Search Results (115)

The present study addresses the topic of European companies, including Latvian companies, sustainably entering African markets. The actuality of this topic relates to the recession and the decrease in demand in the classical export markets (such as Scandinavia and Western Europe) with which Latvian firms used to trade; this is why the re-orientation of companies to African countries was carried out. Academic research worldwide has conducted many investigations on the specifics of exporting to Africa. The lack of knowledge relating to local African business practices is considered one of the significant barriers. The aim of this study was to mitigate this barrier by exploring real-world situations in African economic sectors. Interviews with relevant African experts were conducted for this purpose. The results showed that East European entrepreneurs, including Latvian entrepreneurs, should first focus on West African French-speaking countries with big seaports (e.g., Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, and Cameroon), where Latvian knowledge, professional skills, and products relating to port and transportation infrastructures are in significant demand. A case study was conducted in Cameroon as an example of a good business match with Latvian service providers. The case study also highlighted the nature of Cameroon’s sociocultural dynamics, which are distinguished by the presence of several sociocultural zones, each with its own specific characteristics that need to be taken into account. Full article

Intersectionality, especially with a race–class–gender focus, has been used to study many facets of women’s experiences. However, this framework has been underutilized in the study of breastfeeding prevalence. Our study is the first of its kind to use intersectionality to illuminate breastfeeding network prevalence disparities with empirical data. We use insights from this theory to examine breastfeeding patterns reported by women living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Mississippi makes an excellent site for such an examination, given its history of racial discrimination, entrenched poverty, and strikingly low rates of breastfeeding, particularly for African American women. We identify a series of factors that influence racial disparities in lactation network prevalence, that is, breastfeeding among friends and family of the women we surveyed. Our investigation relies on survey data drawn from a random sample of adult women who are representative of the Mississippi Gulf Coast population supplemented by a non-random oversample of African American women in this predominantly rural tri-county area. Results from the first wave of the CDC-funded 2019 Mississippi REACH Social Climate Survey reveal that Black-White differentials in breastfeeding network prevalence are significantly reduced for African American women who report (1) higher income levels and (2) more robust community support for breastfeeding. We conclude that breastfeeding is subject to two key structural factors: economic standing and community context. An appreciation of these intersecting influences on breastfeeding and long-term efforts to alter them could bring about greater breastfeeding parity among African American and White women in Mississippi and perhaps elsewhere. We end by identifying the practical implications of our findings and promising directions for future research. Full article

Small pelagic fishes such as Sardinella aurita (Valenciennes, 1847) and Sardinella maderensis (R. T. Lowe, 1838) are key intermediate-level components of the marine food web of the southwestern African coast. Their biomass off Angola has shown significant interannual variability, and information about their reproduction is insufficient in the region for adequate stock management. Thus, we aimed to unveil the reproduction period and reproductive traits of these two Sardinella species and establish a link with the prevailing ocean temperature conditions. Adult fish samples were obtained monthly from artisanal and semi-industrial fleets, and the ichthyoplankton samples were collected with a Hydro-Bios Multinet off southwest Angola by Instituto Nacional de Investigação Pesqueira (Angola). The macroscopic inspection of gonads showed that females of both species were more abundant than males. The gonadosomatic index and maturity stages indicate that S. aurita spawns during the Austral summer (December through March), while S. maderensis has a longer spawning period, from October to April. The spawning peak occurs in February for S. aurita and S. maderensis. The mean monthly condition factor of both species was high before and after spawning seasons. The females of S. aurita reach sexual maturity at a smaller size than males, and 50% of the population reaches sexual maturity at a total length of 31.3 cm. The males of S. maderensis reach sexual maturity at a smaller size than females, and 50% of the population reaches sexual maturity at a total length of 28.4 cm. We also found that both species use the southern coast of Angola as a spawning area during the Austral summer and avoid the area during periods of intense upwelling. Currently, these species are managed as a single unit, and the minimum capture size is set at 22 cm, well below the size at sexual maturity registered in the study area. Therefore, we strongly recommend increasing the minimum capture size to guarantee long-term stock viability. Full article

In July 2009, African leaders adopted the Declaration on Land Issues in Africa, reaffirming the commitment of African Union member states to effective land management. The declaration emphasizes the protection of land rights for all, with particular attention to women and marginalized groups. Land governance in Africa, which spans various aspects of society, remains a critical issue and is often a source of conflict and instability across the continent. This study examines the legal and institutional reforms of land governance in Francophone Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, and Senegal), analyzing their objectives, outcomes, and the challenges associated with their implementation. In addition, this study highlights examples of both effective and ineffective reform implementations based on case studies from countries with notable successes (Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mauritius, Ghana, and Madagascar) and failures (South Africa and Zimbabwe). Finally, this study offers recommendations for improving sustainable land management while considering social, economic, political, and environmental dimensions. The methodology employed is based exclusively on a systematic review guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) approach, applied to the ROSES (Reporting Standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses) protocol. This approach facilitated the selection of 57 relevant documents retrieved from databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Land governance in Francophone Africa varies significantly from country to country and cannot be comprehensively addressed in a study of this scope. Nevertheless, this research study identifies common challenges, opportunities, and measures that could inspire reflection in other countries. In several cases, administrative and customary authorities play central roles in land management. However, their overlapping responsibilities, often marked by corruption, extend procedures and exacerbate local conflicts. Full article

The relationship between race and labour has been analyzed from different theoretical perspectives. Some have focused on the connection between race and the extraction of surplus from people of colour, Black people in particular Others have integrated race within the context of capitalism as a world system or have focused on race as a category of exploitation that defines both feudalism and capitalism that is essential for the survival of capitalism. This paper argues that, to understand the relation between race and labour, race must be understood as legal status. Race is a set of legal rights given to or withheld from workers because of loosely defined and arbitrarily selected physical characteristics. By assigning different rights to workers based on race, their labour is racialized, and race becomes an important element to the functioning of capitalism because it defines the value of labour. As legal status, race is defined and enforced by the state. In addition, this paper analyses the development of US naturalization and immigration law from 1790 to 1964, selected as an example of the process of racialization of labour. Specifically, it discusses the process of racialization of labour by connecting it to the concept of Westphalian sovereignty and the differentiation between natural and political rights. It concludes that, between 1790 and 1965, race supported the development and stability of US capitalism through the development of three distinct highly racialized labour markets: the Northeast, mostly defined by the racialization of European workers along a scale of whiteness; the West, determined by the racialization of Asian and, later, Latino workers; and the South, characterized by the racialization of African Americans and selected southern European workers, Italians in particular, and, later, Latino workers. These three markets operated in symbiosis with each other and featured different forms of racialization of labour, as defined by different forms of enforcement of race as legal status, ranging from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 on the West Coast to the Jim Crow System that emerged in the southern states after the Compromise of 1877 and the Immigration Act of 1924 that dramatically limited immigration from southern and Eastern Europe. Full article

The radiation of cichlid species in the East African Great Lakes is remarkable and rapid. The population genetics of two deep-water Cyphotilapia species along the east coast of Lake Tanganyika from Burundi to southern Tanzania was determined using ddRAD-seq. A combination of ADMIXTURE, PCA, genome polarization, and 2D site frequency spectrum analyses confirmed the presence of two species, C. frontosa in the north and C. gibberosa in the south, as documented in other studies. We also found evidence of a potential hybrid zone connecting the two species at a sharp genetic cline centered in the middle of the lake and apparent introgression in both directions, but predominantly from ‘gibberosa’ into ‘frontosa’. The highest proportion of introgressed ‘gibberosa’ ancestry was present in the southernmost populations of C. frontosa collected near Karilani Island and Cape Kabogo. At the intra-specific level, there was support for between 1 and 3 populations of C. frontosa, whereas the results indicated only a single homogeneous population of C. gibberosa. The presence of different morphs in the lake despite the low levels of heterozygosity suggests that a small number of loci may be involved in the morphological variation and/or that there is a more complex interplay between genetics and the environment in different locations. Full article

Background/Objectives: Breastfeeding rates are considerably lower among African American women and across the U.S. South. Our study introduces the concept of community-based peer support for breastfeeding, as measured through beliefs about women’s comfort breastfeeding in various social situations (i.e., in the presence of women and men as well as close friends and strangers). Methods: We examine if community-based peer support for breastfeeding is associated with reported lactation prevalence in primary social networks among survey respondents living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Special attention is paid to racial differences in the breastfeeding support–prevalence relationship. We use data drawn from a survey that combines a random sample of adults who are representative of the Mississippi Gulf Coast population and a non-random oversample of African Americans in this predominantly rural tri-county area. Results: Analyses of data from wave 1 of the CDC-funded 2019 Mississippi REACH Social Climate Survey reveal low overall levels of African American breastfeeding network prevalence (knowing friends and family who have breastfed). However, community-based peer support for breastfeeding significantly amplifies breastfeeding network prevalence for black Mississippians when compared with their white counterparts. Discussion: Previous research has indicated that breastfeeding promotional messages have a limited impact on African American breastfeeding propensity along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. However, the current study indicates that enhanced community-based peer support for breastfeeding can be a key facilitator for improved lactation outcomes among African Americans as compared with whites. Conclusion: We establish that breastfeeding is best conceived as both an interpersonal encounter (an activity often conducted in the presence of others) and a collective achievement (a practice influenced by community norms). We discuss study implications and directions for future research. Full article

Lyme borreliosis (LB) is more common in the Northern Hemisphere. It is endemic mainly in North America, where the vectors are Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus, and in Eurasia, where the vectors are Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes persulcatus. Both tick-borne diseases and LB are influenced by climate change. Africa and South America are crossed by the equator and are situated in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In Africa, the LB is present on the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean coasts. Borrelia lusitaniae is prevalent in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, such as Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt. Ticks were detected in the Ixodes Ricinus, which are carried by migratory birds and the Ixodes inopinatus and captured by the Psammodromus algirus lizards. The Borreliae Lyme Group (LG) and, in particular, Borrelia garinii, have been reported in countries bordering the Indian Ocean, such as Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique, transported by migratory birds from North African countries, where the vector was identified as Hyalomma rufipes ticks. This review aims to document the presence of Borreliae LG and LB in Africa. Full article

Understanding the origins of invasive species is necessary to manage them and predict their potential for spreading. The mussel genus Mytilus forms an important component of coastal ecosystems in the northern and southern hemispheres. M. galloprovincialis is an important invasive species globally, first appearing on the South African coast in the 1970s. Studies using nuclear and mitochondrial DNA indicated that the invasion probably originated from the north-east Atlantic. We used fifty-five polymorphic SNPs to genotype mussels from sites across the coast of South Africa with reference samples from the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and New Zealand to test for possible introgression of the northern and southern taxa. Low levels of genetic differentiation were confirmed, and all samples grouped with reference samples of the Atlantic form of M. galloprovincialis, supporting previous studies. The SNP genotyping, however, allowed the detection of some individuals with genotypes typical of the Mediterranean, indicating that introduced populations in South Africa do not have a uniform origin. The initial population introduced to South Africa may have been genetically heterogenous from the start, coming from a region influenced by both the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Alternatively, multiple introductions may have taken place, originating from different regions, specifically North Africa, southern Europe, and the Mediterranean, building up the final heterogeneity. Full article

This paper comprehensively utilizes the entropy-TOPSIS method, Lyapunov index, and kernel density estimation to measure the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of regional economic resilience in 52 African countries (regions) from 2008 to 2019. It also examines the spatial network characteristics of regional economic resilience in each country (region) through gravity models and social network analysis. The findings reveal that: (1) Although the resilience of African regional economies fluctuates, it generally shows an improving trend. Traditional economic powers and regional giants such as Libya, Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia demonstrate outstanding performance in economic resilience. (2) In terms of scale resilience, the countries along the North African Mediterranean coast exhibit particularly prominent advantages. However, the overall performance of Africa in fiscal resilience and openness resilience tends to be weak. Industrial resilience is influenced by colonial legacies and tends to stabilize. (3) The differences in economic resilience values and the fluctuation trajectories of economic resilience levels converge. North African economies exhibit resilience far higher than the mean and other regions, while East, West, and Central Africa consistently perform below the mean in the long term. Southern Africa’s gap from the mean is relatively small, leading to a stalemate. The fluctuation amplitude of differences within each region varies. (4) The overall level of resilience in African regional economies has steadily improved, displaying a trend of polarization. There is evident spatial polarization in West Africa, with Southern Africa demonstrating a trend of multipolarity transitioning towards bipolarity. Conversely, North Africa strengthens its features of bipolar differentiation, while East and Central Africa exhibit tendencies towards multipolarity. (5) Despite some fluctuations in the spatial network of regional economic resilience around 2016, connections among African countries have become increasingly tight, gradually forming three major spatial correlation network clusters: the North African Mediterranean coast, the West–Central African Pan-Gulf of Guinea region, and the East–South African Rift Valley region. Nigeria holds a prominent position as a regional core. Zambia, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic have played certain regional core roles at different times. Nigeria and South Africa also demonstrate significant intermediary roles, while Zambia, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso act as bridges in different periods of network connections. Based on the characteristics of spatial correlation networks, African regions gradually form four major cohesive subgroups and eight sub-subgroups. Full article

Although situated at the geographic margin of the early modern Atlantic World, the Pacific coast of Peru was an important region in the development of African diasporic material culture. Adopting an interdisciplinary material historical approach, we present the first systematic discussion of the known Afro-Atlantic-style tobacco pipes to be archaeologically recovered in Peru. Eighteen Afro-Atlantic-style tobacco pipes or pipe sherds dating to Peru’s Spanish colonial period have been identified across sites in the coastal cities of Lima and Trujillo and from a vineyard hacienda in rural Nasca. Tobacco pipes are among the most recognized and debated forms of early modern Atlantic African and diasporic expressions of material culture, as such, they present a powerful entry point to understanding the aesthetic consequences of colonial projects and diverse articulations across the Atlantic World. The material history of Afro-Atlantic smoking culture exemplifies how aesthetics moved between localities and developed diasporic entanglements. In addition to the formal analysis and visual description of the pipes, we examine historical documentation and the work of nineteenth-century Afro-Peruvian watercolorist Francisco (Pancho) Fierro to better understand the aesthetics of Afro-Andean smoking culture in Spanish colonial and early Republican Peru. Full article

The Harrist Church in Ivory Coast, West Africa, emerged from the ministry of Liberian William Wadé Harris who baptized between 100,000 and 200,000 people during his eighteen-month evangelistic tour, 1913–1915. This story is full of linguistic complexities and anomalies. Harris himself spoke only English and his own local Liberian Glebo language. He was therefore compelled to work through expatriate English-speaking merchants, knowledgeable of and conversant in local languages, as interpreters and translators in addressing the twelve ethnic groups who heard and accepted his message. Harris encouraged new converts to compose hymns in their own indigenous languages by transforming musical genres embedded in their local musical traditions. Additionally fascinating is that during this early colonial period, the twelve ethnic groups impacted by Harris’s ministry lived in almost total isolation from each other and developed their own hymn traditions for thirty-five years (1914–1949), unaware of the existence of churches and worship patterns in neighboring ethnic districts. Only in 1949 did they suddenly become acquainted with the broader, multi-musical, multilingual reality of the Harrist movement. Since then, individual musicians and choirs from local congregations have gradually begun to sing a few of each other’s songs, though the challenge of becoming a truly multicultural, multiethnic church remains a work in progress. Documentation of these developments include written colonial and early Protestant and Catholic missionary sources and a large number of eye-witness interviews. Primary research methods employed here come from four intersecting disciplines and theoretical frameworks: orality studies, with particular focus on oral sources in constructing historical narrative; religious phenomenology; mission history; and ethnodoxological research. Full article

Coastal upwelling that cools sea temperatures and nutrifies the euphotic layer is the focus of this research, motivated by how these processes benefit the marine ecosystem. Here, atmosphere–ocean reanalysis fields and satellite radiance data are employed to link South African coastal upwelling with nearshore winds and currents in the 2000–2021 period. Temporal behavior is quantified in three regimes—Benguela, transition, and Agulhas—to distinguish the influence of offshore transport, vertical pumping, and dynamic uplift. These three mechanisms of coastal upwelling are compared to reveal a leading role for cyclonic wind vorticity. Daily time series at west, south, and east coast sites exhibit pulsing of upwelling-favorable winds during summer. Over the western shelf, horizontal transport and vertical motion are in phase. The south and east shelf experience greater cyclonic wind vorticity in late winter, due to land breezes under the Mascarene high. Ekman transport and pumping are out of phase there, but dynamic uplift is sustained by cyclonic shear from the shelf-edge Agulhas current. Temporal analysis of longshore wind stress and cyclonic vorticity determined that vertical motion of ~5 m/day is pulsed at 4- to 11-day intervals due to passing marine high/coastal low-pressure cells. Height sections reveal that 15 m/s low-level wind jets diminish rapidly inshore due to topographic shearing by South Africa’s convex mountainous coastline. Mean maps of potential wind vorticity show a concentration around capes and at nighttime, due to land breezes. Air–land–sea coupling and frequent coastal lows leave a cyclonic footprint on the coast of South Africa that benefits marine productivity, especially during dry spells with a strengthened subtropical atmospheric ridge. This work has, for the first time, revealed that South Africa is uniquely endowed with three overlapping mechanisms that sustain upwelling along the entire coastline. Amongst those, cyclonic potential vorticity prevails due to the frequent passage of coastal lows that initiate downslope airflows. No other coastal upwelling zone exhibits such a persistent feature. Full article

This study adds to the existing literature on the history of the Ghanaian press from pre-colonial times to 1992, focusing on language: its choice and ideological, socio-cultural, and political ramifications. While the history of the press has received massive scholarly attention, the same cannot be said of language and its use in historical accounts. Thus, from a historical research perspective, employing an analytical and interpretive study of secondary data sources, and underpinned by cultural theories such as linguistic imperialism and hegemony, this study analyses how language was featured in the press during the research period and the implications thereof. This analysis shows that various institutions and individuals exploited language to foster narrow socio-cultural, ideological, and political agendas in the Gold Coast, later Ghana. This study also revealed that language use and its ideological forces during the pre- and immediate post-independence periods contributed immensely to Ghanaian media’s current state and Ghanaians’ general language attitudes. This study’s significance lies in the realisation that language, as a cultural artifact, and its choice, use, and consumption could have far-reaching consequences for the self-realisation, actualisation, and general progress of a society. Thus, African societies should be mindful of the ideological implications of language choices not just in the press but also in other societal contexts. This study, therefore, invites further studies on language and its use in the media, especially from 1992, for a more comprehensive appreciation of the issues raised in this study. Full article