Last year, the State Treasury was given the task to investigate the Nordic Africa Institute's role and function by the Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson. The result of the review was presented in March 2013. The proposal is to conform the Institute's research and library together with an university (University of Uppsala is mentioned). Carin Norberg, former Director of the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) does not think the suggested solution is a good one.
– My suggestion is to keep the institute as an independent organization, appoint a board for a clearer control and give the business an annual grant. Then, NAI can compete with the best institutions in the world, she says in an article on biståndsdebatten.se (in Swedish, opens in new window).
Millions of pupils in Africa don’t speak the language used in the classroom.
– Research points out that those who study in a language other than their own will have trouble in passing exams, says Lotta Aunio, linguistic researcher at Helsinki University.
Lotta Aunio has seen these problems at close hand. In Tanzania, she lived with a family whose first daughter was about to start secondary school. Teaching in primary school is done through the medium of Swahili, but in secondary school the only language is English. When Lotta Aunio asked the girl in English for her name, she did not even understand the question.
Inequality in Africa is increasing despite a growing economic growth. The growth mainly derives from export of raw material which is manufactured elsewhere. Inequality increases because foreign investments seldom lead to job opportunities in Africa and too often only favor local elites.
– It is a challenge to get investments that develop the agricultural sector and also result in domestic manufacturing industries, says NAI researcher Mats Hårsmar to Swedish radio.
Listen to interview with Mats Hårsmar due to that five Swedish ministers went to World Economic Forum in Cape Town (in Swedish, opens in new window).
The 'Africa/has/the/floor: a photo exhibition' includes photographs of 20 of the African writers who visited the Göteborg Book Fair 2010. The exhibition is available in digital format to download free of charge.
View the photographs and learn more about how you can create your own exhibition.
From the lecture Wednesday May 15th: The current wave of Large scale agro-investments in Africa – a new form of imperialism or benefits for rural Africa? (opens in new window) with Prosper Matondi, PhD, Director of Ruzivo Trust, Zimbabwe. No special program is needed to view the film.
– Discrimination against people with a different ethnic background is something that exists in society in general and also in the humanitarian and development aid organizations, says NAI researcher Maria Eriksson Baaz in an article in the newspaper OmVärlden (in Swedish, opens in new window) .
Quick links to find material added to the library's collections, month by month.
All month links are clickable from start but you will get results for a month - of course - only once we have entered it and as titles are added. You can also have a look at the accumulated quarter and year totals in each category.
ECAS 5, 27-29 June (note the changed date) 2013 in Lisbon. Theme of ECAS 5: 'African dynamics in a multipolar world'. List of all panels is available here (opens in new window).
Several NAI-researchers are organizing panels at ECAS 5 - more information here.
If you wish to join the e-mail list and receive information about the coming lectures and seminars, please fill out the order form.
NAI’s research is organised into distinct research clusters. The current research clusters are:
Rural Cluster
Agrarian Change, Property and Resources
Conflict Cluster Conflict, Security and Democratic Transformation
Globalization Cluster Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration
Urban Cluster
Urban Dynamics
Some lectures, seminars and other program activities of the Nordic Africa Institute are filmed and/or saved on audiofile - click here to see the list of filmed events or to search the archive.
Please note - no special program is needed to view the filmed events.
RESEARCH
with emphasis on social sciences
LIBRARY
specialized in modern Africa
PUBLICATIONS
more than 700 titles on development, human rights, conflict, culture...
CONFERENCES
and public events
GRANTS
for Nordic and African scholars
