This thesis examined the motif of madness in four literary works by Africana women: Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Myriam Warner-Vieyra’s Juletane, Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, and Bessie Head’s A Question of Power. The study was based on the premise that Africana women’s literature serves a receptive purpose. The primary goal was to demonstrate fictionalized madness as a social metaphor and to show how it relates to the existential realities of black women. A deconstructionist approach was used to analyze the four novels, and, a convergence of feminist and Afrocentric theories was used to unearth the diverse realities of black women. This writer found that in each novel female protagonists were driven mad due to the oppressive forces in their societies. In their journeys through madness, they attempted to redefine their self-identities. The outcomes of these journeys ranged from fatal to successful. The conclusions drawn from this study suggests that there are universal truths in the lives of black women, evidenced by the common themes in Africana women’s literature.

The voices of youth are typically absent in research on African communities. The assumption is that children are not really active subjects, and that adults can speak and act on their behalf. This study addresses the walls of silence between children and parents; teachers and learners and between boys and girls, on matters of gender, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. Within these walls, youth construct and re-construct their roles as either feminine or masculine. We see them challenging social constructs and reclaiming their voices and their right to be heard as experts about their own gendered and sexual lives. Using interviews and focus group discussions, a tri-site study was carried out in Kenya, and the findings presented illustrate how boys and girls construct their identities, negotiating, adapting to and resisting common articulations of masculinity and femininity. It demonstrates why it is wrong to constantly associate gender with women and girls, focusing on masculinity and femininity, not in isolation of each other, but as relational identities which derive their meaning from each other. "Breaking Silence" focuses on gender, sexuality and HIV/AIDS risk amongst youth, demonstrating how youth can empower themselves to steer their agenda and articulate what it means to be particular boys or girls, while developing strategies to deal with their issues.

Bank, mortgage and insurance redlining, as an extension of institutional racism, has been detrimental to the development of African American communities. Racism has always existed as a negative force in the lives of African Americans and has historically been observed with relative ease. Today, racism continues to hamper the social, political and economic advancement of African Americans but it has become highly sophisticated and less visible, making it much more difficult to detect by its victims. This difficulty in detection has caused confusion in the problem-solving efforts of those concerned with the decline of African American neighborhoods. This study discusses the impact of redlining in six Atlanta communities, first by analyzing the ideology responsible for the practice of racism; second, by discussing how racism has become institutionalized; and last, by examining redlining’s role in community housing markets and household finance. The research pinpoints particular indicators of neighborhood decline, such as homeownership, vacancy, abandonment and property value. Then the relationship between the redlining and decline, reflected in the behavior of the indicators, is exposed. The study found that redlining, in spite of legislation to stop it, continues to stunt the growth of African American communities. Specifically, its practice results in fewer new homes, more residents forced to rent, more vacancies and lower relative property value. These factors combine to generate a process of decline in African American neighborhoods over time.

This study examines the oral traditions of African American children through their games and play activities. It is comprised of a thorough analysis of the historical literature on African American folk song and dance for a solid background into contemporary African American expressions of music and movement. The thesis is based on the assumption that African Americans' oral traditions, although definitely affected by experiences of acculturation and enslavement, are still rich with their African heritage and are uniquely theirs. The bulk of the thesis is dedicated to examining the collected games and plays of African Americans, both from printed and recorded sources and from field research. Plays dating from slavery to the present are included and provide for excellent comparison between the two. The conclusions after detailed examination show that many of the games have survived generations of cultural transmission and are still popular today.

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The conflicts of cultures are one of the most conspicuous elements that dominate the African novel of 1950 and 1960. In Chapter I, Chinua Achebe (of Nigeria) is represented by his early three novels only, Things Fall Apart, No Longer at East and Arrow of God. In these three books, the conflicts are basically cultural. For Achebe’s main concern is to defend and correct the African cultural image which has been stained and misunderstood as a result of a foreign occupation. In addition, Achebe has dealt with other minor conflicts, such as religion, politics, education, individual and collective conflicts, war, and tribal conflicts. All these elements are carefully handled through characterizations, themes and language. Chapter II deals with Cheikh Hamidou Kane's (of Senegal) only novel, L'Aventure Ambigue. Here the conflicts of cultures are primarily based upon the Islamic teaching that desperately conflicts with the rational and materialistic French system of education. Unlike Achebe, Kane has handled the cultural clashes through a philosophical medium. Chapter III is devoted to the Cameroonian novelist, Ferdinand Oyono. In his novels, Une Vie de Boy, Le Vieux Négre et La Médaille and Chemin d’Europe, the conflicts of cultures are focused on the hypocrisy of the Christian church and its missionaries, the French officers, and especially the French policy of assimilation. Unlike both Achebe and Kane, Oyono has chosen laughter and satire as a medium for his writing. Despite all of their differences, Achebe, Kane and Oyono have written successful novels out of the conflicts of cultures.

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Black Studies programs are disappearing on college campuses. There is a need to know why these programs are being phased out of school curriculums. Two contributing factors leading to the disappearance of Black Studies are: the lack of student enrollment, and the cutback in the government education budget. A two-part survey was used to obtain an idea of what students think about Black Studies and if they consider them important. The result of the survey indicates that students know the importance of Black Studies but enroll in programs that may offer better financial stability.