In this paper I discuss food, cultural identity and development among the agropastoral Suri people of Southwest Ethiopia. Their food system is discussed in its actual form and in its process of change, accelerated since a decade or so. The theoretical concern of this paper is with issues of identity formation and continuity through the materiality of food and food systems, in the context of varying assumptions underlying discourses of development. The Suri people remain at the margins of the modernizing Ethiopian state and experienced a decline in food security, health and wealth in the last decade, coinciding with growing inter-group tension and new state developmental plans which devalue the agro-pastoral mode of life. State support or investment is in massive sugar and other mono-crop plantations and in enterprises by foreigners and private capitalists, not matched by parallel investment in local economies of agro-pastoralism and crop cultivation. Some of the effects on the production system, diet and ‘food sovereignty’ of the Suri are described so as to highlight the challenges they face, including growing internal differentiation, pressure on modifying their food system and the increasing sale and use of alcoholic drinks. Observing the, often ambivalent, changes in the Suri food pattern and food consumption shows the challenges they face in (re)defining group identity, responding to internal tensions and to state-capitalist modernizing schemes that impact their way of life.

Recent research has highlighted the importance of edible insects as a protein source in the developed and developing world, both as a traditional food and a more sustainable alternative to conventional livestock. However, there is concern that traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) concerning wild-collected insects is in danger of being lost. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a country that encompasses many diverse cultures, many of which are known to include insects in their dietary repertoire, yet data on TEK related to edible insects across this region is scarce. This study records local knowledge and, where possible, scientific identification of the insects consumed by human communities in the area adjacent to LuiKotale, Salonga National Park. Information was gathered using interviews and first-hand observations. A total of 31 edible insects are identified by their local names, and of these 10 are identified to species level. Collection methods are recorded for seven commonly consumed species. This article contributes to the scarce body of research detailing entomophagy in the DRC.

This study examined assumptions surrounding the issue of community-basednatural resource management (CBNRM) projects in southern Africa. Data were drawn fromthe village of /Xai/Xai in Ngamiland (North West District), Botswana, a multi-ethnic communityconsisting mainly of Ju/’hoansi San and Herero located on the Botswana-Namibia borderin the northern Kalahari Desert. The /Xai /Xai people formed the /Xai/Xai (Cgae Cgae)Tlhabololo Trust in 1997, the first of its kind in Botswana. An examination of the /Xai/XaiTrust’s activities and implementation over time reveals some of the complexities of CBNRMprojects, including those relating to management, transparency, benefit distribution, equity, and the impacts of decision-making on local people. Gender, ethnicity, and class issues areexamined along with the problem of elite capture of resources, the tendency of the state to favorprivate companies, the challenges of conflicting government policies, and power relationsat the local, district, and national levels. The analysis shows that if CBNRM projects are to besuccessful, then community-based institutions and their members as well as district councilsand the central government must be able to come to agreements about benefit distribution, ways to resolve conflicts, provision of investment in livelihood-related activities, and securityof tenure over land and resources.

After a two-day ultimatum demanding that Saddam Hussein step down, the United States attacked Iraq on March 19, 2003. The Iraq War generated a variety of emotions around the globe, particularly in the developing world. The sub-Saharan African press viewed it as a war without convincing legal or moral justification, perceiving it to be a tool used by the US to gain global economic, military, and strategic influence. Employing framing analysis, this study investigates how the sub-Saharan African press constructed a number of different social realities of the same war.

Cameroon's legal system is partly a product of colonialism. Colonialism resulted in the imposition of extraneous legal values in the territory. In addition to those values, customary law and human rights are also recognized. Cameroon's legal system thus consists of a mosaic of rules. Among those rules, customary law and human rights have a problematic relationship because many of their values conflict. Some customary values offend human rights and adversely affect the status of women. Although attempts have been made through the legislative process to eradicate discriminatory customary values, in practical terms, little or no success has been achieved. Consequently, the courts have assumed the role of ensuring that customary law responds to the dictates of human rights through the adoption of an egalitarian jurisprudence in the application of customary law. The courts rarely expressly use the language of human rights in the determination of cases; however, by applying the repugnancy test, the courts have at least inadvertently introduced the language of human rights into their jurisprudence. The courts' gender-sensitive approach in the enforcement of customary law has an impact on women's rights. This article suggests that the work of the courts should be complemented by other gender-based initiatives.

Nomadic or transhumant pastoralists in the Ennedi Highlands in north easternChad have always had to cope with scarce resources. When the region was first made use of bypastoralists circa 3000 BC, aridification had already started. Despite progressing aridification, the landscape was used for herding cattle and goats, and later also for keeping horses and camelsin the following millennia. Hundreds of rock art sites are witness to this appropriation.While demographic data are still missing, it appears that comparatively intense dwelling activitiesinevitably put pressure on the scarce resources. In the art motifs from the last five millenniaa fine-grained regionalization is expressed, indicating that in rather small neighbouringspatial units different identities were manifested, notwithstanding the common economic base.Different rock art traditions articulate different appropriation of the landscape by mappingmarkers of identity onto the land. Rock art depicts an ambiguous portrait of the social relationsamong the groups within the area since there are indications of cooperation on the one hand, whereas on the other hand many pictures of mounted warriors and numerous “sentinel” figurespoint at the potential for conflict — yet without ever depicting it.