Adebusuyi Isaac Adeniran

Peripheral scholarship and the context of foreign paid publishing in Nigeria

Lately, a phenomenal dimension of peripheral scholarship, compulsorily demanding the ‘foreign’, has evolved into the practice of paid publishing in ‘foreign’ journals among Nigerian academics. These ‘foreign’ journals afford speedy publishing at a fee with little or no peer review. This study is a descriptive research which collected qualitative data through 30 in-depth interviews conducted with academics in two federal universities in Nigeria. The findings established that though some universities are beginning to question their intellectual validity and propriety, predatory paid-for foreign journals remain popular among academics desirous to satisfy the ‘international publishing rule’ for promotion at all costs. Lacking international scholarly credibility, predatory journals will not advance Nigerian scholarship into the global scholarly mainstream which the ‘international rule’ ultimately seeks.

Transnational Simultaneity: An Emerging African Perspective of Cross-Border Lifestyle

This study basically examines the implication of dual identity cleavage for Nigerian immigrants in Cote d’Ivoire. Ostensibly, various studies have attempted to explain the phenomena of trans-border relation and identity construction as separate concerns, none is observed to have established a formidable relationship between them in recent past. As such, the specific impact of simultaneous attachment to two nations by a migrants’ group is explored in this research. The study’s specificities are situated within the confines of Charles Tilly’s ‘Urban Sociological Postulate’ in which communities of participants are treated as social networks, while the research design combines four principal qualitative methods, that is, non-participant observation, focus group discussion (FGD), in-depth interviewing (IDI) and case study. Information from archival sources complemented the primary data. Data are subjected to content and ethnographic analyses. Two communities in West Africa (that is, Ejigbo, Nigeria and Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire) serve as the study locations. Although vagaries of colonial rule had tended to discourage interactions across the borders, especially along the Anglophone-Francophone dichotomy, (uncensored) pre-colonial interactive pattern had outwitted such tendencies. Often time, cross-border interactions are considered as one taking place within the same geo-political space by the people. Routinely, two identities are kept alive by the immigrants (that is, an Ivorian-propelled image; for sake of acceptance within the host community and a Nigerian-propelled image; for sake of interaction with ‘home’ and for convenient re-integration). In Ejigbo, Nigeria, most of Ivorian goods are freely retailed using the Ivorian CFA; so also in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, many Nigerian goods are sold using the Nigerian Naira. This study surmised that the implication of related cross-border processes is the production of a people engaged in a kind of transnational subsistence dualism (that is, transnational simultaneity) in which border, distance, language, government and associated variables are no longer barriers to interpersonal and intergroup relations.

Introduction: Africa in the Twenty-First Century

This chapter presents a contextual study of varying aspects of the developmental enterprise in contemporary African society. It takes a brief look at various challenges confronting the process of transforming Africa from a dependent entity into a self-reliant society. The chapter observes that a conspicuous foundational flaw in tackling developmental challenges in Africa can be traced to the historical absence of an endogenous emancipating policy framework recognising the historical specificities of the African people.

The African diaspora: slavery, modernity and globalization

brandy barrel. This invention, assigned to slaves on farms or boats, is perceived by most musicians Martin interviewed as the distinctive Capetonian sound. The central argument in the Conclusion is that, despite the political attempts at separation and oppression throughout the twentieth century, “Relation” has always been present in South African society and, very much in line with Glissart, Martin argues that “music is a human production, perfectly suited for Relation” (365). This optimistic view of the social possibilities of music to create encounters, cohesion and comprehension across ethnic, racial and religious lines is a thread line in the book. I can imagine that not everybody will agree with this uniquely positive view on the social possibilities of music. What about hatred that is being expressed through songs? Other critical voices can regret that there is hardly any attention paid to the music that is performed in rituals. And, one is curious to read more about newer migrant communities in South Africa, and their involvement in music production, for example the Nigerian and Congolese musicians. Would the invisibility of these new immigrants’ music be an immediate consequence of Martin’s focus on creolisation and encounters between ethnic groups and thus not seeing those sounds that did/do not blend in? Another criticism is that the introduction is far too long and would have benefitted from cutting certain paragraphs. The introduction reads far too much like a syllabus manuscript designed for students. Although the book will without doubt be seen as the examination of Capetonian music, there are a few intriguing leads for further research. First, at various instances. Martin mentions that Pentecostal gospel music is a new and “distinct sound” in the Western Cape (348), which crosses various barriers (musical, religious and racial) and “contributes to the creation of new Capetonian, and South African musical blends” (305). The statement about Afrikaans rock remaining in an enclave (321) begs further socio-esthetic analysis too. These leads for further research, integrated very subtly in the text, and the impressive wealth of information about socio-esthetic transformations will certainly make this book relevant not only for anyone interested in the history of Cape Town or South Africa, but also for anyone studying contemporary popular culture and multicultural society.

Theoretical, Conceptual and Methodological Frameworks for a Borderless ECOWAS

This section of the book presents all theories, concepts and methods as engaged in the research in detail. In order to drive home the study’s specificities, a hybrid of both ‘social action’ and ‘transnational social field’ theories was applied. A conceptual framework that depicts how various issues of interest in the research have been addressed is presented. For instance, the interdependence that subsists among different ‘migratory actors’ from the point of initiating the movement to the networking system that drives the migratory process—up till the point of migrants’ final destination has been explored. Equally, the methodological orientation for grasping how the goal of a borderless ECOWAS sub-region could be attained has been presented.

Why a Borderless ECOWAS

This chapter focuses on presenting the justification for the actual research that metamorphosed to the book. It identifies continued existence of multiple border posts and uncommon monetary zones in West Africa as a significant precursor to prevalent underdevelopment within the sub-region. It affirms that without transmuting the ECOWAS group into a single socio-economic (and possibly, political) unit, the process of trade liberalization would continue to be hindered in West Africa, and by implication, the processes of human and socio-economic development would continue to be an illusion.

Uncensored Space and Regional Development

This chapter examines how a ‘borderless’ West African sub-region could enable emergence of an essentially liberalized trade zone, and ultimately engendering the emancipation of the entire ECOWAS sub-region. With the removal of all barriers on the path of productive socio-economic relation within the sub-region, for instance border and (immigration) posts, multiple monetary zones, dissimilar custom policies and, indeed, uncommon official languages, it is projected that the processes of human and regional development would be hastened within the sub-region. Of course, a free market space would spur creativity and competiveness, which would eventually enable a progressive transmutation of the sub-region.

The Process of Identity Integration

This chapter discusses how the Ejigbo-Yoruba (Nigerian) migrants in Cote d’Ivoire entrench themselves into the socio-economic (and interestingly, political) workings of their host country. As a matter of routine, the migrants do put on peculiarities that are of the Ivorian culture, for instance learning and speaking of indigenous Ivorian languages like colloquial Abidjan French, ‘Bete’, ‘Baure’ et cetera. The basic purpose for this is to gain acceptance into the host society in order to participate actively in the socio-economic and political life of the host country. Of course, without adequate integration, the realization of related transnational intents of the migrants might remain elusive in perpetuity.

Identity Dualism and Regional Integration

The procedure for simultaneous identification with both Nigerian and Ivorian societies by the Ejigbo-Yoruba (Nigerian) migrants in Cote d’Ivoire is explored in this section. For the sake of realizing related transnational goals, the migrants have deemed it fit to integrate themselves into the Ivorian society. Equally, for the purpose of avoiding outright detachment from their country of origin, these migrants still devise means for sustaining their pre-migratory interactions with the ‘home front’ (that is, Nigeria). A resultant output of such dualist identification is the production of individuals, who subsist within a transnational configuration. Such development is, nevertheless, considered productive to the intent of regional integration (and of course, development), as being projected in the case of ECOWAS sub-region.

Migration Network, Determinants and Patterns

The actual functioning of the migrants’ networking system along the Nigerian-Ivorian migratory corridor has been explored engaging primary data basically. At the point of conceiving the mobility in Ejigbo, Nigeria, related determinants, for instance, the achievements of earlier migrants and the willingness of current migrants were identified and contextualized as appropriate in this section of the book. Equally, the patterns of the subsisting migratory practices are noted and discussed. Notably, the significant role of the ‘Oba’ (that is, the King) of the Ejigbo-Yoruba migrants’ group at the point of destination—Cote d’Ivoire is presented in this Chapter.