African history Books

Book SynopsisThe end of World War II heralded a new global order. Decolonization swept the world and the United Nations, founded in 1945, came to embody the hopes of the world's colonized people as an instrument of freedom. North Africa became a particularly contested region and events there reverberated around the world. In Morocco, the emerging nationalist movement developed social networks that spanned three continents and engaged supporters from CIA agents, British journalists, and Asian diplomats to a Coca-Cola manager and a former First Lady. Globalizing Morocco traces how these networks helped the nationalists achieve independence—and then enabled the establishment of an authoritarian monarchy that persists today. David Stenner tells the story of the Moroccan activists who managed to sway world opinion against the French and Spanish colonial authorities to gain independence, and in so doing illustrates how they contributed to the formation of international relations during the early Cold War. Looking at post-1945 world politics from the Moroccan vantage point, we can see fissures in the global order that allowed the peoples of Africa and Asia to influence a hierarchical system whose main purpose had been to keep them at the bottom. In the process, these anticolonial networks created an influential new model for transnational activism that remains relevant still to contemporary struggles. Trade Review"David Stenner's sophisticated study of the Moroccan nationalists' social-political international network innovates the conversation on modern Middle Eastern and decolonization history. This rich story reflects the all-out pragmatism of the Moroccans, and culminates in an ironic twist when the nationalists' network is turned into a domestic liability. A great, well-argued read." -- Cyrus Schayegh, The Graduate Institute * Geneva *"David Stenner's book is the best transnational history of Moroccan independence I've ever read, including work in French and Arabic. Globalizing Morocco is as deep as it is easy to read. A masterful success." -- Maâti Monjib, University of Mohammed V * Rabat *"David Stenner locates Moroccan nationalists at the vanguard of what would become a worldwide movement of anti-colonial revolutionaries—a full decade before the conference at Bandung, Moroccan activists navigated the global circuits of the Cold War world in pursuit of sovereignty.Globalizing Morocco is an important contribution to the new Cold War history and the history of decolonization." -- Paul Thomas Chamberlin * Columbia University *"Stenner's book is a great contribution to the research fields of anticolonialism and the history of decolonization. It confirms the multi-layered and multiplayer nature of anticolonial politics and the respective transition processes leading to the postcolonial period. It also provides interesting examples of how to use network approaches and Digital Humanities tools to deal with that complexity." -- Ana Moledo * H-Soz-Kult *"Stenner masterfully situates the [Moroccan] independence movement within the context of the rise of NATO, the UN, and the Arab League....this study offers an integrated, balanced account of the Moroccan nationalist movement situated within international events of the global 1940s and 1950s. Highly recommended." -- J. Tallon * CHOICE *"David Stenner's masterful new history of the Moroccan independence movement....delivers on virtually all fronts.The writing is lucid, argumentative, and focused on a few key arguments. It includes several never before seen photographs of the era. The source base reflects research in a truly impressive number of archives." -- Ann Marie Wainscott * H-Diplo *"Stenner's enticing book is about the globalizing strategy of the anticolonial struggle and it succeeds in masterfully showing the international networks of supporters that closely cooperated with Istiqlal and the nationalist movement.[An] important contribution to the history of nationalism in Morocco, especially to US-Moroccan history." -- Blanca Camps-Febrer * E-International Relations *"The originality of the study, the rigorous methodology developed by social network analysis, and the extensive use of sources in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic, most of them traced to an impressive number of archives in Morocco, France, Spain, England, and United States, make Stenner's book a remarkable work....[Globalizing Morocco] makes an important contribution to the existing literature on Moroccan nationalism and the history of decolonization, introducing new and stimulating perspectives and results." -- Barbara De Poli * Bustan *"By introducing a novel way of thinking about the Moroccan anticolonial struggle that draws upon transnational network analysis, Stenner recovers an overlooked history....Stenner has written an excellent book that deserves serious consideration from all historians interested in anticolonial movements." -- Etty Terem * American Historical Review *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction: Networked Anticolonial Activism chapter abstractThis chapter introduces the reader to the history of colonial Morocco and the nationalist movement before engaging with the scholarship on decolonization and the early Cold War. It specifically explores the following issues: How did the Moroccan nationalists successfully internationalize their call for an independent constitutional monarchy? How did they communicate their message abroad? What role did their transnational activism have on the process of state-formation following the end of the French and Spanish protectorates in 1956? In order to answer these questions, the chapter engages with social network analysis to demonstrate how Sultan Mohamed ben Youssef managed to weaken the political opposition after independence by co-opting the central players behind their international anticolonial campaign. The monarch thereby obtained the pivotal social and human capital necessary to secure the hegemony of the Alaoui royal family. 1Tangier: Gateway to the World chapter abstractThis chapter describes how the Moroccans made Tangier the central hub of their transnational advocacy campaign. In April 1951, the country's four anticolonial parties signed the National Pact to coordinate their activities on the exterior. Benefiting from the international city's unique legal status, they facilitated the flow of information and resources between the two protectorates and their propaganda offices abroad. Several US businessmen and the American Federation of Labor supported their activities against the explicit will of the US State Department. Moreover, the Moroccans recruited a couple of English journalists visiting the northern port city and thereby managed to bring their message to the Anglophone world. 2Cairo: The Search for Arab Solidarity chapter abstractThis chapter deals with the first Moroccan delegates to the Arab League in 1946, who eventually cofounded the Office of the Arab Maghrib together with activists from Algeria and Tunisia. Despite several setbacks, the North African nationalists achieved a series of impressive publicity successes that attracted the attention of the Islamic world at a time when most Arabs remained predominantly concerned with the issue of Palestine. But their campaign came to an abrupt halt when the Free Officers overthrew the Egyptian monarchy in July 1952 and established a revolutionary republic. Despite its public embrace of Pan-Arabism, the new regime undermined the Moroccan nationalists' activities in the Middle East by destabilizing their local network of supporters. The Arab League thus failed to provide substantive diplomatic support to the Moroccan campaign for independence. 3Paris: Conquering the Metropole chapter abstractThis chapter describes the nationalist propaganda activities in Paris following World War II. Organized around the Bureau du Parti de l'Istiqlal and supported by the large local community of Moroccan workers and students, the nationalists convinced many French elites of their demands. A heterogeneous alliance of both leftist politicians and Catholic intellectuals helped them bring the case of Morocco to public attention in the wake of a massacre committed by French troops in Casablanca in December 1952. The nationalists also lobbied the UN General Assembly, which met in Paris in 1948 and 1951, but without great success. Nonetheless, by the fall of 1955, a majority of delegates in the National Assembly opposed a continuation of the protectorate regime. 4New York: Capital of Diplomacy chapter abstractThis chapter examines how the nationalist movement sent its first delegate on a temporary assignment to the United Nations in 1947, where he created a large network of contacts in the corridors of the UN building in Lake Placid and drew considerable attention to the Moroccan case. By 1952, the anticolonial activists finally opened their permanent bureau, the Moroccan Office of Information and Documentation, in New York. Supported by their British mentor Rom Landau, they lobbied the American public and politicians as well as the diplomatic delegations to the UN through personal contacts and an elaborate media campaign. Deeply worried by these achievements, France conducted counterpropaganda to undermine their efforts. Although neither the Truman nor the Eisenhower administration openly embraced their demands, the Moroccans' activism in the United States put great international pressure on the government in Paris. 5Rabat: The Homecoming chapter abstractThis chapter deals with the process of state-formation after independence in 1956, which culminated in a power struggle between the royal palace and the Istiqlal Party. The now-king Mohamed V managed to co-opt the central nodes of the nationalist movement's transnational network of supporters by recruiting many of its members to work for the royal palace or sending them abroad as ambassadors. He thereby increased the social capital at his disposal while simultaneously weakening the Istiqlal. Even the nationalists' foreign associates now publicly embraced the monarch and thus legitimized his status. His successful state visit to the United States in November 1957 symbolized the triumph of the king, who had replaced the nationalist movement as the sole representative of the Moroccan nation. Conclusion: Decolonization Reconsidered chapter abstractThe conclusion discusses the larger insights gained from studying the history of the Moroccan liberation struggle. It reevaluates the process of decolonization by looking at the continuities between the colonial era and the postcolonial state. Moreover, it emphasizes the important roles played by nonstate actors in the making of the post-1945 international order despite the constraints imposed on them by the binary logic of the Cold War. Finally, it demonstrates that the pro-Western foreign policy pursued by the Moroccans after 1956 resulted from the nationalist movement's global campaign for independence. The legacy of the propaganda offices in New York, Cairo, and Paris thus continues to shape the North African kingdom today.

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Book SynopsisThe end of World War II heralded a new global order. Decolonization swept the world and the United Nations, founded in 1945, came to embody the hopes of the world's colonized people as an instrument of freedom. North Africa became a particularly contested region and events there reverberated around the world. In Morocco, the emerging nationalist movement developed social networks that spanned three continents and engaged supporters from CIA agents, British journalists, and Asian diplomats to a Coca-Cola manager and a former First Lady. Globalizing Morocco traces how these networks helped the nationalists achieve independence—and then enabled the establishment of an authoritarian monarchy that persists today. David Stenner tells the story of the Moroccan activists who managed to sway world opinion against the French and Spanish colonial authorities to gain independence, and in so doing illustrates how they contributed to the formation of international relations during the early Cold War. Looking at post-1945 world politics from the Moroccan vantage point, we can see fissures in the global order that allowed the peoples of Africa and Asia to influence a hierarchical system whose main purpose had been to keep them at the bottom. In the process, these anticolonial networks created an influential new model for transnational activism that remains relevant still to contemporary struggles. Trade Review"David Stenner's sophisticated study of the Moroccan nationalists' social-political international network innovates the conversation on modern Middle Eastern and decolonization history. This rich story reflects the all-out pragmatism of the Moroccans, and culminates in an ironic twist when the nationalists' network is turned into a domestic liability. A great, well-argued read." -- Cyrus Schayegh, The Graduate Institute * Geneva *"David Stenner's book is the best transnational history of Moroccan independence I've ever read, including work in French and Arabic. Globalizing Morocco is as deep as it is easy to read. A masterful success." -- Maâti Monjib, University of Mohammed V * Rabat *"David Stenner locates Moroccan nationalists at the vanguard of what would become a worldwide movement of anti-colonial revolutionaries—a full decade before the conference at Bandung, Moroccan activists navigated the global circuits of the Cold War world in pursuit of sovereignty.Globalizing Morocco is an important contribution to the new Cold War history and the history of decolonization." -- Paul Thomas Chamberlin * Columbia University *"Stenner's book is a great contribution to the research fields of anticolonialism and the history of decolonization. It confirms the multi-layered and multiplayer nature of anticolonial politics and the respective transition processes leading to the postcolonial period. It also provides interesting examples of how to use network approaches and Digital Humanities tools to deal with that complexity." -- Ana Moledo * H-Soz-Kult *"Stenner masterfully situates the [Moroccan] independence movement within the context of the rise of NATO, the UN, and the Arab League....this study offers an integrated, balanced account of the Moroccan nationalist movement situated within international events of the global 1940s and 1950s. Highly recommended." -- J. Tallon * CHOICE *"David Stenner's masterful new history of the Moroccan independence movement....delivers on virtually all fronts.The writing is lucid, argumentative, and focused on a few key arguments. It includes several never before seen photographs of the era. The source base reflects research in a truly impressive number of archives." -- Ann Marie Wainscott * H-Diplo *"Stenner's enticing book is about the globalizing strategy of the anticolonial struggle and it succeeds in masterfully showing the international networks of supporters that closely cooperated with Istiqlal and the nationalist movement.[An] important contribution to the history of nationalism in Morocco, especially to US-Moroccan history." -- Blanca Camps-Febrer * E-International Relations *"The originality of the study, the rigorous methodology developed by social network analysis, and the extensive use of sources in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic, most of them traced to an impressive number of archives in Morocco, France, Spain, England, and United States, make Stenner's book a remarkable work....[Globalizing Morocco] makes an important contribution to the existing literature on Moroccan nationalism and the history of decolonization, introducing new and stimulating perspectives and results." -- Barbara De Poli * Bustan *"By introducing a novel way of thinking about the Moroccan anticolonial struggle that draws upon transnational network analysis, Stenner recovers an overlooked history....Stenner has written an excellent book that deserves serious consideration from all historians interested in anticolonial movements." -- Etty Terem * American Historical Review *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction: Networked Anticolonial Activism chapter abstractThis chapter introduces the reader to the history of colonial Morocco and the nationalist movement before engaging with the scholarship on decolonization and the early Cold War. It specifically explores the following issues: How did the Moroccan nationalists successfully internationalize their call for an independent constitutional monarchy? How did they communicate their message abroad? What role did their transnational activism have on the process of state-formation following the end of the French and Spanish protectorates in 1956? In order to answer these questions, the chapter engages with social network analysis to demonstrate how Sultan Mohamed ben Youssef managed to weaken the political opposition after independence by co-opting the central players behind their international anticolonial campaign. The monarch thereby obtained the pivotal social and human capital necessary to secure the hegemony of the Alaoui royal family. 1Tangier: Gateway to the World chapter abstractThis chapter describes how the Moroccans made Tangier the central hub of their transnational advocacy campaign. In April 1951, the country's four anticolonial parties signed the National Pact to coordinate their activities on the exterior. Benefiting from the international city's unique legal status, they facilitated the flow of information and resources between the two protectorates and their propaganda offices abroad. Several US businessmen and the American Federation of Labor supported their activities against the explicit will of the US State Department. Moreover, the Moroccans recruited a couple of English journalists visiting the northern port city and thereby managed to bring their message to the Anglophone world. 2Cairo: The Search for Arab Solidarity chapter abstractThis chapter deals with the first Moroccan delegates to the Arab League in 1946, who eventually cofounded the Office of the Arab Maghrib together with activists from Algeria and Tunisia. Despite several setbacks, the North African nationalists achieved a series of impressive publicity successes that attracted the attention of the Islamic world at a time when most Arabs remained predominantly concerned with the issue of Palestine. But their campaign came to an abrupt halt when the Free Officers overthrew the Egyptian monarchy in July 1952 and established a revolutionary republic. Despite its public embrace of Pan-Arabism, the new regime undermined the Moroccan nationalists' activities in the Middle East by destabilizing their local network of supporters. The Arab League thus failed to provide substantive diplomatic support to the Moroccan campaign for independence. 3Paris: Conquering the Metropole chapter abstractThis chapter describes the nationalist propaganda activities in Paris following World War II. Organized around the Bureau du Parti de l'Istiqlal and supported by the large local community of Moroccan workers and students, the nationalists convinced many French elites of their demands. A heterogeneous alliance of both leftist politicians and Catholic intellectuals helped them bring the case of Morocco to public attention in the wake of a massacre committed by French troops in Casablanca in December 1952. The nationalists also lobbied the UN General Assembly, which met in Paris in 1948 and 1951, but without great success. Nonetheless, by the fall of 1955, a majority of delegates in the National Assembly opposed a continuation of the protectorate regime. 4New York: Capital of Diplomacy chapter abstractThis chapter examines how the nationalist movement sent its first delegate on a temporary assignment to the United Nations in 1947, where he created a large network of contacts in the corridors of the UN building in Lake Placid and drew considerable attention to the Moroccan case. By 1952, the anticolonial activists finally opened their permanent bureau, the Moroccan Office of Information and Documentation, in New York. Supported by their British mentor Rom Landau, they lobbied the American public and politicians as well as the diplomatic delegations to the UN through personal contacts and an elaborate media campaign. Deeply worried by these achievements, France conducted counterpropaganda to undermine their efforts. Although neither the Truman nor the Eisenhower administration openly embraced their demands, the Moroccans' activism in the United States put great international pressure on the government in Paris. 5Rabat: The Homecoming chapter abstractThis chapter deals with the process of state-formation after independence in 1956, which culminated in a power struggle between the royal palace and the Istiqlal Party. The now-king Mohamed V managed to co-opt the central nodes of the nationalist movement's transnational network of supporters by recruiting many of its members to work for the royal palace or sending them abroad as ambassadors. He thereby increased the social capital at his disposal while simultaneously weakening the Istiqlal. Even the nationalists' foreign associates now publicly embraced the monarch and thus legitimized his status. His successful state visit to the United States in November 1957 symbolized the triumph of the king, who had replaced the nationalist movement as the sole representative of the Moroccan nation. Conclusion: Decolonization Reconsidered chapter abstractThe conclusion discusses the larger insights gained from studying the history of the Moroccan liberation struggle. It reevaluates the process of decolonization by looking at the continuities between the colonial era and the postcolonial state. Moreover, it emphasizes the important roles played by nonstate actors in the making of the post-1945 international order despite the constraints imposed on them by the binary logic of the Cold War. Finally, it demonstrates that the pro-Western foreign policy pursued by the Moroccans after 1956 resulted from the nationalist movement's global campaign for independence. The legacy of the propaganda offices in New York, Cairo, and Paris thus continues to shape the North African kingdom today.

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Book SynopsisThis book, the first-ever collection of primary documents on North African history and the Holocaust, gives voice to the diversity of those involved—Muslims, Christians, and Jews; women, men, and children; black, brown, and white; the unknown and the notable; locals, refugees, the displaced, and the interned; soldiers, officers, bureaucrats, volunteer fighters, and the forcibly recruited. At times their calls are lofty, full of spiritual lamentation and political outrage. At others, they are humble, yearning for medicine, a cigarette, or a pair of shoes. Translated from French, Arabic, North African Judeo-Arabic, Spanish, Hebrew, Moroccan Darija, Tamazight (Berber), Italian, and Yiddish, or transcribed from their original English, these writings shed light on how war, occupation, race laws, internment, and Vichy French, Italian fascist, and German Nazi rule were experienced day by day across North Africa. Though some selections are drawn from published books, including memoirs, diaries, and collections of poetry, most have never been published before, nor previously translated into English. These human experiences, combined, make up the history of wartime North Africa.Trade Review"Wartime North Africa is an essential and groundbreaking addition to scholarship of the Second World War. With great care and intelligence, Aomar Boum and Sarah Abrevaya Stein draw an intimate picture of the region. This is a book as beautiful as the people it portrays."—Laila Lalami, author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Moor's Account"This brilliantly curated selection of personal histories illuminates the diversity and complexity of the North African region, culturally and politically, before, during, and just after the war. Wartime North Africa captures a broad spectrum of the lived experience of civilians across the region. Revelatory!"—Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews"A game-changer. Wartime North Africa comes as a revelation. This archive of little-known, multilingual sources makes it possible—no, necessary!—to include discussion of North Africa, with its complex layering of colonialism, nationalism, and fascism, in any classroom that takes up World War II and the Holocaust."—Michael Rothberg, author of Multidirectional Memory and The Implicated SubjectTable of ContentsIntroduction: Introduction 1. The rise of fascism and Nazism as seen from North Africa (1934-1940) 2. Race laws, internment, & spoliation (1940-1943) 3. The late and post-war era (1943-1950)

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Book SynopsisA new history of twentieth-century North Africa, that gives voice to the musicians who defined an era and the vibrant recording industry that carried their popular sounds from the colonial period through decolonization. If twentieth-century stories of Jews and Muslims in North Africa are usually told separately, Recording History demonstrates that we have not been listening to what brought these communities together: Arab music. For decades, thousands of phonograph records flowed across North African borders. The sounds embedded in their grooves were shaped in large part by Jewish musicians, who gave voice to a changing world around them. Their popular songs broadcast on radio, performed in concert, and circulated on disc carried with them the power to delight audiences, stir national sentiments, and frustrate French colonial authorities. With this book, Christopher Silver provides the first history of the music scene and recording industry across Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, and offers striking insights into Jewish-Muslim relations through the rhythms that animated them. He traces the path of hit-makers and their hit records, illuminating regional and transnational connections. In asking what North Africa once sounded like, Silver recovers a world of many voices—of pioneering impresarios, daring female stars, cantors turned composers, witnesses and survivors of war, and national and nationalist icons—whose music still resonates well into our present.Trade Review"Masterfully orchestrating the sounds of the North African music industry, Recording History provides a fresh and unique tune to North African history. Analyzing the silences, echoes, and sounds of Jewish-Muslim relations, this delightful book is a classic in the making."—Aomar Boum, University of California, Los Angeles, editor of Wartime North Africa"Recording History is a highly original transnational study that masterfully fills an important gap in the history of popular culture in Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria. By astutely listening to the past, Christopher Silver paints a rich and complex picture of North African music, aural culture, and recording history."—Ziad Fahmy, Cornell University, author of Street Sounds"Christopher Silver's noble quest to bring this lost world back to life, via obscure Maghrebi music stores and dusty boxes of shellac records in Montreal and Paris, allows us to restore its missing notes and fill in a silence in the soundtrack of our history."—Matti Friedman, Jewish Review of Books"Silver's contribution to the rapidly growing field of Sephardic Studies is a great achievement. I commend him for his active efforts to not only rescue this history from obscurity, but to bring it back to life and share it with the world."—Hannah Srour-Zackon, The Canadian Jewish News"Based on meticulous research and the [Silver]'s impressive knowledge of multiple languages and musical genres, the book represents a landmark in the study of the musical cultures of North Africa and provides an exhaustive history of the music, thereby setting a high bar for future scholarship on the region and its cultural dynamics."—Jonathan Shannon, The Journal of North African Studies"This book is a welcome addition to the fields of Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and cultural history more broadly.... Recording History has opened the door to a brilliant new historiographical soundscape."—Alma Rachel Heckman, Canadian Jewish Studies"Recording History is both exciting new research on music itself, and an unexpected history of North African Jews and Jewish-Muslim relations, through the framework of a shared musical heritage."—Phoebe Maltz Bovy, Canadian Jewish News"Recording History is a well-written and compelling book. Silver meticulously narrates the rich stories of artists and songs and contextualizes them in the social, political, and economic contexts of their times."—Hugo Hadji, Musica Judaica Online Reviews

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Book SynopsisA new history of twentieth-century North Africa, that gives voice to the musicians who defined an era and the vibrant recording industry that carried their popular sounds from the colonial period through decolonization. If twentieth-century stories of Jews and Muslims in North Africa are usually told separately, Recording History demonstrates that we have not been listening to what brought these communities together: Arab music. For decades, thousands of phonograph records flowed across North African borders. The sounds embedded in their grooves were shaped in large part by Jewish musicians, who gave voice to a changing world around them. Their popular songs broadcast on radio, performed in concert, and circulated on disc carried with them the power to delight audiences, stir national sentiments, and frustrate French colonial authorities. With this book, Christopher Silver provides the first history of the music scene and recording industry across Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, and offers striking insights into Jewish-Muslim relations through the rhythms that animated them. He traces the path of hit-makers and their hit records, illuminating regional and transnational connections. In asking what North Africa once sounded like, Silver recovers a world of many voices—of pioneering impresarios, daring female stars, cantors turned composers, witnesses and survivors of war, and national and nationalist icons—whose music still resonates well into our present.Trade Review"Masterfully orchestrating the sounds of the North African music industry, Recording History provides a fresh and unique tune to North African history. Analyzing the silences, echoes, and sounds of Jewish-Muslim relations, this delightful book is a classic in the making."—Aomar Boum, University of California, Los Angeles, editor of Wartime North Africa"Recording History is a highly original transnational study that masterfully fills an important gap in the history of popular culture in Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria. By astutely listening to the past, Christopher Silver paints a rich and complex picture of North African music, aural culture, and recording history."—Ziad Fahmy, Cornell University, author of Street Sounds"Christopher Silver's noble quest to bring this lost world back to life, via obscure Maghrebi music stores and dusty boxes of shellac records in Montreal and Paris, allows us to restore its missing notes and fill in a silence in the soundtrack of our history."—Matti Friedman, Jewish Review of Books"Silver's contribution to the rapidly growing field of Sephardic Studies is a great achievement. I commend him for his active efforts to not only rescue this history from obscurity, but to bring it back to life and share it with the world."—Hannah Srour-Zackon, The Canadian Jewish News"Based on meticulous research and the [Silver]'s impressive knowledge of multiple languages and musical genres, the book represents a landmark in the study of the musical cultures of North Africa and provides an exhaustive history of the music, thereby setting a high bar for future scholarship on the region and its cultural dynamics."—Jonathan Shannon, The Journal of North African Studies"This book is a welcome addition to the fields of Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and cultural history more broadly.... Recording History has opened the door to a brilliant new historiographical soundscape."—Alma Rachel Heckman, Canadian Jewish Studies"Recording History is both exciting new research on music itself, and an unexpected history of North African Jews and Jewish-Muslim relations, through the framework of a shared musical heritage."—Phoebe Maltz Bovy, Canadian Jewish News"Recording History is a well-written and compelling book. Silver meticulously narrates the rich stories of artists and songs and contextualizes them in the social, political, and economic contexts of their times."—Hugo Hadji, Musica Judaica Online Reviews"Recording History makes an invaluable contribution to scholarship on the complex musical histories of North Africa in the 20th century. It will be of great benefit to anyone interested in not only the music of the region but also histories of colonialism, technology, and religion within North Africa."—Stephen Wilford, International Journal of Middle East Studies

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Book SynopsisThis book, the first-ever collection of primary documents on North African history and the Holocaust, gives voice to the diversity of those involved—Muslims, Christians, and Jews; women, men, and children; black, brown, and white; the unknown and the notable; locals, refugees, the displaced, and the interned; soldiers, officers, bureaucrats, volunteer fighters, and the forcibly recruited. At times their calls are lofty, full of spiritual lamentation and political outrage. At others, they are humble, yearning for medicine, a cigarette, or a pair of shoes. Translated from French, Arabic, North African Judeo-Arabic, Spanish, Hebrew, Moroccan Darija, Tamazight (Berber), Italian, and Yiddish, or transcribed from their original English, these writings shed light on how war, occupation, race laws, internment, and Vichy French, Italian fascist, and German Nazi rule were experienced day by day across North Africa. Though some selections are drawn from published books, including memoirs, diaries, and collections of poetry, most have never been published before, nor previously translated into English. These human experiences, combined, make up the history of wartime North Africa.Trade Review"Wartime North Africa is an essential and groundbreaking addition to scholarship of the Second World War. With great care and intelligence, Aomar Boum and Sarah Abrevaya Stein draw an intimate picture of the region. This is a book as beautiful as the people it portrays."—Laila Lalami, author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Moor's Account"This brilliantly curated selection of personal histories illuminates the diversity and complexity of the North African region, culturally and politically, before, during, and just after the war. Wartime North Africa captures a broad spectrum of the lived experience of civilians across the region. Revelatory!"—Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews"A game-changer. Wartime North Africa comes as a revelation. This archive of little-known, multilingual sources makes it possible—no, necessary!—to include discussion of North Africa, with its complex layering of colonialism, nationalism, and fascism, in any classroom that takes up World War II and the Holocaust."—Michael Rothberg, author of Multidirectional Memory and The Implicated SubjectTable of ContentsIntroduction: Introduction 1. The rise of fascism and Nazism as seen from North Africa (1934-1940) 2. Race laws, internment, & spoliation (1940-1943) 3. The late and post-war era (1943-1950)

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Book SynopsisUpon their independence, Moroccan, Algerian, and Tunisian governments turned to the Global South and offered military and financial aid to Black liberation struggles. Tangier and Algiers attracted Black American and Caribbean artists eager to escape American white supremacy; Tunis hosted African filmmakers for the Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage; and young freedom fighters from across the African continent established military training camps in Morocco. North Africa became a haven for militant-artists, and the region reshaped postcolonial cultural discourse through the 1960s and 1970s. Maghreb Noir dives into the personal and political lives of these militant-artists, who collectively challenged the neo-colonialist structures and the authoritarianism of African states. Drawing on Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English sources, as well as interviews with the artists themselves, Paraska Tolan-Szkilnik expands our understanding of Pan-Africanism geographically, linguistically, and temporally. This network of militant-artists departed from the racial solidarity extolled by many of their nationalist forefathers, instead following in the footsteps of their intellectual mentor, Frantz Fanon. They argued for the creation of a new ideology of continued revolution—one that was transnational, trans-racial, and in defiance of the emerging nation-states. Maghreb Noir establishes the importance of North Africa in nurturing these global connections—and uncovers a lost history of grassroots collaboration among militant-artists from across the globe.Trade Review"Maghreb Noir takes us from Rabat to Algiers to Tunis to demonstrate how 1960s North Africa was an epicenter of pan-African thought and Black radicalism. Showcasing a region too long left out of histories of pan-Africanism and Black internationalism, Paraska Tolan-Szkilnik has written a meticulously researched, effortlessly transnational work."—Hisham Aidi, Columbia University, author of Rebel Music"Maghreb Noir is a much-needed addition to North African studies. Rich, archivally informed and subtly argued, it captures the voices and footsteps of a generation of Pan-African militants and artists who chose the Maghreb as their stage of contestation. An essential read for anyone interested in Pan-African revolutionary politics."—Aomar Boum, UCLA, author of Undesirables: A Holocaust Journey to North Africa"Stimulating and convincing, Maghreb Noir renews our perspectives on both the Africanity of the Maghreb and its wider history."—Jocelyne Dakhlia, École des hautes études en sciences sociales"Tolan-Szkilnik's command of her sources and analytical approach has provided readers with aninsightful work that allows them to better understand the Maghreb and the nature of its cultural production between the 1950s and the 1970s."—Tugrul Mende, The Markaz Review"Drawing on interviews, personal papers, and the archives of many of the surviving protagonists, this lively book revisits the heady age of anticolonial revolution and political ferment in North Africa in the middle decades of the twentieth century, when liberation was in the air and solidarity was glamorous."—Lisa Anderson, Foreign AffairsTable of ContentsIntroduction: Introduction Chapter 1: Revolt Respects No Borders: Luso-African Revolutionaries in Rabat Chapter 2: A Continent in Its Totality: Moroccan Literary Journal Souffles Turns to Angola Chapter 3: Poetry on All Fronts: Jean Sénac's Fight for Algeria's Airwaves Chapter 4: Nothing to Fear from the Poet: Hooking up at the Pan-African Festival of Algiers Chapter 5: The Red in Red-Carpet: The Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage Conclusion: Conclusion

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Book SynopsisAfter the Cold War, Africa earned the dubious distinction of being the world's most bloody continent. But how can we explain this proliferation of armed conflicts? What caused them and what were their main characteristics? And what did the world's governments do to stop them? In this fully revised and updated second edition of his popular text, Paul Williams offers an in-depth and wide-ranging assessment of more than six hundred armed conflicts which took place in Africa from 1990 to the present day - from the continental catastrophe in the Great Lakes region to the sprawling conflicts across the Sahel and the web of wars in the Horn of Africa. Taking a broad comparative approach to examine the political contexts in which these wars occurred, he explores the major patterns of organized violence, the key ingredients that provoked them and the major international responses undertaken to deliver lasting peace. Part I, Contexts provides an overview of the most important attempts to measure the number, scale and location of Africa's armed conflicts and provides a conceptual and political sketch of the terrain of struggle upon which these wars were waged. Part II, Ingredients analyses the role of five widely debated features of Africa's wars: the dynamics of neopatrimonial systems of governance; the construction and manipulation of ethnic identities; questions of sovereignty and self-determination; as well as the impact of natural resources and religion. Part III, Responses, discusses four major international reactions to Africa's wars: attempts to build a new institutional architecture to help promote peace and security on the continent; this architecture's two main policy instruments, peacemaking initiatives and peace operations; and efforts to develop the continent. War and Conflict in Africa will be essential reading for all students of international peace and security studies as well as Africa's international relations.Trade Review�War and Conflict in Africa is a fantastic resource for all those who want to learn about the causes, consequences, and solutions to African conflicts. Superbly researched, written, and documented, it manages to cover and synthesize the major debates on war and peace in Africa in a single book.�Séverine Autesserre, Barnard College, Columbia University�Paul Williams knows the politics of conflict and its resolution backwards and forwards. In this bold second edition, he expands his analysis to explain a worrisome upswing in violence in Africa. Full of helpful insights and mastery of the wide literature, Williams explains how the survival strategies of authoritarian regimes are linked to highly fragmented and complex war zones. Superbly revised and expanded, this brilliant book is a landmark in the literature on the politics of conflict.�William Reno, Northwestern University�This impressive book provides a comprehensive overview of wars and conflicts in modern Africa, the ideas that have been used to explain them, and the means that have been deployed in the attempt to overcome them. It is absolutely essential reading for anyone concerned with these issues. The central conclusion that �most of the keys required to unlock the secret of building stable peace on the continent are held by local actors� is one that I wholeheartedly endorse.�Christopher Clapham, Centre of African Studies, University of CambridgeTable of ContentsList of Tables List of Figures List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction Part I Contexts 1 Counting Africa's Conflicts (and their Casualties) 2 The Terrain of Struggle Part II Ingredients 3 Neopatrimonialism 4 Resources 5 Sovereignty 6 Ethnicity 7 Religion Part III Responses 8 Organization-Building 9 Peacemaking 10 Peace Operations 11 Aid Conclusion Appendix Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisAfter the Cold War, Africa earned the dubious distinction of being the world's most bloody continent. But how can we explain this proliferation of armed conflicts? What caused them and what were their main characteristics? And what did the world's governments do to stop them? In this fully revised and updated second edition of his popular text, Paul Williams offers an in-depth and wide-ranging assessment of more than six hundred armed conflicts which took place in Africa from 1990 to the present day - from the continental catastrophe in the Great Lakes region to the sprawling conflicts across the Sahel and the web of wars in the Horn of Africa. Taking a broad comparative approach to examine the political contexts in which these wars occurred, he explores the major patterns of organized violence, the key ingredients that provoked them and the major international responses undertaken to deliver lasting peace. Part I, Contexts provides an overview of the most important attempts to measure the number, scale and location of Africa's armed conflicts and provides a conceptual and political sketch of the terrain of struggle upon which these wars were waged. Part II, Ingredients analyses the role of five widely debated features of Africa's wars: the dynamics of neopatrimonial systems of governance; the construction and manipulation of ethnic identities; questions of sovereignty and self-determination; as well as the impact of natural resources and religion. Part III, Responses, discusses four major international reactions to Africa's wars: attempts to build a new institutional architecture to help promote peace and security on the continent; this architecture's two main policy instruments, peacemaking initiatives and peace operations; and efforts to develop the continent. War and Conflict in Africa will be essential reading for all students of international peace and security studies as well as Africa's international relations.Trade ReviewWar and Conflict in Africa is a fantastic resource for all those who want to learn about the causes, consequences, and solutions to African conflicts. Superbly researched, written, and documented, it manages to cover and synthesize the major debates on war and peace in Africa in a single book. Séverine Autesserre, Barnard College, Columbia University“Paul Williams knows the politics of conflict and its resolution backwards and forwards. In this bold second edition, he expands his analysis to explain a worrisome upswing in violence in Africa. Full of helpful insights and mastery of the wide literature, Williams explains how the survival strategies of authoritarian regimes are linked to highly fragmented and complex war zones. Superbly revised and expanded, this brilliant book is a landmark in the literature on the politics of conflict.”William Reno, Northwestern University“This impressive book provides a comprehensive overview of wars and conflicts in modern Africa, the ideas that have been used to explain them, and the means that have been deployed in the attempt to overcome them. It is absolutely essential reading for anyone concerned with these issues. The central conclusion that “most of the keys required to unlock the secret of building stable peace on the continent are held by local actors” is one that I wholeheartedly endorse.”Christopher Clapham, Centre of African Studies, University of CambridgeTable of ContentsList of Tables List of Figures List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction Part I Contexts 1 Counting Africa's Conflicts (and their Casualties) 2 The Terrain of Struggle Part II Ingredients 3 Neopatrimonialism 4 Resources 5 Sovereignty 6 Ethnicity 7 Religion Part III Responses 8 Organization-Building 9 Peacemaking 10 Peace Operations 11 Aid Conclusion Appendix Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisNever before has such damning evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity been revealed in the midst of a conflict. As civil war raged in Syria, we owe the disclosure of this evidence to one man. He goes under the codename of Caesar. This military police photographer was required to document the murder and torture of thousands of Syrian civilians in the custody of the Assad regime. Over the course of two years he used a police computer to copy the photos, and in 2013 he risked his life to smuggle out 53,000 photos and documents that show prisoners tortured, starved and burned to death. In January 2015, in the American magazine Foreign Affairs, President Bashar al-Assad claimed that this military photographer didn’t exist. “Who took the pictures? Who is he? Nobody knows. There is no verification of any of this evidence, so it’s all allegations without evidence.” Caesar exists. The author of this book has spent dozens of hours with him. His testimony is extraordinary, his photos shocking. The uncovering of the workings of the Syrian death machine that underpins his account is a descent into the unspeakable. In 2014 Caesar testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and his testimony provided crucial evidence for a bipartisan bill, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, that was presented to Congress in 2016. Caesar’s photos have also been shown in the United Nations Headquarters in New York and at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. For the first time, this book tells Caesar’s story.Trade ReviewThe winner of the Geschwister Scholl Prize'The images conjure memories of some of history's worst atrocities.'The New York Times'The Syrian defector known as 'Caesar'… helped expose some of the worst war crimes of our generation.'The Washington Post'Shocking evidence of torture out of Assad's dungeons'The GuardianTable of Contents Prologue Locations where the witnesses of this book were detained List of Syrians who bear witness in this book Foreword – Steven Heydeman Preface 1. Revelation. Testimony. Accusation 2. Profession Corpse Photographer 3. The Routine Turns to Horror 4. The Archives of Death 5. Communities and Religions 6. Caught in the Crossfire 7. With the Families of the Disappeared 8. A Duty to Get Out Alive 9. The Failure of Gradual Diplomacy 10. Testimony in Washington Appendices Acknowledgements Select Bibliography

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Book SynopsisA groundbreaking study of Blackness in Morocco through the lens of visual representation For more than thirteen centuries, caravans transported millions of enslaved people from Africa south of the Sahara into what is now the Kingdom of Morocco. Today there are no museums, plaques, or monuments that recognize this history of enslavement, but enslaved people and their descendants created the Gnawa identity that preserves this largely suppressed heritage. This pioneering book describes how Gnawa emerged as a practice associated with Blackness and enslavement by reviewing visual representation and musical traditions from the late nineteenth century to the present. Cynthia J. Becker addresses the historical consciousness of subaltern groups and how they give Blackness material form through modes of dress, visual art, religious ceremonies, and musical instruments in performance. She examines what it means to self-identify as Black in Morocco (a country typically associated with the Middle East and the Arab world), especially during this time of increased contemporary African migration, which has made Blackness even more visible. Her case studies draw on archival material and on her extended research in the city of Essaouira, site of the wildly popular Gnawa World Music Festival. Becker shows that Gnawa spirit possession ceremonies express the marginalization associated with enslavement and allow these unique communities to move toward healing, even as the mass-marketing of Gnawa music has resulted in some Gnawa practitioners engaging Blackness to claim legitimacy and spiritual power. This book challenges the framing of Africa’s cultural history into “sub-Saharan” versus “North African” or Islamic versus non-Islamic categories. Blackness in Morocco complicates how we think about the institution of slavery and its impact on North African religious and social institutions, and readers will better understand and appreciate the role of Africans in shaping global forces, including religious institutions such as Islam.Trade Review"Absolutely groundbreaking, Blackness in Morocco is the work of a trailblazing intellect. Showing that 'blackness' is constructed in Africa as elsewhere in the world, Cynthia J. Becker demonstrates a deep commitment to Gnawa lived experience, forever changing how we understand the religions and aesthetics of Africa."—Prita Meier, author of Swahili Port Cities: The Architecture of Elsewhere"Cynthia Becker's anthropological and artistic approaches fill many gaps in the history of Gnawa music and culture in Moroccan society. She explains lucidly how Gnawa music has been appropriated by mainstream culture and how it fits the global logic of race-making and the historical anti-blackness ideology. The most important part of this book is the epistemic agency of the Gnawa people through the narrative of songs, dance, and trance. In this regard it contributes to the epistemology of resistance."—Chouki El Hamel, author of Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam"A critical reading."— Ethnic and Racial Studies Table of ContentsContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsNote on Transcription and TransliterationIntroduction: Becoming Gnawa1. From Enslavement to Gnawa: Historical Postcards and the Construction of Gnawa Identity2. Black Women, Photographic Representation, and Female Agency3. Fraja Performances: Geo-Locating Gnawa Ceremonies in the Sudan4. Spirits in the Night: Blackness, Authenticity, and Potency in a Gnawa Lila5. Marketing Gnawa Authenticity: The Shrine of Bilal and Hats of the Bambara6. The Gnawa Guinbri: From Concealment to ExhibitionConclusion: Utopian Visions and Trans-Saharan RealitiesAppendix: Gnawa Spiritual RepertoireNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisA groundbreaking study of Blackness in Morocco through the lens of visual representation For more than thirteen centuries, caravans transported millions of enslaved people from Africa south of the Sahara into what is now the Kingdom of Morocco. Today there are no museums, plaques, or monuments that recognize this history of enslavement, but enslaved people and their descendants created the Gnawa identity that preserves this largely suppressed heritage. This pioneering book describes how Gnawa emerged as a practice associated with Blackness and enslavement by reviewing visual representation and musical traditions from the late nineteenth century to the present. Cynthia J. Becker addresses the historical consciousness of subaltern groups and how they give Blackness material form through modes of dress, visual art, religious ceremonies, and musical instruments in performance. She examines what it means to self-identify as Black in Morocco (a country typically associated with the Middle East and the Arab world), especially during this time of increased contemporary African migration, which has made Blackness even more visible. Her case studies draw on archival material and on her extended research in the city of Essaouira, site of the wildly popular Gnawa World Music Festival. Becker shows that Gnawa spirit possession ceremonies express the marginalization associated with enslavement and allow these unique communities to move toward healing, even as the mass-marketing of Gnawa music has resulted in some Gnawa practitioners engaging Blackness to claim legitimacy and spiritual power. This book challenges the framing of Africa’s cultural history into “sub-Saharan” versus “North African” or Islamic versus non-Islamic categories. Blackness in Morocco complicates how we think about the institution of slavery and its impact on North African religious and social institutions, and readers will better understand and appreciate the role of Africans in shaping global forces, including religious institutions such as Islam.Trade Review"Absolutely groundbreaking, Blackness in Morocco is the work of a trailblazing intellect. Showing that 'blackness' is constructed in Africa as elsewhere in the world, Cynthia J. Becker demonstrates a deep commitment to Gnawa lived experience, forever changing how we understand the religions and aesthetics of Africa."—Prita Meier, author of Swahili Port Cities: The Architecture of Elsewhere"Cynthia Becker's anthropological and artistic approaches fill many gaps in the history of Gnawa music and culture in Moroccan society. She explains lucidly how Gnawa music has been appropriated by mainstream culture and how it fits the global logic of race-making and the historical anti-blackness ideology. The most important part of this book is the epistemic agency of the Gnawa people through the narrative of songs, dance, and trance. In this regard it contributes to the epistemology of resistance."—Chouki El Hamel, author of Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam"A critical reading."— Ethnic and Racial Studies Table of ContentsContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsNote on Transcription and TransliterationIntroduction: Becoming Gnawa1. From Enslavement to Gnawa: Historical Postcards and the Construction of Gnawa Identity2. Black Women, Photographic Representation, and Female Agency3. Fraja Performances: Geo-Locating Gnawa Ceremonies in the Sudan4. Spirits in the Night: Blackness, Authenticity, and Potency in a Gnawa Lila5. Marketing Gnawa Authenticity: The Shrine of Bilal and Hats of the Bambara6. The Gnawa Guinbri: From Concealment to ExhibitionConclusion: Utopian Visions and Trans-Saharan RealitiesAppendix: Gnawa Spiritual RepertoireNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisWinner, Prix Pierre LafueWinner, Prix lycéen du livre d'histoire des Rendez-vous de l'histoire de BloisIn the archives of the main institution in charge of the history and memory of the genocide in Rwanda, several bundles of fragile little school notebooks contain, in the silence of accumulated dust, the stories of around a hundred surviving children. Written in 2006 at the initiative of a Rwandan survivors' association, as a testimonial and psychological catharsis, these accounts by children who have since become young men and women tell the story of their experience of the genocide, as well as of life before and life after. The words of these children, the cruel realism of the scenes they describe, the power of the emotions they express, provide the historian with an unparalleled insight into the subjectivities of the survivors, and also enable us to take on board the murderous discourse and gestures of those who eradicated their world of childhood

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Book SynopsisA history of America's tangled involvement in the transition of British and French West African territories to statehood. As an investigation of America's response to the decolonization process in West Africa, The United States and Decolonization in West Africa, 1950-60 fills several important gaps. The history of America's involvement in Africa remains understudied. This book focuses on a neglected decade when the "wind of change" swept across Africa. Critical of the traditional "nationalist" interpretation of the decolonization process in Africa, the author begins his book by placing the transition of British and French West African territories to statehood with a neocolonialist framework. In doing so, he abandons the conventional definitions and usages of "independence" and "decolonization", and makes a compelling case that these are two related but different phenomena. Nwaubani argues that the United States was not a catalyst in the transition process in West Africa, but rather acted in a neocolonialist fashion itself. He also gives a nuanced appraisal of the Cold War, demonstrating that it was not as important as popularly believed in determining US behavior in Africa. The primary focus of the book is on West Africa, with case studiesfocusing on the Ewe, Ghana [including the Volta dam project], and Guinea. But the broad issues discussed are framed in the larger context of sub-Saharan Africa, and against the backdrop of the larger debates about the nature of post-1945 United States diplomacy. Ebere Nwaubani is a member of the History Department, University of Colorado at Boulder.Trade ReviewWell-written and nuanced evaluation of US policy toward Africa. * CHOICE *Nwaubani has produced an excellent study on a neglected aspect of recent African international relations and history that offers new intrepretations and challenges to established ideas about US interests and actions toward the continent. * AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW *This is a clearly argued book with considerable interest and some surprising coverage, given the title, which adds to the debate on Cold War, neo-colonialism and the ending of colonial rule. * AFRICAN HISTORY, 2003, Volume 44 *This remains a stimulating and persuasive work, that is clinically constructed, admirably clear and well argued, and that is well sustained by documentary analysis. Nwaubani writes lucidly and has a sharp eye for the telling turn of phrase that illuminates a complex issue. * AFRICAN AFFAIRS, 2003 *Table of ContentsDecolonization in West Africa The Archaeology of Policy Truman's Dual Mandate Minimalism as Policy Ghana: Honeymoon and Estrangement The Political Economy of the Volta Project Guinea: The Weight of Residual Interests Summing Up

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Book SynopsisThe only complete study of modern Gambian politics from the establishment of British rule to the overthrow of the Jawara government. A Political History of the Gambia: 1816-1994 is the first complete account of the political history of the former British West African dependency to be written. It makes use of much hitherto unconsulted or unavailable British and Gambian official and private documentary sources, as well as interviews with many Gambian politicians and former British colonial officials. The first part of the book charts the origins and characteristics of modern politics in colonial Bathurst (Banjul) and its expansion into the Gambian interior (Protectorate) in the two decades after World War II. By independence in 1965, older urban-based parties in the capital had been defeated bya new, rural-based political organisation, the People's Progressive Party (PPP). The second part of the book analyzes the means by which the PPP, under President Sir Dawda Jawara, succeeded in defeating both existing and new rival political parties and an attempted coup in 1981. The book closes with an explanation of the demise of the PPP at the hands of an army coup in 1994. The book not only establishes those distinctive aspects ofGambian political history, but also relates these to the wider regional and African context, during the colonial and independence periods.Trade ReviewA meticulous, richly documented and eloquently written book; a precious gift to a country and its peoples. It fills a most important gap and is sure to make a lasting contribution to Gambian and African studies. A true labor of love. --Abdoulaye Saine, associate professor of political science, Miami University * . *Table of ContentsSocial and Economic Setting Constitutional Change in The Gambia, 1816-1994 Merchants and Recaptives: The Origins of Modern Politics, 1816-86 Patrician Politics in the Era of the Forsters, 1886-1941 The Establishment of Party Politics, 1941-59 The "Green Uprising": The Emergence of the People's Progressive Party, 1959-65 Electoral Politics, 1965-81 Radical and Insurrectionary Political Challenges, 1965-81 Electoral Politics, 1981-94 The Gambia's External Relations, 1965-94 The 1994 Coup and the Jawara Legacy

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Book SynopsisYorùbá Identity and Power Politics covers the major issues in Yorùbá history and politics, offering through narratives of the past and present a solid understanding of one of the most popular ethnic groups in Africa. Yorùbá Identity and Power Politics covers the major issues on Yorùbá history and politics, thus offering a solid understanding of one of the most popular ethnic groups in Africa. With a careful blend of sources and methods,narratives on the past and present, the book manages to present a long history as the backdrop to complicated contemporary politics. Contributors: Tunde M. Akinwumi, Olufunke A. Adeboye, R. T. Akinyele, Aribidesi Usman, Tunde Oduwobi, Olufemi Vaughan, Abolade Adeniji, Jean-Luc Martineau, Ann O'Hear, Rasheed Olaniyi, Charles Temitope Adeyanju, Julius O. Adekunle, Funso Afolayan, Olayiwola Abegunrin. Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Ann Genova is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas at Austin.Trade ReviewToyin Falola and Ann Genova have done Yorùbá studies an excellent service by thoughtfully bringing together a collection of essays that draws from the inspiration of previous works but avoids the pitfalls of rehashing old ideas. The result is an imaginative, refreshing, and beautiful scholarship without the pretensions of textual and theoretical jargons. We finally have that long-sought single volume that superbly captures major and diverse historical themes in Yorùbá experience from the precolonial to the present in wholesome interdisciplinary frameworks. Yorùbá Identity and Power Politics is a superior work in the genre, an excellent book to teach and think with on a myriad of topics relevant to contemporary Africa. -- -- Akin Ogundiran, Associate Professor of History, Florida International University, MiamiYorùbá Identity and Power Politics is a breath of fresh air and a critical watershed in the discourse of the ever-so-challenging and complicated web of the idea of Yorùbáness. This work is indeed an assemblage of serious intellectuals of Yorùbá history whose collective voice projects a cutting edge in the discourse of the socio-political dichotomy of identity and power. This is a must read for anyone who is either genuinely interested in the knowledge of the Yorùbá history or truly excited about a people whose culture, history, and identity remain most enduring and most visible in the vast world of the African diaspora. -- -- Michael O. Afoláyan, PhD, Southern Illinois University, EdwardsvilleTable of ContentsIntroduction - Toyin Falola and Ann Genova The Yorùbá Nation - Toyin Falola Oral Tradition and the Reconstruction of Yorùbá Dress - Tunde M. Akinwumi Diaries as Cultural and Intellectual Histories - Olufunke A. Adeboye Historiography of Western Yorùbá Borderlands - R.T. Akinyele The History of the Okun Yorùbá: Research Directions - Ann O'Hear Ilá Kingdom Revisited: Recent Archaeological Research at Ilá-Yàrà - Early Ijebú History: An Analysis on Demographic Evolution and State Formation - Tunde Oduwobi Power, Status, and Influence of Yorùbá Chiefs in Historical Perspective - Toyin Falola Chieftaincy Structures, Communal Identity, and Decolonization in Yorùbáland - Olufemi Vaughan Odogbolu Chieftaincy Dispute in Historical Perspective - Abolade Adeniji Yorùbá Nationalism and the Reshaping of Obaship - Jean-Luc Martineau Approaching the Study of the Yorùbá Diaspora in Northern Nigeria - Rasheed Olaniyi Yorùbá-Nigerians in Toronto: Transnational Practices and Experiences - Charles Temitope Adeyanju Yorùbá Factor in Nigerian Politics - Julius O. Adekunle Politics, Ethnicity, and the Struggle for Autonomy and Democracy - Funso Afolayan Petroleum and Ethno-Politics - Ann Genova Chief M.K.O. Abiola's Presidential Ambitions and Yorùbá Democratic Rights - Olayiwola Abegunrin

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Book SynopsisA groundbreaking interrogation of the myriad causes and effects of African migration, from the pre-colonial to the modern era. Migration, whether forced or voluntary, continues to be an issue vital to Africa, arguably the continent most affected by internal displacement. Over centuries -- in groups or as individuals -- Africans have been forced to leave their homes to escape unfavorable natural, social, or political circumstances, or simply to seek better lives elsewhere. This essential volume establishes the centrality of human migration and movement to the evolution of African societies. Using oral, archaeological, and written sources, and focusing on various geographical areas, the contributors show that migration is a multifaceted phenomenon, historically varied in nature and character. Movements, Borders, and Identities in Africa incorporates carefully selected case studies drawn from across the continent, and provides a broad but insightful overview of migration and its complex relationships to slavery, commerce,religion, architecture, material culture, poverty, diaspora life and identity formation, and the development of states and societies on the continent. Taken as a whole, this collection offers a groundbreaking interrogation of themyriad causes and effects of African migration, from the precolonial to the modern era. Contributors: Edmund Abaka, Maurice Amutabi, Toyin Falola, Ghislaine Geloin, Issiaka Mande, Jean-Luc Martineau, Pius S. Nyambara, Akinwumi Ogundiran, Adisa Ogunfolakan, Olatunji Ojo, Brigitte Kowalski Oshineye, Meshack Owino, Gerald Steyn, and Aribidesi Usman. Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Aribidesi Usman is Associate Professor of African and African American Studies and Anthropology at Arizona State University.Trade ReviewBroad and well-informed...recommend[ed] to readers who are interested either in Yoruba history or mobility and identity in Africa. * AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW *[This book] demonstrates the breadth of scholarship that is emerging in Africa studies today. -- Tony Waters * INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORICAL STUDIES *A wonderful volume. . . highly recommended. * CHOICE *Movements, Borders, and Identities in Africa is an excellent multidisciplinary contribution to African Studies, emphasizing the migratory experiences of Africans across the continent and globally, from the crucible of humanity in east Africa to trans-regional movements across Africa and internationally. --Gloria Emeagwali, Professor of History and African Studies, Central Connecticut State University * . *Falola and Usman have set the standard by bringing together in one volume some of the best studies on migration, border crossings, population movement, and shifting identities within the African continent. A remarkable contribution to the understanding of the dynamics and forms of such understudied areas within African history. The volume comes in handy as a textbook on the history and ethnography of migration and population displacement in the precolonial, colonial and postcolonial Africa. -- Salah M. Hassan, Goldwin Smith Professor and Director of Africana Studies and Research Center and History of Art, Cornell UniversityAddresses hugely important and frequently overlooked themes and should, therefore, be a significant addition to archaeology as well as the intriguing range of disciplines it covers. * AZANIA *Table of ContentsMigrations in African History: An Introduction - and Toyin Falola and Aribidesi Usman Frontier Migrations and Cultural Transformations in the Yoruba Hinterland, ca. 1575-1700: The Case of Upper Osun - Akin Ogundiran The Root Is Also Here: The Nondiaspora Foundations of Yoruba Ethnicity - Olatunji Ojo Settlement Strategies, Ceramic Use, and Factors of Change among the People of Northeast Osun State, Nigeria - Adisa Ogunfolakan Precolonial Regional Migration and Settlement Abandonment in Yorubaland, Nigeria - Aribidesi Usman Migrations, Identities, and Transculturation in the Coastal Cities of Yorubaland in the Second Half of the Second Millennium - Brigitte Kowalski Oshineye Squatting and Settlement Making in Mamelodi, South Africa - Gerald Steyn "Scattering Time": Anticolonial Resistance and Migration among the Jo-Ugeny of Kenya toward the End of the Nineteenth Century - Meshack Owino Traders, Slaves, and Soldiers: The Hausa Diaspora in Ghana (Gold Coast and Asante) in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries - Edmund Abaka Ethnic Identities and the Culture of Modernity in a Frontier Region: The Gokwe District of Northwestern Zimbabwe, 1963-79 - Pius S. Nyambara Displacement, Migration, and the Curse of Borders in Francophone West Africa - Ghislaine Géloin Shifting Identities among Nigerian Yoruba in Dahomey and the Republic of Benin (1940s-2004) - Jean-Luc Martineau Identity, "Foreign-ness," and the Dilemma of Immigrants at the Coast of Kenya: Interrogating the Myth of "Black Arabs" among Kenyan Africans - Maurice Nyamanga Amutabi Labor Market Constraints and Competition in Colonial Africa: Migrant Workers, Population, and Agricultural Production in Upper Volta, 1920-32 - Isiakka Mande

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Book SynopsisThis book presents new and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of African urban history and culture. Moving between precolonial, colonial, and contemporary urban spaces, it covers the major regions, religions, and urban societies of sub-Saharan Africa. African Urban Spaces in Historical Perspective presents new and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of African urban history and culture. It presents original research and integrates historical methodologies with those of anthropology, geography, literature, art, and architecture. Moving between precolonial, colonial, and contemporary urban spaces, it covers the major regions, religions, and cultural influences of sub-Saharan Africa. The themes include Islam and Christianity, architecture, migration, globalization, social and physical decay, identity, race relations, politics, and development. This book elaborates on not only what makes the study of African urban spaces unique within urban historiography, it also offers an-encompassing and up-to-date study of the subject and inserts Africa into the growing debate on urban history and culture throughout the world. The opportunities provided by the urban milieu are endless and each study opens new potential avenues of research. This book explores some of those avenues and lays the groundwork on which new studies can build. Contributors: Maurice NyamangaAmutabi, Catherine Coquery Vidrovitch, Mark Dike DeLancey, Thomas Ngomba Ekali, Omar A. Eno, Doug T. Feremenga, Laurent Fourchard, James Genova, Fatima Muller-Friedman, Godwin R. Murunga, Kefa M. Otiso, Michael Ralph, Jeremy Rich,Eric Ross, Corinne Sandwith, Wessel Visser. Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin; Steven J.Salm is Assistant Professor of History, Xavier University of Louisiana.Trade ReviewToday half of all Africans live in urban areas. Villages are growing into towns, and towns are rapidly becoming cities. This project offers broad and varied analyses of the history of African cities in the last 150 years, and is key to understanding the urban present. Introduced by the doyenne of African urban history, the chapters in this innovative volume deal with multiple dimensions of African city life from Morocco to Zimbabwe and from Somalia to Namibia. -- Dennis D. Cordell, Department of History, Southern Methodist University and Département de Démographie, Université de MontréalThe volume leaves the reader with a powerful sense of the complexity of Africa's urban spaces. I found something new and engaging in virtually every chapter. -- Clive Glaser * AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW *Table of ContentsMoving East, Facing West: Islam as an Intercultural Mediator in Urban Planning in the Sokoto Empire Oppressive Impressioins, Architectural Expressioins: The Poetics of French Colonial (Ad)vantage, Regarding Africa "Just Build it Modern": Post-Apartheid Spaces on Namibia's Urban Frontier Colonial Urbanization and Urban Management in Kenya "Inherently Unhygienic Races": Plague and the Origins of Settler Dominance in Nairobi, 1899-1907 Urbanization and Afrikaner Class Formation: The Mine Workers' Union and the Search for a Cultural Identity The Importance of Being Educated: Strategies of an Urban Petit- Bourgeois Elite, South Africa 1935-50 Where Every Language Is Heard: Atlantic Commerce, West African and Asian Migrants, and Town Society in Libreville, ca. 1860-1914 Captured and Steeped in Colonial Dynamics and Legacy: The Case of Isiolo Town in Kenya From Marabout Republics to Autonomous Rural Communities: Autonomous Muslim Towns in Senegal Africanite and Urbanite: The Place of the Urban in Imaginings of African Identity during the Late Colonial Period in French West Africa Urban Poverty, Urban Crime, and Crime Control: The Lagos and Ibadan Cases 1929-45 The Fluctuating Fortunes of Anglophone Cameroon Towns: The Case of Victoria, 1858-1982 Urban Planning and Development in Zimbabwe: A Historical Perspective Somalia's City of the Jackals: Politics, Economy, and Society in Mogadishu (1991-2001)

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Book SynopsisAn examination of the varied ways, outside and inside markets, in which Asante producers obtained labor, land and capital during the transformative era. This is a study of the changing rules and relationships within which natural, human and man-made resources were mobilized for production during the development of an agricultural export economy in Asante, a major West African kingdom which became, by 1945, the biggest regional contributor to Ghana's status as the world's largest cocoa producer. The period 1807-1956 as a whole was distinguished in Asante history by relatively favorable political conditionsfor indigenous as well as [during colonial rule] for foreign private enterprise. It saw generally increasing external demands for products that could be produced on Asante land. This book, which fills a major gap in Asante economic history, transcends the traditional divide between studies of precolonial and of twentieth-century African history. It analyses the interaction of coercion and the market in the context of a rich but fragile natural environment,the central process being a transition from slavery and debt-bondage to hired labor and agricultural indebtedness. It contributes to the broad debate about Africa's historic combination of emerging "capitalist" institutions and persistent 'precapitalist' ones, and tests the major theories of the political economy of institutional change. It is written accessibly for an interdisciplinary readership. Gareth Austin is a Lecturer in Economic History, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Joint Editor of the Journal of African History.Trade ReviewAustin's economic history of the agricultural and labour patterns of pre-colonial and colonial central Ghana may be considered a magnum opus in the European sense; it represents a crowning achievement and the product of many years of careful research and analysis. . . This work is a profoundly important contribution to economic history, the history of the transition from the trans-Atlantic slave trade to 'legitimate' commerce, the history of land tenure and agricultural production. -- Benjamin N. Lawrance, University of California, Davis[Austin] is able to familiarize Africanists with important developments in economic history as well as combat the marginalization of African economic history that, like so much in African studies, has fallen victim to a preoccupation with contemporary problems. The result is a work that is as rich and diverse in its offerings as the rain forest environment that it describes. -- Roger Gocking * AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 2006 *This is an excellent work, a major contribution to literature on the kingdom of Asante, an African society that has in the last 25 years attracted more than its fair share of high-quality scholarship. -- Larry Yarak, Texas A&M UniversityAustin's book is a groundbreaking survey of Ghana's economic history, based upon an extraordinarily perceptive case study of Asante. It is painstakingly researched and combines a strong empirical base with highly relevant theoretical considerations of current models of institutional change. He has written what will surely become a classic in the field of African economic development. -- Ivor Wilks, Professor Emeritus of History, Northwestern UniversityLong anticipated, Austin's account of the material conditions in which the ordinary Asante people of Ghana lived their lives is an exemplary retrieval of the past. All at once richly documented, theoretically sophisticated and persuasively argued, it is a major contribution to African studies and to the wider field of economic history. -- T.C. McCaskie, Professor of Asante History, University of Birmingham, UKThe overwhelming impression left on the reader is one of awe. . . . The readability of the book matches the importance of the arguments made, and it makes without doubt a very substantial contribution to . . . our knowledge about the transformation of slave trade in the economies of (West) Africa in the nineteenth century. * INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL HISTORY, 2006 *Table of ContentsTheories and Debates: Some Tools for Thinking about the History of Property and Markets in Asante and Beyond Asante, 1807-1956: the State, Output and Resources The Changing Relationship Between Inputs and Outputs, 1807-1956 Land Tenure, 1807-1896 The Mobilization of Labour, 1807-1896 Capital and Credit, 1807-1896 Factor Markets without Free Labour: The Nieboer Hypothesis and Asante Slavery and Pawnship, 1807-1896 Gender and Kinship Aspects of the Social Relations of Production, 1807-1896 Exploitation and Welfare: Class and 'Social Efficiency' Implications of the Property Rights Regime, 1807-1896 Why Was Prohibition So Long Delayed? The Nature and Motives of the Gradualism of the British 'Men on the Spot' The Decline of Coerced Labour and Property in Persons in Practice: Change from Above and from Below in Colonial Asante, 1896-1950 Cocoa and the Ending of Labour Coercion, c. 1900-c. 1950 Land Tenure: What Kind of Transformation under Cash-Cropping and Colonial Rule? Capital and Credit: Locking Farms to Credit Free Labour: Family Workers, the Spread of Wage Contracts, and the Rise of Sharecropping Land in a Tree-Farm Economy Capital in a Tree-Farm Economy Free Labour: Why the Newly Emerged Wage Regular Wage Contracts Were Eclipsed by Sharecropping

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Book SynopsisThis book makes Africa the centerpiece of an intercultural investigation of modern colonial power and its resistance, focusing on the writings of Ghanaian intellectuals. Writing Ghana, Imagining Africa changes dominant ideas about Africa's relations with modernity and the global history of nationalism by recovering, and bringing fresh interpretations to, a modern genealogy of African nationalist theory. Author Kwaku Larbi Korang examines the writing of intellectuals from preindependence Ghana from the latter half of the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth, writers who operated self-consciously in a Pan-African ideological framework. By confronting the concept of "the African Nation" under the colonial order, Korang contends that these writer-intellectuals were also confronting modernity in ways that would be important to the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Through its affiliation with recent revisionary works that have demonstrated the conceptual and existential validity of "alternative modernities," the volume shifts our understanding of the modern from a securely and exclusively Western mode of being to the modern as relational and inclusively intercultural. It mobilizes this relational and intercultural conception to locate and outline "African modernity." Additionally,Writing Ghana, Imagining Africa demonstrates why and how projections of, and debates about, "African modernity" have been more than a continental affair. Korang comprehensively relates the thought of African Americans (Martin Delany, Alexander Crummell, W. E. B. Du Bois, Richard Wright), and West Indians (George Padmore, C.L.R. James), to that of seminal anglophone West African thinkers like E. W. Blyden, Africanus Horton, J. E. Casely Hayford, and Kwame Nkrumah. Kwaku Larbi Korang is associate professor in the Department of African and African American Studies at Ohio State University.Trade ReviewWriting Ghana is an elegantly written and meticulously researched history of intellectual self-assertion in colonial West Africa . . . This book is an impressive and major addition to existing research on elite culture in nineteenth-century West Africa. It has relevance for scholars of colonial and also postcolonial African literatures, for Korang produces a fresh view of modernity and nationalism. Spring 2006 * RESEARCH IN AFRICAN LITERATURES, *

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Book SynopsisThe book traces the history of writing about Nigeria since the nineteenth century, with an emphasis on the rise of nationalist historiography and the leading themes. The second half of the twentieth century saw the publication of massive amounts of literature on Nigeria by Nigerian and non-Nigerian historians. This volume reflects on that literature, focusing on those works by Nigerians in thecontext of the rise and decline of African nationalist historiography. Given the diminishing share in the global output of literature on Africa by African historians, it has become crucial to reintroduce Africans into historicalwriting about Africa. As the authors attempt here to rescue older voices, they also rehabilitate a stale historiography by revisiting the issues, ideas, and moments that produced it. This revivalism also challenges Nigerian historians of the twenty-first century to study the nation in new ways, to comprehend its modernity, and to frame a new set of questions on Nigeria's future and globalization. In spite of current problems in Nigeria and its universities, that historical scholarship on Nigeria (and by extension, Africa) has come of age is indisputable. From a country that struggled for Western academic recognition in the 1950s to one that by the 1980s had emerged as one of the most studied countries in Africa, Nigeria is not only one of the early birthplaces of modern African history, but has also produced members of the first generation of African historians whose contributions to the development and expansion of modern African history is undeniable. Like their counterparts working on other parts of the world, these scholars have been sensitive to the need to explore virtually all aspects of Nigerian history. The book highlights the careers of some of Nigeria's notable historians of the first and second generation. Toyin Falola is Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Saheed Aderinto is Assistant Professor of History at Western Carolina University.Trade ReviewA highly detailed and rich survey of the complex web of tradions that have played a hand in shaping how Nigerians think about and write about their past. * H-AFRICA *A must-read for students and teachers of Nigerian history and anyone who is interested in Nigerian, and indeed African historiography. * AFRICAN STUDIES QUARTERLY *Falola and Aderinto's work on the lives and works of these nationalist historians constitutes another chapter in the long history of cultural innovation in Nigeria, as African intellectuals continue to seek out and exploit new opportunities for empowering and enriching their communities. -- -- Lynn Schler, Ben Gurion University[A] successful attempt to map the Nigerian historical historiography since the middle of the twentieth century...for historians of Nigeria, this volume can be become an excellent tool as it can help them assess the political and historiographical debates underpinning the publication of Nigerian historical studies. -- -- Vincent Hiribarren, Leeds African Studies Bulletin

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Book SynopsisWestern Frontiers of African Art navigates the problems and prospects of prometheusis in creative cultural productions. Artists, writers, musicians, and other creative practitioners share icons, ideas, images, and paraphernalia across cultures, mediums, and disciplines in many ways including borrowing, copying, adoption, adaptation, abbreviation, distortion, and even outright pilfering. Their reasons for sharing creative elements range from admiration to subversion, pedagogical innovation, criticism, hegemony, revenge, anger, fear, malice, and even pathology. Once shared these artistic materials become links and crossroads that complicate creativity and culture with prometheusis. But what is prometheusis? How does it work and how is it evaluated? Drawing on the visual arts, this book elaborates on prometheusis as a general theory of cultural exchange, productivity, and analysis. Examples focus on theintersections and frontiers of western modernity and African art. Moyo Okediji is Director of the Center for Art of Africa and its Diasporas at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of several books on African art.Table of ContentsIntroduction Triangular Landscape: Renaming the Boundaries Homoerotic African Art: Genital Rites, Blood, and Dark Secrets Transgressive Pictures: Feminism, Pathology, and Poverty Gendered Triangulation: Anger, Rage, and Dislocation Hybrid Body: White Nude, Black Myth Words and Images: The Meaning of Meaninglessness Semioptic Equations: The Crossroads of Arrowhead Modernity Twin Visions: Hybrid Colon and Semicolon Triangulated Worlds: Western Modernity, African Postcoloniality Semiographic Hybridity: Writing with Images

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Book SynopsisA critical study of Edward Wilmot Blyden, whose voluminous writings laid the groundwork for some of the most important African and black diasporic thinkers of the twentieth century. Edward Wilmot Blyden and the Racial Nationalist Imagination is a critical study of one of the most prolific and knowledgeable black-world intellectuals of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Focusing on his writings, it shows the contradictions, ambiguities, complexities, and paradoxes in Blyden's powerful black racial nationalism. Blyden was a modernist who called upon African Americans to "uplift" Africa; yet he was a defender of Africa's culture and customs. He was the most sophisticated critic of Eurocentrism; yet he was an avid Anglophile. He was a Protestant who admired Islam's "civilizing" role in Africa. Blyden was the first black intellectual to advocate for the symbiosis of Africa's "triple heritage": indigenous, Islamic, and Western. His voluminous writings laid the groundwork for some of the most important ideas of African and black diasporic thinkers of the twentieth century, including Frantz Fanon, Amilcar Cabral, Chiekh Anta Diop, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Aimé Césaire, and Walter Rodney. Though Blyden is often overlooked in the history of modern black thought, in this book, Teshale Tibebu brings him out of oblivion and engages the reader in an extended, systematic evaluation of his written works. Teshale Tibebu is professor of history at Temple University. He is the author of The Making of Modern Ethiopia,1896-1974, Hegel and Anti-Semitism, and Hegel and the Third World: The Making of Eurocentrism in World History.Trade ReviewSelected as a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title of 2013. * . *Teshale Tibebu is a remarkable historian of ideas, interested in Ethiopia as a touchstone of the ideological, philosophical, and emotional aspects of pan-Africanism. [This book] shows how the struggle between a great African thinker [Blyden] and Eurocentrist racism forms a point of origin for the liberating forces that arose after his day and that are still at work in the themes of postcolonialism. * ÉTUDES LITTÉRAIRES AFRICAINES *A classic example of intellectual history...this clearly written, jargon-free study will be the definitive history of [Blyden's] ideas for decades to come. * CHOICE *Table of ContentsIntroduction Africa: Service, Suffering, and Subjection The Critique of Eurocentrism Ishmael in Africa: Black Protestant Islamophilia The African American "Civilizing Mission" The "Mulatto" Nemesis Appraising the Colonial Enterprise Epilogue: Post-Blydenian Reflections

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Book SynopsisA study of the interchange between Cuba and Africa of Yoruban people and culture during the nineteenth century, with special emphasis on the Aguda community. Afro-Cuban Diasporas in the Atlantic World explores how Yoruba and Afro-Cuban communities moved across the Atlantic between the Americas and Africa in successive waves in the nineteenth century. In Havana, Yoruba slaves from Lagos banded together to buy their freedom and sail home to Nigeria. Once in Lagos, this Cuban repatriate community became known as the Aguda. This community built their own neighborhood that celebrated their Afrolatino heritage. For these Yoruba and Afro-Cuban diasporic populations, nostalgic constructions of family and community play the role of narrating and locating a longed-for home. By providing a link between the workings of nostalgia and the construction of home, this volume re-theorizes cultural imaginaries as a source for diasporic community reinvention. Through ethnographic fieldwork and research in folkloristics, Otero reveals that the Aguda identify strongly with their Afro-Cuban roots in contemporary times. Their fluid identity moves from Yoruba to Cuban, and back again, in a manner that illustrates the truly cyclical nature of transnational Atlantic community affiliation. SolimarOtero is Associate Professor of English and a folklorist at Louisiana State University. Her research centers on gender, sexuality, Afro-Caribbean spirituality, and Yoruba traditional religion in folklore, literature and ethnography. Dr. Otero is the recipient of a Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund grant (2013), a fellowship at the Harvard Divinity School's Women's Studies in Religion Program (2009 to 2010), and a Fulbright award (2001).Trade ReviewOtero deflty conveys the complexity of the Atlantic world and the layered, portable and transnational sense of community that emerged...a much-needed study. * BULLETIN OF LATIN AMERICAN RESEARCH *Afro-Cuban Diasporas in the Atlantic World is poised to make a contribution to issues of diaspora, identity, and culture within the understudied area of repatriated Africans and African-descended Latin Americans in Nigeria. Its strengths reside in its sound theoretical grounding in cultural studies, and in the interviews with those of Aguda heritage. Connecting the multi-layered and multi-directional linkages of individuals and communities caught up in slavery and colonialism in the Atlantic world, this study will most certainly enhance the scholarship in African, African diaspora, Atlantic world, and Latin American studies.' --Michele Reid Vazquez, Assistant Professor of Atlantic World History, Georgia State University * . *An innovative study that aptly points to the linguistic, cultural, and geographic expansiveness of Afro-Atlantic diasporic communities. . . anyone interested in a study of the African diaspora that does not begin and end in Africa or the United States will also find Afro-Cuban Diasporas particularly insightful. * WESTERN FOLKLORE *Completely changes the understanding of the idea of the African diasporas. * LEEDS AFRICAN STUDIES BULLETIN *A welcome addition. . . the result of impressive research that includes a vast array of sources and a thorough interpretation of Yoruba diasporas. * HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW *Table of ContentsGrassroots Africans: Havana's "Lagosians" Returning to Lagos: Making the Oja Home "Second Diasporas": Receptin in the Bight of Benin Situating Lagosian, Caribbean, and Latin American Diasporas Creating Afrocubanos: Public Cultures in a Circum-Atlantic Perspective Conclusion: Flow, Community, and Diaspora Appendix: Case Studies of Returnees to Lagos from Havana, Cuba

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Book SynopsisA compelling account of the establishment of Tanzania's stable and ambitious government in the face of external threats and internal turmoil. In the early 1960s, nationalist politicians established in Tanzania a stable government in the face of external threats and internal turmoil. Paul Bjerk's volume chronicles this history and examines the politics and policies of the nation's first president, Julius Nyerere. One of the great leaders of modern Africa, Nyerere unified the diverse people who became citizens of the new nation and negotiated the tumultuous politics of the Cold War. In an era whenmany postcolonial countries succumbed to corrupt dictatorship or civil war, Nyerere sought principled government. Making difficult choices between democratic and autocratic rule, Nyerere creatively managed the destabilizing forces of decolonization. With extensive archival research and interviews with scores of participants in this history, Bjerk reorients our understanding of the formative years of Tanzanian independence. This study provides a new paradigm for understanding the history of the postcolonial nations that became independent in a global postwar order defined by sovereignty. Paul Bjerk is associate professor of history at Texas Tech University.Trade ReviewBjerk's chapters on ujamaa ideology and villagization will be essential reading for historians of Tanzania. . . . Bjerk has clarified the stakes in debate about Nyerere and the ujamaa period. His study will leave historians well poised for the challenge of fully incorporating into their stories critics as well as proponents of ujamaa. * JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY *Bjerk offers detailed insight into the critical first years of Tanganyika as a sovereign nation and the personalities and events that gave rise to the United Republic of Tanzania. . . . a welcome addition to the burgeoning historiography of Nyerere and Tanzania in recent years. * CANADIAN JOURNAL OF AFRICAN STUDIES *A fascinating read for anyone interested in understanding either the formation of Tanzania or the man who I would argue is modern Africa's most exceptional, idealistic, intelligent and, as this book shows, at times quite coolly ruthless, leader: Julius Nyerere. -- Jane Plastow * LUCAS BULLETIN *Bjerk's work will provide an invaluable resource for those engaged in the academic study of the immediate post-independence period in both Tanzania (Tanganyika) and Africa more broadly. * TANZANIAN AFFAIRS *This very detailed book importantly links political events in Tanzania with what was happening regionally, continentally, and globally. Bjerk provides insight into one of Africa's most important political figures and the domestic and international political events of the time. Recommended. * CHOICE *At a time when Afro-pessimism is so much in vogue it is good to have a book like this. Here the stress is on the competence of African leadership, on government's creativity in the face of international actors, and on the close link between the people and their leaders. There is much here to celebrate and admire. * INT'L JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORICAL STUDIES *Table of ContentsIntroduction The Education of Julius Nyerere Contemplating the Postcolony Independence and the Fear of Division The Invention of Ujamaa The Origins of Villagization The 1964 Army Mutiny The National Youth Service A Realist Foreign Policy The Cold War and the Union Treaty Contending with International Intrigue Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisExamines indigenous oral traditions and histories in order to explain the factors propelling sociopolitical consolidation and the emergence of chiefdoms and kingdoms in nineteenth-century southeastern Africa. This study traces the social and political history of the peoples of early precolonial southeastern Africa, including the regions of modern KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, southern Mozambique from Maputo Bay southward, and Lesotho. Theemergence in the early nineteenth century of well-known southern African kingdoms such as the AmaZulu, AmaSwazi, and BaSotho kingdoms was the culmination of centuries of sociopolitical developments, during which political controlwas consolidated in the ruling descent lines of small-scale chiefdoms. Providing the first comprehensive scholarly examination of recorded oral traditions from southeastern Africa, Eldredge's work chronicles the events and life stories propelling this consolidation and the advent of large-scale chiefdoms and kingdoms.. Elizabeth A. Eldredge is an independent scholar and author of The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815-1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power.Trade ReviewElizabeth Eldredge's Kingdoms and Chieftains of Southeastern Africa is a valuable addition to an extensive corpus of writings examining indigenous state formation across the southern Bantu world. * AFRICAN STUDIES QUARTERLY *Table of ContentsPreface History and Oral Traditions in Southeastern Africa Oral Traditions in the Reconstruction of Southern African History Shipwreck Survivor Accounts from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries Founding Families and Chiefdoms East of the Drakensberg Maputo Bay Peoples and Chiefdoms before 1740 Maputo Bay, 1740-1820 Eastern Chiefdoms of Southern Africa, 1740-1815 Zulu Conquests and the Consolidation of Power, 1815-21 Military Campaigns, Migrations, and Political Reconfiguration Ancestors, Descent Lines, and Chiefdoms West of the Drakensberg before 1820 The Caledon River Valley and the BaSotho of Moshoeshoe, 1821-33 The Expansion of the European Presence at Maputo Bay, 1821-33 Southern African Kingdoms on the Eve of Colonization Appendix A: AmaSwazi King List Appendix B: Chronology of Conflicts, Migrations, and Political Reconfiguration East of the Drakensberg in the Era of Shaka Appendix C: Interviewees from the James Stuart Collection of Oral Traditions Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisComprehensively surveys Ethiopia and Eritrea's rich and dynamic tradition of historical writing, from the ancient Aksumite era to the present day. Ethiopia and Eritrea are home to Africa's oldest written historical tradition, which began in the third century with the monuments and manuscripts of Aksum and has continued to the present day. This study explores the developmentof this rich tradition, focusing in particular on the dramatic lives and original thought of a group of early twentieth-century Ethiopian and Eritrean historians. James De Lorenzi examines how these scholars used historiography tonot only record the past but also grapple with the changes of the modern era. Through their history writings, they made provocative political claims, explored the nature of their communal ties, assessed their inherited institutions and ideas, and critically evaluated the people and cultures of the wider world. Opposing the view that historiography is a uniquely Western intellectual pursuit, Guardians of the Tradition provides new evidence of an African historical consciousness and the vibrancy of history writing outside the West. James De Lorenzi is associate professor of history at John Jay College, City University of New York.Trade ReviewAn admirable and surprising work, based on very original and thorough research...rich and thought-provoking. -- Jon Abbink Leiden University * HISTORY OF HUMANITIES *De Lorenzi has unearthed the hitherto unstudied works of important figures in the tiny literary space of the Horn of Africa at the turn of the twentieth century. His work is a unique contribution to Ethiopian historiography in particular and African historiography in general. -- Alemseged Abbay Frostburg State University * AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW *The century-long study of Ethio-Eritrean tradition has never been crowned with such an objective, scientific definition as in Guardians of the Tradition . . . [It] shows remarkable insight into a complicated and sensitive problem at the very basis of Ethio-Eritrean studies, for which contribution scholars will be grateful. -- Bairu Tafla University of Hamburg * JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY *'De Lorenzi has produced a book of admirable scholarship; it combines exhaustive archival research, attentiveness to the local and international contexts and currents, lively personal biography and historical theory. -- Alex de Waal Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation * AFRICA AT LSE BLOG *A crucial reference work for Ethiopian intellectual history . . . Guardians of the Tradition is argued clearly and convincingly, with evidence inferred from a wide array of primary sources. [A]n engaging and informative read. -- Fikru Gebrekidan St. Thomas University * CANADIAN JOURNAL OF AFRICAN STUDIES *The creativity and richness of Ethiopian historical writing forcefully challenge the argument that historiography is a product of Western modernity and a Western export -- a point rather obvious for Africanists, but not so obvious in the field of history at large, which De Lorenzi attacks for its 'parochialism' and 'latent Eurocentrism. -- Sara Marzagora School of Oriental and African Studies * AFRICA *Insightful, painstakingly researched, and innovative in its selection and sensitive to changing regional and international contexts . . . [De Lorenzi] has opened up new vistas to readers of the concerns, conventions, and analytical categories of public intellectuals who combined traditional and modern concepts in the construction of Ethiopian historiography. Ruth Iyob, University of Missouri, St. Louis * . *De Lorenzi is a remarkable scholar . . . This topic . . . is rarely treated in such a sweeping geographical-historical framework . . . An ongoing debate, a stimulating topic. (Irma Taddia, Università di Bologna) * AETHIOPICA *A major milestone in the growing field of Ethiopian intellectual history . . . This is one of the most important books written to date on the development of historical writing in Africa in the early twentieth century. -- Jacob Wiebel Durham University * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Introduction The Inherited Tradition Gabra Krestos Takla Haymanot and the History of Progress Gabra Mika'el Germu and the History of Colonialism Heruy Walda Sellase and the New Queen of Sheba The Triumph of Historicism? Conclusion Abbreviations Notes Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the inaugural award of the ASAUK Fage & Oliver Prize Tells the story of how people struggled to define, refine, reform, and ultimately overturn racial etiquette as a social guide for Southern Rhodesian politics. This book tells the story of how people struggled to define, reform, and overturn racial etiquette as a social guide for Southern Rhodesian politics. Underlying what appears to be a static history of racial etiquette is a dynamicnarrative of anxieties over racial, gender, and generational status. From the outlawing of "insolence" toward officials to a last-ditch "courtesy campaign" in the early 1960s, white elites believed that their nimble use of racialetiquette would contain Africans' desire for social and political change. In turn, Africans mobilized around stories of racial humiliation. Allison Shutt's research provides a microhistory of the changing discourse aboutmanners and respectability in Southern Rhodesia that by the 1950s had become central to fiercely contested political positions and nationalist tactics. Intense debates among Africans and whites alike over the deployment of courtesy and rudeness reveal the social-emotional tensions that contributed to political mobilization on the part of nationalists and the narrowing of options for the course of white politics. Drawing on public records, legal documents,and firsthand accounts, this first book-length history of manners in twentieth-century colonial Africa provides a compelling new model for understanding politics and culture through the prism of etiquette. Allison K. Shutt is professor of history at Hendrix College.Trade Review[Manners Make a Nation demonstrates with great clarity how an attention to the materiality of everyday behaviour need not preclude a sharp, effective analysis of politics, economics and the structures of institutional power. * JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN STUDIES *Manners Make a Nation is surely an interesting read. It breaks new analytical ground by providing new dimensions for nationalist historiography as well as the emerging discourse of intra-settler relations in Southern Rhodesia. * JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY *Manners Make a Nation is not only recommended for those working on Zimbabwe, but to everyone who is interested in the complicated history of everyday colonial relations. AFRICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW Bridging the gap between the history of respectability politics and the growing field of the history of emotions, Allison K. Shutt's Manners Make a Nation carves out a new path. * AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW *Persuasively argued and lucidly written...this book is likely to have a wide appeal not only to scholars and students of Zimbabwe, but to a broader range of social historians who are interested in understanding the complex ways in which power was exercised in the name of European colonialism. * AFRICA *Shortlisted for the inaugural award of the ASAUK Fage & Oliver Prize: 'In a historiography that focuses largely on the formal ideologies of race, and on racial legislation, Shutt offers a rare and innovative exploration of the everyday language of race. . . . This original and engaging study explores the multiple overlapping ways that etiquette informed conceptions and practices of social hierarchy, and embodied values associated with class, civilisation and morality. * . *[A] fascinating, well-written study of how critical daily interpersonal relations are to the construction, subversion, and reworking of domination. . . . One sincerely hopes that Shutt's work will get a wide reading, for students of colonial history have much to learn. And just as Shutt wisely consulted work on the Jim Crow South, Americanists should equally consult this text. * AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: Manners Mattered Insolence and Respect Dignity and Deference Etiquette and Integration Courtesy and Rudeness Violence and Hospitality Manners Make a Nation Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisExamines land management programs pushed by the colonial government in western Kenya between 1920 and 1963, analyzing how those programs were negotiated or contested by the local community. Drawing from accounts of colonial experience in western Kenya, Population, Tradition, and Environmental Control in Colonial Kenya examines the government's efforts to enforce certain land management programs in relation toits initiatives to revive and co-opt African "traditions" in soil conservation and land consolidation programs. Martin Shanguhyia analyzes how these programs were negotiated or contested by the local community; further, he arguesthat their legacy continues to define the everyday experiences of the rural population in Vihiga County, Western Province, notably in terms of high population densities and diminishing returns from the land. Relying on a rich collection of archival sources as well as oral interviews, the book explores the intersection between government policies, demography, and community traditions within a rapidly declining natural environment and adds significantly to our understanding of Africa's environmental history. Martin Shanguhyia is assistant professor of history at Syracuse University.Trade Review[A] valuable contribution to the literature on the relationship between 'indigenous knowledge', 'tradition', and 'modernity', and how these processes shaped natural resource management and conservation policies in colonial Africa. * JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY *By challenging the resilience of indigenous peoples to both environmental and economic changes, Shanguhyia makes a significant contribution to African environmental history scholarship. . . . Overall, Shanguhyia's well-researched and accessible text is suitable for both upper undergraduate and graduate students. It should also find a wide readership among seasoned Africanists including historians, environmentalists, and political scientists. * ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Abbreviations Introduction Administrative and Demographic Changes: Implications on Land Relations, 1900-1930 Maize and Economic Prosperity, 1920-38 Internationalizing Degradation Narratives in Kenya, 1930-38 Prewar Soil Conservation Initiatives and Local Responses, 1934-38 Wartime Production in a Besieged Environment, 1939-45 Postwar Development and the Dilemma of "Reviving" African Traditions, 1945-63 Regional Migration and Failed Agricultural Intensification, 1940-66 Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA methodical analysis of relations of domination and subordination through media narratives of nationhood in an African context. Nation as Grand Narrative offers a methodical analysis of how relations of domination and subordination are conveyed through media narratives of nationhood. Using the typical postcolonial state of Nigeria as a template andengaging with disciplines ranging from media studies, political science, and social theory to historical sociology and hermeneutics, Wale Adebanwi examines how the nation as grand narrative provides a critical interpretive lens through which competition among ethnic, ethnoregional, and ethnoreligious groups can be analyzed. Adebanwi illustrates how meaning is connected to power through ideology in the struggles enacted on the pages of the print media overdiverse issues including federalism, democracy and democratization, religion, majority-minority ethnic relations, space and territoriality, self-determination, and threat of secession. Nation as Grand Narrative will triggerfurther critical reflections on the articulation of relations of domination in the context of postcolonial grand narratives. Wale Adebanwi is associate professor of African American and African studies, University of California-Davis, and a visiting professor at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.Trade ReviewWith its recuperation of the nation as an entity, and its insistence on the reality of identity politics both as a contested terrain and as the most meaningful narrative for Nigerian press history, this book represents a significant landmark in the new African print cultures scholarship. * AFRICA *[A] brilliant combination of the analysis of political history and the mass media in pre- and post-colonial Nigeria. The book will be suitable as resource material for students, scholars and practitioners of political science, history, mass media and discourse analysis. * JOURNAL OF MODERN AFRICAN STUDIES *This book is an asset to anyone who desires to, as closely as possible, experience major historical events in Nigerian history. [It] is a brilliant piece of evidence that there are non-anthropological methods to unearthing deep understanding of what exists today in Nigeria. As such, the book is recommended reading not just for Nigerians and Africans, but also for the common student of politics. * PUBLIUS: THE JOURNAL OF FEDERALISM *This is a thought-provoking book which takes a novel approach to some of the most fundamental questions facing contemporary Africa. It deserves a wide readership. * AFRICAN JOURNALISM STUDIES *The book represents a major contribution toward understanding the immensely complex role that newspapers have played in the political history of postcolonial Africa; it provides a unique and indispensable reflection on the very specific ways in which postcolonial societies have approached democracy. * AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Nation as Grand Narrataive Interpretive Theory, Narrative, and the Politics of Meaning In Search of a Grand Narrative: The Press and the Ethno-Regional Struggle for Political Independence Hegemony and Ethno-Spatial Politics: "Nationalizing" the Capital City in the Late-Colonial Era Paper Soldiers: Narratives of Nationhood and Federalism in Pre-Civil War Nigeria Representing the Nation: Electoral Crisis and the Collapse of the Third Republic The "Fought" Republic: The Press, Ethno-Religious Conflicts, and Democratic Ethos Narratives, Territoriality, and Majority-Minority Ethnic Violence Narratives, Oil, and the Spatial Politics of Marginal Identities Conclusion: Beyond Grand Narratives Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe story of how African farmers, African-American scientists, and British businessmen struggled to turn colonial Africa into a major cotton exporter. During the first two decades of the twentieth century, demand for raw cotton in Europe, Asia, and America outstripped production as African Americans migrated away from Southern cotton fields. Consequently, industrialists in Europe turned to Africa for new sources of cotton. This volume documents the efforts by British financiers and colonial officials, along with some African-American allies, to bring the American model of cotton production to colonial Africa. In a narrative featuring a host of characters -- including British entrepreneurs, African kings, and African-American scientists -- author Jonathan Robins weaves together events in Africa, Britain, and the AmericanSouth. Robins chronicles the origins, failings, and eventual evolution of Britain's colonial cotton project, revealing the global forces and actors that moved and transformed the international cotton industry. JonathanE. Robins is assistant professor of global history at Michigan Technological University.Trade ReviewThis book makes a significant contribution to the global history of cotton and our understandings about the long durée of capitalism. Offering a detailed account, grounded both in well-researched detail and reflective attention to how historical knowledge is produced, Robins has succeeded in producing an important and timely publication. * AFRICA AT LSE *Well-researched and thought provoking book that [.] manages to bring in a great amount of detail to show how cotton's empire worked, or failed to work, in the early decades of the twentieth century. * CONNECTIONS *It is a very well-written and entertaining book, and an important addition to our understanding of early twentieth-century debates over the significance of cotton. * HISTORY *Table of ContentsIntroduction The Cotton Crisis: Lancashire, the American South, and the Turn to "Empire Cotton" "The Black Man's Crop": The British Cotton Growing Association and Africa "The Scientific Redemption of Africa": Coercion and Regulation in Colonial Agriculture "King Cotton's Impoverished Retinue": Making Cotton a "White Man's Crop" in the American South Cotton, Development, and the "Imperial Burden" Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisReexamines the first twenty years of the East African revival movement in Uganda, 1935-1955, arguing that through the movement African Christians articulated and developed a unique spiritual lifestyle. Starting in the mid-1930s, East African revivalists (or, Balokole: "the saved ones") proclaimed a message of salvation, hoping to revive the mission churches of colonial East Africa. Frustrated by what they believed to be the tepid spiritual state of missionary Christianity, they preached that in order to be saved, converts had to confess publicly the specific sins they had committed, putting them "in the light." By "walking in the light" with other revival brethren, converts reoriented their lives, articulating this reorientation in the stark terms of light and darkness: they had left their dark past and now lived in the light of salvation. This book uses missionary and Colonial Office archives, contemporary newspapers, archival collections in Uganda, anthropologists' field notes, oral histories, and interviews by the author in order to reexamine the first twenty years of the East African revivalmovement (roughly, 1935-1955). Focusing upon the creative, controversial, and remarkable efforts of the ordinary African Christians who comprised the vast majority of the movement, it challenges previous historical analyses that have seen in the revival the replication of British evangelical holiness spirituality or, alternatively, a manifestation of late colonial dissent. Instead, this study argues, the Balokole revival was a movement through which African Christians articulated and developed a unique spiritual lifestyle, one that responded creatively to the sociopolitical contexts of late colonial East Africa. Jason Bruner is Assistant Professor of Global Christianityat Arizona State University.Trade ReviewThis book makes a significant contribution . . . Bruner's writing style (clear and concise) makes his work enjoyable to read and accessible to a wide range of readers interested in religious movements in East Africa. * ANGLICAN AND EPISCOPAL HISTORY *[A] valuable contribution to the literature on African Christianity, religious conversion, and late colonial Uganda. This lucid and discerning analysis of lived religion deserves a wide readership. * H-EMPIRE *[A]n insightful and rewarding investigation of the revival movement of East Africa in Uganda. It is an important contribution to African historical and religious scholarship, and indeed to contemporary soteriological discussions; it is useful for graduate students, and every seminary library should acquire a copy. * READING RELIGION *Bruner's volume is a significant contribution to the history of the East African Revival and offers a valuable approach for the examination of revivalist movements in modern history and their cultural impact in particular sociopolitical contexts. * ANTHROCYBIB *Bruner's book provides an excellent, clearly written introduction for anyone interested in the history of Christian missions and revivalism to a religious movement that deserves to be more widely known. * MARGINALIA *Bruner's writing is engaging and Living Salvation offers an important addition to the literature of the East African Revival. * AFRICA *Bruner's book is an important contribution to wider debates about Evangelical revivalism as a movement of the global South. * JOURNAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY *

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Book SynopsisThe first comprehensive book on the participation of Muslim Fula business elites in the post-independence politics of Sierra Leone This groundbreaking volume explores the history of Muslim Fula business elites' participation in the post-independence politics of Sierra Leone. One of the country's main entrepreneurial groups, the Fula are also part of a largerIslamic presence in West Africa, extending from Senegal to Cameroon. Author Alusine Jalloh examines Fula political relationships with the successive governments of Sierra Leone following independence in 1961: first, with the Sierra Leone People's Party during the prime ministership of the brothers Dr. Milton A. S. Margai and Albert M. Margai, and later with the All People's Congress under the leadership of Siaka P. Stevens and Joseph S. Momoh. The study ends with the ouster in 1992 of President Momoh in a military coup. Using the lens of business history, this important work expands on the themes of immigration and ethnicity, and treats such issues as the rivalry betweenSierra Leonean-born Fula and those born in Guinea, the intersection of Fula business elites and the development of Islam in Sierra Leone, and relations between Sierra Leone and Guinea. The book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the business, Islamic, and political history of Sierra Leone, as well as those interested in global business history and ethnic history. Alusine Jalloh is Associate Professor of history and founding director of the Africa Program at the University of Texas at Arlington.Trade ReviewMuslim Fula Business Elites and Politics in Sierra Leone is an interesting and informative study about the participation of entrepreneurs in the political process and is an important addition to the rather small body of literature on this topic. * AFRICA *Professor Jalloh's well-researched and clearly written book is a welcome addition to the dearth of literature that analyses business elite participation and influence in African political affairs. It also provides an excellent introduction to more general problems of political stability, economic corruption, social disruption, and the failure to manage regional crises. * IJAHS *This book is a valuable contribution to the history of post-independence Sierra Leone. It confirms Alusine Jalloh's position as one of the historians most familiar with this particular historical period. * ISLAMIC AFRICA *Table of ContentsAbbreviations Introduction The Prime Ministership of Milton A. S. Margai, 1961-1964 The Administration of Albert M. Margai, 1964-1967 The Siaka P. Stevens Years, 1968-1985 The Joseph S. Momoh Presidency, 1985-1992 Conclusion Notes Bibliogrpahy Index

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Book SynopsisComprehensively surveys Ethiopia and Eritrea's rich and dynamic tradition of historical writing, from the ancient Aksumite era to the present day. Ethiopia and Eritrea are home to Africa's oldest written historical tradition, which began in the third century with the monuments and manuscripts of Aksum and has continued to the present day. This study explores the developmentof this rich tradition, focusing in particular on the dramatic lives and original thought of a group of early twentieth-century Ethiopian and Eritrean historians. James De Lorenzi examines how these scholars used historiography tonot only record the past but also grapple with the changes of the modern era. Through their history writings, they made provocative political claims, explored the nature of their communal ties, assessed their inherited institutions and ideas, and critically evaluated the people and cultures of the wider world. Opposing the view that historiography is a uniquely Western intellectual pursuit, Guardians of the Tradition provides new evidence of an African historical consciousness and the vibrancy of history writing outside the West. James De Lorenzi is associate professor of history at John Jay College, City University of New York.Trade ReviewAn admirable and surprising work, based on very original and thorough research...rich and thought-provoking. -- Jon Abbink Leiden University * HISTORY OF HUMANITIES *De Lorenzi has unearthed the hitherto unstudied works of important figures in the tiny literary space of the Horn of Africa at the turn of the twentieth century. His work is a unique contribution to Ethiopian historiography in particular and African historiography in general. -- Alemseged Abbay Frostburg State University * AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW *The century-long study of Ethio-Eritrean tradition has never been crowned with such an objective, scientific definition as in Guardians of the Tradition . . . [It] shows remarkable insight into a complicated and sensitive problem at the very basis of Ethio-Eritrean studies, for which contribution scholars will be grateful. -- Bairu Tafla University of Hamburg * JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY *A crucial reference work for Ethiopian intellectual history . . . Guardians of the Tradition is argued clearly and convincingly, with evidence inferred from a wide array of primary sources. [A]n engaging and informative read. -- Fikru Gebrekidan St. Thomas University * CANADIAN JOURNAL OF AFRICAN STUDIES *The creativity and richness of Ethiopian historical writing forcefully challenge the argument that historiography is a product of Western modernity and a Western export -- a point rather obvious for Africanists, but not so obvious in the field of history at large, which De Lorenzi attacks for its 'parochialism' and 'latent Eurocentrism. -- Sara Marzagora School of Oriental and African Studies * AFRICA *Insightful, painstakingly researched, and innovative in its selection and sensitive to changing regional and international contexts . . . [De Lorenzi] has opened up new vistas to readers of the concerns, conventions, and analytical categories of public intellectuals who combined traditional and modern concepts in the construction of Ethiopian historiography. Ruth Iyob, University of Missouri, St. Louis * . *De Lorenzi is a remarkable scholar . . . This topic . . . is rarely treated in such a sweeping geographical-historical framework . . . An ongoing debate, a stimulating topic. -- Irma Taddia Università di Bologna * AETHIOPICA *A major milestone in the growing field of Ethiopian intellectual history . . . This is one of the most important books written to date on the development of historical writing in Africa in the early twentieth century. -- Jacob Wiebel, Durham University * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Introduction The Inherited Tradition Gabra Krestos Takla Haymanot and the History of Progress Gabra Mika'el Germu and the History of Colonialism Heruy Walda Sellase and the New Queen of Sheba The Triumph of Historicism? Conclusion Abbreviations Notes Glossary Blibiography Index

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Book SynopsisExamines the importance of South Africa's peaceful transition to democracy, especially in light of Nelson Mandela's belief that cosmopolitan dreams are not only desirable but a binding duty. Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu left an enduring legacy of forgiveness, openness, and solidarity in South Africa. This book looks at how the country's historic transition to democracy has not only changed the negative narrative about South Africa but also provided a model for a new form of ethical participation in the world. In addition to Mandela and Tutu, this book considers South African cultural theorists, poets, and novelists such as J. M. Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer, Zakes Mda, Njabulo Ndebele, and Antjie Krog, all of whom have engaged with the struggle to overcome the legacies of apartheid and create a more humane society. Most of these figures share common cultural and moral traits with Mandela and Tutu, the most outstanding of which is their belief in the notion of global citizenship. In engaging the latter concept, this work seeks to answer the following questions: How can we understand being human in a world that is increasingly marked by hatred of others? Can Mandela's vision of his society provide us with a theory of how to live in our globalized world? This wide-ranging volume will appeal to scholars and students of history, African studies, literature, ethics, and international affairs. CHIELOZONA EZE is Professor of African literature and cultural studies at Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, Extraordinary Professor of Englishat Stellenbosch University, and a fellow at Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies, South Africa.Trade ReviewThis book, which reimagines the ethics of living together in a modern world haunted by legacies of colonialism and apartheid, is timely and very significant. Informed by the spirit of humanism and empathetic cosmopolitanism embodied by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, Race, Decolonization, and Global Citizenship in South Africa enjoins all of us not to give up the struggle for a better world in which diversity is never used to create walls and boundaries, justify exclusion, oppression, and exploitation one race by another. -- Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, University of South AfricaRace, Decolonization, and Global Citizenship in South Africa is a noteworthy and refreshing contribution to the theorization of global citizenship. * AFRICA BOOK LINK *Both in terms of its breadth and quality of scholarship, Race, Decolonization and Global Citizenship in South Africa is undoubtedly one of the most profound and audacious works on contemporary culture and society in Africa that I have read in recent years. -- Paul Ugor, Illinois State University * ALT 37 *Table of ContentsIntroduction: New World Order, New Moral Challenges Theorizing the Present: Sources of the New Moral Self in South Africa Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu as Global Citizens The Violence of History and the Angel of Forgiveness The Challenges of Cosmopolitan Thinking in a Postapartheid Society Of Xenophobia and Other Bigotries: Forging Transcultural Visions Narrating Ubuntu: The Weight of History and the Power of Care Conclusion: South Africa in Search of a New Humanism Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisOffers a radical political interpretation of history that generates fresh insights into the emancipatory potential of ordinary Nigerians and their precolonial cultural institutions This pathbreaking book constructs a socio-ethical identity of Nigeria that can advance its political development. Its method is based on the rediscovery of the practices and principles of emancipatory politics and a retrieval of fundamental virtues and capabilities that go to the core of the functioning of pluralistic communities. Ethics and Society in Nigeria: Identity, History, Political Theory critically engages history, myth, political philosophy, and religion to demonstrate that Nigeria has an unfolding historic identity that can serve as a resource for sustaining increasing levels of human flourishing and democratic republicanism. Located at the intersectionof history and political theory, this work identifies the nature of Nigeria's moral problem, forges the political-theoretic discursive framework for a robust analysis of the problem, and shows a pathway out of the nation's predicament. This three-pronged approach is founded on the retrieval of moral exemplars from the past and critical engagement with history as a social practice, philosophical concept, discipline of study, form of social imaginary, and witness of the flows of contemporary events. Using this methodology, author Nimi Wariboko analyzes various forms of political, religious, and revolutionary identities that have been put forth by different groups in the country and then examines their usefulness for the transformation of Nigeria's problematic socio-ethical identity. NIMI WARIBOKO is the Walter G. Muelder Professor of Social Ethics at Boston University. He is the author of NigerianPentecostalism, available from University of Rochester Press.Trade ReviewToday, the power of good in Nigeria is weak,' laments Africa's preeminent theologian, Nimi Wariboko. Ethics and Society in Nigeria is his attempt to bring the Nigerian malaise under the impress of thought-forthright, coruscating thought-aimed at elevating the power of good. No African theologian or philosopher writing today comes close to Wariboko in the depth of his knowledge, the sheer power of his articulation, and the radiance of his language. -- Ebenezer Obadare, author of Humor, Silence, and Civil Society in NigeriaEthics and Society in Nigeria exemplifies Wariboko's inimitable style. In this book he tackles the question that has exercised generations of Nigerian scholars and policymakers-how to 'interrupt' the 'thoughtlessness and . accompanying evil' that enjoy (hardly the right word) widespread acceptance as defining markers of life in most of postcolonial Nigeria. For a study on so unhappy a project ... this book is a testament of hope. * JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA *Table of ContentsForeword Preface Acknowledgements Introduction: Dead Gods, Divine Kings, and Deadly Politicians The Emergence of the Lotus-Self: Personhood and Identity Dead Gods and People's Revolt: Political Theory in Religious Act Divine King and His Five Bodies: Living History and the Logic of Interreligious Dialogue Governance and Deadly Politicians: History as Cultural Criticism History Without Force: Finding Present Space and Place of Time Constructing Nigeria's Greatness: Neglected Paths of Community, Narratives, and Care of the Soul Mythos, Virtues, and National Transformation African Traditional Religion and Critical Theory: A Framework for Social Ethics Bibliography

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Book SynopsisExplores the culturally complex and cosmopolitan histories of islands off the African coast Islands and island chains like Cabo Verde, Madagascar, and Bioko are often sidelined in contemporary understandings of Africa in which mainland nation-states take center stage in the crafting of historical narratives. Yet in the modern period, these small offshore spaces have often played important if inconsistent roles in facilitating intra- and intercontinental exchanges that have had lasting effects on the cultural, economic, and political landscape of Africa. In African Islands: Leading Edges of Empire and Globalism, contributors argue for the importance of Africa's islands in integrating the continent into wider networks of trade and migration that links it with Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Essays consider the cosmopolitan and culturally complex identities of Africa's islands, analyzing the process and extent to which trade, slavery, and migration bonded African elements with Asian, Arabic, and European characteristics over the years. While the continental and island nations have experienced similar cycles of invasion, boom, and bust, essayists note both similarities and striking differences in how these events precipitated economic changes in the different geographic areas. This book, a much-needed broadly comparative study of the African islands, will be an important resource for students and scholars of the region and of topics such as colonialism, economic history, and cultural hybridity.Trade ReviewAfrican Islands: Leading Edges of Empire and Globalization will become a cornerstone reference in African studies, African diaspora studies, and broader fields that engage the diverse array of issues tightly and coherently represented in the essays. The text is comprehensive and rich; the writing fluid, eloquent, and fast paced; the analysis deeply insightful and satisfying; the expertise of the authors unimpeachable and solid; and the contribution to scholarship undeniably profound and seminal. -- Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso, Babcock University, Nigeria * . *[T]he volume will inspire critical conversations about African islands and their unique roles in later African and global histories. African Islands deserves a place in the libraries of historians, geographers, anthropologists, and those interested in African area studies. * African Studies Quarterly *Table of ContentsIntroduction - Toyin Falola and R. Joseph Parrott and Danielle Porter Sanchez PART 1. ATLANTIC OCEAN ISLANDS The Canaries to Africa: The Atlantic Strategy of "To Be or Not To Be" - Germán Santana Pérez Sugar, Cocoa, and Oil: Economic Success and Failure in São Tomé and Príncipe from the 16th to the 21st Century - Gerhard Seibert The Bijagos of Canhabac Island (Guinea-Bissau) - Joshua Bernard Forrest An Island in the Middle of Everywhere: Bioko under Colonial Domination - Enrique N. Okenve Cursing in Bioko and Annobón: Repeating Islands that Don't Repeat - Michael Ugarte African Ports and Islands during the Second World War - Ashley Jackson "Nos lingua, nos kultura, nos identidadi": Postcolonial Language Planning and Promotion in Cabo Verde and the Cape Verdean Diaspora - Carla D. Martin PART 2. INDIAN OCEAN ISLANDS Africa's Indian Ocean Islands, Near and Distant - Edward A. Alpers Monsoon Metropolis: Migration, Mobility, and Mediation in the Western Indian Ocean - William Bissell The Mascarenes, Indian Ocean Africa, and Global Labor Migration during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries - Richard B. Allen The Island as Nexus: Zanzibar in the Nineteenth Century - Jeremy Prestholdt Slavery and Post-Slavery in Madagascar: An Overview - Denis Regnier and Dominique Somda The Comoros: Strategies of Islandness in the Indian Ocean - Iain Walker Gendered Pioneers from Mayotte: An Ethnographic Perspective on Travel and Transformation in the Western Indian Ocean - Michael Lambek Notes on Contributors

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Book SynopsisReframes the story of modern Ethiopia around the contributions of the Oromo people and the culturally fluid union of communities that shaped the nation's politics and society. Although the Oromo are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, their history has been distorted in order to buttress twentieth-century notions of a homogeneous Ethiopian state. The Other Abyssinians tells the story of the Oromo people's contribution to modern Ethiopia, tracing their experiences from the early nineteenth century onward and detailing the varied interactions of Oromo groups throughout the Ethiopian highlands. Focusing on the historic provinces of Wällo and Shäwa, this well-researched work elucidates the importance of these territories in the creation of Ethiopia and the history of the Oromo. It casts the Oromo as Abyssinians and central in all aspects of modernEthiopian life, while making a case for Ethiopia, a nation without a colonial legacy, as an example of indigenous African identity formation that challenges notions of "tribal" or ethnic identities. Author Brian J. Yates details the cultural practices that integrated the populations of the highlands into the Abyssinian group; in addition, he analyzes the political structures that evolved concurrently. The book, notably, utilizes a community-based framework to underscore the fluidity of modern national identity. All in all, the work offers a close study of Ethiopian modernization policies and illuminates how Africans might have crafted their nations without the legaciesof colonialism.Trade ReviewBrian J. Yates's contribution is truly unique scholarship. His intention to challenge the well-grounded divisive and single lens historical discourse drawn from the colonial mentality about Ethiopia and its people is credible and stimulating. [...] All in all, the book is a must read scholarly contribution for all professionals and the wider public interested in Ethiopian history in order to gain a more nuanced understanding, especially of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. * African Studies Quarterly *Painstakingly researched and written, The Other Abyssinians joins the contested current of Ethiopia's historiography with a distinct contribution. * H-Net *Table of ContentsIntroduction: What about the Oromo Habäsha? Liberating Northern Oromo Experience from Competing Nationalisms Cultural Backgrounds and the Häbäsha State In but not of: The (Re)Integration of the Wällo Oromo into the Häbäsha Community Menilek, Gobäna and the Creation of Häbäsha Shäwa, 1855-1888 Recreating the Autonomy of Wällo: The Unions of Mikaél and Menilek From Personal Relationships to a Centralizing State: Shäwan Ethiopia (1889-1913) Conclusion: The Oromo Häbasha Post-Menilek Appendix A: Guide To The Transliteration of the Ethiopic Script To the Latin Script Appendix B: Glossary of Ethiopian Terms Appendix C: Sample Interview Questions for Shäwa and Wällo Bibliography

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Book SynopsisA revisionist account of African masquerade carnivals in transnational context that offers readers a unique perspective on the connecting threads between African cultural trends and African American cultural artifacts In recent decades, there has been an explosion of scholarly interest in African-styled traditions and the influence of these traditions upon the African diaspora. In this important new analysis, author Raphael Njoku explores the transnational connections between masquerade narratives and memory over the past four centuries to show how enslaved Africans became culture carriers of inherited African traditions. In doing so, he questions the scholarly predisposition toward ethnicization of African cultural artifacts in the Americas. As Njoku's research shows, the practices reenacted by the Igbo and Bight of Biafra modelers in the Americas were not exact replicas of the African prototypes. Cultural modeling is dynamic, and the inheritors of West African traditions often adapted their customs to their circumstances--altering and transforming the meaning and purpose of the customs they initially represented. With the Bantu migrations serving as a catalyst for ethnic mixing and change prior to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, African-themed cultural activities in the New World became dilutions of practices from several ethnic African and European nations. African cultures were already experiencing changes through Bantuization; in this well-researched and engagingly written scholarly work, the author explores the extension of this process beyond the African continent. This book is openly available in digital formats thanks to a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.Trade ReviewRaphael Chijioke Njoku's study of West African masking forms and their impact in the Americas is a welcome exploration of the history and function of body-mask performances in the context of African initiation societies and their adaptation into Caribbean carnival events and initiation groups, like the Abakuá of Cuba. -- Ivor Miller * H-Africa *There are several aspects of this book that work very well: the structure is very clear and easy to follow, and the notion of understanding the dynamism and evolution of masquerades in Africa first, in order to then tackle their use and transformation in the New World, is excellent and commendable, and something other scholars should undoubtedly take notice of. The comparative analysis of the evolution of masquerades on each side of the Atlantic in the nineteenth century is also fascinating, as is the juxtaposition of the effects that slavery and colonialism had on these practices in the Americas and Africa, respectively. The author has also undoubtedly a substantial knowledge of the Igbo world, which shows in the discussion -- Sirio Canos-Donnay * Folklore *Table of ContentsIntroduction Memory and Masquerade Narratives: The Art of Remembering Aspects of Society and Culture in the Biafra Hinterland Bantu Migrations and Cultural Transnationalism in the Ancient Global Age, c.2500 BCE-1400 CE Bight of Biafra, Slavery, and Diasporic Africa in the Modern Global Age, 1400-1800 Igbo Masquerade Dances in the African Diasporas: Symbols and Meanings Unmasking the Masquerade: Counterideologies and Contemporary Practices Idioms of Religion, Music, Dance, and African Art Forms Memory and Masquerade Narratives: The Art of Remembering

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Book SynopsisA captivating account of an interracial jazz opera that took apartheid South Africa by storm and marked a turning point in the nation's cultural history. In 1959, King Kong, an interracial jazz opera, swept across South Africa and became a countrywide phenomenon. Its performances sold out, its LP record was widely heard, and its cast became recognized celebrities. Featuring an African composer, cast, and orchestra but predominantly white directors and producers, this interracial production seemed completely distinct from any other theatrical production in the country's history. Despite being staged over a decade after the enacting of apartheid, the interracial collaboration met widespread acclaim that bridged South Africa's racial, political, ethnic, and class fissures. Widely considered a watershed moment within the history of South African theater and music, King Kong encapsulated key currents within South African cultural history. Author Tyler Fleming's gripping narrative unpacks the life of the musical, from the emergence of the heavyweight boxer "King Kong" Dlamini to the behind-the-scenes dynamics of rehearsals to the musical's 1961 tour of Britain and the later experience of cast members living in exile for their opposition to apartheid. Opposing Apartheid on Stage: "King Kong" the Musical explores the history of this jazz opera and its enduring legacy in both South African history and global popular culture.Trade ReviewFleming examines every aspect of the play, from its sonic genesis in the cultural ferment of Sophiatown - the area of Johannesburg where a rich musical, social and literary world blossomed until the district was bulldozed to make way for a white suburb called Triomf (Triumph) - to the fates of the musicians and actors who chose exile, and its ill-fated and forgotten restaging in 1979. . . . As Fleming makes abundantly clear, the story of King Kong is about much more than just musical theatre. * THE WIRE *Fleming's exposition is an opportunity to explore the history of prize fighting, racial discrimination with the rise of apartheid, urbanization, cross-racial artistic collaborations, and exile. This is an extraordinarily rich and ambitious work, and quite unlike anything in recent African historiography. . . . Opposing Apartheid on Stage is a spectacular achievement and a pleasure to read. -- Benjamin N. Lawrance * AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW *Table of ContentsIntroduction "Marvelous Muscles": A History of Ezekiel Dlamini, the Real "King Kong" Creating a "Back of the Moon": The Union of Southern African Artists and Interracial Collaboration Behind the "All-African" Musical "Quickly in Love": Popular Receptions of 1959 King Kong and Entertaining the Possibilities of a Different South Africa(s) "Kwela Kong": The Trials and Tribulations of a South African Musical Abroad in 1961 "Sad Times, Bad Times": Issues of Exile, the King Kong Cast, and South African Jazz in Britain, 1961-1980 "The Boy's [and Girl's] Doin' It":Moving to America and Re-Discovering Africa, 1960-1989 "Death Song": The 1979 Remake of King Kong And the Power of Cultural Memories Under Apartheid Bibliography

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Book SynopsisWith great foresight and vision for the Church, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI carefully integrated theological, catechetical and pastoral themes in the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Africae Munus. Maurice A. Agbaw-Ebai and Matthew Levering, in the introduction to this collection of reflections and studies focused on the Pope Emeritus’ themes, affirm the African continent’s status as a global center for the growth of the Catholic Church in the twenty-first century and the future of the international Catholic community. Building on the vitality and enthusiasm of the Church in Africa, it is important to lift their faith through scholarly research and academic reflections. We cannot fully appreciate the dedication, commitment and perseverance of the Catholic community throughout the African continent if we do not know the truth of their sufferings and persecution and understand their resilience in the light of faith. This collection, drawn from the halls of academia, provides an important contribution to the understanding and advancement of Catholic Africa, following the insights and enlightenment of Pope Emeritus Benedict. It is my hope that these essays will enrich your understanding and experience of the Catholic faith. — From the Preface by Seán Patrick Cardinal O’Malley

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Book SynopsisCatholicism continues to experience an exponential growth in Africa. Going by the figures and the intensity of religious practice, Africa can unarguably be described as the new center of the Christianity in general, and Catholicism in particular. With over 236 million Catholics, Africa considers itself as having come of age and capable of making its voice heard on matters pertaining to global Catholicism/Christianity. And if there is a contemporary theologian greatly loved and admired by African scholars, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI ranks premium on that list. His convening a second synod on Africa on the theme of justice, peace and reconciliation, further endeared him to the African theologians. This book is a testimony to the affection that the Church in Africa has for Benedict XVI. In effect, as Africa finds its voice on the stage of global Catholicism, the theology of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI provides a fruitful space for Africa's engagement with the wider Church. Benedict XVI described Africa as the spiritual lung of the world. This volume testifies to the vitality and healthiness of that lung, a must read for all interested in African Catholicism and its definite impact on global Christianity as a whole.

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Book SynopsisCartoonists make us laugh - and think - by caricaturing daily events and politics. The essays, interviews, and cartoons presented in this innovative book vividly demonstrate the rich diversity of cartooning across Africa and highlight issues facing its cartoonists today, such as sociopolitical trends, censorship, and use of new technologies.Celebrated African cartoonists including Zapiro of South Africa, Gado of Kenya, and Asukwo of Nigeria join top scholars and a new generation of scholar-cartoonists from the fields of literature, comic studies and fine arts, animation studies, social sciences, and history to take the analysis of African cartooning forward.Taking African Cartoons Seriously presents critical thematic studies to chart new approaches to how African cartoonists trade in fun, irony, and satire. The book brings together the traditional press editorial cartoon with rapidly diverging subgenres of the art in the graphic novel and animation, and applications on social media. Interviews with bold and successful cartoonists provide insights into their work, their humour, and the dilemmas they face.This book will delight and inform readers from all backgrounds, providing a highly readable and visual introduction to key cartoonists and styles, as well as critical engagement with current themes to show where African political cartooning is going and why.

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Book SynopsisThese seventeen pieces on travel in Africa by leading African authors take readers to places at once homelike and foreign. Against the tropes of travel writing, this book offers the acuity of vision of particular types of travellers. These are travellers whose mother tongue may find the hint of familiarity across otherwise unintelligible languages and for whom a foreign land isn’t necessarily strange; in it they perceive vestiges of the familiar. For them, the act of travelling extends a canvas on which to depict someone else’s reality - a reality never too distant from their own.What makes these writings coalesce is a reflection about the act of being in motion, about reconfiguring place; a consciousness of how geography redirects the focus of one’s gaze and, in turn, how that altered gaze filters inward. Having absorbed the landscape, inhaled the scents, paid heed to accents, and accepted the condition of being out of place, these travelers reconstitute individual consciousness and join a collective sense of existing beyond borders.Place inhabits this renewed sense of self; literature enables its expression. An inviting introduction to travel writing on Africa, The Passport That Does Not Pass Ports is absorbing reading for travellers and students of literature alike.

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Book SynopsisDemonstrates the power of art in the service of healing Healing from Genocide in Rwanda demonstrates the power of art in the service of healing, and is a testimony to responsive community process in a highly sensitive environment. The work immerses readers in the stories of two Rwandans who as small children experienced the 1994 Genocide. It tells of the horrific tragedy each survived, the courage necessary for surviving, and the humanity they embody. Their stories are framed by two chapters chronicling the transformation, in the Rugerero Survivors’ Village, of a concrete burial slab into a powerful Genocide Memorial with its bone chamber, designed by artist Lily Yeh and built by the villagers. The book is not limited to the literature of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, but belongs to the world as part of the collective human experience. It evokes its world through images (photographs, drawings, paintings, pattern, and color) as well as words. The text itself is visually choreographed. The work draws from Lily Yeh’s multifaceted Rwandan Healing Project under the auspices of Barefoot Artists, a project that included, among other things, drawing and storytelling workshops. Susan Viguers conceived and designed the book, incorporating drawings and paintings by Lily Yeh.Trade Review"In a new book, artist and coauthor Lily Yeh brings the transformational power of art to a very dark place." -- JoAnn Greco, The Pennsylvania Gazette"Healing from Genocide in Rwanda is a major contribution to the growing literature on genocide. Its profoundly moving account of the horror of genocide and the complexity of healing make it of considerable use to all those invested in human rights." -- Gail Daneker, human rights activist"This is a book of two children’s stories of survival. It is not a book for children. It’s a book for adults about the depravity of adults. A horrifying book. And yet an exquisitely beautiful book, a book honoring the truth of genocide and the use of story and art to heal. Governments promise never again and look the other way; Lily Yeh and Susan Viguers give us the gift of extraordinary seeing and caring – without which genocides continue." -- Robert Shetterly, artist and author of Portraits of Racial Justice: Americans Who Tell the Truth

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Book SynopsisArrested in 1962 as South Africa’s apartheid regime intensified its brutal campaign against political opponents, forty-four-year-old lawyer and African National Congress activist Nelson Mandela had no idea that he would spend the next twenty-seven years in jail. During his 10,052 days of incarceration, Mandela wrote hundreds of letters to unyielding prison authorities, fellow activists, government officials, and most memorably, to his wife Winnie and his five children. Now, 255 of these letters, the majority of which were previously unseen, provide the most intimate portrait of Mandela since Long Walk to Freedom. Painstakingly researched, authenticated and catalogued by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the letters have been drawn from the Foundation’s archive as well as from public and private collections held by the Mandela family and South African government archives. Mandela’s letters are organised chronologically and divided by the four prisons in which he was incarcerated. Each section opens with a short introduction to provide a historical overview of each of these periods and the collection features a foreword by Zamaswazi Dlamini-Mandela. Whether writing about the death of his son Thembi after a request to attend the funeral was ignored, providing unwavering support to his also-imprisoned wife or outlining a human-rights philosophy that resonates today, The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela reveals the heroism of a man who refused to compromise his moral values in the face of extraordinary human punishment. Ultimately, they confirm Mandela’s position among the most inspiring historical figures of the twentieth century.Trade Review"Madiba's words give us a compass in a sea of change. Firm ground amidst swirling currents." -- Barack Obama"A veritable treasure trove, they grant a forensic insight into his courage, superhuman fortitude and clarity of political judgment; into his agony at failing in his duties as a husband and father of two girls, toddlers when he was snatched away; and his torment at being refused permission to attend either his mother's or his son’s funeral. To me, even as a biographer of Mandela, it is a revelatory volume." -- Peter Hain - The Daily Telegraph"... this mesmerising book of prison letters... through these compelling letters the thinking, feeling, loving man he was comes back to us." -- Gillian Slovo - The Guardian"Venter has done an excellent job of sifting through the South African national archives, which alone contain 57 boxes of his prison letters and papers, and smaller collections that are scattered all over the place." -- Ivan Fallon - The Sunday Times"Nelson Mandela’s long, thoughtful letters, written during his 27 years in prison, display an unwavering certainty that change would prevail." -- Tim Adams, Book of the Day - The Guardian"... as a series of illuminating snapshots into one of the most important political icons of post-colonial Africa, the book will have a timeless value." -- The Irish Times"Remarkably, this collection only serves to enhance and consolidate Mandela’s reputation as a defining figure of the last century and the present one. The letters are in multiple languages, English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa, but they speak the language of humanity, which is the language of that fraught but loaded prison word: time." -- The Herald"To commemorate what would have been his 100th birthday, a book of 250 letters has just been published, providing a remarkable insight into the man, his tenacity and endurance and the struggle for his country's freedom." -- The Independent"A superbly edited collection of the ANC chief's prison letters paint a portrait of Mandela the family man, the political thinker and the inmate... As well as presenting 255 letters across 640 pages here, the South African journalist Sahm Venter does a fine job of putting them into historical context." -- The Irish Independent"So much rubbish has been written over the years by those who feared, revered or pretended to know Nelson Mandela that it is useful, finally, to be able to read about him and the privations of his prison years in his own contemporaneous, understated prose." -- The Spectator"The back cover of The Prison Letters Of Nelson Mandela is adorned with several quotes from the book, all expressing the kind of noble sentiments you might expect from one of the Great Men of History. In fact, though, this is a bit misleading — because, taken as a whole, the book itself gives us a far more rounded, interesting and, above all, human portrait of Mandela than that." -- The Daily Mail"Published in what would have been his centenary year, this fascinating collection of correspondence provides a revealing and deeply emotional glimpse into the mind of the 20th century's greatest leader." -- World of Cruising

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Book SynopsisExamines transformational moments and liberation movements in the decolonization of inherited Western academic traditions in Africa. This book explores how decolonization and decoloniality provide liberationist knowledge to question and replace the hegemony of Western knowledge systems imposed on Africa. It critically examines the silencing and exclusion of subalterns in global knowledge production and the far-reaching implications of this for pedagogy and policy. As global power is concentrated in the global north where Eurocentrism and white supremacy validate the monopoly of knowledge and its centrality and universality, African perspectives continue to be marginalized or excluded in research, creating the problem of misrepresentation of the continent. It is to this challenge that this book has responded&emdash;the urgent need to eliminate the vestiges of colonialism in the academy and research methodologies. Coloniality is seen not only as a historical phenomenon but also as an ethnocentric continuum, dominating all aspects of present life, especially monopolizing human epistemology, the threshold of human existence, and even development activities. This book provides a balanced overview of what a feasible decoloniality should be. It is all-inclusive, aggregating differing perspectives, including decolonial feminist and LGBTQ thought. It deploys a holistic approach that critiques the limitations to decoloniality, the impediments that culminated in the failure of the late 20th century struggle for decoloniality, and the problems associated with current African resistance to academic decoloniality. The book closes with a discussion of African futurism. Seen as the advanced stage of decoloniality, African futurism involves the application of "traditional" (indigenous) instruments of articulation and cohesion such as Afro-spirituality, myths, folklore, and indigenous techno-scientific innovations, deployed in their capacity to drive, harness, and actualize future possibilities.Trade ReviewIn this comprehensive book, Africanist Falola (Univ. of Texas, Austin) meticulously explores the origins of the Eurocentric academic, socioeconomic, and political onslaught on Africa. [...] Highly recommended. * CHOICE *The book demonstrates Falola as a master of the protocols of writing a generally accessible academic book which is yet summative of the field in question, engaging significantly with its constitutive ideas. On account of the sheer scope of the work in terms of its sweeping coverage of practically every aspect of the subject, and its analytical range, the extensiveness of its engagement with the relevant issues and ideas in almost every aspect of African Studies, anyone who wants to gain an overview of the subject in depth is likely to find this book indispensable. -- Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju * New Times *This massive book on the question of decolonizing African studies appears to be the first of its kind from a single author. It is only fitting that it is written by a scholar of Professor Falola's stature, who has spent several decades reflecting on these issues. Students and scholars of Africa would benefit from making it part of their required reading. -- David Ngong * Journal of Religion in Africa *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: The Decolonial Moments Part A: Epistemologies and Methodologies 1. Decoloniality and Decolonizing Knowledge 2. Eurocentrism and Intellectual Imperialism 3. Epistemologies of Intellectual Liberation 4. Decolonizing Knowledge in Africa 5. Decolonizing Research Methodology 6. Oral Tradition: Cultural Analysis and Epistemic Value Part B: Agencies and Voices 7. Voices of Decolonization 8. Voices of Decoloniality 9 Decoloniality: A Critique 10. Women's Voices on Decolonization 11. Empowering Marginal Voices: LGBTQ and African Studies Part C: Intellectual Spaces 12. Decolonizing the African Academy 13. Decolonizing Knowledge Through Language 14. Decolonizing of African Literature 15. Identity and the African Feminist Writers 16. Decolonizing African Aesthetics 17. Decolonizing African History 18. Decolonizing African Religion 19. Decolonizing African Philosophy 20. African Futurism

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