• Journal of the Korean Association of African Studies
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• v.43
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• pp.89-111
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• 2014

This article deals with the characteristics and limitations of Edwin W. Smith's study of African religions. He was born as son of British Primitive Methodist missionary in South Africa, 1876. He was trained to become a Bible translator. After marriage he moved to Africa with his wife and translated the Bible into the Ila language. Most Western missionaries despised African cultures and religions, but Smith proposed a new way to study African cultures and religions on the anthropological basis of respect and understanding. Though he kept the mission mind to convert Africans to Christians and supported the fulfillment theology, he accepted the values and significance of African religions. With scientific and object approaches, Smith regarded Africans as rational and philosophical human beings. He rejected the traditional concept of mission that Western form of Christianity should be forced upon the mind and heart of Africans. Rather Smith encouraged Africans to build up their own churches and theologies with creative and dynamic worldviews including magic, Dynamism, Spiritism, ancestor worship and the faith to the Supreme Being. In conclusion, despite his limitations as missionary, Smith has been remembered as 'the founder of African Studies' and 'the ancestor of British phenomenological school.' His missionary experience became the solid foundation for becoming scholar of African religions.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.44
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• pp.373-391
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• 2016

Since the 2000's, interest toward Africa in Korea has increased rapidly. Korea's interest in Africa began in the second half of the 1960's. However, this interest in the 1960's was motivated by political and diplomatic necessity at the time rather than the needs of indigenous groups in Africa. Korea had to oppose North Korea's diplomatic expansion in Africa to gain the support of international organizations like the United Nations. This interest in Africa motivated by diplomatic needs vanished quickly after the end of the cold war in the 1990's. Authentic Korean interest in Africa began to emerge in the 2000's. Korea's rising international status based on economic development led to a natural interest in Africa, which was the last frontier on earth. As a result, African studies in Korea increased significantly after 2010. The increase in the number of theses, articles and books was remarkable from 2010-2016, in comparison with 1957-2010. In spite of the increase in the quantity of thesis, articles, and books, the problem with Korea's African studies is above all, its preponderance. Over 75% of thesis and 70% of articles are concentrated in the domain of politics and economics. This reflects the fact that Korea's interest in Africa is based on short term political and economic interest, indicating that Korea's African studies did not deviate from the rudimentary phase in its quantity and quality. Another problem with Korea's African studies is the lack of integration of different types of research. African studies in Korea has three components, government funded research centers, university laboratories and individual researchers. The government funded research centers focus on the overview of African nations and their political and economic information. University laboratories mainly perform research on the theoretical aspects of politics, economics, human sciences and culture in Africa. Individual researchers are concerned with various categories. However, these three groups have failed to achieve a synergic effect on African studies in Korea and most of the research on Africa does not extend beyond each academic area. To overcome this problem, first of all, a live exchange may be necessary between domestic researchers.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.402-415
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to research the ideologies of African-American hair-styles according to cultural phenomena. This is a qualitative research using the books and theses about society, culture, hair and beauty, and materials of internet. The results are; Firstly, African-Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. About 75 percent of the dark-skinned people on this continent have hair labeled "kinky". Secondly, African hair-styles expressed Supernaturalism and Traditionalism in the formative period of African culture. African-American hair-styles reflected Colonialism in the period of slaves. African-American citizen's hair-styles showed Nationalism after 1960s' Black Pride Movement in the period of settlement in America, and expressed De-territorialism since the boom of 1970s' Reggae. Today, the wearing of dreadlocks, cornrows, and afros has transcended racial and religious barriers. No longer necessarily reflections of ancient traditions and cultural identification, they are just as often fashion items.

• English & American cultural studies
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.169-191
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• 2014

This explores an African American male poet, Etheridge Knight, and his poems. He died in 1991 and had been wounded in the battle field during the Korean War (1950-1953). Particularly, engaged in the war as a boy soldier, due to his wound, he had turned to a drug addict. Despite his experience in the war, Knight didn't write poems much about the war and wartime experience. Rather than war experience, for Knight, the prison gave him a strong motivation to be a poet with Gwendolyn Brooks' help. Further, Korean scholars are not familiar with contemporary African American poets, and my study is an introduction of those poets. Since in Korea researches on African American poets have been relatively rare, it is needed to sincerely work on those poets. The none-white writers, above all, penetrate the undercurrent of canonized American poets and poems. By examining Knight's poems, I eventually align a notion of the ethnic with racial minorities in the U. S.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.528-534
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• 2010

This study explores the influence of health behaviors and individual attributes on adolescent overweight and obesity using data from Wave II (Add Health). Structural equation model/ path analysis using maximum likelihood estimation was utilized to analyze the relationships of health behaviors and attributes with obesity. Results of the model reveal that the causal paths (adolescents' attributes and health behaviors) for overweight and obesity were different for African American and Caucasian adolescents. Generally, African Americans were more susceptible to overweight and obesity than Caucasians. Although increasing levels of vigorous physical activities lowers the risk for obesity among African American and Caucasian adolescents alike, low family SES and being sedentary were associated with overweight and obesity among Caucasians. No significant associations were found among African Americans. Increased hours of sleep at night relate positively with obesity among African Americans. These findings suggest important elements in the consideration of race in developing effective intervention and prevention approaches for curbing the obesity epidemic among U.S. adolescents.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.36
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• pp.149-173
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• 2014

This paper examines language policies of Ghana and Tanzania (former British Colonies) since independence. The view that language use in education is a problem for African countries is evident in the ever changing language in education policies in many African countries. Because of the inevitable multilingual situation in many African countries, there are unavoidable challenges in their quest to adopt a language policy that works for the entire country since it is not practical to adopt all the languages spoken in the country as Media of Instruction. Ghana is not immune to this challenge and has fallen victim to this tendency to change the language in education policy from time to time in an attempt to adopt a satisfactory policy which would yield the intended results. Tanzania, however, is one of the few African countries that have found a sustainable language in education policy since independence. Nonetheless, it has its fair share of challenges as a consequence of the perceived competition between Kiswahili and English as official languages. The paper discusses the challenges that both Ghana and Tanzania face against the background of colonization. The paper also offers a discussion on possible future perspectives for the two countries.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.24
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• pp.120-131
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• 2011

South Africa is a multiracial country where different cultures and languages coexist. Culture can be conveyed through language. Language conditioning is also social conditioning, and through words we make sense of our own and others' experience. In this paper I investigate the meaning of two culturally significant words: (English) peace and (African) ubuntu. Data findings will show how L2 speakers of English, when asked to define peace, promptly operate a process of transfer of the meaning from their mother-tongue Xhosa equivalent - uxolo - to its English equivalent. Ubuntu, an African word which encompasses traditional African values, has no counterpart in English. I will also argue how, in the ongoing process of globalisation, English is playing a predominant role in promoting cultural homogenization.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.42
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• pp.107-129
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• 2016

In modern history, there have been several kinds of continental unions or supranational politico-economic unions in the world, such as the United Nations, the European Union, the Union of South American Nations, the African Union, etc. Modern thinkers proposed many pan-isms on their continental base, for example, Pan-Arabism, Pan-Latin Americanism, Pan-Asianism, Pan-Celtism, etc. What is the most common in these pan-isms is that a continental union would be a politico-economic system to overcome the limits of the modern state-nation and to realize a long and happy relationship between member nations and continents. However, the concept of a supranational union differs from that of cosmopolitanism, in that the former presupposes the common cultural and historical heritage in the concerned region or continent. Ngugi wa Thinog'o' Pan-Africanism implies two keywords that are connected to his concepts such as 'decentralization' and 'African languages.' Pan-Africanism supposes that Africa may gain benefits from the union of African nations under the umbrella of anti-colonial efforts to down size the Euro-American influences. Moreover, using African languages enhances self-reliance and self-imagination among the African people. For in the former colonial regimes, the European colonial languages, such as English, French, or Portuguese, were central to the dissemination of European culture and modernity. Ngugi asserts that the African peripheralized languages could reinstate the African cultural heritage and propose an alternative to the Western modernity.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.307-310
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• 2020

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has placed unprecedented pressure on healthcare systems, even in advanced economies. While the number of cases of SARS-CoV-2 in Africa compared to other continents has so far been low, there are concerns about under-reporting, inadequate diagnostic tools, and insufficient treatment facilities. Moreover, proactiveness on the part of African governments has been under scrutiny. For instance, issues have emerged regarding the responsiveness of African countries in closing international borders to limit trans-continental transmission of the virus. Overdependence on imported products and outsourced services could have contributed to African governments' hesitation to shut down international air and seaports. In this era of emerging and re-emerging pathogens, we recommend that African nations should consider self-sufficiency in the health sector as an urgent priority, as this will not be the last outbreak to occur. In addition to the Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement fund (US$600 million) provided by the World Bank for strengthening health systems and disease surveillance, each country should further establish an epidemic emergency fund for epidemic preparedness and response. We also recommend that epidemic surveillance units should create a secure database of previous and ongoing pandemics in terms of aetiology, spread, and treatment, as well as financial management records. Strategic collection and analysis of data should also be a central focus of these units to facilitate studies of disease trends and to estimate the scale of requirements in preparation and response to any future pandemic or epidemic.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.36
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• pp.211-240
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• 2014

This is a cross-sectional study designed to analyze the correlation between the structural and social variables and the pattern of contraction and deletion of the copula verb in the speech of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) speakers in Athens in Georgia, USA using a questionnaire. The results show that the frequency of copula contraction is higher than that of deletion in all factor groups including the age of the speakers where this study found that younger speakers tend to have higher frequency of contraction and deletion of the copula than older speakers. This study analyzes this as a function of the fact that younger speakers of AAVE are conscious of the linguistic and social differences between AAVE speakers and speakers of Standard American English (SAE) and they consciously make choices regarding which norm to use at which contexts to satisfy their communicative and socio-cultural needs. This sort of conscious social behavior is not likely to disappear with age rather it might increase as a correlate of the perceived physical, socio-cultural and psychological distance between AAVE speakers and speakers of other varieties. This study shows that such perceived linguistic, socio-cultural and psychological distance has negative effects on pedagogy and I proffer the remedy.