Journal articles on the topic 'Diola (African people) Senegal'

Regional Particularism and State Formation in Africa: The Diola in Southern Senegal and Their Relationship with Dakar In the French daily newspaper “Libération” of 819 september 1990 I read : “Reveil de la guerilla en Casamance. Two clashes occurred between the Senegalese army and MFDC guerillas on the 22th of august and the 4th of september; 16 soldiers and 24 guerillas were killed”. A morbid déjà vu. At the end of 1983, as I did my practical training in the town of Ziguinchor, in the south of Senegal, I witnessed some fierce clashes between the same participants, causing the death of some 200 people. How could this be happening in one of the most democratic states of Africa? Didn’t the political arena of some 16 different parties give enough room for oppositional currents? The answer must be negative, in some cases. In this paper I want to show the reader that the articulation of local organizational structures and development policies of a modem state can cause many problems. In this case the typical dynamics of the Diola society in southern Senegal and the specific way of state formation in Senegal after Independence form an explosive mixture. In the first part of the paper a description is given of the dynamics of the Diola society by portraying the organizational structures in Diola villages before the colonial period. Then, in the colonial period, due to new influences as a result of the contacts with foreigners, some local organizational structures are politicized. Among the Diola this process of politicizing took place on a very low level because the Diola society has all the characteristics of a segmentary society. Each village formed an autonomous unit headed by elders. The use of power lays in the hands of a group rather than in the hands of an individual. For this reason the Diola never fully participated in the political arena, not even after Independence. After Independence in 196O the regimes in Dakar tried to impose their authority in all parts of the new state. First Leopold Senghor and then Abdou Diouf strived to form an omnipotent political party. A party in which all regional, ethnic and professional currants would be represented. This became the Parti Socialiste (PS). In the traditionally hierarchically organized societies in the North and the East of the state this was done by encapsulating powerful individuals. Once they joined the party they would bring along many followers or dependants as new members. But in the segmentary Diola society those political leaders did not exist. Therefore some individuals were dropped in the region by the PS to represent the inhabitants. These strangers were given a lot of power in the region. But it should be clear that these “representatives” were not accepted by local people who had the feeling of being colonized for the second time. This time by fellow countrymen from the North For the Dakar regimes, a way to impose their hegemony was connected to the say over land ownership. Since the adaption of the National Lands Act on the 17th of june 1964, all transactions concerning the control over land must be regulated via the local governments. One of the main consequences of this reform is that the state becomes the sole landlord of all the land. This implies that local, mostly ancient, land tenure systems have formally ceased to exist. With the case of the explosive growth of the city of Ziguinchor I show the impact of this reform on the surrounding Diola society. As control over local land is the crux of the organizational structures of Diola society, this new intrusion of the state caused an emotional reaction. Moreover because it was mostly done at random by politicians who had only eyes for their own goals. This being the result of the specific way the state strived for hegemony and attempted to graft new forms of organization on the segmentary Diola society. With explosively results!

Opening ParagraphAfrican religious history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has been dominated by the rapid growth of Islam and Christianity. This has been especially true of the Senegambia region of West Africa, which has witnessed the adoption of Islam by approximately 80 per cent of the region's populace and the development of a small, but influential Christian minority. Among the Diola of the Casamance region of Senegal, Islam and Christianity have both enjoyed rapid growth. The approximately half million Diola, however, include the largest number of adherents of their traditional religion within the Senegambian region. They are sedentary rice farmers and are usually described as acephalous peoples. While Muslims and Christians have been in contact with the Diola since the fifteenth century there were few conversions during the pre-colonial era (Baum, 1986). During the colonial era Islam became the dominant religion among the Diola on the north shore of the Casamance river, and Christianity also attracted a considerable following (Mark, 1985). Among the south shore communities neither Islam nor Christianity became important until after the Second World War. Seeing the increased momentum of recent years, many observers are confident that the south shore Diola will follow the northern example and convert to Islam or Christianity. Louis Vincent Thomas, the doyen of Diola ethnographers, described Diola traditional religion as ‘a false remedy to a very real crisis; fetishism will become a temporary response that will be quickly swept away by another attempt, even larger and undoubtedly more profound: Islam and perhaps we could add, Christianity’ (Thomas, 1967: 225; translations are my own, unless otherwise stated).

Abstract:This article traces the history of homosexual and transgender behavior in Senegal from colonial times to the contemporary period in order to demonstrate the flimsiness of the claims, made by many political and religious leaders and scholars, that homosexuality is “un-African.” Such claims, which appear as reactions to neocolonialism and Western intervention in African affairs, usually are homophobic discourses that invoke patriotism, cultural difference, and morality in order to justify the subjugation of homosexual and gender nonconforming individuals (goor-jiggens) living in Senegal. In an attempt to understand the roots of Senegalese homophobia, the article analyzes several depictions of homosexuals and transgender people in contemporary Senegal and traces them to similar representations in European writings of the colonial period. As this approach reveals, homosexuals and transgender people in Senegal, from colonial times to the present, have been constructed as scapegoats, first of the French mission civilisatrice (civilizing mission) and then of Senegalese political and Islamic backlashes. Although they have always cohabited with the rest of the society, homosexuals and transgender people in Senegal have been treated largely as strangers in their own land. By analyzing the discourses of both French colonials and Senegalese, one finds a persistent binary opposing the West and Africa and denigrating sexual and gender variances and subcultures in Senegal as pathological European imports.

Forests are an immense reservoir of biological resources and provide the local population with subsistence needs, especially for edible fruits. This study contributes to a better knowledge of the use modes of non-cultivate edible plant species in the area of Kasa, traditional name for the department of Oussouye. Ethnobotanical surveys, based on an interview guide, oral discussions and direct observations were conducted among 178 people from the department of Oussouye, stronghold of the Diola ethnic group. A factorial correspondence analysis highlighted the relationship between species and categories of use. The frequency of citation, informant consensus factor and use value showed the socio-cultural importance of the species. The data collected identified 62 edible species divided into 31 families and 54 genera. The fruit species inventoried are used for different purposes. They are a food source with 62% of citations, energetic 19%, technological 14%, medicinal 13%, cultural 6% and agronomic 2% for the populations. Two species stand out for their high use value factor (UVt). These were Elaeis guineensis (12.24) and Borassus aethiopum (7.56). In addition to their use value, species such as Mangifera indica, Neocarya macrophylla, Parkia biglobosa, Anacardium occidentale, Ceiba pentandra, Parinari excelsa, stood out for their categories and organs used. These results inform us about the level of use of fruit species for different needs and open up avenues for research in sustainable management of this resource with the aim of reducing poverty.

The West African island of Gorée was one of the nodes that connected African trading routes to North Atlantic trade. The varied population included English, French, Portuguese, Manding, Moor, Sereer, and Wolof. The island was notable because many of the categories by which people are identified-gender, race, class-were not strictly defined and did not dictate economic success. At one time, African women constituted the majority of property owners. Whereas many colonial studies focus on urbanism and colonial discourse, this article looks to the domestic sphere. For this inquiry into life on the ground, I cast my net wide and draw on source materials including rental contracts, wills, and probate inventories. My goal is to complicate the perception of how buildings functioned in colonial environments. The primary method is considering a variety of users, including wealthy Europeans, tenants, servants, and those for whom Gorée is most widely known-slaves.

With many disasters taking place in urban areas of Africa on a regular basis, affecting millions of people each year, there is an increasing need to understand the processes by which the risks from potential disasters develop in urban areas. To address this, the African Urban Risk Analysis Network (AURAN) has been formed in January 2003 by six African institutions, with support from UNDP and ProVention Consortium. Work is underway in Accra, Algiers, Cape Town, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Saint Louis (Senegal) to identify

West African countries especially Senegal, have a very rich history of written and oral communication based on their culture and traditions. Today, Senegal is inescapable about the adoption and use of new technologies in Africa. Senegal experienced a boom of cell phones users over the past 5 years in 2012 for example, we noticed “88% mobile subscriptions” compared with “46% mobile subscriptions in 2008” {world bank,2013}. That explains mobile phones are no more to make a call or to send a text message but also to interact with people around and entertain. In fact, digital communication is expanding in all Senegalese spheres like the workplace, school, universities... in the latter half of the 20th century before the explosion of social media, people only depended on old media like TV, Radio, Newspapers… to get informed. For this study, we are going to focus on how social media are impacting economically and politically on Senegalese society and how young people are managing the transition between traditional media and new media.

AbstractAt the present time, urban agriculture—that is, the growing of food crops in backyard gardens, unused city spaces and peripheral zones—is an economically viable alternative for many African migrants. Although previously ‘invisible’ to most developers and economists, urban farming is now recognised as playing a crucial subsistence role in the household economies of lower-income people living in major West African cities. But the practice does more than feed the urban poor. Using the example of Ziguinchor in Casamance, Senegal, it is argued that growing crops in peri-urban and intra-urban zones, on otherwise neglected or half-built-up land, also protects and enriches the city environment while increasing the primary productivity of the inhabitants. Directly, or in more subtle ways, the practice strengthens bonds of friendship, and promotes inter-ethnic co-operation while at the same time helping to maintain biological complexity in interesting and previously unexplored ways. City farming may provide a context through which the urban poor can relate to debates about biodiversity.

ABSTRACTThis article explores the politics of race and education in early twentieth-century urban Senegal, focusing on the exclusion of African students from certain schools and on the political controversy that grew out of a 1909 education reform. Based on letters from officials, politicians, and African residents, along with minutes from the General Council, it suggests that changes in urban society and colonial policy encouraged people to view access to schooling in terms of race. This article argues that in debating segregation and education quality, residents contributed to a discourse on race that reflected an increasing racial consciousness in the society at large.

AbstractThis article is an attempt to reconsider the representations that, in Senegal in the 2000s, linked the social history of thetirailleurs(African colonial soldiers) with the practical and symbolic processes at the heart of a number of migratory projects, especially among young people. The history of this social military body was rooted in almost a century of colonial domination, from 1857 to 1962. Thetirailleursplayed a part in all the battles of the French army and generated different kinds of social imaginaries that were woven between France and Africa. In the late 1950s, another figure, another ideal type, became established in the Senegalese public space: the migrant. After tracing the history of the way in which these two figures were constructed, I trace how, more recently, the younger generation has been able to mobilize the dominant memory of thetirailleurin its own aspirations of exile. Some preliminary methodological proposals will be needed to account for these migratory imaginaries.

Groundnut, Arachis hypogaea L., Fabaceae, occupies an important place in the diet of people in developing countries due to its high nutritional value. The worst damage is caused by a species of Coleoptera Chrysomelidae Bruchinae namely Caryedon serratus Ol., whose larvae develop in seeds by eating the cotyledons. The objective of this work was to identify different ecotypes of C. serratus subservient to groundnuts in four countries in West Africa: Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger using the PCR‐sequencing in order to develop strategies for protection, taking into account the environment for producers. We addressed the variability of cytoplasmic genome sequencing directly into a portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome gene from 46 individuals of C. serratus sampled in the West Africa sub region. It appears that the variability of this fraction of the genome is quite strong. Several haplotypes were identified in all these countries. Phylogenetic reconstructions by parsimony, maximum likelihood and Neighbor‐joining confirmed the lack of structure of C. serratus according to distance. They also revealed that the same biotype infesting groundnuts in Senegal also infests the whole sub‐region.

ABSTRACT The global human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)epidemic is characterized by significant genetic diversity in circulating viruses. We have recently characterized a group of viruses that form a distinct sub-subtype within the subtype A radiation, which we have designated HIV type 1 (HIV-1) sub-subtype A, circulating in West Africa. A prospective study of a cohort of female sex workers (FSW) in Dakar, Senegal over an 18-year period indicated that an A3-specific sequence in the C2-V3 region of the env gene was found in 46 HIV-1-infected women. HIV-1 sub-subtype A3 appeared in the FSW population as early as 1988 and continued to be transmitted as of 2001. We also found that HIV-1 A3 is not confined to the FSW cohort in Senegal but is also circulating in the general population in Dakar. Furthermore, analyses of viral sequences from a few other West and Central African countries also demonstrated evidence of HIV-1 A3 sequence in isolates from HIV-1-infected people in Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Niger, Guinea Bissau, Benin, and Equatorial Guinea. Overall, because of the evidence of sub-subtype A3 in the general population in Senegal, as well as in a few neighboring West and Central African countries, along with the increasing incidence of infection with A3-containing viruses in the Dakar high-risk FSW population, we feel that HIV-1 sub-subtype A3 viruses are important to distinguish and monitor.

Senegal is a melting pot of several civilizations mainly originated from the West (Europe) and the East (the Arab world). Assuming that language and culture are intrinsically related, the settlement of those people and their status as dominant minority sparked and strengthened the use of their languages in formal domains. In the long ran, as they became domesticated, thus now considered African languages because they have contributed to mold the cultural identity of younger generation, they involve in all linguistic interaction. Arab, in its classical form, remains a symbol of Islam which earns it a certain degree of sacredness. Nevertheless the contact situation with the other languages forced it to crossbreed in special ways like borrowings and interferences. As for the other foreign languages, namely French, English, Spanish, and German at a least extent, they are made to carry the weight of local cultures.

Like most African countries, Senegal is experiencing a nutritional transition. Global drivers of sedentary behavior and high-calorie dietary intake, together with local anthropological drivers of large body size as a socially valued characteristic could be exposing the population to obesity. This study therefore set out to assess the impact of this sociocultural factor on the nutritional status of Senegalese adults. We set up 14 focus groups (n=84 participants) and a crosssectional quantitative survey (n=313 women; n=284 men) of adults in three different socio-ecological areas in Senegal (rural: n=204; suburban: n=206; urban: n=187). We also assessed perceptions of body weight (Body Size Scale) and weight status (anthropometric measures). Middle-aged and older Senegalese people value excess weight more than younger Senegalese in all the areas studied. Being female, older, living in urban/suburban areas and valuing excess weight/obesity were independently associated with being overweight/obese. A higher socio-economic status was also associated with being overweight/obese. A nutritional transition is under way in Senegal in urban/suburban areas, particularly affecting older urban women, with specific cultural factors contributing to this phenomenon. This suggests a need for local measures targeting women and is accounted for by specific anthropological characteristics in the Senegalese population.

From their relative obscurity over the past three decades, varied strains of Ebola disease have emerged as a substantial global biothreat. The current outbreak of Ebola, beginning in March 2014 in Guinea, is projected to infect tens of thousands of people before being brought under control. Some estimate the outbreak could exceed 100,000 cases and extend another 12-18 months. Ebola’s spread has the potential to extend across the globe, but is concentrated in several African countries (e.g., Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Nigeria, and Senegal). Collectively, these countries are home to nearly 290 million people. Among Liberia’s population of 4.1 million, over 1,100 people have already died from Ebola in less than 6 months; by comparison, if this same outbreak and death rate occurred in the United States, over 88,000 Americans would perish.

The Gulf of Guinea, home to numerous ethnic nationalities, stretches from the Republic of Senegal in the west to Nigeria in the east. There have been population movements and socio-economic interactions within and across the coastal belt over the past millennium. In response to their environment, the people have been engaged in fishing, salt-making, commerce and boat making. Fishing, the pivot of their economy, has taken the leading fishing groups – the Fante and Ewe (Keta) of the Republic of Ghana, and the Izon (Ijaw), Itsekiri and Ilaje of Nigeria – all over the entire West African coastline, where they have established many settlements.

Recently, the Senegalese people have learned to speak more openly of their history. But, as late as the 1980s—the years of my youth and early schooling—the wounds of colonialism were still fresh. I contend that slavery had been so powerful a blow to the Senegalese ethos that we—my family, friends, and schoolmates—did not speak about it. The collective trauma and shame of slavery was apparently so powerful that we sought to repress it, keeping it hidden from ourselves. We were surrounded by its evidence, but chose not to see it. Such was my childhood experience. As an adult, I understand that repression never heals wounds. The trauma remains as a haunting presence. But one can discover its “living presence,” should one choose to look. Just 5.2 km off the west African coast of Senegal lies Gorée Island, where millions of Africans were held captive while awaiting transport into slavery. Much of the four-century history of the African slave trade passed through Senegal, where I grew up. In this essay, I explore the history of the island and its role in the slave trade. I describe my own coming to terms with this history—how it has haunted me since my youth. And I argue for the role of visual rhetorics in the formation (and affirmation) of Senegalese ethos. As Baumlin and Meyer (2018) remind us, we need to speak, in order to be heard, in order to be seen: Such is an assumption of rhetorical ethos. And the reverse, as I shall argue, may be true, too: Sometimes we need to see (or be seen), in order to know what to speak and how to be heard. It is for this reason that we need more films written, directed, produced, and performed by Africans (Senegalese especially).

Objectives In many Sub-Saharan African cultures, diabetes self-management behaviors such as dietary adherence do not occur in isolation but are carried out in the context of local culture, a significant factor in shaping those health behaviors. Methods Using a family-based narrative approach, we explore how Senegalese families manage diabetes. We interviewed twenty people living with diabetes and selected family caregivers from MBour, Senegal. Results We found that people living with diabetes experienced physical, emotional, and financial stressors as a result of managing their condition. In addition, family caregivers play an important role in managing their family member's diabetes. Discussion The act of caregiving affects caregiver diabetes prevention behaviors. In some cases, this caregiving role leads to an increase of healthy behaviors such as reducing dietary sugar; however, in some cases, caregivers do not see the need to engage in healthy behaviors. Diabetes prevention and management interventions that support both Senegalese people living with diabetes and their family caregivers are warranted.

Roads and automobility on the African continent are commonly encountered with a rather ambivalent stance, both by Africans and Africanist scholars. This ambivalence emerges from what Adeline Masquelier describes as the ‘profoundly contradictory nature of roads as objects of both fascination and terror’ (2002: 381). In her widely received article on ‘road mythographies’ surrounding Niger's Route 1, Masquelier draws a vivid picture of the ‘contradictory aspects of the road as a space of both fear and desire’ (ibid.: 831). She highlights, in particular, how roadside residents perceive automotive travel as ‘a process fraught with risky and contradictory possibilities’ (ibid.: 832). A ‘pioneering study in the ethnography of roads’ (Campbell 2012: 498), Masquelier's account of people's profound ambivalence towards roads, mobility and transport in post-colonial Niger has been a source of inspiration for a range of scholars who have explored in a similar vein the intricate entanglement of people with (auto)mobility, space and modernity, both in Africa and elsewhere (see, for example, Khan 2006; Klaeger 2009; Dalakoglou 2010; Hart 2011). Five articles in this volume press ahead with the analytic theme of the ambivalence of roads. Through their historic analyses and ethnographic observations, the assembled case studies from Senegal, Ghana, Sudan, Kenya and Tanzania give a strong sense of how the perils and possibilities of roads, roadsides, traffic and transport have been and continue to be embraced in the everyday lives of colonial and post-colonial subjects.

This paper presents the results of a short-term research project conducted in 2017/2018 on the various ways in which migration and land dynamics in West Africa are intertwined. Contrary to much conventional (policy) thinking in the European Union (EU) today, our point of departure is not that migration is the problem to be solved – nor that (access to) land is the straightforward means to discouraging migration. Drawing on local case studies in four West African countries, this research aims to shed light on the various relationships between migration and land, and to analyze to what extent they may contribute to or obstruct (local) inclusive and sustainable development in Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Benin. In doing so, we aim to offer food for thought concerning possible ways for making the connection between migration and land more fruitful and productive for as many people as possible, especially in relation to the opportunities and constraints facing different categories of West African youth.

The 10th BRICS Academic Forum, consisting of scholars, think tanks and non-governmental organizations from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, took place in Johannesburg, South Africa on 28–31 May 2018. The event was hosted jointly by the BRICS Think Tank Council (BTTC) and the South African BRICS Think Tank (SABTT) with the support of the South African government and the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) as the SABTT custodian and coordinator. Under South Africa’s direction as chair of BRICS, participation at the Academic Forum was extended to other African countries as part of the Africa Outreach Initiative: Angola, Burundi, Ethiopia, Gabon, Namibia, Uganda, Togo, Rwanda and Senegal accepted invitations. Participants commended the efforts made by China during its turn as chair of BRICS to promote BRICS cooperation and suggested working together to strengthen the three-wheel-driven areas of economy, peace and security, and people-to-people exchanges. For the final four days of May, Johannesburg became a vibrant intellectual capital offering for the Academic Forum participants much debate and discussion, plenary sessions and side events all united under the theme “Envisioning Inclusive Development Through a Socially Responsive Economy.” The 2018 Academic Forum focused on the topics most important for the BRICS group ranging from peace and security, energy, gender relations and health to regional integration. The Forum was a complete success with broad consensus and submitted a list of recommendations for the consideration of the leaders of BRICS.

The relationship between language and politics in the African post-colony remains obscure and underexamined. Here we withdraw into a poorly lit area, an area of potentialities, where new political shapes may emerge as the outcome of half-conscious choices made by very large numbers of people. Language choices in the first place: the expansion of the Wolof language in Senegal, principally though far from exclusively an urban phenomenon, is to be seen in a context where the individual may speak several languages, switching linguistically from one social situation to another. Such multilingualism is general in Africa: the particularity of the Wolof case, at least in Senegal, is the extent to which this language has spread, far beyond the boundaries of core ethnicity, of a historical Wolof zone from the colonial or pre-colonial periods. And these individual language choices cast their political shadow.The political consequences of this socio-linguistic phenomenon are as yet indistinct, but to see a little more clearly one should in the second place relate it to the subject of the politics of ethnicity. Language is of course an important element in any definition of ethnicity, and there is an evident overlap; but the politics of language is also a distinguishable subject in its own right. Where the assertion of ethnic identity can be identified as a possible weapon in the individual's struggle for power and recognition within the colonial and post-colonial state, the choice of a language is that of the most effective code in the individual's daily struggle for survival. Language choice in such a setting may be less a matter of assertion, the proud proclamation of an identity, than it is one of evasion, a more or less conscious blurring of the boundaries of identity. And in Senegal the government itself by its inaction has practised its own shadow-politics of procrastination.

When the leading European powers were scrambling for political dominion in Africa, the greatest rival of France was Britain. The French Catholics were working side by side with their government to ensure that they would triumph in Africa beyond the boundaries of the territories already annexed by their country. Thus, even when the British sovereignty claim on Nigeria was endorsed by Europe during the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, the French Catholics did not concede defeat. They still hoped that in Nigeria they could supplant their religious rivals: the British Church Missionary Society (CMS) and the other Protestant missionary groups. While they allowed the British to exercise political power there, they took immediate actions to curtail the spread and dominion of Protestantism in the country. Thus some of their missionaries stationed in the key French territories of Africa—Senegal, Dahomey, and Gabon—were urgently dispatched to Nigeria to compete with their Protestant counterparts and to establish Catholicism in the country.Two different French Catholic missions operated in Nigeria between 1860s and 1900s. The first was the Society of the African Missions (Société des Missions Africaines or SMA), whose members worked mainly among the Yoruba people of western Nigeria and the Igbos of western Igboland. The second were the Holy Ghost Fathers (Pères du Saint Esprit), also called Spiritans, who ministered specifically to the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. The French Catholics, the SMA priests, and the Holy Ghost Fathers competed vehemently with the British Protestants, the CMS, for the conversion of African souls. Just as in the political sphere, the French and British governments competed ardently for annexation and colonization of African territories.

Several prominent contemporary Francophone women writers have embraced activism in compelling forms. In her written creations, Maïssa Bey from Algeria has continually called attention to the lack of women’s rights in her homeland; she has also initiated writing workshops for women to reflect and express themselves. Fatou Diome, who left Senegal for Strasbourg, has shed light in her work on racism and sexism that African immigrants often face in Europe, and she has created an association in her homeland to help individuals become financially solvent. Yanick Lahens from Haiti has similarly devoted herself to activist endeavours on her island, including co-founding a library and working with youth after the earthquake. As these authors seek to create compassion through writing, they also promote empathy through their engagement outside the text, empowering people of various backgrounds by providing them with literacy skills, business acumen, and a sense that their story matters.

Local religions, Islam and Christianity influence and shape West African livelihoods where for many spirituality is an integral part of work, time and making a living. For farmers the spiritual imbues their understanding of the natural world, as well as affecting the control and allocation of resources and their timely use. For the Sufist Mouride brotherhood of Senegal their work ethic nurtures agriculture and supports a diaspora of petty traders and businesses. Meanwhile, the Christian Pentecostal Church encourages myriad small businesses, and its promotion of a work ethic that has occasioned the contention of a Weberian-style transformation. The creation of sustainable networks of socio-economic change through religious adherence is not in doubt, but whether this will promote a general developmental shift is more contentious. Pentecostals emphasize education and literacy, a priority for most governments, but without job opportunities there is widespread discontent among the young, even the educated. Furthermore, the young are disenchanted by patrimonial-clientelist societies, and it is through religion that violent dissent is articulated. Assertions that religion per se is inimical to social and economic change in West Africa are difficult to substantiate. What is a problem for farmers and small businesses is the uncertainty not just of their immediate environments, but of the volatility and dysfunctional nature of the state, and a lack of enabling conditions. Thus, religion and spirituality provide help in difficult times for people, but also opportunities for improvement in their livelihoods and lifestyles.

As far as hip-hop is concerned, it is a truism that, Didier Awadi counts as one of its influential leading figures. The famous musician from Senegal takes advantage of hip-hop as medium and participates in disseminating its values in the world. Awadi’s creativity aims at conscientising Black people whose misery, according to him, is due to an internalised negativity about themselves. The artist pursues this objective in “Dans mon rêve” by staging MLK as a historic benchmark and source of inspiration to Africans. My paper attempts to highlight why the use of hip-hop as medium of pop culture does not effectively serve that creditable objective by Awadi. I also review the provocative trope of African pop-artist as a modern griot, raised a decade ago by the United States-based scholars. Theoretically, Stuart Hall’s conception of culture and Guy Debord’s theoretical complexity in his attempt to dismantle the monopoly of the spectacle inform the study.

In the African meningitis belt (region from Senegal to Ethiopia), there are around 30,000 reported cases of meningococcal disease per year. The main aetiological agent is Neisseria meningitidis of serogroup A. Since 2010, vaccination efforts have increased and hundreds of millions of people have been vaccinated. There are indications that the epidemiology of meningococcal disease is changing. This is the protocol of a scoping review, the objective of which is to describe the extent and nature of the research evidence about the impact of vaccination on meningitis frequency. Primary studies and reviews are eligible for inclusion in the review if they assess the impact of interventions that include N. meningitidis vaccination in countries of the African meningitis belt, report meningitis frequencies, and include an element of comparison. The sources of records are electronic databases (MEDLINE, Cochrane register of clinical trials, African Index Medicus, and clinicaltrials.gov), surveillance reports at country level, online resources of large stakeholders involved in vaccination, reference lists of included records, and experts in the field. The search strategy is based on the combination of the condition of interest, the intervention, and the geographical region. The findings of this review will be presented using figures, tables, and thematic narrative synthesis. This review will not produce a pooled estimate of what the impact of vaccination is, but will give insight in how the authors of the included records assessed the impact.

The World Social Forum (WSF) has provided an international stage for civil society from across the globe to share ideas, strategies, tactics and struggles for creating ‘another world’ against the failures of market inequalities. It attracts more than sixty thousand people pursuing the vision of 'Another World is Possible', with the event becoming a symbol of hope for environmental, social and economic justice. How effective has the WSF been in projecting the concerns of the grassroots against inequalities produced? Should new strategies and tactics be forged amongst civil society so that this international platform becomes more meaningful for the marginalised? Through empirical work conducted at the 2011 WSF in Dakar, Senegal, supplemented with previous empirical work with civil society conducted in Durban, South Africa, this paper points to challenges that need to be addressed by civil society if ‘another world is possible.’ Although there is an urgent need for local representative and civil society to mobilise social capital and include the grassroots into discussions in future WSF gatherings, the success of such an international platform is also influenced by historical, socio-economic and political contexts within countries influencing social capital within networks. Grassroots empowerment will help build more coherent actions that reflect the needs of those most affected by inequalities

As of May 21, more than 323,256 people worldwide have died and counting of COVID-19, the highly infectious respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. The number of people, who have tested positive for COVID-19, has exceeded 4.9 million and counting, according to data compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO).The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the WHO African Region has rapidly evolved over the past few weeks, as reflected by the significant upsurge in the number of cases, and the rapid geographical expansion of the disease. Since the last situation report by the Johns Hopkins University on 18 March 2020 (External Situation Report 3), 11 new countries in the WHO African Region including Angola, Cape Verde, Chad, Eritrea, Niger, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Uganda, and Zimbabwe have confirmed 1 371 and counting COVID-19 cases. As of 25 March 2020, a cumulative total of 1 716 confirmed cases have been reported across 38 countries in the region, bringing the total number of reported deaths to 30, which corresponds to a case fatality ratio of 1.8% among reported confirmed cases.The most affected countries in the WHO African Region are: South Africa (5647 cases and counting), Algeria (4006 cases and counting), Burkina Faso (645 cases and counting), Senegal (933 cases and counting), Cameroon (1832 cases and counting), and Cote d’Ivoire (1275 and counting) [13].This paper seeks to lay a theoretical foundation for a broader intellectual discourse on the emerging challenges presented by pandemics while discussing and examining how law as a social determinant of health and a factor in the cause, distribution and prevention of disease and injury in populations within Africa and Kenya in particular can be utilized in understanding trends in health laws, study the impact and effectiveness of laws in health, informing and supporting best practices and developing an evidence base of what works in the prevention of infectious diseases and in particular COVID – 19 in Africa (Kenya).

The connection between under-nutrition and HIV is bidirectional. It affects the quality of life, as well as the survival of affected people. While this is the case, there are various nutritional challenges, which are faced by people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH), and which hamper the fight against the scourge. This study therefore sought to map literature on the nutritional challenges among PLWH in sub-Saharan Africa and guide future research in nutritional management to improve health outcomes for PLWH. A systematic search was done from the following sources: PubMed, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, EBSCOhost (CINAHL and Academic Search Complete), Web of Science, and Google Scholar. In addition, information was obtained both from unpublished studies, which included book chapters, reference lists, theses and conference papers. Eleven (11) studies met the inclusion criteria, and were used for data extraction. The studies were based in different countries, which form part of the Sub Saharan Africa. One of the studies was carried out in Senegal, two studies were carried out in various West African countries, one study was carried out in Burkina Faso; one study was carried out in Ethiopia and one of the studies was carried out in different countries forming part of the Sub Saharan Africa. Two of the studies were carried out in Zambia, one in Zimbabwe, one in Cameroon, and one in Ghana. Most of the studies established the main nutrition challenge facing PLWH to be food insecurity. Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that some of the main nutrition challenges include food insecurity, lack of nutritional support among PLWH, late detection of HIV, huge cost of treating severe acute malnutrition, and lack of feeding supplementations.

Among the rich legacy of African oral traditions, the Sunjata epic is still one of the most complex phenonema, because it undoubtedly goes back to the times of Ibn Battuta, because of the limited variety between the available text editions, and because of its present-day popularity in sub-Saharan West Africa among people of all kinds of social background. In scholarly discussion, the epic has challenged many academics since Delafosse used the Sunjata epic as evidence for his reconstruction of the Mali empire as a thirteenth-century vast centralized polity. Although his views have been criticized since then, they have become part of history lessons at primary schools in Mali, the Gambia, Senegal, and Guinea. All these countries belong to the so-called “Mande,” an area inhabited by various ethnic groups that have close similarities in language, oral tradition, and social organization.In the last decade History in Africa has given room to discuss the Sunjata epic, in particular in order to explore how data from the epic can be used as historical sources, and as what history for whom. Articles by David Conrad, Tim Geysbeek, Stephan Bühnen, Stephen Bulman, Kathryn Green, George Brooks, Ralph Austen, and myself come my mind. All these authors have treated the Sunjata epic as a text. This seems to be a logical and inevitable choice for the historian.However, this approach implies a choice that limits the range of interpretations which can be made about the Sunjata traditions as a source for African history.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the proposed eco currency union has sufficient business cycle synchronization among its members to avoid problems such as those experienced in the last several years by countries in the eurozone. This monetary union would potentially include 18 countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo – which collectively have a GDP of over 744 billion dollars and a population of over 300 million people. Design/methodology/approach The authors will apply some recently created econometric tools that were developed specifically to investigate business cycle synchronization in the eurozone. These tools – denoted synchronicity and similarity – overcome some of the limitations of previous studies which have used vector autoregressions and suffered simultaneity bias as a result. Findings The different measures employed suggest that the potential members of the eco exhibit a very low level of synchronization. Nigeria in particular, which is heavily dependent on oil, as are some, but not all potential members, would be the largest member, and exhibits a very low level of synchronization with other prospective eco member nations. Finally, preliminary evidence from several countries which have joined the existing African currency unions does not indicate that the act of joining a currency union improves synchronization, and this result contradicts the “endogenous optimal currency area” hypothesis. Research limitations/implications Like previous studies on the topic, the authors rely on the available data. The number of observations is more limited than would be optimal. Practical implications The results would strongly caution against the creation of the eco currency union, as members appear even less ready for monetary integration than countries in the eurozone did. Originality/value This is the first study to apply the synchronicity and similarity tools to the prospective West African eco nations.

A major challenge faced by human societies is to promote development that truly makes difference for people without jeopardizing their environment. This is particularly urgent in developing countries where, despite decades of development programs, local populations often live under poverty thresholds. With this study, we participate in the ongoing debate about the necessary global revision of development theory and practice in the rural Sahel. We retrace the development trajectories in the Ferlo, the northern silvopastoral zone of Senegal. We highlight how development has evolved from the 1940s to the present, from centralized development action programs focused on hydraulic infrastructure to current polycentric development with growing environmental concerns. We highlight multi-scale events that have influenced the successive development paradigms in the area. Focusing on the past thirty years, we analyzed twenty-five environment and natural resource management-oriented projects, describing the evolution of their objectives and actions over time and identifying recurring flaws: redundancy, lack of synergy, and questionable relevance to local needs We put forth that a more resilient thinking-based development paradigm is necessary to guide the growing number of environment-oriented development actions, including the African Great Green Wall, for which massive investments are ongoing throughout Ferlo and across the Sahel.

Introduction : Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common type of leukemia in Western populations, being rarer in Asian and African people. It has been suggested that patients with CLL from Africa might have a more aggressive disease compared with Causasien patients. In this study, we aimed to identify genetic factors that may account for this difference Methods: We collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from a total of 75 patients with CLL, 25 from Senegal (Africa), and 50 from Siena. Since it is well known that there are differences in germline IGH repertoires between different populations, we also collected PBMCs from five healthy Senegalese individuals as control. We analyzed immunoglobulin heavy chain (IGH) genes mutational status by performing next-generation sequencing in these 2 groups of patients. Results: We found that Senegalese patients more frequently had adverse prognostic factors and an unmutated profile. Furthermore, we documented that IGHV1 (IGHV1-69), IGHD3, and IGHJ6 were significantly more frequent in Senegalese patients, whereas IGHV3-30 was common and limited to the Italian cohort. Stereotyped receptors commonly detected in the white population were not recorded in our Senegalese series. Conclusion: The different IGH repertoire we observed in the Senegalese cohort may reflect the diverse genetic and microenvironmental (ie, polymicrobial stimulation) background. Disclosures Gozzetti: Takeda: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria, Research Funding.

PrécisCet article met en évidence les liens entre le Mai français et les mouvements politiques et sociaux intervenus en Guinée, au Congo, au Sénégal ou à Madagascar. Il s'intéresse à la nature commune de ces différents mouvements : rôle de la jeunesse, alliance des étudiants avec les ouvriers et le « petit peuple », en interrogeant une même situation postcoloniale. Il s'attache à décrire les connexions ainsi que les communautés d'habitus entre des mondes, africain et européen, en devenir : échanges de pratiques et savoirs en matière de contestation et de répression, échanges universitaires, culture et lectures communes, et ainsi de suite. Il s'agit ici de penser les circulations des « années 68 » non seulement du Nord vers le Sud mais aussi du Sud vers le Nord, et d'intégrer Mai dans une configuration plus générale : celle des espoirs suscités et/ou déçus par la fin d'un empire.This article focuses on connections between France's May ’68 and political and social movements in Francophone Africa: Guinea, the Congo, Senegal, and Madagascar. As participants challenged their common postcolonial situation, these movements converged around the importance of youth and alliances between students, workers, and “the masses.” The article describes the emergence of French and African activist communities defined by a common habitus constituted by shared techniques of protest and responses to repression, academic exchanges, common interests, and reading. The purpose of the article is to examine the circulation of ideas and people through the “long 1968”—from South to North and vice versa—and to situate May ’68 within the broad range of expectations that the end of empire both raised and often disappointed.

Meeting food demand for the growing population will require an increase to crop production despite climate changes and, more particularly, severe drought episodes. Sorghum is one of the cereals most adapted to drought that feed millions of people around the world. Valorizing its genetic diversity for crop improvement can benefit from extensive phenotyping. The current methods to evaluate plant biomass, leaves area and plants height involve destructive sampling and are not practical in breeding. Phenotyping relying on drone based imagery is a powerful approach in this context. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a high throughput field phenotyping method of sorghum growth traits under contrasted water conditions relying on drone based imagery. Experiments were conducted in Bambey (Senegal) in 2018 and 2019, to test the ability of multi-spectral sensing technologies on-board a UAV platform to calculate various vegetation indices to estimate plants characteristics. In total, ten (10) contrasted varieties of West African sorghum collection were selected and arranged in a randomized complete block design with three (3) replicates and two (2) water treatments (well-watered and drought stress). This study focused on plant biomass, leaf area index (LAI) and the plant height that were measured weekly from emergence to maturity. Drone flights were performed just before each destructive sampling and images were taken by multi-spectral and visible cameras. UAV-derived vegetation indices exhibited their capacity of estimating LAI and biomass in the 2018 calibration data set, in particular: normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI), corrected transformed vegetation index (CTVI), seconded modified soil-adjusted vegetation index (MSAVI2), green normalize difference vegetation index (GNDVI), and simple ratio (SR) (r2 of 0.8 and 0.6 for LAI and biomass, respectively). Developed models were validated with 2019 data, showing a good performance (r2 of 0.92 and 0.91 for LAI and biomass accordingly). Results were also promising regarding plant height estimation (RMSE = 9.88 cm). Regression plots between the image-based estimation and the measured plant height showed a r2 of 0.83. The validation results were similar between water treatments. This study is the first successful application of drone based imagery for phenotyping sorghum growth and development in a West African context characterized by severe drought occurrence. The developed approach could be used as a decision support tool for breeding programs and as a tool to increase the throughput of sorghum genetic diversity characterization for adaptive traits.

La importancia de los rituales funerarios en el África subsahariana ha sorprendido a los observadores, quienes, independientemente de la diversidad de los rituales, los han relacionado con el dominio del grupo sobre el individuo y con el proceso del perpetuo retorno de los muertos entre los vivos. La evolución interna de las religiones africanas tradicionales, llamadas religiones del terruño, ha hecho surgir formas culturales más elaboradas en torno a los antepasados de prestigio, intermediarios entre el mundo humano y el universo invisible. Dicha evolución preparó la aceptación de las religiones reveladas, que no han modificado totalmente los rituales mortuorios ni han eclipsado por completo la creencia en los antepasados y en la reencarnación. Lo que transforma los rituales funerarios y la idea de la muerte son los fenómenos vinculados con la modernidad, en particular el éxodo rural y la emigración a lugares lejanos. A partir de ciertas referencias a los principales conocimientos sobre la muerte y los ritos funerarios del África subsahariana y a partir de dos investigaciones de campo, una llevada a cabo en el Senegal y la otra en Francia, el autor de este artículo se esfuerza por analizar el sentido de la transformación de la idea de la muerte y de los ritos funerarios que se puede observar hoy en día al sur del Sáhara.Abstract: The importance of funeral ritual in Black Africa has impressed the observers. They have analysed these rites as reflecting the group’s domination of the individual and as expressing a process of perpetual return of dead among living people. The internal evolution of traditional African religions has produced more sophisticated cults concerning prestigious ancestors, intermediate between human and invisible world. Such an evolution has prepared the arrival of the revealed faiths which have not completely transformed the funeral rites nor destroyed the beliefs in ancestors and in reincarnation. These rituals have been above all transformed by the modern life and processes like migration and rural exodus. This article uses references to the main knowledge concerning death and funeral rites in Africa and the results of two surveys made recently in Senegal and in France to analyse the meaning of the changes of the idea of death one can observe today in the south of Sahara.Résumé : L’importance des rituels funéraires en Afrique subsaharienne a frappé les observateurs qui les ont reliés, au-delà de leur diversité, à la domination du groupe sur l’individu et à un processus de retour perpétuel des morts parmi les vivants. L’évolution interne des religions africaines traditionnelles, appelées religions du terroir, a fait émerger des formes cultuelles plus élaborées autour d’ancêtres prestigieux, intermédiaires entre le monde humain et l’univers invisible. Cette évolution a préparé l’acceptation des religions révélées qui n’ont pas modifié totalement les rituels mortuaires ni tout à fait éclipsé la croyance aux ancêtres et à la réincarnation. Ce sont les phénomènes liés à la modernité, en particulier l’exode rural et les migrations lointaines, qui transforment les rituels funéraires et l’idée de la mort. A partir de références aux principales connaissances sur la mort et les rites funéraires en Afrique subsaharienne et à partir de deux recherches de terrain, l’une menée au Sénégal et l’autre en France, cet article s’efforce d’analyser le sens des transformations de l’idée de la mort et des rites funéraires que l’on peut observer aujourd’hui au sud du Sahara.

In the French daily newspaper "Libération" of 8/9september 19901 read : "Reveil de la guerilla en Casamance. Two clashes occurred between the Senegalese army and MFDC guerillas on the 22th of august and the 4th of september; 16 soldiers and 24 guerillas were killed". A morbid déjà vu. At the end of1983, as I did my practical training in the town of Ziguinchor, in the south of Senegal, I witnessed some fierce clashes between the same participants, causing the death of some 200 people. How could this be happening in one of the most democratic states of Africa? Didn't the political arena of some 16 different parties give enough room for oppositional currents? The answer must be negative, in some cases. In this paper I want to show the reader that the articulation of local organizational structures and development policies of a modern state can cause many problems. In this case the typical dynamics of the Diola society in southern Senegal and the specific way of state formation in Senegal after Independence form an explosive mixture. In the first part of the paper a description is given of the dynamics of the Diola society by portraying the organizational structures in Diola villages before the colonial period. Then, in the colonial period, due to new influences as a result of the contacts with foreigners, some local organizational structures are politicized. Among the Diola this process of politicizing took place on a very low level because the Diola society has all the characteristics of a segmentary society. Each village formed an autonomous unit headed by elders. The use of power lays in the hands of a group rather than in the hands of an individual. For this reason the Diola never fully participated in the political arena, not even after Independence. After Independence in 1960 the regimes in Dakar tried to impose their authority in all parts of the new state. First Leopold Senghor and then Abdou Diouf strived to form an omnipotent political party. A party in which all regional, ethnic and professional currants would be represented. This became the Parti Socialiste (PS). In the traditionally hierarchically organized societies in the North and the East of the state this was done by encapsulating powerful individuals. Once they joined the party they would bring along many followers or dependants as new members. But in the segmentary Diola society those political leaders did not exist. Therefore some individuals were dropped in the region by the PS to represent the inhabitants. These strangers were given a lot ofpower in the region. But it should be clear that these "representatives" were not accepted by local people who had the feeling of being colonized for the second time. This time by fellow countrymen from the North.For the Dakar regimes, a way to impose their hegemony was connected to the say over land ownership. Since the adaption of the National Lands Act on the 17th of June 1964, all transactions concerning the control over land must be regulated via the local governments. One of the main consequences of this reform is that the state becomes the sole landlord of all the land. This implies that local, mostly ancient, land tenure systems have formally ceased to exist. With the case of the explosive growth of the city of Ziguinchor I show the impact of this reform on the surrounding Diola society. As control over local land is the crux of the organizational structures of Diola society, this new intrusion of the state caused an emotional reaction. Moreover because it was mostly done at random by politicians who had only eyes for their own goals. This being the result of the specific way the state strived for hegemony and attempted to graft new forms of organization on the segmentary Diola society. With explosively results!KEYWORDS: Diola, politics, Senegal, social organisation, state formation, urban development

Africa literature in French-speaking especially in the field of poetry is represented by a famous and influential figure in his native country, Senegal. He was Léopold Sédar Senghor, African statesman and poet who led Senegal to independence in 1960 and became the country's first president. Senghor invites readers to experience an almost mystical and supersensory world in Africa.The research method used in Poème à Mon Frère Blanc poetry analysis by Léopold Sédar Senghor is a qualitative descriptive method. According to Moleong (2017: 6) qualitative research is used to understand the phenomenon of what is experienced by the research subject (author) in the form of behavior, perception, motivation, actions and others holistically by means of descriptions in the form of words and languages, a special natural context and utilizing various natural methods.The poem 'Poème à Mon Frère Blanc' by Léopold Sédar Senghor raises the theme about racism, namely the difference between 'black people' and 'white people' which are poured in every lyrics and words that are so enticing and critical of what has been afflicting African people who are referred to as 'colored people' in the sense of 'degrading' by white people

Abstract Background Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in people living with HIV (PLHIV). Depression has a negative impact on both mental and physical health and is mainly associated with suboptimal HIV treatment outcomes. To encourage successful aging and the achievement of the 3 × 90 objectives in older PLHIV, the psychological domain must not be neglected. In this context and as data are scarce in West Africa, this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and the factors associated with severe depressive symptoms in older PLHIV living in this region of the world. Methods Data from PLHIV aged ≥50 years and on ART since ≥6 months were collected in three clinics (two in Côte d’Ivoire, one in Senegal) participating in the West Africa International epidemiological Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) collaboration. The severity of depressive symptoms was measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D), and associated factors were identified using logistic regressions. Results The median age of the 334 PLHIV included in the study was 56.7 (53.5–61.1), 57.8% were female, and 87.1% had an undetectable viral load. The prevalence of severe depressive symptoms was 17.9% [95% Confidence Interval (95% CI): 13.8–22.0]. PLHIV with severe depressive symptoms were more likely to be unemployed (adjusted Odd Ratio (aOR) = 2.8; 95% CI: 1.4–5.7), and to be current or former tobacco smokers (aOR = 2.6; 95% CI: 1.3–5.4) but were less likely to be overweight or obese (aOR = 0.4; 95% CI: 0.2–0.8). Conclusions The prevalence of severe depressive symptoms is high among older PLHIV living in West Africa. Unemployed PLHIV and tobacco smokers should be seen as vulnerable and in need of additional support. Further studies are needed to describe in more details the reality of the aging experience for PLHIV living in SSA. The integration of screening and management of depression in the standard of care of PLHIV is crucial.

AbstractGaming has increasingly become a part of life in Africa. Currently, no data on gaming disorders or their association with mental disorders exist for African countries. This study for the first time investigated (1) the prevalence of insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, anxiety and depression among African gamers, (2) the association between these conditions and gamer types (i.e., non-problematic, engaged, problematic and addicted) and (3) the predictive power of socioeconomic markers (education, age, income, marital status, employment status) on these conditions. 10,566 people from 2 low- (Rwanda, Gabon), 6 lower-middle (Cameroon, Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Ivory Coast) and 1 upper-middle income countries (South Africa) completed online questionnaires containing validated measures on insomnia, sleepiness, anxiety, depression and gaming addiction. Results showed our sample of gamers (24 ± 2.8 yrs; 88.64% Male), 30% were addicted, 30% were problematic, 8% were engaged and 32% were non-problematic. Gaming significantly contributed to 86.9% of the variance in insomnia, 82.7% of the variance in daytime sleepiness and 82.3% of the variance in anxiety [p < 0.001]. This study establishes the prevalence of gaming, mood and sleep disorders, in a large African sample. Our results corroborate previous studies, reporting problematic and addicted gamers show poorer health outcomes compared with non-problematic gamers.

This study has surveyed honey plants used by Apis mellifera in the Great Green Wall of Senegal by involving 38 people (21 in Widou, 17 in Koyli Alpha). The study revealed seventeen species divided into fourteen genera and nine families. Fabaceae was the most represented family with 5 species followed by Combretaceae (3 species), Malvaceae and Rutaceae each with 2 species, and Anacardiaceae, Balanitaceae, Rhamnaceae, Sterculiaceae, Meliaceae each with one species. The most frequent melliferous plant species were : Combretum glutinosum, Guiera senegalensis, Balanites aegyptiaca, Acacia radiana, Lannea acida, Terminalia avicennoides, Sclerocarya birrea, Sterculia setigera and Maytenus senegalensis. The trees were more large with 58.82% followed by shrubs (35.29%) and herbs (5.88%). Spontaneous plants represent 76.47% and cultivated plants represent 23.53%. The melliferous flora was largely dominated by African and Afro-Indian species, which together accounted for 70.58% of the species. According to their apicultural value, the nectariferous species represented 58.82% and the reamining were polleniferous (41.18%). The species that bloom in the rainy season were more numerous with 52.94% of the species. This study enabled us to identify nine (09) species with high melliferous value. Further studies on foraging activity and nectar production would be highly useful to test real melliferous potential of these plants and their value further.

Abstract Background The ATLAS programme aims to promote and implement HIV self-testing (HIVST) in three West African countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Senegal. During 2019–2021, in close collaboration with the national AIDS implementing partners and communities, ATLAS plans to distribute 500,000 HIVST kits through eight delivery channels, combining facility-based, community-based strategies, primary and secondary distribution of HIVST. Considering the characteristics of West African HIV epidemics, the targets of the ATLAS programme are hard-to-reach populations: key populations (female sex workers, men who have sex with men, and drug users), their clients or sexual partners, partners of people living with HIV and patients diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections and their partners. The ATLAS programme includes research support implementation to generate evidence for HIVST scale-up in West Africa. The main objective is to describe, analyse and understand the social, health, epidemiological effects and cost-effectiveness of HIVST introduction in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal to improve the overall HIV testing strategy (accessibility, efficacy, ethics). Methods ATLAS research is organised into five multidisciplinary workpackages (WPs): Key Populations WP: qualitative surveys (individual in-depth interviews, focus group discussions) conducted with key actors, key populations, and HIVST users. Index testing WP: ethnographic observation of three HIV care services introducing HIVST for partner testing. Coupons survey WP: an anonymous telephone survey of HIVST users. Cost study WP: incremental economic cost analysis of each delivery model using a top-down costing with programmatic data, complemented by a bottom-up costing of a representative sample of HIVST distribution sites, and a time-motion study for health professionals providing HIVST. Modelling WP: Adaptation, parameterisation and calibration of a dynamic compartmental model that considers the varied populations targeted by the ATLAS programme and the different testing modalities and strategies. Discussion ATLAS is the first comprehensive study on HIV self-testing in West Africa. The ATLAS programme focuses particularly on the secondary distribution of HIVST. This protocol was approved by three national ethic committees and the WHO’s Ethical Research Committee.

In the recent past, the frequency and gravity of large-scale flood disasters have increased globally, resulting in casualties, destruction of property and huge economic loss. The destructive flood disaster devastating Louisiana, USA, is a recent example. Despite the availability of advanced technological capabilities for dealing with floods in developed nations, flood disasters continue to become more rampant and disastrous. Developing countries in Africa such as Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan have recently experienced severe flooding, leaving a considerable number of human casualties and thousands displaced. In African cities, most vulnerable urban residents usually have lesser capacity and fewer resources to recover from the shocks of disaster as a result of the failure of governments to build human security for poor African residents. Many scholars have acknowledged the lack of appropriate vulnerability assessment frameworks and policies, questioning the efficiency and effectiveness of the tested models in Africa. The ability to accurately identify, measure and evaluate the various vulnerabilities of affected people and communities is a right step towards reducing disaster risk. This article aimed at developing a framework for assessing urban settlements’ vulnerability to flood risks in Africa. The framework is currently being tested to assess various dimensions of vulnerability drivers in three urban communities in Ibadan metropolis, the third largest city in Nigeria, focusing more on flood risk perceptions and behaviour of the risk bearers. It uses participatory and mixed method approaches to socially construct vulnerability of populations at risk. This model emanates from the evaluation of considerable relevant literature and an array of vulnerability assessment frameworks. It integrates some approaches that are applicable to African cities in a bid to create a versatile tool to assess, identify and mitigate the effects of flood disaster risk and reduce urban poor’s vulnerability to natural and human-induced hazards.

Context: The rate of HIV status disclosure to partners is low in Mali, a West African country with a national HIV prevalence of 1.2%. HIV self-testing (HIVST) could increase testing coverage among partners of people living with HIV (PLHIV). The AutoTest-VIH, Libre d'accéder à la connaissance de son Statut (ATLAS) program was launched in West Africa with the objective of distributing nearly half a million HIV self-tests from 2019 to 2021 in Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, and Senegal. The ATLAS program integrates several research activities. This article presents the preliminary results of the qualitative study of the ATLAS program in Mali. This study aims to improve our understanding of the practices, limitations and issues related to the distribution of HIV self-tests to PLHIV so that they can offer the tests to their sexual partners.Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in 2019 in an HIV care clinic in Bamako. It consisted of (i) individual interviews with eight health professionals involved in the distribution of HIV self-tests; (ii) 591 observations of medical consultations, including social service consultations, with PLHIV; (iii) seven observations of peer educator-led PLHIV group discussions. The interviews with health professionals and the observations notes have been subject to content analysis.Results: HIVST was discussed in only 9% of the observed consultations (51/591). When HIVST was discussed, the discussion was almost always initiated by the health professional rather than PLHIV. HIVST was discussed infrequently because, in most of the consultations, it was not appropriate to propose partner HIVST (e.g., when PLHIV were widowed, did not have partners, or had delegated someone to renew their prescriptions). Some PLHIV had not disclosed their HIV status to their partners. Dispensing HIV self-tests was time-consuming, and medical consultations were very short. Three main barriers to HIVST distribution when HIV status had not been disclosed to partners were identified: (1) almost all health professionals avoided offering HIVST to PLHIV when they thought or knew that the PLHIV had not disclosed their HIV status to partners; (2) PLHIV were reluctant to offer HIVST to their partners if they had not disclosed their HIV-positive status to them; (3) there was limited use of strategies to support the disclosure of HIV status.Conclusion: It is essential to strengthen strategies to support the disclosure of HIV+ status. It is necessary to develop a specific approach for the provision of HIV self-tests for the partners of PLHIV by rethinking the involvement of stakeholders. This approach should provide them with training tailored to the issues related to the (non)disclosure of HIV status and gender inequalities, and improving counseling for PLHIV.

Murray Forman’s text The ‘Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop provides insightful commentary on the workings of and relationship between place and space. To highlight the difference of scale between these two parameters, he writes that, “place defines the immediate locale of human interaction in the particular, whereas space is the expanse of mobile trajectories through which subjects pass in their circulation between or among distinct and varied places” (25). This statement reflects Doreen Massey’s earlier observation from her book Space, Place, and Gender that “one view of a place is as a particular articulation” of the spatial (5). These descriptions clarify how human action shapes, and is shaped by, what Forman describes as the “more narrowly circumscribed parameters” of place (25) and the broader realm of space. Clearly, these two terms describe interconnected components that are socially constructed and dynamic: that is, they operate at different scales but are constructed in time, constantly reshaped by human action and perception. “Space and time are inextricably interwoven,” states Massey. She continues: “It is not that the interrelations between objects occur in space and time; it is these relationships themselves which create/define space and time” (261). If place and space represent different scales of social interaction and space and time are interconnected, place and time must be linked as well.While this indicates that human experience and representation operate on different scales, it is important to note that these two factors are also interrelated. As Stuart Hall writes, “[I]t is only through the way in which we represent and imagine ourselves that we come to know how we are constituted and who we are” (473). There is no objective experience, only that which is subjectively represented through various means. Through depictions of these relationships between place, space, and time, rap music shapes listeners’ comprehension of these parameters. DJs, MCs, producers, and other creative artists express personal observations through the influence of both the local and global, the past and present. In rap lyrics and their musical accompaniment, countries, cities, neighbourhoods, and even specific government housing developments inform the music, but the identities of these places and spaces are not fixed – for the performers or for the audience. They are more than the backdrop for what happens, inanimate structures or coordinates of latitude and longitude. Their dynamic nature, and their representation in music, serves to continually redefine “how we are constituted and who we are” (473).In MC Solaar’s Léve-toi et Rap from his 2001 album Cinquième as and his song Nouveau Western, from 1994’s Prose Combat, this is demonstrated in two very different ways. Léve-toi et Rap, a personal history told in the first person, clearly demonstrates both American hip-hop lineage and the transnational influences of Solaar’s upbringing. This song serves as an example of the adoption of American musical and lyrical techniques as means through which personally empowering, often place-based stories are told. In Nouveau Western, the narrative demonstrates the negative effects of globalization through this story about a geographically and temporally transported American cowboy. This track employs musical materials in a way that reflects the more critical lyrical commentary on the repercussions of American cultural and economic power. Through the manner of his storytelling, and through the stories themselves, MC Solaar explicitly demonstrates his own agency in representing, and thus constructing the meaning of, dynamic place and space as they are defined from these two perspectives.As a Paris-based French rapper, MC Solaar often makes his affiliation to this geographic focal point significant in his lyrics. This is especially clear in Léve-toi et Rap, in which Parisian banlieues (HLM government housing projects), nightclubs, and other places figure prominently in the text. From the lyrics, one learns a great deal about this rapper and his background: MC Solaar was born in Senegal, but his parents brought him to France when he was young (MC Solaar, “Léve-toi et Rap”; Petetin, 802, 805). He grew up struggling with the isolation and social problems of the banlieues and the discrimination he faced as an immigrant. He began rapping, established a musical career, and now encourages others to rap as a means of making something constructive out of a challenging situation. In the excerpt below, MC Solaar explains these origins and the move to the banlieues (Solaar, “Lève-toi et rap;” All translations by the author).Lève-toi et rap elaborates on the connection between the local and global in rap music, and between place, space, and time. The lyrics and music represent these properties in part by appropriating American rap’s stylistic practices. The introductory chorus incorporates sampled lyrics of the American artists Lords of the Underground, the Beastie Boys, Nas, and Redman (Various Contributors, “‘Lève-toi et rap’ Direct Sample of Vocals/Lyrics,” whosampled.com.). A bassline originally recorded by the funk group The Crusaders grounds the musical accompaniment that begins with the first verse (partially printed above), in which MC Solaar begins to depict his own place and space as he has experienced it temporally.In this chorus, the first sample is “I remember way back in the days on my block” from Lords of the Underground’s song Tic-Toc. This leads to “Oh My God” and “Ah, Ah, Ah,” both samples from Q-Tip’s contribution to the Beastie Boys’ song Get It Together. “I Excel,” which appears in Nas’s It Ain’t Hard to Tell comes next. The last sample, “Who Got the Funk,” is from Can’t Wait by Redman (Lords of the Underground, “Tic-Tic;” Beastie Boys and Q-Tip, “Get It Together;” Nas, “It Ain’t Hard to Tell;” The Crusaders, “The Well’s Gone Dry”).Scratching begins the introductory chorus (printed below), which ends with a voice announcing “MC Solaar.” At this point, the sampled bassline from The Crusaders’ 1974 song The Well’s Gone Dry begins.[Scratching]I remember back in the days on my block... Lords of the UndergroundOh my God... Ah, Ah, Ah... Beastie Boys and Q-TipI excel… NasWho got the funk... RedmanMC Solaar[Crusaders sample begins] The rap samples all date from 1994, the year Solaar released his well-received album Prose Combat and most are strategically placed: the first sample originated in the last verse of Tic-Toc, the Q-Tip samples in the middle are from the middle of Get It Together, and the last sample, “I Excel,” is from the first line of It Ain’t Hard to Tell. As Lève-toi et rap continues, MC Solaar’s statement of the song title itself replaces the iteration “MC Solaar” of the first chorus. In a sense, “Lève-toi et rap” becomes the last sample of the chorus. Through these American references, Solaar demonstrates an affiliation with the place in which rap is commonly known to have originally coalesced. For French rappers consciously working to prove their connection to rap’s lineage, such demonstrations are useful (Faure and Garcia, 81-82). Achieved by sampling music and lyrics from 1974 and 1994 from sources that are not all that obvious to a casual listener, Solaar spatially connects his work to the roots of rap (Shusterman, 214). These particular samples also highlight a spatial relationship to particular styles of rap that represent place and space in particular ways. Nas and Lords of the Underground, for instance, have added to the discourse on street credibility and authenticity, while Q-tip has provided commentary on social and political issues. MC Solaar’s own story widens the parameters for illustrating these concepts, as he incorporates the personally significant places such as Senegal, Chad, and the Saint Denis banlieue to establish street credibility on a transnational scale; the lyrics also describe serious social and political issues, including the “skinheads” he encountered while living in Paris. Dynamic place is clear throughout all of this, as everything occurring in these places is meaningful in part because of the unavoidable relationship with the passing of time – Solaar’s birth, his upbringing, and his success occurred through his choices and social interactions in specific places.Looking more closely at the representation of place and time, Lève-toi et rap is less than straightforward. As discussed previously, some of the vocal samples are rearranged, demonstrating purposeful alteration of pre-recorded material; in contrast, the use of a repeated funk bassline sample during a clear narrative of Solaar’s life juxtaposes a linear story with a non-linear musical accompaniment. To this, MC Solaar made a contemporary textual contribution to later choruses, with the title of the song added as the chorus’s last line. Such manipulation in the context of this first-person narrative to express this movement supports the conclusion that, far from being a victim of political and economic forces, MC Solaar has used them to his advantage. After all, the title of the song itself, Lève-toi et rap, translates roughly to “get up and rap.”In addition to manipulating the materials of American rap and funk for this purpose, Solaar’s use of verlan, a type of slang used in the banlieues, brings another level of locality to Lève-toi et rap. The use of verlan brings the song’s association with French banlieue culture closer: by communicating in a dialect fluently understood by relatively few, rappers ensure that their message will be understood best by those who share the constellation of social and temporal relations of these housing developments (Milon, 75). Adding verlan to other slang and to unique grammatical rules, the rap of the banlieues is to some extent in its own language (Prévos, “Business” 902-903).Referring to MC Solaar’s 1994 album Prose Combat, André Prévos observed that this material “clearly illustrates the continuity of this tradition, all the while adding an identifiable element of social and personal protest as well as an identifiable amount of ‘signifying’ also inspired by African American hip-hip lyrics” (Prévos, “Postcolonial” 43). While it is clear at this point that this is also true for Lève-toi et rap from Cinquème as, Nouveau Western from Prose Combat demonstrates continuity in different way. To start, the samples used in this song create a more seamless texture. A sample from the accompaniment to Serge Gainsbourg’s Bonnie and Clyde from 1967 undergirds the song, providing a French pop reference to a story about an American character (Various Contributors, “Nouveau Western” whosampled.com). The bassline from Bonnie and Clyde is present throughout Nouveau Western, while the orchestral layer from the sample is heard during sections of the verses and choruses. Parts of the song also feature alto saxophone samples that provide continuity with the jazz-influenced character of many songs on this album.The contrasts with Lève-toi et rap continue with the lyrical content. Rather than describing his own process of acquiring knowledge and skill as he moved in time from place to place, in Nouveau Western MC Solaar tells the story of a cowboy named “Harry Zona” who was proud and independent living in Arizona, hunting for gold with his horse, but who becomes a victim in contemporary Paris. In the fabled west, the guns he carries and his method of transportation facilitate his mission: Il erre dans les plaines, fier, solitaire. Son cheval est son partenaire [He wanders the plains, proud, alone. His horse is his partner.]. After suddenly being transported to modern-day Paris, he orders a drink from an “Indian,” at a bistro and “scalps” the foam off, but this is surely a different kind of person and practice than Solaar describes Harry encountering in the States (MC Solaar, “Nouveau Western”).After leaving the bistro, Harry is arrested driving his stagecoach on the highway and shut away by the authorities in Fresnes prison for his aberrant behaviour. His pursuit of gold worked for him in the first context, but the quest for wealth advanced in his home country contributed to the conditions he now faces, and which MC Solaar critiques, later in the song. He raps, Les States sont comme une sorte de multinationale / Elle exporte le western et son monde féudal / Dicte le bien, le mal, Lucky Luke et les Dalton [The States are a kind of multinational”/ “They export the western and its feudal way/ Dictate the good the bad, Lucky Luke and the Daltons] (MC Solaar, “Nouveau Western”).Harry seems to thrive in the environment portrayed as the old west: as solitary hero, he serves as a symbol of the States’ independent spirit. In the nouveau far west [new far west] francophone comic book characters Lucky Luke and the Daltons sont camouflés en Paul Smith’s et Wesson [are camouflaged in Paul Smith’s and Wesson], and Harry is not equipped to cope with this confusing combination. He is lost as he negotiates le système moderne se noie l’individu [the modern system that drowns the individual]. To return to Bonnie and Clyde, these ill-fated and oft-fabled figures weren’t so triumphant either, and in Gainsbourg’s song, they are represented by 1960s French pop rather than by even a hint of local 1930s musical traditions. “Harry Zona” is not the only person whose story unfolds through the lens of another culture.While Solaar avoids heavy use of verlan or other Parisian slang in this song, he does use several American cultural references, some of which I have already mentioned. In addition, the word “western” refers to western movies, but it also serves as another term for the United States and its cultural exports. “Hollywood” is another term for the west, and in this context MC Solaar warns his listeners to question this fictional setting. Following his observation that John Wayne looks like Lucky Luke, “well groomed like an archduke,” he exclaims Hollywood nous berne, Hollywood berne! [Hollywood fooled us! Hollywood fools!]. This is followed by, on dit gare au gorille, mais gare à Gary Cooper [as they say watch out for the gorilla, watch out for Gary Cooper]. Slick characters like the ones Gary Cooper played have ultimately served as cultural capital that has generated economic capital for the “multinational” States that Solaar describes. As Harry moves “epochs and places,” he discovers that this sort of influence, now disguised in fashion-forward clothing, is more influential than his Smith and Wesson of the old west (MC Solaar, “Nouveau Western”).It is important to note that this narrative is described with the language of the cultural force that it critiques. As Geoffrey Baker writes, “MC Solaar delves into the masterpieces and linguistic arsenal of his colonizers in order to twist the very foundations of their linguistic oppression against them” (Baker, 241). These linguistic – and cultural – references facilitate this ironic critique of the “new Far West”: Harry suffers in the grip of a more sophisticated gold rush (MC Solaar, “Nouveau Western”).Lève-toi et rap transforms musical and verbal language as well, but the changes are more overt. Even though the musical samples are distinctly American, they are transformed, and non-American places of import to MC Solaar are described with heavy use of slang. This situates the song in American and French cultural territory while demonstrating Solaar’s manipulation of both. He is empowered by the specialized expression of place and space, and by the loud and proud references to a dynamic upbringing, in which struggle culminates in triumph.Empowerment through such manipulation is an attractive interpretation, but because this exercise includes the transformation of a colonizer’s language, it ultimately depends on understanding rap as linked to some extent to what Murray Forman and Tricia Rose describe as “Western cultural imperialism” (Rose, 19; Forman, 21). Both Rose and Forman point out that rap has benefitted from what Rose describes as “the disproportionate exposure of U.S. artists around the world,” (Rose, 19) even though this music has provided an avenue through which marginalized groups have articulated social and political concerns (Rose, 19; Forman 21). The “transnational circulation of contemporary culture industries” that Forman describes (21) has benefitted multinational corporations, but it has also provided new means of expression for those reached by this global circulation. Additionally, this process has engendered a sense of community around the world among those who identify with rap’s musical and lyrical practices and content; in many cases, rap’s connection to the African diaspora is a significant factor in the music’s appeal. This larger spatial connection occurs alongside more locally place-based connections. Lève-toi et rap clearly manifests this sense of simultaneously negotiating one’s role as a global citizen and as an individual firmly grounded in the place and space of local experience.Even though rap has been a music of resistance to hegemonic social and economic forces for people around the world, it is nonetheless important to recognize that the forces that have disseminated this music on a global scale have contributed to the unequal distribution of wealth and power. Working within this system is almost always unavoidable for rappers, many of whom criticize these conditions in their music, but depend on these transnational corporations for their success. Paul A. Silverstein writes that “hip-hop formations themselves, while enunciating an explicit critique of both state interventionism and the global market, have directly benefited from both and, to be sure, simultaneously desire their end and their continuation” (47-48). This is very clear in Nouveau Western, which Silverstein writes “portrayed neo-liberalism as a ‘new Far West’ where credit cards replace Remingtons.” (48) That this critique has reached a large audience in the francophone world and elsewhere highlights the irony of the situation: under the current system of popular musical production and circulation, such material often must reach its audience through complicity with the very system it denounces. This view on the mixture of the local and global presented in these songs illustrates this confusing situation, but from another perspective, the representation of social interaction on varying scales connects to the factors that have contributed to rap since its inception. Local places and geographically broad spatial connections have been articulated in constantly changing ways through musical and lyrical sampling, original lyrical references, and the uses that creators, listeners, and the industry enact vis-à-vis global rap culture. Whether revealed through clear references to American rap that facilitate a personal narrative or through a more complicated critique of American culture, MC Solaar’s songs Lève-toi et rap and Nouveau Western expose some accomplishments of a French rapper whose work reveals personal agency both outside and within the “multinational” United States. ReferencesBaker, Geoffrey. “Preachers, Gangsters, Pranksters: MC Solaar and Hip-Hop as Overt and Covert Revolt.” The Journal of Popular Culture 44 (2011): 233-54.Beastie Boys and Q-Tip. “Get It Together.” Ill Communication. Grand Royal Records, 1994. CD.Faure, Sylvia, and Marie-Carmen Garcia. “Conflits de Valeurs et Générations.” Culture Hip Hop Jeunes des Cités et Politiques Publiques. Paris: La Dispute SNÉDIT, 2005. 69-83. Forman, Murray. “Space Matters: Hip-Hop and the Spatial Perspective.” The ‘Hood Comes First: Race, Space and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop. Middletown: Wesleyan UP, 2002. 1- 34. Hall, Stuart. “What Is This ‘Black’ in Black Popular Culture?” Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, Edited by David Morley and Kuan-Hsing Chen. London: Routledge, 1996. 465-475. Lords of the Underground. “Tic-Tic.” Keepers of the Funk. Pendulum Records, 1994. CD.Massey, Doreen. Space, Place and Gender. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 1994. 19-24.Milon, Alain. “Pourquoi le Rappeur Chante? Le Rap comme Expression de la Relégation Urbaine.” Cités 19 (2004): 71-80.MC Solaar (Claude M’Barali). “Lève-toi et rap.” Cinquème as. Wea International, 2001. CD.———. “Nouveau Western.” Prose Combat. Cohiba, 1994. CD.Nas. “It Ain’t Hard to Tell.” Illmatic. Columbia Records, 1994. CD.Petetin, Véronique. “Slam, Rap, et ‘Mondialité.” Études 6 (June 2009): 797-808.Prévos, André J.M. “Le Business du Rap en France.” The French Review 74 (April 2001): 900-21.———. “Postcolonial Popular Music in France.” Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop outside the USA. Ed. Tony Mitchell. Middletown: Wesleyan UP, 2001. 39-56. Rose, Tricia. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Middletown: Wesleyan UP, 1994.Shusterman, Richard. “L’Estitique Postmoderne du Rap.” Rue Deseartes 5/6 (November 1992): 209-28.Silverstein, Paul A. “‘Why Are We Waiting to Start the Fire?’: French Gangsta Rap and the Critique of State Capitalism.” Black, Blanc, Beur: Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture in the Francophone World. Ed. Alain-Philippe Durand. Oxford: Scarecrow Press, 2002. 45-67. The Crusaders. “The Well’s Gone Dry.” Southern Comfort. ABC/Blue Thumb Records, 1974. CD.Various Contributors. “‘Lève-toi et rap’ Direct Sample of Vocals/Lyrics.” whosampled.com.———. “‘Nouveau Western’ Direct Sample of Hook/Riff.” whosampled.com.Various Contributors. “MC Solaar – ‘Lève-toi et rap’ Lyrics.” Rap Genius.