bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Adjustment to West African realities: the Lebanese in Senegal
Authors: Boumedouha Saïd 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThe century-old Lebanese presence in West Africa has been the subject of mixed reaction from the host societies. While many Africans, including political leaders, have defended this presence in the belief that it has been very beneficial for their countries, others have strongly criticised it, arguing that the Lebanese have blocked the way to Africans in trade, repatriated their capital and used many kinds of malpractices in their trading activities. In Senegal, which is the subject of this article, French small and medium traders opposed the presence of the Lebanese during the colonial period because the latter became their main competitors. The groundnut trade was the country's main economic activity and there was a great demand for this product in Europe. The major European companies were keen to increase exports and, in this, they relied on the Lebanese who, in the first decades of this century, acted as middlemen.
Barma bridewealth: socialization and the reproduction of labour in a domestic african economy
Authors: Reyna S. P. 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThis essay argues that courtship procedures, of which the giving of bridewealth forms a part, may under certain conditions help to socialize younger men into their mature economic roles. Further, in so far as bridewealth performs these functions, it contributes to the reproduction of labour in these economies.
Did the Akan resort to abortion in pre-colonial Ghana? Some Conjectures
Authors: Bleek Wolf 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphIn his survey of abortion in 400 pre-industrial societies, Devereux (1955: 161) concludes:…there is every indication that abortion is an absolutely universal phenomenon, and that it is impossible even to construct an imaginary social system in which no woman would ever feel at least impelled to abort.Where the universality of abortion is equated with the urge to abort, one can hardly disagree with such a statement. The question, however, of whether or not abortion ever actually occurred—or still occurs—ubiquitously and to a demographically significant extent is difficult to answer. Among the Akan in Ghana, where I did anthropological fieldwork intermittently between 1969 and 1973, abortion was widespread, a practice which seemed to have roots in precolonial traditions. People referred to abortion as sɛe adeɛ (‘spoiling the thing’).
Ideologies of royal power: the dissolution and reconstruction of political authority on the ‘Slave Coast’, 1680–1750
Authors: Law Robin 
Published: April 2006

The Historical Context: The Crisis of Political Order, 1680–1750In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries the ‘Slave Coast’ of West Africa suffered increasingly severe problems of disorder, which seem to have been in large part a consequence of the impact of the Atlantic slave trade. These disorders involved not only wars among the major states but also (in at least some cases) the weakening of political authority within states. The most obvious aspect of this dissolution of authority was the decline in the power of the kingdom of Allada, which had earlier exercised some degree of suzerainty over most if not all of the other states in the area. Among the tributaries of Allada which repudiated its authority was the kingdom of Whydah (Hueda), on the coast to the south-west, which was already effectively independent by the 1680s, and which even went to war with Allada in 1691–92 and again in 1714–17. The kingdom of Fon, or Dahomey, in the interior north of Allada, was originally also a dependency of Allada, but is recorded to have revolted and asserted its independence in 1715.
Possible sources for the origin of gold as an economic and social vehicle for women in lamu (Kenya)
Authors: Romero Patricia W. 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphLamu today is composed of several ethnic groups with an affinity for gold: the Afro-Arab old families who intermarried with the BuSaid ruling class from Oman and Zanzibar; Hadrami newcomers from southern Arabia; and the slaves of these groups, all of whom came from central Africa. In addition, there are Bohra Indians (only a few remain of the two hundred or so earlier in the century), two Parsees, and one remaining Ismaili family whose origins in India dictate a desire for gold. Other people, such as Bajuni, are now living in Lamu; but most are poor and the few who have gold are those who have gone to Mombasa or away to school, and then returned. Some of them have married into the heretofore closed ranks of the old Afro-Arab families precisely because they have made money or can be expected to, and will provide gold. There are numbers of other ethnic groups in Lamu, including Africans from the Kenya mainland across the bay from Lamu island. Land, not gold, is important to them. The people of concern here are mainly the Bohra Indians, Afro-Arabs, and the Hadramis – all of whom covet gold. Marriages in Lamu were arranged along ethnic, class, and family lines at least since the nineteenth century. Gold for brides was a necessity – especially for the upper-class Afro-Arab (mixtures of local Africans, African slaves, and Arab traders) families and among the various Indian groups (historically Hindu, Dauudi Bohra, Ithnasharia, Ismaili, and Goans) then living and trading there.
Land and territory: the interface between two systems of land tenure, Murang'a District, Kenya
Authors: Mackenzie Fiona 
Published: April 2006

Introduction: ‘Land Reform’ and Rural SecurityThe objective of this paper is to examine the nature of the interface between two systems of land tenure in an area of smallholdings, Murang'a District, Central Province, Kenya. The first, theng'undusystem, evolved in the fertile, dissected plateau area east of the Nyandarua Range since the Kikuyu migrated there in the early seventeenth century (Muriuki, 1974: 62–82; Government of Kenya, 1929: 6); the second, a freehold system of individual land tenure, was introduced by the colonial state in the mid-1950s as a political instrument to counter the force of Mau Mau (Lamb, 1974; Leys, 1975). The latter system, it was intended, would replace the former, thereby laying the basis for an intensification of African agriculture which was also, under the Swynnerton Plan, to include production for the urban and export markets (Heyer, 1981; House and Killick, 1983). Commitment to this same principle continues to inform present agricultural policy (Government of Kenya, 1984a,Kenya Development Plan 1984–1988, p. 187; 1986,: 88).
Legal insecurity and land conflicts in Mgeta, Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania
Authors: Donge Jan Kees van 
Published: April 2006

AbstractThis article explains why people in Mgeta become locked in long and expensive land disputes. These disputes cannot be explained as rational choice strategies: the value of the land involved bears no relation to the costs people claim to incur: and people have recourse to the State legal arena without any reasonable expectation of a resolution of the conflict there. The explanation offered here is that there is a breakdown in the social definition of reality. The quest for justice is seen as a legal expression of a search for such definition.The Waluguru reason about land mainly in terms of a matrilineal ideology. This ideology is not, however, an ahistorical identity which gives automatic answers in disputes; it has to be continuously constructed as society copes with social change. The problem cannot be seen as one of cultural lag, where modern forms of law clash with older forms. Case material shows that recourse to individual title, for example, requires as much social construction of reality as recourse to Luguru systems of law. It also shows that these forms of law are inextricably intertwined. The failure to express a social construction of reality which is experienced as authoritative and binding is exacerbated by a vacuum of authority which has emerged in Luguru society.The obvious force driving these seemingly irrational conflicts is envy. In a situation, as here, where there is a breakdown in the social construction of reality and where a vacuum of authority exists, this disruptive force can manifest itself in unbridled form.
Spiders in and out of Court, or, ‘the long legs of the law: styles of spider divination in their sociological contexts
Authors: Zeitlyn David 
Published: April 2006

AbstractBoth Banen and Mambila in Cameroon use spiders in divination. The intellectual practice of the divinatory technique is related to the different sociological contexts of divination. Relative freedom of interpretation and the posing of questions overnight among the Banen correlate with its political unimportance. Conversely among the Mambila the interpretation of the diviner is rule-bound, and many simple questions may be asked in quick succession. The results provide important evidence in the chief's court. Social context and intellectual content are each constrained but underdetermined by the other.
Making up their own minds: readers, interpretations and the difference of view in Ghanaian popular narratives
Authors: Newell Stephanie 
Published: April 2006

AbstractReading is a situated ‘social event’, taking place in the context of collective ‘assumptions about language and meaning’ which condition an individual's interpretations. Before turning the first page of a popular novel, or watching the first scene of a theatrical performance, the ‘reader’ already occupies a culturally specific receptive position, and each instance of interpretation is likely to be informed by shared preconceptions about the function of literature.The role of readers is essential to the discussion of popular narratives in West Africa. Authors acknowledge the readership's participation in the co-creation of novels, to such an extent that plots themselves may be transformed or extended in response to letters from readers. By taking sides with the character type whose social position most closely resembles their own, readers select specific figures through whom they can apportion praise and blame, through whom they can confirm their own opinions about men's and women's domestic roles. Readers adopt interpretive positions that depend upon the relevance of fictional types to their storehouse of opinions about marriage partners, ‘good-time girls’, mothers-in-law, ‘sugar-daddies’ and prostitutes.A reader-centred perspective, then, is vital to complement the ‘straight’ literary analysis of popular narratives. Indeed, one could say that, without the interpretive input of readers, West African popular fiction is nothing. Readers cannot be homogenised into a single species: during the reception process, distinct, preconstituted reading communities rise up, identifying ‘themselves’ in the narrative as gendered social subjects and extrapolating opinions from the text. In this receptive environment, popular narratives take on the semblance of rafts rather than shipwrecks, conveying and buoying up readers' active, self-interested reconstructions of themselves.
Democracy and realism: reflections on the case of Cote d'Ivoire
Authors: Fauré Yves 
Published: April 2006

AbstractBefore independence the PDCI had considerable experience of participating in elections. Even with the setting-up of a de facto one-party state, elections remained a useful device in the hands of the PDCI leadership to renew the composition of the ruling elite, particularly after the 1980 reforms. A combination of external and internal pressures in the 1990s ensured that a multi-party system would be adopted but Houphouet-Boigny was able to guide the electoral process to ensure continued success for his own party. Despite this and the many inadequacies of the electoral administration there has been a real political change. Cote d'lvoire has embarked on a process of democratisation that will eventually bring other social and political benefits.
Kickin' it: leisure, politics and football in colonial Zanzibar, 1900s–1950s
Authors: Fair Laura 
Published: April 2006

AbstractAs C. L. R. James demonstrated inBeyond a Boundary, organised team sports epitomised the colonial attempt to inculcate hierarchy, stability and discipline into the minds and spirits of the colonised. These values were not, however, passively internalised. Taken as a microcosm of the colonial experience, this study of football in Zanzibar illustrates the limits of Europeans' ability to mould Africans' social experiences. Sport in Zanzibar, as elsewhere in the empire, often carried undertones of conflict and at times became overtly political. Yet football represented much more than a political battlefield to the players and spectators. For men in colonial Zanzibar playing and watching football were often central social experiences. This article explores the diversity of meanings attributed to football in 1900–50.
Cultivating biological and cultural diversity: urban farming in Casamance, Senegal
Authors: Linares Olga F. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractAt the present time, urban agriculture—that is, the growing of food crops in backyard gardens, unused city spaces and peripheral zones—is an economically viable alternative for many African migrants. Although previously ‘invisible’ to most developers and economists, urban farming is now recognised as playing a crucial subsistence role in the household economies of lower-income people living in major West African cities. But the practice does more than feed the urban poor. Using the example of Ziguinchor in Casamance, Senegal, it is argued that growing crops in peri-urban and intra-urban zones, on otherwise neglected or half-built-up land, also protects and enriches the city environment while increasing the primary productivity of the inhabitants. Directly, or in more subtle ways, the practice strengthens bonds of friendship, and promotes inter-ethnic co-operation while at the same time helping to maintain biological complexity in interesting and previously unexplored ways. City farming may provide a context through which the urban poor can relate to debates about biodiversity.
Vocabulary Instruction: Effects on Word Knowledge and Reading Comprehension
Authors: Pany Darlene , Jenkins Joseph R. , Schreck Janice 
Published: April 2006

Three experiments were conducted to assess the effects of vocabulary instruction on word knowledge and reading comprehension. Treatments varied in the amount of direct instruction, ranging from meaning derivation from context to drill on synonyms. In Experiment 1, subjects were “average” fourth-grade readers, whereas subjects in Experiments 2 and 3 were learning disabled and remedial readers. Results of Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that the treatments were differentially effective in teaching synonyms for unfamiliar words. More meanings were acquired as a result of increased direct instruction. Average students learned some word synonyms under all conditions except a noninstructional control condition. However, learning disabled students acquired fewer meanings across all conditions and seemed to require more direct instruction in order to produce learning. In both experiments, procedures which were differentially effective in teaching synonyms also produced differential transfer to sentence comprehension. The third experiment examined the effect of vocabulary instruction on comprehension of connected discourse. Again, vocabulary training transferred to comprehension of single sentences; however, on two of three measures of passage comprehension no effects were observed that were attributable to vocabulary instruction.
Generalization of Creative Productive-Thinking Training to LD Students' Written Expression
Authors: Fortner Virginia L. 
Published: April 2006

This study examined whether intermediate-grade LD students could generalize creativity training to increase competency on a spontaneous writing task. The investigation used seven intact classrooms to analyze differences between groups on initial creative productive-thinking level, measured by Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) subtest Tin Can: Unusual Uses. Mean difference scores were compared for number of (a) words, (b) thought units, (c) subordinate clauses, (d) vocabulary, and (e) thematic maturity on the story subtest of the Test of Written Language (TOWL) given before and after training in New Directions in Creativity (NDC). A nonequivalent control-group design was used. Teachers administered the TTCT and TOWL pre- and posttests to 49 subjects in self-contained LD classrooms. Teachers of a 25-member experimental (E) group also conducted NDC intervention, including nonjudgmental brainstorming activities, three times per week for nine weeks. Analysis of covariance results revealed that, after creative productive-thinking training, the E group significantly improved (p < .05) in number of thought units, subordinate clauses, and thematic maturity. The results of this initial probe should impact upon training of teachers of LD students.
Linguistic and Metacognitive Aspects of Normally Achieving and Learning Disabled Children's Communication Process
Authors: Olsen Janet L. , Wong Bernice Y.L. , Marx Ronald W. 
Published: April 2006

This paper reports on two experiments which examined the linguistic and metacognitive aspects of the communication process in normally achieving and learning disabled children. In the first experiment, 15 normally achieving and 30 learning disabled children were individually taught a board game. Results showed that in communicating with a partner, learning disabled children were less aware of sociolinguistic strategy and used fewer planfulness strategies than their normally achieving peers. Moreover, they used substantially fewer tag questions, adverbs, and prepositional phrases. These results confirmed previous research findings on learning disabled children's communication problems. In the second experiment, 15 of the learning disabled children were trained to use sociolinguistic strategies of planfulness for one half hour a day for three days. The remaining 15 LD subjects engaged in an irrelevant task. Posttests followed training. To test for maintenance and generalization of learned skills, the trained group was asked to teach the board game and another game to a peer and a first grader four days after the posttest. Results indicated that training increased learning disabled children's sociolinguistic awareness and their use of sociolinguistic strategies of planfulness. Interestingly, the trained group's language increased in complexity after training. While use of pragmatic strategies was maintained, generalization of the trained skills and of the changes in linguistic complexity was not observed. Results suggest the need to continue research on learning disabled children's language problems and the importance of incorporating self-regulatory strategies in training programs designed to improve learning disabled children's communication skills.
Definition for Definitions of Learning Disabilities
Authors: Kavale Kenneth A. , Forness Steven R. , Lorsbach Thomas C. 
Published: April 2006

This article examines the problem of definition in learning disabilities. First, the focus is on the nature of definition. It is suggested that available definitions of LD are not real in the Aristotelian sense of providing an essence. Rather, they are best viewed as providing stipulative meaning by representing information agreed upon by particular groups. What is stipulated, however, cannot be considered either true or false but only useful for practical purposes. Practice requires operational definitions, which are also fraught with conceptual difficulties. Such difficulties are illustrated in a discussion of discrepancy. It is also suggested that operational definition is too narrowly focused and should be expanded by considering operational interpretations, based on the best available knowledge. Finally, an example is provided of how operational interpretations may be combined into a more comprehensive operational definition for classifying learning disabilities.
Interpersonal Problem Solving and Creativity in Boys with and Boys without Learning Disabilities
Authors: Shondrick Denise D. , Serafica Felicisima C. , Clark Philip , Miller Karen G. 
Published: April 2006

The present study compared the interpersonal problem-solving skills and creativity of 46 boys with (LD) and 46 boys without (NLD) learning disabilities. In addition, it examined the relationships between interpersonal problem solving and creativity. The Test of Interpersonal Problem Solving (TIPS), based on D'Zurilla and Goldfried's (1971) model of the interpersonal problem-solving process, and two measures of creativity — the Alternate Uses Test (AUT) and Eisen's Test of Remoteness (ETR) — were administered individually. LD students had significantly lower scores on Problem Formulation, Consequential Thinking, and Total Problem Solving Ability than their NLD peers. However, no group differences were noted on either the verbal (AUT) or the nonverbal (ETR) measure of creativity. Some significant relationships emerged among interpersonal problem solving and creativity scores.
Teaching Phonological Processing Skills in Early Literacy: A Developmental Approach
Authors: Vandervelden Margaretha C. , Siegel Linda S. 
Published: April 2006

This study evaluated an intervention to enhance early phonological processing skills and reading. Early phonological processing skills are strongly related to progress in early literacy and phonological processing deficits are found related to specific reading disability. Thirty children aged 5.1–6.0 (15 in each of two schools) were assigned to an experimental or control group and compared before and after a 12-week intervention on measures of phonological processing skills and reading. There were no pretreatment differences between groups. The experimental intervention was based on findings of (a) early developmental phases in phonological recoding, (b) reciprocal development between phoneme awareness and phonological recoding, and (c) reciprocal development between phonological processing skills and early reading. The instruction was designed to facilitate the gradually expanding use of letter-phoneme relationships in early reading and spelling. The results indicated that, at posttest, the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group on the measures of phonological processing skills and in reading. Intervention that includes teaching the sounds of letters and phoneme awareness as part of using letter-phoneme relationships in recognizing printed words, in spelling, and in reading (pronouncing words) appears to be effective for enhancing early reading and may possibly reduce the probability of subsequent reading disability.
An Outline of Early Man Studies in the United States
Authors: Wilmsen Edwin N. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractFluctuating modes of thought concerning the origins of the American Indians are traced from the time of the Spanish Conquest to the present. Early Man studies are related to the broader aspects of archaeology in Europe as well as in North America. Six periods are presented, in each of which different conceptions of Indian origins were dominant: (1) 1520-1780, (2) 1780-1859, (3) 1859-1890, (4) 1890-1925, (5) 1925-1950, (6) 1950-present. It is shown that developments in other fields of inquiry influenced the conceptions that evolved in each of these periods.