Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2009. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 381-391).

Univ., Diss., 2010--Kassel.

Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka hur musik används och lärs ut i den lilla byn Berefet i Gambia. Under ett första besök i byn tyckte vi oss nämligen se att barn och vuxna musicerade med stor glädje och kunskap. Anledningen till ämnesfokus var att vi ville hitta vägar till ett mer naturligt och glädjefyllt sätt att undervisa som musiklärare här i Sverige. Undersökningen har genomförts med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer med tre lärare och tre andra invånare i byn. Svaren har vi sedan analyserat utifrån ett musiketnologiskt perspektiv och jämfört med vad andra forskare och författare inom musiketnologi och pedagogik har kommit fram till. Resultatet visar på att det vardagliga musicerandet i Berefet inte är så utbrett som det verkar vid en första anblick. Det visar sig att barnen i byn i första hand lär sig och övar upp sina musikaliska kunskaper i sin hemmiljö, och att de då lär sig av äldre släktingar och familjemedlemmar. / The purpose of this study is to examine how music is being used and how it is taught in the small village of Berefet in The Gambia. During our first visit to the village, it seemed to us that both children and adults used music in a very natural, knowledgeable and, at the same time, joyful way. We, as music teachers from Sweden, would like to learn from the citizens in Berefet and find new methods of teaching music in a more intuitive and enjoyable way. The research has been conducted through qualitative interviews with both teachers and inhabitants of the village. We have analyzed the collected data from a music ethnological perspective and compared our results with findings from other studies and literature concerning music ethnology and pedagogy.Our study indicates that a daily practicing of music in Berefet isn’t as widely spread as initially assumed. It appears that the children in the village learn and practice music primarily in their home environment, and that they learn from their older relatives and family members.

This study aims at creating an understanding of how teachers in Gambian primary schools, who have participated in Future in our hands in-service training, experience their motivation to teach. Three research question were defined to help us examining our purpose further; “Is motivation to teach a problem among Gambian teachers?”, “which factors are most important in order to create a motivational workplace?” and “which factors do the Gambian teachers experience to demotivate them in their work?“. A presentation on previous research in the field is given, which points out that motivation is a problem among many teachers in developing countries and that intrinsic as well extrinsic factors affects the motivation in both positive and negative ways. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted throughout The Gambia focusing on the respondents’ experiences about their motivation to teach. The collected material was analysed using Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory. The results showed that salary, interpersonal relations, lack of materials and facilities, possibilities for growth and promotion as well as workload were factors frequently mentioned in terms of creating motivation as well as demotivation to teach.

På Gambias stränder flockar sig turister, en del reser på grund av miljön, andra för kulturen och en del för att få känna kärlek av en ung, lokal man. När äldre kvinnor från Europa reser för att träffa en yngre man i Gambia kallas det för semesterromanser. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka de semesterromanser som sker i Gambia mellan europeiska kvinnor och afrikanska män och på vilka sätt detta är en del av sexturismen. Att denna turism många gånger kallas för semesterromanser gör den inte fri från att kopplas samman med både sexturism och prostitution. Semesterromanser är ett mycket komplext begrepp som tolkas olika beroende på vem som tolkar. Det intressanta är att se semesterromansers karaktär och hur det på så vis kan kopplas ihop med annan verksamhet. Grunden i arbetet är att genom observationer och intervjuer förstå hur denna turism fungerar, hur länge den har funnits, varför den sker och om det nödvändigtvis måste ses som prostitution. Genom att ha varit på plats i Gambia har en etnografisk studie varit möjlig att bygga uppsatsen på. Uppsatsen grundar sig i kvalitativ metod och innehåller observationer, fältstudier och intervjuer. Genom att hantera en stor mängd teoretiskt material har sedan riktlinjer för vad sexturister, sexturism, sexköpare och prostitution är för något kunnat förtydligas och analyseras. / On the beaches of Gambiathere are many tourists, some traveling because of the environment, some for the culture and others to feel love of a young, local man. When older women from Europe traveling to meet a younger man in Gambiait is called traveling romance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the traveling romance that take place in The Gambia between European women and African men and in which ways this is a part of sex tourism. Just because this kind of tourism often is referred to as traveling romance it does not mean it is free from the association with sex tourism and prostitution. Traveling romance is a very complex concept that is interpreted differently depending on who is interpreting. What is interesting is to see traveling romance´s character and how it thus can be linked to other activities. The basis of this work is, through observations and interviews, to understand how this type of tourism is functioned, for how long it has existed, why it happens and if it necessarily has to be seen as prostitution. By having been in Gambia, an ethnographic study has been possible to build this essay on. The essay is based on qualitative method and contains observations, field studies and interviews. By managing a large amount of theoretical material guidelines for what sex tourists, sex tourism and prostitution is has been able to be clarified and analysed.

This study investigated the information needs of agricultural researchers and extension agents in addressing farmers' production-related constraints and information needs in The Gambia. The overall objective of the study was to identify the types of farmers' production-related problems faced by the above agents of change, which were translated into information needs, types of information providers and delivery systems used, and to assess their effectiveness. Coupled with this was the need to gauge the status of the T & V (Training & Visit) model of extension in the country as well as the linkage between research and extension. The sample comprised 32 researchers from NARI who were all included because of their small number and 68 extension agents selected through stratified random sampling from the Departments of Agricultural Services, Livestock Services, Fisheries and Forestry. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed among the respondents located in the five divisions across the country. The findings indicated that out of a total of 54 respondents, 63% represented the extension agents while 37% were researchers. Of the same figure, 92.6% were male while 7.4% were female. The researchers' ages ranged from 31 to 56 years old, while the extension agents were between 25 to 55 years old. With regard to educational qualifications, most of the highly qualified staff were within the research services while extension had the least. It was also revealed that 59.3% of the respondents have more than 15 years of work experience. In respect to language proficiency, it was observed that 98.1% could speak more than one local language, that is to say, ranging from two to four languages. The findings also established 44 cases of information needs, which Gambian researchers and extension personnel experienced with only 11 information providers used to satisfy those needs. Of these information providers, professional forums (96.3%) and personal sources (81.5%) featured prominently as the most frequently used and effective sources. Personal contact (81.5%) was the most common delivery system employed to disseminate information and technical advice to farmers. As regards the respondents' perceptions about the T & V (Training & Visit) model of extension in the country and the linkage status between research and extension, 68.5% believed that T & V is non-existent while 79.6% attested to the current weakness of the research-extension linkages in the country. Finally, it was recommended that an agricultural library be established in each division to cater for the information needs of all the stakeholders. Also, the unit for the Research-Extension Liaison Officer (RELO) should be reinstated to further strengthen the linkage, coordination and interactive communication between research and extension services. / Thesis (M.I.S.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

Univ., Diss., 2008--Kassel.

The aim of this study is to investigate in what ways a gender perspective is present in Gambian public schools. In particular we are interested in if, and if so how, teachers in the Gambian school express gender awareness. To collect data, ten semi-structured interviews and ten observations are conducted with teachers from two rural regions in the Gambia. The collected data is analysed using Hirdmans gender system theory with the main focus on four central concepts from the theory, where this study’s analysis has its foundation. Studies of previous research show that boys get more attention than girls in the classroom and that a separation between the sexes occur in different ways. The results in this study show that the teachers are aware of the term gender equality based on the interviews, thus, some utterances show that different expectations and norms occur in the Gambian society depending on the sex. The boys receive most attention from the teachers in practise, regardless if it is positive or negative.

Self-settlement is not a new concept but has been emerging over the past decade. Academic literature has varied on its definition and has often caused confusion. It has previously been related to ‘spontaneous’ settlement, undocumented migrants, IDP migration and has been blurred amongst the vast literature on local integration. Self-settlement in the context of this research concurs with later academic literature (Bakewell, Hovil, and Polzer) where refugees have greater freedom of movement and may or may not be officially registered. This research refers to refugees who have been externally displaced as a result of conflict and settle outside refugee camps and formal settlements. They negotiate the terms of their settlement directly with host communities who dictate the rate of integration and subsequent access to resources. The Gambia has hosted Casamance refugees fleeing from low-level civil conflict in Southern region of Senegal for nearly 30 years. It is West Africa’s longest running civil conflict. Official registration figures (although ambiguous) estimate 11,000 Casamance refugees are permanently located within 56 rural Gambian communities (WFP 2012). In this context, international legalities are clearly set out as in any other refugee situation. Casamance refugees have taken flight across an international border and until they are able to return they have been granted refugee status and protection in The Gambia under the 1951 Geneva Convention. However, the parameters of refugee terminology is thus confused as refugees are self-settled in host communities instead of formally settled within refugee camps. Refugee literature tends to investigate the impact of camp-based refugees have on local communities. Rarely does this literature investigate local integration through the solution of self-settlement. In addition, the historical, cultural, socio-economic and ethnic ties between The Gambia and Senegal has caused repeated mobilisation across the international border, prior to the conflict and colonialism, and this is further facilitated as the conflict escalates and subsides. As a result of increased demographic pressures, there is increased competition for community resources such as land, ii shelter, water, and natural resources which affect the sustainability of existing livelihood strategies. Adopting the capital assets model from the Sustainable Rural Livelihood Framework, a conceptual framework was devised to understand the integration of Casamance refugees and how they are able to access community resources. As a result, six villages were subject to environmental, socio-economic and livelihood assessments using an extensive multi-method approach over a two phase fieldwork period. This was to understand the impacts of integration, the challenges communities face, and how communities access resources to implement livelihoods. The results from this study indicate that there is relatively equal availability of resources for both groups. However there is differential access to resources, which is based on traditional community structures and the shared cultural heritage between host and refugee. Results also highlighted that tensions did exist between groups as a result of integration and access to resources but these were not necessarily primarily between host and refugee groups and also existed within groups. These tensions however, have been adequately mediated and resolved as a result of the traditional community structures in place within these communities. The thesis presents three themes of discussion from the results of this case study. Firstly, the theme of self-settlement will be revisited and argued that it can be considered a temporary and durable solution in refugee situations given an understanding of traditional community structures and common characteristics shared between host and refugee groups. Secondly, it re-engages with the SRL Framework and adapts the capital asset model for self-settled refugee situations. Finally, self-settlement will be considered in relation to various levels of policy and how it can be adapted in order to understand self-settlement and meet the demands of both host and refugee groups.

It has been well documented that women and children in The Gambia are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition. The combination of heavy labor demands on women and a weaning diet low in calories takes its toll on women and children during the pre-harvest lean season. In 1995, the Small-Scale Sesame Oil Production project introduced an inexpensive, manual technology for edible oil extraction, called the ram press, to women in The Gambia. The overall aim of the project was to improve household nutritional security through the adoption of the ram press by women sesame growers. A 13-month study was conducted to evaluate the success of the Small-Scale Sesame Oil Production project. The study involved 120 rural households: 40 households with access to motorized expeller technology (Expeller group) for sesame oil extraction, 37 households with access to manual ram press technology (Press group), and 43 households with access to both technologies (Combination group). Twenty-four hour recalls, food frequency data, anthropometric measurements, and production data were obtained at the baseline and at the post-harvest, peak sesame oil-pressing, and pre-harvest lean seasons. At the baseline, women in the Expeller group had higher mean intakes of kilocalories than those in the Press and Combination groups. After introduction of the ram press, the Press and Combination women reported consistently higher intakes of kilocalories than the Expeller women at all seasons, with the largest differences at the peak oil-pressing and pre-harvest lean seasons. At the baseline, the consumption of kilocalories for Expeller children was greater than that of the Combination and Press children. After introduction of the ram press, this trend was reversed and the intake of kilocalories for Combination and Press children was greater than that of Expeller children at all other seasons. The Expeller children exhibited a marked increase in weight-for-height z-scores at the peak oil-pressing season that decreased to near baseline levels thereafter. The Combination and Press children exhibited a steady increase in weight-for-height z-scores across seasons except for the pre-harvest lean season when their scores leveled off. These results indicate that women and children in households with access to ram press technology experience much less of a seasonal fluctuation in food consumption than those without ram press technology. Findings of this study also indicate that when women are given choices as to which technology is best for them, they will maximize their benefits from the available technologies. / Master of Science