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This paper interrogates the context that Poverty Reduction Strategy operates as a development policy framework implemented in Benin and Nigeria, and how this provides opportunities and constraints for the objective of poverty reduction. Also, it argues that within the context of a neo-liberal ideology and strategy of development which guide the formulation and implementation of poverty reduction strategy, poor developing countries have not experienced a reduction in poverty or a promised development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quincy Troupe (born 1939) is a poet, author, and editor, perhaps best known for co-writing Miles: The Autobiography (1989) with the influential jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. His father, Quincy Trouppe, Sr., was an all-star catcher in Negro league baseball. The Quincy Troupe papers, dating from 1915 to 2008, mainly document Troupe's career from the mid-1970s to 2008. They also hold the scrapbooks of Quincy Trouppe, Sr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This 29.9 cubic feet collection includes correspondence, notes, and writings of Boniface I. Obichere, a UCLA professor of African history. notebooks, book manuscripts, scholarly journals, letters of recommendation, student papers, course materials, conference papers, reports, grant materials, committee papers, maps, photographs, slides, audio recordings, student and class papers, organizations in which Dr. Obichere participated, particularly the African Studies Center and the Journal of African Studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the collection of Amiri Baraka's works, highlighting facts on his collection of poetry, print publications regarding the Black arts movement and his involvement in politics. Topics include the documentation of the collection, Black Women's United Front (BWUF), and the African Liberation.

The article presents the profile of writer William Edward Burghardt Du Bois focusing on his works of contribution including books and articles, against the rights of Black people. Topics include his role in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), publishing the book "The Souls of Black Folk", and teaching life.

The article focuses on the announcement of the Princeton University Library regarding the availability and existence of the Toni Morrison Papers. Topics discussed content of the archival materials such as life and work of novelist Toni Morrison and professor Robert F. Goheen; list of available manuscript drafts of novels such as "The Bluest Eye" in 1970 and the "Song of Solomon" in 1977; and the availability of letters from Maya Angelou, Houston Baker, and Toni Cade Bambara.

An excerpt from the book "Uncovering the African Past: The Ivan Van Sertima Papers" by Runoko Rashidi is presented, which focuses on the works of associate professor Ivan Van Sertima on the Olmec civilization.

The article provides information on the development of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) established by George W. Bush on February 6, 2007. AFRICOM was developed with the aim for peace and security for growing development challenges to education and health matters, economic growth and viable democratic institutions. In addition, AFRICOM remained under the supervision of the Central Command (CENTCOM) and had attained initial operating capability under European Command for operational unified command. African leaders have adapted the neo-imperialistic designs on the foreign policy options to checkmate the establishment of AFRICOM headquarters in Africa in order to relocate a full-fledged military command.

This presentation provides review the work and significance of Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, and thus, it begins with an outline on how in 1974 Dr. Welsing confronted white supremacist, physicist, and eugenicist William Shockley on the PBS sponsored Tony Brown's Journal talk show wherein she countered his arguments by showing them to be inept, before coolly demolishing his assertions as she explained why his delusional behavior was necessary and manifestations of Shockley's fear of white genetic annihilation. Accordingly, the author argues that Welsing: broke the rules of academic ambivalence, detachment and intentional fuzzy-headedness; held theories and arguments issued from the dire needs of a people under siege; understood that the healing of Black people (a captive and exploited people) lies in an ability to acknowledge fear of a system that has been constructed to imprison Black people, and in acknowledging that fear is a way to dismantle white supremacy; had a brilliance of leadership and vision in the development of intellectual weaponry that enhanced by her ability to move beyond the self-serving restrictions of the academy; held that white fear of genetic annihilation is the cause of racism and white supremacist behavior; provided the only explanation for the perpetration of genocide by the white population against African people; focused on the need for the development of collective self-confidence and self-respect as a prerequisite for overcoming Black fear; and that Welsing's passing separates the race-warriors from the race-traitors; the sovereignists-vindicationists from the integrationist-assimilationists. Hence, the author outlines the tenets and configured weapons presented by Welsing that can be used to attack what had been perceived as the impenetrable fortress of racism/white supremacy; say we must listen to the voice of Welsing much more carefully now so not to miss the continued ideological and organizational impact of white supremacy on human political thought and behavior; and suggest that The Center for Disease Control helps to spread disease among Black people and promotes unnecessary and harmful vaccinations. And in conclusion, the author she argues that: the attack on Black people by confused Black folk and their Yurugu teachers seek to anger Black folks, but Welsing taught Black folks how to fight, and therefore, strict attention need to be paid to the modeled behavior of Welsing as she consistently focused on exposing the only form of racism (white supremacy), and on expunging Black fear; and everything Welsing did and said was a preparation for confrontation with those who seeks to destroy people of African descent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University's acquisition of the African American feminist Angela Yvonne Davis's papers.

The article focuses on the acquisition of the Robert A. Hill Collection of the Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers Project Record by John Hope Franklin Research Center at Duke University in North Carolina. Topics discussed include the impact of Hill, a historian, on the African Diaspora, the publication of the journal "Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers" (UNIA), and the collection of Hill of archives on African and African American history and culture.

An interview with Ishmael Reed, an African-American author, social activist, publisher and professor emeritus in the U.S., is presented. He describes his work in the mid-1960s and the promise of the Black Arts Movement. Reed explains a perceived mistake made by "The Norton Anthology of African American Literature" about the Black Arts Movement. He also discusses his book "The Complete Muhammad Ali."

Should I wear my Afro to my predominantly white workplace? Is one of the many questions Black Canadian women ask themselves due to the persisting anti-Black racist ideals that impede their livelihoods. This paper expands on Althea Prince's foundational book The Politics of Black Women's Hair (2009) by continuing discussions held with Black and mixed raced Canadian women about the societal perceptions of Black hair. The discriminatory practices demonstrated though case studies involving respectability politics in the workforce contradict Canadian values of multiculturalism. By highlighting Canadian contributions to the Natural Hair Movement, this paper identifies Black women's self-led initiatives that challenge negative ideas surrounding their hair while encouraging Black women to claim space and exercise their right to be. Their complex views thus force a reconsideration of Canadian notions of Black presence. The Black women studied articulate this reassessment according to their own terms while concretizing their positions as valued Canadian citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is a combination of principles from Fine Arts and Philosophy on the study of 'Being' by South African artist Jill Trappler in a solo exhibition entitled Notions of Being/Moments of Being. The selected artworks from the exhibition is investigated through the theoretical framework of Martin Heidegger's theory of 'Being' as both immanent and elusive. The paper resolves the outer-inner-worlds conflicts inherent in Jill Trappler's Notions of Being/Moments of Being by adopting a hermeneutical approach from the iconography and iconological tools of description. The paper recommends that because artistic creations are containers of deeper meanings, they should be deeply interrogated beyond the mimetic representation of objective reality in order to grasp the deeper and more powerful purposes of art, and therefore, it is argued that the paper opens up possibilities for further interpretation of non-figurative works and specifically Trappler's through the contextualizing of tools and frameworks that provide an interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on the interview of ten herbalists, ten Babaláwo and twenty farmers and thus asks can one conclude that the love of money, material gain, poverty or yet to be identified via indigenous knowledge enhance farm produce for a better yield; what are some of the factors responsible for this act; what are the psychological implications on the farmer, his/her family and safety on the path of the consumers of such produce; and what is the position of Ifá towards the use of this indigenous intelligence in food production? Hence, it was revealed that there is no place where Ifá recommended the use of magic to enhance crop production, and to a large extent, the love of money, greed and material gain contribute a lot to the reason people indulge in such an act. The paper concludes that the outcome or end product of many of these methods is that it is not advisable to indulge in such an act of planting crops with magic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on Pan-Africanism as a critical thought within lens used to engage and critique different approaches to disability of the body. The paper uses the Sankofa (return to the source) conceptualization process as a way to revisit/resurge the Nkrumah's ideology in order to better understand the disabling structures that have created disablement in Africa, which has lead to disabilities for people in Africa. Therefore, it is argued that such a resurgent will lead to a critical Nkrumahist Pan-African disability theory that views disability and disablement from a pre-colonial cultural social political economic context, rather than from a biological or restrictive social lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work explores the history of cloth weaving in the Owe region in Nigeria from a gendered perspective that takes a look at the origin of cloth weaving via its relevance as well as the cultural significance of some Owe woven cloth. The paper acknowledges that both men and women engaged in the production of the needed raw materials for weaving during the pre-colonial and colonial eras. It is argued that the people were self-sufficient in sourcing for raw materials for their weaving industry, and as a result, the weaving industry formed an important part of the economy of Owe region before its decline. The paper utilizes primary and secondary methods for the purpose of data generation and adopts a descriptive method for data analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to understand how political advertising impacts on the voting behavior of electorates with the aim of understanding whether the politically motivated campaign songs actually influence voter's choice of candidates or not. The paper specifically reflects on an analysis of Tiv campaign songs in Benue state electioneering process, and by appreciating the theatrics and aesthetics of the songs, the article adopts a sociological approach as a methodological choice for analysis. The study ascertained that campaign songs only create the political atmosphere and promote political candidates, but they do not guarantee election outcomes. In conclusion, the study recommends that political candidates and parties should create and concentrate on other election campaign strategies, and that further studies be done to better understand other existing factors that influence voting behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stand-up comedy in Nigeria has attracted scholarly attention from various disciplines. As a growing performance space, its appeal to the youth, and is therefore, driven by the ubiquity in social media exploration. Using extracts from six randomly selected volumes of 'Nite of a Thousand Laughs', a Nigerian stand-up comedy show, this paper foregrounds the linguistic and discourse strategies deployed by comedians in their performances for civic protest and willingness to engage the government on serious national issues. The paper concludes that beyond its relaxation function, stand-up comedy is a viable platform for raising socio-political consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the relational journey of direct descendants of enslaved African people in the United States and new voluntary African immigrants to the U.S. born in Africa. The paper begins by tracing the connection between African people born in Africa and the African Diaspora back to the turn of the 19th century when the twin struggles of Black nationalism in Africa and the civil rights movement in the United States reinforced each other, culminating into the birth of Pan-Africanism. The paper then analyzes the apparent social and political disconnect between old and the new Diasporic African people in contemporary America against the background of diminished Pan-African spirit; guided by a Critical Race theoretical framework as the author hypothesizes that mainstream racism inherent in U.S. society plays a prominent role in the dynamics of the social and political distance between old and new Diasporic African people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-independence Africa saw many of its talented nationals leaving the continent for greener pastures aboard. Though their exit was a huge loss to the continent, one major contribution of these emigrants to Africa's development is their remittances. In the paper's view, remittances' impact to Africa's development can only be effective depending on their prudent use and management. The paper assessed two categories of remittance recipient countries in Africa wherein remittances constituted a large percentage of GDP and those who receive higher sums of remittances. In each category, the paper evaluates their human development profile against other African countries and concludes that to be effective in implementing the continent's development agenda, human development and prudent management of remittances should be the measure in determining remittances' impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Wiredu's critique of Marxism as a framework for a critique of "African Socialism," as conceived and propagated by three famous philosopher-statesmen of Africa - Nkrumah, Nyerere and Touré. The paper ultimately argues that"African Socialism," especially the variants espoused by the trio, may not after all hold the key to Africa's socio-political emancipation, as its proponents would want us to believe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an examination of the psychology of oppression in To Every Birth Its Blood by Mongane Serote, and thus, it looks at the novel's bipartite structure as portraitures of the psychologies of oppression and liberation respectively. Also, the paper works to deconstruct the seemingly binarist/structuralist orientation of the novel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of the paper is to analyze the role that proverbs play as signposts for the introduction and embedding of biblical intertextual elements in some Shona literary texts. It does this by closely reading Patrick Chakaipa's 1961 novel Pfumo Reropa. The paper notes that while proverbs are oral texts that serve as behavioral and moral conductors in diverse cultures, they are transferred to the written realm as part of the creative and literary act. The poetic nature of proverbs makes them attractive to most narrators who use them to entrench their main themes. This paper also proposes to read them in their function of interconnecting among others biblical literary texts by Chakaipa as these intertextual linkages can either appear by explicit reference to an earlier text usually known to the reader; or, implicitly, in the form of faint echoes of biblical texts, themes, motifs, traditions or events. Hence, the proverbs in Chakaipa's novel resonate with biblical allusions and echoes, something he does to subtly preach Christianity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the number sayings, number-related myths and numerological significance of some selected numbers in the Zimbabwean Shona culture. Knowledge related to the significance of numbers is important because it is tied to the Shona people's cultural way of life, to their survival, happiness and prosperity. However, indigenous knowledge related to the significance of numbers among the Shona people is rarely taught at school, and therefore, this knowledge is likely to be lost. Hence, this paper employs a survey method coupled with personal observations and experiences to unravel the rich and traditional knowledge of the Shona people, using a functionalist theoretical framework. The recommendation of the paper is that the number sayings, number-related myths and numerological meanings of numbers in the Shona culture be further researched, to certify that knowledge gained in a manner that is suitable and proper within the circumstances so it can be verified or tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a study on language contact in the area of socio-linguistics, with special reference to the dynamics of language change as a result of language contact and its influence to address norms in Tshivenḓa. The paper seeks to show that language contact due to industrialisation brought about by colonialism, intermarriage links, trade and sharing adjoining areas/geographical space has caused a lot of changes with regard to Tshivenḓa language's sociolinguistic environment. This is evidenced by some sounds, words and meanings which have crept into Tshivenda language from other languages. In this discussion English, Ndebele and Sotho are the languages which, to a large extent, have had a major influence on the changes of Tshivenḓa address norms. Based on the above information the paper will focus on some significant changes that are shown by present day address norms. The paper also advances the argument that language contact changes the grasp of propositions and brings new meanings that influence syntax and pragmatics as dictated by speech context that address terms within the bounds of Venda culture and everydayness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Jeta Amata's Black November, this paper argues that even when the environmental struggle of the region is more speculated and centred on male-ness, the selected film adequately deconstructs heroism and gender in the socio-historical history of the Niger/Delta environmental struggle. As a theoretical drive for this paper, auteur theory is adopted, and furthermore, the paper also uses Spivak's postcolonial postulation, Can the Subaltern Speak?, as a model of evaluation for the assumed gender silence, as a response to the issues of ecology in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper scrutinizes Cyprian Ekwensi's delineation of ethnic consciousness and the quest for national unity in Iska. The paper explores how destructive ethnic conscious politicians use politics and even their political thugs to instill more destructive ethnic consciousness in people. It deploys sociological theory of literature, especially Priscilla Clark's theory of place or function of society in literature, and Terry Eagleton's theory of the writer and commitment to analyze the text. Apart from demonstrating that destructive consciousness creates hatred and divisions in the society, the paper also demonstrates that socio-political change is possible. The paper, however, recommends among others, that education should be made a (top) priority for people in Nigeria. In all, the paper concludes that politics and politicians are responsible for destructive ethnic consciousness in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the contemporary origins of an arms race in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria by identifying the old arms race by the Atlantic economy of the pre-colonial period, and a new arms race in a crude oil economy of the post-colonial period to show that its roots in the global economic transitions have become intense in a crude oil economy due to the proliferation of stakeholders. The paper approaches the topic in a historical perspective in the hope that it would contribute to a better understanding of the supply and demand dynamics in the spread of small arms and light weapons in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is a post-colonialist criticism of Uche Peter Umez's Aridity of Feelings, Isidore Diala's The Lure of Ash and Chris Ngozi Nkoro's Trails of a Distance. Events in postcolonial Nigeria such as corruption, politics, violence and neocolonialism are examined. Although, these myriads of problems that have envisaged Africa's "sleeping giant" is as a result of bad leadership, Umez, Diala and Nkoro seem to be pessimistic about the future of Nigeria. The paper adopts post-colonialism as its theoretical framework and elements of cultural hybridity are reflected in the texts investigated. The literary works of the poets studied did not provide possible solutions to the problems in the post-colony. The paper concludes that credible leaders must be elected into public offices in order to eradicate various forms of illicit practices in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A person's gender is an important part of their identity as it affects almost all aspects of our lives. Not all men subscribe to the virtues and characteristics of hegemonic masculinity, but it exerts its influence on them through cultural and institutional practices. With masculinity playing such an important role in the lives of men and the influence its impact will have on women and children, this paper finds out how masculinity is portrayed in Vassanji's No New Land and how immigration to foreign lands reinforces or challenges men's masculinity. This is done through an analysis of the portrayal of key male figures in Vassanji's No New Land which gives glimpses of two different cultures and enables a transnational and transcultural comparison of the effects of masculinity on men who migrate to different cultures. With gender studies often giving little recognition to the challenges men face compared to the challenges women face under patriarchy, this paper contributes to the growing scholarship on the challenges of men under patriarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from fieldwork research in Limpopo, South Africa, this paper explored the complexities that surrounded the Zimbabwean emigration to South Africa since the late 1990's through a series of migration waves and flows. It surveyed the context in which migrants left Zimbabwe and the reasons that drove them into exile and their experiences in South Africa. The paper builds on the narratives from the in-depth interviews and explores in detail the reasons the migrants cited as occasioning their exit. Migration waves from Zimbabwe were driven in part by the political and socio-economic implosion in the country and other complex factors. Zimbabwean emigration into South Africa is highly informalized and perilous. This paper sheds light on the timing of migration episodes and delineates the gender, education, and the skills base of this migrant community. The study of migration is a fiercely contested terrain with a plethora of academic lines of inquiry e.g. voluntary and involuntary migration, skilled and non-skilled migration. Various studies have demonstrated the utility of transnationalism as a theoretical framework for explaining migration because it provides for participation of prior migrants in perpetuating the migration process once begun. The structural links that exist between Zimbabwe and South Africa due to factors such as cultural ties, proximity, colonialism, national liberation, and trade cannot be underestimated. South Africa views Zimbabwean immigrants as mobile economic migrants hence its policy towards Zimbabwean immigrants leans more towards deportation than documentation. With the November 2017 coup in Zimbabwe, most Zimbabweans in South Africa have been skeptical of returning home as they see the same people who propped up the Mugabe regime taking over power. This study provides an important lens into understanding borderland and frontier migrations in Southern Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nations are constantly and actively enacting their own identities to distinguish them from other nations and project them for international recognition. Independence Day speeches construct various forms of identities for the nations, their environment and what they hope to be. This paper looks at the collective construction of national identities represented in the discourse of Independence Day speeches of five postcolonial Anglophone countries in West Africa and the discursive features used in enacting these identities. Using the social and national identity theories, the paper discusses various aspects of national life embedded in the speeches, focusing on the five thematic contents of common political past, present and future, common culture and national character as espoused in Wodak et al (2009). The findings point to some differences and similarities in conceptualisation, self-categorisation and effects emanating from individual nations in relation to the discourse of their past, present and the future and with implications for collective efforts for national development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper an attempt is made to see various changes Ilé-Ifè has witnessed in socio-religious and political structures under the regimes of the late Oba Adėsojí Adėrėmí and the late Oba Okùnadé Síjúwadé II. The changes in Ǫlợjợ festival were due to various policies of the traditional rulers engineering shifts in the paradigm of the old tradition. The dynamics were as a result of bringing together different value systems to create a new terrain with non-restrictive religious space. The non-restrictive spaces accommodate all of the religious traditions in Ilé-Ifè, and affect ritual process. This paper also examines the continuity and changes in Ǫlợjợ festival under the late Oba Adėsojí Adėrėmí and the late Oba Síjúwadé Okùnadé Olúbùse II. It examines the changes and offers the reasons for those changes and as well reveals the various implications of kingship institution on ritual process, and this paper looks at Olojo songs as part of the ritual rites. The study shows the similarities and differences in the ritual rites of Olojo festival under the two epochs in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper an attempt is made to examine the mythic narratives and ritual performances in olojo festival and to discuss the traditional involvement of the Ooni of Ife during the festivals, making reference to the late Ọợni Adesoji Adėrėmí. This paper also investigates the implication of local, national and international politics on the traditional festival in Ile-Ife. The importance of the study arrives as a result of the significance of the Ile-Ife amidst the Yoruba towns. More so, festivals have cultural significance that makes some unique turning point in the history of most Yoruba society. Ǫlợjợ festival serves as the worship of deities and a bridge between the society and the spiritual world. It is also a day to celebrate the re-enactment of time. Ǫlợjợ festival demands the full participation of the reigning Ọợni of Ife. The result of the field investigation revealed that the myth of Ǫlợjợ festival remains, but several changes have crept into the ritual process and performances during the reign of the late Adesoji Adėrėmí. The changes vary from the ritual time, space, actions and amidst the ritual specialists. It is found out that some factors which influence these changes include religious contestation, ritual modernization, economics and political change not at the neglect of the king's involvement in the local, national and international politics which has given space for questioning the Yoruba kingship institution. Therefore, this paper draws upon the strength of phenomenology and indigenous hermeneutics; it is justified in the words of Olupona "that is the researcher explore paradigms and modes of interpretation that are explicitly embedded in the tradition one is studying. Because these traditions are interpretative, our understanding of them should be taken into consideration how they provide meaning to those who encounter them". The scholar will highlight the interpretative meanings within these traditions and incorporate them into the largest discussion of African experience[1]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major thrust of this paper is to interrogate the impact of the brain drain and skilled labour migration on Africa's socio-economic development since the 1990s. Although, prior to the 1990s, a number of Africans had voluntarily migrated and settled in the overseas, most especially in the western hemisphere, the phenomenon became unprecedented in the period between the 1990s and 2000s. This development was facilitated by a combination of factors, which could be summed up as push and pull factors of international migration. While low living standards, political persecution, insecurity and lack of opportunities to utilise skills among others are the main push factors, higher wages, job opportunities, relatively good working conditions, freedom from political oppression, relaxation of immigration policies and the phenomenon of new globalisation constitute the main pull factors. The main destinations of these "economic migrants" are the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Europe. Drastic reduction in African scholars, poor delivery of basic healthcare and health programmes, lack of efficient utilisation of external assistance and low level of institutional capacity building are the main effects of the loss of highly-skilled African migrants on Africa's development. The paper argues that it is practically impossible to achieve a meaningful development in a society that loses its "best brain" to "forced international migration". It, therefore, submits that African leaders must be alive to the promotion of good governance in order to save the fragility of African states from collapsing. The methodological approach adopted in this paper is historical, analytical and descriptive, utilising materials from the secondary sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remittance is anything of value (cash or kind) sent regularly by relation or friend that has come to form part of the means of sustenance of the receiving group or individual. Remittance includes money and materials sent home for the construction of houses at natal homes by Lagos migrants. Recent studies have demonstrated that remittance could emanate from both urban and rural areas. However, the focus of this paper is the remittances sent from urban to rural areas and how this has become a major source of income and an invaluable means of reducing rural poverty. The flow of remittance can be both direct and indirect; it can be obligatory or free choice. Remittance reflects the strong tie that migrants maintained with their home areas. It serves as a form of social security for the aged parents and relations left back at home. To some recipients, remittance was the sole source of livelihood. The paper argues that for the Igbomina migrants in Lagos, home remittance was obligatory and have provides means by which urban life was being enjoyed in rural areas. It is the contention of this paper that home remittances have been a veritable tool through which poverty has been drastically reduced in rural Igbomina Society and needs of home people have been supplied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This thesis explores the labor market impacts of physical disabilities in Tanzania using the 2010/2011 Tanzania National Panel Survey (TZNPS). Disability in a developing continent such as Africa needs to be studied in its own terms and environment. The impact of disability depends on the environment in which an individual is situated (Silversetein et al. 2005). Using probit regressions for employment, and log-linear regressions for earnings and also controlling for a range of personal characteristics, we find that disability is found to be an important determinant of employment and wage. We also detect differences in the regression slopes due to disabilities. We, thus, consider how model specification and econometric methods affect employment and wage differentials between disabled and non-disabled labor market participants. Oaxaca and Fairlie decomposition models are used to measure these intergroup gaps. This paper establishes a clear intergroup endowment gap, but it also finds an enormous unexplained gap. This unexplained gap alludes to the significant roles of employment and wage discrimination. Ensuring access to Secondary Level Education and promoting geographic mobility are some of the interventions this paper propounds to address the intergroup productivity and endowment differential.1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Nigeria's political leadership in relation to her national anthem and national pledge using secondary sources within elite theory frame. The strongest factor standing against Nigeria's national vision is leadership. This paper argues that there is too much financial entitlement and benefit attached to public office in Nigeria. The depth of power and resources embedded in the central government has had trickle-down effect on sub-national unit (state government) and local government. Relying on narrative and interpretative lens, this paper recommends that: Federal Government should reduce the financial entitlement of political office holders, from the presidency downwards, coupled with a lean budget which must be the new 'catch word', i.e., cars and other public properties at public office holders' disposals should be scaled down. There should be a sovereign national conference on how more powers should be devolved to the state government and capital punishment for people who have been found wanting of corruption aside restitution. Although pro-human rights debates against the death penalty suggest a decline in global state executions, the philosophy of "it is better to be feared than to be loved" by Niccolo Machiavelli seems appropriate in societies such as Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa has been immeasurably featured in scholarly works as a continent of migration. Research on the migration of Africans as well as the broader discourse on migration and mobility has been at the center of African Studies for a long time. This is because Africa is one of the continents in which there is a great deal of mobility, particularly at the internal and regional levels; yet, there are many complaints that many African countries stand in opposition to the migration of people from other African countries into their countries. This paper examines the movement of people within the region of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), with a special focus on Cabo Verde. Thus, the major research question probed in the paper is as follows: Do ECOWAS member countries stand in opposition to the migration of people from other member states? The corollary question to this is the following: Why do ECOWAS member countries stand in opposition to the migration of people from other member states? In other to answer these questions, this paper employs the Functionalist and Neo-functionalist Theories on regional integration, qualitative methodology and the explanatory case study design to test the hypothesis that H1: The member states of the ECOWAS stand in opposition to one another on the free movement of people in the region. The attendant null hypothesis is that H0: The member states of the ECOWAS do not stand in opposition to one another on the free movement of people in the region. The substantive findings delineated after the systematic analysis of the available data reveal that the mobility of people in the ECOWAS region is strictly conditioned or facilitated by the borders of each state premised on the set of political and legal frameworks of each member country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a discussion about historical facts and ideological causes and consequences of Reconquista and the Crusades, religious wars sanctioned and promoted by the Roman Catholic Church in Medieval Europe, and the history of the Iberian Peninsula. The argument presented in this study is that the history of circa 400 years of religious and military warfare between Islam and Christianity starting with the first Crusade in 1096 and the fall of the last Moorish Empire in 1492 to expanding Christian kingdoms played a fundamental role in the creation of a concept of Europe and the European predatory ethics against both non-Europeans and non-Christians. Moreover, it discusses the ideological involvement of the Roman Catholic Church in the definition of a condition of inferiority as justification for the enslavement of African people and the ideological germs of racism. In conclusion, the paper argues that the economic and religious motives behind human trafficking at a massive scale in modern times and the exploitation of a free labor force by Europe was done in the name of and justified by the attribution of some sort of moral defect/condition of inferiority determined by origin in Africa and denoted by phenotype, exacerbated by a religious fundamentalist perspective that deemed Africans not only as pagans but infidels, the moral defect from which they could not be saved and justified their enslavement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilizes document analysis, including the review of the Constitution of Kenya and acts of Parliament and other relevant literature to examine the implications of a centralized police service in a decentralized system of government, and it evaluates the lateral relationships between the national government holders of police power and county government executives. The paper also highlights the convoluted pecking order and lateral disharmony between the national government police commanders at the county level, and county government leaders. The findings support the necessity of creating law enforcement agencies for entities that have law-making responsibilities, and offer recommendations for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a biographical sketch of Pan African activist-scholar David L. Horne and chronicling over forty years of Pan African organizing and scholarly contributions. In addition, the paper explores the significance of his experiences via the Sixth Pan African Congress in Tanzania in 1974, his active participation in the All African People's Revolutionary Party, and his contribution in organizing the African Diaspora as the Sixth Region of the African Union. Horne has chaired the Pan African Studies Department at California State University at Northridge, served as editor of the Journal of Pan African Studies of the Department of Africana Studies at California State University at Northridge, and the Journal of African Studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper recaps the history and role of New Orleans African-American women in the culinary industry from the 18th century to the present as was presented at the Black Arts Movement Conference at Dillard University in September 2016. It realizes their major contributions to the making of the world famous New Orleans signature Creole cuisine. Also, the paper explores the exploitation and branding of African-American southern cooks for American consumption and consumerism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on Black social movements past and present with special reference to the Black Arts Movement and the Hip Hop Movement. It examines the Black Arts Movement as a social movement that emerged during the mid-1960s and lasted until the mid-1970s. It also examines the Hip Hop Movement as a social movement that emerged during the early 1970s and has lasted to the present. This paper presents a comparative analysis of both social movements and identifies their goals, ideologies, organization and status systems, and tactics. The comparative analysis also includes an examination of both movements’ internal development in the form of the incipient phase, organizational phase, and stable phase. Likewise, the comparative analysis includes an examination of both movements’ external development in the form of innovation, selection, and integration. In addition, this paper addresses some implications of the Black Arts Movement and the Hip Hop Movement as social movements. In this study, a mixed methods approach has been employed, including the case study, participant observation, and a qualitative survey. The research techniques include direct observation, interviews with people involved in the two movements, and content analysis of primary and secondary source documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at California poet Sherley Anne Williams, and the influence of the Blues Aesthetic upon her poetry within the context of the Black Arts Movement. Williams, a nominee for the National Book Award for The Peacock Poems (1975), wrote poetry reflecting the subaltern status of African Americans in California, especially the Central Valley, where she joined her parents, sister and neighbors picking cotton or working as a domestic servant for the wealthy agribusiness titans of the region. In this paper, I argue that Williams uses tropes and iconography from Black music of her childhood, including Billie Holliday and Ray Charles, to interrogate, aesthetics of whiteness as beauty, and alienation in romantic and familial relationships due to racial and class hegemony. I use theorist Emily J. Lordi’s work in Iconic Women and African American Literature (2013) and the philosophy of Angela Y Davis to connect Williams’ poetry and her children’s book, Working Cotton with Antonio Gramsci’s concept of the subaltern and their expression as rooted in cultures in the periphery of the metropole. Ultimately, my paper demonstrates that Williams’ work are acts of witnessing, giving a positive answer to Giyartri Spivak’s question, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” For African American women poets of the Black Arts Movement such as Williams, the answer is clearly yes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the narratives of first generation African writers to reveal how Africa is defended and praised; and discuss the narratives of second generation (post-1960) African writers in how they depict Africa. The paper concludes that the narratives respond to the experiences of the different generations in Africa, and therefore, they cannot escape the joys and the woes of the times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proffers answers to questions that concern the changing contexts and results of agitations, and how resource-oriented agitations in the Niger Delta influence inter-group relations in the country in relationship to its impact on conflict transformation and nation-building efforts. This also paper maintains that the agitations by various ethnic groups in the Niger Delta, despite the responses of the Federal Government of Nigeria to the grievances of the region are usually fuelled by the quest for power symmetry, and therefore, there is need for an indigenous, organic, and long-term sustainable nonviolent process of conflict transformation and peace building aimed at a constructive holistic change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]