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Restoring the Traditional Quality of African Leadership: Perspectives from the Diaspora

Kyei-Poakwa, Daniel
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5226-0283
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1624450807302645

Abstract Details

2021, Ph.D., Antioch University, Leadership and Change.
There is a widely held and mainly fair view that Africa’s contemporary leadership is deeply flawed. Reform is needed and this dissertation takes the position that the challenges to and desirable characteristics of leadership are understood and can be influenced by Africans living in the Diaspora. To explore the challenges and possible solutions, four focus groups were convened drawing on Diasporic Africans living in Rhode Island in the United States. Each group meeting was facilitated by the researcher and discussed several questions about the most needed changes in leadership in Africa today. These concerned the most desirable characteristics in political leadership in Africa and how Diasporic African leaders can support leadership improvement in Africa. All group discussions began with consideration of the philosophy and relevance of Ubuntu a tradition-based perspective that has re-emerged through Africa in the last 30 years. Groups discussed how leadership renewal and improvement related to reviving practices based on Ubuntu. Transcripts from these sessions were analyzed for the number of mentions of particular ideas. Results were condensed into clusters of related ideas and themes for purposes of discussion. The top responses to the first question about challenges were about incompetence; corruption; and the exclusion of good leaders and officials because of sexism, tribalism, and nepotism. The leading responses to the second question on desirable leadership characteristics emphasized honesty, personal qualities of leaders, achieving visionary leadership, and enacting democratic values. In response to the third question of involving the Diaspora, a diverse range of ways in which help would be given were enumerated. This work concludes with a synthesis of the perspectives of Diasporic Africans on how to restore sound leadership in home countries. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, https://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/etd
Lize Booysen, DBL (Committee Chair)
Laura Morgan Roberts, PhD (Committee Member)
Richard Lobban , PhD (Committee Member)
206 p.
African Studies
Ubuntu; Leadership; Focus Groups; Diaspora; Corruption

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kyei-Poakwa, D. (2021). Restoring the Traditional Quality of African Leadership: Perspectives from the Diaspora [Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1624450807302645

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kyei-Poakwa, Daniel. Restoring the Traditional Quality of African Leadership: Perspectives from the Diaspora. 2021. Antioch University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1624450807302645.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kyei-Poakwa, Daniel. "Restoring the Traditional Quality of African Leadership: Perspectives from the Diaspora." Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1624450807302645

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

antioch1624450807302645
276
© 2021, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Antioch University and OhioLINK.