Pentecostalism, gerontocratic rule and democratization in Malawi: the changing position of the young in political culture

This chapter explores the relationship between the father-metaphor, gerontocratic power, democratization and religion in the context of changing political culture in Malawi. It argues that democratization in Malawi signalled a change in the nature of the dominant gerontocratic power relations associated with Chewa political traditions, and gave the young an opportunity to escape from their tightly circumscribed sociopolitical space in what for thirty years had been a highly supervised society. It further argues that religion, in particular 'born-again' (often Pentecostal) Christianity, played a significant role in changing the meaning of the crucial root paradigm of gerontocracy in Malawian political culture. The chapter shows that the position adopted by religious youth groups in the 1990s was the outcome of a 'struggle for youth' that Malawian society had faced since colonial times and in which religion played a significant role. In so doing, it deconstructs the so-called 'conservative nature' of Christian fundamentalism-cum- Pentecostalism.ASC – Publicaties niet-programma gebonde

Secret worlds, democratization and election observation in Malawi

ASC – Publicaties niet-programma gebonde

Impact of improved recording of work-relatedness in primary care visits at occupational health services on sickness absences: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Abstract Background Employment protects and fosters health. Occupational health services, particularly in Finland, have a central role in protecting employee health and preventing work ability problems. However, primary care within occupational health services is currently underused in informing preventive activities. This study was designed to assess whether the recording of work ability problems and improvement of follow-up of work-related primary care visits can reduce sickness absences and work disability pensions after 1 year. Methods/design A pragmatic trial will be conducted using patient electronic registers and registers of the central pensions agency in Finland. Twenty-two occupational health centres will be randomised to intervention and control groups. Intervention units will receive training to improve recording of work ability illnesses in the primary care setting and improved follow-up procedures. The intervention impact will be assessed through examining rates of sickness absence across intervention and control clinics as well as before and after the intervention. Discussion The trial will develop knowledge of the intervention potential of primary care for preventing work disability pensions and sickness absence. The use of routine patient registers and pensions registers to assess the outcomes of a randomised controlled trial will bring forward trial methodology, particularly when using register-based data. If successful, the intervention will improve the quality of occupational health care primary care and contribute to reducing work disability. Trial registration ISRCTN Registry reference number ISRCTN45728263 . Registered on 18 April 2016

Images and empires: visuality in colonial and postcolonial Africa

Figurative images have long played a critical, if largely unexamined, role in Africa - mediating relationships between the colonizer and the colonized, the state and the individual, and the global and the local. This pivotal volume considers the meaning and power of images in African history and culture. Paul S. Landau and Deborah Kaspin have assembled a wide-ranging collection of essays dealing with specific visual forms, including monuments, cinema, cartoons, domestic and professional photography, body art, world fairs, and museum exhibits. The contributors, experts in a number of disciplines, discuss various modes of visuality in Africa and of Africa, investigating the interplay of visual images with personal identity, class, gender, politics, and wealth. Integral to the argument of the book are over seventy contextualized illustrations. Africans saw foreigners in margarine wrappers, Tintin cartoons, circus posters, and Hollywood movies; westerners gleaned impressions of Africans from colonial exhibitions, Tarzan films, and naturalist magazines. The authors provide concrete examples of the construction of Africa's image in the modern world. They reveal how imperial iconographies sought to understand, deny, control, or transform authority, as well as the astonishing complexity and hybridity of visual communication within Africa itself

Comparison of genome-wide variation between Malawians and African ancestry HapMap populations

Understanding genetic variation between populations is important because it affects the portability of human genome wide analytical methods. We compared genetic variation and substructure between Malawians and other African and non-African HapMap populations. Allele frequencies and adjacent linkage disequilibrium (LD) were measured for 617,715 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across subject genomes. Allele frequencies in the Malawian population (N = 226) were highly correlated with allele frequencies in HapMap populations of African Ancestry (AFA, N = 376), namely Yoruban in Ibadan, Nigeria (Spearman’s r(2) = 0.97), Luhya in Webuye, Kenya (r(2) = 0.97), African Americans in the southwest United States (r(2) = 0.94), and Maasai in Kinyawa, Kenya (r(2) = 0.91). This correlation was much lower between Malawians and other ancestry populations (r(2) < 0.52). LD correlations between Malawians and HapMap populations were strongest for the populations of African ancestry (AFA r(2) > 0.82, other ancestries r(2) < 0.57). Principal components analyses revealed little population substructure within our Malawi sample but provided clear distinction between Malawians, AFA populations, and two European populations. Five SNPs within the lactase gene (LCT) had substantially different allele frequencies between the Malawi population and Maasai in Kenyawa, Kenya (rs3769013, rs730005, rs3769012, rs2304370; p values < 1×10(−33))