12 Ergebnisse.

This monograph examines the roles and functions of Swahili in war/conflict situations, and the impact of wars on the destiny of the language. Covering a period of over a century, the monograph explores this sociolinguistic theme in the context of six wars/conflicts: the Maji Maji resistance against German rule, the two World Wars, the anti-colonial resistance to British colonialism, the wars of the Great Lakes region, the cold wars, and the on...

These studies incorporate both African and international perspectives. They demonstrate how media outlets perpetuate, question, or modify the unequal power relations between the north and the south of the continent. Focusing on east Africa, essays discuss the construction of old and new social entities as defined by class, gender, ethnicity, religion, and political and economic differences. Contributors illustrate how locals are increasingly c...

When voters enthusiastically turn up to cast their vote during general elections, they expect that their action would meaningfully change their lives. But in most of Africa, even when elections are held on a regular basis, voters are quite often disappointed by the performance of their leaders who use the new positions as an opportunity to loot public resources and consolidate power. It is almost as if elections are of minimal value to the pop...

This book is a result of public dialogue forums in pursuit of accountable and transparent governance in Kenya organized by Twaweza Communications with the support of Ford Foundation. From the convenings it was evident that the stability of Kenya will be driven by the extent to which citizens feel fully included in the development agenda. Quite often, political leaders view the role of citizens in governance as restricted primarily to their par...

Elections provide a tremendous opportunity for national transformation and the pursuit of democratic practice. They can be a moment of national renewal. However, in most of Africa elections are often characterized by violent conflict as politicians seek to capture or maintain power through ethnic mobilization, propaganda and misrepresentation. Considering opportunities offered by information technology especially mobile phones and the discover...

The narratives collected by Twaweza Communications in this volume tell yet another side of the story about the violence that engulfed Kenya towards the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008. The narratives are part of a Daraja Initiative involving media monitoring, reflections and documentation of the traumatic post-election violence period often associated with the contested presidential results of 2007. The goal of the project is to contribu...

Getting Heard: (Re)claiming Performance Space is the third in a series of publications on art, culture and society released by Twaweza Communications. The aim is to bring to the fore conversations taking place in Kenya about identity, creativity, nationalism and the generation of knowledge. The series is also about the pursuit of freedom through arts, media and culture. In Getting Heard the performance space is shown to offer wider possibi...

Our lives, which are mainly structured according to repeated and socially sanctioned modes of behaviour suggest that human activity is a performance, it is an activity undertaken with a consciousness of itself. We are always aware that someone who has certain expectations about us is watching. In order to satisfy the expectation we behave accordingly. Quite often we are conscious of projecting identity - in politics, in our homes, places of wo...

This book brings together multiple voices and positions from Africa. These voices, assembled during a 2003 Soap Summit held in Nairobi, are powerful and varied and suggest ways in which issues of health could be tackled in an entertaining manner. The summit organised by Population Communications International - Africa. highlighted the critical role that the arts can play in ensuring better health, especially among the youth. It resulted from t...

There is no doubt that the topic of leadership has become of critical importance in the world. On the global front terrorism, war in the Middle East, HIV/AIDS, environmental disasters resulting from global warming, glaring inequalities between rich and poor nations, religious fundamentalism, trafficking of drugs and so on have made it imperative that a global leadership committed to dialogue across cultures and nations be given a space to arti...

Art, Culture and Society Vol 1 is the first in a series of books to be published by Twaweza Communications on the relationship between art and society, with special reference to Kenya. It is part of a cultural leadership initiative being undertaken by the organization through a reexamination of the arts as they are produced and studied. This volume brings together important reflections on the arts and is a major step in encouraging dialogue on...

What is the role of the media in Africa? How do they work? How do theyinteract with global media? How do they reflect and express local culture?Incorporating both African and international perspectives, Media and Identity inAfrica demonstrates how media outlets are used to perpetuate, question, or modifythe unequal power relations between Africa and the rest of the world. Discussionsabout the construction of old and new social entities which a...