic location and mountainous terrain animals. In addition, unvaccinated animals further exacerbated by the limited decision- of Nepal. Lower caste and marginalized can die and deprive women of critical making capacity over livestock due to the populations often reside at the outskirts of cash needed to pay school fees or feed prevailing livestock ownership patterns and villages and far from central roads making their children. The reasons why women’s intra-household power dynamics. Peste it less attractive for government vaccina- livestock miss out on veterinary services des Petitis Ruminants (PPR) vaccine, criti- tors to reach their goats. Furthermore, vary widely and not just by gender alone. cally important to prevent an acute viral the feminization of agriculture left many Our project is looking at intersectional- PPR disease among sheep and goats, is women in charge of livestock but without ity—what else besides gender roles is provided free of charge by the govern- adequate decision-making agency or recog- preventing women’s access to and use of ment. Nonetheless, the vaccine is often nition from vaccinators to reach women. livestock vaccines? Is it ethnicity, caste, supplied after an outbreak and in small The next phase of the project is to education, age, politics, or something else quantities. Karamoja Subregion also relies analyze the mapping data and develop entirely? After our initial analyses, we will on international NGOs and donors that GITA training materials specific to the provide training to animal services provid- provide additional quantity of vaccines. three sites. This work will continue ers, e.g., community animal health workers Community animal health workers play through 2021 at which point we will do a and district level veterinary officers, to an important role in facilitating vaccine meta-analysis of the results.

10 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 CPET GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE 2019 SUMMER PROGRAM BRENDA CHALFIN, ERIC COKER, MODESTA ABUGU AND RILEY RAVARY

In June 2019, the Center for The Global Health Institute centered social issues, students were encouraged to use African Studies and UF Center for on four core themes: (1) Environmental the skills they acquired through the program Precollegiate Education & Training Health, (2) Food Security, (3) Hospitals to think analytically and critically about (CPET) co-hosted the inaugural and Healthcare, and (4) Infectious Disease. various global health challenges in developing Global Health Institute (GHI). The These themes were explored through a final project, which was presented to their program brought sophomores, juniors, an array of case studies, examples, and families at the end of the week. and seniors from high schools across the contexts of global health found in Africa. In addition to the core themes of the Southeastern US to the University of Participants had unique opportunities to program, the students also took part in a bit Florida for a week of concentrated lectures, engage with internationally recognized of fun! One afternoon, they joined Dr. Joan activities, and field trips. The program experts at UF whose work investigates and Frosch (Professor of Dance, College of the was coordinated by Brenda Chalfin (CAS devises solutions to global health problems. Arts) and guest artists Barakissa Coulibay, Director), Eric Coker (Program Director), Students met with faculty, researchers, and Aboubakar Soumah, Aboubakar Camara to Modesta Abugu and Riley Ravary (CAS scholars trained in anthropology, environ- learn the Zaouli dance. Students also joined Teaching Assistants), along with the essen- mental and global health, emergency medi- in for an “Africa Eats Night,” organized by tial support of CPET staff including Dr. cine, food and agricultural sciences, dance, the African Flagship Languages Initiative Julie Boker (Associate Director, UF CPET), architecture, and more as they learned about (AFLI). At the event, students learned about Lexie McGarvey (Program Assistant, UF the many facets of global health. Building cuisines and cultures in Africa while enjoying CPET), and undergraduate counselors. on their knowledge of science and related delicious food!

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 11 RESEARCH TUTORIAL ABROAD: GENETIC AND PHENOTYPIC LANDSCAPES OF FROGS IN SOUTHERN GABON DAVID BLACKBURN

With support from Center for major), David Blackburn (FLMNH), Dani to experience fieldwork and see these African Studies we successfully car- Greg Jongsma (PhD student, UF Biology), incredible frogs, alive in the wild for the ried out the first survey of amphibians Kaitlin Allen (PhD student, University first time. Beginning in January 2020, Dani and reptiles of the Ikondou Mountains of Kansas), Abraham Bamba-Kaya will collect ddRAD sequence for these in Nyanga province, southern Gabon. (CENAREST, Gabon) and Elie Tobi Ptychadena samples. Using these data, she There were several goals for this field (Smithsonian, Gabon). Based in the small will use molecular demographic models expedition, but they all revolved around city of Tchibanga, Nyanga province, each to test the Forest Refuge Hypothesis frogs and lizards. First, our team of North night we would head out into the forest or (FRH). This hypothesis predicts that American and Gabonese scientist endeav- savanna in search of frogs and lizards. This global fluctuations in climate during the ored to characterize the amphibian and was the first field-experience for Amber Pleistocene drove cyclical isolation of forest reptile diversity in this very poorly studied and Dani. refugia via the expansion and contraction part of the world. These samples are con- For this Research Tutorial Abroad, of savanna habitat, leading to isolated tributing to several projects, primarily Dani Hayes continued her research on populations and subsequent speciation. exploring the diversification of frogs and the genus Ptychadena, a group of frogs To complement the genetic research lizards across sub-Saharan Africa, and also found in forests and savannas across led by Dani, Amber Singh is evaluating the contributing to our knowledge of emergent Africa and commonly known as “rocket extent to which differences in the shapes wildlife diseases. frogs.” Since beginning this project in and sizes (i.e., the phenotype) across species Our team included two University of 2018, Dani has sequenced over 400 of Rocket Frog are driven by their patterns Florida undergraduates, Dani Hayes (statis- Ptychadena samples across Central Africa. of evolutionary relationships (e.g., most tics major) and Amber Singh (biology This was an incredible opportunity for closely related species being more similar) and their ecology (e.g., forest-dwelling species being more similar than savanna species, regardless of their relationships). To do this, we will compare the anatomy of closely related species from both similar and different habitats. We predict that species occupying similar habitats will be more similar to one another than close relatives occupying different habitats. This work is based on generating three-dimen- sional anatomical data using CT-scanning at the University of Florida’s Nanoscale Research Facility. Unfortunately, the CT machine at UF has been out of commission since August 2019. We are working as a team to describe a new species of puddle frog (Phyrnobatrachus sp. nov.) that we discovered during our fieldwork in Gabon. Amber Singh is leading the morphological data collection and analysis. Dani Hayes is leading molecular data collection and analysis. This is a very unique opportunity for undergraduates to be involved in.

David Blackburn is curator of herpetology at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

12 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 RESEARCH TUTORIAL ABROAD: RESEARCH TUTORIAL ABROAD: GENETIC AND PHENOTYPIC LANDSCAPES POLITICAL CANDIDATES AND ELECTION OF FROGS IN SOUTHERN GABON LEGITIMACY IN NIGERIA NICHOLAS KERR

of the most memorable interviews was the first one we conducted with an unsuccessful female candidate in Ibeju-Lekki, a suburb of Lagos. We travelled almost three hours from our hotel to meet with the candidate, and then spent another 2 hours listening carefully to her recount her motivation for running for the Lagos state assembly, the obstacles she faced as female candidate, and why after losing the For two weeks in June 2019, two with election scholars, including Professor election by a razor thin margin she decided undergraduate students—Martina Omotola of Federal University in Ekiti not to challenge the results in court. The Onyenwe and Nicholas Rowe— State, and members of CSOs involved in interview had the greatest impact on Martina, travelled with me to Lagos, Nigeria to elections, such as WARD-C (an organi- who was amazed to see what she learned conduct semi-structured interviews zation that promotes women’s participa- in her Woman and Politics in Africa class with legislative candidates who tion in politics–) and CLEEN Foundation come to life. For Martina, “hearing women participated in Nigeria’s 2019 general (an organization that monitors election- candidates talk about their experience…was and state elections. The RTA in Nigeria related violence). These meetings gave stu- nothing short of awesome.” represented a part of a larger project on dents first-hand accounts of the challenges Another, interview that had a lasting how experiences of political candidates that candidates, especially women, youth impact was the very last one that Martina and during campaigns and elections influence and those affiliated with opposition par- Nick conducted on their own with an unsuc- the legitimacy of elections and democratic ties faced during the elections. The meetings cessful youth candidate who had competed for processes in Africa. also provided a safe space for students to the Lagos State Assembly. It was awe-inspir- For all three of us, the RTA represented ask questions and clarify their understand- ing to see the students’ growth over the two something new. For Martina, a rising senior ing of electoral processes and practices that weeks as researchers who could gain the con- majoring in public health and international were unlike those that they would frequently fidence of their interviewees, develop strate- studies and a first-generation Nigerian associate with elections in the United States. gies to detect whether respondents were being American, the RTA was an opportunity to Second, students got their first taste of the completely forthcoming with their answers, visit Lagos for the first time without her rigors of scheduling interviews with polit- and rephrase questions to ensure respon- parents. Nicholas, on the other hand, was ical elites in Nigeria’s commercial capital. dent comprehension. In particular, Nicholas travelling to Nigeria, and the African conti- This involved developing contact scripts came away from the interviews convinced that nent more generally, for the first time. But that they would then text, email or recite semi-structured interviewing, though suscep- this rising senior and political science major over the phone when communicating with tible to bias, provided invaluable insight that was eager put into practice some the tech- potential interviewees. I can remember viv- is often lost in structured surveys. By weeks’ niques he learned from taking a research idly, when Martina secured her first inter- end we completed 12 interviews with success- methods course with me the prior semester. view. She jumped with excitement as a can- ful and unsuccessful candidates: far exceeding The RTA represented a first for me as well. didate agreed by text message to meet for a our expectations and a testament to Nick and Although, I had conducted fieldwork in face-to-face interview the following week. Martina’s enthusiasm for the project and com- several African countries, including Nigeria During remaining waking hours of the first mitment to understanding the experiences of on many occasions, I never had the oppor- week, I taught the students some of the best a diverse sample of candidates. tunity to take undergraduate students into practices for conducting elite interviews, but The RTA culminated with a visit to the the field with me. they also helped me to refine questions to University of Lagos, where we met with stu- Martina and Nick began preparing be included in the interview scripts. dents and faculty affiliated with the Institute for the RTA several weeks in advance of The second week of the RTA was for African and Diaspora Studies. During our our departure, by reading reports on the devoted to conducting interviews and visit, we were able to share preliminary find- recently concluded elections in March 2019, transcribing interview data. Each day ings from the interviews, gain feedback on but nothing could have prepared them for involved an early breakfast then travelling our approach, and tour one of Nigeria’s most the deluge of information they received by car in Lagos’ notorious traffic to meet prominent universities. during their first week in Nigeria. First, with candidates at locations that were to get a better sense of the dynamics of convenient to them: restaurants, political Nicholas Kerr is assistant professor of political science. the recently concluded elections, we met offices, and candidate’s homes. Perhaps one

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 13 ISLAM IN AFRICA IN GLOBAL CONTEXT BENJAMIN SOARES

Since this Luce Foundation grant Dietrich Reetz (ZMO, Berlin), the keynote began in 2018, we have organized a speaker, an expert on Islam in South Asia, series of interrelated events that have spoke about Deobandi Islam and transna- focused on lived Islam (academic year tional processes in comparative perspective. 2018-19) and media and Islam (2019- In year two (January 2020), postdoctoral 20). The focus of the third year will be fellow Musa Ibrahim (PhD, University of Muslim-Christian encounters in Africa and Bayreuth) and Benjamin Soares convened in comparative context. a workshop on media and public Islam. In year one, postdoctoral fellow Asonzeh Ukah (U Cape Town), who is a Benedikt Pontzen (PhD, Free University leading sociologist of religion in Africa, Berlin) and Benjamin Soares convened a gave the keynote about religion, excess, workshop on Muslim youth, which featured and the apocalyptic. This was followed by a keynote about youth in South India, for a series of papers about public Islam that comparative reflection and a series of other engaged with old and new media. Although papers on Muslim youths in various settings most of the papers were about sub-Saharan in Africa. Africa, one paper dealt with mediated Islam In May 2019, they organized a 17 day in Egypt and another with South Asian Summer Institute on the theme of lived Tablighis on youtube. Islam that brought together PhD students In conjunction with the grant and UF’s and recent PhD recipients from various Center for African Studies, the UF Harn African countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Museum showed “The Spiritual Highway,” Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia), as a photo exhibit about Islam and Christianity well as Europe, Asia (China, Indonesia), in Nigeria by photographer Akintunde and the US. UF faculty and a few invited Akinleye (Carleton University) and Marloes outside speakers addressed a range of Janson, (SOAS, U London). During the topics relevant to the project’s larger goals, African Museum Night at the Harn on 13 including lived religion in the US, gender February, there was a roundtable and public and sexuality, popular culture, and Salafism. reception featuring Akinleye and Janson, as The Summer Institute culminated in a well as Akintude Akinyemi at the museum. symposium in which the summer institute participants were able to present papers they had worked on during the institute in a public setting and interact with invited speakers who also made presentations.

14 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 2019 CARTER CONFERENCE ENERGY | AFRICA FROM TECHNOPOLITICS TO TECHNOFUTURES

“Carter Conference 2019 Innovations. Presentations showcased discussions addressed the implications Energy|Africa: from Technopolitics to energy solutions formulated in Africa, of these inventions and interventions for Technofutures” mapped the shifting from Africa-sourced materials, via Africa- energy ethics, techno-scientific authority, contours of the African continent’s based institutions and actors, to serve and environmental justice. Twelve speakers energy space: from energy sources African demands. offered three panels covering Tanzania, and modes of energy extraction and Drawing on Science and Technology Ghana, Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, generation to the political relations Studies, Anthropology, History, Political and Senegal and comparing energy innova- and visions of human need and possi- Science, Urban Studies, and Design, confer- tions across African history and geography. bility that underwrite them. It is well- ence participants investigated networks of Speakers included Kairn Kleiman, Nelson recognized that the African continent and knowledge and resources through which Oppong, Kwabena Oteng Acheampong, its surrounding offshore and subterranean new energy systems are realized. Beyond Buyana Kareem, Jacquie Walubwa, Erin spaces provide a substantial share of world consideration of African energy systems in Dean, Michael Degani, Jamie Cross, James energy resources. Subject to the caprices of the present -- from national grids and trans- Inedu-George, Kristin Phillips, Kristin corporate capitalism and rentier states, it national pipelines, to homemade genera- Doughty. Omulade Adunbi provided the is also well-noted that Africans are largely tors and mobile technologies that supplant keynote “Enclaves of Exception: Special underserved in terms of energy access – a inherited infrastructures – presentations Economic Zones, Infrastructure, Energy fact made bare by activists, academics, and addressed the implications of African cases and Extractive Practices in Nigeria.” countless ordinary citizens. Departing from portend for global energy futures. Whether these two scenarios -- one of excess and rescaling local devices for broader circula- Brenda Chalfin, Director, UF Center for African the other of exclusion -- the conference tion or reworking received arrangements to Studies. Photo: Kristin Doughty pays particular attention to African Energy reflect on-the-ground realities, conference

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 15

FACULTY REPORTS

STEVEN BRANDT Southwest Ethiopia Archaeological Project (SWEAP) CHARLES BWENGE Does Translation Separate Indigenous Knowledge from its Related Language? ERIC COKER Health Effects of Urban Air Pollutants in East Africa

ELIZABETH DEVOS Mentoring for Education in Emergency Care: Rwanda

SEBASTIAN ELISCHER Political Attitudes and Identities of University Students in Kenya NANCY ROSE HUNT ’Madness,’ Violence, and Vulnerability in Bukavu PHILLIP JANZEN Atlantic Intermediaries

ABDOULAYE KANE Senegalese Hometown Associations and Development Interventions

NICHOLAS KERR Quality of Elections and Voter Turnout in Nigeria ROSE LUGANO Using Computational Methods to Document and Preserve Kidaw’ida FRÉDÉRICK MADORE Muslim Minorities in Southern Benin and Togo

FIONA MCLAUGHLIN Trans-Saharan Literacies

CALISTUS NGONGHALA Mathematical Frameworks for Studying the Ecology of Poverty and Disease MARIT ØSTEBØ Village Gone Viral TERJE ØSTEBØ Researching Islam, Ethiopia, and Africa RENATA SERRA Promoting Dialogue between Researchers and Policy-makers ADRIENNE STRONG Maternal Mortality and the Ethics of Care in Tanzania OLIVIER WALTHER Foreign Interventions and Transnational Insurgencies in the Sahara-Sahel

17 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT (SWEAP) STEVEN BRANDT

Thanks in large part to travel funds from the Center for African Studies, I participated in the Eastern African Association of Paleoanthropologists and Paleontologists (EAAPP) Biennial Meeting, held in Nairobi, Kenya from August 1-4, 2019. Along with co-authors Benjamin Smith, Abebe Taffere and Brady Kelsey of the University of Florida, Elisabeth Hildebrand of Stony Brook University, Peter Lanzarone from British Petroleum, Evan of CUNY and Marc Seidel and Ralf Vogelsang of the University of Cologne, I presented a paper on “Testing the hypothesis that southwest Ethiopia’s highlands served as a Late Pleistocene refugium for hunter-gatherers: Current research at Mochena Borago Rockshelter, Wolaita, Ethiopia.” Global and African paleoenviron- mental proxies indicate that during Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 4 (~72-59,000 years ago) and MIS 2 (~27-12,000 years ago), the northern and eastern parts of Africa endured significant periods of climatic and environmental stress resulting from hyper- aridity and significantly colder tempera- tures. Because modern circulation patterns and paleoenvironmental research suggest the highlands of southwest Ethiopia may have captured more rainfall during MIS 4 and 2 than other parts of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, archaeologists have excavations have focused on the central MB deposits, which included an unusual hypothesized this area may have been a area of the site, exposing deposits that mix of Levallois prepared, elongated major refugium for plants, animals, and chronometrically date to more than 50,000 flake and blade core technologies used to Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer groups. years ago, and more likely more than 70,000 make a wide array of tools dominated by One of the long-term goals of the years ago. facial points and drills as well as scrapers, Southwest Ethiopia Archaeological Within the context of early Late backed microliths and other shaped tools. Project (SWEAP), which has incorporated Pleistocene paleoenvironments in the Horn We also reported on the discovery of undergraduate students from the UF in of Africa, we reviewed recent research at unusually higher frequencies of ground Ethiopia study abroad program since 2010, MB and discussed problems and prospects stone artifacts, many of which are stained is to test this hypothesis via excavations of chronometrically dating deposits with ochre. The paper concluded with what at Mochena Borago Rockshelter (MB) in older than 50,000 years ago, the limits of our future plans for research at MB will be, Wolaita, SW Ethiopia. Situated at 2200 m radiocarbon dating, by obsidian hydration, which will certainly continue to incorporate above sea level and spanning more than argon/argon and tephrochronology undergraduate and graduate students from 100 m in width, MB offers the opportu- methods. We also presented an overview the University of Florida. nity to obtain archaeological data dating of the >70,000 obsidian flaked stone to these key time periods. Since 2015, artifacts (lithics) recovered from relevant Steven Brandt is associate professor of anthropology.

18 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 DOES TRANSLATION SEPARATE INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE FROM ITS RELATED LANGUAGE? CHARLES BWENGE

This study explores the role of in those ethnic languages and now out of doubt that the translation is opening doors translation regarding preservation of print into KiSwahili and English. Good to a large audience to access Haya local ethnic languages in Africa with par- reasons because these texts embody rich knowledge useful for understanding current ticular focus on the Swahili-speaking local knowledge that would be useful and issues and searching for solutions. region of eastern Africa. It is undeni- enhance scholarship in various fields if Nonetheless, the question remains as able that Africa presents an insightful site they are known to a wider audience. On the whether this process is not marginalizing for understanding complexities pertaining other hand, and this is what this study is the language to the extreme. Is Kiswahili to language issues. Over more than two attempting to explore is whether translation or English translation promoting KiHaya thousand languages are spoken on the con- projects function as agents for extreme mar- or vice versa? The original KiHaya version tinent – including ethnic group languages, ginalization of these languages. Preserving has been out of print for a long time. Even regional lingua francas, and those introduced indigenous knowledge but, at the same time, if it would be reprinted today, its reader- by former colonial powers ultimately to marginalizing its related language!! ship would be uncertain—who is reading constitute Africa’s linguistic landscape. This study uses Amakuru ga Kiziba KiHaya texts these days? The original While dozens of ethnic languages within n’Abakama Bamwo (1949)/History of Kiziba KiHaya version functioned as a documenta- borders of each nation state continue to and its Kings (forthcoming)/Historia ya Kiziba tion of both indigenous cultural knowledge exist and play a significant role in intra- na Wafalme Wake (forthcoming) as a case and the language itself. The translation may group communication, languages of the study. Published in the Kihaya language by completely block any efforts to reprint the former colonial powers have been retained Rumuli Press at Kashozi Mission in what is original KiHaya version or to revive dis- as the sole or partial official languages. They today Kagera Region, Tanzania, Amakuru semination of knowledge through KiHaya. play an important role in such areas ga Kiziba na Abakama Bamu (1949) by F.X. Yet the KiSwahili as well as English version as education, administration, and interna- Lwamgira has remained at the margins of the will open doors to a wider audience to have tional relations. historiography of the region. Peter Schmidt access to the historiographic/indigenous It should be noted that with the (Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, knowledge. It may also be interesting to find introduction of formal education in University of Florida) has undertaken the out how the co-existence of Kiswahili and Africa, colonialism or rather Western translation project. I was involved in the English versions factors in in this game! civilization (especially the work of Christian Swahili translation as a reviewer. This is missionaries) facilitated ethnic languages a very important documentation of the Charles Bwenge is senior lecturer in CAS and into the world of print. A reasonable historiography of Hayaland (covering cur- the Department of Languages, Literatures and number of publications in local languages rent districts of Bukoba, Karagwe, Kyerwa, Cultures. was not uncommon during the colonial Missenye, and Muleba). There is no any era, consequently not only preserving local knowledge in such prints, but also promoting those languages. However, post-colonial Africa era has seen less and less publications in ethnic languages as regional African lingua francas and former colonial languages (global lingua francas) are privileged over ethnic languages. The Swahili-speaking region of East Africa is a case in point – systematic promotion of KiSwahili as a regional lingua franca, national language, and official language (alongside English) especially in Kenya and Tanzania has been marginalizing other African languages in every form in public space – including the print world! Interestingly enough, and perhaps for good reasons, some efforts have been made to translate those few texts published

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 19 HEALTH EFFECTS OF URBAN AIR POLLUTANTS IN EAST AFRICA ERIC COKER

Urban air pollution is a major health practice throughout different This past year I presented on some global public health challenge. Africa’s regions of Africa. Specifically, the World of my research findings from Uganda combination of rapidly developing econ- Health Summit Regional Meeting in regarding air pollution health effects at a omies, urbanization, and persistent use of Kampala is hosting a panel session enti- Baraza. I also served in a leading role for household solid fuels are contributing to tled “Understanding the complexities of CAS’s Global Health Institute, which is a hazardous air pollution exposures and thus urban air pollution and implications for summer outreach program with high school presents a public health emergency. Africa’s urban health.” This invitation to speak with students. I am planning to play an integral emerging air pollution public health threat other panelists will provide me the oppor- role in the Global Health Institute again is complicated by rising non-communicable tunity to present on some of my research this coming summer. Attending the World diseases in the region, highly vulnerable findings and to contribute to the discussion Health Summit Africa Region Meeting will sub-populations, and the fact that environ- on how best to learn about and address enable me to bring back critical information mental and occupational health regulatory the emerging urban air pollution threats that can be applied in CAS’s Global Health frameworks are ill-equipped to address this in Africa. In addition, given the regional Institute program in terms of the latest emerging public health threat. My particular and international scope of this topic as Global Health programs, interventions, and research focus is on improving our under- well as the meeting itself, my attendance challenges going on in Africa. standing of the health effects of urban air will provide extensive opportunities for pollutants in East Africa; a sub-region of expanding my network of collaborators Eric Coker is assistant professor in the Department sub-Saharan Africa with a large propor- and building new partnerships in Africa of Environmental and Global Health. tion of the urban population who live in and Global Health. urban slums and which also has the largest proportion of the population who use solid fuels for cooking. My research on this complex public health problem has thus far involved an epidemiological study that examined health of effects of household air pollution among children living in urban slums of Kampala, Uganda. This research was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal, Environment International. My current line of research in Kampala, which involves urban air pollution moni- toring and modeling of personal exposures, requires me to travel onsite in Uganda. Most recently, I traveled to Uganda in May 2019 where I worked with my collabora- tors to plan and deploy air monitors in Kampala. Thus far, we have been able to place several air monitors that I am able to access data for. I will be presenting findings from these air monitors for an air pollution workshop based in Kampala, Uganda and presenting my air pollution modeling at a conference in California. Because of my scholarly work in Uganda, as well as my expertise in air pollu- tion exposure assessment and air pollu- tion epidemiology, I was invited to speak on a panel with air pollution and medical experts who conduct research and applied

20 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 MENTORING FOR EDUCATION IN EMERGENCY CARE: RWANDA ELIZABETH DEVOS

Africa engaged in the seminar focusing on basics of simulation curriculum and low-cost simulation techniques. Together they practiced writing cases and debriefing. Later, in the main congress with over 800 participants from over 30 countries, we discussed an important clinical topic in my invited lecture, “Approach to Decompensated Heart Failure.” I continue to participate in the African Federation for Emergency Medicine’s consensus conference and committee work. I also look forward to assisting my mentee, an 4th year EM trainee, in his research assessing the interhospital ambulance transport system in Rwanda. While in Rwanda, I had the opportunity to connect non-governmental organizations engaged in community based palliative care to share resources and best practices. Ethiopian board members of Noble Cause Elder Care and Support spent three days working and comparing experiences with community care organizations in Rwanda. Noble Cause Elder Care and Support is a local Ethiopian NGO providing basic home health support, adult community day care and socialization, and financial support In addition to assuming roles addition to usual hospital politics, these new for poor, elderly Ethiopians in rural areas as the first Emergency Medicine leaders are faced with developing research with a Christian focus. They collaborated specialist physicians in Rwanda, the training programs, providing advice and with Al Amal (roughly “The Hope”), a graduates of the new EM/Critical Care training on important national emergency Muslim Rwandan group, which organizes residency at the University of Rwanda care and public health issues such as community home health visits, weekly food hosted the African Federation for surveillance for Ebola Virus Disease, and donations and other socialization for elderly, Emergency Medicine’s 2018 congress participating in community safety projects and poor, urban Rwandans in their faith in Kigali in November 2018. The 6 like addressing road traffic injuries and community. A workshop on community graduates completed a 4 year Master’s in drunk driving with the public. palliative care, faith-based community Emergency Medicine in November 2018 As leaders not only in Rwanda, but also health visits and Rwandan inpatient, hospice and now have assumed leadership roles in in the Emergency Care community in Africa, services commenced in Kigali with the 4 hospitals in Rwanda. The program will the Rwandan Emergency Care Association support of UK-based Doctors Worldwide. continue to develop the nation’s workforce (RECA) comprised of physicians, nurses In the future, we hope to strengthen the for Emergency Care by training up to 10 and prehospital personnel served as the host partnership between these organizations specialist physicians each year. With the organization for the African Congress on for South-South education and to develop graduation of the first specialists, the faculty Emergency Medicine. I worked with Dr. opportunities for UF students to provide roles will transition from expatriate to Amanda Young (University of Arkansas) service through fieldwork in these areas. Rwandan staff. Ongoing informal mentoring and Dr. Nkechie Dike (University of continues with nearly daily Whatsapp Ghana) to deliver a pre-congress workshop Elizabeth DeVos is associate professor in the discussions of interesting clinical cases and entitled “Using Simulation for Education.” Department of Emergency Medicine and director of approaches to difficult operational issues. In Approximately 20 participants from across international medical education programs.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 21 #TRIBELESSYOUTH? THE POLITICAL ATTITUDES AND IDENTITIES OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN KENYA SEBASTIAN ELISCHER

Recent years have seen an uptick this project – which I run concurrently to widespread ethnic violence. More than ten in the number of studies about popu- my ongoing work on Salafism in Africa and years later, the consequences of these riots lar protest in Africa. A growing number civil-military relations – I collaborate with continued to have their effect on Kenyan of countries have seen ordinary citizens Narrelle Gilchrist and Amanda Edgell. We politics. The riots led to a restructuring of taking to the street and challenging gov- are interested in the political attitudes of the country’s political alliances and hard- ernment authority in a number of fields. university students. ened its relationship with Western donors. The most recent and prominent case was The three of us work on Kenya, During the spring of 2019, we surveyed the social protest in Sudan. There, social where communal boundaries have proven 500 university students from the University protests brought down the deeply ingrained to be a major obstacle to statehood and of Nairobi about their political attitudes. autocratic regime of Umar al-Bashir. In democratization. The 2007 elections led to The survey covers a number of ques- tions about their own background, their evaluation of Kenyan democracy and their attitudes toward ethnicity in politics. Although large research projects like Afrobarometer have significantly increased our understanding about political attitudes in Africa, to our knowledge there have been no attempts to study the political attitudes of current university graduates. University graduates constitute the future administrative and business elite of a country. Many graduate students later become active in local or national politics. The attitudes of this group of Kenyan society toward democracy and communal relations therefore deserves to be studied. Our sample is confined to 500 randomly selected students from Nairobi and therefore only constitute a small section of Kenya’s graduate student body. However, the sample resembles a representative sample of all of Kenya’s numerically dominant communities. The results show that a large majority of the students surveyed value their national identities, reject the notion of political tribalism, believe in and understand the concepts of democratic pluralism, and have high expectations for future political reforms. In addition, a substantial number of students seem to be unaffected by the ethnic polarization that is commonly thought to dominate Kenyan life. While limited by their cross-sectional nature, these findings present a hopeful picture for a democratic, post-tribal political future in Kenya.

Sebastian Elischer is associate professor of political science.

22 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 ‘MADNESS,’ VIOLENCE, AND VULNERABILITY IN THE CONGOLESE BORDER CITY OF BUKAVU NANCY ROSE HUNT

My current research is in African in the hospital and on the streets, seek- history, medical anthropology, and ing forms and categories of mental illness, sensory studies. The focus is madness violence, and care, mixed with perceptions as an idiom, metaphor, and social and words. reality, used to describe or ironize. It In the hospital, an archive of 25 years is also about how psychiatric, mental health, of patient case files suggests relation- and pastoral experts perform their work. ships among violence, diagnosis, and the At a time when the history and anthropol- stories with which patients and kin arrived. ogy of psychiatry is a growing global field, I am observing all hospital services, learn- many approach the topic in relation to ing about record-keeping, patient rounds, empire, neoliberalism, psychiatric practice, and care. By seeking to understand who “aesthetic” (the word is Foucault’s); this, or religious registers (moral stances, trance ends up at Sosame today, questions emerge whether beautiful or not, may be aligned with states, possession, and deliria). This study about families, means, psycho-pharmaceu- the haptic and the visual. Such knowing may does so in relation to words, categories, and ticals, expert-based categorizations, and go beyond or be in keeping with psychiatric patterns of resort. staff perceptions of their struggles against knowledge. Kinds of social, vernacular, and The work returns me to the immense “witchcraft” and Pentecostal churches of economic knowing enter into play. How does country that has long served as context “awakening (réveil).” knowledge circulate among Sosame’s staff and for my scholarship: Democratic Republic The research takes inspiration from interns—psychiatric doctors, nurses, psycholo- of Congo. Bukavu enables a history of Foucault’s diminutive essays on madness, gists, gardeners, and janitors? war, violence, and vulnerability with needs and from recent STS-inflected work on If one line of investigation is about who for security and care, though also prac- diagnostic categories and African conflu- ends up at Sosame, many more wander in tices of resort, fantasy, and wit. The aim ences. The perceptions of psychiatric disheveled clothes suggesting a common is to understand manifestations of mental nurses, sellers, old people, intellectuals, “uniform,” a bland, filthy mode of dress illness in this city with a peculiar history. and the city’s ubiquitous taxi-motorcy- with dim tones in deep monochrome blue, Here in 1994, hundreds of thousands of clists are important. How do they talk grey, and black. What explains patterns of refugees spilled in from Rwanda’s geno- about disturbed persons in the street? location and resort? Is it a matter of wealth, cide. The psychiatric hospital, Sosame, How do they interact with, acknowledge, familial support, abandonment, or vernacular opened its doors at the same time. Violence or avoid them? Naming is important. Is diagnosis and fears? By seeing madness, we and vulnerability have continued as issues there evidence of contact with kin, sleep- are aiming at the contexts and images of amid war, armed men, rape, mining, and ing and bathing places, or ways of finding hundreds of “mad” persons roaming the humanitarian economies over the last 25 food? The “mad” may come from families streets so far undeterred. years. Today’s urban economies and broken who push them toward the street. Others The project also asks whether “trauma” infrastructure are related to Rwandan poli- are locked up at home. Shame and control remains an everyday, psychiatric word in tics, eruptions of violence, nature parks are important, while there is evidence Bukavu lives and practices. Vernacular logics (used for hiding and poaching), and mining that some on the streets find their way to go with naming laughter, fear, and stigmatiza- (sometimes in gold, sometimes worked arti- Sosame psycho-pharmaceuticals. tion, including in Mashi and Kirega traditions sanally). Today extreme inequality, demo- We are building up a matrix of and song. An older generation recalls differ- bilized men, and a shattered infrastruc- spaces and views, an urban geography of ences of the Mobutu era or of ancient stories. ture combine with missing pavement and “madness.” Observations on the streets A youthful generation of rap lyricists, privy asphyxiating dust. Amid this is a competent aim at the “mad,” marked by their dress as to destabilizing drugs entering the region, are psychiatric hospital, organized by a Catholic unstable, deranged wanderers. My research a vernacular source and social category. All order caring for the mentally needy. assistants and I are observing across a range “patterns of resort”—to use the language The study is ethnographic; it is steeped of places, recording nicknames, gestures, of medical anthropologists when thinking in life histories and patient case files. The dress, whereabouts, and habits of wander- about where and how kin with patients turn— method lies in observation, conversation, ing. We are mapping observation points, as combine with naming and categorizing; these and interviews in French and Swahili with we glean which markets, traffic lights, alley- may be untangled analytically. In sum, diverse persons from a range of social categories. ways, and buildings matter. patterns and words stretch across Bukavu’s Memory work is fleshing out details from Vernacular knowledge goes with the deeply insecure milieus. fraught months and years. We are observing senses, with seeing and remembering an Nancy Rose Hunt is professor of history.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 23 ATLANTIC INTERMEDIARIES PHILIP JANZEN

Since joining UF in August 2019, I have been working on a book manuscript tentatively titled Islands Unformed: Geography, Race, and Empire between Africa and the Caribbean. The project is centered on Caribbean people who joined the French and British colonial administrations in Africa between 1880 and 1940. It examines ques- tions about race, migration, and intellectual networks in the early twentieth century. Two or three generations removed from slavery, “Caribbean administrators” typically identified as British and French and looked down on Africans, even as they were attracted by a symbolic “Africa.” Once in Africa, however, few Europeans considered them to be “British” or “French.” Africans, meanwhile, often saw them as corrupted turncoats. My research explores the profound intellectual impacts of this middle position. One of these figures was Mark Alexis of Trinidad. In July 1909, Alexis arrived in Accra with his wife, Edwina Violetta Alexis to work as an agricultural instructor. For the next three years, he worked at an agriculture station just north of Cape Coast. Edwina worked as a seamstress. After fulfilling his three-year contract, Alexis requested a transfer back to Trinidad, but the Gold Coast administration denied this request. Over the subsequent months and years, Alexis made increasingly poignant requests to return to the Caribbean, but British officials denied all rule in Africa and the Caribbean and began and the Caribbean, one that both drew of these as well. Then, in September 1926, to rethink their positions in the British and on and transcended imperially-delineated Alexis suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and French empires. For example, L. J. Veitch boundaries. Through exchanges with his right side began to paralyze periodically. of Jamaica worked as a teacher in Nigeria African interpreters, students, farmers, A doctor noted that Alexis was “unlikely from 1905 to 1930 and helped to found railway workers, and journalists, Caribbean to be capable of rendering further efficient the Lagos branch of the UNIA with one administrators mobilized colonial thinking service to the Government.” Only then did of his former students, Ernest Ikoli. Henri about race and nation for their own ends. the colonial government pay for Alexis and Jean-Louis of Guadeloupe, meanwhile, who Ultimately, they imagined futures that lay his family to return home. worked as a judge in French Congo in the beyond the political geographies of empire. Such stories reveal the capricious and 1920s, envisioned a “Republic of Africa” exploitative nature of the British and French that would be at the centre of a global Philip Janzen is assistant professor of history. empires. Yet the stories of Caribbean socialist confederation. administrators were not constrained entirely The trajectories of people like Alexis, by imperial boundaries. Caribbean adminis- Veitch, and Jean-Louis reveal the founda- trators identified the similarities of colonial tion of an intellectual nexus between Africa

24 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 SENEGALESE HOMETOWN ASSOCIATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS: THE IMPACT OF NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES ABDOULAYE KANE

I have been developing new Before the 2000s, the lack of communi- unreliable due to poor connections in rural research on the use of WhatsApp cation between hometown associations in areas. The cost of international calls was groups by the Senegalese migrants Europe, America and Africa was primarily prohibitive until the end of 1990s, when to increase the impacts of their due to the type of communication tech- satellite calling cards reduced the costs development interventions in their nologies available and their cost at differ- to reasonable, affordable rates. Over the sending communities. I have done ent periods in time. From the 1970s until 2000s and 2010s, however, radical innova- limited studies of three WhatsApp groups the early 1990s, communication between tions took place in the types of communi- connecting several chapters of hometown hometown associations abroad and at home cation technology available to immigrant associations present in Central Africa, mainly occurred in the form of written communities. Hometown associations Europe, and the United States. I am revis- letters or emissaries. Other communication and their members in the diaspora started ing a NSF proposal to investigate more of technologies were progressively intro- to use social media platforms and instant these WhatsApp groups and the changes duced over time, including tape record- messaging to communicate instanta- that they are likely to bring in the role of ers, videotapes, and landline telephones. neously, at no cost. These technologies migrants as recognized actors of develop- Most of these forms of communication have represented a great opportunity not ment in sending towns of the Senegal were delayed and mediated, which limited only for powerful collective actors such River Valley. The following is a brief sum- content and communication frequency. states, multinational corporations, and mary of my proposed research. The telephone was instantaneous but often transnational organizations, but also for regular economic migrants and refugees eager to maintain connections with their communities of origin. In this NSF proposal I plan to inves- tigate the impact that the major changes in the ecology of communications¬–– brought about by instant messaging tech- nologies––has had on the social, cultural, and economic processes of both migrants’ communities and their communities of origin. Looking at the case of three large WhatsApp groups of Senegalese hometown associations, I will: 1) map the communication network structure of the transnational virtual communities they sustain; 2) analyze the factors that facilitate or hinder communication between association members on instant messaging platforms; 3) examine the new dynamics of leadership and power formation that take place in these virtual spaces; and 4) investigate the innovative models of fundraising and development intervention that emerge as a result.

Abdoulaye Kane is associate professor of anthropology and African studies.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 25 QUALITY OF ELECTIONS AND VOTER TURNOUT IN NIGERIA NICHOLAS KERR

Nigeria’s 2019 elections marked voter identification machines. One of the innovative approach that leverages the the 20-year anniversary of the clearest indications that citizens may have two-week gap between the 2019 federal re-introduction of multiparty elec- been dissatisfied with the quality of the and state elections in Nigeria to gauge how tions in 1999. Following the historic electoral process was that the 2019 elections the quality of the 2019 federal elections 2015 elections, which ushered in the first recorded the lowest turnout levels in over influence turnout in the state-level peaceful democratic transfer of power 20 years. During the federal elections, 35% elections. We rely on subnational turnout to the opposition in the country and the of registered voters cast a ballot, compared data and reports from domestic observers accession of General Muhammadu Buhari to 53% and 43% in the 2011 and 2015 to develop a dynamic model that explains as president under the platform of the All elections respectively. relative changes in subnational turnout Progressives Congress (APC), Nigerians This project seeks to understand the between the 2019 national and state elec- and friends of the country were optimistic relationship between the quality of elec- tions. By assessing subnational variation that the 2019 elections would signal its tions and voter turnout in Africa through across two time points, our research design movement towards democratic consolida- a comparative analysis of Nigeria’s federal helps us to rule out alternative explana- tion. Early in the electoral cycle there were and state elections since 1999. The project tions for turnout that often undermines several positive signs, including the passage is a collaborative effort with three Nigerian the validity of results in cross-national of a constitutional amendment (“Not Too election and democracy practitioners: research. Our preliminary results indicate Young To Run” Bill) that lowered the age Bodunrin Adebo (National Democratic that the malfunctioning of voter identifica- of candidacy in federal and state elections Institute), Samson Itodo and Safiya Bichi tion equipment during Nigeria’s federal and the Independent National Electoral (both of YIAGA-AFRICA). More specifi- election, an indicator of administrative Commission’s (INEC) attempt to introduce cally, the project seeks to understand the irregularities, had the greatest negative electronic transmission of results. consequences of election quality for mass impact on turnout in the state elections. However, as the date of the election political behavior, specifically in regimes This relationship holds even after control- approached there were several warning that have not consolidated democratic rule. ling for other forms of electoral fraud and signs, including heightened electoral We contend that the extent to which an violence, as well as the relative competitive- violence and intimidation, incumbent election, and particularly what happens on ness of federal and state elections. interference in the electoral process and election day, meets minimum standards of We believe that our findings have problems with election administration ballot secrecy, integrity of the vote count, important implications for scholars and which suggested that the relatively high and free and unhindered access to the policymakers. For instance, the findings quality of the 2015 elections would not be voting process may have implications for suggest that even the most seemingly realized in 2019. For instance, on February citizens’ willingness to cast their ballot in innocuous breakdowns in election manage- 23, the morning of the Federal elections, subsequent elections. Motivated by rational- ment, can have long-lasting implications INEC postponed the entire exercise, citing choice approaches to understanding voter for political behavior, because of the way logistical challenges with the distribution turnout, we believe that election quality can in which they provide information about of sensitive materials to polling stations influence the cost of voting as well as the the electoral process. This has implications and a series of politically-motivated probability that one’s vote will be decisive. on research emphasizing EMB capacity as attacks on INEC warehouses storing We examine our proposition using an an important dimension of the institutions’ performance during different stages of the electoral process, but also on policy- makers who are committed to increasing mass participation in the voting process. However, these findings represent only the tip of the iceberg as more cross-national research is needed to understand how citi- zens interpret these types of administrative failures and how policymakers can reduce the negative impact of these failures.

Nicholas Kerr is assistant professor of political science.

26 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 USING COMPUTATIONAL METHODS TO DOCUMENT AND PRESERVE KIDAW’IDA ROSE LUGANO

Since 2015, Jordan Mackenzie and I have been engaged in the documen- tation of Kidaw’ida, a Bantu language of southeast Kenya. Our main goal in this project is the production of a bilingual Kidaw’ida–English dictionary, as well as a pedagogical grammar. Though Daw’ida has a fairly robust population of speakers and is not threat- ened like many other languages of sub- Saharan Africa by the prospect of extinc- tion, language shift is a very real concern. As documented in Lugano (2019), the high rate of multilingualism among the W’adaw’ida has resulted in the loss of many words in everyday use, as they have been replaced by their counterparts in Swahili, and increasingly, English. Though this is in some ways a natural consequence of multi- lingual contact scenarios, documentation projects like ours provide a record of the language that will be of interest to speakers, linguists, and other researchers. To start off the project Rose spent fall semester 2015 looking for Kidaw’ida texts and found less than ten! These include a collection of short stories Chughano ra Kidaw’ida (Taita Stories) by J.M. S .Mshila 1970; Midedo ya Kidaw’ida (Taita Proverbs) structured Excel-format sheet. At present Future work in this domain includes by Fred Mbololo 2015; Ngasu ya Lukundo the dictionary has some 4,567 unique entries. completing our pedagogical grammar and (The Secret of Love) by Mwalicha Walicha, Computational methods are well producing other educational materials, with 2010, and the Bible. These texts have been suited for dictionary creation and editing. the aim of boosting formal literacy in the helpful, but despite this there are many gaps Comparison with existing corpora allows language. Isuw’irio jhadareda mvono (Patience which we hope to fill soon. for automatic part-of-speech tagging, from bring blessings) is a Daw’ida proverb which In August 2019 Jordan participated which noun classes can be labeled auto- continues to motivate Jordan and I to in a one-week workshop: “Language matically with a high degree of accuracy continue this tedious job to the end, Technology for Language Documentation via prefix tagging. A full description of our to document a language before it loses and Revitalization,” hosted by the Language method can be found in Neubig et al. (forth- too much. Technology Institute at Carnegie Mellon coming 2020). University, Pittsburgh, PA. The goal of the A prototype dictionary (processed Rose Lugano is a master lecturer in the workshop was to bring together computer through TLex software) will be ready by Department of Languages, Literatures, and scientists, computational and documen- Summer 2020, which Rose will take to Cultures. Jordan MacKenzie is a PhD student in tary linguists, and community members to publishers in Kenya to distribute and seek linguistics at Georgetown University. He earned develop more efficient ways to document feedback from W’adaw’ida, especially elders. an MA from UF and is a former FLAS fellow endangered and minoritized languages. The project has already generated a lot of (Swahili and Yorùbá). Jordan worked with computer scientists interest in the preservation of Kidaw’ida, Antonios Anastasopoulos and Shruti and we seek to motivate other stakeholders Rijhwani, who processed a 100+ page Word to help in the publication of the dictionary document written by Rose Lugano into a and to distribute it nationally.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 27 MUSLIM MINORITIES IN SOUTHERN BENIN AND TOGO FRÉDÉRICK MADORE

Over the last year, I worked on Africa, Islam in the Christian-majority and a working paper, “Generations at Odds: four papers deriving from my disser- Francophone areas of the Gulf of Guinea The Controversial Political Candidacy of an tation research on Islam in Côte remain mostly unknown apart from Côte Imam in Benin,” at a meeting of the Islam d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. The first d’Ivoire. The research interrogates how in Africa Working Group (IAWG) at CAS. one is a co-authored paper entitled “Islam Muslims in Benin and Togo have engaged I used the controversy that arose from the on University Campuses in Côte d’Ivoire with politics in secular states. I analyze how election of the imam of the main mosque since the 1970s: ‘Muslim Intellectuals’ and perceptions of marginalization have shaped of Cotonou to the National Assembly in Francophone Salafism” which I presented at their participation in the public sphere. The April 2019 as a starting point to reflect on the 2019 European Conference on African project also examines the plurality of ways the current dynamics of Islam in Benin. Studies. A second one, on the competing in which Muslim youth and women make Finally, I worked with the George A. understandings of laïcité among Burkinabe their religious identity meaningful in their Smathers Libraries to build an open-access Muslims, was presented at the workshop everyday lives beyond established analytic digital database containing more than 4,000 and symposium “Debating Laïcité in the terms (Sufi, reformist, Salafi). documents related to Islam in Burkina Sahel: What Future for Secularism?” orga- Based on my preliminary findings from Faso which I collected in the course of my nized by the Sahel Research Group in Dakar fieldwork in Cotonou, Porto-Novo and doctoral research. Over 800 items will be in July 2019. The two other manuscripts, Lomé in spring 2019, I organized a panel published online at the beginning of 2020. one of which has been submitted to a on “Muslim Minorities in Africa” at the I intend to use this project as a showcase special issue dedicated to religious entrepre- 2019 African Studies Association (ASA) for a funding application to build a wider neurship, examine the history of women’s meeting in which I presented a paper digital database on Islam in West Africa. Islamic activism and the rise of a “feminist” entitled “‘Good Muslim, Bad Muslim’ in Technological resources of this type could Islam in Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. Togo: The Construction of a Religious help to overcome the difficulties often With the support of a Banting Minority Amid a Constitutional Crisis encountered in collecting primary sources Postdoctoral Fellowship (Social Sciences (2017-2018).” In this paper, I have exam- in archival centers in the region. and Humanities Research Council of ined the “good/bad Muslim” rhetoric used Canada, 2018–2020), I am also engaged in by the Togolese state which has equated Frédérick Madore is a Banting Postdoctoral a second research project on the under- Muslims’ outspoken criticism of the regime Fellow at the Center for African Studies. Funding studied history of Muslim minority commu- with a dangerous rise of political Islam. I provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities nities in southern Benin and Togo. While have also argued that these events reflect Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). recent reports have warned about the risk latent intergenerational conflicts within the of the spread of jihadism in coastal West Muslim community. Moreover, I presented

28 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 TRANS-SAHARAN LITERACIES FIONA MCLAUGHLIN

of North and West Africa via trans-Saharan caravans and the development of common Saharan identities. That conference served as a catalyst for the articulation of a trans- Saharan frame of analysis that considers societies in and adjacent to the Sahara to be within the same cultural and historical sphere of influence. This conceptual recon- figuration has precedents in framings such as the Mediterranean (Braudel 1949) and the Atlantic worlds (e.g. Benjamin 2009), but unlike those well-established notions, the trans-Saharan world is at present an emerging concept to which my research will contribute. My project engages in particular with the study of vernacular or “grassroots” literacies, so-called informal literacies that flourish independently of the dominant regime of literacy imposed by the colonial and postcolonial state through public education. As alternatives to the official francophone or arabophone regimes of language in the Trans-Sahara, ajami and I am beginning a new project scholarship, namely the recognition in tifinagh are counter-hegemonic literacies entitled “Trans-Saharan Literacies: multiple disciplines that we can no longer that constitute important writing practices Writing across the Desert” which consider the Sahara a barrier between north for many Africans, yet they are generally looks at the everyday literacy and sub-Saharan Africa, and the discipline- overlooked in surveys of literacy in Africa. practices of populations in the specific emergence of the sociolinguistics These literacies and their histories, the texts Maghreb, the Sahel, and the Sahara, of writing as a relatively new field of that people produce by using them, and focusing on the writing of African linguistic inquiry. the ways in which people talk about them languages in non-Latin scripts. The The term “trans-Saharan literacies” is in the Maghreb, the Sahara, and the Sahel, first of these is ajami, a widespread and my own, and it places my work within a constitute the basis of my argument for longstanding practice of writing African broader intellectual agenda that questions framing the Trans-Sahara as a continuous languages in the Arabic script, and the the construction of the Sahara in scholarly cultural area. second is tifinagh, a more restricted yet writing, in the colonial archive, and in This work builds on the discussion distinctive literacy based on an ancient the popular imagination as a barrier of African literacies two of my publica- Libyco-Berber script used to write Berber that has separated, among other things, tions, “Linguistic warscapes of northern languages. By showing these vernacular the Maghreb from sub-Saharan Africa, Mali.” Linguistic Landscape 1(3):213-242 literacies to be robust everyday practices in White from Black, Muslim from “pagan,” (2015) and “Ajami writing practices in many African societies, and by tracing their and Arab from African. This pervasive Atlantic-speaking Africa,” a book chapter transmission and spread through pathways paradigm of two different Africas belies for The Oxford Guide to the Atlantic Languages, of Islamization, Islamic education, and an altogether different reality. The idea edited by Friederike Lüpke (forthcoming). pastoralist traditions, I make the case for of Trans-Saharan Literacies dates to 2009, During the 2019-2020 academic year this positing a trans-Saharan world of shared when I participated in the first of several work is supported by a fellowship from the historical, religious, and linguistic influ- Saharan Crossroads conferences, held in National Endowment for the Humanities. ences. Interdisciplinary in nature, this Tangier, Morocco, where thirty scholars project grows out of and contributes to from diverse disciplines focused on the Fiona Mc Laughlin is professor of linguistics and two important developments in recent cultural and historical ties between people African languages.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 29 MATHEMATICAL FRAMEWORKS FOR STUDYING THE ECOLOGY OF POVERTY AND DISEASE CALISTUS NGONGHALA

As the world embraces the models can be used with field data to 1) efficacy, and human behavior on malaria Sustainable Development Goals there identify key feedback mechanisms in the prevalence. Preliminary results provide are methodological challenges for coupled systems, e.g., the emergence of insights on some of the major methods how we study the ecology of poverty, virtuous versus vicious cycles of disease or being implemented to constrain the spread infectious diseases, and their under- subsistence and poverty, 2) identify signif- of the disease, including guidance as to the lying drivers. For example, poor rural icantly influential parameters through circumstances under which bed-nets can be populations in Africa rely on their natural mathematical and computational methods, expected to be effective and how this relates resource base for subsistence, and suffer 3) estimate relative effects of social, to the demography of the disease vector. I from many infections such as malaria, environmental, and health system drivers on am also developing a comprehensive mecha- HIV/AIDS, diarrhea, etc., simultaneously human disease; 4) make predictive estimates nistic model framework for integrating and – due to a range of reinforcing ecological, of effects of environmental and health assessing how relevant sources of variation socio-economic, and public health factors. system change on disease and poverty (environmental, genetic, and anthropo- Thus, two primary characteristics of system outcomes; and 5) identify optimal genic) shape Zika virus. The results of this under-developed economies are the role of strategies based on revealed synergies of project are expected to create a realistic and subsistence agriculture as the primary form health system interventions, disease inter- much- needed perspective model of Zika of economic activity, and high morbidity/ actions, and poverty alleviation programs. virus that can be used to understand how the mortality due to infectious diseases. I explore mathematical properties of the Zika virus is introduced to new areas, how My research seeks to develop novel models such as the existence of multi- it spreads, and that can be used to assess the mathematical frameworks based on 1) stable states, and various bifurcations success of various vector control measures. coupled systems of disease ecology, and the associated critical transitions or Developing and testing these models agriculture (renewable resources), environ- tipping points. This multidisciplinary area requires data and scientific methods that mental (land-use) change, socio-economics, of research at the interface of economics, reach beyond a single discipline. Hence, and health system dynamics that can be epidemiology and mathematical modeling I pursue collaborations with ecologists, parameterized from field data to explore is novel, has had very little investigation epidemiologists, social scientists, and feedbacks resulting from interactions and yet has the potential to provide signif- researchers in public health. Also, I between these systems; and 2) that are icant advice for managers of regions with disseminate my research results through empirically inferred from machine-learning extensive disease and poverty management quality publications and conferences. Finally, methods. Coupled models of ecological issues, in addition to being a problem of I contribute in building capacity in this rich and socio-economic components of direct concern to many governments. but unexploited research area, especially in poverty can provide key insights into the My research also focuses on devel- Africa through workshops/conferences like formation of poverty traps arising from oping and using mathematical models to the one that I will be co-organizing at the complex interactions between environ- explore the role of mosquito adaptation, University of Nairobi. mental and biosocial processes; insights demography and their feeding and repro- that can also inform public health and ductive habits, climatic change, the effects Calistus Ngonghala is assistant professor in the economic development policies. These of decay in insecticide-treated bed net Department of Mathematics.

30 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 VILLAGE GONE VIRAL MARIT ØSTEBØ

Over the past year I have been hidden, and ambivalent consequences of in a process of becoming, the model is a working on a book project entitled the model status. What happens to the political tool that has both emancipatory Village Gone Viral: An Ethnography ‘original’ model—ideological as well as and oppressive effects. Secondly, just as of a Travelling Model. The book, which embodied and emplaced—once it becomes the virus, the model’s travel and its conta- tells the story of how a small, rural village a travelling model? gious capacity are conditioned on hospi- in Ethiopia has become a policy model By combining assemblage thinking, table environments and receptive hosts. In and “gone viral,” provides a critical discus- perspectives from Gabriel Tarde’s social the Awra Amba case, the model’s limited sion of the widespread circulation and use epidemiology, and virology, my overarching and exclusive virality is most clearly illus- of models and modeling practices in an argument is as follows. A travelling model trated by the fact that a commercial, increasingly transnational and digital policy can best be understood as a viral assem- virtual model of the village, developed by world. I use this as a point of departure to blage: a messy, fluid, and socio-technical a Finnish EdTech company is not univer- engage in a broader empirical and theo- process and constellation of actors, things, sally accessible, nor profits the original retical exploration of the role and politics events, arbitrary relations, and desires that model village. Thirdly, viral assemblage of models and model-making. The book have contagious qualities. Approaching allows me to highlight an important aspect addresses three sets of questions. First, I the travelling model and policy mobility that the existing literature on policy mobil- explore policy models from an ontologi- through the lens of viral assemblage has ity and travelling models has overlooked; cal perspective. What constitutes models allowed me to highlight three lessons that the role affect, desire, and emotions play within the policy world and how do they have implications for how we understand in fueling a model’s virality. come into ‘being’? Secondly, I examine the global flow of policy models and ideas. My research the next three-five years how and why a particular model circulates, First, the model is not a neutral, univer- will focus on two different, yet intercon- and how it is translated and negotiated sal, or static entity that exist independently nected areas. The first reflects my inter- across geographically and culturally diverse of its historical, political, and economic est in the politics of models and modeling contexts. Thirdly, I explore the unintended, context. As an assemblage which always is practices, and aims to explore a techno- logical futuristic city project, promoted as “the real Wakanda,” that LA-based company HubCity Live (in partnership with the Ethiopian government) plans to construct in the Amhara region of the country. The second seeks to rethink the concept of partnership through the lens of viral assemblage, an analytical concept I introduce in my forthcoming book. In addition to exploring the various partner- ships that emerge in the Awra Amba case, this research includes an empirical focus on the multiple, messy, and fluid human and material relationships that emerge in postpartum family planning programs (PPFP) in Ethiopia.

Marit Tolo Østebø is assistant professor at the Department of Anthropology. This research is part of a larger project that focuses on partner- ship and development in Ethiopia funded by the Research Council of Norway.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 31 RESEARCHING ISLAM, ETHIOPIA, AND AFRICA TERJE ØSTEBØ

Much of spring 2019 was spent on collecting papers, I have also written one of New York. It explores the various ways completing my book project which of the book’s chapters called “Salafism in states incorporate religion and religious had been in making for many years. Africa.” The chapter gives an overview over outreach activities into their broader foreign Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia: current research on the topic, discusses policy conduct, and I will in particular focus The Bale Insurgency, 1963-1970 offers an recent developments, and points to areas in on Saudi Arabian influence in Ethiopia and in-depth analysis of a well-known armed need of further enquiry. the Horn of Africa. The output of this insurgency in Ethiopia’s region of Bale I have in addition worked on three will be a chapter in an edited volume to be during the 1960s. The insurgency was separate articles. One has been co-authored published by Oxford University Press. intersected with a broader situation of with one of my graduate students, Yekatit Lastly, I presented papers and gave unrest and instability in the eastern parts Getachew, and focuses on a religious entre- talks at different venues. In April, I gave an of the Horn of Africa, and common for all preneur, transformations of Sufi rituals, invited talk entitled “The Role of Religion these insurgencies was that they involved and how this appeals to female migrants in Conflict Peace-building and Conflict lowland Muslims—making religion relevant seeking work in the Gulf region. The article Management” for the Center for Peace when trying to understand the conflicts. is part of a special issue of Africa Today on and Reconciliation’s inaugural conference The book thus incorporates religion as an religious entrepreneurs in Africa, and will at Mekelle University, Ethiopia. I also gave important variable, seeks to situate religion be published in 2020. The second article— a guest lecture on “Islam and Salafism in in relation to ethnicity, and to forward new at the editing stage—addresses current Ethiopia” at Mekelle University. In June I suggestions for how to better theorize inter-religious encounters in Ethiopia, and presented a paper called “Peoplehood and around the relationship between religion discusses how four particular trends mutu- the Interrelations between Ethnicity and and ethnicity. The book has been accepted ally affect the country’s religious commu- Religion” at the European Association for by Cambridge University Press, and will be nities and their relations with each other. the Study of Religions annual conference in published in 2020. In fall 2019 I was invited to be a part of Tartu, Estonia. Considerable amounts of time have a research project called the “Geopolitics been spent on editing the Handbook on Islam of Religious Soft Power” run by the Terje Østebø is associate professor of religion and in Africa, to be published by Routledge Georgetown University’s Berkley Center African studies. tentatively in 2020. In addition to deciding for Religion, Peace & World Affairs and on chapters, commissioning authors, and supported by the Carnegie Corporation

32 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER SIDE: PROMOTING DIALOGUE BETWEEN RESEARCHERS AND POLICY-MAKERS RENATA SERRA

An undeniable lack of mutual incomprehension, supported by a good dose of stereotypical repre- sentations, divides the worlds of research and policy. As researchers, we tend to regard those who are in decision- making positions and in the policy world as unfree—encumbered by unreasonable demands and by tedious bureaucratic deci- sions and processes. At best, policy-makers are pitied for their lack of time to carefully ponder before taking an action; at worst, they are regarded as having sold their souls. On the other end of the spectrum, prac- titioners view researchers as snobby and elitist, Universities appear as ivory towers, and research that remains in the shelves, even if published in prestigious journals, is met with skepticism. Kigali a workshop titled “Joint sharing and general research communication is one-way Part of my ongoing role as Lead for the planning for improved livestock policies.” with no clear modality for returning infor- Policy Area of inquiry at the USAID Feed This one-day event was attended by about mation and suggestions; researchers are not the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock 40 participants, including representatives incentivized to spend time communicat- Systems at the University of Florida has from different ministries and agencies ing their findings to policy makers, thus been to try and shorten this divide in the within the government, universities, devel- preventing from being used in formulating countries in which we work. Much of opment partners, NGOs, producer associa- appropriate policies. the research that the Innovation Lab has tions and the private sector. The aim was While most of the participants were funded aims to have practical applica- to provide to key policy stakeholders in the well aware of the difficulties ahead, they tions—by developing innovative technolo- Rwanda’s livestock sector an opportunity were all energized by the possibility of gies for improving animal health and pro- to explore their current collaboration and improving existing lines of communication ductivity, increasing small-holders’ access communication processes, especially along and collaborations. Several recommenda- to market and information, or expanding the continuum between research and policy- tions and points were reinforced at the end knowledge about the importance of animal making, and identify new modalities for of the workshop, including capitalizing on source food in fighting nutritional deficien- effectively sharing relevant knowledge from the existing technical working groups and cies. However, despite the aspirations to livestock science and contribute to more ensuring cross technical groups sharing tangible and practical applications, there is informed policy formulation and imple- and dissemination of information up- and no guarantee that the research results are mentation. Participants actively discussed down-stream i.e. from national to local read or understood by the actors who are and engaged with one another within work- level; strengthening two-ways communica- supposed to put them into practice. What ing groups, formed in ways that included tion systems by fostering inter-personal I learned in the past year—travelling to representatives from different organizations relationships between researchers and Niger, Nepal and Rwanda and talking to along the spectrum research to policy. Some policy-makers (through workshops of this researchers and policy-makers alike—is that of the most glaring points shared in group kind for example); reinforcing communica- a more concerted and sustained effort is discussions were the following: there is a tion capacities through training and educa- required in order to bridge the gap between prevailing modality of working in ‘silos’; tion; and enhancing local ownership of the research and policy, and convey research to there is unnecessary duplication of efforts, type of research that gets funded. practitioners in ways that is understandable for instance due to lack of communication and actionable. between researchers based in the govern- Renata Serra is senior lecturer in the Center for Together with colleagues from the ment and the University; much research African Studies, and Policy AOI Lead for the Innovation Lab and our in-country part- is based on data collection from farmers USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for ners, I thus organized last September in but there is no direct feedback to them; in Livestock Systems.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 33 MATERNAL MORTALITY AND THE ETHICS OF CARE IN TANZANIA ADRIENNE STRONG

changed in the region over the years. I also spent two weeks in the Tanzania National Archives tracing the development of nursing in the country from the colonial era through the 1980s. I am interested in the ways in which nursing has moved from a “calling” or vocation people pursued due to a deep desire to help others to work in which people now engage because of the profession’s perceived job security. Layered against the background of Tanzania’s transition from colonialism to post-independence socialism to present- day neoliberal capitalism, trends in nursing provide a lens through which to examine broader socio-cultural and political changes in the country, as well as shifting norms and ideals related to the meaning of care itself. Gendered concepts of care and gendered roles related to pregnancy and reproduction frequently surface in my Overall, my work focuses on preg- which the social dynamics and power work. For example, in Rukwa, men and nancy and childbirth in Tanzania. This structures of a regional hospital, and the women often discussed bridewealth in has included looking at access to antenatal Tanzanian healthcare system more gener- relation to healthcare decision-making and care in communities in Singida region, ally, combine with resource scarcity to male support for women’s pregnancies. examining a birth companion pilot program continue to result in the deaths of pregnant My conference presentations at this year’s in health centers in Kigoma region, and sus- women, despite more than thirty years of American Anthropological Association tained fieldwork exploring the phenomenon dedicated interventions aimed at reducing meeting in Vancouver revolved around of maternal mortality in health facilities these deaths. troubling the stereotypes of African men in Rukwa region, specifically at a regional I use a mixed-methods approach to data that often are embodied in public health referral hospital. My research program has collection and utilize a variety of methods interventions related to women’s health. evolved to primarily center the experiences to explore the complex pathways leading to Challenging the narrow definitions of of healthcare workers, including both maternal mortality. In the project looking “male involvement” found in public health nurses and doctors of all categories, and at the birth companionship program in discourse, my work in both Rukwa and their interactions with their work environ- Kigoma region, with the help of a student, Kigoma reveals the diverse nature of ments as they seek to provide high quality I spent approximately four months design- men’s roles and their deep investment in care to pregnant women while conforming ing and conducting a cultural consensus their partners’ pregnancies. Men’s roles with national and global guidelines for care analysis of the cultural domain of comfort during their partners’ pregnancies in and striving to save women’s lives when and support for pregnant women. The Tanzania do not look the same as those of obstetric emergencies threaten them. My results from this study provide insight into their counterparts in the global north and, first book manuscript is currently entitled the ways in which the birth companionship as such, policy makers and public health Documenting Death: Maternal Mortality and the program did and did not meet the needs professionals often lament African men’s Ethics of Care in Tanzania and examines the and cultural values of people in the region. (perceived) absence. ways in which locally grounded, everyday More recently, in the summer of 2019, I ethics come into conflict with codified spent six weeks in Tanzania, once again in Adrienne Strong is assistant professor in the professional ethics in the work of maternal Rukwa region, interviewing retired nurses Department of Anthropology. healthcare personnel in under-resourced and current nursing students to explore settings. The book explores the ways in the ways in which nursing practice has

34 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 FOREIGN INTERVENTIONS AND TRANSNATIONAL INSURGENCIES IN THE SAHARA-SAHEL OLIVIER WALTHER

The security situation in North and West Africa has taken a worrying turn. Within the span of a few years, Mali has faced a military coup, a seces- sionist rebellion, a Western military intervention, and several major terrorist attacks. In the Lake Chad region, Boko Haram is attempting to revive an emirate, killing thousands and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee to neigh- boring countries. In Libya, the bombing campaign by NATO in 2011 hardly put an end to the civil war that continues to oppose rebels and militias. If the trend observed so far continues, 2019 will be the deadliest recorded in the region since 1997, with more than 8,300 killed through June. Despite the multiplication of security regions with violence exhibit signs of as part of the intervention but then rapidly studies, the geography of conflict diffusion. In general, conflicts may not decreased as the intervention progressed. throughout the region is obscured by the necessarily be spreading to incorpo- Further, the new spatial indicator showed large number of belligerents, their divergent rate new places but are motivated by the how the interventions ultimately decreased political strategies, and a focus on individual unresolved grievances of local communi- the intensity of violence and kept violence countries as the primary context of the ties. This means that violence is predomi- from becoming dispersed where it was continuing violence. While violence remains nantly entrenched in certain spaces, with occurring. In the Lake Chad region, the on the increase, it remains unclear whether profoundly negative consequences for offensive launched by Nigeria and its violent organizations are intensifying their civilians who are increasingly the main neighbors in 2015 was a turning point efforts in particular localities, spreading targets of violent extremist organizations. in the war against Boko Haram, initially insecurity to a growing number of regions, The indicator also shows that conflicts reducing the intensity of violence and or relocating under the pressure of govern- are becoming more violent. In 2018, the limiting it to remote areas. However, the ment forces. number of violent events and fatalities locations of violence have been more In order to provide some much-needed were higher than the 20-year average in persistent while not diminishing in inten- evidence for these crucial questions, we more than half of the conflictual regions. sity and more dispersed where it continues developed a Spatial Conflict Dynamics In other words, where a conflict was to occur. Overall, this speaks to Boko indicator (SCDi). The new indicator builds present, it was likely to be worse than Haram’s resiliency even if the face of the on the idea that the geography of political expected historically. This result points to multinational intervention. violence possesses two fundamental dimen- the ongoing difficulties state and multi- This work is part of the Foreign sions: intensity and concentration. On national forces have encountered in Interventions and Transnational the one hand, the military capabilities and containing the fighting and the need for Insurgencies in the Sahara-Sahel project political strategies of the actors in conflict greater reinforcement of their capaci- funded by the OECD and led by Olivier can increase or decrease the intensity of ties and increased co-ordination between J. Walther and Leonardo A. Villalón. conflicts within any region. On the other actors. It also emphasizes the importance Research collaborators are Tatiana hand, the location of conflicts can focus on of integrating the spatial dimension into Smirnova (UF), Matthew Pflaum (UF), a limited space or, conversely, diffuse across analysis and strategy design. Marie Trémolières (OECD), Steven M. a wider landscape. Our work also shows that neither Radil (University of Idaho) and David The new indicator reveals that most France’s intervention in Mali in 2013 nor Russell (independent consultant). conflicts are local. Contrary to popular NATO’s intervention in Libya in 2011 belief that global extremist ideas fueled by led to long-term stability in the region. Olivier J. Walther is assistant professor of transnational groups spread like wildfire During both interventions, the number of geography. across the region, less than 35% of the regions that experienced violence surged

35CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Faculty Reports 2019–2020 35

STUDENT REPORTS

MOSUNMOLA ADEOJO Victorianism in Nigeria ELIJAH ADONGO Style(s) and Knowledge of Contemporary African Choral Music KAMLA ARISTIDE Genetic Diversity, Diet and Habitat Quality of the African Manatee

SHAMBAVI BHUSAN African Migrant Experiences in India

JESSICA CASIMIR Cumulative Disadvantage and Weathering among Caregivers in South Africa KAREN COKER Air Pollution’s Impact on Respiratory Health in Dakar WILLIAM DYER Tigrinya Gender Morphology

DIANE EZEH Experiences of African Students in United States

MACODOU FALL Islam, Popular Culture and Ajami Literature in Senegal JAMIE FULLER Mobile Women and Social Reproduction in Senegal RYAN GOOD Visualizing Drought in Kenya

MACKENZIE GOODE Understanding Human-wildlife Conflict and Conservation Attitudes

VICTORIA GORHAM State, Society, and Nation-Building in Tanzania and Kenya KYUNG HONG Surgery for Biliary Atresia in Low-resource Settings? Outcomes in Rwanda PAPA HOYECK Peste des Petits Ruminants and the Livestock Sector in Senegal KIMBERLEY LEDGER Tick Abundance and Diversity in Kruger National Park LEANDRA MERZ Human-wildlife Coexistence in Zambia’s Game Management Areas MILT MOISE Alienation, Boredom, and the Invisible African FEZILE MTSETFWA Climate and Land Use Impacts on Savanna Trees STEPHANIE MUENCH Evaluation of Livestock Systems Innovations in Rwanda ZOE MUNGAI-BARRIS Kenyan Perceptions of Chinese-made Kangas Entering the East African Marketplace CHRISTOPHER MUNTZNER Nouns in Khoekhoe CRISTOVÃO NWACHUKWU Post-Nationalist Preoccupations in African Short Stories MATTHEW PFLAUM Conflict, Food Security and Pastoralism in the Sahel ROMY RAJAN The Postcolonial Novel in India and Kenya RILEY RAVARY Exclusion through Boundary (Re)making in a Protected Area SARAH STAUB Artemisia Trainings in Benin YEKATIT TSEHAYU Religious Entrepreneur and Female Migration

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 37 VICTORIANISM IN NIGERIA MOSUNMOLA ADEOJO

Whether in architecture, sphere; seeing how the public sphere has the military—that define masculinities in educational structures or legal become more virtual than physical, and these two timelines, and how they shape systems, vestiges of Victorianism how social media is a political entity/polity the masculinities of Victorian boys and the remain in present day Nigeria. I study of its own. It also highlights the Nigerian military men in Nigeria. I am interested in the similarities between Victorian England public’s participation in politics, and new how configurations of ideal masculinity, and 20th & 21st Century Nigeria. My ways of documenting and disseminating innate nobility in masculinity (and the research is inspired by Michael Echeruo’s political satire on Nigerian virtual spaces. I subversion of such ideals), operate in book, Victorian Lagos: Aspects of Nineteenth use pictures and videos to discuss the forms Victorian and Nigerian literatures. Overall, Century Lagos Life and Simon Gikandi’s of media used to document political satire. my research attempts to question a fixated discourse on Afro-Victorianism. Their Presently, I am writing a thesis that idea of Victorianism within Victorian works examine evidences of Victorian investigates how concepts of boyhood, England, seeing the concept as universal life in African societies and literatures. performance of masculinity, and ideal and transnational, particularly in the context My research goes further to study the masculinity in Victorian England are of colonialism and colonial culture. intersections of space, politics, gender, evident and redefined in the first years and the public sphere in Afro-Victorian of military rule in Nigeria (1966-1970). I Mosunmola Adeojo is a doctoral student in the discourse. I use literature and digital media focus on the institutions—the school and Department of English. to discuss these intersections, by examining how these similarities help us understand the socio-historical background of Victorian afterlife in present day Nigeria. Generally, my research compares the public spheres in Victorian England and 20th and 21st Century Nigeria. I also examine how the former’s conceptions of class, society, gender and politics are translated to and redefined in the latter. My research cuts across representations of men in metropolitan spaces, how dandyism transcends Victorian England into the Nigerian social and digital space, and how concepts of ideal masculinity are depicted in Victorian and Nigerian literature. For example, I presented a paper titled “‘Peasant fingers masked with a patina of gentility’: Masculinity in Afropolitan Lagos” at the 2019 African Literature Association conference. In this paper I examined how masculinity is conceived in Lagos, and how this reflects and reconstructs performative masculinities in Victorian England. I presented a paper titled “Creating, Documenting, and Redefining Political Satire in the Nigerian Digital Space” at the 2019 African Studies Association conference. In this paper, I contextualize Nigerian twitter space as a public sphere and as a site for creating and redefining political satire. The paper borrows from Jurgen Habermas’s concept of the public

38 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 PEDAGOGICAL STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING STYLE(S) AND CONCEPTUAL KNOWLEDGE OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN CHORAL MUSIC ELIJAH ADONGO

The purpose of this multiple case future learning and teaching of the music. before having them published in my disser- study will be to explore pedagogical This is very important for pre-service tation. This symposium is prompted by the strategies for developing style(s) and music teachers especially in the United current developments in Kenya whereby conceptual knowledge of African States who are confronted with the need the Kenyan government is adopting a new choral music genres. The researcher to program diverse choral repertoire in Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) and will focus on folksong-based choral music their music programs but lack workbooks abandoning the previous curriculum (8.4.4). and zilizopendwa (pop song-based choral addressing style and pedagogy for contem- Kenyatta University is therefore organizing music) from Kenya. This will lead to an porary African choral music. Development a conference to debate how this curriculum analytic generalization of the results to of conceptual knowledge is a foundational is going to shape music education in Kenya pedagogy for African choral music. The concept as it enables students to learn, and start conversations on new pedagogical researcher hopes to develop research based integrate, and apply knowledge and skills. strategies for the proposed curriculum. instructional design for African choral This is central in rendering artistic music The second conference in which this music outlining various teaching methods performances, preservation of heritage paper will be presented is Symposium for and singing instruction relevant for music, and application to various fields of Research in Choral Singing to be held in contemporary African choral music. The study in music. This study will be carried Georgia State University in May 2020. The study will show how artistry, compositional out in Kenya through observations, inter- intent of the symposium is to advance techniques, and pre-dominant musical views and artifact collections. It is a disser- knowledge and practice with respect cultures inform the designing of tation study that will involve analysis to choral singing, choir sound, choral instructional approaches in African choral of teaching methods of renowned and pedagogy, and related areas such as equity music. Further, the study will show how to successful Kenyan music educators from and inclusion in choral singing, school positively utilize students’ prior knowledge four Kenyan universities. community partnerships, adolescent devel- to advance instruction of African choral The findings will be presented in one opment, vocal development, and singing music, especially when teaching students international conference and one local and well-being. who are not from the musical cultures conference. This first conference was held being studied. in Kenyatta University, Kenya in March Elijah Adongo is a doctoral candidate in the Apart from developing instructional 2020. Some of the participants in this study School of Music. strategies, this study will also highlight are from Kenyatta University and it is very how to develop conceptual knowledge important to share the findings of this study for African choral music to facilitate with the university and Kenyan community

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 39 GENETIC DIVERSITY, DIET AND HABITAT QUALITY OF THE AFRICAN MANATEE ARISTIDE KAMLA

My research work has been African manatee in Cameroon by generating vegetation is diverse (>160 plant species). A focused on the African manatee in scientific knowledge for its protection. total of 36 food plants were documented, two protected areas in Cameroon; To assess the quality of the habi- and Echinochloa pyamidalis was the most rep- namely Lake Ossa Wildlife Reserve tat of manatee in Lake Ossa, the physical, resented species (53.5%). Both the loca- and Douala-Edea National Park. chemical and biological parameters of the tion and the season has a significant effect This is the first comprehensive study lake were monitored and the relationship on diet composition. Manatees appear to of the animal in Cameroon and results between these parameters was established feed almost exclusively on the E. pyramidalis from this study will be crucial for the to predict the submerged aquatic vegeta- during the low-water season. conservation and protection of this tion (SAV) surface and quantified areas with To understand the diversity of manatee imperiled species. The African manatee is suitable depth for the species during the in DSRW and level of connectivity of man- a threatened aquatic herbivorous mammal low-water season. Estimates indicated there atees between the habitats, we used nonin- that inhabits the coastal and inland waters is almost no SAV in the lake (< 5% of the vasive fecal DNA samples to PCR amplify of the western and central Atlantic coast lake surface) due to the low water transpar- and genotype mitochondrial and nuclear of Africa. It is the least known of all ency. Only 6% of the lake surface provide makers. For the first time, fecal DNA of sirenian species. The downstream of the suitable water depth for the species during a species was used to successfully iden- Sanaga River watershed (DSRW) is an the low-water season. tify individuals and determine sex with high essential habitat for the African manatee To determine the manatee feeding ecol- amplification success (80%) and moderate in Cameroon. However, the species ogy and food availability the DSRW, we sur- allelic dropout (24%). suffers alarming poaching, accidental veyed the shoreline vegetation and used the catch, and habitat degradation that may micro-histological analysis to identify and Aristide Kamla recently completed his PhD in jeopardize their survival. This study aimed quantify plant fragments from 112 fecal aquatic animal health through the College of at improving the conservation status of the samples. Results showed that the shoreline Veterinary Medicine.

40 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 AFRICAN MIGRANT EXPERIENCES IN INDIA SHAMBAVI BHUSAN

In summer 2019, funding from the Center for African Studies and the Department of Anthropology allowed me to travel to Delhi and Bangalore in India to study how the different classes of African migrants are living and working in the host country amidst the precarity of life. The migrants can roughly be divided between three classes—the students, the traders and the petty workers (e.g. hair braiders, kitchen owners, sex workers) living primarily in the metropolitan cities of India such as Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai. The media and newspapers are filled with stories of how African migrants in India are extremely discriminated against as they are more “visible” and less “audible” due to their color and language dissimilarities. I intend to document this new phenomenon of South to South migration in the context of African migration to India where amidst the opposition of the host, we observe Africans’ will to survive through forgetting and fortification. The majority of African students come to study through referrals from their family or a friend. If a student refers another person’s name, they also get a 20-30% deduction in college fees which is a big incentive for African students to encourage other students to visit, live and take admis- sions in India. Many students pick India as it is one of the countries that is afford- able. The private universities advertise and market their brands, their education system, the form of additional fees. This subse- feel regulated and followed by the Indian the admission processes, the accommoda- quently lands the students in trouble with gaze. Many students and traders claimed tion, the lifestyle, hostels, learning oppor- the FRRO (Foreign Registration Regional that they were not allowed to go to the tunities and they claim to give discount and Office). This is just the tip of the iceberg. clubs at night or enter some of the high-end scholarship in school fees. However, when They are often treated as an outcast in restaurants. Facing the perils of the host these African students arrive in India, they terms of their color, clothing and lifestyle. country, these different types of African realize that the institutes are not up to the African traders have similar encounters migrants develop a certain set of strategic mark or as advertised, forcing them to apply in their everyday life in India. They are tools. The habits of distance, patience, for a ‘no objection certificate’ to be trans- often interrupted by the police in the avoidance, fortification and forgetfulness ferred to another college, which becomes process of renting apartment, delivering help them to suppress memories of another excuse for the college to extort the materials for their business, or just walking othering or strangehood. full course fee from them. Colleges have on the streets late at night. Many of them also been found to withhold certificates talked about their experiences with the Shambavi Bhusan is a doctoral student in from students and ask for a ransom in police and the local people where they often anthropology.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 41 CUMULATIVE DISADVANTAGE AND WEATHERING AMONG CAREGIVERS IN SOUTH AFRICA JESSICA CASIMIR

Over the past four decades, South of illness and aging among this population. Through an interpretivist framework, Africa has undergone a plethora of My dissertation examines the social I argue that compounded traumatic societal changes due to its transition processes of cumulative disadvantage events, loss of adult children, and role into a democratic nation. In spite of and weathering within middle-aged and transition from supported to supporting these shifts in government, the legacy of elderly grandmother caregivers utilizing a grandparent are the three central factors historical trauma and intergenerational social-constructionist approach. Based on which influence the health trajectories of inequality stemming from apartheid has sixteen cumulative months of ethnographic grandmother caregivers. Social barriers such had a lasting impact on the lived realities of fieldwork in South Africa using narrative as inaccessibility to child support grants or many black South Africans. Furthermore, methods and participant observation, my inadequate charity assistance were additional the HIV epidemic juxtaposed with the rise dissertation unravels: (1) the characteristics themes present within the data which of vulnerable and abandoned children have and attributes of skipped-generation illustrated the confines and limited agency of largely shaped the country’s landscape. Due grandmother-headed households, (2) the these women. Furthermore, my dissertation to the increase of grandmother-headed social processes associated with the shift illuminates how these women ultimately households as a result of these factors— from grandmother to surrogate mother, grappled with the caregiver role and their in addition to others—the rapidly aging (3) the weight of trauma and stress on relationships with their household, shedding society is one of the primary challenges health, well-being, and identity, (4) the light on how some grandmother caregivers facing South Africa in recent years. As the impact of the caregiver role in coping and can construct their own realities as caregivers elderly population is projected to double managing self, and lastly (5) the realities and utilize the multi-generational household over the next thirty years, the public sector and determinants of coping and managing structure as a mechanism for coping and has struggled with responding to the rising with chronicity. Utilizing the three-interview later-in-life care. needs of these women and their families. series and McGill Illness Narrative For my dissertation, I conducted an Interview (MINI), fifty-three life history Jessica Casimir is a PhD candidate in the ethnographic study of two peri-urban rural and illness narratives were conducted Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law. communities in the southwest KwaZulu- over the course of three months among a Funding for her dissertation fieldwork was provided Natal province to explore the experience sample population of eighteen participants. by the NSEP David L. Boren Fellowship.

42 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 AIR POLLUTION’S IMPACT ON RESPIRATORY HEALTH IN DAKAR KAREN COKER

In direct response to the calamities and northern Africa, and westward to the how communities are empowering them- and barbarous acts experienced Caribbean and United States. As Senegal is selves by determining and implementing during WWII, thirty articles were located in the Sahelian zone where episodic their own sustainable solutions against poor adopted by the United Nations wind-blown dust events occur, high dust air quality. General Assembly in 1948 and concentrations are found at the earth’s Another of my research questions is to became known as the Universal surface during the northern hemisphere’s reference ethnographic literature on envi- Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). winter and spring seasons (December- ronment and health in Senegal. Looking to In 2015, the UN set 17 sustainable April); negatively impacting ambient air formulate where/what synergies/systems development goals (SDGs) to achieve by quality and respiratory health. in rural Senegal help to portray historical 2030. Pursing my PhD in One Health, my My research will be looking at the social impacts on individual’s self-efficacy. Social goal is to challenge as well as look through inequalities that exists between health, envi- determinants of health will be a key part of the lens of three of these goals—Good ronment and development in rural Senegal my work, which are conditions in the envi- Health and Well-being, Decent Work and specifically. Public Health is a universal ronments in which people are born, live, Economic Growth, and Climate Action— binding field that impacts all facets of life learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect to see how they function towards providing and a gateway to accomplishing the SDGs. a wide range of health, functioning, and the UDHR for individuals and communities One of my goals in pursuing a degree in quality-of-life outcomes and risks. in rural Senegal. If communities don’t have One Health is to develop sustainable assess- My research interests and questions are financial/social security when extreme ment tools towards accomplishing these layered and within the next five years here at weather changes occur, the impact on their three SDGs. One way I hope to accomplish the University of Florida, I hope to bring all livelihood and wellbeing become apparent. this is by doing observational studies con- the threads together. Formulating what will Climate change is central to my research cerning outcomes surrounding health and be a narrative about the individuals/commu- questions and interest, as its impact in the livelihood currently utilized by communi- nities in Senegal and the ownership they have Sahel is an environmental health issue that ties. I want to explore the respiratory health regarding their wellbeing and livelihood even is also a human rights issue. impacts faced by women and children in with climate change impact. The Saharan desert is the world’s particular, the solutions being implemented largest source of mineral dust emissions from the local to national-scale surround- Karen Coker is a One Health doctoral student in the and transports an estimated 400-700x106 ing the protection of air quality (indoor and Department of Environmental and Global Health ton of dust per year to Europe, western outdoor). I also wish to better understand and a current FLAS fellow (Wolof).

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 43 TIGRINYA GENDER MORPHOLOGY WILLIAM DYER

This research began in a similar grammatical characteristics. the gender assigned to them. To further linguistics field methods class here at Like many languages of the world, complicate the matter, the gender of some the University of Florida. For at least nouns in Tigrinya can be divided in to nouns can change to indicate endearment two years in a row, students in this class two classes. As in other languages, these or positive status. For example, the noun have been fortunate enough to interview classes are traditionally referred to as “man” in “this man is smart,” could be speakers of understudied African “feminine” and “masculine.” This system feminine if the speaker is attributing a languages. The Linguistics department is often referred to as grammatical gender. positive status to the man. would likely not have been able to find Like French or Spanish, adjectives and This study seeks to simplify the system native speakers to assist in these classes demonstratives like “that” have different of gender shift as it has been described at a university without such a large forms depending on whether the noun in the literature. Because this system has community, across disciplines, committed they relate to is masculine or feminine. Like only been observed for masculine nouns to African Studies. Arabic, but unlike French, verbs in Tigrinya in nearly all of the available data, I posit After consulting with our speaker for also have different forms depending on that this shift is what is referred to as a one semester to gain an understanding the noun that is the subject. Furthermore, diminutive. This is similar to the Spanish of Tigrinya grammar, I started an if a masculine non-human noun, “book” ending -ita/ito that turns hermano (brother) independent study to focus on the system for example, is plural, it will be treated into hermanito (little brother). of gender morphology that we had begun grammatically like a feminine noun in The data from Arabic and Hebrew to notice in field methods. At the end of Arabic and Tigrinya. suggest that this is a phenomena that occurs that semester, I travelled to Vancouver In Tigrinya, there are some patterns that the same way across Semitic languages. I to present a poster entitled “Tigrinya determine which nouns are masculine and hope to share this information with some Gender Morphology.” After presenting which are feminine. Features like biological of the attendees at the Kuwait University this analysis and hearing feedback at sex for people and animals, size, perceived conference who are interested in Semitic the conference, I began to refine my wisdom and fertility play a role, but there languages, and showcase this understudied analysis. I investigated more closely similar are some idiosyncrasies. Some nouns have African Semitic language. phenomena in related languages. Tigrinya a default gender that can be overridden by is a Semitic language, and other Semitic unusual size or biological sex if known. William Dyer is a doctoral student in linguistics languages like Arabic and Hebrew show Other nouns, however, never change in and FLAS fellow (Wolof).

44 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 WHAT AFRICA NEEDS: EXPLORING THE EXPERIENCES OF AFRICAN STUDENTS IN UNITED STATES AS A REFERENCE FOR EDUCATIONAL ADVANCEMENT IN AFRICA

DIANE EZEH ARUAH

The university education system in Nigeria is characterized by outdated curriculum, inaccessible internet services, epileptic water supply and incessant strikes by Academic Staff University Union (ASUU). Many students live in uncon- ducive environments and students are admitted beyond campus capacity. The suicide rate is high in many Universities in Nigeria for unwarranted reasons. There is also a high rate of crime on campus and a yearly increase of school fees incurs lack of active participation of students in extra-curricular activities. In 2015 alone, ASUU embarked on three strikes that left many students confused and devastated. A report showed how all students were mandated to pay 8000 naira each before they were allowed to register their courses in 2009, reason was that the students had led a demon- stration over the recent increase of their school fees. Many Nigerian students have also complained an unhealthy/autocratic practical. One of the participants narrated later converted to an office for lecturers.” relationship between students and that the first few months of his academic He recommended that African universities teachers. There is deficient teacher-student experience in the United States was filled should curtail the high rate of admission communication, which slows active with anxiety caused by complicated educa- of students in institutions that don’t have participation in classroom activities and tional materials and high utilization of enough resources. also impacts students’ knowledge about technology in classroom. He said, “I did Interestingly, almost all the participants learning materials. not check my email for almost one month recommended training of lecturers by A recent poll reveals that many when I came here, I never knew how much providing opportunities for study abroad African students who travel to devel- I had missed because I wasn’t used to programs. “Many of our lecturers need to oped countries to further their education teacher-student relations.” The participant go for training in developed countries to often fail to return home due to many went further to narrate how he missed his learn new pedagogical skills. We don’t have challenges facing the education system in first lecture because he misinterpreted the good student-professor relationship at home Africa. This study sought to use thematic timetable and how he missed a deadline because of the authoritative nature of many analysis of narrative qualitative research because he hadn’t mastered the way Canvas African teachers. Many students are afraid of method to interview 15 African students (course platform software) worked. their teachers and it shouldn’t be so.” in a US university about their experiences Another participant disclosed his aston- Finally, the students recommended schooling in their African countries and ishment when he entered the class in an implementation of a formal staff evaluation then in the United States. American university and saw that they were system, where students at the end of every The participants revealed that solving only ten PhD students in his cohort. “I was semester, will rate their teachers’ perfor- the problem of poor standard of educa- shocked because back home when I was mance in terms of value of course materials tion in Africa begins with restructuring the doing masters, we were 55 Masters students and overall learning outcome. curriculum of many courses to fit inter- in my cohort and the PhD students then national standards. They noted that many were up to 40. We didn’t have a class- Diane Ezeh Aruah is a doctoral student studying of courses taught in African tertiary insti- room for graduate students because the science/health communication in the College of tutions are more theoretical based than one we had was too small for us and was Journalism and Communications.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 45 ISLAM, POPULAR CULTURE AND AJAMI LITERATURE IN SENEGAL MACODOU FALL

I am interested in the study of Islam, popular culture and Ajami literature with a main focus on the Senegalese Sufi order, the Muridiyya. My research project “Daairas and their Impacts on Islamic Learning among Mourides in Senegal,” seeks to examine the history and progress of Islamic learning among the Murids of Senegal. Daairas are institutions of Islamic learning that are run by members of different Senegalese Sufi orders. Among them, the Muridiyya is one of the most prominent ones in present day Senegal. This Sufi order was founded by Shaykh Amadou Bamba at the end of the nineteenth century. Within the Murid order, the daaira is an important organization where members of the order, particularly those in urban areas, gather and perform different forms of devotional practices. These include the singing of Amadou Bamba’s odes (qasidas), dhikr, and the orga- nization of religious events. With this project, I hope to examine the role and organization of urban Murid daairas. Research on the Muridiyya and their history is vast, but, so far, it has neglected the ways in which members of the daairas disseminate knowledge about Islam and the Murid ideology—especially in urban areas like Dakar or Saint-Louis. A detailed study of the daairas’ organization and various teaching methodologies would help to understand the transformations of Islamic learning that took place among the Mourides over the last decades. For urban Murids, the singing of the qasidas, their interpretation, and organization of religious events can constitute compelling substi- tutes for the previously prevalent daaras tarbiyyah, which are the Murids’ tradi- tional Quranic schools. Through the above- mentioned rituals and practices, Murid daaira members can not only learn about Islam and the Muridiyya, but they can also perform devotional activities and tie new networks of solidarity among them, which differ in central aspects from the otherwise Macodou Fall is a doctoral student in the rather hierarchic ties of their order. Department of Religion.

46 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 MOBILE WOMEN AND SOCIAL REPRODUCTION IN SENEGAL JAMIE FULLER

nation where men are expected to ensure the financial well-being of the household, women’s income-generating activities call into question established kinship roles between men and women. Senegalese women in America exploit ethnic niche markets, and, by selling African foods, clothes, and braiding services, earn considerable incomes and remittance sending power. As such, these relatively successful women have the potential to challenge established roles and norms at home and abroad. Because remittance exchanges occur over social media applications—which offer users a considerable range of communication options, from voice and text messages, to photos, videos, memes, and so on—they become enmeshed in the affective rhetorical and visual affor- dances these applications offer. Social media, then, offers a unique window into how the exchange of remittances and other gifts becomes enmeshed in social and affective dimensions of transna- My research explores the social in intimate relationships such as those tional communication. Building on these and affective dimensions of remit- between spouses and between kin rela- insights, my research asks how those tance sending practices between tions. While research in the area sheds kin—male and female, husbands, and Senegalese women living in the light on women as remittance receivers, family members—left behind cope with United States and their families in my research points to women’s practices women’s absence, and the role that remit- Dakar. These practices underpin the as remittance senders, and to how families tances play in this process, which is at distribution of remittances, and thus have cope with the absence of women—and once economic, cultural, social and moral. bearing on remittances’ potential to foster their domestic labor and care responsibil- Doing so offers a considerable contri- economic development in Africa. Because ities—at home. Building on similar work bution to the understanding of gender-as- migrants and their families at home now on female remittance senders from Asia lived-experience in the migration context, communicate via social media applications and Europe, I ask how families in Africa while at the same time opening avenues like Facebook and Whatsapp using increas- are likewise responding to the shifting for comparative work with studies done ingly accessible and affordable internet gendered demands of transnational labor. with male migrants and their families. This connections and communications devices, Senegal remains one of West Africa’s research thus fills an important gap in I ethnographically explore the social and top migrant-sending states. Remittances studies of transnational migration, turning economic aspects of remittances as they compose around 10% of GDP annually, to women’s lives abroad, new communi- are negotiated online. making remittance consumption a top cation technologies, and the social and To do so, I approach remittances as priority in the state’s economic devel- affective relations that remittances enable ‘total social phenomena,’ revealing in their opment goals. Previous work on remit- alongside their concrete material impacts. exchange obligation and group morality. tance sending practices in Senegal demon- The feminization of migration over the strate how their insertion into specific Jamie Fuller is a doctoral candidate in last couple decades has brought more gendered contexts tend to at times chal- anthropology and former FLAS fellow (Wolof). women into the overseas workforce, lenge and at times reinforce gendered challenging established gendered roles norms within households. However, in a

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 47 VISUALIZING DROUGHT IN KENYA RYAN GOOD

During Summer 2019, I worked for NDMA to implement in conjunction that can be easily customized, allowing with the NASA DEVELOP Program with their current methods to inform data from multiple resolutions to be via Science Systems and Applications, their monthly Early Warning Bulletin. used without the need for preprocessing. Inc. at the Marshall Space Flight Therefore, the team generated and analyzed After generating drought indices from Center in Huntsville, Alabama. My initial outputs of RHEAS, presented and RHEAS, we created multiple drought project investigated drought in Kenya from discussed initial results to partners for input time series to better assist stakeholders January 2016 to April 2019. and adjustments to the model, and created in implementing drought mitigation and Drought is a chronic issue that plagues an assimilation framework matching the adaptation measures. Initial results showed countries in East Africa, causing food outputs of these runs to partner needs. that drought indices that cover a longer insecurity and leaving 10 million people This project utilized multiple Earth time period provided a clearer trend of hungry. Kenya is particularly prone to the observation data sources: Soil Moisture drought conditions by county. The team impacts of drought, as over 80 percent of Active Passive (SMAP) L-band Radiometer, also provided partners an initial analysis the country is comprised of arid or semi- Aqua and Terra Moderate Resolution of the indices produced and a story map arid lands. In 2019, Kenya experienced Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), derived from the time series. This work significantly below-average rainfall for and Global Precipitation Measurement will continue in a second term of the the second consecutive year, resulting in Core Observatory (GPM) Dual-Frequency DEVELOP Program, which will validate reduced crop production. This shortage left Precipitation Radar (DPR). These data these products and create training docu- 3.4 million people in Kenya food insecure. were all processed using RHEAS. This ments for end users. Poor agricultural performance is devastating model supports an unlimited number of for Kenya’s economy, as 25.9 percent of the variables, as it relies on a land surface model Ryan Good is a doctoral candidate in geography. Gross Domestic Product and 70 percent of the workforce are linked to agriculture. As part of its work managing drought impacts, the Kenyan government’s National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) publishes a monthly Early Warning Bulletin that quantifies and explains the current state of drought for each county in Kenya; these bulletins are primarily based on the vegeta- tion greenness data, limiting their efficacy. NDMA hopes to improve the bulletins with more complex and complete data beyond vegetation greenness but currently lacks the capacity to do so. Because field validation data can be difficult and expen- sive to obtain, Earth observations present an opportunity to monitor large areas of land efficiently. The Regional Hydrologic Extremes Assessment System (RHEAS) is a software framework ideal for hydrologic modeling and data assimilation due to its easy implementation and customization. NDMA’s only geospatial information currently used to analyze and categorize areas of drought are related to vegetation condition, necessitating additional indica- tors to inform classification of these areas. The goal of this research was to analyze 10 specific drought indices that may be useful

48 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 UNDERSTANDING HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT AND CONSERVATION ATTITUDES IN LAIKIPIA, KENYA MACKENZIE GOODE

In 2017, studying wild chacma worked featured many privately-held wild- were placed for a total of four months. By baboons on the coast of South life conservancies—thousands of acres using camera traps, rather than direct obser- Africa, I was first introduced to a containing thousands of various animals vation, I found some cost savings. Plus, I concept which would determine my such as impala, buffalo, elephants, lions, and could focus on the other major component future academic path: human-wildlife even endangered species like the African of the project, which was to conduct semi- conflict. Unable to include the community wild dog. structured interviews with the farmers. in the project due to my limited authority in Before conducting my own research, These semi-structured interviews the project, I quickly became frustrated and I spent four weeks establishing solid rela- returned information that neither I nor the I worried, too, about the sustainability of tionships with the farmers who would be host institution expected. Farmers were the project in the long-term. When I joined included in my research. These farmers disempowered to make decisions about wild- UF’s Master of Sustainable Development were largely male, middle-aged, and Kikuyu life, yes, and there was a direct economic Program, I knew that I wanted to be at in ethnicity. Dr. Cheryl Palm, my committee effect of crop-raiding by baboons (crop loss), the interface of conservation and some chair, holds a long-term partnership with yes. But, unexpectedly, almost all farmers mode of economic development. I wanted these farmers and has aided their farming cited having issue with the management of to understand what drove human-wildlife efforts by providing soil analyses in recent conservancies, almost all expressed little trust conflict and thus stagnation in conservation years. It was she who introduced me to in institutions like the Kenya Wildlife Service, efforts, and I wanted to know what could each farmer and who made the connections and almost all named Maasai pastoralists as be done to mitigate these issues. necessary to begin the project. causing them stress or economic loss. I joined Mpala Research Centre in Mpala Research Centre had previously Several farmers reported that they felt as Laikipia County, Kenya as the co-prin- identified crop raiding as one of the leading though the Kenya Wildlife Service—and the cipal investigator on my Field Practicum causes of human-wildlife conflict in the government more broadly—viewed wild- project this summer, 2019. My main goals area. Mostly, baboons and elephants were life, especially elephants, as having more were (1) to identify patterns of crop- the typical culprits of crop raiding. So, to value than them. Because they rented their raiding by baboons and (2) to explore gain the best understanding of crop-raiding small pieces of farmland, rather than owned small-scale farmers’ attitudes towards wild- by baboons in the area, camera traps were it, Kenya Wildlife Service rarely awarded life and conservation. The area in which I installed on six farms. The camera traps compensation for losses due to wild- life. Moreover, the Maasai, who frequently wandered through the farmlands with their livestock and who allowed their livestock to drink from the river, caused great discomfort for the farmers. The farmers viewed Maasai as being the main contributor to hardships experienced during extended droughts in the area (from lowering water levels in the river, which also supplies water to agriculture). A clear need was identified to promote community cohesion in this area. One specific need that farmers identified was enhanced communication between nearby conservancies and the farmers/commu- nity in general. While low-cost solutions to direct crop loss from wildlife exist, they are not typically long-term solutions. Farmers recognized social conflicts on the landscape as having a greater impact on their attitudes towards wildlife and conservation efforts.

Mackenzie Goode is a second year student in the Masters in Sustainable Development Program.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 49 STATE, SOCIETY, AND NATION-BUILDING IN TANZANIA AND KENYA VICTORIA GORHAM

move forward without struggling over how best to remember and forget the trauma of a war in which Kenyans died on both sides of the fighting. I argue that it is harder to build community in the face of such loss and that it is complicated to parse who can claim to be bringers of independence when different ethnic communities participated in the anticolo- nial struggle in a variety of ways. These conditions and the choices elites made as a result set Tanzania and Kenya on diverging nation-building trajectories and altered the ways that citizens learned to relate to the state. My dissertation challenges the idea that nation-building is not successful in sub-Saharan Africa; rather, under the right conditions and with policies designed to create community, nations like Tanzania can emerge from arbitrary colonial constructs. I argue that this identity work is done in schools, museums, and through public ceremony, and that some states are better at using these tools than others. Conducted with My research explores the ways pursued by post-independence elites and the support of a Fulbright-Hays DDRA, that states teach their citizens to their successors. Beyond exploring the my ten-month period of fieldwork in identify with the nation in an effort mechanics of nationalist mobilization and Tanzania and Kenya focused the empirical to understand why some states are pedagogy, I ask why Tanzania pursued a work for my dissertation on analyzing more effective at building national more successful and more inclusive nation- the content of national museum exhibits, community than others. Bringing a building strategy, as opposed to a more textbooks, and school curricula, as well primarily Europe-focused literature on ethnically oriented one as in Kenya. as on talking to elites and everyday nation-building to bear on the cases of I take a comparative historical approach Tanzanians about their nationalist Tanzania and Kenya has allowed me to to tracing this process: considering indepen- educations and experiences. Using these focus on spaces of state-society interaction dence as a moment in which enough is in materials gives us insight into not only to better explain sub-Saharan Africa’s flux to make room for fundamental change, where nation-building has happened nation-building successes and failures. My I argue that varying levels of violence of historically and continues to happen today, dissertation project, Recounting the Nation: the independence experience shaped the but also what national narratives are being State, Society, and Nation-Building in Tanzania, policies that immediately followed. In short, promoted in official pedagogical spaces. In Kenya, Singapore, and Malaysia, asks why the gradual, legal independence trajec- other words, the discourses presented in Tanzania pursued a more effective nation- tory adopted by Tanzanian elites gave the museums and schools give us the script of building strategy, premised on constructing nationalist movement time to coalesce and the official national story, a sense of who a cohesive, ethnically inclusive nation, mobilize around an inclusive vision of who belongs to the nation, and an idea of what where its neighbors, namely Kenya, have would belong to the nation, who would be values the state seeks to promote through failed to do so. This research agenda takes involved in achieving independence, and these media. a two-pronged approach that interrogates who would claim the nation’s independence not only the content of nationalisms and legacy. In contrast, emerging into inde- Victoria Gorham is a doctoral candidate in the constructive process, but also explains pendence from a protracted civil conflict political science. what conditions influence the strategy in Kenya meant that the nation could not

50 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 SURGERY FOR BILIARY ATRESIA IN LOW- RESOURCE SETTINGS? OUTCOMES IN RWANDA KYUNG HONG

In 2010, a third of the global disease burden were deemed to be surgical. This estimates to approximately 16.9 million deaths, which is higher than the combination of deaths from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria (3.83 million). In 2015, the Lancet Commission estimated that five billion people are without access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia care when needed. Increasingly, advocates for global surgical development and health equity are pushing for essential surgery, often focusing on district hospital level or basic surgical services as defined by the bellwether procedures. However, fewer studies evaluate the surgical intervention for more complex pediatric conditions. The Global Initiative for Children’s Surgery has estimated that the number of children without access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia care when needed is around 1.7 billion worldwide. Children present with a scarcity of pediatric surgeons and over the past 3 years. This presents as differing surgical needs from adults and anesthesia providers, there is minimal one of the largest case series for the require specialized care. As around 50% published literature on biliary atresia surgical management of biliary atresia in of the population in lower-middle income in sub-Saharan Africa. Rwanda is a sub-Saharan Africa. While future studies countries are under the age of 15, investing low-income country in sub-Saharan Africa are needed to evaluate the long-term to fulfill the surgical needs for children has with a population of 12 million people. outcomes, this series shows that surgical been found to be cost effective and neces- There is one Rwandan pediatric surgeon treatment of biliary atresia can be safely sary to strengthen a country’s economy. who operates within the public hospital performed in Rwanda. Early referral is Specifically, our research showcases an eval- system, and he does offer surgery for biliary essential, particularly as limited resources uation of a complex, rare pediatric surgical atresia. Here at the University of Florida, and personnel may impact the time from condition called biliary atresia. pediatric surgeons are partnering with the diagnosis to operation. The long-term goal Biliary atresia is an acquired condition pediatric surgeon in Rwanda to provide is to facilitate early intervention and improve of infancy that results in the obliteration of clinical, educational, and research support. the outcome of the Kasai procedure the extrahepatic biliary tree. Uncorrected, Evaluating the epidemiology and outcomes through development of a collaborative this leads to liver failure and is universally of infants with biliary atresia was locally quality improvement tool between the fatal. Surgical correction of biliary atresia identified as a priority, and I spent the pediatric surgeon and local primary care involves a surgical bypass called a Kasai summer of 2019 under the mentorship of providers. Our results have already been procedure, which must be done early after Dr. Edmond Ntaganda at the University presented to the local pediatrics society diagnosis. Even with timely intervention, Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK) and in Rwanda, and a full abstract has been two-thirds of patients eventually have liver Dr. Robin Petroze at the University of submitted for the Academic Surgical failure. In settings with more advanced Florida. Our research team was comprised Congress, which has a separate global resources, biliary atresia remains the most of students from the University of Florida surgery session, in February 2020. common cause of liver failure requiring and the University of Rwanda. pediatric liver transplantation worldwide. In an effort to document and improve Kyung Hong is a student in the Medical Honors In resource-limited settings, patients the care of pediatric patients with biliary Program and president of the Global Surgery and often present too late to offer surgical atresia in Rwanda, we conducted a Medicine Interest Group. bypass, and liver transplantation is not retrospective study to evaluate the profile an option. Due to late presentation and and outcomes of biliary atresia in Rwanda

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 51 PESTE DES PETITS RUMINANTS AND THE LIVESTOCK SECTOR IN KAFFRINE, SENEGAL PAPA SALIM HOYECK

I joined the project “Advancing the different development strategies the access to goat vaccines; and 3) Test and Women’s Participation in Livestock planned in this area. The objectives validate the mapping methodology designed Vaccine Value Chains in Nepal, assigned to the livestock sub-sector in the by the project “Advancing Women’s Senegal, and Uganda,” an International letter of livestock development policy Participation in Livestock Vaccine Value Development Research Center are to increase productivity, achieving Chains in Nepal, Senegal, and Uganda.” funded project at the University of food security, and combating poverty. In the methods and experimental design Florida. The project is focused on the To achieve these different objectives, of this project, I used different instru- study the use of livestock (small ruminants) the sub-sector of breeding continues its ments through mixed-methods sex-disag- vaccines by women and the quality of process of improvement, initiated since gregated approach: a) Key informant inter- the delivery of vaccine-related services few years, with the introduction of new views were conducted with government to communities in the Kaffrine region breeds, strengthening of industrial farms, officials who elaborated on the system of of Senegal. Livestock diseases like Peste artificial insemination, and continuation of production and distribution of livestock des Petits Ruminants or PPR still present a immunization sessions. vaccines; b) fieldwork then began with indi- challenge for the livestock sector in Kaffrine Livestock and agriculture are the main vidual interviews with key actors in the because a lack of access or knowledge of activities of rural populations—providing livestock vaccine value chain in the com- the importance of vaccines in preventing food and cash income. The livestock sub- munities. Those key actors are mainly live- livestock mortality. Women are mostly sector has experienced a real dynamism in stock keepers and community animal health affected by the lack of access to vaccines. recent years, with sustained performances, workers (CAHW); and c) The third instru- Livestock is a strategic sector that occupies particularly in the production of meat and ment was focus group discussions for com- nearly 60% of agricultural households in milk and the increase in women integra- munity animal health workers and livestock Senegal, but its contribution to the country’s tion in the sector. The objectives specific owners. These were conducted separately wealth is well below the targets set by the to field activity related to mapping of the between men and women to reduce gender government in the area of food security. value chain in Kaffrine include: 1) Identify power dynamic. Despite its weight relatively low in the and map stakeholders of the goat vaccine GDP (4.3% in 2013), the livestock sector value chain; 2) Identify the factors of inter- Papa Salim Hoyeck is a MPH student focusing on should be one of the sectors economic sectionality (gender, ethnicity, livelihood, epidemiology. growth, through the implementation of socio-economic class, etc.) that most affect

52 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 TICK ABUNDANCE AND DIVERSITY IN KRUGER NATIONAL PARK KIMBERLY J. LEDGER

The remarkable variety of living competition with livestock. Certain aspects By using preexisting experimental large- species – collectively known as of how large herbivores shape the structure herbivore exclosures in Kruger National biodiversity – forms the base of and function of the landscapes and Park, we quantified the effect of removing food, clean water, air, and healthy environments in which they occur include wildlife on tick abundance and diversity. environments for humans and millions operating as ecosystem engineers, food for Ticks and tick-borne pathogens are an of other species. Nearly everywhere predators and scavengers, seed dispersers, important system for examining the effects on Earth, biodiversity is in decline. The and nutrient cyclers. In additional to these of biodiversity loss on livestock and wildlife vanishing of species at local and global functions, a reduction of biodiversity, and disease risk. Ticks pose a significant threat scales threatens a loss of vital functions that in particular large wildlife populations, to animal health and cause economic losses endangers ecosystems and compromises has been proposed to play a key role in by feeding on the blood of livestock and economies, livelihoods, food security, and infectious disease risk and alter the ability indirectly as they are the most important the quality of life for people. Currently, of ecosystems to regulate prevalence of vectors of disease-causing pathogens in Africa has the most large herbivores of any important human, livestock and wildlife domestic and wild animals. Following our continent and these species, which provide diseases, but there remains a lack of first sampling season, we found more adult crucial ecosystem services, are under major experimental evidence to understand the ticks inside full exclosures than outside threat from land-use change, hunting, and context and mechanisms of this process. in both recently constructed exclosures (<1 year) and longstanding exclosures (17 years). This result in the recent exclosures was unsurprising because adult ticks should be unable to find a final large host animal on which to feed and are able to survive in the vegetation for over a year. In the longstanding exclosures, the unexpected higher density inside exclosures was surprising and may be a result importing immature ticks from outside the exclosure to inside the exclosure of small wildlife, such as rodents, and then a lack of the adult ticks finding a large host. This study capitalizes on experimental small-scale exclosures in a protected national park that includes hosts that are diverse and abundant, range over six orders of magnitude in size and occupy diverse functional roles to simulate the decline of wildlife diversity that is ongoing at a global scale. Ongoing work for this project includes additional sampling across multiple seasons and years, and comparison of tick- borne pathogen prevalence across exclosure treatments. Understanding the expansive ecological consequences of defaunation on disease regulation will be important to predict and prevent future impacts of parasitism and vector-borne diseases.

Kimberley Ledger is a doctoral student in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 53 HUMAN-WILDLIFE COEXISTENCE IN ZAMBIA’S GAME MANAGEMENT AREAS LEANDRA MERZ

I travelled to Zambia in June and July of 2019 to conduct research on the coexistence of humans and wildlife in Game Management Areas (GMAs). GMAs are areas outside of national parks that are designated for wildlife and have strict rules on hunting. However, these GMAs are experiencing increasing threats from the growing human populations within and outside their borders. Conversion of wildlife habitat for agriculture and other human uses is one of the major threats to wildlife in the GMAs. Retaliatory and preemptive killings of wildlife to address human-wildlife conflict is another major threat. Kasanka National Park is a small park (less than 400km²) that is experiencing rapid land conversion in the buffer zone around the park. The conversion of natural land to human-dominated systems like agriculture reduces the available habitat for wildlife and puts greater pressure on the park itself which may not be large enough to support sustainable wildlife populations in the absence of a healthy GMA buffer zone. I worked with Kasanka NP staff to collect Zambia. The park is incredibly remote with in different categories and then sorted vegetation training samples throughout no permanent lodges and restricted public drawings of local species into different piles the buffer zone to better understand the access. In addition to the small population based on those they wanted more/less of, extent of land cover change around the of black rhino that have been reintroduced, those that caused harm/those that did not, park. I will analyze this data to create land the park is home to healthy populations and finally they ranked the harmful species cover classifications from July 2019 and of many other large mammals like lions, according to the severity and frequency of then compare this to previous land cover leopards, elephants, and buffalo that can damage caused. Preliminary results suggest types to show changes over the previous also cause harm to humans and their liveli- that tolerance of individual species is not 10 and 20 years. Staff from the Kasanka hoods. Crop-raiding by elephants is the solely based on damage, but many other Trust are working hard to help protect the most commonly reported type of conflict factors including traditional beliefs and buffer zone and ensure the sustainability between humans and wildlife in Mukungule. aesthetics. Furthermore, although elephants of the park, but they face many challenges. Crop raiding by other mammals, livestock were consistently listed as harmful, they This quantification of land conversion can depredation by large and small predators, were also regularly labeled as beneficial help staff communicate the severity of the and attacks on humans are also problematic because they can bring financial benefits issue and hopefully stop the trend of land within this GMA. Recent human deaths to the community through trophy-hunting clearing and habitat degradation throughout include a local farmer who was killed by an permits. This data will be analyzed using the buffer zone. elephant in May, 2019 while defending his ethnoecology techniques and then returned To address human-wildlife conflict, I fields and a scout who was killed by a snake to stakeholders including, the Mukungule conducted ethnoecology focused semi- bite in July, 2019. My research addressed community resource board, Frankfurt structured interviews in Mukungule GMA perceptions of local wildlife including Zoological society, and the chief. west of North Luangwa National Park. individual species that were liked/disliked North Luangwa National Park is 4636 and those that caused harm/brought Leandra Merz is a doctoral candidate in geography km² and home to the only black rhinos in benefits. Participants free-listed species and a former FLAS fellow (Portuguese).

54 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 ALIENATION, BOREDOM, AND THE INVISIBLE AFRICAN MILT MOISE

As a fifth year PhD student in the in cinema. I am especially interested in how (Monica Vitti), is bored, and spurred by English department, my disserta- African people have been represented in seeing pictures of African life in some- tion project explores the nature of cinema, and how this representation often one’s apartment, dances in blackface to absence in contemporary American attempts to erase African identities. relieve her boredom. In Godard’s Two or bipolar fictional narratives. I hold The history of the African in Europe Three Things… we hear the voice of a young undergraduate and postgraduate degrees is characterized by marginality. While Algerian boy detailing his life in an immi- from the University of the West Indies, “Afropean” films such as Vincent Cassel’s grant neighbourhood in Paris. Significantly, Cave Hill Campus in Barbados, where I La Haine (1995), and Andrea Arnold’s 2011 he never appears on screen, and details completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in adaptation of Wuthering Heights with a black how he has grown bored because due to literature with a minor in psychology in actor as the lead speak to a burgeoning the city’s expansion, the playground in his 2008, and a Master of Philosophy in 2014. improvement in representation, for decades neighbourhood has been stripped, and he My postgraduate degree explores self- Africans were primarily relegated to little has nowhere to play. In both scenes, the referentiality and voice in contemporary more than faces in a crowd, or enter- revelation that Europe is unable to see the Caribbean fiction. I have been published tainers. The former is the case in Walter African as being worthy of respect, and in The Journal of West Indian Literature, Ruttmann’s 1927 Berlin: Symphony of a Great as deserving of play, is prompted by the and with Peepal Tree Press. My most City, where Africans are conspicuous in the affective state of boredom. In a recent recent essay, “I-n-I Re-member Now: A diurnal drama of the Weimar capital. But paper, titled, “Alienation, Boredom, and Rastafari Reading of HBO’s Westworld,” was for Michelangelo Antonioni, and Jean-Luc the Invisible African in Michelangelo published in the volume Reading Westworld Godard, the turbulence of the 1960’s Antonioni’s L’Éclisse, and Jean-Luc by Palgrave Macmillan earlier this year. provided the perfect cultural backdrop to Godard’s Two or Three Things I Know About My research interests include Caribbean interrogate Europe’s complicated relation- Her,” I elucidate how Antonioni and and postcolonial literature, contemporary ship with Africa. Much has been written Godard visually express this insight in the American literature, madness in literature, about both filmmakers’ depictions of urban aforementioned films. consciousness in literature, trauma narra- ennui, and John Rhym, in a counter-intui- tives, and prestige TV aesthetics. Since I tive hermeneutic turn, suggests Antonioni’s Milt Moise is a doctoral candidate in the have been at the University of Florida, depiction of boredom is a useful frame- Department of English. however, I have taken a number of film work through which to interpret the film L’ courses to strengthen a burgeoning interest Éclisse. Antonioni’s lead character, Vittoria

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 55 CLIMATE AND LAND USE IMPACTS ON SAVANNA TREES FEZILE MTSETFWA

My broad research interests are on how global changes, particularly climate and land use changes impact the distribution of savanna trees and subsequent implications for priori- tizing conservation areas. Global climate change is altering the conditions that make Savanna systems possible. The climate changes occur- ring in savannas are moving at rates faster than projected for most of the world’s biomes (≤ 1km/year). As a result, most protected areas that are currently savannas are expected to lose their ability to main- tain most savanna vegetation in less than a hundred years. In response to these projected climate changes plant species will either shift their distribution to match climate conditions, die, or adapt. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to understand the factors that permit or hinder the distributions of plants under current climatic conditions. My research studies the response of two tree species to a changing climate gradient. These tree species are keystone structures in a marula (Scelerocarya birrea)/knobthorn (Acacia senegalia) savanna biome. In this study we used population demo- graphic data to determine the climatic niche for germination and recruitment into adult size classes of marula and knobthorn tree species across a climate gradient in Eswatini. We broadly classified individuals into adults and ‘young’ trees. Our aim was to determine if there are any differences in climate requirements between seed- habitats, among other effects, which has im- more senior researchers. The conference lings and established trees. This would give plications for the conservation of savanna incorporated three days of workshops, insight into whether there are any differ- species which are dependent on these key- where attendees could pick to learn from ences between current tree distributions stone structures. an array of skills integral to their research and future distributions (as determined by In summer 2019 I presented some and dissertations. An additional three days the distribution of seedlings). of these research findings to a delega- was spent learning about Australian wildlife Results show idiosyncratic responses tion of international researchers at the and nature through visits to national parks, of the keystone tree species in this maru- Student Conference on Conservation sanctuaries and zoos. My conference atten- la/knobthorn savanna to increasing tem- Science (SCCS) in Brisbane, Australia. The dance was also significantly funded through peratures. This could lead to decoupling conference was student oriented, provided the UF-CAS Graduate travel Award. of the tree species with projected temper- multiple avenues for self-development and ature increases in the region and subse- the atmosphere facilitated networking with Fezile Mtsetfwa is a PhD candidate in the School quently resulting in the creation of novel both early career scientists like myself and of Natural Resources & Environment and the Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation.

56 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 EVALUATION OF LIVESTOCK SYSTEMS INNOVATIONS AND THEIR DISSEMINATION IN RWANDA STEPHANIE MUENCH

Innovations in livestock systems the first project, every farmer had adopted to the recommendations. There was an are not only necessary to meet at least one of the recommendations increase in workload for most respon- the demand of a growing global made during training, yet there are many dents, but almost nobody chose to classify population, but also to best support challenges to adoption faced. Some of it as a negative impact, since that increase smallholder producers. The uptake of these challenges include: difficulty accessing in workload was met with an increase in innovations by appropriate stakeholders water and lack of financial stability to make production & income. is often determined based on the project’s improvements to the infrastructure of their Dissemination strategies tend to be dissemination pathway. To measure the animal shed, among others. For the second linear, focusing primarily on presenting the extent of adoption, the influence of socio- project evaluated, we spoke to 61 stake- results of a project, without any re-framing ecological conditional factors that favored holders and found that each faced at least of the information depending on who it is or impeded the behavior change must be one challenge that impeded adoption of targeting. Creating effective learning spaces, considered in the decision- making process. the innovation. These challenges ranged with appropriate information, can foster The results from an evaluation concerning from the difficulty in accessibility of high- dissemination of results for short term the adoption and dissemination of innova- quality feeds in the market to the high cost and long-term learning, fostering effective tions can guide changes in the strategies for of purchasing feed and low selling price of dissemination. Assessment and evaluation project implementation and dissemination egg and milk production to high transpor- are essential to determine whether the goals of results to end users and stakeholders. tation costs. In order to find good quality of a project are being met. The results from This study evaluated the processes feed, farmers need to travel to Kigali, which an evaluation concerning the adoption and necessary to conduct livestock systems has a financial constraint from both cost dissemination of innovations can guide research for development in Rwanda. Three of transportation, and time spent during changes in the strategies for project imple- overarching questions were explored: 1) travel. Finally, we see that every one of the mentation and dissemination of results to the processes used to conduct the research 111 respondents stated there were positive end users and stakeholders. for development projects, and adjust- impacts as a result of the project. Only ments to be made; 2) the characteristics one respondent stated there were negative Stephanie Muench is a second year student in the of the innovations developed or adapted, impacts as a result of this project, and it Masters in Sustainable Development Program and and how they fit within the local context, was due to the increased workload attached FLAS fellow (Amharic). including enabling factors and barriers for innovation adoption; and 3) how will the innovations be disseminated to a wider audience for potential uptake? Elements observed included: a) how well the innova- tions fit with the characteristics of the social system and intended audience based on an assessment of the following five categories: intent/project design, feasi- bility, technology/practice characteristics, intended user characteristics, and dissemi- nation plans; and b) readiness and barriers to changes in behavior. The readiness to change encompasses willingness to change, ability to engage in change and having the necessary knowledge and available resources to successfully engage in behavior change. Any elements in the social, environ- mental, or financial life of respondents can become a barrier to behavioral changes. In the preliminary stages of data analysis, we found that out of the 51 farmers interviewed as stakeholders for

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 57 KENYAN PERCEPTIONS OF CHINESE-MADE KANGAS ENTERING THE EAST AFRICAN MARKETPLACE ZOE MUNGAI-BARRIS

In Spring 2019, I received the CLAS kangas into the East African marketplace. kanga consumers and five were kanga ven- Scholar’s award and further funding Chinese kangas are cheaper alternatives to dors. I spent four weeks in Kenya investi- from the Center for African Studies kangas produced in East Africa. gating. All respondents expressed that the (CAS) to conduct undergraduate My research evaluates Kenyan percep- Chinese kanga is cheaper and of poorer research in Kenya. My research exam- tions of the emergence of Chinese-made quality than the East African kanga, and ines Kenyan perceptions of the entrance of kangas in the East African economy. I they preferred the East African kanga. Chinese copies of the East African kanga consider preferences between the Chinese A majority of participants (15/20) into the African marketplace via case study kanga and original African kanga, and stated that the Chinese kanga negatively in Mombasa, Kenya. The kanga is an East Kenyan opinions on how this Chinese affects the Kenyan economy. They largely African fabric steeped in cultural signifi- product affects their national economic expressed that the import of cheap Chinese cance and ritualism. Swahili proverbial texts well-being. Furthermore, I assess reactions products in general is very detrimental to are displayed on every kanga. Kangas are towards the Chinese copying a uniquely cul- the economy. Yet, all vendors interviewed used primarily as wraps for women, but are tural product. said that they sell more original kangas than also used to communicate, to express iden- I conducted semi-structured interviews Chinese kangas and conveyed that the pres- tity, and to perform rituals. A recent phe- of kanga consumers and vendors. I inter- ence of the Chinese kanga has not affected nomenon is the entrance of Chinese-made viewed twenty individuals in total- 15 were their profits. The vendors explained there is not high consumer demand for Chinese kangas because the quality is so poor. Kanga quality is of the utmost importance because of the cultural significance of the kanga. The kanga is used during major life events and it is not socially acceptable to use a poor-quality kanga like the Chinese kanga during these crucial moments. Most participants (13/20) expressed negative sentiments towards the Chinese copying a significant East African cultural product. They expressed frustration with what they viewed as cultural appropriation. Chinese kanga production creates certain trade-offs in Kenya. On the one hand, Kenyans consumers have access to a cheaper kanga. Conversely, Kenyan manu- facturing firms face outsider competition which could be to their detriment. Recent globalization trends affect East Africans in a myriad of ways that go largely unheard. The Swahili kanga is of special interest because it is an example of an East African product that is intimately cultural which has been exposed to globalized trade practices. This research may inform the efficacy of such globalized trade practices regarding cultural products from the East African point of view.

Zoe Mungai-Barris is an undergraduate student in economics and international studies, with a concentration on Sub-Saharan Africa.

58 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 KENYAN PERCEPTIONS OF CHINESE-MADE KANGAS ENTERING THE EAST AFRICAN MARKETPLACE NOUNS IN KHOEKHOE CHRISTOPHER MUNTZNER

My research focuses on the ‘postpositional’ suffix providing certain suffix. When the subject occurs low, language Khoekhoe, a Khoisan semantic/spatial information (e.g. in/of/ a second subject GN suffix occurs attached language spoken in Namibia. During from/with). Most nouns that are subjects, to the element left of the declarative my fieldwork, I researched the nature of and nouns that are modified by relative marker. Both speakers confirmed that nouns in various clausal constructions, clauses (RCs, henceforth) end in just their starting a sentence with the declarative regarding their role with respect to the verb; gender-number (GN, henceforth) suffix. All marker is ungrammatical. for example, the subject, the direct object, other nouns end in the suffix “-a” following I found the behavior of the subject in and the indirect object in the sentence, their GN suffix. declarative clauses was paralleled in RC “The man gave the meat to the woman.” Nouns acting as subject can end in the constructions. When a noun is modified by Various clausal constructions include “-a” suffix. Another research interest was to an RC that contains a subject, the subject declarative clauses (statements) as well as investigate the environments where subjects occurs below the RC marker (low), with the relative clauses (clauses that modify nouns), occur with the “-a” suffix, as compared to “-a” suffix; and there are two instances of such as the bracketed clause modifying the environments where subjects end in just the subject’s GN suffix. Two instances of man in, ‘The man [whom the woman saw] their GN suffix. Declarative clauses come the same GN suffix is not limited to low ate the meat.’ with a word that functions as a declara- subjects. RCs that follow the noun they My research findings were in line with tive ‘marker’, that the subject can occur on modify (postnominal RCs), end in an iden- the relevant pre-existing literature on either side of. tical GN suffix. RCs that precede the noun Khoekhoe nouns. All nouns in Khoekhoe When the subject occurs left of the they modify (prenominal RCs) occur with take a suffix that provides information declarative marker (high), it ends in its GN no identical GN suffixes. about the noun’s gender and number. suffix. When the subject occurs right of the Nouns can be followed by an additional declarative marker (low), it ends in the “-a” Christopher Muntzner is a doctoral student in linguistics.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 59 BORDERLESS IDENTITIES: POST-NATIONALIST PREOCCUPATIONS IN AFRICAN SHORT STORIES CRISTOVÃO NWACHUKWU

The cultural contacts prompted by globalization have changed the world’s landscape irreversibly as borders have become fuzzier and the world smaller. In turn, fiction writers respond to these changes through their works. My research examines the repre- sentations of blackness in contemporary African literatures in the 21st century. This query leads me to observe the following criteria that pervade the representation of black peoples in African literatures: nation- ality, class, gender, and sexuality. Such factors permeate the lives of the authors as they pose questions about the complexity of blackness in the contemporary world. Thus, I argue that, whether deliberately or not, African writers challenge the circum- scriptive notions that attempt to homog- enize black identities. I focus on depictions of immigrant experiences of black Africans in Western spaces, where the aforemen- tioned issues accentuate differences as the estrangement from their homelands changes their self-perception and perception about the places they inhabit in the world. When in contact with black people with different nationalities and cultural backgrounds, the clash of worldviews also complicates their understanding of what defines black- ness. Therefore, by examining how African writers portray such disparities, I argue that blackness is a social construct which cannot encompass the complexities of black identi- interplay between reality and fiction and African Americans and Nigerians in the U.S. ties in a transnational context. examine how the former informs the latter As for Diome, she foregrounds the sexism In order to present a panoramic analysis and vice-versa. and racism a Senegalese woman experi- of the subject matter, I employ an interdis- This discussion requires establishing ences in France. Their narratives compli- ciplinary approach to study the works of dialogues with other scholars in the field cate ideals of nationhood as a quintessential several authors, including Akwaeke Emezi, of African studies, and the CAS travel identity marker for Africans that navigate Chimamanda Adichie, Chika Unigwe, Fatou award has given me this opportunity. In In Western borders. Therefore, attending Diome, Teju Cole, Yaa Gyasi, and Helon November 2019, I presented a paper enti- this conference has opened my research to Habila. Considering the focus on literary tled “Borderless Identities: Post-Nationalist debates pertaining to the accuracy of my portrayals of transnational experiences, I Preoccupations in African Short Stories” literary analyses as scholarly conversations utilize postcolonial studies to understand the at the 62nd African Studies Association can deepen reflections about the implica- role colonization played in producing reduc- conference. I discussed “The Arrangers tions of these writers’ artistic choices. tionist views about black people and decolo- of Marriage” and “Preference Nationale”, nial studies to pursue ways to contest these two short stories by Adichie and Diome Cristovão Nwachukwu is a doctoral student in the imposed perceptions. I also employ trans- respectively. I contended that Adichie high- Department of English. national and border studies to discuss the lights solidarities and contentions between

60 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 CONFLICT, FOOD SECURITY AND PASTORALISM IN THE SAHEL MATTHEW PFLAUM

My research focuses on the disruption of normal market activity by also contradictorily been critical to their geography of conflict and food attacks from extremist groups and militias societies and economics. The Tuaregs, for insecurity in Mali, as well as factors has significant consequences on welfare example, were principally involved in trade related to pastoralist violence and and subsistence. As I study Tuareg and for centuries through the Sahel given their extremism in the country. I am currently Fulani groups, I am also interested in knowledge of the landscape, routes, and involved in the UF-OECD project “Foreign how violence impacts the cattle migration terrain and their networks. Though violence interventions and transnational insurgencies and trade. My research interests involve and VEOs are expanding in the Sahel, we in the Sahara-Sahel’” under my advisor, pastoralism/nomadism in the Sahel and do not understand the role pastoralists play Olivier Walther. I have a background in their role in violence and joining violent in terms of joining, recruitment, leadership public health (MPH, Emory University) extremist organizations (VEOs) in the roles, capacity and potential for violence, and African development (MSc, University Sahel. Principally, the specific role of decision-making, and fragmentation. Finally, of Edinburgh). I am currently a graduate pastoralists in the region in VEOs has not I am interested in the role of fragmentation, fellow and TA for Geography of Africa. been addressed. This is a critical gap in our and what role culture and ethnic/tribal My PhD dissertation involves two knowledge of violence in the Sahel given background has on potential for VEOs to separate themes or projects. The first the large population of pastoralists (Fulani, fragment/fraction. This cultural component theme is the geography of conflict and Tuareg, others), but also their significance of fragmentation has never been addressed. food insecurity. I am principally inter- in the dynamics of culture, politics, and ested in examining the impact of violent society in these countries. These groups Matthew Pflaum is a doctoral student in geography. events in Mali on food security/insecurity have unfortunately long been situated on and particularly markets and access. The the periphery of Sahelian societies, but have

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 61 THE POSTCOLONIAL NOVEL IN INDIA AND KENYA ROMY RAJAN

My research focuses on postco- lonial theory, East African and South Asian literatures and critical theory. My current research project, “Neoliberalism and the Moment of Precarity in the Postcolonial novel in India and Kenya” explores the impact of neoliberal policies on Kenyan and Indian literatures. I trace the development of such policies through works of literature produced during three crucial moments that occur in the histories of both nations—disillusionment, struc- tural adjustment and precarity. While the first moment elaborates the breakdown of the promise of independence, the second looks at the reversal of certain policies of self-governance instituted at decolonization through the partial transfer of sovereign power to global financial institutions towards the end of the Cold War. Novels produced during the third moment of precarity describe societies in which neoliberal logic appears normalized, seemingly nullifying the possibilities of political resistance. However, I argue that such novels also refuse to theorize precarity exclusively in terms of neoliberal Traveling to conferences as a graduate postcolonial realities. I hope to illustrate factors, while simultaneously positing their student has helped me reconfigure my the ways in which writers like Ngugi and increased visibility in neoliberal times. My scholarly work by circulating my ideas Owuor have intervened in such changes work aims to tease out the manifestations and through the debates that they have and responded to the post-Cold War of such visibility and the ways in which generated. My paper “Borders and emergence of a unipolar world commit- they reshape our understanding of both Nativism in the Kamirithu Experiment,” ted to the unrestrained operation of a free postcoloniality and national sovereignty. was presented at the Midwestern Modern market. The multifarious ways in which The establishment of a neoliberal Language Association (2016) and examined this commitment has affected postcolo- economic order has been analyzed by many Ngugi’s initial expressions of disillu- nial nations such as Kenya is not an indica- scholars in the social sciences but its impact sionment. “Going Beyond the Mau Mau tion of how a central market has affected on literature has been underexplored, in Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor’s Dust,” its peripheries, but an expression of how making my project original and timely in its a paper I presented at a panel on East this marketplace has expanded to consoli- scope. Having grown up in a post-colony African Literature at the African Literature date and appropriate various local institu- during the decades of structural adjustment Association’s annual conference in 2017 tions. An engagement with these novels which saw the rise of religious fundamen- was instrumental in helping me place provides a model for learning more about talism and increasing class inequality, this Owuor’s novel within a larger body of these operations, while retaining a focus on project has personal significance for me. Kenyan literature. My paper on the uncan- their larger implications for an emerging I see the possibility of viewing the devel- niness of history in Dust was presented at world system. opments of these decades dialectically the African Studies Association meeting from the vantage point of a moment of held in Boston (2019). Romy Rajan is a doctoral candidate in the precarity, related both to a past shaped by I aim to contribute to an emerging Department of English. colonialism and a present being reshaped body of scholarship that engages with the by expanding global capital. relationship between neoliberalism and

62 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 EXCLUSION THROUGH BOUNDARY (RE)MAKING IN A PROTECTED AREA RILEY RAVARY

Riley is an alumna of Michigan Research Engagement Research Abroad for discussion of precarious resource frontiers, State University where she received a Doctoral Students Award, and University this paper seeks to consider the ways Bachelor of Science in Anthropology, of Florida Doughty Award. people living near and relying on Mount a Bachelor of Science in Zoology, Her paper, “Evergreen: Establishing Elgon National Park are impacted by and specializations in African Studies lines of exclusion through boundary (re) boundary governance. How is precarity and Museum Studies. Since coming to making in a transboundary protected and insecurity amplified through the tactics UF, Riley has been heavily involved in the area,” is an ethnographic case study of and logics of rule employed during periods Center for African Studies as a Foreign Uganda’s Mount Elgon National Park that of boundary negotiation? In what ways do Language and Areas Studies (FLAS) examines the practices and experiences of these processes of territorialization affect Fellow in Kiswahili, as the Programs and boundary governance at this transboundary the relationship between communities Communications Officer for the Center, as protected area. Based on preliminary field and the transboundary protected area? a committee member for the Social Change research, transboundary protected areas How do community members push back and Development in Africa Working exhibit arrangements of overlapping as boundaries and rights to land change? Group, and as an editorial committee rules and regulations. However, these Nine months of ethnographic research member for the African Studies Quarterly. rules are not always well coordinated or conducted in 2016 and 2018 indicate that In 2016, Riley continued her studies in collectively determined, meaning persons community members have been deeply Kiswahili through a Fulbright Hays Group near protected areas face deep structural impacted by sporadic, violently enforced Project Abroad in Tanzania. Broadly, Riley constraints. Since 1929, land on Mount boundary changes at Mount Elgon National is interested in conservation, environmental Elgon has been subject to frequent Park. Despite intentions to follow a governance, political anthropology, human- negotiation as government officials community-conservation model, conser- environment interactions, African Studies, designated portions of the forest for vation has been militarized at this critical boundaries, development, and protected environmental protection. More recently, border zone as authorities work towards areas. Currently, Riley is working on her Mount Elgon National Park has garnered securing protected spaces. Meanwhile, dissertation research on transboundary international significance when it was residents and resource users are further conservation governance in Eastern declared a transboundary protected area marginalized as customary systems and Africa. Riley’s research has been generously in the early 2000s and through the process local norms are undermined to make way supported by the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral of reforestation as an ‘evergreen’ carbon for new transboundary governance regimes. Dissertation Research Award, American storage forest. Philosophical Society Lewis and Clark Fund Moving beyond Stewart’s concep- Riley Ravary is a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology for Exploration and Field Research Grant, tualization of precarity as emergent, and former FLAS fellow (Swahili). University of Florida Office for Global momentary phenomena and Watts’

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 63 ARTEMISIA TRAININGS IN BENIN SARAH STAUB

My research focuses on the I am also interested in exploring the in Benin because the training centers are growing use and promotion of Artemisia trainings in Benin by one of the well established, located in urban, peri- Artemisia annua L. (Artemisia) largest organizations promoting Artemisia urban and rural settings in central and in Africa for the treatment and in Africa, La Maison de l’Artemisia (LMA). southern Benin, have distinct affiliations— prevention of malaria. Several My research here intersects with classic church, university and community group— contemporary trends in anthropology anthropological concepts of medical differ in the participants they target, training have shaped my intellectual trajectory as a pluralism, biopower and biopolitics and length and cost, entrepreneurial focus medical anthropologist, and their influence critical studies of development. Within the and resources provided. I will track the is evident in my approach to the broad context of Benin, I seek to understand the adoption and diffusion rates of Artemisia themes of health, development, power, dominant discourse on Artemisia and resis- among participants over time and work to and culture. In order to understand this tance to it, provide insight into the social uncover the role various factors, such as topic, I draw from the concepts of “global life of Artemisia, makings of “responsibil- training length, target population, entrepre- assemblages,” “ground globalization” and ized citizens,” participants’ knowledge, atti- neurial focus, proprietary rights, resources Appadurai’s idea of “scapes” to understand tudes, and practices (KAP) surrounding provided, and social media, play in adoption the global discourse surrounding Artemisia malaria and Artemisia, and adoption and and diffusion. and the World Health Organization diffusion of innovations. One’s KAP influence their beliefs, policies regarding malaria and Artemisia. In Benin, malaria is endemic and partic- behaviors and overall adoption and diffu- By viewing Artemisia as part of a larger ularly burdensome; 100% of the popu- sion of an innovation, such as Artemisia. assemblage I can gain an understanding on lation is at risk, it is the leading cause of Thus, I am interested in interview partic- how the scope of research on Artemisia is mortality among children under five and ipants who attend LMA trainings before determined by global capital, regulations, adult morbidity. Households spend approx- and after the trainings to gather baseline and scientific expertise. Particularly the imately 25% of their annual income on the data regarding their: 1) KAP surrounding WHO’s opposition to the use of Artemisia prevention and treatment of malaria. LMA malaria and Artemisia, such as beliefs annua and pharmaceutical companies’ has been promoting the use of Artemisia in regarding Artemisia, efficacy of herbal control of technologies of artemisinin- Benin, through two to four-day trainings, medicines, perceived causes and symp- extraction methods and seeds. since 2013. I am interested in the trainings toms of malaria, malaria diagnostic and treatments and previous adoption other herbal medicines; 2) motivations and inten- tions following the training; 3) introduc- tion to Artemisia; and 4) demographic data. Follow-up interviews will elicit information about participants’ adoption and diffusion of Artemisia and related knowledge, influ- ence of training factors, social media use, perceived obstacles, and KAP surrounding malaria and Artemisia to better understand the discourse on Artemisia, the interven- tion and diffusion through participants’ social networks. To conduct my research, I will use participant observation and semi- structured interviews to gather data and conduct text analysis to interpret interviews, field notes, observations, and social media conversations, thematically coding the data using an inductive approach for key themes and recurring responses.

Sarah Staub is a doctoral candidate in anthropology.

64 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 RELIGIOUS ENTREPRENEUR AND FEMALE MIGRATION: A CASE STUDY ON A MUSLIM RELIGIOUS LEADER IN SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA YEKATIT TSEHAYU

Every first Sunday of each month, between himself and the women. Drawing phases, the third phase comes through the Muslims from all over Masqan upon the case study, this research aims remittance they send from the Middle East Wereda, in Southern Ethiopia, gather at examining how customary spiritual countries. As I observed when I attended to commemorate the 12th-century interactions between a religious leader and participated in the gift-giving and Sufi saint Abdul al-Qadir Jilani. This and laypeople have been transformed baraka exchanges many times, the women religious gathering is called Jillale Liqa and into symbiotic economic relationships who participate in this gift-giving-baraka often it takes about seven hours: between that provide a sense of protection and exchange, come from various economic, 10:00 am and 5:00 pm. There are some blessing for the migrating women and social and academic backgrounds. Some ritualistic activates taking place during the a sustainable source of wealth for the even are affiliated with the reformist Islamic Jillae Liqa. The rituals include an extensive religious leader. It highlights how the teachings and strongly oppose the other session of gift-giving in exchange for changing socio-economic situations have rituals that take place in the gathering. They baraka/blessing. The gift-giving and Baraka generated hardships which best can be believe that the gathering by itself is a shirk session involves mainly women who plan addressed through religious practice, and (polytheistic practice) which, in their view, to move to the Gulf countries as domestic how these developments have generated is against the very foundation of Islamic workers and a self-sanctifying Muslim novel rituals and allowed for the arrival of teaching (tawhid). However, regardless of leader called Murid Shifa. entrepreneurial religious leaders. their religious stance, they come to the In a country where unemployment The information used in this research is gift-giving and baraka exchange when they remains rampant, these women view drawn from the data I collected for my MA plan to migrate seeking a job—which has moving to the Gulf as the only economic thesis in 2014-15. I also gathered additional become the prerequisite for migrating to quick-fix regardless of the many horror ethnographic data form my re-visits to the the Middle East. stories about the dangers and mistreatments site between 2017 and 2019. According to they might face. To secure themselves and the findings of my research, it has become Yekatit Tsehayu is a Ph.D. student in the gain the utmost benefit during their stay in a trend that the women who plan to travel Department of Religion. the Gulf countries, they put their hope in to the Middle East should give gifts to this divine protection—attained in exchange for religious leader in the process and after their gifts to the religious leader. they arrived. The gift is given in different My research presents a case study of phases: before opening the visa process, the self-sanctified Muslim religious leader before flying/traveling to the middle Murid Shifa, who modified the existing east and finally after they get a job in the religious practices and who now benefits Middle East. While the migrating women from gift-giving and baraka exchange themselves deliver the gifts in the first two

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Student Reports 2019–2020 65

AFRICAN STUDIES QUARTERLY

FOUNDATION

The Center for African Studies founded the African Studies Quarterly ASQ invites the submission of original manuscripts on a (ASQ) in 1997 to promote research on Africa beyond that undertaken full range of topics related to Africa in all areas. To qualify by University of Florida faculty and graduate students. It is an for consideration, submissions must meet the scholarship interdisciplinary, fully refereed, online open access journal dedicated standards within the appropriate discipline and be of interest to publishing the finest scholarship relating to the African continent. to an interdisciplinary readership. As an electronic journal, we welcome submissions that are of a time-sensitive nature. RECENT ISSUES HAVE FEATURED: Articles - Interfaith Marriages: The Case of Muslims and Christians in Contemporary Zongo Communities in Accra - Social Grants as a Tool for Poverty Reduction in South Africa? A Longitudinal Analysis Using the NIDS Survey - Contesting Images of Womanhood: The Narrative Construction of Gender Relations in Ethiopia - Food Security, Poverty and Diversification: Relative Contribution of Livestock Activities on Small-scale Farms in Egypt​ Mapping Political Homophobia in Senegal

At–Issue ​- Reframing the African Peace and Security Architecture: An Argument for a Unitary AU Post-conflict Reconstruction and - Development Organ New Clamour for “Restructuring” in Nigeria: Elite Politics, Contradictions, and Good Governance

Review Essays - On a “Distinctive Path of Win-Win Cooperation?” Sino-African Economic Relations in the 21st Century - Borderless Imaginations Under State Imposed Territoriality in the Horn of Africa

ASQ REVIEW PROCESS An internal editorial committee, composed of graduate students in African Studies from a wide range of disciplines, conducts the initial review of submitted manuscripts that are original and not submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere. Final publication depends on the quality of the manuscript and the subsequent external peer review process.

For submission guidelines, matters related to the ASQ style, contacting the ASQ, and other issues, potential authors should consult the ASQ website: www.africa.ufl.edu/asq or contact the managing editor: [email protected]

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 67 AFRICAN STUDIES JOURNALS AT UF

AFRICAN ARTS

African Arts, the quarterly journal published by the UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center, is partnering with the University of Florida and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to create a consortium that will share editorial oversight and financial support for the journal. African Arts is particularly excited to include editorial representation from the African continent with Rhodes University of South Africa as the fourth partner. The enhanced editorial board will now comprise teams based at each partner institution while the coordinating editorial and production office remains at UCLA. Consortium institutions each contribute to production and staffing costs of the journal. Each team will be responsible for the feature articles and “First Word” opinion column for one issue per year, while departmental and reviews columns will continue to be the responsibility of editors appointed by the consortium as a whole. Consortium members will review independently submitted articles as well as oversee themed issues proposed to the board by outside guest editors.

STUDIES IN AFRICAN LINGUISTICS

Beginning in 2018, a team of UF linguists headed by James Essegbey and also including Brent Henderson and Fiona McLaughlin assumed editorship of Studies in African Linguistics (SAL). SAL is a peer-reviewed, academic journal that publishes descriptive and theoretical articles on African languages. Contributions are based on empirical African language data. The journal especially welcomes papers that are based on original fieldwork, and also considers short descriptive grammatical sketches of endangered African languages.

YORUBA STUDIES REVIEW

The Yoruba Studies Review is a dynamic new refereed biannual journal dedicated to the study of the experience of the Yoruba peoples and their descendants globally. The journal is hosted by 3 institutions with strong traditions in the study of Yoruba language/culture/traditions: The University of Texas at Austin, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and the University of Florida. Akintunde Akinyemi, professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, is one of three editors of the publication. The journal was begun partially in the interest of the survival of Yoruba tradition, culture, religion, etc. in academia in the Americas. Interestingly, the journal accepts submissions in 5 different languages (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Yoruba) which are commonly used in academic and non-academic Yoruba communities. The first edition of the journal was released in Fall 2016 and submissions revolve around art, philosophy, and ideology. Work has already commenced on future editions and likely topics in the immediate future include essays written in Yoruba and submissions related to the methods and obstacles to teaching Yoruba in American universities.

68 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 AFRICAN BUSINESS UPDATE

African Business Update (ABU) is deployment of technologies, customers Sign-up for the e-newsletter by a bi-weekly e-Report that features base, and market shares. Our reports are contacting [email protected] business activities in 10 African sourced from different media outlets across Follow on Facebook: countries. These African countries were the ten African countries. facebook.com/africanbusinessupdate strategically and methodologically selected To share our bi-weekly E-Business and Twitter: using the size of economy, population, Updates we utilize MailChimp, a flexible https://twitter.com/UfCAS_ABU ease of doing business, etc. Highlighting communication platform that is the new technologies, the bi-weekly report world’s largest marketing automation African Business Update is compiled by features successful stories of businesses platform. We also have Facebook page to Ayobami Edun, doctoral student in electrical and that include small, medium, and large disseminate information and share stories computer engineering. enterprise, start-ups companies, and about business and technologies in ten innovation in all sectors. The stories not African countries. Our current distribution only outlined the project plan but also list reaches approximately one thousand captures successful products launch, recipients across the US.

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 69 FLAS FELLOWSHIPS

FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND ACADEMIC YEAR FELLOWSHIPS AREA STUDIES FELLOWSHIPS Academic year fellowships provide a stipend of $15,000 The University of Florida’s Center for African Studies and cover the cost of tuition and fees (12 credits per anticipates awarding Foreign Language and Area Studies semester). Applicants must be a citizen or permanent (FLAS) Fellowships for the academic year. These resident of the United States and be admitted to a fellowships are funded by the U.S. Department of graduate program at the University of Florida. Education (USED) under Title VI of the U.S. Higher Education Act and are awarded to students combining SUMMER FELLOWSHIPS graduate work in any academic discipline with African area and language studies. Summer fellowships provide students with an opportunity to undertake intensive African language Fellowships are offered for any one of the study in any USED approved program. Summer regularly taught languages: fellowships cover tuition at the host institution and Akan, Amharic, Arabic, Portuguese, provide a stipend of $2,500. Swahili, Wolof, Yoruba, and Zulu For more information, including application deadlines, please visit www.africa.ufl.edu/graduatestudies/flas

70 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 THANKS TO OUR DONORS

MADELYN M. JEANNE & HUNT DAVIS LOCKHART Graduate Research Award Graduate Research Award

In 2004, Dr. Madelyn Lockhart, professor emerita of In 2004, Dr. R. Hunt Davis, professor emeritus in History economics and a former Dean of the Graduate School, and a former director of the Center for African Studies, established an endowment to support an annual award for and his wife, Jeanne, established an endowment to support graduate students doing pre-dissertation research in Africa. graduate students doing pre-dissertation research in Africa.

The generous contributions from Jeanne & Hunt Davis and Dr. Lockhart has made it possible for the Center to provide support for graduate students each summer doing fieldwork in Africa. In an effort to expand our capability for supporting graduate students, Dr. Davis has taken the lead in helping CAS work toward establishing an additional endowment.

The African Studies Faculty & Alumni Pre-Dissertation Award now has over $25,000 in commitments and is moving toward the goal of $30,000, which will provide an endowment to support for graduate students. Please see the following page for more information about this fund and how you can contribute.

The Center would like to JOE AMOAKO​ ANNA MWABA thank the following individuals CHARLES BWENGE SUSAN O’BRIEN who have contributed to our various funds in the past year SUSAN COOKSEY RICHARD ORTH with an extra special thanks HUNT DAVIS, JR. TERJE ØSTEBØ to those who are working to STEPHEN DAVIS DANIEL REBOUSSIN build the Faculty & Alumni Pre-Dissertation Fund. KEVIN FRIDY SANDRA RUSSO MICHAEL LESLIE RENATA SERRA PETER MALANCHUK JANE SOUTHWORTH FIONA MCLAUGHLIN EMERSON THOMPSON, JR. SCOTT MCPHERSON LEONARDO VILLALÓN CONNIE MULLIGAN

CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020 71 SUPPORT GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH ON AFRICA

Beyond their training at UF, field research The Center for African Studies has in Africa is absolutely essential for students established a fund with the goal of creating to write the kinds of dissertations on which an endowment of at least $30,000, so as to they will be able to base successful careers, generate the revenue for an annual award whether in academia, government, NGOs, to help a student carry out pre-dissertation or the private sector. research in Africa.

The major dissertation research awards for Africa are If you would like to make a contribution to this fund, limited in number and increasingly competitive. In we (and future generations of UF Africanist students!) order for Ph.D. candidates to be competitive for these would be very grateful. awards they must demonstrate a strong familiarity with the proposed field site and the capability to carry out the For instructions, please visit our website: proposed work. AFRICA.UFL.EDU/MAKE-A-GIFT As a result, preliminary summer research trips to lay the groundwork for dissertation fieldwork are invaluable If you are a UF employee and would like to contribute for making students competitive for national awards for via payroll deduction, please contact CAS for assistance. dissertation funding. Helping our students launch their professional careers in this way is one of our top priorities at the Center for African Studies.

72 CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Research Report 2019–2020