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ANU Africa Network
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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.
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‘Fear and race on the streets of Melbourne’
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Four Corners on ABC TV
‘Crime and Panic, reported by Sophie McNeill and presented by Sarah Ferguson, goes to air on Monday 5th November at 8.30pm. It is replayed on Tuesday 6th November at 1.00pm and Wednesday 7th at 11.20pm. It can also be seen on ABC NEWS channel on Saturday at 8.10pm AEST, ABC iview and at abc.net.au/4corners ‘
‘For more than two years, the media has been reporting that Melbourne is in the grip of a crimewave, overrun by African street gangs responsible for a wave of violence and theft’
https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/crime-and-panic/10456978
In contrast, Blacktown, where ANU PhD candidate Atem Atem is doing his fieldwork on the Sudanese community, has a different reputation, one of social cohesion.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/sydney-s-blacktown-a-model-of-social-cohesion-say-locals
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Mapping the distribution of maternal health and service delivery in West Africa
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ANU School of Demography Seminar
Date and Time: Friday 9 November 2018 – 3.00pm – 4.00 pm
Location: Jean Martin Room, Beryl Rawson Bldg #13, Ellery Crescent, ANU
Presenter: Drs Bernard Baffour and Dorothy Ononokpono
Title: Mapping the distribution of maternal health and service delivery in West Africa
Abstract:
Improvement in maternal and new born health in developing countries has been a major priority in public health since the 1980s. In spite of efforts to increase access to reproductive health services and reduce maternal mortality, maternal health is still poor in most developing countries. Globally, about 830 women die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related complications every day, and it was estimated that in 2015, roughly 303 000 women died during pregnancy and childbirth (World Health Organization, 2016). Unfortunately, almost all of these deaths (99%) occurred in low-resource settings, and most could have been prevented with adequate access to health care. Although, in sub-Saharan Africa, a number of countries halved their levels of maternal mortality since 1990, mortality rates for newborn babies have also been slow to decline compared with death rates for older infants. In this study we examine spatial variability in the distributions of women of reproductive age, pregnancies and births in three West African countries (Mali, Liberia and Guinea) with a high burden of maternal and neonatal deaths.Biographies:
Bernard Baffour is a lecturer in the School of Demography. Bernard holds a PhD in Social Statistics from the University of Southampton. His main interests focus on the use of his methodological expertise in survey methods and the analysis of complex data.Dorothy Ononokpono is the 2018 Caldwell Fellow. Dorothy holds a doctorate degree in Demography and Population Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a lecturer in the department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Uyo, Nigeria.
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How bad government can ruin a country: the case of Zimbabwe
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From
https://crawford.anu.edu.au/news-events/events/13176/how-bad-government-can-ruin-country-case-zimbabweSpeaker: David Gadiel is a Senior Fellow in the Health Program at The Centre for Independent Studies. He emigrated from Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia) in the 1960s and is a former development economist.
Date & time:
Tuesday 30 October 2018
2.00pm–3.30pm
Venue:
Seminar Room 2, Crawford School of Public Policy, 132 Lennox Crossing, ANU“The history of Zimbabwe is a portrait of decay and mismanagement that ruined a once-thriving economy. With its sophisticated institutions, a stable banking system, a manufacturing base and a highly-capitalised farming industry, Zimbabwe inherited the richest, most developed land in Africa after South Africa. An economic history of Zimbabwe thereafter provides a classic example of how populism can trump reason; how readily world leaders who should have known better became so easily beguiled; and how a false god became a liberation icon to fellow African leaders. It is a sad story often neglected, partly because ‘optimists’ in the West, who had enthusiastically greeted the birth of Zimbabwe and the incumbency of Mugabe, became reluctant to accept their error.”
Contacts:
Ross McLeod, Seminar Convener
seminars.economics@anu.edu.au