• 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.


  • Measuring Stopping and Spacing in Fertility Transitions: A Regression Approach

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    Date and time: Fri, 31st Mar 2017, 3:00pm – 4:00pm

    Location:Jean Martin Room in Beryl Rawson Building

    Presenter: Professor George Alter, Research Professor in the Institute for Social Research and Professor of History at the University of Michigan.

    Title: Measuring Stopping and Spacing in Fertility Transitions: A Regression Approach

    Abstract: A very influential model of the Demographic Transition was based on the conclusion that fertility decline in Europe was due to “stopping” (terminating childbearing at younger ages) rather than “spacing” (increasing the time between births). This interpretation had important practical and policy implications, because it was linked to arguments about knowledge and acceptability of birth control. Recently, the same issue has re-emerged in research on Africa, where some observers see modern contraception being used for spacing by women who still desire large families. Evidence and interpretation have been challenged in both historical and contemporary debates, but progress has been hindered by the absence of an agreed upon measure for spacing. This presentation will present estimates from the “cure model,” a regression technique that estimates the impact of co-variates on both stopping and spacing. Comparisons will be drawn from 18th and 19th century Europe and late 20th century Africa.


  • Supply vs. demand? The political economy of trade, tobacco farming and tobacco control in Sub-Saharan Africa

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    Public Seminar
    Supply vs. demand? The political economy of trade, tobacco farming and tobacco control in Sub-Saharan Africa

    Speaker: Ronald Labonté
    Date: 30 March 2017
    Time: 5:00 – 6.00pm
    Venue: Coombs Extension Building, Seminar Room 1.04, 8 Fellows Road, ANU

    Professor Ronald Labonté is Canada Research Chair in Globalization and Health Equity, Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, and Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Flinders University.

    The World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is a binding international treaty with recommended actions member states should take to reduce tobacco consumption. Challenges to implement the FCTC have been most striking in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with little prior history of tobacco control policies. This seminar will present key findings from a multi-year study of trade, tobacco farming and tobacco control in three Sub-Saharan African countries: Kenya, Zambia and Malawi.

    For more details see:

    https://regnet.anu.edu.au/news-events/events/6710/supply-vs-demand-political-economy-trade-tobacco-farming-and-tobacco-control


  • Aging, Depression, and Non-Communicable Diseases in South Africa

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    In March the ANU’s Crawford School announced
    Working Paper No. 2017/04 in the Working Papers in
    Trade and Development series.

    “This Working Paper series provides a vehicle for preliminary circulation of research results in the fields of economic development and international trade. The series is intended to stimulate discussion and critical comment. Staff and visitors in any part of the Australian National University are encouraged to contribute. To facilitate prompt distribution, papers are screened, but not formally refereed.’

    Copies may be obtained at WWW Site
    https://www.crawford.anu.edu.au/acde/publications/

    Aging, Depression, and Non-Communicable Diseases in South Africa
    Manoj K. Pandey#, Vani S. Kulkarni## and Raghav Gaiha###
    # Development Policy Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Email: manoj.pandey@anu.edu.au.
    ## Vani S. Kulkarni, Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
    Email: Vanik@sas.upenn.edu
    ### Corresponding author. Raghav Gaiha, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester,
    United Kingdom. email: raghavdasgaiha@gmail.com

    ABSTRACT

    ” This is the first study that offers a comprehensive analysis of depression among the old (60+ years) in South Africa. By using an analytical framewrok that builds on the (sparse) extant literature and a new dataset extracted from the four waves of the South African National Income Dynamics Study (2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014), we examine factors contributing to depression of people in this age cohort. Depending on whether the dependent variable is binary (self-reported depression for ≥ 3 days in a week) or continuous (as in two indices of depression), we use random effects probit estimator with Mundlak adjustment or simply random effects with Mundlak adjustment. It is found that, among the old, those in their sixties, the Africans and Coloureds, women, those suffering from multimorbidity, those in lower asset quartiles, and individuals suffering family bereavement are more likely to be depressed. Factors that attenuate depression include marriage, pension, affluence, and trust in a community and familiar neighbourhoods.”