This study investigates the contemporary urbanization process of sub-Saharan Africa. The region is predicted to experience a surge in urban population growth the forthcoming decades, yet why and how this is happening is not very clear. Theory often considers urbanization to be a part of a modernization process where people migrate from rural areas to urban. But depictions of reality suggest that rural-to-urban migration might be less significant than previously thought, and neither is it given that urbanization causes prosperity in sub-Saharan Africa. This thesis tries to complement the gap of knowledge regarding the mechanisms of urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa. Statistical data is organized and assembled by using the structured, focused comparison method and then analyzed in order to create an understanding of urbanization and urban population growth in this particular region. The result of this study suggests that the mechanisms for urban population growth change over time. Urban population growth is often thought to be driven by rural-to-urban migration. However, nowadays there is a correlation between urban population growth and population increase, which did not exist a couple of decades ago. It is clear that urbanized countries are, typically, more advanced regarding economic growth, but it is unsure whether this factor affects socio-economic development. The findings underscore the vast complexity of urbanization and urban population growth, as well as the heterogeneity of sub-Saharan Africa. Yet there is potential for a new theoretical framework that can provide explanations to the processes sub-Saharan Africa is expected to undergo.

<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>The main objective of our paper is to investigate whether expansion in exports can lead to improve economic growth of Sub-Saharan African countries for the period 1970-2006. Four macro economic indicators (real GDP, Trade balance, Government expenditure and</p><p>Investment) are used in our model to carry out our analysis concerning Sub Saharan African countries.</p><p>Time series techniques such as unit root test (Augmented Dickey Fuller test) and co integration test (Johansen’s procedure) are used to find out whether there is a long run relationship between economic growth and trade balance.</p><p>The results of the unit root test indicate that all series are stationary after first difference, with I (1). Johansen’s co integration test showed that co integration (long run relationship) exists between GDP and Trade balance, as we got significant eigenvalues and found co integration between all of the four variables which shows that they are co integrated with each other and indicates a long run relationship.</p><p>Our results indicate that for the time period of 1970 to 2006, Sub Saharan African countries experienced a simultaneous increase in economic growth and trade balance as well as in investment and Govt expenditure.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Key words</strong>: exports, economic growth, unit root, co integration, Sub-Saharan Africa</p>

<p>By investigating the business environment in Sub-Saharan Africa from an institutional theory perspective, the purpose of this thesis is to explain organizational response to the forces of this particular institutional environment. Coercive, normative and mimetic pressures serve as the basis for explaining the institutional environment. The organizations respond to these pressures by seeking legitimacy from the environment.</p><p>The study is based on a qualitative research method relying on qualitative secondary data. Additionally a questionnaire was sent out to a limited number of experts to validate the findings.</p><p>The main conclusion of this thesis is that networks are formed on the basis of norms and cultural processes working upon organizations in order to counter balance malfunctioning regulatory institutions. It has been revealed that organizations cannot rely solely on their response to coercive pressures for legitimacy. Normative aspects in networks are formed through repeated transactions that create trust and reputation between business partners that lead to legitimacy. Moreover, it is difficult for organizations to construct a proper response to cultural pressures since they stem primarily from heritage and ethnicity.</p>

The objective of this thesis is to investigate if human capital has a significant impact on economic growth. This is tested with a panel data regression model where data is taken annually from the Sub-Saharan Africa region between the years 1988-2011. The final regression model displayed education as a positive factor for GDP per capita growth, but not at a significant level. This result resembles many previous studies, and leads to the conclusion that we do not have a significant relationship between education enrolment and economic growth. The result raises the question if enrolment rates in school are a valid variable to capture human capital with, and calls for more investigations on the quality aspect of education.

Children under 5 years of age in Ethiopia experience one of the highest rates of malnourishment in the world. Though there is a growing body of literature outlining determinants of children’s nutritional status, little attention has been given to the nutritional status of the rapidly increasing urban population of children. In this study, I contribute to this gap by asking, “What is the relationship between household residential location, feeding practices of children under 5 years of age and nutritional status?” Using data from the 2000 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, I find that rural children continue to have worse nutritional status outcomes than urban children. I also find that liquid foods, mother’s occupation and household characteristics all are significant externalities associated with household residential location, that impact urban-rural differences in nutritional intake among young Ethiopian children. / text

Over 500,000 maternal deaths occur globally each year. Over half of these deaths take place in sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this study was to understand the sociopolitical and cultural context of childbirth in Liberia including practices, beliefs and traditions that influence maternal health, illness and death. The concepts of vulnerability, human rights related to reproductive health, gender-based violence and war trauma within the theoretical perspectives of global feminism provide the framework for this study. Critical ethnography was used to study 10 cases of severe maternal morbidity and eight cases of maternal mortality. Data collection included participant observation, field notes and semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 54 women, family members and community members. Three major themes derived from the data were Secrecy Surrounding Pregnancy and Childbirth; Power and Authority; and Distrust of the Healthcare System. The interpretive theory, Behind the House, generated from data analysis provides an effective way of understanding the larger social and cultural context of childbirth and childbirth related practices, beliefs and traditions in Liberia. It defines the complexity and challenges women in Liberia face in their reproductive health. This interpretive theory moves beyond the biomedical understanding of birth by contextualizing childbirth as a social as well as a biological process. This study provides a starting point for more relevant, sensitive and culturally congruent public health programs and policies to address maternal morbidity and mortality in this population.

In an effort to better understand patterns of genetic variation in modern African populations, I surveyed nucleotide variability at four loci in five diverse sub-Saharan African populations. First, I analyzed the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the non-recombining portion of the Y chromosome (NRY), asking specifically if similar models of population size change could be fit to re-sequencing data from these two loci when examined in the same populations. Four tests of population growth were employed and results indicated that food-producing populations best fit a model of exponential growth for the mtDNA but not the NRY, and hunter-gathering populations best fit a model of constant population size for both mtDNA and the NRY. These results are likely due to sex-specific migration or differences in the effective population sizes of males and females.Next, I examined mtDNA and NRY population structure in these same populations, to assess the relative effects of migration and effective population size on patterns of mtDNA and NRY nucleotide variability. I used an Isolation with Migration (IM) model to disentangle estimates of effective population size and migration. Results indicated that levels of mtDNA population structure are higher than those of the NRY, and female migration tends to be unidirectional while that of males is largely bidirectional. I found that in food-producing populations, male migration rate estimates are in fact higher, not lower, than those of females, while estimates of male effective population size are strikingly small. I infered that males have experienced a period of population size reduction due to replacement, and that this most likely occurred during the Bantu expansions, approximately 5,000 years ago.Finally, I assessed population structure in these populations using a multilocus approach which estimated current and ancestral effective population sizes, migration rates, split times and fraction of the ancestral population that contributed to current populations. Current and ancestral effective population sizes ranged from ~5,000-8,000 individuals. Most populations showed an increase in size relative to the ancestral population. Population split times ranged from 17-142 thousand years (KYR); the Khoisan split times were the oldest and the Niger-Congo speaking populations' split times the most recent. Since the oldest population split times precede the dates for the earliest modern humans outside of Africa, I posited that modern humans likely evolved at a time when structured populations already existed in Africa.

Anthropological research on the sociocultural outcomes from applications of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) for infertility, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, is greatly lacking and much needed. Narratives from individuals, couples, families, community leaders and members are particularly germane to medical anthropological studies on the intersection of science and technology in the new millennium. With ART applications still in their infancy in sub-Saharan Africa, research of this nature may be of benefit in determining how best to apply ARTs within important cultural frameworks and allow infertile couples and other recipients the opportunity to minimize adverse results. This paper draws upon theoretical perspectives from anthropology, science and technology studies, ethnographic data from my field study in Uganda, and reviews of literature, to construct theories about how for the Baganda, the proliferation of ARTs could potentially change or disrupt cultural notions of power and identity and unseat core notions of kinship.

<p> The Khoisan are the most genetically ancient people on Earth, with a population once numbering 300,000. The Bushmen of Southern Africa are quickly losing their 40,000 years of indigenous knowledge due to colonialism, globalization, modernization, assimilation, land loss, and marginalization. There are now large gaps in generational knowledge, especially as people move into settlements and leave their traditional homelands. The restoration of indigenous knowledge requires the paths of intergenerational cultural transmission to be reestablished (Florey, 2009). This dissertation examines whether indigenous knowledge can be perpetuated intergenerationally with the aid of indigenous-based restorative ecotourism. Indigenous-based <i>restorative</i> ecotourism promotes empowerment and local engagement, is responsive to local value systems, and aims to halt marginalization in communities. Using exploratory research within a qualitative paradigm and ethnographic narrative inquiry and semi-structured interviews, I examine the effect of ecotourism on two communities of Nharo and Ju/'hoansi Bushmen through two questions: 1) How has ecotourism changed these two communities and 2) Can restorative ecotourism support intergenerational knowledge retention? The data show that these Nharo and Ju/'hoansi Bushmen want to keep their culture, that they see value in the intergenerational transmission of indigenous knowledge, and that this is happening in both communities involved in ecotourism ventures. I conclude that this system of ecotourism is culturally restorative, and leads to increased indigenous knowledge retention in these communities without further exploitation.</p><p> <i>Keywords</i> &ndash; San Bushmen, Nharo, Botswana, indigenous knowledge, intergenerational knowledge, restorative ecotourism, cultural tourism </p>

Intrastate conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa are a development tragedy and a security dilemma that requires more prevention and better intervention from the international community. Such engagement necessitates a robust early warning system, which can determine, with a sufficient degree of accuracy, the countries most at risk of experiencing intrastate conflict. This research summarizes and critiques current efforts to conceptualize intrastate conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa and determine what factors best explain the likelihood of intrastate conflict onset. The research examines the challenges of empirically modelling the human behaviour that underlies intrastate conflict, as well as some promising avenues for overcoming challenges posed by data issues and existing methodological shortcomings. The research concludes that with improved data and research design, and more attention being paid to how statistical significance reflects pathway(s) to violence, the development of an intrastate conflict early warning system is possible.