Browsing by Author "Otu, Monica Njanjokuma."

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An exploration of the lives and livelihoods of African professional migrants in institutions of higher learning : the case of University of KwaZulu-Natal.
(2009) Otu, Monica Njanjokuma.; Ojong, Vivian Besem.; Naidu, Uma Maheshvari.
This study focuses on the lives and livelihoods of foreign African academics at UKZN. The study attempts to unpack the driving forces behind their decision to migrate and why South Africa has become a preferred destination for these migrants. It explores the kind of networks that inform them of employment opportunities that are available in institutions of higher learning in South Africa. It also sets out to explore the kind of skills possessed by these migrants that are needed for the development of skills in the institution. Research findings reveal a combination of micro and macro factors as reasons surrounding foreign African professional migrancy in South Africa. Macro factors are subsumed under general and structural reasons which include high unemployment rates, corruption, nepotism, and other forms of political oppressions and infrastructural problems. Over and above the relative viability of South African institutions with modern technological facilities and well organised curricular and material structures serve as major attractions to foreign African professional migrancy into the country. The factors of cultural affinity and geographical proximity are also among the reasons that foreign African academics at UKZN cited for their migration into South Africa. The individual in this study constitutes the basic unit in providing a more nuanced understanding of why this group of foreigners migrated to South Africa. In this regard personal reasons such as family pressure and change of geographical space form an integral part of reasons surrounding their migrancy in South Africa. Following the professional convenience that UKZN offers, this research showcases the desire expressed by various migrants under this study to pursue and establish a scholarship that would promote and legitimise Africa as an intellectual space of knowledge production. Being a “Premier University of African Scholarship”, professional migrants from the rest of the continent have indicated their willingness to dedicate their services within their different capacities to develop a curriculum that meets the needs of South Africa and Africa. The study shows some contributions that foreign academic are making in the development of the institution. From a social perspective the study highlights how professional African migrants have reconstructed gender roles and household constitution. Transnational migration as shown by this study reveals changing patterns in gender as African women just like the men are engaged in transnational activities for economic and career advancement. African women with educational skills whether married or unmarried have independently undertaken the decision to migrate for economic and social upliftment.
Never marry a woman with big feet : the proverbial oppression of women in Igbo African culture : an investigation of the semantics of female devaluation in Igbo African proverbs.
(2017) Chikwelu, Emmanuel J.; Otu, Monica Njanjokuma.; Nzuza, Nokwanda Yoliswa.
Gender discourse has occupied an important position in African scholarship. The question is no longer whether women are being marginalized and abused, the question is how and why women are abused and relegated. Men in various cultures and societies have taken the responsibility for the construction of female identity based on some gender stereotype through cultural vehicles such as proverb. Proverbs in Igbo African culture have perpetuated the mainstream oppression and subjugation of women in Igbo society of Nigeria. Like in many other African cultures, proverbs help in defining moral consciousness, thought and belief. They are at the core of African oral literature and are believed to be a reflection of wisdom and truth preserved and passed from one generation to the other. Nonetheless, the beauty presented by this integral aspect of African folklore has been partial and paints a derogatory image about women. This stereotypical depiction of women in Igbo African proverbs has continued to limit and deny the notable contributions of women in the enhancement of humanity in the society. This study, therefore seeks to interrogate the overt sexism in Igbo African proverbs. Through the use of in-depth interview and qualitative content analysis, this study highlights evidence of marginalization of women in Igbo African proverbs. The study equally makes use of social construct and liberal feminist theory to give a thick descriptive approach to the issue at hand. The study makes use of 5 in-depth interviews and 16 proverbs samples collected from written texts and unwritten narratives accessed from Nigerian movie industry (Nollywood) and other visual sources.
The role played by foreign African migrants in the promotion of African scholarship in the faculty of humanities, development and social sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
(2012) Otu, Monica Njanjokuma.; Ojong, Vivian Besem.
This thesis is based on a study examining the concept of African scholarship through the contributions of foreign African academics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) on the Howard College and Pietermaritzburg campuses. Being branded “The Premier University of African Scholarship” the study principally set out to investigate the role played by these academics as possible conduits in the expansion of African scholarship within the knowledge production circuit. The concept of African scholarship, though not a novel term, remains an elusive category that still needs to be defined within the global knowledge economy. A cursory look at written literature around African scholarship reveals a general tendency that presents „the debate‟ much more as a theoretical engagement and less at empirical engagements that could help advance the practicalities of this concept within the different intellectual debates. Among the different pockets of intellectuals concerned with the vision of African scholarship, the African diaspora outside the continent has always played a leading role in the need to address the African knowledge paradigms within the global intellectual production of knowledge. This study is of significance because it engages with an emerging African diaspora within the South African space and attempts to highlight how their experiences as migrants help in broadening the understanding of the African experience as a knowledge site. Using in-depth interviews within a qualitative research framework in combination with the technique of observation, the findings of this study reveal that as an emerging diaspora, foreign African academics at UKZN, are actively taking advantage of the university‟s slogan to meaningfully (re)insert „Africanness‟ in the kind of knowledge that is produced in the institution. Their contributions are measured in terms of postgraduate supervision, new research agendas, pedagogic and curricular development and networks of collaborations with other universities in Africa. Using an anthropological approach the study equally examines the implications of the attempt to position African scholarship within the global knowledge production map. The study further highlights the role that social identities such as gender, language, nationality, and race can play as epistemic spaces in the advancement of African scholarship. By engaging with these markers, the debate advances beyond the current ad hoc manner of presenting African scholarship simplistically within political rhetoric to a more nuanced incorporation of other markers which should occupy epistemic spaces within the discourse of African scholarship.