This study explores the relationship of the Outlyer/Maroon tradition and historical reality to the form and content of Michelle Cliffs novels Abeng and No Telephone to Heaven in order to demonstrate how a literary theory of Outlyerism derives from distinct aspects and phenomena of Outlyer/Maroon culture and tradition. The social, political, and military strategies used by Outlyers can be roughly grouped into eight categories: 1. Conjuring 2. Camouflage 3. Creolization 4. Rapid movements from one area to another 5. Military Ambush 6. Primacy of Elders 7. Primacy of Rituals 8. Use of communciative instruments in a network of military signification. While the Outlyers used these strategies as forms of resistance in an historical space to combat European hegemony and cultural imperialism, Cliff employs and manipulates them, figuratively, in the literary space towards the same end, such that these strategies become literary and historical tropes in her contouring of the form and content of her novels and give heightened import to the notion of creative resistance. The creation of a literary theory of Outlyerism was designed so that critics might reconfigure the ways in which black resistance and nation building are theorized and discussed. Situating Cliff's texts within the Outlyerist vein takes care, then, not to use theories of marginalization to center the very hegemonic systems which work to oppress minority groups.

This research examines the internal and external forces that motivated freeborn and emancipated black Georgians to emigrate to Africa during the African Colonization Movement, 1817-1860. Throughout the study, qualitative and quantitative data were used to analyze the reasons why antebellum black Georgians embraced the ideas of black expatriation. The qualitative data consisted of the writings of black opponents as well as the writings of the proponents of African colonization, including Georgia émigrés, and the agents of the American Colonization Society. The quantitative data consisted of the number of emigrants who resettled to Africa and their survival rate in the newly formed colony of Liberia. The conclusion suggests that the vast majority of black Georgians did not favor African colonization. Less than ten percent of the freeborn and emancipated black population in Georgia chose to resettle in Africa even though there were promises of political, religious, and economic independence and the promises of land and a free education. Key internal forces that motivated blacks to settle in Africa were the independence of Liberia in 1848 and the words expressed by black leaders and émigrés who espoused expatriation. The external forces were the American Colonization Society’s involvement in promoting the removal of free and emancipated blacks, and state laws that prevented blacks from possessing certain liberties or from integrating within the Anglo-American society. Other external forces in the study included the majority community’s fear of the free black population as well as John Brown’s 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry.

This study lays bare the inconsistencies in the United States of America’s Foreign Policy, and how it contributed to the longevity of apartheid in South Africa. Michael Mandelbaum opined that America’s foreign policy post-Cold War era drifted from containment to transformation.1 America became involved with transferring their democracy and constitutional order to the countries they entangled with in running those countries’ internal governance. Instead of war, America preached and practiced proper, organized governance. Thus, America’s foreign policy to Europe and Asia post-Cold War was all about democracy and protection of fundamental human rights. However, the role of America’s Foreign Policy in Africa took a turn in Africa, with Congo in 1960, Ghana in 1966 and Nigeria with their successive military regimes. This study intends to make sense of it all.

The novels written by Paule Marshall are examined chronologically to demonstrate how Africa functions and is represented in her works. Published interviews and essays by Marshall are also examined, as well as critical analysis of her works by scholars. Africa is present in Paule Marshall's novels through ritual, history, language, and myth. Paule Marshall's work demonstrates how Africanisms operate in the United States and in the Caribbean. She articulates the need for people throughout the African diaspora to confront and use the past as a vehicle for empowerment. Marshall's protagonists are women who find that when they confront the past not only do they better understand themselves as African people, but they also gain greater awareness of their womanhood. Marshall's female protagonists discover that their African identity and their female identity are intertwined.

This study discussed the significant link between Anna Julia Cooper's A Voice from the South (1892) and the work of twentieth-century, black, Southern women writers through their exploration of specific issues, black feminist theory, and the conditions under which they were written. This thesis was based on the premise that Cooper's text can provide clarification for contemporary black women's issues, show a continuum in the work of Southern writers, and prove that similar conditions exist today for black women as in the nineteenth century. Chapter One defines some of the similar issues found in Cooper's work and contemporary writings. Chapter Two discusses the intellectual discourse that commonly identifies these issues, and how they are addressed, within the canon of black feminist theory. Chapter Three clarifies why these issues, in general, have existed in the writings of black, Southern women writers for over a century. It examines their common denominators, Southern heritage and ideological hegemony; and their position in the African-American literary tradition.

The purpose of this research was to examine a classic text - DuBose Heyward's Porgy (1925) - associated with Southern Literature in relation to its connections to the Gullah culture and language. Close critical scrutiny was made of the 1925 text, two early manuscripts, manuscript fragments, revisions, research notes, and other personal papers from Heyward's estate. Access to these papers helped establish his influences and motivations in writing Porgy. Employing both linguistic and literary analyses, the findings establish the verisimilitude of Heyward's representation of the Gullah language, rhetorical patterns, culture, beliefs, and practices, linking Porgy to a Gullah literary tradition. Examination of Heyward's life and times reveals why Porgy sits squarely within the early 20th Century literary genre, African American Literary Realism and thematically anticipates the Harlem Renaissance period. Breaking the mold of the "old South" minstrel-syle depictions of black life, Heyward portrayed the Gullah people with integrity and respect.

Poor sexual health communication among first generation Nigerian American parents and their adolescent children due to disparities in cultural integration constitutes a barrier to effective parent-child relationships. The purpose of this phenomenological study, which was guided by the acculturative family distancing (AFD) model, was to explore the lived experience of Nigerian immigrant families in the United States regarding communication effectiveness about sex and integration into the American way of life. The research questions addressed cultural bias, parent-adolescent communication effectiveness, strategies employed, resources available to new immigrants, and barriers to their usage. Data collection was by individual interviews of 5 Nigerian-born parents and their adolescent children ages 13 to 17 years who have been in the United States for 10 years or more. Inductive analysis of qualitative data revealed challenges of parenting roles due to differences in cultural beliefs and parents' perceptions of their children's confrontational attitudes; parents' lack of knowledge about safe sex education methods and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases; Nigerian parents' authoritarian views; and parents' belief in the need to listen to the views of their children and relate more closely to them. Parents reported wanting to curtail children's rights, while children reported that their parents did not respect their opinion or privacy, which is a barrier to the cordial relationship they wanted. Most parents recommended orientation classes for parents to help resolve these issues and ease integration challenges. These results may inform policy on integration for new immigrants and promote strategies for improving effective parent-adolescent communication.

Despite abundant oil resources, the residents of the Niger Delta endure extreme poverty, polluted environments, poor infrastructure, and high unemployment. In the early 1990s, these problems led to a violent uprising against oil exploration. In 2009 the government of Nigeria attempted to end the uprising by implementing an amnesty program for the militants that was designed to address the region's problems. The amnesty program resulted in suspending the violence but so far has not resolved the region's problems. If these problems are not addressed, the uprising may resume. Although the Urhobo people comprised the largest number of militants from the Western Niger Delta, there has been no research on whether there are aspects of the Urhobo culture that may be helpful for strengthening the amnesty program and preventing a return to violence by Urhobo ex-militants. Benet's polarities of democracy model served as the theoretical framework for this ethnographic study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and observations of 20 Urhobo ex-militants to learn what might prevent their return to violence. Content analysis was used to identify significant themes. Findings indicated that aspects of the Urhobo culture, such as communal obligations, respect for elders, and commitment to social justice and equality, may contribute to strengthening the amnesty program and preventing a return to violence. Recommendations include incorporating meaningful participation of Urhobo elders in the further development and implementation of the amnesty program. Implications for social change include informing policy makers of the importance the Urhobo culture may play in strengthening the amnesty program.

The research problem is an analysis of the political evolution of Cameroon from a colony in 1884 to an independent state in 1961. It involves not only the transition of the country from a colony to an independent state per se, but also the various factors which kindled the rise of nationalism in the country. The problem is rendered more interesting and complex by the fact that the country had, at different times in its colonial history, been a German colony, as well as British and French colonies – although technically Britain and France administered their respective portions of the country first as mandates of the League of Nations and then as trusteeship territories of the United Nations Organization. In order to study the problem, an analysis of the political and economic policies of the colonizing powers in the country is imperative, since they were the determining factors which conditioned the country’s political destiny until 1961.

<p>In this study, I emphasize the agency of the Malian arabisant community (individuals usually trained in médersas who use Arabic as their first language of communication and who often identify first and foremost as Muslims) in creating, maintaining, and improving an education system which provides the tools needed for young Malians to be pious Muslims and productive citizens of the Republic of Mali. By creating an extensive médersa system over the years, in collaboration and confrontation with the successive governments in Mali and abroad, Malian arabisants have answered the need for a new definition of what it is to be a modern Muslim democrat in a secular democracy. I suggest that the specific formation of the educational system in Mali is related to the development of the uniquely Malian configuration of what it is to be an arabisant.</p> <p>I show how médersas have allowed and still encourage the development of a new mentality that gives Malian Muslims the tools necessary to re-define themselves in their own environment. Malian arabisants have reformulated their religious practice and sociability towards what has been called Islam mondain: a moralization of the mundane. One's energy is focused on morally purifying daily life in order to render it “islamically” sound while living in an environment that is not Islamic <em>per se</em>. It is an internalization of faith that allows the believer to enjoy the benefits of a rapidly modernizing environment by re-imagining both modernity and tradition as compatible and complementary. Islam mondain offers a model for virtuous socio-economic comfort, and an islamization of the benefits of globalization and modernization that renders them morally pure.</p> <p>This research thus contributes to the theoretical and anthropological study of Islam as a lived faith in a secular democracy; such a study is central to an understanding of the developing relationships between Islam, modernity, and secular democracy across the Muslim world. It also speaks to the very current issues faced by Muslims living in “Western” countries and vice versa. This research illustrates the agency of the Malian arabisants in defining their relationship to modernity and democracy, and thus engages with the variety of research that shows other Muslim communities in the world also engaged in such a re-definition of themselves and of their tradition.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)