Journal of African Studies
Online ISSN : 1884-5533
Print ISSN : 0065-4140
ISSN-L : 0065-4140
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Volume 2012, Issue 81
Displaying 1-9 of 9 articles from this issue
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Articles
  • Intermediaries Linking an African Village and the Foreign Market:
    A Case Study of Bolga Basket Industry, Northeastern Ghana
    Haruka USHIKU
    Article type: Articles
    2012 Volume 2012 Issue 81 Pages 1-15
    Published: December 31, 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11619/africa.2012.81_1
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    Bolga baskets are hand-woven baskets made of natural material in certain areas around Bolgatanga, northeastern Ghana. They are produced for export, mainly to Europe, the United States, and Japan as fashion items or products for interior use. This paper analyzes the production and trading “system” of Bolga baskets at village level, by focusing on local intermediaries who mediate between producers and foreign companies. The research identified three types of intermediaries, that is, Village N Craft Society, an American fair-trade company, and local middlemen. The study found that: 1) higher prices were offered to the baskets with better quality and newer design, which led to the improvement and diversification of quality and technique as a whole. On the other hand, 2) local middlemen have encouraged more producers to join the industry by buying various baskets, including that with lower quality, regularly and frequently. More importantly, 3) all the intermediaries stimulated the production in the way that respected farming schedule of the producers and kept an intimate relationship with them. In conclusion, the paper argues that local intermediaries have played a role of interface, which buffers the discord between the foreign market and rural Africa, and assured the international supply of Bolga baskets.
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  • Reproduction of Power Relationships by the Rising Environmental NGO
    Nobuyuki SEKINO
    Article type: Articles
    2012 Volume 2012 Issue 81 Pages 17-30
    Published: December 31, 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11619/africa.2012.81_17
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    In recent years, environmental non-government organizations (NGOs) have made remarkable contributions to nature resource management. Océanium, an environmental NGO in Senegal, has played a large role in environmental conservation activities. With the rise of global environmental problems in the 1990s, Océanium actively sought to mitigate the problem of sea pollution and developed campaigns against overexploitation of marine resources. Ocèanium achieved international fame through creating Senegal's first marine protected areas as well as a project of mangrove reforestation. Local NGO activities in African countries can be considered to be part of the civic public realm. However, the NGO public image, which is a product of the mass media and funding from international assistance organizations or private enterprises, has created confusion in the community as to the true function of NGOs. In this paper, we analyze the influence of public image on the rapidly growing group of environmental NGO stakeholders. We also highlight the dilemma between the legitimacy of leaders of small-scale environmental NGOs and bureaucratization. In rigid organizations, its persistence can be a proposition. It takes the responsibility of donor’s funds, and can generate new clientele as a result. Furthermore, environmental NGOs, which face crises of division, would benefit from involvement in the political arena, and has built a new string belt.
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Note
  • Civil Wars, Referendum and the Dynamics of the ‘Myth’:
    A Study on Narratives of the Prophecies among the Nuer in South Sudan
    Eri HASHIMOTO
    Article type: Note
    2012 Volume 2012 Issue 81 Pages 31-44
    Published: December 31, 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2014
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11619/africa.2012.81_31
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    Nuer prophets and their prophecies have been deeply related to the historical process in the Republic of South Sudan. Their prophecies have been shared not only among the Nuer people themselves but also among many other people in the region. Most literature on prophets and prophecies in East African societies has insisted on static aspects of prophecies and interpretations. Such studies have overlooked the important aspects of dynamics of prophecies and diversity of their interpretations. However, a difficult question remains: how prophecies have been related to their changing realities over the years.
    In this article, I describe the actual process in which a particular prophecy is related to a historical event, especially the referendum on January 2011, which was brought independence to the South Sudan.
    At the time of referendum, a number of Nuer people were insisting on the relationship between certain elements related to independence and the prophecies that were made by a famous Nuer prophet long time ago. What is interesting is the fact that those who are insisting on this relationship are not only ‘traditional’ elders but also ‘modern’ literate elites. They speak about prophecies in different ways, but their interpretations of those prophecies are quite consistent in certain aspects. By examining the process in which their experience of ‘democratization’ and referendum has been interpreted as fulfilled prophecies, I discuss how dynamic the relation between history and ‘myth’ is among these people.
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