"Cherchez le Chercheur" No. IV Following last week’s group portrait, this time we offer you a real ‘Cherchez le Chercheur’ picture. Have you spotted the fieldworker in the rear?

The shot was taken by a German photo journalist who covered the ‘HIV/Aids awareness campaign’ promoted by the king of Akyem Abuakwa. The main attention is drawn to the illustrious king (wearing an expensive Kente cloth), two Ghanaian WHO representatives and a biochemist from Potsdam/Germany. All are surrounded by curious palace officials and spectators catching a glimpse of the royal blood test.

After his return to Germany, the journalist published this picture in the SPIEGEL news magazine. The media campaign not only served the king’s ambitions. It is also an ethnographic account; it identifies the researcher in his field while participating in another ‘traditional’ palace activity constructed around a ‘modernist’ issue.

Now, watch the whole scene from the fieldworker’s perspective: the counter-picture includes, of course, the SPIEGEL journalist and the king standing right under the royal umbrella (kyinie).

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A Register of abductees confirms reality of slavery in Sudan. The report presents a list of 11.000 people who were abducted from rebel-held areas by tribal militias supported by the Sudanese Government. 10 000 of them are still missing. Most people were young man abducted from cattle camps where they were herding livestock. The raids mainly took place in the south-western district bahr al-ghasal. In the Christian south a rebellion against the Khartoum government has raged for almost 20 years.

Key statistical findings during the 20-year period covered in the research included the fact that:

-- 1,862 raids took place in which southerners were abducted; -- 5,148 people were recorded as having been killed in the raids; -- 60% of abductees were of abductees were under the age of 18 when they were taken; -- a majority of abductees were male; and -- in the worst affected village -- Ajok -- 101 adults and children were abducted in a single week.

Take a look at the whole story, or at its compact version.

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A Model United Nations is a simulation, where students are representing diplomates of different countries. By doing, one learns a lot about international relations and diplomatic conduct. We have a very active and succesfull simulation group in Munich, which is participating every year in the world's biggest student UN simulation in New York. If you are interested, you should go to an information evening, that will be next monday, 2 June 2003, at Geschwister-Scholl-Institut für Politische Wissenschaft (Oettingenstrasse 67), Raum 1.14 (im 1. OG). More Information at NMUN München or NMUN New York

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