Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the value of reconciliation and recognition as normative elements necessary for dealing with differences, contravening interests and inter communal crises.

Paper long abstract:

African social reality can be characterized as that of cultural diversity, variegated communities and groups of distinct ideological interests. These communities have experienced, in various degrees, varied social conflicts, community crises and wars that threaten social order and incubated protracted hatred, resentment and distrust among different communities and ethnic groups. Different strategies, such as processes of mediation, negotiation and conflict resolution approaches have not been successful in dealing with such habitual psychological categories; this is precisely because, these methods focus mainly on processes, like ‘splitting the difference and bargaining’. As such, the paper examines the value of reconciliation and its connection with recognition and presents them as normative elements necessary for dealing with inter and intra-communal crises. It articulates the transformative role of reconciliation and recognition in drawing road maps to African future. It argues that a society that is straining due to group centrifugalism needs to promote, through ethics of reconciliation and recognition, formations and processes that trumps up shared instrumental values for social order and sustaining of social life without obliterating differences.

Paper short abstract:

African women’s participation in politics is still at a vegetative stage. While previous studies have attributed the patriarchal culture across Africa as a principal factor responsible for this anomaly, this research takes the discourse further by using narrative and hermeneutic methods to interrogate the indigenous roles assigned to women in the traditional Yoruba society as embodied in the Yoruba proverbs and Odu Ifa corpus, not only to refute the patriarchal locus but also, to balance the gender equation regarding social and family relations among the traditional Yoruba. Ultimately, it is the conviction of the research that the indigenous roles assigned to the women fork in the traditional Yoruba society be allowed to be imported for contemporary use in our attempt to make considerable changes in global politics through transformative recognition.

Paper long abstract:

In recent times, there is an increased call for women to participate in African politics. Despite this move, African women’s participation in politics is still at a vegetative stage. This research discovers that gender and cyberbullying, character assassination, a campaign of calumny, and other denigrating methods are employed by men to ward off and frustrate women with the potential to venture into politics. This way, many women are deterred from joining and contributing their quota to their countries’ political and social lives. While previous studies have attributed the patriarchal culture across Africa as a principal factor responsible for this anomaly, this research takes the discourse further by using narrative and hermeneutic methods to interrogate the indigenous roles assigned to women in the traditional Yoruba society as embodied in the Yoruba proverbs and Odu Ifa corpus, not only to refute the patriarchal locus but also, to balance the gender equation regarding social and family relations among the traditional Yoruba. In order to make the problem vivid, the study considers examples of women’s level of participation in the politics of Nigeria. Ultimately, it is the conviction of the research that the indigenous roles assigned to the women fork in the traditional Yoruba society be allowed to be imported for contemporary use in our attempt to make considerable changes in global politics through transformative recognition.

Keywords: Traditional Yoruba, African Politics, Women, Political Participation, Transformative Recognition.

Paper short abstract:

This work seeks to thoroughly examine how transformative recognition can be an eclectic template for re-ordering and reconfiguring the African society; as this seeks to further revive the idea of mutual recognition and intersubjectivity of self and others.

Paper long abstract:

The stagnation and decline of standard of living in contemporary Africa could be explained by the pillage and plunder of resources orchestrated by colonialism and the new sets of elites created and nurtured by the colonial masters. It is a known fact that Africa is at the crossroad of development and in dire strait. Building on this argument, this paper examines the pathological deformation of human reason in Africa at all levels and suggests transformative recognition as a prophylactic measure to revamp and revive Africa. Transformative recognition is the capacity of human beings to recognize and mutually recognize their desires and others' desire which ultimately shape their identity. Transformative recognition, therefore proceeds through a re-evaluation of individual and collective lifestyles, to set a minimum of ethical standards that promotes humanness. It is against this background that this paper examines from an existential phenomenological approach, the state of human relationship in Africa and precisely Nigeria. It concludes that a reconfigured Nigeria and by extension Africa is possible through the promotion of transformative recognition that sets the pace for dignity and freedom.

Keywords: Africa, Dignity, Freedom, Human Reason, Transformative Recognition.

Paper short abstract:

Data on learning-by-doing in South African and Kenyan firms reveals how workers develop production capabilities. Insights show that learning is informal, self-determined, and worker-led, raising questions about the (re)production of capabilities.

Paper long abstract:

Learning and capabilities acquisition is widely accepted as necessary for structural transformation and economic development (Otieno, 2013; Bloom et. al., 2006). This research unpacks the role of workers in driving learning, and developing diverse capabilities, and argues that worker-led learning is embedded and central to production.

Debates around learning-by-doing have focused on how firms learn, the policy environments, formal education, and training that support these processes, and the structural constraints that mediate these (Amsden, 1997; Jones, 2005; Andreoni, 2014). Resource-based economics has called attention to the different capabilities, including technological, managerial, and entrepreneurial skills, necessary for production (Ouma & Whitfield, 2012; Upadhyaya & McCormick, 2020).

More recently, the focus has shifted to exploring how and why individual workers learn. Empirical data from micro-, small- and medium-sized firms in South Africa and Kenya, across several manufacturing and services sectors, shows that learning is a continuous and multilayered process. Rather than looking at the learning of firms, we focus on the diverse actions of individual owners, managers, and workers within firms.

The evidence from our cases reveals that learning draws from informal and formal sources, is self-determined and ongoing rather than externally determined, and combines overlapping capabilities and skills. We show that workers occupy a central role in improving and developing production through identifying and updating capabilities and knowledge. Understanding learning as a lifelong and worker-led component of production raises new questions about the challenges and drivers of the (re)production of capabilities, and the solutions to address these.