This is study is grounded in an Africological cultural analysis of the imposition of western culture, its fixation on gun violence and its role in the dislocation of African American minds to perpetrate violent tendencies. I also want to do a synopsis of the current conditions in Philadelphia including current trends in gun violence, areas of concern in the city, and preventive measures that are in the works. I will incorporate afrocentric theories of cultural reorientation to suggest a restoration of an African identity and sanity through African humanity. Gun violence is the result of a misorientation of Black consciousness and the value of manhood. The narrative of white supremacy is to normalize the pathology of genocidal behavior and pathologize Africans’ response to the inherent trauma. Cheikh Ante Diop has been foundational in the works of the leading scholars of Afrocentricity. His work simply states that there are two cradles of civilization, the Southern cradle, represented by Africa, and the Northern cradle, represented by Europe. In their cultural analysis Molefi Kete Asante, Nah Dove, Ama Mazama, and Marimba Ani recognize culture as the return to an African framework for human development. The other tool of my research includes the psycho-analysis of scholars such as Wade Nobles, Amos Wilson, Na’im Akbar, and Francis Crest Welsing. Arab and European colonization and enslavement sought to destroy African values, self-images and self-concepts. The long and continuing history of the Maafa in the form of enslavement, racial terrorism, debt peonage, Jim Crow and state sanctioned violence has caused a distortion in the behavior of African Americans who have been dislocated from African origins and engage in anti-black criminal behavior. The violent black criminal associates with white criminal behavior and tries to emulate it on a smaller scale. The code of the street and street culture is a result of the violet climate that Philadelphia has exhibited throughout its history, that has become common practice in African American communities. Self-hatred and self-alienation are a feature of dislocation, which calls for a culturally restorative therapeutic process. House of Umoja’s history of curbing gun violence utilizing African-centered principles have met with success in the past and is being utilized to work in future intervention models. Cultural socialization involves messages and practices that coincide with a racial identity and starts with the family. Aside from being a provider in a family, the mother is the primary family member for socializing the child. The need for a violence intervention that includes Afrocentricity is paramount to cultural reorientation and spiritual renewal. From a cultural paradigm racial identity divides human beings in to categories based on melanin content with a hierarchy of lighter skin on the top and darker skin on the bottom and everyone else in between. This work hopes to advance that culture defines humanity, and that a cultural orientation can direct organizations to produce more culture oriented ideas and processes that reconnects humanity to historically African values and beliefs before subjugation. Africology as a discipline seeks to reclaim classical African culture to educate future generations and for organizations to practice culture enriching activities. White nationalism has projected a false image of their superiority and African inferiority. This has impacted African families which is often the central model for the community. / African American Studies

<p> The Chinese presence in Africa is an increasingly notable phenomenon in the past two decades. Based on the ethnographic data from a fieldwork conducted in Zambia, this dissertation documented the migratory experience of new Chinese migrants to Zambia, which is a non-traditional destination country for this group. The new Chinese migrants include the SME (small and medium sized enterprises) migrants who are self-employed businessmen and the SOE (state-owned enterprises) migrants who are affiliated with large-scale state-owned Chinese companies. This study explores Chinese migrants&rsquo; migratory motivation, settlement, life satisfaction, and inter-ethnic social encounter with the local Zambians. </p><p> Moreover, this dissertation discusses health and health management strategies among ethnic Chinese migrants in Zambia. By examining the influence of migration processes on Chinese migrants&rsquo; health and health management in Zambia, this study further investigates how health inequality amongst Chinese migrants is shaped by structural factors as well as individual agency. My research reveals that despite the existence of various healthcare options, Chinese migrants&rsquo; healthcare seeking is restricted by multiple factors including their employment patterns, the availability of their social capital, and even the legality of their immigration status. </p><p> This research seeks to expand the existing empirical knowledge of contemporary Chinese migrants in sub-Saharan Africa, a relatively understudied and undertheorized topic in the broader migration literature. It also endeavors to broaden our knowledge of the intersection between migration and health, a subject that is beginning to draw attention within medical anthropology. </p>

<p> This dissertation focuses on the artwork of J.B. Murray, an African American artist from Mitchell, Georgia. The goal of this dissertation is to explore J.B. Murray&rsquo;s production of protective scripts and spirit figures. Murray created art works that served as the conduit for spiritual healing or protection between his God, his ancestral energies and the recipients or viewers of his work. </p><p> Protection through writing is both an Islamic and indigenous African tradition. Art Historians, after seeing Murray&rsquo;s work, called it masterful art. It is my contention that Murray possessed knowledge that, unbeknownst to him or his ancestors, was passed along to him by his African ancestors. This knowledge is also seen in the work of other African and African American artists in this dissertation, which shows continuity across a wider group as opposed to just one artist. </p><p> Finally, a parallel is draw with African protector and healer, Serigne Bousso, from Touba, Senegal. Murray&rsquo;s experience of visions and protective and healing work parallels the experience of Serigne Bousso within the last 30 years. This parallel is significant in making the connection between Murray, in Georgia, and the possible West African source for his knowledge of visions and protective signs.</p>

<p> Many researchers have documented the trend of decreasing financial support from donors for human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) responses in Ethiopia. Less information is available regarding the correlation between trends of HIV prevalence and external funding and ways to address the impact that funding scarcity could cause. The purpose of this study was to examine the trend of HIV prevalence and donor funding levels, analyzing how the 2 are correlated, and opportunities to improve responses. Using the proximate determinant framework, the research questions examined the changes in HIV prevalence in Ethiopia during the past 10 years; the association between the trends of HIV prevalence, funding levels, and services provided; and the effect of different characteristics on the trend of the prevalence. A paired sample t-test, time series forecasting, Pearson correlation, chi-square test, and multiple regression were employed using a secondary data of sampled 1,067 people from the Demographic and Health Surveys and data from donors. Results indicated that the change in prevalence was statistically significant (<i>t</i> [10] = 4.59, p = .001), and correlated with the funding levels(r (10) = .635*, p = .027), a significant relationship between funding level and type of services, &chi;² (2, N = 1067) = 1425.7, p &lt; .001 and a significant regression equation to predict HIV prevalence (F (9, 1056) = 12.639, p &lt; .001). The results from this study could be used to inform the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia and HIV project implementers to plan for domestic sustainable financing initiatives, invest based upon evidence-based HIV prevention strategies that could most directly impact quality of life and guide future research.</p><p>

<p> Precipitation and land cover in the West African Sahel have changed dramatically over the past 50 years. Region-wide data on land cover change in the Sahel, however, have been sparse or unreliable. I present a new 30 meter 2000&ndash;2016 annual resolution land cover dataset for the West African Sahel. The product is built from hand-classified land cover maps using random forest machine learning methods with Landsat, precipitation, and topography features. The resulting maps confirm the widespread extensification of agriculture in the region over this time period. Contrary to the common narrative of desertification, this increase in agriculture has not been accompanied by an increase in bare soil or sandy area. Land cover change volatility is shown to be spatially heterogeneous, both at local and regional scales. In addition to the new land cover dataset, I present spatial and temporal analyses of precipitation during the recent years of increased variability in the West African Sahel. I examine seasonal trends, interannual variability, and differences among datasets representing precipitation in the Sahel. Region-wide spatial organization of precipitation is identified using the self-organizing mapping pattern recognition technique. The number of days spent in the monsoon transition period is strongly negatively correlated with annual precipitation anomaly` indicating a tradeoff with the peak monsoon period, a result that supports the upped-ante hypothesis of precipitation in the Sahel.</p><p>

This thesis investigates, theoretically and empirically, the impact of FDA and privatization on economic growth in Egypt and identifies the channels through which FDI affects economic growth over the period 1970-2015. In addition, the thesis investigates the impact of corruption on FDI in Egypt over the period 1970-2015. The literature survey in chapter two argues that both FDI and privatization increase the rate of economic growth, while corruption has a negative impact on FDI. After reviewing institutional and regulatory frameworks of FDI and privatization in Egypt in chapter three, the econometric framework of cointegration and error correction mechanism are used in chapter four to capture the linkages between FDI, privatization and economic growth in Egypt. Our results reveal that privatization has a positive effect on the long run economic growth in Egypt. The effect of FDI on economic growth, however, depends on the sectoral distribution of these FDI inflows. FDI inflows have a positive impact on the short run economic growth in Egypt. However, in the long run, FDI inflows indicate a negative, yet limited, impact on the economic growth as FDI inflows are concentrated in the primary sector, mainly the petroleum sector. Thus, we conclude that the focus of FDI policies in Egypt is misspecified. The challenge should not only be to attract FDI, but also to derive macroeconomic benefits from FDI by focusing on the sectors that derive positive spillovers of FDI. Finally, the determinants of FDI in Egypt are identified in chapter five to explore how corruption affects FDI inflows. The time series framework of cointegration and error correction mechanism are applied. Our results indicate a positive yet insignificant relationship between FDI and corruption in Egypt. Since corruption is not found to hinder FDI inflows, treating corruption should be based on sound legal procedures that infringe neither the freedom of FDI nor on the degree of openness of the economy, which are the real stimulants of FDI in Egypt.

South African social relations in the second decade of democracy remain framed by race. Spatial and social lived realities, the continued importance of belonging – to feel part of a community, mean that identifying as ‘coloured’ in South Africa continues to be contested, fluid and often ambiguous. This thesis considers the changing social location of ‘coloured’ teachers through the narratives of former and current teachers and students. Education is used as a site through which to explore the wider social impacts of social and spatial engineering during and subsequent to apartheid. Two key themes are examined in the space of education, those of racial identity and of respect. These are brought together in an interwoven narrative to consider whether or not ‘coloured’ teachers in the post-apartheid period are respected and the historical trajectories leading to the contemporary situation. Two main concerns are addressed. The first considers the question of racial identification to constructions of self-identity. Working with post-colonial theory and notions of mimicry and ambivalence, the relationship between teachers and the identifier ‘coloured’ is shown to be problematic and contested. Second, and connected to teachers’ engagement with racialised identities, is the notion of respect. As with claims to identity and racial categorisation, the concept of respect is considered as mutable and dynamic and rendered with contextually subjective meanings that are often contested and ambivalent. Political and social changes affect the context within which relations to identities are constructed. In South Africa, this has shaped a shift away from the struggle ideology of non-racialism and the respect that could be accrued through this. This process also complicated the status recognition respect historically associated with teaching. As local, national and global contexts have shifted and processes of globalisations have impacted upon cultural and social capital, the prestige and respect of teaching have changed. Appraisal respect has become increasingly important, and is influencing contested concepts of respect and identity. As these teachers exert claims to identities which include assertions of belonging in relation to race and attempts to earn respect, these processes are shown to be elusive and ambiguous. As a trans-disciplinary thesis, this work is located at the intersection of, and between, geography, education, history, anthropology, politics and sociology. Utilising a wide range of materials, from documentary sources, archives, participant observation, interviews and life histories, a multilayered story is woven together. The work’s originality stems from this trans-disciplinary grounding and its engagement with wide ranging theoretical approaches. This thesis argues that the lived experience of educators reflects the ambiguous and contentious experience of ‘coloureds’ in Cape Town. Drawing upon wider literature and debate, the contested location of education – its commodification – in South Africa reflects broader concerns of educationalists in the North and South, and is imbued within concerns over development and sustainability.

The discovery of oil has been identified as both a blessing and a curse for Nigeria. While oil revenue has been a blessing to the country, the failure of oil companies to be socially responsible to their host communities has been a source of numerous crises in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. Earlier studies have enriched our knowledge on how corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be used to benefit host communities, but how corporate social responsibility and the stakeholder approach can be used to prevent these crises have received little attention in the literature. Thus, this study contributes to knowledge by investigating the effect of corporate social responsibility and stakeholder management on corporate social performance. This research adopted a quantitative approach method, and survey was developed based on the existing scales of corporate social responsibility measurement. Two different sets of questionnaires were administered to 160 employees of the big four multinational oil companies in Nigeria and 225 members of the host communities in the Niger-Delta area. A hundred and forty-six questionnaires were returned from each of the two sets of respondents. These questionnaires were analysed using Partial Least Square and descriptive statistics. The results of the analyses revealed that a strong relationship exists between compliance to industry standards and environmental performance evidence from employees of multinational oil companies. While the results showed that a weak relationship exists between compliance to industry standards and environmental performance based on the response from the host communities. The results also showed that a strong relationship exists between corporate legitimacy and community relations from both the employees of multinational oil companies and host communities. Furthermore, the results revealed that a strong relationship exists between corporate legitimacy and community perception from both stakeholders. In addition, there is also a strong relationship between regulatory infractions and environmental performance from the results of the two main stakeholders. The results also indicated that a strong relationship exists between CSR initiatives and community relations for the two main stakeholders. However, the results revealed that a weak relationship exists between CSR initiatives and community perception from both groups of stakeholders. Another contribution of this stufy to knowledge is the corporate social responsibility and corporate social performance measures used in this research. While existing measurements of corporate social responsibility in the literature have combined all the variables, this study separated them into various dimensions, to ensure easier adaptability for other studies. This study is a set of possible ideals, practicable and feasible concerns corporate social responsibility (CSR) measures. In addition, this study is a response to a prolonged and contested problem of appropriate measurement of corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, this gap in the literature led to development of a more robust conceptual model of a reflective construct of corporate social responsibility and corporate social performance that in some respects differ from existing conceptual model of corporate social responsibility. Therefore, this research recognised the attempt by previous studies on development of corporate social responsibility measurement model. Still, this study proposed agenda and scope of corporate social responsibility, as well as the measures used to implement corporate social responsibility via the reflective construct for the oil companies' operationalisation in Nigeria.

Unemployment and underemployment, particularly among the youth, are serious concerns to governments across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Fifteen years on from the World Conference on Education For All (EFA) in Jomtien, EFA policies have started to result in some of the largest cohorts of primary school leavers ever witnessed in many parts of SSA. This is occurring at a time when SSA’s formal sector is unable to generate sufficient formal employment and income opportunities. The great majority of all school leavers, therefore, are obliged to enter the informal, micro-enterprise economy, urban and rural, and receive informal training in traditional apprenticeships and/or through other on-the-job means. However the links between education, training and enterprise are still poorly understood. This study presents an investigation into how young people construct and are able to navigate these pathways to informal self-employment in rural Ghana by acquiring skills and schooling from multiple sources, and through seeking assistance from informal networks. It makes a contribution not only to understanding the transition from training to self-employment, but also to the nature of the rural informal sector in Ghana. This study examines three types of skills training provision; on-the-job apprenticeship training, short-term modular training and longer-term pre-employment training, examining both the delivery context of these different training modalities, as well as the graduates’ labour market outcomes. The analysis is based on 12 months fieldwork in rural Ghana in 2004 and 2005 during which time multiple approaches were used to uncover these skill-to-work pathways; tracer studies with 162 vocational training graduates, semi-structured interviews with 160 apprentices and a household survey capturing data on 147 youth. Furthermore, retrospective interviews with 114 enterprise owners were conducted to better understand pathways to informal self-employment and the multiple occupational realities, or occupational pluralism, of many of those in this rural African economy. This data suggests that the school-skill-enterprise relationship is highly dependent on the delivery context of training as well as the type of enabling or disabling environments within which the training is translated into employment outcomes. This study also includes an analysis of the long history of Ghana’s skills development policies and practice - up to 2006. This is integrated with a discussion on the wider environment within which skills are delivered, particularly the labour market, and how this impacts on the employment opportunities of technical and vocational education and training graduates in Ghana.

This thesis investigates the macroeconomic effects of domestic oil prices and international crude oil prices in Ghana. We investigate the ability of oil prices to influence economic growth in Ghana using annual data from 1971 to 2014. We also examine the possibility of shock spillover and volatility spillover effects from domestic and crude oil prices to the Ghana currency exchange rates and the Ghana stock market index using monthly data from January 1991 to December 2015. To conduct these investigations, this study employed various econometric techniques including; unit root testing, cointegration testing, vector autoregressive model (VAR), structural VAR (SVAR), vector error correction model (VECM), scenario-based dynamic forecasting, the autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) specification, and the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) BEKK model. Overall, this study seeks to address two central issues; i) whether domestic and world oil prices have the same effect on economic activities and financial variables in Ghana, and ii) whether the crude oil price and the macro economy relationship in Ghana is related to the treatment of crude oil prices as exogenous or endogenous. It is important to recognize the exogeneity of crude oil prices in the context of Ghana given the relatively small size of the Ghanaian economy. The findings suggest that the international crude oil price movements have an insignificant effect on output growth in Ghana both in the short run and in the long, regardless of whether the crude oil price is treated as exogenous or endogenous. However, domestic oil prices have a significant effect on the output growth rate only in the long run. The findings also indicate that world crude oil prices have significant spillover effects on the exchange rate, and this result is unaffected by the treatment of world crude oil prices as exogenous or endogenous. However, the relationship between crude oil prices and the Ghana stock market depends on whether the crude oil price is exogenous or endogenous. In addition, domestic oil prices have significant spillover effects on the exchange rate and the stock market. Domestic oil prices are also found to have more influence on the stock market than crude oil prices do. The results of this study have some implications for the government and investors; (i) Increases in crude oil prices do not put a binding constraint on the monetary authorities to loosen monetary policy to offset its effect on output. If inflation is a priority, policy makers could focus on inflation stabilization by tightening monetary policy during oil price rises. (ii) The government?s tax policies on petroleum products should not only be focused on revenue generation, but also on ensuring that such policies do not lead to exorbitant domestic oil prices since higher taxes on petroleum products will increase domestic oil prices which can be detrimental to the economy in the long term. (iii) The government should formulate transport-related policies such as promoting mass transportation or encouraging the use of electrically powered vehicles. The government can also encourage the use of renewable energy such as solar to help reduce the country?s dependence on oil (iv) Internationally diversified portfolio investors in Ghana should use hedging strategies such as currency forwards, futures, and options to protect their investments from exchange rate risk emanating from oil price shocks.