This dissertation examines the colonies of Sierra Leone and Liberia, settlements established by British and American anti-slavery societies respectively. It looks at cultural institutions, settler identification, commercial networks, and missionary activity between Liberia's founding in the 1820s and the beginning of the American Civil War and British annexation of Lagos in 1861. This dissertation argues that the development of settler society in Sierra Leone and Liberia led to the formation of certain types of relationships between the colonies and between the colonies and the metropoles that contributed to the perception of the viability of colonization as an anti-slavery intervention tool in the metropolitan context. The settlers were crucial in developing the concept of `civilization, commerce, and Christianity' as a set of measures for abolishing the slave trade, but their ability to pursue these measures was also affected by the changing state of anti-slavery activism in the metropoles. This dissertation uses a comparative approach to the colonies in order to fill gaps in the current literature, which neglects the interactive nature of the colonial relationships, and therefore misses a crucial factor in explaining the divisions in and between the antislavery societies. Despite the British and American anti-slavery colonization organizations' similar goals, they were frequently unable to cooperate or share resources, particularly in slave trade suppression, or in support of West African anti-slavery colonization. This was in part because of commercial, territorial, and anti-slavery `humanitarian expansion' by settlers in Sierra Leone and Liberia which fostered rivalry between the two settler societies and their metropolitan supporters

This thesis is a study of social and political relations on the Niger Bend in the century after the Moroccan conquest of the Songhay Empire in 1591. The first section discusses the primary and some of the secondary sources used in the study. Part 1, deals with the ecology of the Niger Bend and the background to the conquest. Chapter One examines the boundaries of desert, river, sahel and savanna and the physical limitations climate and geography placed on transport of goods, men and information. Chapter Two considers the ecology of the region: first in general, as it affected the life of the various ethnic and occupational groups, where the question of identity or fluidity of the ethnic group becomes a theme; then in greater detail as each of the main regions of the area is examined as a historical and geographical entity. The Third Chapter looks at the Songhay and Moroccan background to the conquest with an emphasis on the military organization of both sides. In Part II, I consider the formal history and structure of the pashalik from the conquest in 1591 to around 1700. Chapter Four is primarily on the events of the first decade, the fall of the Songhay state, the limits placed on the development of the pashalik by the early campaigns and the factors which made it possible to remain in existence. Chapter Five examines the administrative structure of the state in the context of the boundaries already drawn for the pashalik by limitations on manpower and the process by which Moroccans, Moriscos and Renegades became Arms; inasmuch as the purpose of the pashalik was to tap the wealth of the Sudan, taxation and booty are considered as alternative sources of wealth or mainsprings of political action. Chapter Six carries the history of the pashalik in relation to its immediate neighbours up to the the period of Tuareg incursions at the end of the century; the history of the pashalik auggests that, though a military state, war was not generally fought for economic benefit. Chapter Seven examines the question of state structure in specific relation to the tibshýit, i. e. the powers and methods of choosing a pasha, the problem faced by the pashalik in the Sudanese context of the need to legitimize its power, the attempts over the period to set up new forms of power structure and the factors behind their failure. Part III examines new economic and social trends over the period. In Chapter Eight which deals with the Trans- Saharan trade the old concepts of what happened to trade in the seventeenth century is reexamined; in particular a new periodization is suggestedy specifically, a crisis and shift of trade routes away from the Niger Bend in the middle of the century, followed by a revival after around 1660. In Chapter Nine, this periodization is related to cycles of drought and climatic change over the period, the rise of new nomad confederations, their increasing encroachment an the sedentary areas of the Niger Bend and, the beginnings of the organization of a 'pillage mode of production', an economy based on systematised plunder, an the Niger Bend. The last chapter deals with the of the Arma as an ethnic group becoming more directly involved in land and trade and examines the phenomenon of banditry. A final section considers more generally the interrelationship between Arma and Songhay.

No description available.

The Niger River Valley in the Republic of Benin is an archaeologically rich landscape, where hundreds of sites line the river’s tributaries. Before this doctoral research was conducted in the region, the landscape here was a terra-incognita. In order to archaeologically investigate the area, several methods were used consisting of a field walking survey, and the use of satellite remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). An integration of these methods, which are commonly used in research out of Africa, showed the diverse nature of archaeology in this region. The field walking survey revealed the position of over 300 sites and around 50,000 material culture artefacts, comprising of mainly ceramic vessel sherds. The field survey was undertaken over 45 days and covered a total area of 25km2 within four geographical zones in the study area. A comprehensive gazetteer was produced from the data collected. Remote sensing methods that manipulate multispectral satellite imagery were used to identify sites from the air, because the archaeology of this region is not visible from standard air photographs. The mapping of sites using GIS facilitated in establishing fundamental landscape patterns, which helped substantiate theories surrounding West African urbanism and human-environment interactions. The results conveyed that settlements in this region favour areas where water is available, mainly close to perennial and ephemeral fluvial systems. Furthermore, the archaeological sites identified display strong evidence of spatial clustering, which has been shown in other West African contexts to be indicative of early urbanisation.

This thesis is a response to the critics of the pioneering novelist Edgar Mittelholzer whose second novel was instrumental in paving the way for other Caribbean novelists during the 1950s. Critics of Mittelholzer have accused him of fascism, racism, an unhealthy interest in sexually sensationalist topics and death. He has until the recent centenary of his birth been marginalised and understudied. The first chapter of this thesis outlines the areas of study that have thus far been focused on and explores the underlying methods and theoretical framework of this thesis. The second chapter focuses on the author’s background, career and contribution to the Caribbean. The third explores the genesis of Mittelholzer’s creativity with a view to revealing how intertextuality is key to an understanding of his novels. It also discusses his creative use of the Middle Eastern notion of the Jinnee. The fourth chapter offers a critical analysis of The Life and Death of Sylvia and demonstrates how Mittelholzer employed the themes of sex, race and death. The fifth Chapter establishes that the texts of Yogi Ramacharaka were his primary source of inspiration and that Mittelholzer’s novels can be best understood in terms of the Oriental Occultist’s teachings. The sixth chapter explores Mittelholzer’s racial identity and finds that his mixed ancestry was a key source of creative inspiration. The final chapter concludes that further research is needed into his work and that an exploration of the intertextual references serves to clarify the author’s objectives.

This research looks at the textuality of hiplife – the Ghanaian version of hip hop – by investigating the hiplife discursive and non discursive practices. The thesis is that hiplife is a major platform for Ghanaian youth cultural expression. I choose the qualitative methodology because it meets the subtle demand of an enquiry on expressive culture like hiplife. Using focus group discussion, interviews and participant observation to collect data from the whole country with emphasis on the four main cities, the research analyses transcribed data and comes up with various findings. These include the fact that hiplife started with the quest of Ghanaian youth for a syncretic culture, the combination of local and foreign cultures, mediated by DJs, artistes and sites. It also reveals that it is the rhythm of the Akan drum language that provides the rhythmic complexion of hiplife. Again, as a platform for youth expression, hiplife expresses new values – new social truths, a common destiny and protest against hegemony. Furthermore, hiplife appropriates the “looking glass” concept to circulate its cultural expression and ideologies in and out of Ghana. Such a visibility is also taken advantage of by the Ghanaian women to address their gender concerns.

No description available.

In this thesis, I develop a lexicon-syntactic study about the internal structure of the personal pronouns in Brazilian Portuguese (henceforth BP), aiming the investigation of which the formative features of a pronoun in BP are and their relationship with the syncretism phenomenon. Empirically, I show a description of the internal structure of the personal pronouns in BP, showing that the traditional φ-features which build a pronoun (person, number and gender) are actually categories which bare more elemental features which define the content and the shape of a pronoun. More elementary component structures of the categories person, number and gender are able to describe satisfactorily the pronoun paradigm in BP. Therefore, the different pronouns (and their syntactic roles) can be described through their inner composition, holding some features, such as [SPECIFIC], once considered out of their structure. Theoretically, I define which elementary formative features that form a pronoun are, how this composition is made and which its syntactic consequences are. To do so, I adopt a feature geometry developed based on Harley & Ritter (2002) and Béjar (2003)`s proposals. I assume, then, that the pronoun formative features obey a hierarchy which is based on underspecification. The φ-theory proposed by Béjar (2003; 2008) supports adequately the pronoun compositionality developed for BP. Likewise, decomposition for Case categories is made as an optimal solution for Case configuration, which takes into account evidence from languages like English and BP, which present Case differences only in their personal pronouns. Case, then, is treated geometrically, analogue to that proposed to φ-features. As a result, Case categories in BP obey the geometry [C[OBL[GEN][ABL]]]. A value mechanism for these features is proposed also analogue to the one for φ-features. / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Nesta tese, desenvolvo um estudo lexico-sintático sobre a estrutura interna dos pronomes pessoais em Português Brasileiro (doravante PB), visando investigar quais são os traços formativos do pronome em PB e sua relação com o fenômeno do sincretismo. Empiricamente, apresento uma descrição da estrutura interna dos pronomes pessoais em PB, mostrando que os tradicionais traços φ (pessoa, número e gênero) componentes destes pronomes são na verdade elementos categoriais que comportam traços mais elementares os quais definem tanto o conteúdo quanto a forma do pronome. Estruturas componentes mais atômicas das categorias pessoa, número e gênero são capazes de descrever satisfatóriamente o paradigma pronominal em PB. Assim, os diferentes pronomes (e os papéis que eles desempenham na sintaxe) podem ser descritos através de sua composição interna, compreendendo alguns traços, como [SPECIFIC], por exemplo, outrora considerados externos ao conjunto de traços φ. Teoricamente, defino quais são estes traços formativos mais elementares que compõem o pronome, como esta composição é feita e quais são seus reflexos sintáticos. Para tal, adoto uma geometria de traços desenvolvida com bases nas propostas de Harley & Ritter (2002) e Béjar (2003). Assumo, portanto, que os traços formativos do pronome seguem uma hierarquia e esta se dá com bases na subespecificação. A proposta de uma teoria φ, de Béjar (2003; 2008), suporta adequadamente a composicionalidade pronominal desenvolvida para o PB. Da mesma maneira, uma decomposição das categorias de Caso é feita como uma solução ótima para a configuração de Caso, levando em conta principalmente evidências de línguas como o inglês e o PB, que apresentam diferenças Casuias apenas em seus pronomes pessoais. Caso, portanto, é tratado a partir de uma geometria de traços, análoga àquela proposta para os trços φ. Assim, as categorias de Caso para o PB obedecem a geometria [C[OBL[GEN][ABL]]]. Um mecanismo de valoração destes traços é proposto também análogo àquele proposto para os traços φ.

This thesis intervenes in one of the most prominent recent debates in development theory – that between post-development theorists and their critics – and brings to it insights drawn from the experiences of a Senegalese non-governmental organisation, Enda Graf Sahel. I begin by providing a critical discussion of the post-development debate and then detail the question which guides this investigation, namely: how can we, the relatively privileged, respond meaningfully to poverty and injustice in the light of the post-development debate? I present three possible responses to my research question. Firstly, I argue that the relatively privileged have a role to play in rethinking the concepts of ‘poverty’ and ‘injustice’. Secondly, I discuss the kinds of support that we may provide to popular organisations; and finally, I describe ways in which those of us who are relatively privileged may change aspects of our own lives and settings in solidarity with the struggles of the poor and oppressed. Throughout, I draw extensively both on the post-development debate and on the experiences and insights of Enda Graf Sahel to show how we can move past a simple defence or rejection of post-development theory in order to meaningfully respond to poverty and injustice.

Using wide-ranging literature and theoretical concepts published digitally and in print, this thesis will build the emerging picture of African literature in English that is being published in the digital space. The study will analyse the technological production of classed and sexualised bodies in new African writing in cyberspace by some of the young writers from Nigeria and Kenya, as well as writing from a few of their contemporaries from other African countries. This thesis will also analyse the differences between the agenda of the previous generation – including representation and perspectives - and that of a new generation in cyberspace. In the process, I hope to show how literature in cyberspace is asking questions as much of psychic landscapes as of the material world. To my knowledge, there is no substantive literary study done so far that contextualizes this digital experience.