Publications

The problem of human trafficking in Kenya remains deeply entrenched. Although multiple regulatory efforts have been adopted to rein in this challenge, it rages on with the recent reports projecting its increase. As a result, the discrepancy between policy and realities and lived human trafficking experiences of domestic workers using the Kenya-Saudi Arabia route is not only glaring but also one that deserves scholarly attention, especially considering recent experiences. This chapter has examined the gap between the policy positions, including emerging and recent ones, and the reality of combating human trafficking. Using mixed methods consisting of doctrinal evaluation of the law and reports, and also interviews, the authors have explored the nature and extent of this discrepancy. The chapter makes a finding that the legal, regulatory and administrative efforts for ensuring the welfare of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, who are victims of human trafficking and modern slavery, have yet to fully and effectively address the challenge. To address the practical realities that cause or exacerbate this challenge, moving forward, the chapter recommends that the Kenyan government prioritise the ratification of certain treaty laws, demonstrate political goodwill through the implementation of parliamentary reports on the challenge, prioritise the human rights approach to the regulation of aspects of human trafficking, and provide meaningful financial and legal backing to the institutions tasked with combating human trafficking in Kenya.

This article argues that not only changing kinship practices are deeply entangled with political change, but also processes of political ordering could be influenced by and engrained with kinship practices. The argument is exemplified with regard to the political history of child fostering in northern Benin. A common and widespread everyday practice already in pre-colonial times, child fostering has been overseen by colonial officers, but nevertheless contributed to means of resisting colonial ordering. After independence, foster practices underwent deep changes which were related to the changing political economy in the region.

World Englishes research on pragmatics, especially in postcolonial contexts, has been slow in emerging since the 1970s. A possible reason for this could be the absence of coherent theoretical frameworks for the complex nature of these societies. In this regard, the theoretical framework postcolonial pragmatics offers analytical tools for investigating pragmatic phenomena in societies that were affected by colonial contact. Its underlying premise is that the contact of precolonial and colonial (social) systems resulted in hybrid yet coherent patterns of social interaction, meaning-making and societal cohesion that are evident in the discourses produced in these contexts. To investigate them properly, we must rely on frameworks like postcolonial pragmatics designed purposively for them. This framework identifies both fixed (e.g., age, gender, history) and fluid (identity, social status, religion, education, kinship) analytical components that are indispensable when studying social interaction in postcolonial contexts, irrespective of the languages used.

This article presents interesting early discoveries in the study of English-Hausa translations. They are the preliminary findings deducted from reading both primary and secondary texts, visiting libraries and research centers, and from holding interviews and discussions with translators, experts, and scholars. The paper identifies the aims of the English Hausa translations, examines the texts and background of the translators, and also analyses the reception of the documents by the target audience. These incidental findings include some unidentified English Hausa paratextual translation traditions, the wide range of differences between English source texts and Hausa translations, the unavailability of some important English Hausa translations that are supposed to be in high demand, how assumed Hausa source texts turn out as translations, and the profiles of the English-Hausa translation agencies.

En esta era de globalización, las “imágenes de los otros”, y sus historias, a menudo nos llegan en reportajes, videos y fotografías en los periódicos que revelan poco o nada sobre quiénes son estos “forasteros en la puerta”. La crisis migratoria se ha convertido en el mayor dilema moral contemporáneo y desafía rutinariamente nuestra comprensión de los estándares culturales y los derechos establecidos, al tiempo que denuncia un control cada vez mayor de los cuerpos y el espacio. Si tales imágenes reflejan nuestra cultura, también sirven a la vez como un elemento que la constituye. Por lo tanto, el presente estudio se propone comprender cómo el "fenómeno migratorio", como "desplazamiento en el espacio" - ya sea exterior o interior, físico o imaginario - fue reapropiado y problematizado por cineastas africanos contemporáneos (ellos mismos sujetos migrantes y diaspóricos), a partir del análisis de películas producidas en los últimos años. Como películas que asumen una postura histórica comprometida, aquí se pretende comprender las diferentes estrategias estéticas que subyacen a la “puesta en escena fílmica”, en cuanto a la trayectoria de sus personajes dentro del espacio social y simbólico del mundo recreado en cada obra. Por ello, es interesante pensar cómo en el cine se “articulan” estratégicamente nuevas subjetividades estéticas y políticas, reconfigurando la tensión entre lo “global” y lo “local”, el “aquí” y el “allí”, al presentar otras formas posibles de “comunidad”, “espacialidad”, “territorialidad”, “memoria” y “pertenencia”, más allá de las fronteras tradicionalmente delimitadas.

Locating items in large information systems can be challenging, especially if the query has multiple senses referring to different items: depending on the context, Amazon may refer to the river, rainforest, or a mythical female warrior. We propose and study Personalised Semantic Query Expansion (PSemQE) as a means of disambiguating short, ambiguous queries in information retrieval systems. This study examines PSemQE’s effectiveness in retrieving relevant documents matching intended senses of ambiguous terms and ranking them higher versus a base query without expansion. Synthetic user profiles focused on narrow domains were generated to model well-defined information needs. Word embeddings trained on these profiles were used to expand queries with semantically related terms. Experiments were conducted on corpora of varying sizes to measure the retrieval of predetermined target articles. Our results show that PSemQE successfully disambiguated polysemous queries and ranked the target ar ticles higher than the base query. Furthermore, PSemQE produces result sets with higher relevance to user interests. Despite limitations like synthetic profiles and cold-start issues, this study shows PSemQE’s potential as an effective query disambiguation engine. Overall, PSemQE can enhance search relevance and user experience by leveraging user information to provide meaningful responses to short, ambiguous queries.

On the work of Hannah Arendt and Saidiya V. Hartman

Academic knowledge production continues to marginalize voices of minoritized majorities, while privileging those of majoritized minorities. At the core of this exclusionary practice are moral questions of whose knowledge counts as right, valid and legitimate. How can researchers share their power of definition with communities structurally excluded from academia, but directly affected by the results of academic knowledge production? Which kind of spaces and institutional settings allow for an inclusive and collaborative research process that enables mutual learning and empowerment? To provide some answers to these questions, I give insights into an ongoing process of participatory research-creation developed with Afro-diasporic communities from Brazil and Colombia. Thereby, an artistic meta-language co-created with different community actors and artists enables the participants to relate to each other through and beyond diversity. Although huge challenges arise with regard to institutional boundaries, impact measurement and translatability, the project confirms that it is possible to produce valid and mutually beneficial knowledge in collaboration with marginalized communities. Apart from solidarity, however, such a relational research process requires the co-creation of a space for mutual learning based on human equality, dignity and reciprocity.

The Africa Multiple Interactive Research Atlas (AMIRA, https://data.africamultiple.uni-bayreuth.de/) is the public access point for the research (meta)data of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bayreuth (Germany). Built on Omeka S by the Cluster's Digital Research Environment (DRE), it brings together nearly 4,000 research items, more than 90 projects, some 1,600 people, and close to 600 organisations across 39 countries and 28 languages. The collections come from the five Africa Multiple Research Centres — University of Bayreuth, University Joseph Ki-Zerbo, University of Lagos, Moi University, and Rhodes University — and their partners. Curation is shared: each centre describes the data it knows best, while Bayreuth maintains a metadata layer that points to data held locally rather than relocating it, following the FAIR and CARE principles. This paper presents AMIRA as a case study in what it means to reimagine a digital collection built on relationality. Rather than discrete records, the atlas foregrounds connections between entities: knowledge graphs linking people, projects, places, and publications; collaboration networks; and "discursive communities" that cluster the subjects co-occurring across the collections. These views are designed to surface discoveries that no single catalogue record makes visible. These ambitions also expose where the work is hardest. An atlas built on relationality depends on metadata that researchers often supply sparingly, subject description most of all: where terms exist, they tend to derive from Library of Congress Subject Headings, a vocabulary often poorly suited to African sources and knowledge systems. Here our thinking is still exploratory: drawing on Wikidata, and creating the African entities and concepts it lacks. Connections and keywords alike raise one question: who holds authority over how knowledge is described, and therefore found. In an era of contested truth, that is what reimagining the archive must confront.

Examining the case of some nineteen thousand Polish refugees in British colonial Africa, this article challenges the Eurocentric historiography of the post–World War II international refugee regime. These Poles, after being hosted by the colonial governments first, eventually came under the mandate of emerging UN refugee organizations that treated Europeans as internationally recognized refugees everywhere in the world. In contrast, fleeing Africans (and Asians) did not fit this category. This distinction had more to do with imperialism and race than with any geographic limitation. Conceptually, the refugee regime rests on the differentiation of refugees and national citizens, while imperial rule differentiated between European citizens and colonized subjects. I want to complicate this by emphasizing that the international refugee regime emerged in a largely imperial world signified by a tripartition into citizen, subject, and European refugee.

In the backdrop of the historical uprooting and the forced deportation of Africans to the Americas, territoriality has become key in analysing practices of Afro-descendant resistance and (re-)existence in the Latin-American diaspora. It is in the re-making and re-imagining of (post)colonial territories that insurgent knowledges are produced, especially in contexts where the legacies of enslavement, marginalisation and invisibilisation are rife. Inspired by the ways in which young artists from Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) and Salvador da Bahia (Brazil) re-invent territoriality through artistic creativity, we developed a Participatory Action Research project that harnesses community mapping, self-writing and performance in an online and on-site exchange programme. In our panel, we launch and discuss a documentary video on this collective process realised in collaboration with the socio-cultural groups Candilé (Cartagena) and REPROTAI (Salvador). In a self-reflexive mode that casts a critical glance at our transdisciplinary co-creation of knowledges, we focus on the challenges, shortcomings as well as opportunities of doing Participatory Action Research in actual and virtual spaces for more than three years. Thereby, we bring into dialogue the perspectives of two project coordinators and two discussants who followed the process with interest, though not actively involved. We consider the participatory exploration of territories and territorialities as a pertinent heuristic prism in examining Afro-diasporic lifeworlds and the practical/symbolic attempts at memorialisation and collective becoming. Through creative media, youth and young adults re-map possibilities of existence that envision more inclusive spaces, using traces of African heritage as building blocks for individual and collective self-actualisation.

Whereas the multiple entanglements between Africa and its Latin American diasporas can hardly be squeezed into the boundaries established by the academic field, transdisciplinary cooperation between academics and artists offers a fruitful way out of disciplinary bottlenecks. In this roundtable, we will share insights into modalities of relating and translating that enable and restrain transdisciplinary knowledge production. As a first result of the Participatory Action Research programme carried out at the intersection of the Cluster projects “Moral Geographies of Re-Existence” and “Black Atlantic Revisited”, we will launch a video performance created by the artists Diego Araúja (Brazil), Lobadys Pérez (Colombia) and Matchume Zango (Mozambique). Taking a cue from the transdisciplinary video, we will jointly reflect on processes, products and pitfalls of border-crossing knowledge creation. In this vein, we aim at stimulating debates on innovative modes of doing research in ways that enhance in-depth and multi-perspectival analyses. Our contribution adds to discussions on knowledge transfer and dissemination with a view to widening the audience and raising the social impact of social sciences, humanities and the arts. Ultimately, multiple relations between Africa and its diasporas require multiple modes of knowledge production, reflection and diffusion in order to overcome historical and disciplinary strictures.

Environmental change is increasingly threatening rural livelihoods across the globe. Yet rural communities possess valuable knowledge that could inform policy decisions on creating sustainable livelihoods amidst global environmental challenges and planning for rural community and landscape sustainability. Against this backdrop, this paper focuses on three key questions in a rural South African setting: What challenges do rural residents face in maintaining and developing livelihoods compared to the past? (ii) What environmental changes have they observed within their communities over their lifetime? and (iii) How are these changes perceived to influence circular migration for work? By examining rural dwellers’ perceptions of the challenges to securing sustainable livelihoods, valuable insights can be gleaned as to why certain strategies succeed while others fail, leading to the identification of areas for improvement in policy, programs and livelihood strategies. This study draws on qualitative data from focus group discussions held across nine villages in the MRC/Wits Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance System site in northeast South Africa. The facilitated focus group discussions allowed participants to reflect on a range of environmental and livelihood issues in relation to the study questions. The findings demonstrate that environmental stressors induced by climate change, pollution, and natural resource degradation are perceived to restrict employment and income opportunities, exacerbate water and food insecurity, and drive circular migration. These findings provide valuable insights for researchers and policymakers in crafting strategies to enhance adaptive capacity and mitigate the vulnerability of rural livelihoods in rural regions across the global South.

Ce chapitre repense la catégorisation religieuse à partir du cas du Bénin, questionnant l’écart entre les données officielles et les pratiques réelles. Alors que les recensements suggèrent une forte progression des religions monothéistes, l’observation de terrain révèle la persistance des religions endogènes – en particulier le vodunïsme – ainsi que l’hybridation des pratiques chrétiennes et musulmanes. L’analyse retrace les trajectoires historiques des principales traditions religieuses du pays et examine les politiques étatiques récentes qui ont d’abord reconnu, puis patrimonialisé le vodun. Les configurations confessionnelles et les stratégies de laïcité « endogène » ou « positive » y sont envisagées comme des processus dynamiques, reflétant les tensions entre impératifs de modernité et spécificités culturelles. S’appuyant sur des enquêtes de terrain ainsi que sur l’analyse des discours publics et médiatiques, le chapitre propose une approche relationnelle invitant à repenser les paradigmes traditionnels de catégorisation des appartenances religieuses.

Ibn Khaldūn’s The Requirements of the Sufi Path, expertly translated by Carolyn Baugh, is not just a scholarly exploration of Sufism; it is a bridge between the mystical and the legal, a rare fusion of juristic precision and spiritual insight. In this work, Khaldūn steps into the role of a jurist to defend the Sufi tradition, weaving together the wisdom of Sufi masters like Imam al-Ghazālī andImam al-Qushayrī with his own legal acumen. What emerges is a compelling argument for the necessity of spiritual guidance, framed within the rigorous structure of Islamic law. This book, brought to life through Baugh’s careful translation, is not merely a historical artefact but a living dialogue between the heart’s mystical yearnings and the mind’s demand for order, a conversation as relevant today as it was in the 14th century. To fully appreciate the significance of this work, we must first understand the intellectual legacy of Ibn Khaldūn, whose contributions to human heritage remain unparalleled. In the following sections, we will explore the life and legacy of IbnKhaldūn, the art of translation that brings his voice to modern readers, and the profound insights this book offers into the Sufi Path.

Child labour remains one of the most persistent human rights challenges in Africa, undermining children’s rights to education, health, and development as enshrined in regional and international human rights instruments. Despite the existence of comprehensive legal frameworks such as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter), millions of children across the continent continue to be subjected to exploitative and hazardous work. This chapter revisits the role of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) in eradicating child labour in Africa, assessing its effectiveness, limitations, and potential for transformative impact. It critically analyses the ACHPR’s promotional, protective, and interpretative mandates, focusing on its use of state reporting and concluding observations, special mechanisms and collaborations, and communications procedures, to advance children’s rights. The chapter further explores the synergies between the ACHPR and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) in addressing systemic violations of children’s rights through joint initiatives and advocacy. The Chapter finds that while the ACHPR has made notable strides in mainstreaming children’s rights into its broader human rights agenda, challenges such as limited enforcement powers, inadequate state compliance, and resource constraints hinder its effectiveness. The chapter concludes that strengthening institutional collaboration, enhancing monitoring mechanisms, and ensuring greater accountability of state parties in addressing root causes are critical to enabling the ACHPR to play a more decisive role in eradicating child labour and upholding children’s rights in Africa.

The increasing frequency of droughts in southern Africa is placing pressure on resource-dependent populations and constraining their ability to build resilience. This study investigates how rural communities in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, South Africa, perceive and respond to El Niño-induced droughts. Using a mixed-methods approach, including surveys and interviews, this research examines household awareness, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, as well as the factors shaping these dimensions. The findings show that households with greater climate awareness better recognize the potential impacts of El Niño-related drought on agriculture, livestock, and the local economy. Households with members engaged in local non-farm activities or migrant labor displayed higher adaptive capacity but also greater vulnerability in terms of sensitivity, as reliance on external income often reduced on-farm labor and adaptation efforts. Social networks emerged as both an asset, facilitating the spread of adaptation information, and a liability, sometimes reinforcing misinformation and delaying the uptake of science-based strategies. Gender dynamics also influenced adaptive capacity, with male-headed households generally having more resources and labor to implement adaptation measures. These findings highlight that resilience is not solely determined by material resources but emerges from the interaction of awareness, livelihood diversification, social relations, and gendered access to assets. The study underscores the need for resilience initiatives that strengthen local extension services, improve risk communication, and engage social networks while addressing gendered constraints, in order to support timely, informed, and equitable drought adaptation in rural communities.

The Namibian Swakara industry, a type of sheep farming focused on the production of lamb pelts for the fashion industry, currently faces a crisis situation. Formerly one of the most important export products from Namibia, a combination of drought, falling pelt prices and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic now threaten the survival of Swakara, the Namibian Karakul. The current crisis is articulated in extinction narratives. The potential end of Swakara farming as a way of life and a set of knowledge practices is narratively interwoven with the potential disappearance of Swakara from the Namibian landscape. Extinction narratives in the context of Swakara farming in Namibia blur the lines of human and nonhuman ways of life and their disappearance.

Free school meals can be a transformative social policy instrument, especially in the Global South. Domestically sourced school feeding programs can improve children’s food security, augment household incomes, incentivize school attendance, and support local agricultural production. Scholars have so far paid only limited attention to the political causes and processes behind school feeding programs. To contribute to a better understanding of school food politics in Africa, we study the development of two national school feeding programs in Nigeria. We reconstruct and compare the development of the Obasanjo administration’s Home-Grown School Feeding and Health Programme, implemented from 2005 to 2008, and the Buhari administration’s National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, implemented from 2016 to 2023. We argue that the relatively more successful implementation of the Buhari-era program was the result of a presidential ideology that was more supportive of social policy expansion, a policy design that was more conducive to state-level program implementation, and supportive technical assistance from the London-based Partnership for Child Development.