Browsing by Subject "Africa"

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Academic staff views of higher education quality in Somaliland
(2014-11) Jones, Thomas J.
Academic quality in `peripheral' universities in sub-Saharan Africa is a critical issue for international higher education development. The purpose of this study is to determine academic views of institutional quality in the Republic of Somaliland, to understand the purpose and framework for measuring quality in their system. Significant enrollment growth, new institutional formation, private higher education expansion, and very limited public resources define a region like Somaliland. Though growing equity of access for students is suggested, system growth in a context of limited resources raises significant questions regarding institutional quality and academic intensification. A congruent, mixed-method of surveys (N = 166) and interviews (37) are used to determine academic viewpoints at three sample institutions: University of Hargeisa, Amoud University, and Admas University College. From these data, academic staff in Somaliland mostly define institutional quality according to the foundational purposes of maintaining civil peace through youth engagement and economic development through human capital training. Academic staff agreed that the overall qualification and training of lecturers was a limiting factor for higher education quality. Due to human resource flight during the civil war of the late 1980s-90s and significant growth of the higher education sector, lecturers are under qualified compared to international and regional standards; only 4% hold a doctoral qualification. Consistent with this result, academic staff view the number of professors with doctoral degrees as the most important indicator of quality in higher education. Though, as is shown in qualitative interviews, phenomena related to students (post-graduate employment, enrollment, and performance on international exams) are also important indicators of institutional success.
‘Açúcar nem Sempre Doce’: Reinvestment, Land, and Gendered Labor in a ‘New’ Mozambique
(2017-12) Lazzarini, Alicia
“'Açucar nem Sempre Doce': Reinvestment, Land, and Gendered Labor in a 'New' Mozambique” analyzes contemporary investment in Mozambique, Southern Africa. Capitalizing on the idea of the continent as ‘rising’ and a ‘last frontier’ of investment, after 16 years of civil conflict Mozambique has sought international financing to rehabilitate the nation’s sugar industry. The Xinavane Sugar Mill, a former colonial estate and today’s largest sugar producer, has played a crucial role in this effort. While lauded for its reinvestment success, the dissertation asks what the ‘re’ in Xinavane’s rehabilitation signifies, and its importance to understanding the contemporary nation. Utilizing multi-sited ethnographic and archival research, the dissertation interrogates codifications of social difference through land dispossession, forced labor migrations, and spatial divisions of raced and gendered labor in the production of ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ space. Enrolling Xinavane as an entry point to explore colonial legacy in the increasingly investment oriented nation, the dissertation argues that sugar’s rehabilitation draws centrally on, and reformulates, violent forms of colonial industry and rule. Ultimately, the dissertation investigates how space and place are produced in African historical specificity, and how social inequality is reconfigured in active relationship to it.
Baroque and post/colonial Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa: The aesthetic embodiment of unreason.
(2010-07) Joslin, Isaac V.
My dissertation approaches postcolonial African literature and political culture through the lens of a baroque aesthetic of spectacle and subversion. The basic premise is that the baroque, identified by Michel Foucault in Les Mots et les Choses (1966) as that pivotal transition between the Renaissance and classical episteme, is characterized by representational and rhetorical strategies that draw on the morbid-erotic and corporeal imagination to represent "reality" as an irrational, chaotic encounter of conflictive forces. From the notion of a "modern baroque" proposed by Christine Buci-Glucksmann in La Raison Baroque (1984), I develop a broad theory of the baroque that encompasses both art and critical theory, as well as material socio-economic realities of late or high modernity. Then, drawing from Édouard Glissant's discussion of a contemporary global baroque phenomenon in his work Poétique de la Relation (1990), my dissertation looks specifically at the baroque in postcolonial Africa, as a literary aesthetic, and as a political style of power and related subversive practices identified by Achille Mbembe in his work De la Postcolonie (2000). Through concerted analyses of select African novels by Yambo Ouologuem, Henri Lopes, Sony Labou Tansi, Calixthe Beyala, Ken Bugul, and others, I explicate the different characteristics of a baroque aesthetic practice in postcolonial francophone African literature.
A Black Seat at the High-Table: A Continent's Quest for Justice and Equality within the United Nations System
(2023) Minishi, Hortense
This paper contends with the paradoxes in the realization of the principle of ‘equality of nations’ in a multilateral political system. Established primarily as a collective security framework to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” (UN Charter, 1945), the United Nations is premised on the “principle of the sovereign equality of all its members” and the “equal rights…of nations large and small” (UN Charter, 1945). Nearly 80 years since the UN was formed, the entire African continent-the largest regional grouping in the organizationremains at the periphery of the UN’s most powerful organ. Yet, the Security Council engages directly and indirectly in the affairs of many African countries through peacekeeping missions and other political engagement. Anchored on a largely unchanged (but challenged) structure, the Security Council centers five permanent powers that were most relevant in the post-World War II era. The Council has been widely criticized by reform proponents for its lack of “equitable representation” as it does not reflect the current geopolitical landscape. Shaped by colonial legacies and nationalistic self-interests of a few elite states, the UN’s historical foundations and present institutional composition has been marred by exclusionary and exploitative politics. Focusing on the prevalent UN’s political, economic, and military influence in Africa, this paper examines how the inequalities in the permanent membership of the Security Council continues to shape international, regional, and domestic politics and conflicts in the continent and beyond. It concludes by arguing that the normative ideals of the UN can only be achieved by addressing this injustice through comprehensive reform.
Child nutritional well-being in Ghana: an analysis of associated individual, household, and contextual health indicators and socioeconomic and biophysical environmental variables.
(2011-08) Nikoi, Ebenezer Goodman Ashie
Depriving children of the nutrients needed for growth sets them up to fail in life. When children are well nourished and cared for, they are more likely to survive, thrive, and to meaningfully contribute to society. This study assesses the association of characteristics of individual children under age five in Ghana, their mothers, and their households—as well as socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the places where they live—with differential nutritional well-being. What distinguishes this study from most research on young children’s nutritional status in the Global South is its analysis of data for individual children, made possible by use of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), and assignation of district variables that capture characteristics of their places of residence to individual children as cases. This enables assessment of the relative explanatory role of variables that describe the socioeconomic and biophysical environments. This study implements a three-level multivariate logistic regression analysis with separate models for each of the nutritional outcome variables—height-for-age, weightfor- age and hemoglobin—at each level. Descriptive statistics summarize the prevalence of stunting, underweight, and hemoglobin and delineate frequencies and proportions for selected independent variables at each level. Further statistical analysis relies on chisquared (χ2) tests to determine significant bivariate associations. All significantly associated variables in the bivariate analysis are subjected to binary logistic regression analysis. The results of fixed effects are reported with odds ratios (ORs) along with confidence intervals for p<.05. The following variables were found to be significantly associated with at least one of the three nutritional outcomes in multivariate analyses at the child and district levels: child’s age, months of breastfeeding, fever, mother’s health status, prenatal care, mother’s occupation, mother’s ethnicity, household water supply, household wealth status, population density, percent literate (vs. illiterate) in district, percent in rural (vs. urban) locations, wealth status of district residents, and ecological zone of residence. As found in much previous research, mother’s education and occupation, father’s education and occupation, household size and structure, and sanitation were significantly associated with children’s nutritional status in bivariate analysis but not in multivariate analysis. After controlling for the characteristics of children, mothers and households, significant associastions with children’s nutritional status were found for population density, percentage of literate (vs. illiterate) residents in a district, wealth status of district residents, and residence in the Guinea Forest-Savanna Mosaic and Central African Mangrove ecological zones. Other significantly associated variables in the final models were the age of the child, months of breastfeeding, whether the child’s mother has health insurance and the wealth status of a child’s household. Notwithstanding the shortcomings of this study, its findings can potentially assist stakeholders by providing a better understanding of the diverse set of factors that influence children’s nutritional status and some explanation for differences in nutritional status among places within Ghana.
Child soldiers: an end in sight for Africa?
(2009-12) Meyer, Karen Joy
This paper discusses the problem of child soldiering, specifically the child soldiering occurring on the continent of Africa. It gives a detailed overview of all aspects of child soldiering and the conflicts involving child soldiers in African countries. This paper explores the push-pull factors that lead children to become child soldiers. It follows these child soldiers from life within the armed group to life upon leaving the armed group, where upon these children enter rehabilitation centers, and finally seek reintegration back into society. It also looks at the reasons for some of the conflicts involving child soldiers, pointing out how part of this crisis stems from colonialism. This paper also asks the question of how to stop this crisis, and examines what developed nations are doing to stop child soldiering while claiming that the ultimate responsibility for the issue lies within Africa.
Collective identity and African American views of Africa, African immigrants, and immigrant entitlements.
(2010-06) Pendaz, Sadie
In this dissertation, I examine how collective memory and collective identity impact African American interpretations of Africa, African immigrants and African immigrant participation in affirmative action programs. The setting of the research is the Minneapolis/St. Paul area of Minnesota (the "Twin Cities"), which has a notable historical and contemporary African American population and the largest eastern African population of immigrants from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the Sudan. I find that rather than expanding their definition of African American ethnic identity through their interactions with African immigrants, African Americans, relied on a bifurcated notion of the historical place of Africa as part of the two-ness of African American ethnic identity, and African immigrants as an on-the-ground reality. Methodologiclly, I use historical newspaper analysis and extensive in-depth interviews with African Americans and eastern Africans from the Twin Cities. Theoretically I analyze theories of collective memory, intergroup contact and challenge the notion that African American ethnic identity is equatable with black racial identity.
Into the Abject: Fracture Zones in Francophone African Literature
(2018-09) Jones-Boardman, Sarah
In my dissertation I examine what I call “fracture zones” between France and Africa through literary analysis of novels by authors from across francophone Africa: Abdourahman Waberi, Aminata Sow Fall, Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Ken Bugul, Léonora Miano and Nina Bouraoui. Fracture zones are interstitial spaces where two elements come into violent contact but in which one element, the author and gatekeeper of this violent space, has all the power. One manifestation of a fracture zone is the Mediterranean Sea which, at Europe’s behest, has become a space that is fluid and passible only to one side. To the other side, it has become a deadly space that swallows up African lives. A fracture zone serves as a sort of protective belt around the global Northern Subject. It is a Butlerian constitutive border, an abject and unlivable space that guarantees the Subject’s privileged identity. This dissertation descends into the abject to explore fracture zones and the process of “abjectification” that Francophone Africans are made to undergo to protect and justify French subjectivity. Chapter one, Zones of (Im)mobility and Fracture in Abdourahman Waberi’s Transit and Aminata Sow Fall’s Douceurs du bercail, paints a dynamic picture of fracture zones as physical spaces of contact that sharply divide a powerful France from relatively powerless African countries. I demonstrate that power-infused binary oppositions do not dissolve in an interstitial space of fluid exchange and negotiation; instead they are reinforced as the global North reifies its borders, making them increasingly impenetrable to those hailing from the global South. Chapter two, Fractured Inner Worlds: Neocolonial and Gendered Alienation in Cheikh Hamidou Kane’s Aventure ambigüe (1961) and Ken Bugul’s Le Baobab fou (1983), explores France’s historical fracturing of African subjectivity that began with its progressive invasion of the continent. I reveal that fracture zones are not confined to the physical world but produce distorting effects that infect and deform the psyches of the colonized, causing internal fissuring and even internalized abjectification. Chapter three, Infection, Gendered Fracture and Afropessimism in Léonora Miano’s L’Interieur de la nuit, analyzes a fictional central African country in the grips of civil war, exposing how existential destabilization and erasure manifest on a societal level and considering the lasting transgenerational trauma of France’s invasion and colonization of African nations. My concluding chapter, Devoured by Fracture: Nina Bouraoui’s Garçon Manqué, returns to look at the effects of fracturing on both sides of the Mediterranean. I demonstrate that fractures are deforming and even altogether destroying the future not only of the (formerly) colonized, but that of Subject/author-of-fracture as well.
Marital risk factors and HIV infection among women: a comparison between Ghana and Kenya.
(2009-08) Rombo, Dorothy Owino
The purpose of this study is to establish and compare marital risk factors associated with HIV infection among women in Ghana and Kenya, regions representing low and high HIV prevalence, respectively. The study controls for individual demographics, sexual behavior, and socio-cultural contexts. Samples of 2,057 in Ghana and 1,657 in Kenya are drawn from Demographic Health Surveys of 2003. Of married/ cohabiting women, about 3% and 8% are infected with HIV in Ghana and Kenya respectively. These mirror the general population prevalence in both countries. Results of logistic regression analyses indicate that when individual demographics including SES, degree of autonomy to make self-healthcare decisions, religious affiliation, sexual behavior, and socio-cultural factors are controlled for, marital characteristics significantly account for HIV infection. For Ghana, the model accounts for 7% of variance and remarriage is the only significant marital risk, increasing the odds of infection 1.9 times over those who are not remarried. For Kenya, marital factors explain one-half (6%) of the 12% total variability accounted for by the model. Remarriage, polygyny, and traditional marriage are the positive risk factors, with estimated increased risk likelihood of 2.8, 2.4, and 2.2 respectively. Negative predictors include delayed sexual debut and marriage and longer duration of marriage. The latter is a significant predictor in Kenya. Implications for educators are including content stating the life course risk factors, beginning with early sexual debut, delayed marriage, and ending up in a marriage that is likely to be characterized by multiple occurrences of consensual unprotected sex. Such unions include traditional/ cohabitation, polygyny, and/or remarriage. Additionally, public health and social policies that delay sexual debut, marriage, and reduce the risk of infection both before and after marriage should be put in place. Risk-reduction policy is a public health approach that provides options for safe sex for young people who might be engaging in sex. Social policies include laws that govern social life, such as marriage. Both countries need to outlaw early marriage and enforce laws against it. The challenges of multiple partner marriages like polygyny and remarriage, which are protected by human rights laws, can be addressed through continued dialogue in communities to adopt riskreduction strategies in such unions. Other factors that support such practices, like poverty, require long-term plans. These should be relentlessly pursued. Further research with valid measurements for empowerment and socio-cultural factors that are relevant to HIV infection is needed. Similarly, research on long-term marriages that have weathered the HIV era could provide insights for strengthening marriages through education.
Neisseria Meningitidis, Meningococcal Vaccines and Nutrition in Children in the African Meningitis Belt
(2018-05) Sundaram, Maria
Abstract Introduction: Human nutrition plays an important role in immune function and protection against infectious diseases. Populations experiencing nutritional deficiencies may benefit less from vaccines (which require robust immune system function) and may be at increased risk of disease. Methods: I identified populations living in the African meningitis belt and assessed potential relationships between 1) protein-energy undernutrition and meningococcal vaccine immunogenicity; 2) iron and vitamin A deficiency and long-term vaccine antibody persistence; and 3) iron status and risk of asymptomatic nasopharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis (Nm). Results: Protein-energy undernutrition was not consistently significantly related to meningococcal vaccine immunogenicity in children 0-2 years old. However, increasing iron status was significantly related to a reduction in meningococcal vaccine-elicited antibody at 2 years post-vaccination. Finally, increasing iron status was significantly related to reduced odds of asymptomatic nasopharyngeal carriage of Nm in children 5-11 (for iron measured by serum ferritin) and 12-17 (for iron measured by soluble transferrin receptor) years old. Discussion: This dissertation identifies potential relationships between iron status and meningococcal vaccine antibody persistence as well as the odds of Nm carriage. Further studies should assess these relationships in larger populations of children, at a greater number of time points, and consider additional iron biomarkers.
Recovering Returnee Memories: A Comparative Approach To Representations Of Pieds-Noirs And Retornados Experiences
(2020-06) Rellier, Sandra
This dissertation examines the historical and transnational connections of the cultural memory of the Europeans and their descendants who left former French and Portuguese African colonies when the latter became independent. These populations are identified as Portuguese retornados from Angola and Mozambique and pieds-noirs, both of French and Spanish origin from Algeria. By comparing returnee migration experiences, through the interdisciplinary lenses of literature, visual media, and ethnographic interviews the present scholarly study begins to fill the critical void left by postcolonial discourses on these populations. Through the analysis of common themes, it defies the traditional discriminatory understandings of African decolonization in relation to the subsequent mass migrations of Europeans. Focusing on the representation of returnees’ private experiences, one of those themes is liminality before, during and/or after the independence wars. Another theme identified in literature and visual media, is the notion of the “Lost Paradise,” that connects the experiences of the populations in question. Shedding light on these similarities overcomes the boundaries imposed by the exclusive focus on any one national literature. This dissertation’s subjects assert their historical and traumatic experiences against the different national collective amnesias surrounding the liberation wars. Through the comparative analysis of their layered silences, linguistic maneuvers, and oral histories, this study provides a new understanding of the cultural impact of the mass European migrations from post-independence Africa on contemporary generations.
Regional Identities and Dynamic Normative Orders in the Global South: A Comparative Study
(2015-09) Coe, Brooke
Because of the insecurities of postcoloniality, we expect states in the global South to be ‘jealous’ of their sovereignty and to resist intrusions into domestic political and security matters. I find, contrary to this conventional understanding, that non-interference has eroded in the South in significant ways over time—especially since the ‘second wave’ of regionalism beginning in the 1980s—but that this erosion has been uneven. Regional organizations in Africa and Latin America have been empowered to monitor state practices and respond to intrastate conflicts and political crises intrusively, while Southeast Asian states have largely maintained their prohibition against such interference. What accounts for this variation? Through historical comparative analysis, I find that regional identity discourses—pan-Americanism and pan-Africanism—present a challenge to strict sovereignty norms and have contributed to the erosion of the norm of non-interference over time in Latin America and Africa. Pan-Asianism was not important to the establishment of ASEAN, an organization founded on anti-communism at the height of the Cold War. Pan-Americanism’s liberal commitments to representative democracy and human rights—espoused by independence leaders and carried forth by Latin American jurists and diplomats—became embedded in inter-American institutions and practices at an early stage and developed over time into intrusive democracy and human rights promotion regimes. Pan-Africanism’s distinct transnationalism—which originated in the diaspora and emphasizes solidarity among African people rather than among states—has provided critics of non-interference with discursive tools to promote the idea of a regional responsibility to protect human rights and human security. In Southeast Asia, non-interference has been much less contested over the decades, despite persistent domestic conflicts. I furthermore identify two proximate factors—regional democratic density and economic performance—that have contributed to more sharply divergent regional normative trajectories beginning in the late 20th century. The third wave of democratization brought Latin America’s average democracy level to an unprecedented high by the late 1980s, reinvigorating intrusive liberal multilateralism. In Africa, the economic crisis of the 1980s rendered states materially and socially vulnerable, more concerned about Africa’s image vis-à-vis investors and the international community. In order to improve this image, and to create the conditions for economic growth, African states empowered their regional institutions manage domestic governance and security problems. Meanwhile, Southeast Asia was less affected by democratization and experienced unprecedented and unparalleled economic growth in the 1980s, growth that bestowed ‘performance legitimacy’ upon Southeast Asian states and their regional organization, ASEAN.
The relationships between internet usage and acculturation of the Horn of Africa immigrants in the United States
(2013-02) Woldeab, Daniel
The purpose of this study was to investigate Internet usage and its relationship with the acculturation of the Horn of Africa immigrants residing in urban Minnesota. Technology has and continues to be a cultural amplifier; in just two decades from its initial availability to the general public, the Internet has made geographical differences practically irrelevant, making the world a virtual small village. Social interactions that were once only possible face-to-face can now take place online. This innovation in communication plays a crucial role in the acculturation process of immigrants, allowing them access not only to social media platforms, but mapping tools, translation websites, online banking, video sharing sites and many other potentially empowering resources that affect how they encounter life in their new environments. This study utilizes Berry’s bi-dimensional theory of acculturation to investigate the relationship between Internet usage and acculturation. Berry’s four dimensions of acculturation provide a theoretical guideline for this study. Also employed here are communication theoretical perspectives in studying Internet usage and acculturation. The participants were 292 Horn of Africa immigrants attending English language classes in adult education programs in the upper Midwestern part of the U.S. A series of multiple regression analyses are used to determine the unique contribution of each variable in predicting acculturation. The study revealed statistically significant relationships among Internet social-networking usage and dimensions of acculturation. The most powerful predictor of Internet usage was level of education, often achieved prior to immigrating to the U.S. Internet usage did contribute to integration, the most successful strategy for acculturation of immigrants from this group. Perceived English language competency alone accounted for 15% of the variance in integration and 17% of the variance in assimilation. Based on these findings, path models for Internet usage and acculturation are proposed. Further, implications for both research and practice are discussed.
Teacher Education Reform and Quality Evaluation in Ghana: Opposing Forces?
(2024) Awuah, Rebecca
Many countries around the world are implementing changes to their systems of teacher education in an effort to improve the way teachers teach and how much children learn in school. This dissertation uses the case of Ghana to examine how a suite of ambitious reforms—including the upgrading of teacher education to university education, a new Bachelor of Education curriculum, and changes to the regulation and oversight of teacher education—interact with enduring conventions and structures, which historically, have shaped the organizational character of institutions that train teachers (called colleges of education today). Adopting the sociological perspective of new institutional theory, this study examines the range of ways those who teach future teachers, lead colleges of education, and oversee teacher education, preserve or alter enduring conventions and structures, with a particular focus on processes of quality evaluation, such as accreditation, certification, external examination, and university affiliation, intended to maintain standards and ensure quality. The investigation adopted the method of comparative case study formalized by comparative and international development scholars Lesley Bartlett and Frances Vavrus (2016). Case study data were compared along a horizontal axis—instances of reform unfolding within three colleges of education—a vertical axis—perspectives on reform processes from individuals and organizations positioned along a local to global scale—and a transversal axis—which compared present-day processes in relation to what came before. The horizontal and vertical axes of comparison drew on interviews, observations, and document analysis, and focused on examining reform processes and individual and collective meaning-making, particularly as they relate to systems of authority and status within the arena of teacher education in Ghana. The transversal axis of comparison drew on archival sources and studies of the history of education in Ghana to build an understanding of the historical antecedents to conventions and structures that those implementing reforms today must contend. Drawing on the empirical evidence and historical narrative, and theorizing through comparison, the study found: (1) Pedagogical change within institutions that train teachers is possible when reforms encompass multiple institutional change processes, address regulatory, normative, and cultural-cognitive institutional elements, and are implemented with technical and financial support; (2) Teaching methods yield to reform efforts more readily than conceptions of teacher education knowledge; (3) Processes of quality evaluation are institutional carriers that transport conceptions of knowledge and relational systems, and thus, act as forces that resist change in teacher education; and (4) Aspirations of modern teaching methods and ownership of improvement in teaching and learning are hindered when teacher educators do not have authority over the knowledge to train teachers and teacher training institutions are accorded low autonomy.
Use of test score and interview data in a comparative case study of the influence of donated English language books upon reading fluency and comprehension scores for Tanzanian secondary school students.
(2009-08) Plonski, Patrick J.
Research has shown that there is an enormous shortage of text and library books across Africa. Accordingly, millions of donated text and library books have been shipped to Africa by a number of non-profit organizations over the past 20 years through funding provided by public and private organizations. While some research shows that localized textbooks increase student literacy rates, inconclusive data is available regarding the influence of donated English-language books upon student achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of donated English-language text and library books from the United States upon Tanzanian tenth grade student reading fluency and comprehension scores. This study investigated the influence of donated English-language text and library books upon student achievement in reading. Research questions were: (a) what is the influence of donated books upon student achievement in reading fluency and reading comprehension?; and (b) What does developing an understanding of teacher and administrator views of the nature and value of these donated books add to research knowledge and understanding concerning reading achievement? A mixed methods research model was used in a comparative case study in the Dodoma/Singida region of Central Tanzania, East Africa. Pre and posttest reading fluency and comprehension assessments were administered to 78 students at four secondary schools in February 2007 and again in February 2008. Qualitative data was secured through administration of a series of questions by the researcher to 18 teachers and administrators at these same four schools. The results showed students experienced increased English-language reading fluency and comprehension scores when provided with books. The teachers and administrators agreed that the donated text and library books had value through providing a greater world view to students as well as providing data not available due to a shortage of book stock. In addition, the interview data revealed that teachers and administrators believed donated English-language books did not cause cultural harm and served to improve student educational capacity.
Work not alms: the Bethel Mission to East Africa and German protestant debates over Eugenics, 1880-1933
(2013-12) Snyder, Edward N.
This dissertation examines the influence of Protestant missionaries in Africa on the development of Protestant poor relief policies in Germany during the period of 1850-1933. Specifically, it seeks to understand better how and why Protestants embraced eugenics during the early twentieth century. To this end it uses the famous Bethel institutions in Bielefeld as a case study. With both a foreign and domestic mission, Bethel provides the unique opportunity to study the interaction between the two in a single context. In Globalization and the Nation in Imperial Germany, Sebastian Conrad suggests that the Bethel missionaries were responsible for pushing the adoption of eugenic policies in Germany upon returning to Bielefeld after 1918. While Conrad's assertion that the foreign mission had an extensive influence on the development of Protestant social welfare policies, he misstates the role of the missionaries. Rather than advocating for the adoption of eugenic policies the Bethel missionaries formed the core pocket of opposition to eugenic ideas after 1918. Prior to WWI Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, a nationalist, conservative pastor and director of the famous Bethel institutions in Bielefeld developed a philosophy of poor relief that stressed a strong work ethic, notions of responsibility, the importance of familial structures, and a mixture of Protestantism and German nationalism. His philosophy drew heavily on the pioneering work of Johann Wichern, the founder of the Inner Mission and the methods used by Protestant missionaries to western Africa during the early nineteenth century. His efforts were a response to the fears of German Protestants in the wake of the failed revolutions of 1848. They feared the potential impact of unemployed migrant workers on Germany's social and political stability. Living on the margins of society, Protestant reformers worried that they would become interested in radical ideologies like Communism and thus hostile to the church and the conservative monarchy. The foreign mission was central to the formation and development of Bodelschwingh's philosophy. Even before arriving at Bethel in 1872, he had made a practical attempt to articulate his ideas as a missionary in Paris among working class Germans. At Bethel Bodelschwingh took his ideas further by founding an actual worker colony. The colony, located outside the city and using a highly regimented lifestyle, stressed the same philosophy he had articulated in Paris. Only after the performance of physical labor would one receive assistance. These colonies, because of their perceived potential to transform marginalized, disaffected individuals into loyal and productive members of society, were wildly popular with Protestant reformers and the Monarchy and therefore received substantial support from the state and gradually spread across the country. Given Bodelschwingh's success with the Inner Mission, colonial authorities, hoping he could use the same philosophy in Africa to transform Africans into loyal and productive colonial subjects, offered him control over the fledgling Evangelische Mission nach Deutsch Ostafrika (EMDOA). Thus, the EMDOA operated according to the exact same philosophy as the community in Germany. As Bodelschwingh grew older, he gradually withdrew from the every day management of the community and focused his remaining efforts on building the mission in Africa. At Bethel, however, his philosophy came under assault. Modern, "scientific" ideas like eugenics made inroads at Bethel, and by the mid 1920s they heavily influenced the care the institution provided. As for the foreign mission, Conrad maintains that the missionaries using Bodelschwingh's philosophy made racial judgments about the ability of Africans to work. These attitudes, he suggests, caused the missionaries who returned to Bielefeld in 1918 to favor a more biological understanding of poverty, thus opening the door wide for the implementation of eugenic policies like sterilization. While Conrad is correct to assert that the returning missionaries were active participants in debates over social welfare in Germany after the war, his conclusion about their attitudes toward eugenics is incorrect. Rather, the missionaries returned from Africa in 1918 still devoted to Bodelschwingh's philosophy and were horrified to discover that Bethel's leadership was interested in adopting eugenic practices. Many of the missionaries transferred to Bethel's public relations center where they produced a steady stream of material that was highly critical of eugenic practices. Given their experience in Africa, which largely insulated them from the problems Bethel's leaders faced in Germany, the missionaries never experienced any challenges to their faith in Bodelschwingh's philosophy. Most notably, they never had to cope with the devastating food shortages that confronted those in Bielefeld during the war. Furthermore, these debates occur within the context of the professionalization of Bethel's medical staff, who increasingly supported eugenics. Thus the missionaries formed the one major pocket of resistance to eugenics at Bethel. Ultimately, at least in the case of the Bethel mission, the colonies were not always "laboratories of modernity," contrary to Hannah Arendt's argument in Origins of Totalitarianism. Instead, the returning missionaries served as a conservative, moderating voice in debates over the Protestant administration of social welfare. At the same time, the case of Bethel also shows the complexities of the colonial legacy in Germany, therefore requiring a more nuanced view of the relationship between Germany's colonial history and the racial policies of the Third Reich.

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