Ghana / en 'Put yourself out there': 91Թ grad Maame De-Heer on how she built a career amid COVID-19 /news/put-yourself-out-there-u-t-grad-maame-de-heer-how-she-built-career-amid-covid-19 <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">'Put yourself out there': 91Թ grad Maame De-Heer on how she built a career amid COVID-19</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/maame-1-crop.jpg?h=9e499333&amp;itok=VZHjhpoM 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/maame-1-crop.jpg?h=9e499333&amp;itok=nCH55rQ9 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/maame-1-crop.jpg?h=9e499333&amp;itok=GETF052V 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/maame-1-crop.jpg?h=9e499333&amp;itok=VZHjhpoM" alt="Maame De-Heer"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2020-11-20T15:34:49-05:00" title="Friday, November 20, 2020 - 15:34" class="datetime">Fri, 11/20/2020 - 15:34</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Maame De-Heer, who graduates with a master's degree from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, says she was determined to make the most of her time at 91Թ as much “as my strength and capacity would allow me” (photo by Mike Tamakloe)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/francoise-makanda" hreflang="en">Françoise Makanda</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/convocation-2020" hreflang="en">Convocation 2020</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-stories" hreflang="en">Graduate Stories</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dalla-lana-school-public-health" hreflang="en">Dalla Lana School of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ghana" hreflang="en">Ghana</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The pandemic couldn’t stop <strong>Maame De-Heer</strong> from graduating from the 91Թ’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health this fall – it couldn’t even slow her down.</p> <p>De-Heer, who will receive her master of public health in social and behavioural health science, with a dual collaboration in global health and health services and policy research on Nov. 21, has big plans for life after graduation.</p> <p>The Ghanaian-born grad hopes to revamp her family’s 17-year-old orphanage in Ghana and she’s starting her own organization – The Power of Love Foundation Canada – a grassroots approach to improving the wellbeing of Black people in Canada. She has already secured funding from the City of Toronto for the organization’s Single Mothers Project to aid single Ghanaian mothers in Etobicoke who need support during COVID-19.</p> <p>De-Heers, who moved to Canada when she was 13, says a public health internship at the Tema General Hospital in Ghana sparked a desire to bridge the health gap for marginalized and underserved communities.</p> <p>“Public health is a very broad concept and sometimes when you actually go to the Global South, you can see the effect of the lack of public health implementation and surveillance in action,” she says. “When I saw the lack of public health technology and the lack of tools that can improve the lives of people, I knew that this was it. This is what I need to do.”</p> <p>At 91Թ, De-Heer was determined to be as involved as she could. She was a cohort representative in her first year. She served as the financial officer for the Black Graduate Students Association. A finalist in the School of Graduate Studies’ three-minute Thesis Competition, she was also an ACORN advisory team member who helped user experience&nbsp;designers make timetables easier for students to use.</p> <p>And that’s only a sliver of her activities in the past two years.</p> <p>“I was at 91Թ,” De-Heer says. “I did not want to do this program and go to this school without taking advantage of resources they had.</p> <p>“My plan was to engage in a lot of things – as much as my strength and capacity would allow me.”</p> <p>When the lockdown began, De-Heer switched gears and began exploring ways to get involved in the issues she cares about online, turning to LinkedIn to extend her network. In the same way that some people post pictures of their meals on Instagram, De-Heer says&nbsp;she shares her achievements online. “I keep it professional and move along.”</p> <p>The shift to online took a lot out of her.&nbsp;De-Heer says she had to build the strength to find resources, foster online connections and share her successes with the world. But the effort opened doors.</p> <p>De-Heer was recently selected as a delegate to&nbsp;<a href="https://communityfoundations.ca/ffwd2020-cohort/#Ontario">RBC’s Future Launch’s Fast Forward 2020 – Youth Summit</a>. Only 120 of 1,000 applicants were chosen to take part.&nbsp;Delegates meet other young people across the country to discuss and connect on solutions for Canada.</p> <p>Recently, she was asked to speak at the panel “Prescribing Equity: Unpacking Racial Health Disparities for BIPOC communities” with scholars she admired: <strong>Camille Orridge</strong>, <strong>Lee Maracle</strong> and <a href="https://www.dlsph.utoronto.ca/faculty-profile/timothy-roberta/">Dalla Lana Assistant Professor&nbsp;<strong>Roberta Timothy</strong></a>.</p> <p>“When I got the call to speak and then I saw the event flyer, I nearly cried,” says De-Heer. “’I’m on a panel with&nbsp;<em>the</em>&nbsp;Roberta Timothy. I was grateful and that’s how I realized that putting myself out there has benefited me.”</p> <p>De-Heer is ready to put her degree to work – and to draw on the skills she developed during the pandemic.</p> <p>“A lot of people need your knowledge and want you to share it with them,” De-Heer says. “Never be scared to put yourself out there and share what you have done.</p> <p>“It might be the stepping-stone for your progress.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 20 Nov 2020 20:34:49 +0000 lanthierj 166516 at ‘Going back to my centre’: How Suleyman Demi used PhD research at 91Թ to improve lives in Ghana /news/going-back-my-centre-how-suleyman-demi-used-phd-research-u-t-improve-lives-ghana <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">‘Going back to my centre’: How Suleyman Demi used PhD research at 91Թ to improve lives in Ghana</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/0J5A9742.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=SYfEE7ES 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/0J5A9742.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=2cVagYwZ 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/0J5A9742.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=IZo43wzz 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/0J5A9742.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=SYfEE7ES" alt="Portrait of Suleyman Demi"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>perry.king</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-10-30T16:31:04-04:00" title="Wednesday, October 30, 2019 - 16:31" class="datetime">Wed, 10/30/2019 - 16:31</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Suleyman Demi made Ghana the core of his research, studying everything from how his home country feeds itself to the role communities and local farming play in the future of food and the environment (all photos by Perry King)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/perry-king" hreflang="en">Perry King</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/convocation-2019" hreflang="en">Convocation 2019</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-stories" hreflang="en">Graduate Stories</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/african-studies" hreflang="en">African Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ghana" hreflang="en">Ghana</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/new-college" hreflang="en">New College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ontario-institute-studies-education" hreflang="en">Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">91Թ Scarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When he crosses the stage at Convocation Hall&nbsp;on Nov. 7, the 91Թ’s&nbsp;<strong>Suleyman Demi</strong>&nbsp;will know he got there by keeping Ghana in his mind – and close to his heart.</p> <p>Demi, who will receive a PhD in social justice education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), made his home country the core of his research, studying everything from how the country feeds itself to the role communities and local farming play in the future of food and the environment.</p> <p>Convocation marks the end of a chapter for Demi – and he has mixed feelings about it.</p> <p>“I’m able to say that I’ve graduated, happy to finish my program. At the same time, I miss the kind of support I received from this community,” said Demi, who is currently a teaching assistant for a health studies course at 91Թ Scarborough.</p> <p>At the same time, Demi is excited for what’s to come.</p> <p>“Even though the title of ‘doctor’ puts a lot of responsibility on me … that’s life,” said Demi, who first arrived at OISE to pursue a master’s degree in humanities, social science education, and environment and health in 2013. “You move from one state to another and you should be prepared for it. It’s a transition and I’m trying to tune my mind [to the next challenge].”</p> <h3><a href="/convocation">Read more about Convocation 2019</a></h3> <h3><a href="/news/seizing-opportunity-lead-and-serve-hundreds-students-receive-gordon-cressy-student-leadership">Read more about Suleyman Demi</a></h3> <p>In his years at 91Թ, Demi challenged himself to expand on a previous master’s degree in agricultural administration that he earned from the University of Ghana. Growing up in the West African country, Demi was interested in science and economics. He eventually studied agriculture as part of his undergraduate studies at the University of Cape Coast. He graduated in 2003 and worked in agriculture during his year of national service, a graduation requirement for all undergraduates in Ghana.</p> <p>After working as a high school teacher and electoral officer in Ghana’s capital Accra, he wanted to build his career but also help his homeland. The focus of his master’s degree at OISE compared the lives of Indigenous farmers in forested areas and urban farmers on the Ghanaian coast. He found that farmers were the most food insecure population among all the economic categories and suffer through famine, but that farmers in forested regions, which consisted largely of Ghana’s Indigenous tribes, produced certain foods in abundance.</p> <p>“If they are the ones producing, why would they be food insecure?” Demi asked himself at the outset.</p> <p>The key to addressing food insecurity, it turned out, lay in building and creating access to Indigenous food systems, which can produce food that is more nutritionally dense than Ghana’s coastal foods, more tied to local culture and more resilient to a changing climate.</p> <p>For Demi, studying at OISE was a chance to conduct participatory and team-based research by assembling teams of experts on topics like the environment and food systems.</p> <p>“It’s an educational institution, but the education is broadly defined,” Demi said. “At OISE, you see a variety of areas – people from law, engineering, medical sciences – that put a critical lens to what you study and to question the assumptions, to dig deep.”</p> <p>He came to Toronto “prepared to un-learn” what he knew, learn new things and replicate his findings in Ghana. But his studies also stirred something deep inside.</p> <p>“When we talk about the word Indigenous [here], I really heard it,” said Demi. “When I came to Toronto, I had what I call ‘Going back to my centre,’ to search within the culture. When you are in your country, you don’t value your culture until you go [abroad] and see how things are different, and how you’re not grounded in it. That’s what prompted me to go back and explore these areas I took for granted.”</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/2017-09-07-african-scholars-award-dei-original.jpg" alt></p> <p><strong>George Dei&nbsp;</strong>(left),&nbsp;a professor in OISE’s department of social justice, was Demi’s PhD supervisor. He said Demi took an anti-colonial lens to his work, and actively took part in environmental, climate change and food security research at other departments, faculties and colleges.</p> <p>Demi was eventually named a doctoral fellow at New College in 2018, where he contributed to work in the African studies program. He took his environmental research further as a PhD student, focusing on chronic illness and climate change mitigation.</p> <p>Dei praised Demi’s unique research focus. “I think it shows his interdisciplinary strength,” he said. “Here he is in the education department, but he also brings his background in environment and science into the discussions.”</p> <p>Since meeting in the late 2000s, Demi and Dei have grown close, working together on papers, a book and volunteering at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/ciars/">Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies</a>. Dei saw Demi as the “ideal student” – someone who was serious about his work, but approached it with humility and with his community in mind.</p> <p>“Coming here&nbsp;– interacting with students and faculty, highlighted not just his academic work&nbsp;– but his sense of being, his sense of humanity,” said Dei. “He’s been very supportive of my own academic work and professional development.”</p> <p>Demi has gathered his share of accolades. He won a&nbsp;<a href="/news/seizing-opportunity-lead-and-serve-hundreds-students-receive-gordon-cressy-student-leadership">Gordon Cressy Student Leadership award</a> last spring and an award for excellence in research at&nbsp;the <a href="/news/do-not-let-anyone-take-moment-away-you-u-t-mississauga-hosts-third-annual-black-grad">student-run Black Graduation event held at 91Թ Mississauga</a>&nbsp;in June. At this fall’s&nbsp;<a href="/news/awards-ceremony-celebrates-u-t-s-african-scholars-community-leaders">African Scholars Awards ceremony</a>, organized by 91Թ’s African Alumni Association, he won an emerging academic award.</p> <p>He hopes his research is more widely applied in his homeland. To that end, he has formed relationships with academics and farmers’ organizations in Ghana, and is currently working on ways to educate families across the country.</p> <p>He hopes he can continue to do his work as part of 91Թ, creating and building a community.</p> <p>“Education is not only about getting a job,” he said. “When I talk about education, I talk about not only going to classrooms, but how you can build a community. The people you encounter in daily life – they all teach you something.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 30 Oct 2019 20:31:04 +0000 perry.king 159926 at Sign language needs policy protection in Ghana: 91Թ expert /news/sign-language-needs-policy-protection-ghana-u-t-expert <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Sign language needs policy protection in Ghana: 91Թ expert</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2019-01-22-ghana-resized.jpg?h=4c6880dd&amp;itok=mGOn0Ptf 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2019-01-22-ghana-resized.jpg?h=4c6880dd&amp;itok=k3fFm0fd 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2019-01-22-ghana-resized.jpg?h=4c6880dd&amp;itok=A9Mc7YGv 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2019-01-22-ghana-resized.jpg?h=4c6880dd&amp;itok=mGOn0Ptf" alt=" Andrew Foster with students from the boarding school for deaf children in 1961"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>noreen.rasbach</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-01-22T15:31:46-05:00" title="Tuesday, January 22, 2019 - 15:31" class="datetime">Tue, 01/22/2019 - 15:31</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"> Andrew Foster with students from the boarding school for deaf children at Mampong-Akwapim, Ghana, about 1961 (courtesy of Gallaudet University Archives)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/mama-adobea-nii-owoo" hreflang="en">Mama Adobea Nii Owoo</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/deafness" hreflang="en">Deafness</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ghana" hreflang="en">Ghana</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ontario-institute-studies-education" hreflang="en">Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>In 1957, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/6/newsid_2515000/2515459.stm">when Ghana gained independence from British colonial rule</a>, African-American educator <a href="https://www.gallaudet.edu/about/history-and-traditions/andrew-foster">Andrew Foster</a> established the first school for <a href="http://cad.ca/issues-positions/terminology/">the Deaf</a> in Ghana.</p> <p>In so doing, Foster consolidated and echoed <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/african-history-biographies/kwame-nkrumah#C%20">Kwame’s Nkrumah’s</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOEdJDdz690">independence day declaration of freedom for Ghanaians</a>. While Nkrumah championed African independence movements across the continent, Foster, <a href="https://www.gallaudet.edu/academic-catalog/about-gallaudet/history-of-gallaudet">a graduate of Gallaudet University in Washington</a>, is the man who modelled equal education opportunities in Ghana.</p> <figure class="align-left "><em><img alt sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253985/original/file-20190115-152977-j9kg8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253985/original/file-20190115-152977-j9kg8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=789&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253985/original/file-20190115-152977-j9kg8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=789&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253985/original/file-20190115-152977-j9kg8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=789&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253985/original/file-20190115-152977-j9kg8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=992&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253985/original/file-20190115-152977-j9kg8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=992&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253985/original/file-20190115-152977-j9kg8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=992&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w"></em> <figcaption><em><span class="caption">Andrew Foster (centre), with his two most successful proteges: Seth Tetteh-Ocloo (left) from Ghana and Gabriel Adepoju (right), a Nigerian. Tetteh-Ocloo went on to lead the Ghana National Association for the Deaf&nbsp; (</span><span class="attribution"><span class="source">courtesy of Gallaudet University Archives)</span></span></em></figcaption> </figure> <p>Today, Ghana has about 16 schools for the Deaf. However, equal educational opportunities elude Deaf people in Ghana and students encounter <a href="http://gnadgh.org/">many challenges</a>. Chief among them is the fact that Ghana has no formalized sign language policy and therefore doesn’t systematically or adequately fund sign language services in schools for Deaf people.</p> <p>Ghana urgently needs an official Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL) policy. Such a move has the potential to humanize Deaf education and alleviate the linguistic discrimination that Deaf students face. Furthermore, the work of GSL educators with Deaf students would finally find the support it needs and deserves.</p> <h3>Multiple sign languages in Ghana</h3> <p>People who take hearing for granted may not have considered the fact that sign languages <em>are languages</em> and require safeguards – just like spoken languages, for the sake of people and communities who rely on them.</p> <p>As a doctoral researcher of language policy, I study how Ghana implements educational language policy for speakers of minority languages.</p> <p>In my research with sign language professionals, I have discovered that just as a multitude of spoken languages exist in Ghana (<a href="https://www.ethnologue.com/country/GH">81 in total</a>), the Ghanaian Deaf community is also linguistically diverse.</p> <p>Sign language researcher <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sign-languages/sign-languages-in-west-africa/0A1F049657C4FD09671AB6A3F2014EBE">Victoria Nyst has identified four sign languages in Ghana</a>. Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL) is widely used in schools and is a spin-off from American Sign Language (ASL). But GSL incorporates some locally constructed signs.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img alt sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253970/original/file-20190115-152989-f0vxhk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253970/original/file-20190115-152989-f0vxhk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=395&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253970/original/file-20190115-152989-f0vxhk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=395&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253970/original/file-20190115-152989-f0vxhk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=395&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253970/original/file-20190115-152989-f0vxhk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=496&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253970/original/file-20190115-152989-f0vxhk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=496&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253970/original/file-20190115-152989-f0vxhk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=496&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w"> <figcaption><span class="caption">Sign languages in Ghana (author provided)</span></figcaption> </figure> <p>GSL is estimated to be used by the majority of Deaf people in Ghana. But statistics about the Deaf in Ghana are not well documented.</p> <p>The <a href="http://gnadgh.org/about-us/">Ghana National Association for the Deaf (GNAD)</a> says approximately 0.4 per cent out of Ghana’s population of almost 29 million is Deaf, or 110,625 people; by contrast, the Ghana Statistical Service, reports <a href="http://www.statsghana.gov.gh/docfiles/2010phc/Mono/Disability%20in%20Ghana.pdf">211,712</a> as Deaf.</p> <p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su4102765">Research shows that sign language is often viewed as an aberration in Ghana</a>. The Deaf are often derogatorily referred to as <em>mumu</em>, meaning dumb.</p> <p>In this way, a mainstream Ghanaian way of seeing equates deafness and sign languages to a defective way of being and speaking.</p> <h3>No official sign language policy</h3> <p>In Ghana, the <a href="http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&amp;p_isn=86287&amp;p_country=GHA&amp;p_count=116">Persons with Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715)</a> enshrines the rights and treatment of Persons with Disability (PWDs).</p> <p>Yet when compared with regional and global disability legislations, <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201804120647.html">Act 715 is seriously deficient</a> for many reasons – among them, the fact that this act provides no policy pertaining to GSL.</p> <p>Researchers <a href="https://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JLPG/article/view/21711/21903">have called for the Ghanaian government to strengthen local policy for PWDs</a> and to fully conform to provisions outlined in the <a href="http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convoptprot-e.pdf">United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities</a> (UNCRPD).</p> <p>Ghana ratified <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2012/08/22/ghana-disability-rights-convention-ratified">this convention in 2012</a>, but the country has yet to follow UNCRPD measures and protections to support sign language learning and promote the linguistic rights and identity of deaf communities.</p> <h3>Schooling challenges</h3> <p>Due to inadequate interpretation and translation services in Ghanaian schools for the Deaf, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313539005_Access_to_English_Language_Acquisition_in_Ghana_Schools_for_the_Deaf_Are_the_Deaf_Students_Handicapped">Deaf students gradually forfeit schooling</a>.</p> <p>Schools serving Deaf students in Ghana have developed in a provisional and stop-gap fashion. Schools offer varied levels of academic instruction and vocational skills training, but Deaf students receive the same instruction and <a href="https://www.waecgh.org/EXAMS/BECE.aspx">national level assessments as their hearing counterparts</a> and it’s up to the teachers to make it work.</p> <p>Thus educators in schools for students who are Deaf work in a context common for many minority languages – as language policy researcher Terrence Wiley names it, a <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781136697708/chapters/10.4324%2F9780203813119-11">“null policy” context, with language needs met with a significant absence of policy</a>. Educators develop de facto policies and strategies to address <a href="http://globaldisability.org/2016/04/28/ghana-disability-act">gaps</a> and promote their students’ academic, social and emotional welfare to lessen marginalization the students experience.</p> <h3>Using GSL to resist ‘disciplinary power’</h3> <p>Educators and the <a href="http://gnadgh.org/">Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD)</a> are challenging stereotypes and <a href="https://millneckinternational.org/our-work/ghana-national-association-of-the-deaf-youth-section/">empowering Deaf students to participate in policy surrounding their welfare</a>.</p> <p>For example, GNAD created a drama using GSL before the 2016 Ghanaian elections to promote awareness of civic rights. In the drama, Deaf people both taught the public about signing as a valid mode of communication and about how to vote.</p> <figure><em><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UPzY4MWKtdw?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" width="440"></iframe></em> <figcaption><em><span class="caption">Drama created for 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections by Ghana National Association of the Deaf</span></em></figcaption> </figure> <p>The creation of <a href="https://ourtalkinghands.com/wp-content/uploads/GSL-Dictionary-Second-Edition-Sample.pdf">GSL dictionaries</a> for use offline and <a href="http://www.ayelefoundation.org/dictionary/">online</a> is another instance of unofficial language policy and planning.</p> <p>The recent <a href="http://gnadgh.org/hope-college-introduces-ghanaian-sign-language-into-school-curriculum/">introduction of sign language into a mainstream school curriculum</a> is an unprecedented attempt by sign language educators to break communication barriers between Deaf and hearing people in Ghana.</p> <p>But the fact that instruction in Ghana’s specialized schools for the <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1126501">Deaf is still based on curriculum for hearing schools</a> illustrates that Ghana’s language policy is still being used as what language policy researcher James Tollefson calls “<a href="http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume1/ej01/ej01r2/">a form of disciplinary power</a>.”</p> <p>This is to say the institutional neglect of a language policy supporting the needs of Deaf people continues to serve as a means of differentiating the Deaf from the hearing.</p> <p>Much more can and must be done to recognize GSL. The Ghanaian government must <a href="https://www.independentliving.org/standardrules/WFD_Answers/WFD.pdf">implement accessibility standards</a> to counter <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/ghana-deaf-live-isolation-180617180707102.html">the alienation Deaf students face</a>.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109774/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" width="1" loading="lazy"><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><span></span>Mama Adobea Nii Owoo&nbsp;<span>is a&nbsp;PhD student at the 91Թ's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.</span></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/sign-language-needs-policy-protection-in-ghana-109774">original article</a>.</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 22 Jan 2019 20:31:46 +0000 noreen.rasbach 151737 at As Ghana gets ready to set standards for child nutrition, 91Թ researcher shares his science on brain health /news/ghana-gets-ready-set-standards-child-nutrition-u-t-researcher-shares-his-science-brain-health <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">As Ghana gets ready to set standards for child nutrition, 91Թ researcher shares his science on brain health</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2018-10-30-ghana-children-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=TCgTusiW 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2018-10-30-ghana-children-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=OX08Qdba 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2018-10-30-ghana-children-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=jEXBfiwx 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2018-10-30-ghana-children-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=TCgTusiW" alt="Photo of children in Ghana"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>noreen.rasbach</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2018-10-31T00:00:00-04:00" title="Wednesday, October 31, 2018 - 00:00" class="datetime">Wed, 10/31/2018 - 00:00</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">A group of children in their classroom in the village of Kpalong, 50 kilometres outside Tamale in northern Ghana (photo by Marcus Valance/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/jim-oldfield" hreflang="en">Jim Oldfield</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/child-health" hreflang="en">Child Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ghana" hreflang="en">Ghana</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nutritional-sciences" hreflang="en">Nutritional Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Ghana will soon adopt new standards on food and nutritional products for children, and the coming guideline on dietary fats for infants will be informed in part by a 91Թ researcher.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__9514 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" src="/sites/default/files/2018-10-30-bazinet-resized.jpg" style="width: 350px; height: 285px; margin: 10px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image">Associate Professor&nbsp;<strong>Richard Bazinet</strong>&nbsp;(pictured left) recently spent two days at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ug.edu.gh/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">University of Ghana</a>&nbsp;presenting the latest science on the role of fats in the developing brain, to policy-makers, nutritionists and others with a stake in food science and health in Africa.</p> <p>Bazinet holds the Canada Research Chair in Brain Lipid Metabolism in the&nbsp;<a href="https://nutrisci.med.utoronto.ca/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">department of nutritional sciences</a>&nbsp;at the Faculty of Medicine, and he is a researcher in the&nbsp;<a href="http://childnutrition.utoronto.ca/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Joannah &amp; Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition</a>. He spoke with Faculty of Medicine writer&nbsp;<strong>Jim Oldfield</strong>&nbsp;about infant feeding, the African diet and what research might do for mental health in the country of nearly 30 million.</p> <hr> <p><strong>Who organized the meetings in Ghana?</strong></p> <p>They were sponsored in part by&nbsp;<a href="http://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Codex Alimentarius</a>, which is the food standards program of the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It acts as a kind of ‘food code’ for the world, especially in developing countries that haven’t established their own guidelines on nutritional requirements and food safety. I talked about the state of the science on two fats, ARA from Omega-6s and DHA from Omega 3s – and what a child would need to eat to get optimal values of those fats in the brain.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Why are these fats important?</strong></p> <p>There are several fats in the brain, but ARA and DHA are called essential fatty acids because the body can’t make them. So we have to get them from food or supplements. There is evidence these fats improve cognitive and visual development, and central nervous system function. They are important in adults, but even more so in a growing brain, for healthy development. The complicated thing is that it’s impossible to do perfect studies showing how much a person needs because we can’t access the brain. So we look at models instead and estimate the intake requirements to get ideal brain levels.</p> <p><strong>How do you do that?</strong></p> <p>We actually have pretty good estimates on how much the brain needs, relative to dietary intake. The amounts in breast milk provide a good guide, although they can vary depending on the mother’s nutrition. But breast milk is a kind of gold standard. We can also look at infants post-mortem over time for some measurements in the body and brain, and then do back-calculations. These and other sources of data give us roughly similar answers.</p> <p><strong>How might these estimates inform Ghana’s guidelines on infant feeding?</strong></p> <p>They might reinforce the importance of breast milk. Breastfeeding rates have been declining in Ghana, and I think well under half of infants are exclusively breastfed at six months. Formula is another big issuebecause not all of it contains ARA and DHA, whereas those are standard in most developed countries. But including them in formula can increase its cost, so that’s an added challenge.</p> <p>As for complementary feeding and infant diets broadly, there is a big knowledge gap. Almost all the available studies were done in the U.S. or Europe, or Canada. These countries have relatively good nutrition, and so the worry is that in countries with nutritional challenges – and one-third of children in Ghana are stunted or wasted or underweight – the role of essential fats could be even more important. It’s a theoretical argument, but chronic malnutrition in children without fat stores could pose really significant developmental risks, especially in those born premature and in need of more growth. Africa is really understudied in this context.</p> <p><strong>Are you looking to collaborate on research there?</strong></p> <p>Yes, and these meetings were helpful for making contacts with local scientists who want to look at fatty acid composition in the traditional African diet. It’s challenging because there isn’t a lot of funding for research. But it might be realistic to start categorizing the African diet and lipids. Ideally we would like to help set them up the equipment and skills to do this work on their own. They could pack up foods and ship them to us to start, but it would be more sustainable to train their students to do it.</p> <p>I’ve also been emailing with psychiatrists I met at the University of Ghana. Their field is under-resourced, and the setbacks they see in infants can last a lifetime. Some of my work suggests Omega 3s are protective against brain inflammation, which increasingly appears to be at the root of depression and other neurological disorders. Medications to treat these conditions are often unaffordable in Ghana, but maybe we can work with nutrition to limit the burden of mental illness across the lifespan.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 31 Oct 2018 04:00:00 +0000 noreen.rasbach 146006 at 91Թ student co-author of report on school-based sexual violence in Ghana /news/u-t-student-co-author-report-school-based-sexual-violence-ghana <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">91Թ student co-author of report on school-based sexual violence in Ghana</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-03-07-ghana.jpg?h=a3607073&amp;itok=812zJkzY 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-03-07-ghana.jpg?h=a3607073&amp;itok=Rpqe8nzf 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-03-07-ghana.jpg?h=a3607073&amp;itok=NchKzumT 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-03-07-ghana.jpg?h=a3607073&amp;itok=812zJkzY" alt="Photo from Ghana refugee camp"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-03-07T12:30:00-05:00" title="Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - 12:30" class="datetime">Tue, 03/07/2017 - 12:30</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">91Թ PhD student Erin Aylward hopes that the Ghana government will take notice and the study will help lead to change (photo by Jennifer Kirschke via Flickr)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/elaine-smith" hreflang="en">Elaine Smith</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item"> Elaine Smith</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ghana" hreflang="en">Ghana</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/education" hreflang="en">Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sexual-violence" hreflang="en">Sexual Violence</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The extent of school-based sexual violence in Ghana has been documented for the first time in a report co-authored by 91Թ PhD student<strong> Erin Aylward</strong>.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3695 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" src="/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Erin%20Aylward_8905_5x7_clr.jpg?itok=yNfHYhvn" style="width: 200px; height: 236px; margin: 10px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image">The national study shows that:</p> <ul> <li>56 per cent of female survey respondents and 37 per cent of male respondents had experienced sexual violence&nbsp;with most of these incidents (92 per cent and 91 per cent,&nbsp;respectively) occurring during the respondent’s school career</li> <li>57 per cent of all cases took place during primary or junior high school</li> <li>one in 11 girls, and one in 30 boys experienced sexual violence at the hands of a teacher or principal&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p>“This is a massive issue that needs to be taken seriously,” says&nbsp;Aylward (photo at left), who was awarded a Trudeau Scholarship in 2015 that supports her research in political science.&nbsp;“Incredibly, for people working in the field, the numbers didn’t seem that shocking. There is a pretty clear need for leadership and for better accountability mechanisms.”<br> &nbsp;<br> Aylward’s hope is that the Ghana government will take notice and the study will help lead to change. &nbsp;</p> <p>She first learned of the issue when she worked as a gender advisor for Engineers Without Borders in Ghana&nbsp;after her master's degree. At the time, she discovered “that girls might even be expected to have sexual relations with relatives or family friends in exchange for school fees.”</p> <p>“Anecdotally, it seemed the abuse was pervasive, but it was still a topic that wasn’t on most people’s radar,” Aylward said.</p> <p>She went on to learn more about the issue of sexual violence in the schools during a 91Թ course on the sociology of sexuality in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science with Assistant Professor <strong>Hae Yeon Choo</strong>. &nbsp;</p> <p>Aylward soon teamed up with Voto Mobile, a Ghana-based social enterprise, and the Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre, a leading Ghana women’s rights non-governmental organization. They put together a proposal for Cellphones Against Sexual Violence, a two-year pilot project that included a national survey delivered through mobile technology, a sexual violence hotline and a school-based program. Amplify Change, a fund devoted to sexual and reproductive health, stepped forward to provide the finances.</p> <p>The survey results have garnered interest from NGOs in Ghana, as well as from the Australian embassy and the Canadian High Commission in Ghana.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 07 Mar 2017 17:30:00 +0000 ullahnor 105472 at Baby monkeys grow faster to avoid being killed by adult males /news/baby-monkeys-grow-faster-avoid-being-killed-adult-males <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Baby monkeys grow faster to avoid being killed by adult males</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-03-17T12:31:48-04:00" title="Thursday, March 17, 2016 - 12:31" class="datetime">Thu, 03/17/2016 - 12:31</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">“Typically, an adult male kills an infant sired by another male so that he can mate with the mother and sire his own infants with her,” PhD candidate Iulia Bădescu says (all photos by Stephanie Fox)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/kim-luke" hreflang="en">Kim Luke</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Kim Luke</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ghana" hreflang="en">Ghana</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/international" hreflang="en">International</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/top-stories" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">“The experience of observing an infanticide is horrific,” says 91Թ researcher Iulia Bădescu</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Natural selection has shaped the ways in which babies grow in different species, including the rate or speed with which they develop.</p> <p>A new study by Canadian researchers suggests that some baby monkeys develop faster than others in the same population, and that this is best explained by the threat of infanticide they face.</p> <p>The study, led by <strong>Iulia Bădescu</strong>, a PhD candidate in evolutionary anthropology at the 91Թ&nbsp;and Professor Pascale Sicotte of the department of anthropology and archaeology at the University of Calgary (U of C), looked at infant development in wild ursine colobus monkeys.</p> <p>The study is published in the April 2016 issue of <em>Animal Behaviour</em>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.journals.elsevier.com/animal-behaviour/">and available online</a>.</p> <p>“Infanticide occurs in many animals, including carnivores like lions and bears, rodents like mice, and in primates,” said Bădescu. “Typically, an adult male kills an infant sired by another male so that he can mate with the mother and sire his own infants with her.”</p> <p>Black-and-white colobus includes several species of medium-sized monkeys found throughout equatorial Africa. They have black bodies with white hair that sometimes forms a bushy white beard and sideburns, or can extend down the back like a ‘cape’ and down the tail. They are distinguished from many other monkeys by their lack of an opposable thumb and their cow-like stomachs that allow them to digest the fibrous leaves they eat.</p> <p>Colobus babies are born pure white and their coat color changes to grey after a few weeks before turning black-and-white between two and five months. The researchers were intrigued by the fact that infants varied in the age at which their coats became grey, and then black and white. They also realized that these colour transitions were helpful to track the development of the infants, in a non-intrusive fashion.</p> <p>Earlier research at the study site, Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary in Ghana, established that some scenarios are more likely to lead to infanticide by males. Groups with multiple males, for example, have more instances of infanticide.</p> <p>The team observed nine groups of ursine colobus monkeys in the wild over a period of eight years (2007 to 2014). “We found that infants facing a greater risk of infanticide developed faster than infants facing lesser risk,” explained Sicotte.</p> <p>However, the researchers suggest that infants and their mothers have more avenues to avoid infanticide and ensure survival than previously believed.</p> <p>They speculate that the mothers may invest more energy in their infants in a short time span, which might accelerate their growth. When a male enters the group and starts behaving aggressively towards infants, he might focus on the younger, more vulnerable infants rather than those close to being independent juveniles whose mothers are probably starting to ovulate soon anyway.</p> <p>“The experience of observing an infanticide is horrific,” noted Bădescu who has witnessed it.</p> <p><img alt="photo of adult and baby monkey in trees" src="/sites/default/files/2016-03-17-monkeys-embed.jpg" style="width: 640px; height: 480px; margin: 10px 20px;"></p> <p>“We know that infanticide is the result of an evolutionary arms race, where males compete with each other for reproduction and try to influence females in mating with them,” added Sicotte. “In species where it happens more often, it can certainly influence the nature of the social relationships between males, as well as between males and females.”</p> <p>The researchers&nbsp;also found that infant males developed faster than females.</p> <p>“Infant males are at greater risk of infanticidal attacks because killing a male infant not only gives reproductive access to the mother, but also eliminates a future sexual rival for the infanticidal male and his future offspring,” explained Bădescu.</p> <p>The researchers also considered other possibilities to explain faster development, including access to food. They found, however, that variation in group size, which would lead to more competition for food in larger groups, did not influence infant development. Consideration of a combination of factors led the team to conclude that the threat of infanticide was the best explanation for the observed variation in infant development in ursine colobus monkeys.</p> <p>It remains unclear how the mother perceives the threat of infanticide. She may be triggered by the males' presence, body language, hormones, solicitations to copulate, and so on.</p> <p>“These are all good questions for future research,” said Bădescu.</p> <p>Also unknown is the exact mechanism by which mothers and infants speed up development in response to infanticide pressure.The answer may be found in maternal milk. The physiology of mothers adjusts lactation and maternal milk to cater to the specific needs of their infants. With infanticide, it may be that stress hormones are being produced in greater quantities in the milk, triggering faster development.</p> <p>Mothers may also be controlling their infants' development: they may start rejecting their infants more often in an attempt to wean faster, which could trigger faster development in the infants. Alternatively, infants may start feeling stressed if infanticide pressure rises and development may speed up in response to this stress.</p> <p>Bădescu and Sicotte think it is more likely a combination of both maternal and infant effects that lead to variation in infant development rates.</p> <p>Other members of the research group included Eva Wikberg of U of C and the University of Tokyo, as well as Lisa MacDonald, Stephanie Fox, Josie Vayro and Angela Crotty, all of U of C.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2016-03-17-monkeys-lead.jpg</div> </div> Thu, 17 Mar 2016 16:31:48 +0000 sgupta 7740 at Top Urban History Association Prize for Ato Quayson /news/top-urban-history-association-prize-ato-quayson <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Top Urban History Association Prize for Ato Quayson</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-11-12T09:39:03-05:00" title="Thursday, November 12, 2015 - 09:39" class="datetime">Thu, 11/12/2015 - 09:39</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(photo by Diana Tyszko)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/elaine-smith" hreflang="en">Elaine Smith</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Elaine Smith</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/our-faculty-staff" hreflang="en">Our Faculty &amp; Staff</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/quayson" hreflang="en">Quayson</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ghana" hreflang="en">Ghana</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/diaspora" hreflang="en">Diaspora</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/community" hreflang="en">Community</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cities" hreflang="en">Cities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/books" hreflang="en">Books</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Professor&nbsp;<a href="http://www.english.utoronto.ca/facultystaff/facultyprofiles/quaysona.htm"><strong>Ato Quayson</strong></a>, &nbsp;director of the 91Թ's&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cdts.utoronto.ca/">Centre for Diaspora &amp; Transnational Studies</a>, spent his formative years in Accra, Ghana.</p> <p>While he loves living in Canada, Ghana will always be his first home: &nbsp;a place that “had a major impact on my formation and sensibility. I only understood it piecemeal until I began researching for the book; then, different aspects became more and more visible to me.”&nbsp;</p> <p>His book, <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/Oxford-Street-Accra/"><em>Oxford Street, Accra: City Life and the Itineraries of Transnationalism</em></a> (2014, Duke University Press), is co-winner of the Urban History Association’s top award in the international category for books published in&nbsp;2013-2014.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Most cities of the world are best known through their writers,” said Quayson, a voracious reader. “Paris is Balzac and Zola, Dublin is Joyce and London is Dickens and Zadie Smith. I wanted to write about my city that way.”&nbsp;</p> <p>With his book, Quayson invites readers to “tour Accra through my eyes. I wanted to be the scribe of my city.” Below,&nbsp;he shares some of the insights discovered as he researched and wrote his award-winning work.</p> <p><strong>This book underscores the fact that Canadians generally know very little about African life and culture. Why is it important to broaden our knowledge?</strong><br> It is important, because Africa is the next frontier. The international geo-political landscape is changing fast, and Africa presents new markets and ways of being. This is apparent, given the amount of interest and investment China is making there.</p> <p>The Americans are way ahead of Canadians here. Most of their universities, such as Harvard, Michigan, NYU, and Berkeley which are comparable to 91Թ, have introduced an important international component into undergraduate education over the past 20 years. They routinely send entire cohorts of students to Ghana and to Africa. These universities are building important bridges of understanding between Westerners and Africans. It is conceivable that these people will be the important policy-makers in the next 15 years, and they will know about Africa in a way that would be richer than the knowledge of those who have never been there before.</p> <p>In addition, Statistics Canada states that by 2030, 50 per cent of Canada’s population will be immigrants, and it’s important to know how these immigrants feel about their homelands and what parts of their pasts they bring along with them.</p> <p><strong>You make a clear distinction between multi-ethnicity and multiculturalism. Why is&nbsp;one preferable?</strong><br> Multi-ethnic societies simply have many ethnicities residing there. Multiculturalism is a feature of liberal democracies, a strategic aspect of state-building in countries that have accepted that homogeneity is not the most useful way of building a society. Multiculturalism involves accepting that ethnicity is a viable way of identifying oneself within the polity.&nbsp;</p> <p>However, multiculturalism and xenophobia are mutually exclusive. South Africa aspires to multiculturalism, but there is too much xenophobia there. Canada, Australia and the United States have multicultural policies, while Russia, despite having many ethnic groups, does not.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Does your book have another purpose, in addition to providing a window onto Ghanaian culture?</strong><br> In addition to exploring Accra, this book provides a method for reading African cities and the preliminary questions that can be asked about them. For example, what is the history of Africa’s mixed-race populations? What is their history and their contributions to the African’s cosmopolitanism? How did commercial districts arise? What are the leisure pursuits of youth in African cities? What are the inscriptions (e.g., signage, advertising) that you find in African cities?</p> <p>The book thus offers a method for understanding cities that can be extrapolated to other places.</p> <p><a href="http://news.artsci.utoronto.ca/">See more stories from the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science at 91Թ</a></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-11-12-quayson-book.jpg</div> </div> Thu, 12 Nov 2015 14:39:03 +0000 sgupta 7442 at