African research & documentation最新文献

{"title":"SCOLMA: A chronology of fifty years, 1962 to 2012","authors":"J. Mcilwaine, T. Barringer","doi":"10.1017/s0305862x00020537","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305862x00020537","url":null,"abstract":"This is a revised and up-dated version of the chronology that originally appeared in ARD 43, 1987 at the time of SCOLMA's Silver Jubilee. It attempts to record major incidents, initiatives and publications in SCOLMA's history, and includes failures and false starts as well as successes. It is accompanied by a list of those who have held office on the SCOLMA Committee.1961 Following publication of the Hayter Report (University Grants Committee. Report of the Sub-committee on Oriental, Slavonic, East European & African Studies. London, HMSO, 1961), the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the Institute of Race Relations, the Overseas Development Institute and the School of Oriental and African Studies and Institute of Commonwealth Studies in the University of London jointly fund a \"preliminary survey to ascertain what material is available in London and Oxford for the study of African affairs\" conducted by Miss O.B. Bertie, a freelance researcher. In December, following the completion of the survey, the Royal Institute of International Affairs calls a meeting attended by representatives from nineteen U.K. libraries with Africanist collections.1962 Foundation of SCOLMA on 2nd April: \"to facilitate the acquisition and preservation of library materials needed for African studies and to assist in the recording and use of such materials\".First issue of SCOLMA's newsletter, Library materials on Africa (LMA) edited by Donald Simpson.1963 Publication of 1st edition of SCOLMA directory of libraries and special collections on Africa, compiled by R.L. Collison, London, SCOLMA, 1963. 122pp. covering 142 collections.Grant of £2,500 obtained from the Leverhulme Foundation allows the engagement of Miriam Alman as part-time Bibliographer to work principally on compiling a list of periodicals published in Africa.1964 Publication of Theses on Africa accepted by universities in the U.K. and Ireland, comp. Barry Bloomfield, Valerie Bloomfield and Jim Pearson. Cambridge, Heffer, 1964. x, 74pp., including 1,142 entries.Pilot scheme initiated for the co-operative purchase of publications from Nigeria using the University of Ibadan Bookshop. Ten member libraries participate.Representative of SCOLMA invited to serve on the Committee of the African Studies Association of the U.K. (ASAUK)1965 \"Periodicals published in Africa\" Parts 1 & 2 issued as Supplements to LMA 3(1) May 1965 and 3(2) November 1965.Discussions initiated on a possible U.K. co-operative area specialisation scheme.1966 Area Specialisation Scheme comes into operation on 1st January. Individual libraries agree to assume responsibility for a particular country or discipline and to make special efforts to acquire current publications. Nineteen libraries participate in the country coverage and six in subject coverage.\"Periodicals published in Africa\", Parts 3 & 4 issued as Supplements to LMA 3(3) March 1966 and 4(1) July 1966.Publication of U.K. publications and theses on Africa, 1963, ed. Jim Pearson. Camb","PeriodicalId":89063,"journal":{"name":"African research & documentation","volume":"1 1","pages":"15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"56842781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Very Different Land: Echoes of Kenya in the 1930s and '40s","authors":"Hilary Sunman","doi":"10.1017/s0305862x00021531","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305862x00021531","url":null,"abstract":"'A Very Different Land' tells the story of how the strong agricultural economy of present day Kenya is based on the agriculture of the Colonial period, a story told through the eyes of my father and his colleagues. My father, Owen, was an Agricultural Adviser in Kenya from 1928 to 1950, rising from Assistant Agricultural Officer to assistant director of the department. It was a period which saw a transformation in farming throughout all parts of Kenya.Kenya was always part of my life. I grew up surrounded by talk of life in Kenya, and it was a benchmark of comparison and memory. My parents both loved their life there and my childhood was full of reminiscences and Swahili phrases; when we went to France and my parents were searching for a word in French, out came a word in Swahili. A stool made from a single piece of wood and decorated with beads came from Kisii; a round coffee table in an African hardwood was bought in Kitale. When the weather in England got very hot my father sighed with happiness and said it reminded him of Mombasa. When, later, my mother visited me in Hong Kong, she loved the verandahed Repulse Bay Hotel because it reminded her of Mombasa.I was born in Nairobi in 1947 but my father retired from the Colonial Service two years later at the age of 46 to take up a life in England. My mother brought me back to England first, in a flying boat from Lake Victoria. I did not return to Kenya until 2002 except for a night stopover between Lusaka and London in about 1980, but when I did I visited All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi and found my father's photograph in the vestry; he had been director of the choir from 1945 to 1950.There is an echo in the family history. Consciously or unconsciously following in his footsteps, I have worked in development and technical assistance as an economist in developing countries for 30 years, sometimes in Africa but also Asia and the Far East, and the Middle East - but never Kenya. I had never realised how close the parallels are between his world in Kenya in the 1930s and my development world in the latter part of the twentieth century until I started reading some of the reports by him and other agricultural officers in the Departmental Reports and recognised the language of the adviser; there is a characteristic tone of weary optimism. \"This land is very fertile and we hope that with sufficient demonstration and teaching the local population will be able to increase the output of maize and food crops-.. \" or \"Once the road has been completed costs of transport will be much reduced which will enable better marketing of local produce. The benefits to the local population in terms of nutrition and household income will be significant\". A willing for things to improve but recognition of the great difficulties; \"if only things were organised like this, or like that\"-When I began to write this book, I had two main thoughts: to explore what Owen and his colleagues thought they were doing, why they had come an","PeriodicalId":89063,"journal":{"name":"African research & documentation","volume":"1 1","pages":"25"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"56843339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"SCOLMA across the Years: A Personal View","authors":"J. Mcilwaine","doi":"10.1017/s0305862x00020525","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305862x00020525","url":null,"abstract":"This paper is based upon the after-dinner talk I was invited to give at SCOLMA's 50th Anniversary Conference in Oxford, June 2012. Although it omits some (but not all) of the more light-hearted elements of the talk, and adds some more concrete detail it retains the essential structure of the original presentation, and remains a purely personal and impressionistic view.I was pleased to be asked to give the after-dinner talk at your Golden Jubilee Conference, since it means that I will have gone full circle in my SCOLMA involvement. As a keen and young(ish) new member of the SCOLMA Committee I was invited to spend 18 months as joint organiser of what I think remains the largest event that SCOLMA has yet hosted, the 1977 Bibliography Conference marking fifteen years of SCOLMA's existence and a decade since the International Conference on African Bibliography held in Nairobi, 1967. As I became a SCOLMA office-holder there were keynote addresses and Chairman's concluding remarks. Soon after my retirement, for your 40th anniversary conference (in this same venue), Pat Larby and I were invited to perform a brief warm-up act to set the scene before the serious contributions began. And now here I am as the after-dinner speaker at your 50th anniversary (and about to reach my own 75th in a few weeks time), in what is popularly known as the 'graveyard slot'. Is there anywhere further to go? Well perhaps a mention in the 'in memoriam' section at your Diamond Jubilee ConferenceI am particularly pleased and honoured to be taking on the role of one of SCOLMA's most iconic figures, Donald Simpson, for so many years Librarian of the Royal Commonwealth Society. Donald was involved in the creation of SCOLMA those fifty years ago, he was a member of the very first SCOLMA Committee, he is the only person so far to have been Chairman twice, in both the 1960s and the 1970s, for a total of ten years and he was also the first editor (for four years) of SCOLMA's first journal, Library materials on Africa. For many years from the late 60s into the 80s Donald was SCOLMA. He was always first choice as after-dinner speaker at SCOLMA's conferences and I decided to turn for my initial inspiration to the text of his after-dinner talk at SCOLMA's Silver Jubilee Conference in May 1987.Here Donald revealed that the first proposal of the founders back in 1962 was to call the new organisation SCOAD (Standing Conference on African Documentation) and he credits Dorothy Hamerton of Chatham House with suggesting the more euphonious SCOLMA. (The Internet Urban Dictionary of slang (http://www.urbandictionary.com/) defines a SCOAD as A low-life, trashy, dirty, smelly loser of a human being so I think she and the first Committee were well advised).Donald also reminds us that Barbara Pym, the novelist, when Secretary of the International African Institute wrote to Philip Larkin, then Librarian at the University of Hull, saying that \"I suppose it is a good thing that your library has joined SCO","PeriodicalId":89063,"journal":{"name":"African research & documentation","volume":"1 1","pages":"5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"56842718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Online Social Networks as Correlate of Job Performance and Career Success among Librarians in Nigerian University Libraries","authors":"U. D. Onuoha, R. Opeke","doi":"10.1017/s0305862x00020434","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305862x00020434","url":null,"abstract":"IntroductionLibrarians as information professionals are involved in the acquisition and processing of information, maintenance of information sources, services and systems and provision of information to end-users demands that they stay up- to-date on trends in the field, as well as participate in discussions of philosophies of service especially in an age heavily influenced by technological changes. Although some researchers such as Brzozwski (2009) and Gruber (2008) have associated work benefits with use of online social networks (OSNs), Hane (2008) and Gaudin (2009) express concern over their use by professionals especially as it affects their job performance.Job performance is a crucial issue for librarians in university libraries, as they are expected to assist libraries achieve their major objective which is the provision of information for members of the university community (Okere and Onuoha, 2010). The notion of connecting career success and job performance to OSNs is captured by the concept of social capital (Burt, 1982). Sparrowe, Liden, Wayne and Kraimer (2001) collaborate this view in their study, which found that the accumulation of knowledge and expertise for problem solving and the giving of future advice in social networks is positively related to individual job performance and career success.Meanwhile, the use of OSNs continues to grow among internet users in Nigeria and other parts of the world. NLA online forum, which is mainly based in Nigeria, for instance, witnesses the registration of new members almost on daily basis. According to Opera Press Releases (2010), individual users of Facebook grew more than 600% during 2009. Considering the current global interest in OSNs, there is need for an in-depth study of their role in job performance and career success.Statement of the ProblemThe use of websites for social networking is a popular internet activity engaged in by most internet users including librarians. However, arguments abound for and against the use of OSNs by professionals. Although the literature reveals that online social networking can lead to the creation of a network of colleagues with whom one can consult, share resources, etc., it also reveals that it could have negative consequences as it can also be used for non- work related purposes which could lead to neglect of official assignments.Despite these arguments, the literature suggests that the use of OSNs is on the increase and yet its relationship to the job performance and career success of librarians remains uncertain. Without proper understanding of how OSNs relate to job performance and career success, it is extremely difficult to ascertain their usefulness or otherwise to the professional life of librarians. It was against this background, that this study investigated the use of OSNs and its relationship to job performance and career success of librarians in university libraries in Nigeria.Objectives of the StudyThe general objective of the study was to","PeriodicalId":89063,"journal":{"name":"African research & documentation","volume":"1 1","pages":"3-14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"56842598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Institutional Repositories at the University of Botswana Library: Opportunities and Challenges","authors":"R. Kgosiemang","doi":"10.1017/s0305862x00020550","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305862x00020550","url":null,"abstract":"IntroductionInstitutional Repository (IR) is seen as a new way for an institution to contribute to the broader world of scholarship. The system is also seen as a collaboration between libraries, technologists, administrators, and faculty to enhance access to the scholarship of the institution. Preserving the institution's intellectual property and increasing the institution's visibility and prestige are some of the reasons for establishing an institutional repository (Macha and De Jager, 2011). Giesecke (2011) is of the view that institutional repositories require carefully thought plans, mutual consultation among all stakeholders and \"with intellectual leadership from the faculty and the library working in partnership\" there will be successful preservation and continued fostering of the growth of the human knowledge. Despite all the efforts by the University of Botswana Office of Research and Development (ORD), Department of Library Services and Information Technology (IT) to lay a foundation for the launch of IR, to sensitise and create awareness, and to solicit support from the stakeholders, there are still challenges that affect the smooth implementation of IR at the University of Botswana. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss the challenges faced by the University of Botswana Library to successfully populate the IR. The attempt by both the University and Library staff to develop and implement an Institutional Repository has not been a smooth sailing.Lack of a Constituted IR TeamFrom the point of view of a Subject Librarian one of the biggest challenges that affected the successful implementation of IR at the University of Botswana Library was Library Management's failure to constitute an IR Team. What exists as the IR team are staff scattered all over the place, each with various roles and responsibilities that make concentration on IR difficult. There are archivists on the one hand responsible for the preservation of records as well as IR metadata quality control and collaboration with publishers; technical staff responsible for technical processes and customer service. Such a disparate range of participants needs clear coordination and lines of operations.The challenge with IR staff belonging to diverse units is that it creates a workflow problem. Research articles are submitted to technical staff to upload into DSpace, an open software package that provides the tools for management of digital assets and which is commonly used as the basis for an institutional repository. The uploaded content is then submitted to the editors in the archives unit where quality control takes place. Due to insufficient knowledge amongst the technical staff, content is sometimes uploaded without all the necessary steps having been taken to verify publisher status. This not only creates a backlog of content that requires editing, it also creates a communication problem between all the parties, especially when the Subject Librarians who submitted the resea","PeriodicalId":89063,"journal":{"name":"African research & documentation","volume":"1 1","pages":"45"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"56842843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Research Pathways in African Studies: An Interpretation of Selected Photographs Depicting Traditional Economic Activities in the Willis Eugene Bell Photo Archive","authors":"K. A. Laryea","doi":"10.1017/s0305862x00020562","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305862x00020562","url":null,"abstract":"IntroductionPhotographs do not seem to have received the attention they deserve as primary sources of information for academic study in Ghana. Reasons for this could be that they are not seen as documents in their own right that merit the same scrutiny as that given to the printed word and archival sources. They are usually not included in the collection development policies of libraries and archives (at least in Ghana), and the existence of such collections locally is virtually unknown. They are not recognised as primary sources for academic inquiry and therefore have no place in libraries or archives; and are not considered worth preserving for posterity. Yet their value is well documented and western academic institutions devote financial resources to their collection, documentation and preservation to make their collections accessible to users (Laryea, 1997).This paper is devoted to the interpretation of randomly selected photographs which depict various traditional economic activities from the Willis Eugene Bell Photo Archive. The eleven photographs depict directly and indirectly trading, fishing, hairdressing and farming, and serve as windows on the past. The paper also looks at the challenges and prospects of using the collection, and makes suggestions on how existing photographic collections may be handled by heritage institutions.Willis Eugene Bell and the photo archiveThe Willis Eugene Bell (WEB) Photo Archive is a collection of more than ninety thousand photographs (prints and negatives) taken between 1958 and 1999 by Willis Eugene Bell (1924-1999). Willis Bell was an American professional photographer who arrived in Ghana in 1957 after stints in other parts of Africa. He arrived during the exciting throes of political activity leading to independence and, apart from brief forays outside the country, lived here until his death. Bell was commissioned to take most of the photographs, which cover various aspects of Ghanaian life - everyday activities, culture, children at play, people involved in economic activities and the construction industry. The WEB collection is now owned by the Mmofra Foundation, a non-governmental organisation.2Photographs from the WEB collection have previously been used for various publications. Both The Road Makers and Playtime in Africa are publications of Bell's photographs with short write-ups by renowned writer Sutherland (1961 and 1963). Vulture! Vulture! and Tahinta are dramas set in the traditional call- and-response pattern using Ghanaian folklore (1968). In 2007, some of the photographs were published by the Goethe Institut in Accra to commemorate Ghana's golden jubilee anniversary. The one cedi note of the 1973 currency notes has the mirror image of one of Bell's photographs.3 Ghana through the lens: a photo journey by Willis Bell edited by Bremer and Sutherland-Addy (2009) is based on the exhibition by the Mmofra Foundation and the Goethe Institut.Theoretical framework of interpretationTwo approaches","PeriodicalId":89063,"journal":{"name":"African research & documentation","volume":"1 1","pages":"51-68"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"56842860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"2013: The Year of David Livingstone","authors":"J. Mackenzie","doi":"10.1017/s0305862x00021543","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305862x00021543","url":null,"abstract":"The first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, delivered his 2012 Christmas message in front of a portrait of David Livingstone at the exhibition in the National Museum of Scotland. Salmond stressed the values and achievements of the great Scot and suggested that they should energise Scots to fresh accomplishments in the future. This adoption of Livingstone as a heroic ideal to be followed in the present symbolically heralded the year of events, conferences, publications and web developments for the bicentennial year.This report summarises the extraordinarily diverse way in which Livingstone, born on 19th March 1813, has been commemorated in a variety of different communities, academic, museum, public, medical, and religious - in both Scotland and in Africa. There was an exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland with an accompanying book edited by Sarah Worden (reviewed elsewhere in this issue). A wreath-laying ceremony, with wreaths laid by three of Livingstone's great grandchildren and by the President of Malawi, took place in Westminster Abbey on the actual date of his birth, followed by a reception at the Scotland Office, Dover House in Whitehall, hosted by the Secretary of State for Scotland. There was a ceremony at the birthplace in Blantyre, Lanarkshire. All three of the latter events were attended by Her Excellency the President of Malawi, Mrs. Joyce Banda. Malawi has indeed been prominent throughout these celebrations, perhaps to the slight detriment of Zambia and Botswana, the two other countries with which Livingstone was closely connected. This reflects the Scotland-Malawi partnership being promoted by the Scottish government and there is indeed going to be a Livingstone exhibition in Blantyre, Malawi later in the year.On the lecturing front, there was a well-attended bicentennial commemorative lecture in the auditorium of the National Museum of Scotland (delivered by myself) which analysed Livingstone's relationship to imperialism, always a contentious area (I suggested that he was the 'patron saint' of imperialism in Africa rather than its 'prophet and advocate', that he could never have anticipated what actually happened in the Scramble for Africa). Later in the year (after this has been written), Professor John McCracken, the leading historian of Malawi, has been invited by the EU office of the Scottish Government to deliver a David Livingstone commemorative lecture in Brussels, while Professor Michael Barrett, Professor of Biomedical Parasitology at Glasgow University, will be lecturing on Livingstone and Scotland's Encounter with Tropical Diseases at the David Livingstone Centre in Blantyre.Livingstone has additionally been well commemorated in publications. There have been any number of newspaper and magazine articles (many of highly variable quality would perhaps be the politest way to sum them up), while the biography by Tim Jeal (first published on the centennial of Livingstone's death in 1973) was republished in a new ed","PeriodicalId":89063,"journal":{"name":"African research & documentation","volume":"1 1","pages":"33"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"56843392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Digital Age and African Studies Scholarship: Promoting access and visibility of information resources","authors":"C. W. Kanyengo","doi":"10.1017/s0305862x00020549","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305862x00020549","url":null,"abstract":"IntroductionAfrica is a region made up of different countries; occupied by people of different ethnicities and cultures with a rapidly growing population. \"Africa's population has been growing 2.3 per cent per year, a rate more than double that of Asia's population (1 per cent per year). The population of Africa first surpassed a billion in 2009 and is expected to add another billion in just 35 years (by 2044)\"1. It is also a region whose countries are at different levels of development; politically, socially and economically. Politically, at least since the 1990s, most of the countries are moving away from one party forms of governance and military dictatorships to multiparty political dispensations. Socially it has been affected and afflicted by poverty, diseases and internal conflicts that have brought a lot of suffering to its peoples. In a continent as diverse as Africa; with all its artificial boundaries and divisions, information provision through libraries in all formats can play a big role in fostering a sense of identity and solidarity. It is particularly important that the peoples of Africa are aware of the abundance and richness of African Studies Scholarship. In this context libraries and information centres can play a vital role in identifying, organising, disseminating and preserving that scholarship for future generations. This role for libraries has been spurred by the emergence of the internet.African Studies Scholarship is rich and diverse. It spans different regions and covers several different subject areas. Traditionally, it was thought that African Studies Scholarship came mainly from Universities and Research Institutes. However, it is now acknowledged that African Studies knowledge is being produced by other actors; such as Civil Society, Non Government Organisations (NGOs) and religious institutions and by ordinary citizens, especially those with access to the internet. In addition, vast amounts of African Scholarship exist as traditional knowledge; this is the knowledge that needs to be tapped and made easily accessible to all segments of the African population.African Studies Scholarship in Sub Saharan AfricaAfrican Studies Scholarship is rich and diverse; reflecting the diversity, richness and demographics of this vast continent. African Studies Scholarship can be subdivided into the following; knowledge printed and published on the African continent, knowledge printed and published outside the continent, grey literature produced in Africa and oral knowledge/indigenous knowledge (IK).* Knowledge printed and published on the African continentThis is knowledge that is produced by various institutions in Africa. Some of the foremost producers of African Studies Scholarship on the African continent are organisations such as the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA - http://www.codesria.org/), the Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA - www.oss","PeriodicalId":89063,"journal":{"name":"African research & documentation","volume":"1 1","pages":"33-43"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"56842801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"What is in a name? Ghanaian Personal Names as Information Sources","authors":"O. A. Adjah","doi":"10.1017/s0305862x00019889","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305862x00019889","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction Naming is a universal cultural practice and in every society, names are given to children at birth. According to Wegryn (2008), a name is of distinction, chosen, conferred and announced. However, the way names are given, reasons for choice of particular names and the rituals involved in naming, vary from society to society. Birth is regarded among most African societies as the beginning of the rites of passage, which comprise birth, puberty, marriage and death, and all these are celebrated to show their significance. Among most Ghanaian communities, the newborn baby is kept away from public view for seven days and brought out on the eighth day during what is called the \"outdooring ceremony\". In southern Ghana, the ethnic communities of the Akan, Ewe, and Ga observe the outdooring ceremony on the eighth day, as they believe that babies remain attached to the spirit world for the first seven days. Therefore, if a baby should pass away prior to the outdooring, there is usually no mourning. If the baby survives until the eighth day, then it is assumed that the baby has come to \"stay,\" is worthy to be called a person, and therefore is given a name (Opoku, 1978). In effect, the baby is announced, proclaimed, named and initiated into life. A name makes the child a member of the family and society. According to Opoku (1978), it is as if to say a \"stranger\" has become a full member of the family and has its own name. In other words, the \"child's humanness and identity is confirmed with the symbolism of a name\" (Ansu-Kyeremeh, 2000, p. 24). Therefore, if the baby survives the first seven days, very early in the morning of the eighth day, the baby is brought outdoors for the first time and given a name. Names and Naming Systems Names and naming systems have attracted scholarly attention. Scholars have looked at various ethnic groups that make up the rich Ghanaian culture namely among the Tallensi (Fortes, 1955), Ewe (Egblewogbe, 1987), Ga (Odotei, 1989), Bono (Ansu-Kyeremeh, 2000), Dagomba (Kropp Dakubu, 2000), and Akan (Agyekum, 2006) to show the structure, significance and communicative values of personal names. Based on the theory that there is a strong interface between a people's language and their cultural practices, Agyekum (2006) argues that the Akan personal name system and practice is a marker of a people's belief, ideology, religion, culture, philosophy and thought. According to Egblewogbe (1987), personal names are intimately associated with various events in the life of an individual, the family or the society as a whole. Ansu-Kyeremeh (2000) adds that personal names support human interaction as a medium for communication (see also Odotei 1989 and Kropp Dakubu 2000). This paper builds on these ideas by arguing that Ghanaian personal names, as sources of information, provide substantial insight about the circumstances surrounding an individual's conception and birth. It draws examples, mostly, from among the Ewe, Ga and Akan. Method","PeriodicalId":89063,"journal":{"name":"African research & documentation","volume":"1 1","pages":"3-17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"56842497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"(re)tracing Africa: a multi-displinary study of African history, societies, and cultures, [edited by Salome C. Nnoromete and Ogechi E. Anyanw]. Dubeque, IA: Kendall Hunt, 2012. ix +421 pp. ISBN 978-0-7575-9496-0.","authors":"T. Barringer","doi":"10.1017/s0305862x00019956","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305862x00019956","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":89063,"journal":{"name":"African research & documentation","volume":"1 1","pages":"105"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"56842136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}