Hasil untuk "African languages and literature"

Ewa Macura-Nnamdi

The few readings of Henrietta Rose-Innes’s short story “Poison” have so far focused on how it critiques the racial politics of eco-apocalypse and the ways narratives of the end are inflected by the privilege of whiteness. In this paper, I take a different approach, examining the eponymous poison and the ways it is narrated to challenge not merely the eschatological sentiments underlying the prevalent imaginaries of the future but also the (anthropocentric) idea of the end itself as an expected and natural denouement to the world. Reading the toxic conceptually, I suggest toxicity becomes a signifier of no-end. Inspired by recent scholarship on toxicity, especially Daniel Hofmann’s stunning take on the toxic, I cull from its properties its resistance to endings, looking at how toxicity can help us think beyond human exceptionalism and the human species’ extinction this exceptionalism propounds. I highlight, in particular, the motility and persistence of toxic matter, which unsettles what Achille Mbembe calls the regimes of borderisation. Mobile and enduring, travelling freely across all kinds of entities, human and otherwise, Rose-Innes’ toxicity re-scripts the dominant narratives of eco-apocalypse, offering a vision of the future world which may be mutated yet is ongoing and fuelled by toxified, recomposed, perishable human bodies.   

Samuel Janson, Lily Nyenga, Haneefa T. Saleem et al.

With substance use rates increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), an understanding of the accessibility and effectiveness of rehabilitative services for people who use alcohol and other drugs (AOD) is critical in the global efforts to diagnose and treat substance use disorders (SUD). This scoping review seeks to address the gaps in knowledge related to the types of research that have been conducted regarding inpatient or residential SUD treatment in SSA, the settings in which the research was conducted, and the study countries. A search of three databases, PubMED, Scopus, and African Index Medicus, was conducted for publications related to the treatment of SUD in inpatient or residential settings in SSA. Articles were screened at the title/abstract level and at full text by two reviewers. Articles eligible for inclusion were original research, conducted in SSA, published in English, included populations who received or were currently receiving treatment for SUD in inpatient or residential settings, or documented demand for SUD services. This scoping review included 82 studies originating from 6 countries in SSA. Three themes emerged within the literature: access and demand for inpatient and residential SUD treatment, quality and outcomes of SUD treatment, and descriptions of the services offered and staffing of these facilities. Barriers to access include financial barriers, limited availability of services, and geographic concentration in cities. Women were shown to access residential and inpatient SUD treatment at lower rates than men, and certain racial groups face unique language and financial barriers in accessing services. Studies indicate mixed success of inpatient and residential SUD treatment in sustained SUD remission for patients. There are significant gaps in the literature, driven by a lack of longitudinal studies focused on patient outcomes following treatment and the use of a narrow definition of treatment success. Both structural and non-structural barriers, such as stigma and discrimination, are barriers to access. Further research is needed to evaluate approaches to mitigate these barriers and expand access to residential and inpatient SUD treatment.

Mlamli Diko

This article aims to unmask racial struggles in postcolonial South Africa relying on Peter Mtuze’s The Way to Madam (2004). To achieve this aim, postcolonial literary theory is applied to the discussions. This article reveals covert dimensions of racial struggles in South Africa that go far beyond the cosmetic level of this short story. Research interest is directed at specific expressions the characters use with references to historical and contemporary lexical contexts. The analysis confirms that while colonialism and apartheid officially ended in 1994 with the establishment of a democratic government in South Africa, their enduring effects continue to configure the intellectual, social, economic, and political terrain of the country. Racial struggles with roots dating back to colonialism and apartheid in South Africa are multifaceted and profoundly interwoven in various dimensions of society. Addressing these challenges requires ongoing multi-collaborative efforts in policy reform, social transformation, and a commitment to building a more just society.

Saman Ange-Michel, Gougou, M. Paschal

The purpose of the study was for EFL stakeholders, teachers, and educators to be able to overcome their teaching challenges in various contexts for a transformative teaching approach. This study used a qualitative approach and a case study design to investigate the experiences of English language teachers in Cote d'Ivoire, Tanzania, and during the Africa ELTA webinar. Through a constructivist perspective, this study used interviews and observation in schools, then some online data from webinar pulses in African contexts to evaluate the teacher’s challenges to integrate Open Educational Resource (OER) in their EFL teaching . Findings revealed that OER are relatively used and perceived as benefits in EFL for teachers, educators, and learners. The study recommended that Integrating Open Educational Resource to Support Transformative Approach in EFL requires prompting best practices to implement a blended learning plan for an effective student-centered approach, flexible technology integration and transformative professional development.

Sindiwe Magona

E. Quarshie, M. Waterman, A. House

Background Self-harm, whether attributed to suicidal or non-suicidal motives, is associated with several poor outcomes in young people, including eventual suicide. Much of our understanding of self-harm in young people is based on literature from Europe (particularly, the UK), North America, and Australia. We aimed to synthesise the available evidence on prevalence, the commonly reported self-harm methods, correlates, risk and protective factors, and reasons for self-harm, in adolescents (aged 10–25 years) in sub-Saharan Africa. Method We searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed, African Journals OnLine, and African Index Medicus for records from 1950 through August 2019, without language restrictions. We supplemented the database searches by searching relevant portals for postgraduate theses, reference harvesting, contacting authors for unpublished studies, and hand searching relevant print sources. We applied narrative synthesis to the evidence. Results Seventy-four studies from 18 sub-Saharan African countries met the inclusion criteria. The median lifetime prevalence estimate was 10·3% (interquartile range [IQR] 4·6% – 16·1%); median 12-month prevalence estimate was 16·9% (IQR: 11·5% – 25·5%); median 6-month prevalence estimate was 18·2% (IQR: 12·7% – 21·8%); and the median 1-month prevalence estimate was 3·2% (IQR: 2·5–14·8%). Studies from Western sub-Saharan Africa reported the highest 12-month prevalence estimates (median = 24·3%; IQR = 16·9% – 27·9%). Clinical samples commonly reported overdose, whereas self-cutting was most commonly reported in non-clinical samples. Academic failure, sexual, emotional, and physical abuse, romantic relationship problems, family conflict, depression, and previous self-harm were identified as key correlates of self-harm. No study reported protective factors against self-harm. Conclusion Variation in estimates was explained by small sample sizes and variation in definitions and measures used. Exploration of associations, risks and protective factors was based upon concepts and measures derived from high income countries. More detailed and culturally sensitive research is needed to understand the context-specific risks and protective factors for self-harm in adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa.

Cornelius Ewuoso, S. Hall

Background. Ubuntu has been proposed as a useful alternative to current (Western) ethical frameworks for evaluating global bioethical issues, contributing theoretical diversity to the clinical context. However, the literature regarding this philosophy is often described as confusing, and is characterised by a number of competing interpretations.  Objective. To arrive, by way of a systematic review, at a definition of ubuntu that encompasses the common themes that appear in competing interpretations.  Methods. Searches were done in PhilPaper, PubMed and Google Scholar using a variety of search strings, generating 1 207 hits. After screening for English language, as well as relevance of the article after reading the title, abstract and full text, 99 articles were included for review. Another 17 articles were identified through snowballing and additional searches, giving a total of 116 articles that were included in the review.  Results. This review shows that ubuntu is an essentially relational ethics, which prizes relationships of interdependence, fellowship, reconciliation, relationality, community friendliness, harmonious relationships and other-regarding actions such as compassion and actions that are likely to be good for others, in which actions are morally right to the extent that they honour the capacity to relate communally, reduce discord or promote friendly relationships with others, and in which the physical world and the spiritual world are fundamentally united.  Conclusion. Scholars, health professionals, policy makers and others should be aware that an alternative ethical theory exists in the global South that may be applied to address a variety of global (bio)ethical issues. Further research, however, is needed to evaluate how properly action-guiding this formulation is in particular contexts.

Hannah Pardey

Y. Lai, Patricia Biedermann, U. Ekpo et al.

Caesar Jjingo, Marianna Visser

Kiswahili is a foreign language (FL) in Uganda. Formally, the teaching of Kiswahili begins in the lower secondary phase. In this phase, Kiswahili had been taught for many years without an authorised syllabus. Nonetheless, in 2008, the government of Uganda launched the existing grammatical syllabus (hereafter, 2008 syllabus). It should be noted that, while the teaching of standard Kiswahili is among the aims postulated in the 2008 syllabus, information and topics regarding, for example, the alphabet of standard Kiswahili are missing in this syllabus. Pedagogically, this situation appears to contrast with, for example, the advanced scientific suggestions that the learning of the alphabet should be among the initial topics in grammatical syllabi and subsequently, in the FL classrooms’ activities. Using perspectives on document analysis to constitute its methodology, in this theoretical paper, we first provide a general overview of the grammatical syllabi as a framework for teaching and learning FLs, drawing specific examples from the 2008 syllabus. Then, we analyse the aims of teaching Kiswahili as established in the 2008 syllabus. Thereafter, we examine the alphabet of standard Kiswahili. Lastly, we propose possible procedures for adopting the Kiswahili alphabet into the 2008 syllabus, as a way of facilitating the teaching and learning of standard Kiswahili mainly in Uganda’s lower secondary schools.

K. Abrahale, S. Sousa, G. Albuquerque et al.

BACKGROUND Street foods vary with respect to their nutritional value and safety characteristics and contribute to a sizable proportion of food intake in many populations worldwide. Therefore, the present study aimed to describe the coverage in the scientific literature of different health-related and socio-economic aspects of street food consumption and trading. METHODS Three electronic databases (searched from inception to 16 October 2017), a hand-search of relevant journals and backward citation tracking were used to identify eligible scientific articles with a main objective of investigating or reporting specific results on health-related or socio-economic aspects of street food. Papers published in English, Portuguese, French, Spanish or Italian, as well as English abstracts of papers published in other languages, were assessed. The selected articles were evaluated by two independent researchers and described according to year of publication, geographical distribution, definition of street food, main topics addressed and target population. RESULTS In total, 441 papers were selected. The number of publications has increased in recent years, almost half of them being published after 2012. Almost three-quarter of the articles were from Africa or Asia. Most studies addressed food safety (85.5%), whereas street food availability and consumption were much less frequently investigated (30.3%). The focus of the studies was usually the food (mostly its microbiological contamination) and the vendors (mostly their food handling), whereas consumers and vending sites were seldom evaluated. More than half of the studies did not specify a definition for street food. CONCLUSIONS Efforts are needed for a more widespread and comprehensive assessment of different issues related to street food availability and consumption in different settings, especially regarding street food offer, nutritional composition, and patterns of purchase and consumption by the population.

J. Nie, A. Gilbertson, M. de Roubaix et al.

Neil Cochrane

Ulrich Wicks in his Picaresque Narrative, Picaresque Fictions: A Theory and Research Guide (1989) provides the most recent perspective on the total picaresque fictional situation or fiction P. The article will examine the validity of picaresque themes and evaluate these against Andre P. Brink's Inteendeel (1993). The themes examined are disillusionment, freedom, hunger, loneliness and gullibility. Possible weaknesses in Wicks's theoretical overview will be identified, especially when tested against an individual text.

Kabiru Haruna Isa

The infiltration of Shiism and subsequent increasing growth of the Shia community in Sunni dominated northern Nigeria, especially from the 1980s to date (2015), have generated ideological tension and anxiety. The introduction of the Shia into northern Nigeria has challenged Sunni ideological dominance and ascendancy. The Shia ulama (scholars) clandestinely converted thousands of Sunnis into the new religious group. The Sunni ulama responded to the penetration and emerging Shia community through a myriad of ways in order to arrest what they perceive as a diffusion of antithetical ideology. The responses came in the form of public condemnation, invective songs, theological debates, and literary antiphon. The main thrust of all of these responses is the condemnation of Shia ideology, rituals and practices, especially the ones that oppose Sunni ideological beliefs. One of the major consequences of these responses is the emergence of literature in different languages, namely: Arabic, English and Hausa. However, there is an apparent lack of academic attention to this body of literature in spite of its relevance to understanding Sunni-Shia relations and theological contestations in northern Nigeria. This paper analyses some selected Hausa and English Sunni-reactive literature and assesses its attempt to challenge the spread of Shia ideology in northern Nigeria.

Sobane, Konosoang , Magampa, Mmakotsedi

A patient-centred approach to care is increasingly recognised as the hallmark of adequate healthcare delivery since it allows a holistic approach to care. Although there is no agreed-upon definition of patient-centred care, literature on this subject recognises effective communication and patient participation as necessary factors for the achievement of patient-centred care. Despite ample literature on the value of patient-centred care and the patient’s voice in it, there is very limited literature on its achievement in linguistically-diverse consultations. There is even less literature on the subject based on research conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa, where multilingual healthcare systems are prevalent and there is a need for policy interventions to regulate such systems. This paper traces the presence or silence of the patient’s voice in linguistically-diverse consultations and the implications that it has for achieving a patient-centred approach to care. The findings suggest that the language barrier submerges the patient’s voice at many of the points of the care process. Where it is visible, it is not on the basis of participation in decision-making, but in responding to questions asked. The paper therefore makes recommendations for a strategic communication framework that will enhance the presence of the patient’s voice in language-discordant consultations.

Westbury, Josh , Andrason, Alexander

This volume has examined the LD construction in several genetically and areally diverse languages with the overarching aim of contributing to a more coherent and crosslinguistically justifiable profile of the LD category. Towards this end, each article has focused on describing one or more particular features of LD (e.g. syntactic form, pragmatic function, translation, diachronic processes, inter alia) in a given language with the results showcasing the rich tapestry of diverse attributes exhibited by LD across languages.

Joan-Mari Barendse

Katie A. Lazdowski

Oyetunji, Christianah Oluwatoyin

This paper describes the effect of reading strategy instruction on Second Language (L2) students’ reading comprehension in a Botswana College of Education. The intervention programme was implemented based on the observation that some trainee teachers failed to improve on their L2 proficiency after spending a year in the L2 classroom. Prior to the intervention, difficulty in reading and comprehending had been identified as one of the contributing factors to their failure to improve on their proficiency level. A reading comprehension test was used to collect data from participants who were trainee teachers at a College of Education in Botswana before and after the intervention. The six-week intervention programme focused on seven reading strategies, namely the use of background knowledge, self-questioning, inferencing, rereading, drawing conclusions, identifying main ideas and summarising. The findings suggest that strategy training can increase L2 students’ reading comprehension. Based on the findings, it is recommended that strategy training be introduced into the L2 syllabus of the primary school teacher trainees in all Botswana Colleges of Education.

Antia, Bassey E., Razum, Oliver

Modelling success in HIV messaging is notoriously difficult in part because of the diversity of disciplines interested in the subject (e.g. public health, psychology, communication, education, sociology, linguistics) and the claims made in each, often on the basis of different coming-to-know processes. For instance, although relevant research in public health and communication emphasizes audience responses but sometimes slights detailed analyses of texts, work in applied linguistics tends to engage with texts without, however, framing its claims in the context of theories of behaviour. This study makes a case for attention to both text and behaviour by showing how a corpus linguistics study of texts of HIV messaging can be accommodated within a behavioural framework. A corpus of HIV messages from Germany and Nigeria, analyzed from the standpoint of predictions of a behavioural theory, suggests that only two German messages and one Nigerian message (out of the eleven messages in each national corpus) had the mix of features (high threat, high efficacy) predicted by the model to elicit message acceptance. In view of the implication that the observed nexus between messaging and society does not necessarily translate into better acceptance prospects as defined within the particular behavioural theory, this study may be seen as problematising certain claims in applied linguistics research on HIV, especially recommendations dealing with the need for messaging to reflect local (knowledge) perspectives.