African Studies

The academic landscape is fraught with challenges, particularly for scholars whose identities intersect with marginalised backgrounds. This reflective paper explores the nuanced implications of revisions, corrections or rejections (RCRs) on the academic journey of a Black isiZulu-speaking African woman scholar in Audiology from South Africa. It contends that the effects of RCRs extend beyond the confines of a single manuscript, impacting the scholar's sense of self, existence within the academic realm, and the deliberate 'cancelling' of one's knowledge. Focusing on the unique challenges faced by African scholars, particularly the perceived emphasis on publishing as a measure of belonging, the paper employs a benefit-risk evaluation lens. This approach delves into the complex interaction between personal and environmental factors, shedding light on the multifaceted considerations that African scholars grapple with to establish their presence within the academic sphere. The paper outlines the well-known 'publish or perish' phenomenon, emphasising the hypercompetitive nature of the academic and research environment. Peer review, considered a critical component in the publication process, is explored for its role in quality assurance. However, the paper contends that the peer review process can inadvertently perpetuate inequalities, especially for scholars from underrepresented backgrounds. Thematic analysis of reviewer reports from papers I recently submitted forms the core of the paper. Seven emergent themes, such as the influence of proximity to native English speakers and the dominance of Western narratives, illustrate the challenges I faced in both local and international journals. Notably, the paper provides direct quotes exemplifying each theme, offering a very personalised perspective on the adversities encountered during the publication journey. The paper situates the field of audiology within the broader context of institutional and systemic racism, highlighting the underrepresentation of certain racial groups within the profession. It argues that this underrepresentation extends to knowledge generation and publishing, perpetuating the normalisation of Euro-American-centric norms and the exoticisation of Afrocentric standards. The reflective paper concludes by asserting that epistemological racism, intertwined with individual and institutional racism, stifles my pursuit of decolonisation and Africanisation of speech-language and hearing knowledge and practice. It contends that the peer review process, often Euro-American-centric, contributes to the silencing and exclusion of diverse knowledges, hindering local knowledge development and intellectual practices. In navigating the academic minefield, the paper calls for a re-evaluation of existing norms and practices within the peer review process to create a more inclusive and equitable academic environment for scholars with diverse backgrounds.

Katijah Khoza-Shangase

Benefit Versus Risk Deliberations on Revisions, Corrections or Rejections of Manuscript Submissions: Reflections of an African Woman Scholar in Audiology

手稿提交的修订、更正或拒绝的利弊权衡：非洲听力学女学者的反思

Research on violence can be debilitating and traumatic. Research fields that explore obvious violence that is largely ignored, minimised or erased can induce epistemic effects that may look like failure or procrastination. That there is very little research on or support for researchers who do research on violence lays bare the ontological presuppositions of the ideal researcher. This article explores what it felt like to do research where ontological erasure was normalised, and places pressure on the presuppositions of the ideal researcher amid scholarship on obvious violence. Debilitation can be a response to epistemic gaslighting, epistemic violence and epistemic trauma and indicate affective refusals and ethical tussling. Being brought to a standstill by research on violence can offer critical epistemic insight that requires using and valuing failure as symptomatic of epistemic relations and refusing the hyper-ableist demands of the academy.

Kharnita Mohamed

Debilitating Research: Scholarship of the Obvious and Epistemic Trauma

削弱性研究：显而易见之学术与认知性创伤

Abdul Hakim Ahmed

Harassments, Assaults and Murders: The Travails of Ghana’s Libertarian Press

骚扰、袭击和谋杀：加纳自由派媒体的困境

Most ethnographies still pay little attention to the subsistence experiences of older adult women heading household in Africa. Drawing from nineteen months of ethnographic research in Domboshava communal lands, this article addresses this gap in knowledge by discussing the position of older women heading households in rural Zimbabwe and the impact of historical and current challenges on their subsistence activities. In this article, I argue that there is no typical African widow. I further argue that these older adult women’s historical and present experiences have led to the visible reversals in the remittance flows, poor social networks, changing gender relations, ill health, the impact of HIV and AIDS, changing household structures, as well as multiple and competing responsibilities. All these factors are coalescing together to affect the older adult women’s subsistence activities and their capacity to take care of themselves, their immediate and extended families.

Ignatius Gutsa

Making Ends Meet: Experiences of Older Women Heading Households in Rural Domboshava, Zimbabwe

收支相抵：津巴布韦农村多姆博沙瓦地区老年女性户主的生活经历

Hugo ka Canham

The Providence of Review and Writing through Revision

通过修订进行审阅与写作的恩赐

Trade unions are important social and political actors in Africa. Their role goes beyond the perimetry of the world of work or industrial relations to enter the political sphere. A large literature exists on these workers’ organizations. Trade unions have been studied from multiple angles and disciplines. To put some order to this body of academic and popularizing work, it is necessary to depart from the acknowledgment of the multidisciplinary nature of studies on African trade unions. Therefore, apart from a general overview, this article divides this body of literature into six main subgroups: trade unions in industrial relations in Africa, which means membership, collective bargaining, and collective action, including labor unrest and strikes; trade unions structure and governance, which includes legal aspects and labor rights; sector-specific literature, given the fact that trade unions are more prominent in some sectors than in others; literature on trade union internationalism and regional trade unions; the relationship of trade unions with politics, which includes country-specific studies; and, finally, life histories. As highlighted by the literature, two factors determined the birth and growth of unionism in Africa in the twentieth century: first, the capitalist transformation of African economies, especially but not exclusively during colonialism; and second, the expansion of a particular kind of labor relation, namely waged labor, which was exploited to profit capital. Hence literature on trade unions is often preoccupied with the role of trade unions within the capitalist transformation of African societies and with trade unions’ attitudes toward capital, capitalists or employers, and governments that are usually there to serve them. Many studies conceptualize trade unions in relation to the economic sector, including the role of trade unions in public services, education, public administration, transport, health, mining, manufacture, and other areas. To a lesser extent, studies exist on commercial agriculture. This is because trade union density is higher in these sectors, with higher capital investment, both private and public. This is not the same in all regions and countries in Africa. Trade unions play an important and historical role in African politics. Numerous studies exist on trade unions’ opposition to colonial vested economic interests that employed African labor. With the postcolonial formal recognition of trade unions came their involvement in national politics, but also their co-optation by both ideological camps opposing each other during the Cold War. In some cases, African trade unions have been subjected to repression and banning. In other instances, they have been co-opted by political power. There are, however, also cases of African trade unions that managed to retain their autonomy from political and economic power. Since the end of the Cold War, trade unions have generally enjoyed a relatively higher degree of freedom. New approaches to the study of labor—such as global labor studies and global labor history—have increasingly marginalized trade unions. This is because in Africa trade unions represent a minority of workers—i.e., the formal wage worker, often male. The idea that trade unions epitomize a “labor aristocracy” has been slow to die. Postmodern studies on African trade unions are based on an algebraic truth: unionized formal wage workers are a small minority in Africa. This quantitative reality does not take into account the qualitative role played by trade unions for African social progress. It is a fact that trade unions continue to be repressed and prohibited in many African realities by employers and governments. Literature on African trade union agency also examines the international dimension. In addition, African trade unions developed and continue to maintain international links with trade unions outside the continent and with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and other international organizations. African trade unions have also formed organizations at the continental and regional level.

Stefano Bellucci

Trade Unions

工会

Abbreviation	Afr. Stud.
Journal Impact	0.82
Quartiles(Global)	AREA STUDIES(Q2)

ISSN	0002-0184, 1469-2872
h-index	30

Publication Information	Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd.，Publishing cycle: ，Journal Type: journal，Open Access Journals: No
Basic data	Year of publication: 1942，Proportion of original research papers: 92.86%，Self Citation Rate:0.00%， Gold OA Rate: 9.68%

African Studies

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Benefit Versus Risk Deliberations on Revisions, Corrections or Rejections of Manuscript Submissions: Reflections of an African Woman Scholar in Audiology

Debilitating Research: Scholarship of the Obvious and Epistemic Trauma

Harassments, Assaults and Murders: The Travails of Ghana’s Libertarian Press

Making Ends Meet: Experiences of Older Women Heading Households in Rural Domboshava, Zimbabwe

The Providence of Review and Writing through Revision

Debilitating Research: Scholarship of the Obvious and Epistemic Trauma

Benefit Versus Risk Deliberations on Revisions, Corrections or Rejections of Manuscript Submissions: Reflections of an African Woman Scholar in Audiology

Harassments, Assaults and Murders: The Travails of Ghana’s Libertarian Press

The Providence of Review and Writing through Revision

Trade Unions