Search

The contribution of arts for development has recently received a great deal of attention from international donors ad organizations. The anthropology of art, however, has participated in a limited way in these debates. Borrowing theoretical tools from the socio-anthropology of development, this paper questions the politics of knowledge involved in the implementation of art projects in postcolonial context. Drawing on ethnographical research in Botswana on an art project opened by a NGO for the San people, it describes the ways areas of knowledge and non-knowledge have been attributed. It shows that the conceptions of knowledge at stake in the making of contemporary San art indirectly reproduce a Great Divide between modernity and tradition, which has direct impacts on the ways the practice is appropriated by local actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of educational policy debate and educational research in the first half of the twentieth century is part of the quest for respectability and influence in the social sciences. There was an increasing quest for "objective" methodologies and data as missionary societies, philanthropic foundations and governments sought reliable information about existing educational policy and indicators for the direction of future policies in British colonial Africa. One of the earliest attempts along these "scientific" lines was the Phelps-Stokes Commission's report on "Education in Africa" (1922). "An African Survey" (1938), edited by Lord Hailey, was the summation of this inter-war initiative. A key site of the attempt to understand the African colonial environment was social anthropology, grounded in various traditions and institutes of colonial studies across Europe. The work of anthropologists of the time provided the foundation for policy debate and came to have considerable influence on how missionaries, colonial administrators and philanthropic funders assessed the significance of policy proposals. However, the dominant notion of "culture contact", popularised by Bronislaw Malinowski and his students, came under attack from critics like Norman Leys, William M. Macmillan and A. Victor Murray, who placed capital, land and labour at the centre of their analyses of the colonial situation rather than race or culture. These debates were to be central to the early development of scientific planning, and the "triumph of the expert" was to have great significance for the emergence of post-war development planning. What were anthropologists, as scientific advisors to the missionaries and colonial government, saying about the colonial situation, and specifically about education? What kinds of research relevant to this field did they undertake? What roles did they play in the complex interplay of political, intellectual and social forces? This paper will investigate the ways in which social anthropology presented the promise of a creative link between science, development policy and education in the inter-war years, but concludes that little of that promise was realised. (Contains 76 footnotes.)

In this speech, the author uses five moments of his own existence to speak to how he thinks the West conceptualizes and depicts Africa and Africans. This involves autobiography in a sense because he used his own life, but the discussion is not about him. It is about western conceptions and representations of Africans as reflected in the following five contextual moments, namely the present, his birth, his initial move to Canada, his more recent move to UBC (University of British Columbia), and the possible future. The author speaks mostly to how the academic disciplines in the west have contributed to western conceptions of Africa. He choses to play on Macbeth's soliloquy for the title of his talk to convey the idea that, in his view, Africa and Africans have been continuously mis-recognized and overdetermined by western academic discourses, seen not in reality, but as Africans of the Western mind, a false creation, proceeding from the collective historical and contemporary heat-prejudiced Eurocentric brain.

Clay feet are heavy and disabling, sadly in the decolonial scholarly battlefield which otherwise requires all-weather feet suitable for ongoing battles. Drawing on autoethnographic experiences in some African universities and drawing on Melanesian cargo cults, this paper argues that to decolonise Africa, African academics should abate cargo cult mentalities which account for pathological and uncritical intellectual dependence on theories, ideas and models from elsewhere. Similarly, drawing on Melanesian bigmanism and drawing on how some academics seek to control how students and colleagues think and write, this paper contends that those that pose as bigmen and bigwomen in African universities are a serious threat to decolonial critical, creative, innovative and original thinking. Thus, populated with some high-ranking academics who, nonetheless, lack decolonial creativity, originality, innovativeness and critical thinking, African universities are – like in Melanesian bigmen societies – marked by patron-client relations within which students and colleagues are sadly corralled into epistemic clientelism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cadernos de Estudos Africanos is the property of Instituto Universitario de Lisboa, Centro de Estudos Africanos do ISCTE and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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

Examines the relationship between anthropology and the Black experience from the first importation of slaves to North America to the present. Discusses the role of Black anthropologists. (MK)

Chinese organizational culture is usually described as being influenced by Confucian social norms and unique to the country. The paper argues in contrast to this view that there are important cultural similarities between values and norms in organizations in China and other developing countries. It is suggested that China, like other developing countries, is in a process of industrialization but retains preindustrial social norms which shape social relations and organizational structures. The paper shows first that the morals of social distance and reciprocity which anthropologists have found to be constitutive of a large number of preindustrial communities also govern relationships within and between organizations in present-day China. The paper then turns to organizations in Africa and Latin America and it is shown that the same social morals structure behaviours in these two developing regions, suggesting that the cultural characteristics of Chinese organizations are not simply unique to this country but a set of preindustrial norms that industrializing countries have in common as a legacy of the past. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents an ethnographic study of conceptualizations of nodding syndrome (NS) in Uganda. NS is a poorly understood condition characterized by repetitive nodding of the head, mental retardation and stunted growth, which affects thousands of children in northern Uganda, South Sudan and Tanzania. Although extensive research for causative agents has been conducted, no convincing single cause has been reported. This study establishes an understanding of different representations of NS and argues that the episodes of head nodding are related to the sociopolitical body in which they are manifested. Three interwoven approaches towards NS take main stage whereby the syndrome is presented as a biomedical, spiritual and/or political problem. The conceptualizations are linked to different notions of healing and affected families combine various forms of therapy. Through the examination of different narratives, this study disrupts the idea of a singular perspective on illness and pleads for a focus on motion and plurality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In West African societies dance as an art form has proven to be the most impressive tool for effective communication in education for many generations. This observation goes beyond the sub region and may extend to cover the whole continent as documented by scholars including Ajayi (1996), Amegago (2011). Chernoff (1979), Nketia (1974), Opoku (1966), and Asante (1996). Although these scholars in their divergent views have discussed the various ways in which dance becomes an important tool for communication in Africa, what seems to be a major challenge to the development of this complex phenomenon is the use of incompatible technique in the analysis of its aesthetics. This paper uses interdisciplinary approach dominated by anthropology to present ethnographic reflection on customs, institutions, and traditions of the Anlo-Ewe people and the various ways these elements are encoded in a holistic art form called dance. The paper interrogates existing theories about dance aesthetics and offers perspectives on the holistic nature of African arts. Agbadza dance of the Anlo-Ewes is used as an evidence to validate the inappropriateness of Western tools in African dance analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the ethnographic relevance of the concept of enigmatic experience for the analysis of violent experiences. It argues that experiences of violence can be understood as enigmatic, which subsequent memory work [Johanes Fabian. “Forgetful Remembering: A Colonial Life in the Congo” Africa 73(4) (2003)] displace by processes of entextualization as well as by silencing. Through an analysis of ethnographic material from the Central Peruvian Highlands the paper explores these processes of displacement and it argues that they can be explained only by engaging in the ethnographic analysis of particular social and semantic fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following apartheid’s demise, the Afrikaans language was forced to part with the privileged position it once held under the National Party’s guardianship and has, subsequently, contracted in a number of its functions. Despite growing concerns about the language’s “endangered” status, Afrikaans has proven its vitality in multiple market-driven domains. In this paper, I trace the expansion of the Afrikaans culture industry after apartheid. I argue that this process was fomented, at least in part, by paranoia about Afrikaans’s “fading position.” Because Afrikaners still command a vast material and cultural capital, they have been the prime producers, sellers and buyers of Afrikaans language media and cultural commodities. Thus, together with the growth of the Afrikaans culture industry, an array of physical, digital and psychological spaces has opened up where white Afrikaans speakers can be a majority. I argue that the expansion of these spaces has laid the foundation for the formation of new Afrikaner subjectivities and enclaved identities, and contributed to the production and strengthening of separatist tendencies amongst certain Afrikaners. Instead of being an emancipatory force, facilitating Afrikaans speakers’ forceful integration into a new South Africa and “rainbow nation,” it has succeeded in reaffirming and naturalising the imagined boundaries of Afrikanerdom. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the matter of origins, the anthropological and DNA evidence shows that Homo sapiens dates from ca. 200,000 YBP (Years Before the Present) in Africa and humans migrated around the world from Africa starting at ca. 60,000 YBP. By ~10,000 YBP humans are known to have practiced agriculture and husbandry in the Near East, with Genesis 4:2 placing Adam and Eve in the Ubaid archeological period (~5000 BC) in southern Mesopotamia. This evidence brings up the seemingly insurmountable problem of how sin could have been biologically transmitted by Adam and Eve to the entire human race as in the Augustinian doctrine of original sin. This paper is the first of three consecutive articles on different aspects of original sin. The first two (Hill and Clouser) are each dependent on the other: Hill's article describes the science related to origins, historicity, and traditional church views; Clouser's article theologically supports Hill's proposals that Adam and Eve were not the first humans, but that they were real people. The third article (Murphy) deals pastorally with the origin of original sin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Modern human origins have been securely located in Africa. Human migrations out of Africa began approximately 65,000 years ago and ended with the settlement of Aotearoa/New Zealand only about 750 years ago. Researchers have used mitochondrial DNA and other molecular markers to track these migration pathways. This paper describes the archaeological, historic and mitochondrial DNA evidence tracking the history of the longest human migration, that from Africa to Aotearoa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abduction of two Frenchmen in January 2011 in Niamey's supposedly most secure neighbourhood has led many to question the functioning of the city's security apparatus. This paper analyses Niamey's security landscape, initially from an historical and then from a spatial perspective. It argues that for a comprehensive analysis of security, we must first decentre our perspective on security construction, and thus take informal non-organised modes of policing just as seriously as policing by state and vigilante organisations; and second, take into account the inseparability of sociality and security, a fragile balance of trust and acceptable risk. In conclusion I argue that this focus may be one way of comprehending the kidnapping: how was it possible and what were its implications for Niamey's security landscape? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper we discuss the initiative of the ICOMOS International Committee for Archaeological Heritage Management (ICAHM) to contribute to the UNESCO strategy to create a more representative and balanced World Heritage List. This can be done by concentrating on archaeological sites in Africa that potentially have Outstanding Universal Value. In so doing, we address at the same time the (thematic) under-representation of archaeological sites on the list, as well as the (regional) under-representation of African properties that have been inscribed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early Holocene foragers in North Africa provide unique responses to adaptational patterns of non-agricultural societies and they can offer intriguing answers to questions regarding relationships between sedentism, economy and sociocultural complexity. Three points are of major relevance for understanding late foragers in North Africa: first, fishing, sustained by reduced mobility, was a common practice at sites located along perennial rivers, such as the Nile, or seasonal watercourses ( wadis ); second, the successive shift to a food-producing economy implied the acquisition of nomadic pastoralism; third, agriculture has never been a feasible economic practice in desert and peri-desert environments. The practice of fishing and the scarcity of moist lands away from watercourses encouraged more permanent settlement of sites by the water, which offered nutritional resources to plants, animals, as well as humans. The combination of these economic adjustments and environmental conditions favoured social organizations based on continual occupations of semi-permanent settlements and led to a population increase, which – in turn – triggered the rise of sociocultural complexity and new technological productions, such as pottery and groundstone, before the adoption of any form of food production. This paper presents the socioeconomic dynamics of Early Holocene foragers in North Africa and offers examples from the Central Sahara and the Upper Nile Valley, where the author has conducted research for almost two decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A thorough knowledge of the synoptic structure and contents of the modern African self is essential for an improved understanding of the Africa of the 21st century. This lack has compelled practitioners to continue to use the Western model of the self as a substitute for the African perspective. This situation is, however, regrettable, since the Western notion of the self is largely incompatible with the African view. The Western model is based on the notion of the self as a demarcated entity set off against the world, whereas the African views the self as an entity in close interaction with the multi-faceted aspects of his world. This paper is an attempt to correct this imbalance. It offers a synoptic theory of the fabric of the modern African self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 40 years, traditional perspectives on the constitution of human groups have been subjected to stringent critique within anthropology. This began with the dismantling of accepted "race" divisions after World War II and continued with analyses of the meaning and reality of African "tribal" distinctions from the 1960s until the present. Archaeologists, ethnographers, linguists, and historians of Africa now work within a research milieu where social interactions, cultural exchange, and the dynamic nature of group identifications are accepted as a normal part of the human experience. At the same time, new techniques have been developed for the examination of human history, techniques based upon an expanding repertoire of tools for the analysis of genetic variability in human populations. Perhaps the most striking result of this research has been Cavalli-Sforza, Menozzi, and Piazza's The History and Geography of Human Genes. Rather less attention has been paid, however, to the conceptual relationships between the human groups defined through such analyses, in Africa and elsewhere, and those defined through other kinds of research. This paper is a preliminary examination of the fit between genetic, archaeological, and ethnographic data on the African past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic has reinforced the critical role of ethics and community engagement in designing and conducting clinical research during infectious disease outbreaks where no vaccine or treatment already exists. In reviewing current practices across Africa, we distinguish between three distinct roles for community engagement in clinical research that are often conflated: 1) the importance of community engagement for identifying and honouring cultural sensitivities; 2) the importance of recognising the socio‐political context in which the research is proposed; and 3) the importance of understanding what is in the interest of communities recruited to research according to their own views and values. By making these distinctions, we show that current practice of clinical research could draw on anthropology in ways which are sometimes unnecessary to solicit local cultural values, overlook the importance of socio‐political contexts and wider societal structures within which it works, potentially serving to reinforce unjust political or social regimes, and threaten to cast doubt on the trustworthiness of the research. We argue that more discerning anthropological engagement as well as wider collaboration with other social scientists and those working in the humanities is urgently needed to improve the ethics of current biomedical and pharmaceutical research practice in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the research paper "A Diffusion Wave Out of Africa: The Mechanism of the Modern Human Revolution?," by Vinayak Eswaran, which appeared in an issue of the journal "Current Anthropology." Eswaran discussed how genes and morphological traits of archaic Eurasian hominids existed in high frequency in modern humans outside Africa. Eswaran's model of diffusion-wave was persuasive, however it worked only in case when the amount of archaic admixture was very small.

This paper advances the notion of judicious opportunism to explain social action under conditions of uncertainty in contemporary Africa. It is significant in providing a means of theorizing social action in African settings in ways that avoid what one identifies as the ideological construction of Africa and Africans as prone to decisions based on emotion or reaction rather than on rationality, objectivity, or long-term planning. The author considers Jennifer Johnson-Hanks' article on social action and fertility as ambitious in its attempt to chart questions of aspirations and attitudes as ethnographic terrain. The author also recognizes the ability of Johnson-Hanks to carve out stimulating analytical space for wide-ranging comparative inquiry that provides a model for understanding present action as it relates to future intentions.

The article presents abstracts related to religion in Africa including "Stifling the imagination: a critique of anthropological and religious normalization of witchcraft in Africa," by David T. Ngong, "Men and women of the water: the Lokele of Stanleyville and Yakusu under Belgian rule, 1895-1960," by Reuben Loffman, and ""The scene does not speak": the demise of the Odaa Bulluq sacred forest in Horro Guduni, northwestern Oromia, Ethiopia," by Lemessa Mergo.

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

A bibliography on the subject of Africa is presented, which includes the books "The Anthropology of Texts, Persons and Publics" by Karin Barber, "African Textile Patterns" by Catherine Carpenter and "Encounters With Witchcraft: Field Notes From Africa" by Norman N. Miller.

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

Summary: This paper discusses the interface of anthropological research on land with policy positions across formative periods—from the colonial period through to the present as land tenure reform has repeatedly become a development priority; and recent research on intensifying competition over land, its intersection with competition over legitimate authority, new types of land transfers, the role of claims of indigeneity or autochthony in land conflicts, and the challenges of increasing social inequality and of commodification of land for analysis and for land reform. Anthropology is best known for its intensive fieldwork—deep immersion in social situations and long-term involvement with social groups—which produces the rich ethnographies that inform debates about land. Equally important is the conceptual contribution by anthropologists in dialogue with the ethnographies as well as with other researchers—the rethinking of concepts and theories used to analyze land relations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Eslanda Robeson, the wife of Paul Robeson, trained as an anthropologist in the 1930s and drew on the field as she contributed to U.S. public discourse on race and racism during the 1940s. Focusing on her 1945 travel narrative, African Journey, and her public lectures, this article describes the ways she constructed an alternative, positive representation of Africa and people of African descent. I examine her work in relation to pan-Africanist activism, the politics of identification, and anthropological research that facilitated her practice of marking political and cultural connections among people of African descent. I view Robeson as a public intellectual engaged in the construction of representations that sought to reshape the ways Black and white Americans thought about Africa and their relationship to the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

The article presents information on anthropology as the study of social and cultural originality in Africa. Post-colonial Africa turned away from anthropology as an academic discipline, because it was seen as entailing a deadly combination of political complicity and cultural nostalgia, in an era when sights were set on an autonomous future as nation-states. More than thirty years later scholar Archie Mafeje has declared the discipline moribund, if not already dead: intellectually aimless since it became deprived of its colonial object in primitive societies; unconnected to key debates within Africa about its own future; and methodologically vapid in its passionate insistence on the privileged viewpoint provided by an otherwise vague process called fieldwork. Its continued operation he sees as posing a profound question about how knowledge is produced and for whom. Given this history, and the unlikelihood that formal training in anthropology will be considered a priority for African academic futures in an impecunious present, what was a paper on anthropology doing at a meeting charting the future of social science in Africa? There is one very simple argument in favor of at least addressing the discipline, and this argument can lead people, eventually, into deeper considerations.

The article presents the abstracts of the papers which appeared in this issue of the journal. Regarding the article "Structure and Behavior in the Social Demography of Africa," the abstract focuses on the role of culture in determining demographic behavior in sub-Saharan Africa has attracted increasing attention. But in theorizing about "culture," demographers have tended to draw on the work of British structural functional anthropologists, who saw behavior as determined by social norms that were in turn generated by underlying social structures, functional in nature. This has led to a number of features: an emphasis on macrolevel associations; a working assumption that behavior is governed by norms; the analysis of change solely in terms of external forces; and the use of generalized descriptions of both ideas and behavior in African societies. For "Consequences of Son Preference in a Low-Fertility Society: Imbalance of the Sex Ratio at Birth in Korea," abstract states that many demographers and population planners have considered son preference in Asian countries to be a major barrier to reducing fertility. Some of these countries, such as South Korea and China, however, have recently achieved replacement-level fertility, in spite of their strong adherence to son preference.

Presents an introduction to two studies about the changes in Africa's concept of wealth. Need for an anthropology of transaction and personhood; Humanities approach; Social historical analysis; Economic history.

Local Cultures and Local Meanings... Theory and Practice in African Studies: The 14th Annual Conference of the Pan-African Association of Anthropologists (PAAA), 2-6 August 2004 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses issues on anthropology. Anthropology and human development in Africa; Difference between monarchy and person holding office; Production and destinations of social anthropology doctorates.

The four books under review can be considered case studies about the different aspects of identity creation and maintenance among selected groups of people in various African areas. Every one of those books inspects a similar phenomenon, but each examines it from a different perspective. The books discuss complicated and everchanging relations among individuals and their own bodies, group identity, history, institutions, ecology, and their relations toward space. What unites those books is their interest in the recent history of selected populations, and especially in practices, which helped those groups to sustain their sense of identity throughout turbulent phases of their history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The underutilization of formal, evidence-based maternal health services continues to contribute to poor maternal outcomes among women living in rural Africa. Women’s choice of the type of maternal care they receive strongly influences their utilization of maternal health services. There is therefore a need to understand rural women’s preferred choices to help set priorities for initiatives attempting to make formal maternal care more responsive to women’s needs. The aim of this review was to explore and identify women’s preferences for different sources of childbirth and postnatal care and the factors that contribute to these preferences. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted using the Ovid Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and Global Health databases. Thirty-seven studies that elicited women’s preferences for childbirth and postnatal care using qualitative methods were included in the review. A narrative synthesis was conducted to collate study findings and to report on patterns identified across findings. Results: During the intrapartum period, preferences varied across communities, with some studies reporting preferences for traditional childbirth with traditional care-takers, and others reporting preferences for a formal facility-based childbirth with health professionals. During the postpartum period, the majority of relevant studies reported a preference for traditional postnatal services involving traditional rituals and customs. The factors that influenced the reported preferences were related to the perceived need for formal or traditional care providers, accessibility to maternal care, and cultural and religious norms. Conclusion: Review findings identified a variety of preferences for sources of maternal care from intrapartum to postpartum. Future interventions aiming to improve access and utilization of evidence-based maternal healthcare services across rural Africa should first identify major challenges and priority needs of target populations and communities through formative research. Evidence-based services that meet rural women’s specific needs and expectations will increase the utilization of formal care and ultimately improve maternal outcomes across rural Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How pervasive is labor market discrimination against immigrants and what options do policymakers and migrants have to reduce it? To answer these questions, we conducted a field experiment on employer discrimination in Sweden. Going beyond existing work, we test for a large range of applicant characteristics using a factorial design. We examine whether migrants can affect their employment chances—by adopting citizenship, acquiring work experience, or signaling religious practice—or whether fixed traits such as country of birth or gender are more consequential. We find little systematic evidence that immigrants can do much to reduce discrimination. Rather, ethnic hierarchies are critical: callback rates decline precipitously with the degree of ethno-cultural distance, leaving Iraqis and Somalis, especially if they are male, with much reduced employment chances. These findings highlight that immigrants have few tools at their disposal to escape ethnic penalties and that efforts to reduce discrimination must address employer prejudice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iodine deficiency (ID) during pregnancy results in pregnancy losses, intrauterine growth retardation, and lower IQ in the offspring. Even after two decades of universal salt iodization (USI) implementation, the efficacy of USI has not been reported in high risk groups in vulnerable regions in Ghana. We aimed to assess and improve ID status in childbearing age women (all lactating women) and their toddlers in northern Ghana, a geographically and socioeconomically vulnerable region. We provided weekly supply of household iodized salt and community-based feeding of native Hibiscus Sabdariffaa leaves meal (HSM) prepared with iodized salt to women and their toddlers in intervention (n = 60) vs. control group (n = 60). At baseline, ID was prevalent in women (36%) and their toddlers (29%). For women, both median UIC values for intervention (57.4 ug/l) and control group (65.1 ug/l) were below the recommended UIC value of 100 ug/l with no significant differences between the two groups (p = 0.2778). At the endpoint, median UIC for the intervention group (123.6 ug/l) was significantly higher (p = 0.008) than the control group (59.7 ug/l). Our results suggest that weekly supply of iodized salt along with the feeding HSM is an effective channel for improving iodine status of economically disadvantaged groups in communities remote from coastal lands. Furthermore, our results suggest that decreased median UIC among lactating mothers does not necessarily imply lower iodine status for their breastfed toddlers. And finally, the observed median UIC<100 ug/l may point to a non-improvement in iodine status for the past decade for Ghana. There is a need to revisit, assess, and ascertain the challenges in preventing populations from attaining the intended benefits of the USI policy in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex projectiles—propulsion via mechanical aid—are considered an important technological innovation, with possible relevance for the successful Out-of-Africa dispersal of our species. Conclusive evidence for the beginning of this technology, however, is lacking from the early Late Pleistocene (ca. 130 to 70 thousand years ago; ka). Given the extremely limited applicability of relatively robust methods for validating stone-tipped projectile use, such as through fracture propagation velocity, converging lines of circumstantial evidence remain the best way to examine early complex projectiles. We assess here suggestions for an early Late Pleistocene origin of complex projectiles in Africa. Results from both previous and present independent approaches suggest a trajectory in which complex projectiles were likely adopted during the early Late Pleistocene in eastern Africa. At Aduma (Middle Awash, Ethiopia), morphometric, hafting, and impact damage patterns in several lithic point assemblages suggest a shift from simple spear technologies (thrusting and/or hand-cast) to complex projectiles. Broadly dated to 80–100 ka, lithic points from later phases of the Aduma succession represent a particularly strong candidate for projectile armatures most comparable to ethnographically known spearthrower darts, lending support for previous suggestions and warranting further investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients experiencing adverse drug events (ADE) in many developing countries are in the best position to report these events to the authorities but need to be empowered to do so. Systematic evaluation of community engagement and patient support especially in rural areas would provide evidence for a program to monitor potential harm from medicines. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of a community dialogue and sensitization (CDS) program on the knowledge, attitude and practises of community members for reporting ADE. Methods: This an uncontrolled before-after study was conducted in two eastern Ugandan districts between September 2016 and August 2017 Results: After implementation of the community dialogue and sensitization (CDS) program, there was an overall 20% (95% CI:16% to 25%) increase in knowledge about ADE in the community compared to before the program began. Awareness levels increased by 50% (95% CI: 37% to 63%) among those with little or no education and by41% (95% CI: 31% to 52%) among young people (15–24 years). Furthermore, 5% (95% CI: 3% to 7%) more respondents recognized the need for reporting ADEs compared to before the program. Finally, there was a significant increase of 115% (95% CI:137% to 217%) in respondent recognition and reporting of ADEs compared to the beginning of the CDS program. Overall, this community found the CDS program acceptable and proposed aspects that could be improved for future use. Conclusion: Our evaluation showed that the CDS program increased knowledge and improved attitudes by catalyzing discussions among community members and healthcare professionals on health issues and monitoring safety of medicines compared to before the program. Successful implementation of the program depends on holistic health systems strengthening and adaptation to the community’s way of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) is a global public health priority that often disproportionately effects Indigenous populations. While previous research examines the association between meteorological conditions and AGI, little is known about how socio-cultural factors may modify this relationship. This present study seeks to address this research gap by comparing AGI prevalence and determinants between an Indigenous and non-Indigenous population in Uganda. We estimate the 14-day self-reported prevalence of AGI among adults in an Indigenous Batwa population and their non-Indigenous neighbours using cross-sectional panel data collected over four periods spanning typically rainy and dry seasons (January 2013 to April 2014). The independent associations between Indigenous status, precipitation, and AGI are examined with multivariable multi-level logistic regression models, controlling for relative wealth status and clustering at the community level. Estimated prevalence of AGI among the Indigenous Batwa was greater than among the non-Indigenous Bakiga. Our models indicate that both Indigenous identity and decreased levels of precipitation in the weeks preceding the survey period were significantly associated with increased AGI, after adjusting for confounders. Multivariable models stratified by Indigenous identity suggest that Indigenous identity may not modify the association between precipitation and AGI in this context. Our results suggest that short-term changes in precipitation affect both Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations similarly, though from different baseline AGI prevalences, maintaining rather than exacerbating this socially patterned health disparity. In the context of climate change, these results may challenge the assumption that changing weather patterns will necessarily exacerbate existing socially patterned health disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the prevalence and types of antibiotics used in a given human and/or animal population is important for informing stewardship strategies. Methods used to capture such data often rely on verbal elicitation of reported use that tend to assume shared medical terminology. Studies have shown the category 'antibiotic' does not translate well linguistically or conceptually, which limits the accuracy of these reports. This article presents a 'Drug Bag' method to study antibiotic use (ABU) in households and on farms, which involves using physical samples of all the antibiotics available within a given study site. We present the conceptual underpinnings of the method, and our experiences of using this method to produce data about antibiotic recognition, use and accessibility in the context of anthropological research in Africa and South-East Asia. We illustrate the kinds of qualitative and quantitative data the method can produce, comparing and contrasting our experiences in different settings. The Drug Bag method can produce accurate antibiotic use data as well as provide a talking point for participants to discuss antibiotic experiences. We propose it can help improve our understanding of antibiotic use in peoples' everyday lives across different contexts, and our reflections add to a growing conversation around methods to study ABU beyond prescriber settings, where data gaps are currently substantial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1994, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) included “culture-bound syndromes” in its classification of psychiatric disorders and associated them with disease processes that manifest in behavioural or thought disorders that develop within a given cultural context. This study examines the definitions, explanatory models, signs and symptoms, and healthcare-seeking behaviours common to Fang culture-bound syndromes (i.e., kong, eluma, witchcraft, mibili, mikug, and nsamadalu). The Fang ethnic group is the majority ethnic group in Equatorial Guinea. From September 2012 to January 2013, 45 key Fang informants were selected, including community leaders, tribal elders, healthcare workers, traditional healers, and non-Catholic pastors in 39 of 724 Fang tribal villages in 6 of 13 districts in the mainland region of Equatorial Guinea. An ethnographic approach with an emic-etic perspective was employed. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, participant observation and a questionnaire that included DHS6 key indicators. Interviews were designed based on the Cultural Formulation form in the DSM-5 and explored the definition of Fang cultural syndromes, symptoms, cultural perceptions of cause, and current help-seeking. Participants defined “Fang culture-bound syndromes" as those diseases that cannot be cured, treated, or diagnosed by science. Such syndromes present with the same signs and symptoms as diseases identified by Western medicine. However, they arise because of the actions of enemies, because of the actions of spirits or ancestors, as punishments for disregarding the law of God, because of the violation of sexual or dietary taboos, or because of the violation of a Fang rite of passage, the dzas, which is celebrated at birth. Six Fang culture-bound syndromes were included in the study: 1) Eluma, a disease that is targeted at the victim out of envy and starts out with sharp, intense, focussed pain and aggressiveness; 2) Witchcraft, characterized by isolation from the outside, socially maladaptive behaviour, and the use of hallucinogenic substances; 3) Kong, which is common among the wealthy class and manifests as a disconnection from the environment and a lack of vital energy; 4) Mibili, a possession by evil spirits that manifests through visual and auditory hallucinations; 5) Mikug, which appears after a person has had contact with human bones in a ritual; and 6) Nsamadalu, which emerges after a traumatic process caused by violating traditions through having sexual relations with one’s sister or brother. The therapeutic resources of choice for addressing Fang culture-bound syndromes were traditional Fang medicine and the religious practices of the Bethany and Pentecostal churches, among others. Among African ethnic groups, symbolism, the weight of tradition, and the principle of chance in health and disease are underlying factors in the presentation of certain diseases, which in ethno-psychiatry are now referred to as culture-bound syndromes. In this study, traditional healers, elders, healthcare professionals, religious figures, and leaders of the Fang community in Equatorial Guinea referred to six such cultural syndromes: eluma, witchcraft, kong, mibili, mikug, and nsamadalu. In the absence of a multidisciplinary approach to mental illness in the country, the Fang ethnic group seeks healthcare for culture-bound syndromes from traditional healing and religious rites in the Evangelical faiths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the first genetic anthropology study on Arabs in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. The present meta-analysis included 100 populations from 36 Arab and non-Arab communities, comprising 16,006 individuals, and evaluates the genetic profile of Arabs using HLA class I (A, B) and class II (DRB1, DQB1) genes. A total of 56 Arab populations comprising 10,283 individuals were selected from several databases, and were compared with 44 Mediterranean, Asian, and sub-Saharan populations. The most frequent alleles in Arabs are A*01, A*02, B*35, B*51, DRB1*03:01, DRB1*07:01, DQB1*02:01, and DQB1*03:01, while DRB1*03:01-DQB1*02:01 and DRB1*07:01-DQB1*02:02 are the most frequent class II haplotypes. Dendrograms, correspondence analyses, genetic distances, and haplotype analysis indicate that Arabs could be stratified into four groups. The first consists of North Africans (Algerians, Tunisians, Moroccans, and Libyans), and the first Arabian Peninsula cluster (Saudis, Kuwaitis, and Yemenis), who appear to be related to Western Mediterraneans, including Iberians; this might be explained for a massive migration into these areas when Sahara underwent a relatively rapid desiccation, starting about 10,000 years BC. The second includes Levantine Arabs (Palestinians, Jordanians, Lebanese, and Syrians), along with Iraqi and Egyptians, who are related to Eastern Mediterraneans. The third comprises Sudanese and Comorians, who tend to cluster with Sub-Saharans. The fourth comprises the second Arabian Peninsula cluster, made up of Omanis, Emiratis, and Bahrainis. It is noteworthy that the two large minorities (Berbers and Kurds) are indigenous (autochthonous), and are not genetically different from “host” and neighboring populations. In conclusion, this study confirmed high genetic heterogeneity among present-day Arabs, and especially those of the Arabian Peninsula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ugandan government is committed to scaling-up proven HIV prevention strategies including safe male circumcision, and innovative strategies are needed to increase circumcision uptake. The aim of this study was to assess the acceptability and feasibility of implementing a soccer-based intervention (“Make The Cut”) among schoolboys in a peri-urban district of Uganda. The intervention was led by trained, recently circumcised “coaches” who facilitated a 60-minute session delivered in schools, including an interactive penalty shoot-out game using metaphors for HIV prevention, sharing of the coaches’ circumcision story, group discussion and ongoing engagement from the coach to facilitate linkage to male circumcision. The study took place in four secondary schools in Entebbe sub-district, Uganda. Acceptability of safe male circumcision was assessed through a cross-sectional quantitative survey. The feasibility of implementing the intervention was assessed by piloting the intervention in one school, modifying it, and implementing the modified version in a second school. Perceptions of the intervention were assessed with in-depth interviews with participants. Of the 210 boys in the cross-sectional survey, 59% reported being circumcised. Findings showed high levels of knowledge and generally favourable perceptions of circumcision. The initial implementation of Make The Cut resulted in 6/58 uncircumcised boys (10.3%) becoming circumcised. Changes made included increasing engagement with parents and improved liaison with schools regarding the timing of the intervention. Following this, uptake improved to 18/69 (26.1%) in the second school. In-depth interviews highlighted the important role of family and peer support and the coach in facilitating the decision to circumcise. This study showed that the modified Make The Cut intervention may be effective to increase uptake of safe male circumcision in this population. However, the intervention is time-intensive, and further work is needed to assess the cost-effectiveness of the intervention conducted at scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Middle Stone Age (MSA) is associated with early evidence for symbolic material culture and complex technological innovations. However, one of the most visible aspects of MSA technologies are unretouched triangular stone points that appear in the archaeological record as early as 500,000 years ago in Africa and persist throughout the MSA. How these tools were being used and discarded across a changing Pleistocene landscape can provide insight into how MSA populations prioritized technological and foraging decisions. Creating inferential links between experimental and archaeological tool use helps to establish prehistoric tool function, but is complicated by the overlaying of post-depositional damage onto behaviorally worn tools. Taphonomic damage patterning can provide insight into site formation history, but may preclude behavioral interpretations of tool function. Here, multiple experimental processes that form edge damage on unretouched lithic points from taphonomic and behavioral processes are presented. These provide experimental distributions of wear on tool edges from known processes that are then quantitatively compared to the archaeological patterning of stone point edge damage from three MSA lithic assemblages—Kathu Pan 1, Pinnacle Point Cave 13B, and Die Kelders Cave 1. By using a model-fitting approach, the results presented here provide evidence for variable MSA behavioral strategies of stone point utilization on the landscape consistent with armature tips at KP1, and cutting tools at PP13B and DK1, as well as damage contributions from post-depositional sources across assemblages. This study provides a method with which landscape-scale questions of early modern human tool-use and site-use can be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines German colonial cultures in the post-World War I period following Germany’s loss of a colonial empire. Photography had long been embedded in both the practical and ideological production of empire, but after 1918 took on an especially significant role in constructing a ‘surrogate colony’ that kept the colonial idea alive in the absence of direct colonial rule. The dynamics of this surrogate colony are especially evident in the publications of the organised colonial movement. Drawing on these publications, I argue that the colonial movement produced a surrogate colony that was as much about the management of gendered and racialised German populations as it was about propagandising for a return to colonial rule. Photography played a key role in bringing together two areas that underlay this gendered and racialised dynamic: science and commercial culture. I thus begin by tracing the way in which photographic scientific cultures, in particular in the fields of medicine, anthropology, and racial science, shaped the contours of the surrogate colony. These scientific cultures emerged in an unstable relationship with mass commercial photographic cultures, with the article then turning to an exploration of ‘colonial fashion photography’. The foregrounding of clothing and bodies in this photography highlights the complex relationship between scientific and commercial photography, which is shown to be deeply implicated in the production of racialised and gendered forms of embodiment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]