Faculty of Educationhttp://ir.lirauni.ac.ug/xmlui/handle/123456789/282024-03-29T15:15:13Z2024-03-29T15:15:13ZHollywood and Africa Recycling the ‘Dark Continent’ myth, 1908–2020Dokotum, Okaka Opiohttp://ir.lirauni.ac.ug/xmlui/handle/123456789/5532023-04-04T07:29:26Z2018-01-01T00:00:00ZHollywood and Africa Recycling the ‘Dark Continent’ myth, 1908–2020
Dokotum, Okaka Opio
Negative imaging of Africa through the Dark Continent trope continues unabated
in Western cultural productions. While colonial historiography has been successfully
challenged by various professional historians on the continent, like Ade Ajayi,
Ali Mazrui, Adu Boahen, Grace Ogot and J. Kizerbo, among others, and most
contemporary historical literature no longer entertains such biases, the same cannot
be said of cultural productions on Africa emanating from the West. The negative
representation of Africa has persisted in Western literature and more especially in
Western film through to the postcolonial era via instruments of Euro-American
cultural imperialism, with Hollywood as the biggest avenue for this warped image
production, dissemination and consolidation. There is, therefore, a need to enlighten
Hollywood’s viewership, literary adaptation scholars and policymakers on the
systematic racism in the fantastical construction of Africa in Hollywood-Africa films
and to challenge this derogatory framing of Africa as the Dark Continent with its
negative impact on Africans This book is a study of stereotypical Hollywood film productions about Africa
over a 112-year span. It traces the origins of the Dark Continent myth about
Africa from the 19th century in order to situate this mode of image production
in the context of British colonialism, racism and the ideology of empire, and to
show how the tropes of this mode of seeing Africa are incarnated across time and
space. I argue that the myth of the Dark Continent has influenced Western cultural
productions about Africa for centuries as a cognitive-based system of knowledge,
especially in history, literature, film and Western media at large, with a debilitating
chain of negative consequences for Africa. Dark Continent tropes this book tackles
include the first contact encounter between civilisation and savagery; Africa as
the unpolished, Edenic romantic utopia; Africa as the dangerous alluring; default
violence as a way of life in Africa; cannibalism as the primary marker of African
savagery; the trope of virology, where Africa is seen as the source of all killer viruses;
Africa as a cultural and intellectual tabula rasa needing to be filled with civilisation;
Africa as mere background canvas for Western action flicks; and the helplessness of
Africans and their need for Western saviours in line with Rudyard Kipling’s “The
White Man’s Burden.” Other recurring colonial modes of representing African
reality are selection/omission and contextualisation through which specific facts are
projected without historical context; and the trope of ‘synecdoche’ where a particular
crisis in an Africa country, or even in a part of a country, is used to characterise the entire continent of Africa
2018-01-01T00:00:00ZBeyond Monuments: The politics and poetics of memory in post-war northern Uganda The politics and poetics of memory in post-war northern UgandaOcen, Laury L.http://ir.lirauni.ac.ug/xmlui/handle/123456789/5312023-03-30T09:49:07Z2023-01-01T00:00:00ZBeyond Monuments: The politics and poetics of memory in post-war northern Uganda The politics and poetics of memory in post-war northern Uganda
Ocen, Laury L.
Beyond Monuments: The politics and poetics of memory in post-war northern Uganda explores themes of war and peace, displacement and return, and remembering and forgetting, depicted as experiences of survivors of mass violence in the northern Uganda civil wars between 1987 and 2006. Presented as dichotomies marking key transitional moments negotiated by NGOs, governments, and post-war communities in northern Uganda, the analysis of these themes emphasises how ordinary survivors of war make claims – through oral performances, memoirs, reminiscences, and place and personal names – that foreground memories threatened with amnesia, resulting from state and NGO driven commemorations.
Beyond Monuments shows the intersection between literature and material arts and, as a result, stylistically it shifts focus from conventional literature, defined in the genre of novels, plays, essays and short stories, to include non-inscribed or thinly inscribed texts such as cenotaphs, sculptures, statues, and other concrete objects used in the making of memory. Beyond Monuments – which shapes debates in the subjects of transitional justice, conflict management, resilience, recovery, and peace – will find a wide audience, ranging from teachers of literature and scholars of the fine arts to memory anthropologists, cultural historians, humanitarian agencies, government officials, social workers, and readers interested in the intellectual histories of neglected societies.
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZEconomic Feasibility of Iodine Agronomic BiofortificationOlum, SolomonGellynck, XavierWesana, JoshuaOdongo, WalterOnek Aparo, NathalineAloka, BonnyOngeng, DuncanDe Steur, Hanshttp://ir.lirauni.ac.ug/xmlui/handle/123456789/5232023-04-03T08:34:33Z2021-01-01T00:00:00ZEconomic Feasibility of Iodine Agronomic Biofortification
Olum, Solomon; Gellynck, Xavier; Wesana, Joshua; Odongo, Walter; Onek Aparo, Nathaline; Aloka, Bonny; Ongeng, Duncan; De Steur, Hans
Cost–benefit analysis of (iodine) biofortification at farm level is limited in the literature.
This study aimed to analyze the economic feasibility of applying iodine-rich fertilizers (agronomic
biofortification) to cabbage and cowpea in Northern Uganda. Data on costs and revenues were
obtained from a survey of 100 farmers, and benefits that would accrue from using iodine fertilizers
were elicited using consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the iodine-biofortified vegetables. The
cost–benefit analysis demonstrated iodine agronomic biofortification as a highly profitable effort,
generating average benefit–cost ratios (BCRs) of 3.13 and 5.69 for cabbage and cowpea production,
respectively, higher than the conventional production practice. However, the projective analysis
showed substantive variations of economic gains from iodine biofortification among farmers, possibly
due to differences in farming practices and managerial capabilities. For instance, only 74% of cabbage
farmers would produce at a BCR above 1 if they were to apply iodine fertilizer. Furthermore, a
sensitivity analysis to estimate the effect of subsidizing the cost of iodine fertilizer showed that a
higher proportion of farmers would benefit from iodine biofortification. Therefore, as biofortification
is considered a health policy intervention targeting the poor and vulnerable, farmers could be
supported through fertilizer subsidies to lower the production cost of iodine-biofortified foods and
to avoid passing on the price burden to vulnerable consumers.
2021-01-01T00:00:00ZFarmers’ Intention to Adopt Agronomic Biofortification: The Case of Iodine Biofortified Vegetables in UgandaOnek Aparo, NathalineOlum, SolomonAtimango, Alice OnekOdongo, WalterAloka, BonnyOngeng, DuncanGellynck, XavierDe Steur, Hanshttp://ir.lirauni.ac.ug/xmlui/handle/123456789/5222023-03-23T11:35:30Z2023-01-01T00:00:00ZFarmers’ Intention to Adopt Agronomic Biofortification: The Case of Iodine Biofortified Vegetables in Uganda
Onek Aparo, Nathaline; Olum, Solomon; Atimango, Alice Onek; Odongo, Walter; Aloka, Bonny; Ongeng, Duncan; Gellynck, Xavier; De Steur, Hans
Agronomic biofortification, the application of fertilizer to increase micronutrient concentrations
in staple food crops, has been increasingly promoted as a valuable approach to alleviate
micronutrient deficiencies, but its success inevitably depends on farmers’ acceptance and adoption.
By using iodine fertilizers as a case, this study aimed to understand vegetable farmers’ intentions to
adopt agronomic biofortification. Therefore, the focus is on the potential role of socio-psychological
factors, derived from two well-established theoretical models in explaining adoption intentions. Data
from a cross-sectional survey of 465 cowpea and cabbage farmers from a high-risk region of Uganda
were analyzed using binary logistic regression. The findings show that 75% of the farmers are likely
to adopt agronomic iodine biofortification and are willing to devote a substantial part of their land to
this innovation. Farmers’ intention to adopt strongly depends on their attitude and control beliefs
regarding iodine biofortification, vegetable type, access to extension services, and farmland size. This
study highlights the crucial role that behavioral and attitude factors play in communities at risk for
nutritional disorders’ potential acceptance and sustained implementation of vegetable biofortification.
To reinforce the observed positive inclination towards iodine biofortification among vegetable
farmers, it is essential to increase awareness of the benefits, potential risks, and consequences of
iodine deficiency, accompanied by motivational strategies to enhance farmers’ inherent beliefs in
their ability to implement this innovation.
2023-01-01T00:00:00Z