Thèse de doctorat : Sciences du langage : Rennes 2 : 2009. Thèse de doctorat : Sciences du langage : Université de Lomé (Togo) : 2009. / Thèse soutenue en co-tutelle. Titre provenant de la page de titre du document numérisé. Bibliogr. f. 366-377. Annexes (corpus de contes).

Zugl.: Bonn, Univ., Diss., 2009

Examensarbete.

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2008.

Diss. Amsterdam : University, 2009. / DVD title: If you do good : beach seine fishing in Ghana.

The borders of the twenty-first century come in many forms and are performed by an increasing number of actors in a broad variety of places, both within and beyond the territories of nation-states. This thesis sets out a detailed political geography of how borders operate to reconcile the often conflicting demands of open markets and security. Focusing on Ghana, where there is a widespread fear that the inflow of Chinese versions of African prints will lead to the collapse of the local textile industry, the study explores where and when borders are enforced, who performs them and what kinds of borders are enacted in order to maintain and protect the Ghanaian nation and market without compromising the country’s status as a liberal economy. It combines interviews and documentary sources with analysis drawn from border, security and migration studies to explore three sets of spatial strategies that have defined the Ghanaian approach to the perceived threat of Chinese African prints. They are the institution of a single corridor for African print imports, the anti-counterfeiting raids carried out in Ghana’s marketplaces, and the promotion of garments made from locally produced textiles as office wear through the National Friday Wear and Everyday Wear programmes. These strategies stretch, disperse and embody the borders of the state or nation to control trade in ways that resolve the fears of both open flows and closed borders. This thesis thus seeks to show how a geographical analysis can clarify the specificities of how borders now work to control mobility. In doing so, it not only unsettles conventional assumptions about what borders are and where they are supposed to be located, but also the idea that borders primarily are used to constrain the mobility of certain people while facilitating economic flows. Furthermore, this thesis adds to the understanding of the variety of responses to the inflow of Chinese consumer products to the African continent.

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This thesis consists of two parts. The first is a children's book titled "Son Of Two Tribes". The second part is this document which traces the two and a half year research journey taken by the author and subject in writing this book. This work is a marriage of images and text. "Son Of Two Tribes" and the accompanying research journey focus on the cultural heritage of one small child, Luther Tettevi. Luther is a member of two tribes, the Dakelh' ne First Nations in Northern British Columbia and the Anlo Ewe in Southern Ghana. The book and journey explore the untouched heritages of both tribes, when Luther's ancestors on both continents were living in harmony with nature. The European invasion of each tribal homeland is uncovered and issues such as slavery, residential schools and the Sixties' Scoop are explored as they directly impacted this child's family history. Images of First Nations and African people portrayed in the media are discussed and exposed visually. This work concludes with a discussion about the process of rebuilding, after a troubled past and the strength within this family to endure and survive.

Education broadens the life choices and capabilities of those who receive it, and confers external benefits to society as a whole. In sub-Saharan Africa, a major issue concerning school attendance among the poor has been the direct monetary costs represented by primary school “user” fees, which became particularly commonplace in sub-Saharan African countries during the post-colonial period. While fees have been advocated in the past as a way for impoverished governments to fund the improvement and expansion of primary education, in more recent years the position of the international development community has shifted in favour of fee abolition as a means of achieving Universal Primary Education. This thesis examines the long-term relationship between school fees and education quality and access over the past 40 years in seven sub-Saharan African countries. I find that the introduction of fees decreased primary school enrolment, primarily by keeping the poorest children out of school, without achieving significant quality improvements. A fall-off in government spending following the introduction of fees is presented as a possible explanation. I also focus on the quality impacts associated with the major increases in enrolment following fee abolition, and emphasize the importance of government commitment to making up the funding shortfall generated by this policy change.

<p>Hence, in this mini-thesis I argue that community participation does not automatically facilitate gains for the poor. My main assumption is that internal rigidities in communities, such as weak social capital, culture, trust and reciprocity, affect mutual cooperation towards collective community gains. I used two communities, where a community empowerment project is implemented, as a case study to demonstrate that the success of community participation is contingent on the stocks of social capital in the community. The results show that the responsiveness of the two communities to the project activities differs with the stocks of social capital. I found that trust among community members facilitates information flow in the community. The level of trust is also related to the sources of information of community members about development activities in the community. I also found that solidarity is an important dimension of social capital, which determines community members&rsquo / willingness to help one another and to participate in activities towards collective community gain. The research also demonstrated that perception of community members about target beneficiaries of projects&ndash / whether they represent the interest of the majority of the community or only the interest of community leaders &ndash / influences the level of confidence and ownership of the project. From my research findings, I concluded that, in order for community participation to work successfully, development managers need to identify the stocks of social capital in the community that will form the basis to determine the level of engagement with community members in the participatory process.</p>