Lezing en debat

The 2023 Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture will be given by Mercy Ariomerebi Iroaganachi, University Librarian of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Stephen Ellis, a prominent historian of Africa, made extensive use of the National Archives of Nigeria at Ibadan. Notable are the materials used for his last book (published posthumously in 2016): This Present Darkness: A History of Nigerian Organised Crime. Archives constitute a significant aspect of academia and an important source for researchers. Thus the focus of the 2023 Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture will be on the user side, with the central question: how to do critical, reliable research on Africa, making use of African archival collections? Using archival collections for critical and reliable research on Africa is largely determined by the state of, access to, and representation of the archives, as well as by the researcher’s disposition. Notable researchers across Africa, and particularly Nigeria, have decried the limitations of not just having access to records held in the archives, but their extant deteriorating state in this age of technological advancement when informative documents are digitised for seamless access. In view of the foregoing, this lecture will address the state of the National Archives of Nigeria at Ibadan and the imperatives of archival records to modern African studies. What is the representation policy of the Ibadan Archives? What are the dangers of producing uncritical history from archival records? According to Stephen Ellis, archives are sources of power and contestation and must be subjected to objectivity test. At the same time, the lecture will highlight the fascinating force that sustains usage of archives for modern African studies by scholars like Stephen Ellis.  pleaseregister

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Promovendus: UP (Urcil) Kenfack Essougong. Promotor: prof.dr.ir. C (Cees) Leeuwis & prof. KE (Ken) Giller. Copromotor: dr.ir. MA (Maja) Slingerland. Externe copromotor: Dr Syndhia Mathe
This thesis aims to increase our understanding of the current constraints to sustainable cocoa intensification in Cameroon and the extent to which service delivery in the sector is adequate. Farmers' perceptions of cocoa farming practices, the factors influencing their uptake, and the availability and suitability of innovation support services are investigated.
To foster the transition towards sustainable cocoa production systems, the findings point to the need for a more prominent role of the state in the value chain governance, and for international agreements and negotiations based on win-win partnerships between sourcing-and-producing countries resulting in the co-construction of solutions and strategies to address the sector’s sustainability challenges. Public-private partnerships to improve the match between services provided and farmers' needs should be strengthened, holistic and integrated solutions prioritised, and synergies and inclusiveness in the design and implementation of interventions increased.

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Promovendus: Happy Kokwenda Peter. Promotor: prof.dr. JAJ (Johan) Verreth. Copromotor: dr.ir. LAJ (Leo) Nagelkerke. Externe copromotor: Ir. P. van Zwieten
De zorg voor een duurzame visserij vraagt om een grondig begrip van de factoren die de visserij praktijk beïnvloeden. Dit onderzoek richtte zich op de Nijlbaars visserij in het Victoria meer, een sector van vitaal ekonomisch belang voor Kenya, Uganda en Tanzania. Variaties in omgevingsfactoren, zoals zuurstoftekort of beschikbaarheid van voedsel, beïnvloeden de verspreiding van Nijlbaars wat leidt tot significante dagelijkse variaties in de vangst. Vissers gebruiken daarom een strategie om hun vangstkansen in te dekken, door van dag tot dag netten met verschillende maaswijdtes te gebruiken. Deze studie had als doel vast te stellen hoe visserijdruk en ecologische omgevingsfactoren (zoals eutrofiëring) de grootte structuur en verspreiding van Nijlbaars met elkaar interacteren. Een goed begrip van deze dynamiek is essentiëel voor de ecologische duurzaamheid van deze visserij. Door het bestuderen van visserij praktijken in samenhang met de ecologische context draagt dit onderzoek bij aan de wereldwijde zorg voor duuzaam

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