Categories
-
ANU Africa Network
Posted on
by
This website was established in 2013 by David Lucas, and renovated and relaunched in 2020 as part of a project to increase awareness of Africa and African studies in the ANU and the ACT, funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Another outcome of that project was a major research report, published in August 2021, African Studies at the Australian National University and in the Australian Capital Territory, analyzing the past, present and future of the study of Africa at the Australian National University and the wider Australian University sector.
The major innovation on this updated website is the creation of the ACT Africa Expert Directory which lists experts on Africa from institutions around the ACT, primarily the ANU. We will continue to curate this list, offering a key resource for media, government and non-government organizations seeking expert facts and opinions on Africa. Individuals can request to be added to the list by contacting the website managers.
Another notable addition is the expanded directory of PhD theses on Africa produced in the territory’s universities, a solid measure of the vitality of the study of Africa in the city of Canberra.
Reviewing these directories, it is revealing to note that the vast majority of research on Africa is produced by disciplinary experts (environmental scientists, economists, demographers, etc.) rather than area studies experts. This means that the study of Africa is woven into the fabric of the research culture of the ANU and the ACT’s other universities in ways that are not necessarily apparent.
-
From AFSAAP Newsletter Habari kwa Ufupi No 46
Posted on
by
‘ AFSAAP received many entries to the 2013 Annual AFSAAP Post-graduate Prize, which is awarded to the best paper presented at the annual AFSAAP Conference or Post-graduate workshop. The judges enjoyed reading the diversity of papers and quality of postgraduate research in African Studies in Australia.
The AFSAAP Executive are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2013 Monash/AFSAAP Prize – to the value of $3000, which includes a trip to Monash University’s South Africa Campus, and aims to encourage fieldwork in Africa towards the student’s studies – goes to Ms. Christina Kenny from the Australian National University, for her paper entitled – “The ‘liberatory value of indigenous institutions’?: Cultural practice as resistance in the British Colony of Kenya.”
We are also very pleased to announce that Mr. Solomon Peter Gbanie from the University of New South Wales at Australian Defence Force Academy, has won the AFSAAP Postgraduate Prize of $500, for his paper entitled “ ‘The diamond of Western Area is land’: Narratives of land use and land cover change in post-war Sierra Leone.” ‘
-
Australian Aid Stakeholder Survey 2013
Posted on
by
The Development Policy Centre has been working hard since August to process and analyse the results of the first Australian aid stakeholder survey. A total of 356 stakeholders in the Australian aid program were surveyed, from the senior executives of Australia’s biggest NGOs and development contracting companies, to the officials of multilateral, partner government and Australian government agencies. This unique exercise has delivered a distinctive set of results that will provide critical input on the future of Australian aid.
Access to the report, podcast of the event, and summary blog, is now available on the website.
-
AFSAAP Conference – Perth 2013
Posted on
by
Two papers from the ANU were presented at the annual conference of the African Studies Association of Australasian and the Pacific (AFSAAP):
Christina Kenny
‘There’s this belief that they can’t lead, that’s why they didn’t stand up’: Women’s experience of civil and political rights at the 2013 Kenyan General Elections
In the lead up to the 2013 General Elections in Kenya, public expectations of Kenya’s new democratic institutions and processes reached a high water mark. For women, the pre-election emphasis on the constitutionally enshrined ‘2/3rds gender principle’ and women’s representative seats contributed to an already complex and confusing political environment. Nevertheless, many Kenyan women were hopeful that the new regulatory frameworks created by the 2010 constitution would provide new opportunities for women to attain elected public office. This hope was not realised. No women were elected to the positions of Member of Parliament, or Senator.David Lucas and Barbara Edgar
African Australians in Australia in 2011: their demography and human capital
The 2011 Population Census shows that around a third of a million (337,826) Africa-born were enumerated in Australia, with a majority born in South Africa or Zimbabwe. The overall increase between 2006 and 2011 was 40% but this masks a variety of growth rates for individual countries. This paper firstly considers inter-censal changes in birthplace data for each Africa countries between 2006 and 2011. Further analysis using the ABS 2011 Census TableBuilder software enables comparisons to be made between the South Africa-born and the Zimbabwe-born, and those born in Sudan (and South Sudan), and in the Horn of Africa. Since many of those from Sudan and the Horn of Africa came to Australia as a part of the humanitarian intake, often via refugee camps, their children may have been born in third countries, so ancestry may be used as an additional variable. The analysis focuses on human capital variables such as education and labour force participation, showing the advantaged position of the South Africans and Zimbabweans. A final section considers the future of Africa Australian youth.Also presenting from the ACT was Alec Thornton , University of New South Wales, Canberra campus
Space And Food In The City
A shift towards post-modernist approaches in city planning has led to rapid growth in community-based ‘urban greening’ movements. The spatial and socio-environmental justice themes are largely playing out in the ‘North’, or western cities. This paper will position urban agriculture within radical urban theory, in an effort to conceptualise a phenomenon that takes place in both the ‘global North and South’ in response to various ‘justices’ but are played out at different scales with very different results. Case study examples are drawn from Africa, North America and the South Pacific.