This book discusses the role of cultural practices and policy for sustainable development in West Africa across different artistic disciplines, including performance, video, theatre, community arts ...and cultural heritage. Based on ethnographic field research in local communities, the book presents findings on current debates of cultural sustainability in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Benin. It provides a unique perspective connecting cultural studies, conflict studies and practical peacebuilding approaches through the arts. The first part pays particular attention to aspects of social cohesion and the circumstances of internally displaced persons e. g. caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in Northeast Nigeria. The second part focuses on cultural policy issues and challenges in the context of sustainable development, investigating participatory approaches and bottom-up processes, the role of governments and civil society, as well as performing arts organizations and universities in policy making and implementation processes. Performing Sustainability in West Africa presents research results and new methods on the role of artistic and cultural practices in conflict situations as well as current debates in cultural policy for researchers, academics, NGOs and students in cultural studies, sustainable development studies and African studies.
Cameroon is rich in petroleum, minerals, tropical forests, wildlife, water systems, fertile lands, and much more. Paradoxically however, most citizens live in abject poverty and without jobs, potable ...water, electricity, good healthcare and roads. This book is a thoughtful interrogation of some of the structural factors driving persistent poverty in Cameroon in the midst of natural resource abundance. It engages in a multidimensional critical analysis of the impact of natural resources on basic development indicators and concludes that good resource governance and sound management are the missing link. Natural resources alone will not create socio-economic prosperity void of good management with a clear development vision and strategy in Cameroon. The book assembles a wide diversity of analysis, views, perspectives and recommendations from economists, development experts, social and political scientists, on Cameroon’s current development inertia. What emerges in the end is a coherent interdisciplinary analysis of the natural resource-development paradox as it plays out in an African setting. Theories and good practices from Africa and beyond are systematically applied to identify and critique present policy and management approaches while providing alternative options that can unlock Cameroon’s natural resource wealth for national prosperity.
Black Germany Aitken, Robbie; Rosenhaft, Eve
09/2013
eBook
This groundbreaking history traces the development of Germany's black community, from its origins in colonial Africa to its decimation by the Nazis during World War II. Robbie Aitken and Eve ...Rosenhaft follow the careers of Africans arriving from the colonies, examining why and where they settled, their working lives and their political activities, and giving unprecedented attention to gender, sexuality and the challenges of 'mixed marriage'. Addressing the networks through which individuals constituted community, Aitken and Rosenhaft explore the ways in which these relationships spread beyond ties of kinship and birthplace to constitute communities as 'black'. The study also follows a number of its protagonists to France and back to Africa, providing new insights into the roots of Francophone black consciousness and postcolonial memory. Including an in-depth account of the impact of Nazism and its aftermath, this book offers a fresh critical perspective on narratives of 'race' in German history.
More than 40,000 objects from Cameroon are now kept in public museums in the Federal Republic of Germany - the largest stock worldwide. For the first time, this invisible presence of Cameroon in ...German museums is traced, using numerous maps, charts and graphics.
Cameroon is blessed with a vast potential of renewable energy resources: solar, biomass, hydropower, wind and geothermal energies. These resources are currently poorly valorized. The country depends ...mainly on hydropower for its electricity supply and traditional biomass for its energy consumption. This dependency on hydropower causes acute power shortage nationwide, especially in remote communities where grid access is limited. Rural electrification is mainly conducted through costly grid extensions, small hydro and diesel plants with enormous health and environmental effects. This study assesses the feasibilities of hybrid renewable power systems for remote applications in Southern Cameroons using the climate data of Wum. HOMER was used to perform the comparative analysis. Nine hybrid systems were considered in this study based on the following components: PV module, wind turbine, micro-hydro turbine, diesel generator, battery, charge controllers, and inverters. Two energy sources and storage battery characterized each system. The PV/diesel/small hydro/battery was found to be the most viable economic system for Southern Cameroons with a 0.443$/kWh energy cost. The optimum system was proven to be very resilient to variations in streamflow, interest rate, fuel price, and PV cost. This outcome was found to be highly relevant to policy makers and investors in Cameroon.
•PV/diesel/hydro/battery found to be the most viable system with a COE of 0.443$/kWh.•Outcome found to be highly relevant to policy makers and investors in Cameroon.•Hybrid off-grid renewables shows promising prospects for remote applications.•Limited studies in renewables, less state efforts to boast and revitalize the sector.
Anaerobic digestion of organic wastes results in the production of biogas and a nutrient-rich digestate. The biogas that is produced through this process consists of methane, carbon dioxide and ...minute amounts of other gases. Methane, which forms the bulk of the biogas, is combustible. Biogas can be used for the provision of heat and light and can even be converted to electricity. This is of particular significance in Africa where a dire energy crisis currently prevails. Biogas technology is still in its infancy in Africa, although recent initiatives have resulted in the accelerated uptake and understanding of the technology in various African countries. National biogas programmes have been implemented in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Benin. These countries have benefited significantly from the technology and serve as showpieces for African countries that have the ability to start up similar programmes without outside assistance. Unlike other forms of renewable energy, biogas technology offers numerous advantages, one main advantage being waste management which is a significant problem in Africa. The major hurdles to the implementation of biogas technology in Africa are the cost implications, lack of communication, lack of ownership and the negative image of the technology caused by past failures. The provision of loans, government assistance, community workshops, wide-scale communication and the implementation of prefabricated digesters could have a significant impact on the increased uptake of the technology in Africa. The adoption of biogas technology in Africa would contribute to the well-being and economic prosperity of the continent as a whole.
•Rice husk ash and waste glass were used to prepare sodium waterglass.•ATR method is a suitable technique to monitor the formation of condensed and uncondensed silica in alkaline solution.•Sodium ...waterglass from waste glass is more reactive than that of the one of rice husk ash.•Metakaolin-based geopolymer binder from waste glass has a higher compressive strength.•Geopolymer G1 at 56days and G2 show the formation of highly cross linking network.
Rice husk and waste glass from sources in Cameroon were used for producing sodium waterglass (NWG) solution denoted S1 and S2 respectively as alternative activators to prepare metakaolin-based geopolymer binder. Metakaolin-based geopolymer binders (G1, G2) were obtained using freshly prepared NWG with a mass ratio NWG/MK=0.83. The IR spectra of S1, S2 using ATR and KBr methods show the presence of SiQ0, SiQ1, SiQ2 units, and S1 contained also SiQ3 and SiQ4 units. The mechanical testing, environmental scanning electron microscopy, mercury intrusion porosimetry, X-ray diffractometry, infrared spectroscopy, amount of binders and thermogravimetric analysis are investigated to study the properties of the geopolymer binders. The results show that the compressive strength values of geopolymer G2 (22.9, 27.6, 32.6, 36 and 39.7MPa) are higher than that of G1 (17.7, 19.1, 21.2, 29.9 and 32.8MPa) at 7, 14, 21, 28 and 56days respectively. The microstructure of G2 is more compact with fewer unreacted metakaolin particles. It can be concluded that sodium waterglass from waste glass and rice husk ash are suitable alternative activators for the production of metakaolin-based geopolymers. In addition, they constitute a better ecological choice when compared to commercial sodium silicate from melting process.
Agricultural biomass residue based energy generation is one of the major focus areas of renewable energy in different countries around the world. A large quantity of biomass residue is generated from ...agricultural crop production. However, the biomass residues are the distributed resources with variation in spatio-temporal availability and its characteristics which their energy potential depends on. Biomass residues are emerged after harvesting of main crops as stalks, straw, stems and leaves, husks, cobs and etc. In this study, agricultural biomass residues energy potential was explored for Turkey using conducted studies of agricultural biomass residues characteristics in several countries located at different geographic regions. Data on characteristics of agricultural biomass residues were used from 16 European Union countries, as well as in India, Cameroon, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Uganda and Turkey. Some residue characteristics such as residue product ratios, moisture levels, and lower heating calorific values of dry matter were taken into account. Furthermore, a mathematical model was defined for the calculation of the energy potential of Turkey's agricultural biomass residues. Theoretical biomass amount and theoretical energy potential, as well as available energy potential values of agricultural biomass residues were determined. The total amounts of biomass residues obtained from arable field crops and horticultural crops in Turkey were estimated as 59,432 kilotonne and 15,652 kilotonne respectively. The theoretical energy potential of these all agricultural biomass residues were calculated as 908,119 TJ and 90,354 TJ, respectively. The available energy potentials from agricultural biomass residues were calculated as 298,955 TJ for arable agricultural field crops and 65,491 TJ for horticultural crops.
•Biomass energy depends on spatio-temporal variation and its characteristics.•Biomass quantification and energy potential assessment are conducted in Turkey.•The total agricultural residues are estimated as 75,084 kilotonne in Turkey.•The theoretical energy potential are calculated as 998,473 TJ from total residues.•The available energy potentials are projected as 364,446 TJ for total residues.
•This study investigates that factors that influence m-commerce adoption in Cameroon.•The UTAUT2 model was extended with perceived risk and perceived trust.•The intention to recommend was included as ...a post-adoption behaviour.•Five determinants of adoption behaviour were identified.•Adoption behaviour was significantly associated with recommendation behaviour.
As smartphone penetration continues to double in Sub-Saharan Africa, many businesses are looking into this channel for conducting their business activities. In Cameroon, all the top e-commerce giants have deployed smartphone applications to facilitate m-commerce activities. However, little is known about the factors that influence m-commerce adoption in the country. As such, this study had as objective to determine the key factors that influence consumer’s adoption of m-commerce applications in Cameroon. Using data from 372 respondents, a modified version of the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) was validated in the Cameroon context. The findings showed that social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivations, perceived risk and perceived trust were significant predictors of the behavioural intention to adopt m-commerce applications. Also, the results showed that consumers who had a high intention to adopt m-commerce were more likely to recommend the technology to others. For researchers, the study depicts the relevance of extending existing technology acceptance models like the UTUAT2 with appropriate factors in different technological and geographical context. For practitioners, the study identifies customer-specific and environmental factors that m-commerce providers in Cameroon and other regions with similar characteristics could consider when designing and implementing strategies for attracting consumers to use their m-commerce applications.
•LDPE is a problem in developing countries because of limited local recycling options.•Simple and appropriate technology produces new materials from LDPE-bonded sand.•Processing-property ...relationships for LDPE-bonded sand are reported.•Community-driven waste management using this process has potential for global impact.
In many developing countries low-density polyethylene (LDPE) sheets, bags and water sachets are a major waste problem because local collection and recycling systems do not exist. As a result, LDPE has no value and is dumped causing aesthetic, environmental and public health issues. A relatively simple technology has been developed in the Cameroon that produces LDPE-bonded sand blocks and pavers. The application of this technology is an example of a community-driven waste management initiative that has potential to impact on the global plastics waste crisis because it can transform waste LDPE and other readily available types of plastics into a valuable local resource. In this research, waste LDPE water sachets have been melted and mixed with sand to form LDPE-bonded sand blocks. The effect of sand particle size and sand to plastic ratio on density, the compressive strength and water adsorption are reported. Optimum samples have been further characterised for flexural strength and thermal conductivity. LDPE-bonded sand is a strong, tough material with compressive strengths up to ∼27 MPa when produced under optimum processing conditions. The density and compressive strength increase as the particle size of the sand decreases. The potential for using this simple technology and the materials it produces to transform LDPE plastic waste management in developing countries is discussed.
