Hasil untuk "History of Africa"

Heng Li, R. Durbin

The history of human population size is important for understanding human evolution. Various studies have found evidence for a founder event (bottleneck) in East Asian and European populations, associated with the human dispersal out-of-Africa event around 60 thousand years (kyr) ago. However, these studies have had to assume simplified demographic models with few parameters, and they do not provide a precise date for the start and stop times of the bottleneck. Here, with fewer assumptions on population size changes, we present a more detailed history of human population sizes between approximately ten thousand and a million years ago, using the pairwise sequentially Markovian coalescent model applied to the complete diploid genome sequences of a Chinese male (YH), a Korean male (SJK), three European individuals (J. C. Venter, NA12891 and NA12878 (ref. 9)) and two Yoruba males (NA18507 (ref. 10) and NA19239). We infer that European and Chinese populations had very similar population-size histories before 10–20 kyr ago. Both populations experienced a severe bottleneck 10–60 kyr ago, whereas African populations experienced a milder bottleneck from which they recovered earlier. All three populations have an elevated effective population size between 60 and 250 kyr ago, possibly due to population substructure. We also infer that the differentiation of genetically modern humans may have started as early as 100–120 kyr ago, but considerable genetic exchanges may still have occurred until 20–40 kyr ago.

R. W. Mccollum

P. Underhill, P. Shen, A. A. Lin et al.

P. Leser, G. Murdock

Sarah Godsell, Paul Maluleka

This study questions the uncritical application of a disciplinary approach to history education in a Global South settler-colonial and post-apartheid space. There is a vibrant debate about the question of teaching history through a disciplinary lens, even as this approach frames history education in many English-speaking Euro-Western countries (Cutrara, 2018; Keynes, 2021; McGregor, 2017; Thorp & Persson, 2020). This disciplinary approach, framed around historical thinking, has important aspects, involving critical thinking and engaging with historical concepts (Seixas & Morton, 2012; Wineburg, 2001). However, the abovementioned research argues that this approach is a Euro-Western imposition and is incompatible with settler-colonial realities. We engage with this position from a South African context, with a complex colonial and settlercolonial history, located in Africa, and in the Global South. What does the coloniality of power do to the approach to histories in a specific place, when that place is in the Global South? What gaze does historical thinking put on histories with other methods, other concepts of history, such as indigenous historians? We engage particularly with the idea of ‘reading like a historian’ (S. S. Wineburg et al., 2012) to problematize the universalisation that happens in this offshoot of historical thinking, as an example of the potential issues in historical thinking more generally. In exploring this we draw from our context as two lecturers in a South African teacher education program, where coloniality is still lived and breathed, into our students and ourselves. We explore the historical thinking project from a different contextual and epistemic perspective to challenge its imposed universality, and offer some thoughts on the possibilities that decolonisation itself might offer as a lens for history education.

Angela de Castro Gomes, Martha Abreu

Este artigo discute como teses interpretativas muito compartilhadas sobre o racismo e o folclore negro podem se transformar a partir do trabalho de pesquisa etnográfica, aqui entendido como uma prática de mediação cultural. Alexina de Magalhães Pinto e Lavinia Costa Raymond foram duas intelectuais brancas, professoras e autoras, que apesar de hoje esquecidas, projetaram-se no mundo letrado e acadêmico de seu tempo. Atuaram em dois momentos decisivos, mesmo que distintos, para os debates sobre a questão racial no Brasil: as décadas de 1900 a 1920 e de 1935 a 1955. Enfrentaram, cada uma a sua maneira, ainda que de forma inicial e ambígua, as teses sobre o desaparecimento das expressões culturais afro-brasileiras, encontrando caminhos para a valorização do patrimônio cultural construído pelos descendentes de escravizados.

J. Prospero, A. Delany, A. C. Delany et al.

There is great interest in wind-borne mineral dust because of the role that dust plays in climate by modulating solar radiation and cloud properties. Today, much research focuses on North Africa because it is Earth’s largest and most persistently active dust source. Moreover, this region is expected to be greatly impacted by climate change, which would affect dust emission rates. Interest in dust was stimulated over 50 years ago when it was discovered that African dust was frequently transported across the Atlantic in great quantities. Here we report on the initial discovery of African dust in the Caribbean Basin. We show that there were three independent “first” discoveries of African dust in the 1950s through the 1960s. In each case, the discoverers were not seeking dust but, rather, they had other research objectives. The meteorological context of African dust transport was first elucidated in 1969 with the characterization of the Saharan air layer (SAL) and its role in effecting the efficient transport of African dust over great distances to the Western Hemisphere. The link between dust transport and African climate was established in the 1970s and 1980s when dust transport to the Caribbean increased greatly following the onset of severe drought in the Sahel. Here we chronicle these events and show how they contributed to our current state of knowledge.

Mark Lipson, I. Ribot, Swapan Mallick et al.

Our knowledge of ancient human population structure in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly prior to the advent of food production, remains limited. Here we report genome-wide DNA data from four children—two of whom were buried approximately 8,000 years ago and two 3,000 years ago—from Shum Laka (Cameroon), one of the earliest known archaeological sites within the probable homeland of the Bantu language group 1 – 11 . One individual carried the deeply divergent Y chromosome haplogroup A00, which today is found almost exclusively in the same region 12 , 13 . However, the genome-wide ancestry profiles of all four individuals are most similar to those of present-day hunter-gatherers from western Central Africa, which implies that populations in western Cameroon today—as well as speakers of Bantu languages from across the continent—are not descended substantially from the population represented by these four people. We infer an Africa-wide phylogeny that features widespread admixture and three prominent radiations, including one that gave rise to at least four major lineages deep in the history of modern humans. Genome-wide ancestry profiles of four individuals, dating to 8,000 and 3,000 years before present, from the archaeological site of Shum Laka (Cameroon) shed light on the deep population history of sub-Saharan Africa.

Arun Durvasula, Arun Durvasula, Andrea Fulgione et al.

Massimo Cristofaro, René F. H. Sforza, Gerardo Roselli et al.

The bagrada bug, <i>Bagrada hilaris</i>, is an invasive insect pest in the family Brassicaceae that causes economically important damage to crops. It was originally present in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and was reported as invasive in the southwestern part of the US, in Chile, and on a few islands in the Mediterranean Basin. In its native range, <i>B. hilaris</i> is controlled by several egg parasitoid species that are under consideration as potential biological control agents. This research evaluated the impact of gamma irradiation on life history parameters, e.g., the fecundity, fertility, and longevity of <i>B. hilaris</i>, as a critical step towards assessing the feasibility of using the sterile insect technique against this recent invasive pest. Newly emerged adults of a laboratory colony originally collected from the island of Pantelleria (Italy) were gamma-irradiated. Life history parameters were evaluated at nine different doses, ranging from 16 Gy to 140 Gy. The minimal dose to approach full sterility was 100 Gy. Irradiation up to a maximum of 140 Gy apparently did not negatively impact the longevity of the adults. Even if both genders are sensitive to irradiation, the decline in fecundity for irradiated females could be exploited to release irradiated males safely to apply the SIT in combination with classical biological control. The data presented here allow us to consider, for the first time, the irradiation of bagrada adults as a suitable and feasible technique that could contribute to guaranteeing a safe approach to control this important pest species in agro-ecosystems. More research is warranted on the competitive fitness of irradiated males to better understand mating behavior as well as elucidate the possible mechanisms of sperm selection by polyandric <i>B. hilaris</i> females.

D. Gubler, N. Vasilakis, D. Musso

Josephine Etowa, Edidiong Ekanem, Oluwakemi Ariyo et al.

Background: The stressful duality of motherhood while living with HIV is often further compounded by inflexible infant feeding regimes in diasporic settings. National infant feeding guidelines for mothers living with HIV (LWH) are based on World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, which differ between low- and middle- vs. high-income countries and are more likely to contradict the cultural norms of sub-Saharan African communities. African, Caribbean, and Black mothers living with HIV (ACB- mothers LWH) often grapple with personal preferences and cultural norms vs. national guidelines for infant feeding, which often creates great tension at the intersection of these contradicting feeding protocols, subsequently leading to stressful motherhood experiences in the context of HIV. Purpose: The paper describes the mental health concerns and coping strategies of ACB mothers living with HIV in the context of infant feeding amidst contradicting cultural expectations and guideline. Methods: This is a qualitative study drawn from a broader community-based participatory research (CBPR) Focused ethnography (FE) was used to understand infant feeding-related stressors and coping strategies of ACB- mothers living with HIV. In-depth interviews of 61 ACB-mothers living with HIV were conducted, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analyzed. An audit trail, peer/team debriefing, and member checking ensured data credibility. Findings: Common stressors included cultural pressure toward certain feeding choices, fear of infecting the baby, and fear of inadvertent HIV disclosure and stigma; all of which could culminate in mental health crises if not properly managed. Coping strategies were deliberate effort to keep fit physically and mentally. Discussion and implication: Cultural expectations of “good motherhood” play a strong role in how ACB women judge their own motherhood efforts. Thus, alignment of policies to cultural expectations is key to mitigating psychosocial distress and resultant mental health problems. Conclusion: Mental distress experienced by ACB- mothers living with HIV around infant feeding choices may negatively affect their well-being and consequently their ability to care for their infants. A combination of culturally responsive guidelines, provision of social and community support, and educational efforts is necessary to reduce the mental health burden on ACB- mothers living with HIV.

Sandra Milena Rodríguez

Este artículo tiene como propósito comprender y visibilizar la situación de desigualdad racial en la zona de Río Raposo localizada en El Tigre, que se conecta con la ciudad de Buenaventura y se caracteriza por afrontar una situación de marginalidad social, cultural, política y económica, lo que ha generado la vulnerabilidad de las comunidades que allí habitan; así como, prácticas enmarcadas entre la exclusión y el olvido de las problemáticas de sus habitantes. Con el fin de explicitar el escenario de la violencia, el conflicto y la inequidad que enmarcan esta región, se recurrió al relato y la narrativa de una docente, cuyo ejercicio pedagógico tiene lugar en la Institución Educativa Jaime Roock. Desde este contexto educativo, se abordan los desafíos educativos y las tensiones entre el dominio colonial y la descolonización, así como la lucha de una comunidad afrodescendiente, la cual refleja el impacto considerable de una pandemia que cada día devela la situación de desigualdad, así como su manifestación social y cultural en la lucha, la manifestación y la búsqueda por la emancipación política, sociocultural y humana. 

I. Taylor

C. Wolhuter

This chapter commences by depicting the rise of Africa as a force on the world map as a contextual background for a survey of the education expansion and reform project on the continent in the past 65 years - arguably the biggest education expansion drive in human history. The main lines of the education expansion and education reform in Africa are reconstructed. Education in Africa is then assessed in terms of three dimensions: quantitative, qualitative, and equalization. While being nothing short of spectacular, the education project in Africa faces severe challenges, on all three fronts of the quantitative expansion, quality, and equality dimensions. At the same time, as the African continent is embracing the world of the twenty-first century, this changed world is also adding its share of imperatives to education. Finally, the role of comparative international scholarship in negotiating these imperatives and challenges is noted.

B. Freund

V. Ridde, L. Gautier, Anne-Marie Turcotte-Tremblay et al.

Over the past 15 years, hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in reforms founded on performance-based financing (PBF) in low- and middle-income countries. While evidence on its effectiveness and efficiency is still controversial, there appears to be an emerging consensus that equity has not been adequately considered. In this article, we show how PBF-type interventions in Africa have not sufficiently taken into account equity of access to care for the worst-off and their financial protection. In reviewing the history of health reforms in Africa, we show that this omission is nothing new. We suggest that strategic purchasing and PBF-type actions would benefit from being implemented in ways that promote equity and the financial protection of populations in Africa. Without such a reorientation of reforms, it will be impossible to achieve universal health coverage by 2030.

Giuliana Iannaccaro

Invaded, displaced, and dispossessed, the aboriginal Khoisan populations of South Africa were enslaved and pushed to the margins of society well before the arrival of European settlers in the seventeenth century; actually, the Bantu groups which had invaded southern Africa in the previous centuries had colonised various regions, due to their physical and military superiority. In contemporary South Africa, the condition of these people is still precarious, judging from the various forms of political protest reclaiming full citizenship for Khoisan communities. In some cases, however, the re-reading of History on the part of minority groups to obtain social and political recognition tends to reproduce, and therefore to confirm, the stereotypes and simplifications that contributed to their marginalisation in the first place. The case of the Khoikhoi populations in South Africa – classified as ‘coloured’, but still claiming specific ethnic identities of their own – is read here through the lens of literature, and specifically through the novel David’s Story by Zoë Wicomb – a South African writer who has always avoided the trap of simplism both as narrator and as social and literary critic.

Serge Gruzinski

Why not analyse Iberian expansion in Africa and Asia starting from the American continent? Here we look at how Las Casas conceived and described the links that were forged between Africa and America, with a threefold purpose: to explore the relationships between Portuguese and Castilian historians in the mid-16th century; to establish the extent to which African and American studies are still practically separate fields of research; and to examine the possibility and the necessary conditions for a global history.

Francesco Martinico

<p>Spatial planning should have a key role in creating urban environments that support less energy-intense lifestyles. A wise consideration of energy in urban land use policies should play an important role considering that, in spite of having a land occupation of 2% and accommodating 50% of the world population, cities produce 80% of GHG emissions and consume 80 % of the world’s resources.</p><p>In the building industry, the green economy is already part of the designers’ approach. This has already produced several energy efficient buildings that also feature high architectural quality. Now is the turn of cities to take the same direction in developing the capacity of formulating sounded urban policies. This will contribute to develop adequate new tools for achieving the energy efficiency goal.</p><p>Climate change concern, the dominating environmental paradigm, is permeating the political scenario worldwide, producing a plethora of formal documents. The most recent one is the COP21 agreed in Paris in December 2015, after the failure of the Copenhagen summit in 2009, and formally signed in April 2016 in New York. The challenge for land use planning now is to translate these general commitments into actions that modify planning practices at all levels, from cities to regions.</p><p>In this field, the current situation is extremely varied. EU has issued several documents focussed mainly at building level but also sustainable transports are considered a key issue. However, a further step is needed in order to increase the level of integration among all land use approaches, including the idea of green infrastructure as a key component of any human settlement. (European Commission, 2013). </p><p>The relationship between urbanisation and climate change has become key worldwide but looking at it from a Mediterranean perspective arises some specificities, considering also the political strain that this part of the world is facing. Both Southern Europe and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries will face stronger heat waves in the near future (Fischer and Schär, 2001). Their cities, often poorly planned for decades, will be considerably affected by these temperature upsurges.</p><p>A further complexity arises from the fact that the energy approach in land use plans is not direct. Including energy considerations in urban and regional planning is hardly a technological issue. On the contrary, it requires a deep change in the mind-set of urban planners that have to think at the whole city structure wearing the new “energy glasses”.</p><p>It is possible to trace the energy issue in land use planning back to its history. Spatial planning has a long lasting tradition in defining the shape of urban fabric and the layout of buildings, taking into account the role of the sun and the wind. This tradition has evolved from the seminal experiences of modernist planning to the new sustainable districts, recently developed in several countries like Germany, the Netherlands, France and Sweden,  including the ones described by Peter Hall (2014) in his last book.</p><p>But Mediterranean countries have an even longer tradition in building cities and houses that were capable of facing hot temperatures, without any of the electric appliances that are consuming now a considerable share of energy. As part of this long-established tradition, it is worth remembering the inspiring contribution of the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy. Looking back at the city history is not a mere exercise based on nostalgia. Making greener Mediterranean cities, as they were up to a recent past, is a complex task but it will become unavoidable in order to guarantee forms of sustainable cooling.</p><p>This is especially true in those cities that have grown considerably in the second half of the 20^th century, according to high-density models.</p><p>Urban planning has been also concerned with defining the proper mix of land uses, taking into account the key role of transports. Compact and walkable cites, rich of activities, are naturally energy efficient. The lesson taught by Jane Jacobs in her seminal book <em>Death and Life of Great American Cities</em> remains relevant also assuming the energy approach. More recently, emerging planning themes are including the containment and retrofitting of urban sprawl by integrating transport and land use planning. Applying Transit Oriented Development (Tod) principles can induce a change in mobility choices of inhabitants of this unsustainable form of urban settlement, by giving them more mobility opportunities.</p><p>Land use planning will also play a relevant role in accommodating new forms of distributed sustainable energy production in the urban fabric. The recent 2015 Snapshot of Global Photovoltaic Markets, by the International Energy Agency, confirms that economic incentives, like feed-in tariffs, are not enough to guarantee a stable diffusion of this type of energy production. After the phasing out of this incentives there diffusion of PV, reduces considerably. This is case of Italy that installed only 300 MW of PV systems in 2014, compared to 9,3 GW in 2011, 3,6 GW in 2012 and 1,6 GW in 2013. Integrating energy production in the city as part of urban design will increase the opportunity of making sustainable energy production an inherent feature of the city design, including energy production devices in the city realm and using them for retrofitting poor quality buildings.</p><p>In addition, planning tools have to incorporate incentives aimed at favouring higher energy standards, both for new and existing buildings. The costs of these actions should be covered by planning normative tools. Several techniques, like the Carbon Offset Fund in Great Britain, have been tested but there is a great need of new research in this field, at national and local level, since these tools are not easy to implement without taking into account site-specific norms and approaches. In addition, the exclusive use of the market leverage risks to confine these tools to wealthy communities, excluding the poor ones.</p><p>These new attitudes require not only new planning tools but also a great capacity of devising urban policies capable of involving communities with different cultural backgrounds and planning traditions. A wise mixture of tradition and innovation is central to innovate the urban planning discipline in the direction of sustainability.  A lot of <em>mental energy</em> has to be devoted to the difficult but stimulating objective of improving the energy awareness of our cities.</p>