Department of History, Archeology and Heritage

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Browsing Department of History, Archeology and Heritage by Subject "Africa"

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    Charting a landmark-driven path forward for population genetics and ancient DNA research in Africa
    (The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2024-07-11) Kyazike, Elizabeth; Sawchuk, Elizabeth A.; Sirak, Kendra A.; Manthi, Fredrick K.; Ndiema, Emmanuel K.
    Population history-focused DNA and ancient DNA (aDNA) research in Africa has dramatically increased in the past decade, enabling increasingly fine-scale investigations into the continent’s past. However, while international interest in human genomics research in Africa grows, major structural barriers limit the ability of African scholars to lead and engage in such research and impede local communities from partnering with researchers and benefitting from research outcomes. Because conversations about research on African people and their past are often held outside Africa and exclude African voices, an important step for African DNA and aDNA research is moving these conversations to the continent. In May 2023 we held the DNAirobi workshop in Nairobi, Kenya and here we synthesize what emerged most prominently in our discussions. We propose an ideal vision for population history-focused DNA and aDNA research in Africa in ten years’ time and acknowledge that to realize this future, we need to chart a path connecting a series of ‘‘landmarks’’ that represent points of consensus in our discussions. These include effective communication across multiple audiences, reframed relationships and capacity building, and action toward structural changes that support science and beyond. We concluded there is no single path to creating an equitable and self-sustaining research ecosystem, but rather many possible routes linking these landmarks. Here we share our diverse perspectives as geneticists, anthropologists, archaeologists, museum curators, and educators to articulate challenges and opportunities for African DNA and aDNA research and share an initial map toward a more inclusive and equitable future.
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    Elections and domestic peace in Africa: assessing peace opportunities in Uganda’s 2021 presidential election
    (Springer International Publishing, 2022-11) Kanyamurwa, John Mary; Kakuba, Juma Sultan; Kaddu, Ronald; Babalanda, Stanely
    Substantial narratives have in recent years been woven around the role of electoral democracy, widely welcoming it as a symbol of Africa’s advancement towards nonviolent power transfer and political stability. Yet, such analyses have often overlooked the unswerving electoral effects on critical peace perspectives in individual African countries. Contributing to the broader discourse on electoral democracy and peaceful democratic upshots, this chapter uses Uganda’s 2021 presidential election, held under COVID-19 pandemic regulations, to assess the domestic peace prospects attendant to electoral democracy as per current studies. Accordingly, adopting exploratory qualitative methods, the paper makes several arguments. First, the introduction of major constitutional reforms which centrally provided for competitive electoral democracy starting from the early 1980s, on which the January 2021 presidential election was based, paved the foundations for domestic peace in the country. Secondly, in line with the study results, we maintain that the 2021 presidential election processes fundamentally undermined domestic peace opportunities. This perspective was particularly reinforced by the experiences of violence leading to unfortunate civilian deaths, abductions and citizen incarcerations following the short-lived arrest of one of the presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in late 2020. Third, the results underscored a perspective on how key electoral and state security institutions detrimentally shaped the 2021 presidential election, inauspiciously contributing to events that further progressively eroded domestic peace. For more enduring and even-handed domestic peace in the country, the paper recommends profound constitutional reforms focusing on checks and balances, more inclusive electoral laws and security reforms aimed at boosting domestic peace in the context of electoral democracy.