Francis Nyamnjoh

Eradicating ‘Cultural Poverty’

By Francis Nyamnjoh (Originally published on The Broker)

On reading through the IOB evaluation report I’m particularly struck by the emphasis on the sectoral approach to aid. It is as if normal life is lived in disconnected segments, and as though the successes scored in one sector cannot be cancelled out by the failure to address the needs in other sectors. Of course, it could always be argued that no single donor has resources enough to intervene simultaneously across a broad spectrum of sectors. But even so, this begs the question of what informs the choice of sectors and, even more important, what quantity and quality of research should inform the choice of sectors in order to guarantee successful outcomes.

Intellectual and Social Responsibility in Scholarship: Lessons from Professor Issa Shivji

Francis B. Nyamnjoh reflects on the central role Issa Shivji has played in the development of African revolutionary scholarship.

It is 15th July 2006 at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Issa G. Shivji, at 60, is giving his valedictory lecture. Titled “Lawyers in Neoliberalism: Authority’s Professional Supplicants or Society’s Amateurish Conscience”, the lecture marks the end of a rich and distinguished 36 year career of selfless service that started as a tutorial assistant in May 1970 and was crowned with full professorship in July 1986. The lecture is on a theme that has been at the centre of Shivji’s humanity and scholarship since his student days in East Africa and the United Kingdom.

Fishing in Troubled Waters: "Disquettes" and "Thiofs" in Dakar

By Francis Nyamnjoh

(Copyedited & Copyrighted version published in Africa, Vol.75 (3) 2005, pp. 295-324)

Abstract
This discussion traces metaphors of consumerism, commoditized sex and sexified commodities that proliferate throughout urban Africa, signaling the intensified globalisation of images of desire and opportunity on the one hand, and chronic poverty and destitution on the other. Focusing on sexual economies in Dakar as a case in point, the paper attempts an analysis of how, in situations of increasing scarcity and transurban articulations, language, sex, possession, loss, self-construction, and self-corruption mutually shape each other. The paper seeks to represent the textures and intricacies that arise as the interdependencies among status, pleasure, appropriation, seduction, and livelihood are worked out.

Changing Communication Dynamics in Africa

Francis B. Nyamnjoh
Originally published in Media Development, 2005/4

African people are often bitter about the fact that the cultures and worldviews of others have coloured their own outlooks and, in certain cases, claimed centre stage in their lives. This makes it difficult to articulate what people consider their authentic cultural values with the freedom and confidence they would like to enjoy. The following article identifies a certain nostalgia for a real or mythical golden age prior to the unequal encounters with cultural others that have reduced people to playing second fiddle even in matters of utmost concern to themselves and their communities.