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The article presents news briefs relating to international socio-political events. Included are the meeting of the forum Weltsozialforum 2011 from February 6-11, 2011 in Dakar, Senegal, the publication of a study entitled "Digitales Deutschland 2020" by media expert Arne Börnsen, and the publication of the report on emigration to Germany entitled "Migrationsbericht 2009."

The article discusses links between environmental issues, particularly desertification, and migration in the Sahel region of Africa. The authors propose a methodological approach based on local perspectives from Mali and Senegal. Issues addressed include thick descriptions as modes of analysis in the history of migration, rural-urban migration in the two countries, particularly to the capital cities of Bamako, Mali, and Dakar, Senegal, and local knowledge about climate and weather changes, particularly in agriculture.

An article on the cultural history and ethnology of Africa is presented in which the author discusses the philosophical roots of ethnological research in the writings of late 1920s German ethnologist Leo Frobenius including "Documenta Africana". The author examines the memorial culture and monuments of postcolonial Nigeria, Senegal, and Mali and discusses the practice of iconoclasm and imperial violence associated with certain historical artifacts. The importance of visual media of various formats in Nigerian memorial culture is examined.