Child Fostering in West Africa

Child Fostering in West Africa

Author: Erdmute Alber

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2013-05-15

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 9004250611

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Child fostering is an age-old and also modern phenomenon whose importance stretches much further than the boundaries of so-called ‘traditional’ African societies. As a mobile and creative kinship practice, child fostering is of growing importance in the global world as it goes along with other forms of mobility such as migration and transnationalism. The book aims to revitalize the study of fostering by situating the issue in more recent theoretical approaches to kinship. It also examines what functionalist and structuralist theory may still contribute to the understanding of child fostering. Historical and recent child fostering practices in several West African countries are discussed from the angles of Anthropology, History and Law.


Spirit Children

Spirit Children

Author: Aaron R. Denham

Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press

Published: 2019-07-23

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780299311247

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Some babies and toddlers in parts of West Africa are considered spirit children—nonhumans sent from the forest to cause misfortune and destroy the family. These are usually deformed or ailing infants, or children whose births coincide with tragic events or who display unusual abilities. Aaron R. Denham offers a nuanced ethnographic study of this phenomenon in Northern Ghana that examines both the motivations of the families and the structural factors that lead to infanticide. He also turns the lens on the prevailing misunderstandings about this controversial practice. Denham offers vivid accounts of families’ life-and-death decisions that engage the complexity of the context, local meanings, and moral worlds of those confronting a spirit child.


I Lost My Tooth in Africa

I Lost My Tooth in Africa

Author: Penda Diakité

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780439662260

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Penda Diakité joins forces with her award-winning author/artist father to give a charming peek at everyday life in Africa. "This fact-based story of losing a tooth while visiting family in Mali rings with authenticity and good humour...[T]he illustrations exude happiness and togetherness." - The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books


Children of West Africa

Children of West Africa

Author: Alfred Allotey Acquaye

Publisher:

Published: 1968

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13:

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Describes the daily life of children in seventeen countries of West Africa with emphasis on their family duties, school, customs, and amusements.


Raising an African Child in America: from the Perspective of an Immigrant Nigerian Mom

Raising an African Child in America: from the Perspective of an Immigrant Nigerian Mom

Author: Marcellina Ndidi Oparaoji

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2015-07-25

Total Pages: 94

ISBN-13: 1503585115

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Like other African-born immigrants, I came to the shores of America from Nigeria, West Africa, some twenty-plus years ago as a young adult, freshly married to my Nigerian immigrant spouse. All we knew was what we learnt from our parents and community, growing up. Except for what we read in books about the outside world, we had no idea what lay ahead surviving in another environment outside our Third World. Our parents had sent us forth to study some more in an environment different from what we were used to, in so many ways. We had to make success of this opportunity that was costing them so much. Immigrant Nigerians coming to America are then faced with questions of how to raise their children. Should their offsprings be raised as Nigerians, Americans or to help them benefit from both worlds, as Nigerian-Americans? Who decides, the parents, the children or the society? What will be the fate of the next generation to come?


Representing Africa in Children's Literature

Representing Africa in Children's Literature

Author: Vivian Yenika-Agbaw

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-12-13

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 1135923671

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Representing Africa in Children’s Literature explores how African and Western authors portray youth in contemporary African societies, critically examining the dominant images of Africa and Africans in books published between 1960 and 2005. The book focuses on contemporary children’s and young adult literature set in Africa, examining issues regarding colonialism, the politics of representation, and the challenges posed to both "insiders" and "outsiders" writing about Africa for children.


Education, Social Progress, and Marginalized Children in Sub-Saharan Africa

Education, Social Progress, and Marginalized Children in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author: Obed Mfum-Mensah

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2017-05-04

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 149854570X

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This book employs sociohistorical, narrative, and discourse frameworks to discuss the sociopolitical complexities and ambiguities of educating marginalized groups in sub-Saharan Africa since western education was introduced in the region. It outlines the systemic and structural challenges faced by marginalized children in the education system that prevent them from fully participating in the education process. This book focuses on how the props underlying Christian missionary education, colonial education, and early postcolonial educational enterprise all served to marginalize certain groups, including women, some geographical regions and/or communities, such as Islamic communities and people with disabilities, from the colonial and postcolonial economic discourses. This historical background provides the springboard for discussions on the complexities and ambiguities of educating marginalized groups in some communities in sub-Saharan Africa in the contemporary times. This book also highlights the challenges of the recent policies of policy makers and the strategies and initiatives of civic societies, non-governmental organizations, and local communities to promote marginalized children’s participation in education. This book elucidates the varied ways certain groups and communities continue to interrogate the structural and systemic challenges that marginalize them educationally. It argues that the level of marginalized groups’ participation in education in sub-Saharan African in the 21st century will determine the progress the region will make in the Education for All (EFA) initiative and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Furthermore, it argues that increasing educational participation in marginalized communities requires implementation of educational programs that address marginalized groups’ structural social arrangements and socioeconomic contexts.


Theologies of Childhood and the Children of Africa

Theologies of Childhood and the Children of Africa

Author: Jan Grobbelaar

Publisher: AOSIS

Published: 2016-12-31

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 1928396100

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The purpose of this book is to combine perspectives of scholars from Africa on Child Theologies from a variety of theological sub-disciplines to provide some theological and ministerial perspectives on this topic. The book disseminates original research and new developments in this study field, especially as relevant to the African context. In the process it addresses also the global need to hear voices from Africa in this academic field. It wants to convey the importance of considering Africa’s children in theologising. The different chapters represent diverse methodologies but the central and common focus is to approach the subject from the viewpoint of Africa’s children. The individual authors’ varied theological sub-disciplinary dispositions contribute to the unique and distinct character of the book. Almost all chapters are theoretical orientated with less empirical research, although some of the chapters refer to empirical research which the authors have done in the past. Most of the academic literature in the field of Theologies of Childhood is from American or British- European origin. The African context is fairly absent in this discourse, although it is the youngest continent and presents unique and relevant challenges. This book was written by theological scholars from Africa, focussing on Africa’s children. It addresses not only theoretical challenges in this field but also provides theological perspectives for ministry with children and for important social change. Written from a variety of theological sub-disciplines, the book is aimed at scholars across theological sub- disciplines, especially those theological scholars interested in the intersections between theology, childhood studies and African cultural or social themes. It addresses themes and provide insights that is also relevant for specialist leaders and professionals in this field. No part of the book was plagiarised from another publication or published elsewhere before.


Contingent Lives

Contingent Lives

Author: Caroline H. Bledsoe

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2002-07

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 0226058522

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Most women in the West use contraception in order to avoid having children. But in rural sub-saharan Africa many women use it to have more children. This study of aging & reproduction makes use of ethnographic & demographic data.


West African Worlds

West African Worlds

Author: Reginald Cline-Cole

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-02-17

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 131790494X

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West African Worlds provides a critical assessment of social, economic and political change in Africa’s most populous and arguably most externally focused region. With an emphasis on globalisation and modernisation, case studies and commentary are integrated throughout to highlight the concerns and issues of the region. Enriched by an impressive mix of West African voices, this text combines theory and application with policy and practice to address socio-economic change, the pursuit of livelihoods, and development within West Africa.