African history Books

Book SynopsisVoices of Freedom: The Middle East and North Africa showcases essays from activists, journalists, novelists, and scholars whose areas of expertise include free speech, peace and reconciliation, alterity-otherness, and Middle Eastern and North African religions and literatures. Co-edited by TCU colleagues Rima Abunasser and Mark Dennis, the volume is meant to serve as a vehicle for giving dignity and depth to the peoples of these regions by celebrating courageous voices of freedom trying to respond to fundamental, often devastating, changes on the ground, including the Arab Spring, the Syrian refugee crisis, and the rise of the Islamic State. Writing in both the first- and third-person, essayists offer deeply moving portraits of voices that cry out for freedom in chaotic, and often violent, circumstances.Voices of Freedom is aimed at college classes that address the many ways in which freedom intersects with politics, religion, and other elements in the societies of these dynamic and diverse regions. It will serve as a valuable primary source for college teachers interested in exploring with their students the struggle for freedom in non-Western and transnational cultural contexts. The volume is also meant to attract other audiences, including readers from the general public interested in learning about inspirational people from parts of the world about which Americans and other English-speaking peoples are generally unfamiliar.

Read more less

Book SynopsisCrossing the remote, southern tip of Africa has fired the imagination of European travellers from the time Bartholomew Dias opened up the passage to the East by rounding the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. Dutch, British, French, Danes, and Swedes formed an endless stream of seafarers who made the long journey southwards in pursuit of wealth, adventure, science, and missionary, as well as outright national, interest. Beginning by considering the early hunter-gatherer inhabitants of the Cape and their culture, Malcolm Jack focuses in his account on the encounter that the European visitors had with the Khoisan peoples, sometimes sympathetic but often exploitative from the time of the Portuguese to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833. This commercial and colonial background is key to understanding the development of the vibrant city that is modern Cape Town, as well as the rich diversity of the Cape hinterland. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.Trade Review"This skillfully marshalled and elegantly recounted history opens up new pathways into the European cultural and intellectual past whilst underlining the mystical, mesmeric power of the Cape, that 'master link of connection between the western and eastern world.'"— The Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa "For European visitors who called at the Cape in past centuries its "otherness" - the iconic mountain, the unusual fauna and flora, the indigenous people and their alien culture - was forever the subject of wonder. This sense of awe is strongly evoked in Malcolm Jack's new book."— Cape Times "Anyone interested in travellers’ accounts will want to read Malcolm Jack’s lively and well-researched discussion of how visitors, from the Portuguese in the late 15th century to Lady Herschel in the 1830s, viewed the Cape and its people. Along with the sometimes colourful accounts the travelers gave of what they saw as the exotic landscape, fauna and flora of the Cape, Malcolm Jack focuses on their perceptions of the indigenous Khoisan, perceptionsthat helped shape the way the early colonial society developed."— Chris Saunders, Professor of History Emeritus, UCT "This commercial and colonial background is key to understanding the development of the vibrant city that is modern Cape Town, as well as the rich diversity of the Cape hinterland."— PEN South Africa "This book is a gift for anyone who is interested in the people of the world living together. It is written in elegant prose and makes its concern pointedly clear. Apart from the people, it is the impressive landscape and nature of South Africa which fascinates the author and for which he finds heavenly words. It is essential to see these features of the overall picture because they gave the people living there for thousands of years a functioning place to live. The book points out strongly that the unity between people and the land was destroyed by the Europeans, but the author avoids any moral indignation and lets the facts alone speak for themselves. The reader who is less familiar with the history of South Africa feels at least at this point the wish to know the country more intensely."— Jahrbuch fur Europäische Überseegeschichte "Malcolm Jack identifies three broad themes in the history of travel literature to the Cape: the Adamastor myth invented by the Portuguese epic poet de Camoëns; the myth of Paradise Lost and of the Noble Savage (a preoccupation of French writers); and the Arcadian image created by British colonial diarists transported by the beauty of the unfamiliar land. To guide the reader Malcolm Jack has chosen a select number of these adventurous authors. He charts their experiences and records their anecdotes and insights — subjective insights seldom to be found in the pages of conventional history books."— Jeremy Lawrence, PEN South Africa "Cape Encounters," by Malcolm Jack— CABO Fine Music Radio "People of Note" interview with Malcolm Jack— Fine Music Radio "People of Note" "Beginning with hunter-gatherer inhabitants of the Cape and their culture, Jack focuses on the encounter that the European visitors had with the Khoisan peoples, sometimes sympathetic but often exploitative from the time of the Portuguese to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833. This commercial and colonial background is key to understanding the development of the vibrant city that is modern Cape Town, as well as the rich diversity of the Cape hinterland."— The Society of Antiquaries of London Online Newsletter "Following a wide selection of visitors to the Cape, ranging from scientists to missionaries, this ground-breaking study centres in the experience of cross-cultural encounter in the colony covering the period from Van Riebeeck’s momentous importation of slaves to the official abolition of slavery in the 1830s. An authority on the European enlightenment and on constitutional law, Malcolm Jack brings exceptional critical resources to bear on a body of writing that is uniquely rich and full of implication. Crammed with new insights, and enlivened by arresting detail, this is a book that will appeal to the general reader as much as to the scholar."— Peter Knox-Shaw, author of Jane Austen and the EnlightenmentTable of Contents List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments 1 Ancient and Mythical Place 2 Adamastor's Reign 3 Paradise Lost 4 Enlightenment Visitors 5 Ennobling the Savage 6 Paradise Regained 7 A Call for Freedom Afterword Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisWars fought for political separation have become omnipresent in post-colonial Africa. From the division of Sudan, to the continued fragmentation of Somalia, and the protracted struggles of Cabinda and Azawad, conflict over secession and separation continues to the present day.This is the first single volume to examine the historical arc of secession and secessionist conflict across sub-Saharan Africa. Paying particular attention to the development of secessionist conflicts and their evolving goals, Secession and Separatist Conflicts in Postcolonial Africa draws on case studies and rigorous research to examine three waves of secessionist movements, themselves defined by international conflict and change. Using detailed case studies, the authors offer a framework to understand how secession and separation occur, how these are influenced by both preceding movements and global political trends, and how their ongoing legacies continue to shape African regional politics.Deeply engaging and thoroughly researched, this book presents a nuanced and important and important new overview of African separatist and secessionist conflicts. It addresses the structures, goals, and underlying influences of these movements within a broader global context to impart a rich understanding of why these conflicts are waged, and how they succeed or fail.Table of Contents Introduction Part I: The Civil Secessions Chapter One: The Secession of Katanga, 1960-1963 Chapter Two: The Secession of Biafra, 1967-1970 Part II: The Long Wars Chapter Three: The Anomaly of Eritrean Secession, 1961-1993 Chapter Four: The Secession of South Sudan, 1955-2005 Part III: The New Wave of Secessions Chapter Five: De Facto Secession and the New Borders of Africa: Somaliland, 1991-Present Chapter Six: Transnational Communities and Secession: The Azawad Secessionists, 1990-1996 Conclusion: Secession and the Secessionist Motive into the 21st Century

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe re-emergence of debates on the decolonisation of knowledge has revived interest in the National Question, which began over a century ago and remains unresolved. Tensions that were suppressed and hidden in the past are now being openly debated. Despite this, the goal of one united nation living prosperously under a constitutional democracy remains elusive. This volume examines the way in which various strands of left thought have addressed the National Question, especially during the apartheid years, and goes on to discuss its relevance for South Africa today and in the future. Contributors have defined the question as they believe appropriate, which has resulted in a rich tapestry of interweaving perceptions about the unresolved National Question. The volume is structured in two parts. The first examines four foundational traditions – Marxism-Leninism (the Colonialism of a Special Type thesis); the Congress tradition; the Trotskyist tradition; and Africanism. The second part explores the various shifts in the debate from the 1960s onwards, and includes chapters on Afrikaner nationalism, ethnic issues, Black Consciousness, feminism, workerism and constitutionalism. By revisiting these debates, the volume will become a catalyst for an enriched debate on our identity and our future.Trade Review"The Unresolved National Question in South Africa is an extremely valuable contribution to the decades-long debate on South African nationhood. Its striking feature is its highly professional and balanced approach to the various narratives and traditionsTable of ContentsIntroduction Revisiting the National Question; Edward Webster and John Mawbey; Part One: Key Foundational Traditions; 1. Decentring the Question of Race: Critical Refl ections on Colonialism of a Special Type Jeremy Cronin and Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo; 2. The African National Congress: Social Democratic Thinking and the Good Society, 1940-1962 Robert van Niekerk; 3. Oliver Tambo and the National Question Luli Callinicos; 4. The Unity Movement and the National Question B.G. Brown, M.P. Giyose, H.J. Peterson, C.A. Thomas and A.R. Zinn; 5. The Africanist Turn in South African Discourses Siphamandla Zondi; Part Two: Continuity and Rupture; 6. Vicissitudes of the National Question, Afrikaner Style T. Dunbar Moodie; 7. Neville Alexander and the National Questio Enver Motala and Salim Vally; 8. The National Question confronts the Ethnic Question Gerhard Mare; 9. Black Consciousness as Nationalism of a Special Type Xolela Mangcu; 10. Postponing the National Question: Feminism and the Women's Movement Shireen Hassim; 11. Workerists Alec Erwin; 12. Red, Black and Gold: FOSATU, Workerism, Syndicalism and the Nation Sian Byrne, Nicole Ulrich and Lucien van der Walt; 13. The Marxist Workers' Tendency of the African National Congress Martin Legassick; 14. The National Democratic Revolution meets Constitutional Democracy: The Conceptual Complexities of an Unanticipated Encounter Daryl Glaser

Read more less

Book SynopsisConfronting national, linguistic and disciplinary boundaries, contributors to African Archaeology Without Frontiers argue against artificial limits and divisions created through the study of ‘ages’ that in reality overlap and cannot and should not be understood in isolation. Papers are drawn from the proceedings of the landmark 14th PanAfrican Archaeological Association Congress held in Johannesburg in 2014, nearly seven decades after the conference planned for 1951 was relocated to Algiers following the National Party’s rise to power in South Africa. Contributions by keynote speakers Chapurukha Kusimba and AkinOgundiran encourage African archaeologists to practise an archaeology that collaborates across many related fields of study to enrich our understanding of the past. The nine papers cover a broad geographical sweep by incorporating material on ongoing projects throughout the continent, including South Africa, Botswana, Cameroon, Togo, Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria. Thematically, the papers included in the volume address issues of identity and interaction, and the need to balance cultural heritage management and sustainable development derived from a continent racked by social inequalities and crippling poverty. Edited by three leading archaeologists, the collection covers many aspects of African archaeology, and a range of periods from the earliest hominins to the historical period.Trade Review"This set of conference proceedings will be a classic, like all the others, and consulted long after its immediate applicability has waned ... It captures the depth and breadth of archaeological research on the African continent and refl ects the state of archaeology at a particular point in time". - Natalie Swanepoel, Department of Anthropology & Archaeology, University of South AfricaTable of ContentsKeynote Address 1 Imagining an African Archaeology Without Frontiers Chapurukha M. Kusimba; Keynote Address 2 Collapsing Boundaries: A Continental Vision for African Archaeology Akin Ogundiran; Chapter 1 The 'Useable' Archaeology Of Recent African Farming Systems: Comparative and Collaborative Perspectives from East (Marakwet), West (Tiv) and South (Bokoni) Africa- Matthew Davies, Caleb Adebayo Folorunso, Timothy Kipkeu Kipruto, Freda M'Mbogori, Henrietta L. Moore, Emuobosa Orijemie and Alex Schoeman; Chapter 2: What Is It? - Cultural Heritage Resources among the Makonde Community of Mtwara Region of Tanzania - Festo W. Gabriel; Chapter 3: The Indigenous Roots of Swahili Culture in Pangani Bay, Tanzania: Continuity and Change in an Archaeological Assemblage - Elinaza Mjema; Chapter 4; Is this an anvil? The multi-functionality of iron bloom crushing (Likumanjool) sites in the Bassar region of Northern Togo - Philip de Barros and Gabriella Lucidi; Chapter 5: Rock Art in Cameroon, Knowledge, New Discoveries and Sub-Regional Extension - Narcisse Santores Tchandeu; Chapter 6: Archaeological Studies on Iron Age Settlement History in the Northwestern Congo Basin - Dirk Seidensticker; Chapter 7: Glass Trade Beads at Thabadimasego, Botswana: Analytical Results and Some Implications - Adrianne Daggett, Marilee Wood and Laure Dussubieux; Chapter 8: Blurring Boundaries: Forager-Farmer Interactions and Settlement Change on the Greater Mapungubwe Landscape, Southern Africa - Tim Forssman; Chapter 9: Challenges Facing Heritage Management in South Africa: Implementation of a Web-Based National Heritage Management System - Kate Smuts and Nick Wiltshire.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWriting the Ancestral River is an illuminating and unusual biography of the Kowie River in the Eastern Cape. This tidal river runs through the centre of what used to be called the Zuurveld, a formative meeting ground of different peoples who have shaped our history: Khoikhoi herders, Xhosa pastoralists, Dutch trekboers and British settlers. Their direct descendants continue to live in the area and interact in ways that have been decisively shaped by their shared history.Besides being a social history, this is also a natural history of the river and its catchment area, where dinosaurs once roamed and cycads still grow. As the book shows, the natural world of the Kowie has felt the effects of human settlement, most strikingly through the establishment of a harbour at the mouth of the river in the 19th century and the development of a marina in the late 20th century. Both projects have had a decisive and deleterious impact on the Kowie.People are increasingly reconnecting with nature and justice through rivers. Acknowledging the past, and the inter-generational, racialised privileges, damages and denials it established and perpetuates, is necessary for any shared future. By focusing on this ‘little’ river, the book raises larger questions about colonialism, capitalism, ‘development’ and ecology, and asks us to consider the connections between social and environmental injustice.Trade ReviewJacklyn Cock has penned a love letter that is as hopeful as it is elegiac. Drawing on family connections to the Kowie that go back to the 1820 settlers, Cock asks big questions about the relationship between nature and culture, between humans and other forms of life, and about the place of rivers in human history. It is only by rethinking our relationship to nature that we can save ourselves."" - Jacob Dlamini, Assistant Professor 0f History, Princeton University""Jacklyn Cock has made the story of a small and fairly insignificant river into a metonym of the biological glories of South Africa and the ecological devastation they have endured, and continue to endure. The result is at once lyrical and trenchant. As a history rooted in the landscape of South Africa, it has few peers, and no superiors."" - Robert Ross, Professor Emeritus of African Studies, Leiden University""Jacklyn Cock has written an extraordinary work of engaged and imaginative scholarship. Writing the Ancestral River will become a South African classic, accessible to the public but at the cutting edge of international scholarship."" - Edward Webster, Professor Emeritus, University of The WitwatersrandTable of ContentsAcknowledgements; Plates; Chapter 1: Motivations; Chapter 2: The River; Chapter 3: The Battle; Chapter 4: The Harbour; Chapter 5: The Marina; Chapter 6: Connecting nature and justice through rivers; Appendix; Glossary of isiXhosa terms; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe University of the Witwatersrand a mere ten years old when, in 1932, these ten lectures were delivered under the auspices of the University Philosophical Society. They portrayed the ideas of the university’s leading academics of the day, and the programme of lectures reveals a studied effort to introduce an element of bipartisan political representation between English and Afrikaner in South Africa by including Wits’ first principal, Jan Hofmeyr, and politician, D.F. Malan, as discussion chairs. As Saul Dubow explains in his new introduction to this re-issue of the lectures, Our Changing World-View was an occasion for Wits’ leading faculty members to position the young university as a mature institution with a leadership role in public affairs. Above all, it was a means to project the university as a research as well as a teaching institution, led by a vigorous and ambitious cohort of liberal-minded intellectuals. That all were male and white will be immediately apparent to readers of this reissued volume. Ranging from economics, psychology, a spurious rebuttal of evolution to a substantial revisionist history and the perils of the ‘machine age’, this book is a sombre reflection of intellectual history and the academy’s role in promulgating political and social divisions in South Africa.Table of Contents Introduction – Saul Dubow Preface – H. R. Raikes Chapter 1 Some Recent Scientific Advances in their Bearing on Philosophy – Lieut.-General the Right Honourable J. C. Smuts Chapter 2 The Material World—Yesterday and Today – Professor J. P. Dalton Chapter 3 Evolution—Design or Accident? – Dr. Robert Broom Chapter 4 Man at the Crossroads – Professor John F. V. Phillips Chapter 5 Psychology in Perspective – Mr. I. D. MacCrone Chapter 6 Literature in the Machine Age – Professor J. Y. T. Greig Chapter 7 The Holistic Attitude in Education – Professor T. J. Haarhoff Chapter 8 Our Changing Economic World – Professor C. S. Richards Chapter 9 Africa in the Re-Making – Professor S. H. Frankel Chapter 10 Old Truths and New Discoveries – Professor R. F. Alfred Hoernlé

Read more less

Book SynopsisSocial scientist Archie Mafeje, who was born in the Eastern Cape but lived most of his scholarly life in exile, was one of Africa's most prominent intellectuals. This ground-breaking book is the first to consider the entire body of Mafeje’s oeuvre and offers much-needed engagement with his ideas.The most inclusive and critical treatment to date of Mafeje as a thinker and researcher, it does not aim to be a biography , but rather offers an analysis of his overall scholarship and his role as a theoretician of liberation and revolution in Africa.Bongani Nyoka argues that Mafeje’s superb scholarship developed out of both his experience as an oppressed black person and his early political education. These, merged with his university training, turned him into a formidable cutting-edge intellectual force. Nyoka begins with an evaluation of Mafeje's critique of the social sciences; his focus then shifts to Mafeje’s work on land and agrarian issues in sub-Saharan Africa, before finally dealing with his work on revolutionary theory and politics. By bringing Mafeje’s work to the fore, Nyoka engages in an act of knowledge decolonisation, thus making a unique contribution to South studies in sociology, history and politics.Table of ContentsIntroductionPart I A Critique of the Social Sciences Chapter 1 From Liberal Functionalism to Radical Social ScienceChapter 2 A Critique of the Social SciencesChapter 3 Reading Mafeje’s The Theory and Ethnography of African Social FormationsPart II On Land and Agrarian Issues in sub-Saharan AfricaChapter 4 The Land and Agrarian QuestionChapter 5 Peasants, Food Security and Poverty EradicationPart III On Revolutionary Theory and Politics Chapter 6 Neo-Colonialism, State Capitalism and UnderdevelopmentChapter 7 Liberation Struggles in South AfricaNotesBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisFalling Monuments, Reluctant Ruins: The Persistence of the Past in the Architecture of Apartheid interrogates how, in the era of decolonisation, post-apartheid South Africa reckons with its past in order to shape its future. Architects, historians, artists, social anthropologists and urban planners seek answers in this book to complex and unsettling questions around heritage, ruins and remembrance. What do we do with hollow memorials and political architectural remnants? Which should remain, which forgotten, and which dismantled? Are these vacant buildings, cemeteries, statues, and derelict grounds able to serve as inspiration in the fight against enduring racism and social neglect? Should they become exemplary as spaces for restitution and justice? The contributors examine the influence of public memory, planning and activism on such anguished places of oppression, resistance and defiance. Their focus on visible markers in the landscape to interrogate our past will make readers reconsider these spaces, looking at their landscape and history anew. Through a series of 14 empirically grounded chapters and 48 images, the contributors seek to understand how architecture contests or subverts these persistent conditions in order to promote social justice, land reclamation and urban rehabilitation. The decades following the dismantling of apartheid are surveyed in light of contemporary heritage projects, where building ruins and abandoned spaces are challenged and renegotiated across the country to become sites of protest, inspiration and anger.This ground-breaking collection is an important resource for professionals, academics and activists working in South Africa today.Table of Contents Acknowledgements List of Figures Foreword - Muchaparara Musemwa Introduction - Hilton Judin Part One: Lands Chapter 1 Land Dispossession and the Ghosts of the Medupi Power Station - Faeeza Ballim Chapter 2 A Community Journey: Return to Juliwe Cemetery in Roodepoort, Johannesburg - Eric Itzkin Chapter 3 Public Memory and Transformation at Constitution Hill and Gandhi Square in Johannesburg - Temba John Dawson Middelmann Chapter 4 Ejaradini: Notes Towards Modelling Black Gardens as a Response to the Coloniality of Museums - MADEYOULOOK Part Two: Buildings Chapter 5 Johannesburg Central Police Station and the Photograph as Evidence - Sally Gaule Chapter 6 The Persistence of Robben Island: Abolition and the Prison Museum - Kelly Gillespie Chapter 7 The Apartheid Pass Office in Johannesburg and a Heritage of Destruction - Hilton Judin Chapter 8 Indian Trading, Art Deco Buildings and Urban Modernity in a Segregated Town: Jubilee House in Krugersdorp - Arianna Lissoni and Roshan Dadoo Chapter 9 An Uncertain Heritage and Resistance: Transforming the Drill Hall in Johannesburg - Barbara Morovich and Pauline Guinard Part Three: Statues, as Monuments Chapter 10 Creating Spaces of Memorialisation: New Delville Wood (France) and SS Mendi (South Africa) - Yasmin Mayat and Brendan Hart Chapter 11 Re-historicising Credo Mutwa's Kwa Khaya Lendaba Cultural Village in Soweto - Ali Khangela Hlongwane and Tara Weber Chapter 12 Facing (Down) the Coloniser? The Mandela Statue at Cape Town's City Hall - Cynthia Kros Chapter 13 ‘Where's Our Monument?' Commemorating Indian Indentured Labour in South Africa -Goolam Vahed Chapter 14 Decolonisation, Monuments, and a New Architectural Language - Nnamdi Elleh Contributors Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisBill Freund, the late social historian and leading analyst of African history, passed away in 2020 soon after finishing his autobiography. Often described as the academy’s ‘outsider insider’, he was an eminent South African historian who published prodigiously in the areas of labour, capital and economic history. What influenced this American-educated academic to become such an astute and trusted observer of the political economy in Africa?In this deeply introspective autobiography, we follow Bill’s intellectual journey from a modest Jewish home in Chicago in the 1950s – where new vistas were opened up through voracious reading, inspiring teachers and intellectual engagement – to the Universities of Chicago, Yale, Ahmadu Bello, Dar es Salaam and Harvard, and finally to a permanent teaching position at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa in 1985. Freund begins with his family’s fascinating history in Habsburg Austria, describes émigré life in the USA, and provides astute reflections on his teaching experiences. Peppered in between the commentaries on academic life are stories of his travels, poems he wrote for loved ones, and endearing anecdotes of friendships that shaped his life.Freund offers rich insights into the world of Africanists and their scholarship on different continents, as well as thoughtful and balanced observations on late- and post-apartheid South Africa. His autobiography reveals the intellectual man and the world that shaped him – and which he in turn influenced through a deep commitment to rigorous scholarship. It includes a select bibliography of his many publications as well as a foreword by Robert Morrell on the making of this book.Table of Contents Foreword: Bill Freund and the Making of His Autobiography, by Robert Morrell A Brief Introduction Bill Freund’s Family Tree Chapter 1 The Austrian Past Chapter 2 The Aftermath of War: A Perilous Modernity Chapter 3 The Dark Years Chapter 4 A New Life in America Chapter 5 Adolescence: First Bridge to a Wider World Chapter 6 As a Student: Chicago and Yale Chapter 7 As a Student: Africa and England Chapter 8 The Tough Years Begin Chapter 9 An Intellectual and an African: Nigeria Chapter 10 An Intellectual and an African: Dar es Salaam and Harvard Chapter 11 South Africa, My Home Notes Select Bibliography of Bill Freund’s Publications List of Illustrations Author’s Acknowledgements Supplementary Acknowledgements Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisSouth Africa's democracy is often seen as a story of bright beginnings gone astray, a pattern said to be common to Africa. The negotiated settlement of 1994, it is claimed, ended racial domination and created the foundation for a prosperous democracy - but greedy politicians betrayed the promise of a new society.In Prisoners of the Past Steven Friedman astutely argues that this misreads the nature of contemporary South Africa. Building on the work of the economic historian Douglass North and the political thinker Mahmood Mamdani, Friedman shows that South African democracy's difficulties are legacies of the pre-1994 past. The settlement which ushered in majority rule left intact core features of the apartheid economy and society. The economy continues to exclude millions from its benefits, while racial hierarchies have proved stubborn: apartheid is discredited, but the values of the pre-1948 colonial era, the period of British colonisation, still dominate. Thus South Africa's democracy supports free elections, civil liberties and the rule of law, but also continues past patterns of exclusion and domination. Friedman reasons that this 'path dependence' is not, as is often claimed, the result of constitutional compromises in 1994 that left domination untouched. This bargain was flawed because it brought not too much compromise, but too little. Compromises extended political citizenship to all but there were no similar bargains on economic and cultural change. Using the work of the radical sociologist Harold Wolpe, Friedman shows that only negotiations on a new economy and society can free South Africans from the prison of the past.Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1 The Past Is Too Much with Us: South Africa's Path-Dependent Democracy Chapter 2 Path Dependence: What It Means and How It Explains South Africa Chapter 3 The Roots of Patronage: Path Dependence, ‘State Capture' and Corruption Chapter 4 The Bifurcated Society: Mahmood Mamdani, Rural Power and State Capture Chapter 5 A Cycle of Crisis and Compromise: Path Dependence, Race and Policy Conflicts Chapter 6 Missing the Target: The Negotiations of 1993, the Constitution and Change Chapter 7 The Power of Negotiation: The Prescience of Harold Wolpe Chapter 8 Towards a Future: A Route Out of Path Dependence Notes References Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisEdward Said described a public intellectual as someone who uses accessible language to address a designated public on matters of social and political significance. The essays in Public Intellectuals in South Africa apply this interpretive prism and activist principle to a South African context and tell the stories of well-known figures as well as some that have been mostly forgotten. They include Magema Fuze, John Dube, Aggrey Klaaste, Mewa Ramgobin and Koos Roets, alongside marginalised figures such as Elijah Makiwane, Mandisi Sindo, William Pretorius and Dr Thomas Duncan Greenlees. The essays capture the thoughts and opinions of these historical figures, who the contributors argue are public intellectuals who spoke out against the corruption of power, promoted a progressive politics that challenged the colonial project and its legacies, and encouraged a sustained dissent of the political status quo. Offering fascinating accounts of the life and work of these writers, critics and activists across a range of historical contexts and disciplines, from journalism and arts criticism to history and politics, it enriches the historical record of South African public intellectual life. This volume makes a significant contribution to ongoing debates about the value of research in the arts and humanities, and what constitutes public intellectualism in South Africa.Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: The Prismatic Nature of Public Intellectualism — Chris Broodryk Chapter 1 Recalibrating the Deep History of Intellectual Thought in the KwaZulu-Natal Region — Carolyn Hamilton Chapter 2 Elijah Makiwane and Early Black South African Public Intellectualism — Luvuyo Mthimkhulu Dondolo Chapter 3 Black Art Criticism in The Bantu World during the 1930s — Pfunzo Sidogi Chapter 4 In Conversation with the Nation: Sowetan’s Maverick Editor Aggrey Klaaste — Lesley Cowling Chapter 5 William Pretorius and the Public Intellectualism of the Film Critic — Chris Broodryk Chapter 6 Cultural Policy and the Arts: Mewa Ramgobin and Public Dialogue — Keyan G. Tomaselli Chapter 7 ‘Kaalgat Critique’: The Public Intellectualism of Koos Roets as Afrikaans Satirist — Anna-Marié Jansen van Vuuren Chapter 8 The Public Intellectualism of Artivist Mandisi Sindo — Katlego Chale Chapter 9 The Janus-Faced Public Intellectual: Dr Thomas Duncan Greenlees at the Institute for Imbecile Children, 1895–1907 — Rory du Plessis Contributors Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisBones and Bodies is a highly accessible account of the establishment of the scientific discipline of biological anthropology. Alan G Morris takes us back over the past century of anthropological discovery in South Africa and uncovers the stories of individual scientists and researchers who played a significant role in shaping perceptions of how peoples of southern Africa, both ancient and modern, came to be viewed and categorised both in the public imagination and the scientific literature.Morris reveals how much of the earlier anthropological studies were tainted with the tarred brush of race science, evaluating the works of famous anthropologists and archaeologists such as Raymond Dart, Thomas Dreyer, Matthew Drennan and Robert Broom. Morris also considers how modern anthropology tried to rid itself of the stigma of these early racist accounts. In the 1960s and 1970s, Ronald Singer and Phillip Tobias introduced modern methods into the discipline that disputed much of what the public wished to believe about race and human evolution. Bones and Bodies shows the battle facing modern anthropology to acknowledge its racial past but also how its study of human variation remains an important field of enquiry at institutions of higher learning.Table of Contents List of Illustrations A Note on the Use of Historical Terminology Acknowledgements List of Characters with Dates of Birth, Death and Affiliation Schema of Types Introduction Chapter 1 Dr Louis Péringuey’s Well-Travelled Skeletons Chapter 2 Boskop: The First South African Fossil Human Celebrity Chapter 3 Matthew Drennan and the Scottish Influence in Cape Town Chapter 4 The Age of Racial Typology in South Africa Chapter 5 Raymond Dart’s Complicated Legacy Chapter 6 Ronald Singer, Phillip Tobias and the ‘New Physical Anthropology’ Chapter 7 Physical Anthropology and the Administration of Apartheid Chapter 8 The Politics of Racial Classification in Modern South Africa Select Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisMahala's biography gives insight into the life and writing of Can Themba (1924–1967), an iconic figure of the South African literary world and Drum journalist who died in exile Can Themba: The Intellectual Tsotsi, a Biography brings to life the iconic South African writer and journalist, Can Themba, (21 June 1924 – 8 September 1967) who died while exiled in Swaziland in 1967. Best known for his classic short story, ‘The Suit’, Themba has been somewhat of an enigma, with very little known about his personal life. This biography brings forth the voices of those who had personal interactions with him, shining the light on different aspects of his life including education, literature, journalism and political fraternities. It features interviews with prominent individuals including his former students, Abdul Bham, Pitika Ntuli, and Mbulelo Mzamane; journalistic mentees Juby Mayet and Joe Thloloe; as well as friends, colleagues and contemporaries Parks Mangena, Peter Magubane, Jurgen Schadeberg, Don Mattera, and Nadine Gordimer; in addition to artists and academics Mothobi Mutloatse, Muxe Nkondo and Njabulo S. Ndebele. Also featured in this biographical text are veteran political figures such as Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Lindiwe Mabuza and Ahmed Kathrada. Themba’s intellectual acumen, scholarly aptitude and witticism are some of his most revered characteristics amongst those who had interactions with him either in person or through comprehensive reading of his works. Mahala is a master storyteller and deftly weaves together the threads of Themba's dynamic life. In this edifying biography Mahala recreates the sparkle and pathos of Sophiatown of the 1950s and the Drum era. Can Themba’s successes and failures, as well as his triumphs and tribulations reverberate on the pages of this long-awaited biography.Table of Contents Introduction Part I: Death and Birth of a Scribe Chapter 1 A Knock on the Door Chapter 2 The Poet Laureate of Fort Hare Chapter 3 The Teacher of Life and Letters Chapter 4 From Marabastad to Sophiatown and beyond Part II: Living Fast, Dying Young Chapter 5 The Drum Seduction Chapter 6 Occasions for Loving Chapter 7 Drumming Up a Storm Chapter 8 Destruction and Demise Chapter 9 The Road to Swaziland: A Kind of Suicide Part III: The ‘Intellectual Tsotsi’: The Identities, Politics and Intellectual Legacy of Can Themba Chapter 10 Black Englishman or Detribalised African? A Quest for Shared Identities Chapter 11 A Politico in a Poet Chapter 12 The People’s Intellectual Part IV: Dances with Texts: the Writings of Can Themba Chapter 13 No Ordinary Storyteller Chapter 14 Intertextuality and the Making of Mr Shakespeare Chapter 15 ‘The Suit’ For All Seasons Part V: The Immortality of Can Themba Chapter 16 Re-Membering the Fragments Postscript: The Three Burials of Can Themba Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe University of the Witwatersrand occupies a special place in the hearts and minds of South Africans. It is a leading university renowned for its commitment to academic and research excellence, social justice and advancement of the public good. The history of the university is inextricably linked to the development of Johannesburg, to mining, and to deeply rooted political and social activism. Wits University at 100: From Excavation to Innovation captures moments of Wits’ story over 100 years through exploring its origins, its place in society, its transformation and its challenges as it prepares for the next century. This centennial publication presents a narrative of Wits as a living and dynamic institution, celebrating its existence through its people, many of whom, in one way or another, have shifted the world. Driven by the voices of its people, Wits University at 100 tells the story of Wits from its humble beginnings as a mining college in Johannesburg to its current position as a flourishing university stimulating innovation from the global South.The experiences, achievements and insights of past and present ‘Witsies’ showcased in this full-colour, illustrated book map the university’s current and future vision as it marks its centenary in 2022.Table of Contents Foreword Introduction: Looking Back, Moving Forward Chapter 1: Origins The Last Word: Benedict Vilakazi Wits Pioneer: Johnny Clegg Dynamite Underground: Wits Geosciences Fighting the Good Fight Wits Pioneer: Stephen Matseoane Life as We Know It: The Story of Life Wits Pioneer: Advocate Thuli Madonsela Chapter 2: Space and Place Behind the Scenes of #FeesMustFall Activists, Scientists and a Lifetime of Service: Maurice Smithers Wits Rural Campus: The Hidden Gem Knowing Your Place Activists, Scientists and a Lifetime of Service: Patrick Soon-Shiong and Michele B. Chan Leading the Charge Activists, Scientists and a Lifetime of Service: Bhekokuzakuye ‘Keith’ Mdlalose Chapter 3: The Future Light Years Ahead: Invention, Innovation and the Structured Light Lab Minding the Matter Wits Futurists Lead the Way: Achille Mbembe Fringe of the Future Wits Futurists Lead the Way: Marcus Byrne African Art Beat: Wits Art Museum I Have a Dream … Chapter 4: The Next Century Begins Now Afterword Timeline Notes Interviewees Bibliography and Source Material Acknowledgements Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe National Government moves to introduce segregated education galvanised the staff and students of the four ‘open universities’ to oppose any attempt to interfere with their autonomy and freedom to decide who should be admitted. In subsequent years, as the regime adopted increasingly oppressive measures to prop up the apartheid state, opposition on the campuses, and in the country, increased and burgeoned into a Mass Democratic Movement intent on making the country ungovernable. Protest escalated through successive states of emergency and clashes with police on campus became regular events. Residences were raided, student leaders were harassed by security police and many students and some staff were detained for lengthy periods without recourse to the courts. First published in 1996, WITS: A University in the Apartheid Era by Mervyn Shear tells the story of how the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) adapted to the political and social developments in South Africa under apartheid. This new edition is published in the University’s centenary year with a preface by Firoz Cachalia, one of Wits’ student leaders in the 1980s. It serves as an invaluable historical resource on questions about the relationship between the University and the state, and on understanding the University’s place and identity in a constitutional democracy.Table of Contents Foreword by Firoz Cachalia Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1 Racial Discrimination at Wits Chapter 2 The Threat to the ‘Open’ Universities Chapter 3 Activists Under Pressure Chapter 4 Student Politics in Black and White Chapter 5 The 1980s Chapter 6 Wits and the First State of Emergency Chapter 7 Resistance Escalates Chapter 8 Challenge to the Government Chapter 9 The Struggle Reaches a Climax Chapter 10 Transition to Democracy Chapter 11 Epilogue Notes Appendices Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisWITS: The Early Years is a history of the University up to 1939. First established in 1922, the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg developed out of the South African School of Mines in Kimberley circa 1896. Examining the historical foundations, the struggle to establish a university in Johannesburg, and the progress of the University in the two decades prior to World War II, historian Bruce Murray captures the quality and texture of life in the early years of Wits University and the personalities who enlivened it and contributed to its growth. Particular attention is given to the wider issues and the challenges which faced Wits in its formative years. The book examines the role Wits came to occupy as a major centre of liberal thought and criticism in South Africa, its contribution to the development of the professions of the country, the relationship of its research to the wider society, and its attempts to grapple with a range of peculiarly South African problems, such as the admission of black students to the University and the relations of English- and Afrikaans-speaking white students within it. This edition of WITS: The Early Years is republished in the University’s centenary year with a preface by Keith Breckenridge, who writes, ‘In the republication of Murray’s two volume history of Wits, readers have an opportunity to explore the often dramatic and contested story of this university … Murray produced an intimate, almost scandalous intellectual history of the institution that served as his home for practically half a century.’Table of ContentsForeword by D.J. du Plessis Foreword by Keith Breckenridge Acknowledgements Abbreviation Part I: Prelude to a University Chapter 1 False Start: Milner, Beit, and Smuts Chapter 2 From School of Mines to University Part II: The New University Chapter 3 A Turbulent Beginning Chapter 4 Administration, Finance, and Buildings Chapter 5 Arts and Science Chapter 6 The Professional Faculties Part III: Raikes: The First Decade Chapter 7 Depression and Recovery Chapter 8 Ascendancy of the Professions Part IV: Students and Special Issues Chapter 9 Questions of Discrimination Chapter 10 Student Life A Note on Sources Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThese Potatoes Look Like Humans offers a unique understanding of the intersection between land, labour, dispossession and violence experienced by Black South Africans from the apartheid period to the present. In this ground-breaking book, Mbuso Nkosi criticises the historical framing of this debate within narrow materialist and legalistic arguments. His assertion is that, for most Black South Africans, the meaning of land cannot be separated from one’s spiritual and ancestral connection to it, and this results in him seeing the dispossession of land in South Africa with a perspective not yet explored.Nkosi takes as his starting point the historic 1959 potato boycott in South Africa, which came about as a result of startling rumours that potatoes dug out of the soil from the farms in the Bethal district of Mpumalanga were in fact human heads. Journalists such as Ruth First and Henry Nxumalo went to Bethal to uncover these stories and revealed horrific accounts of abuse and routine killings of farmworkers by white Afrikaners. The workers were disenfranchised Black people who were forced to work on these farms for alleged ‘crimes’ against National Party state laws, such as the failure to carry passbooks. In reading this violence from the perspectives of both the Black worker and the white farmer, Nkosi deploys the device of the eye to look at his research subjects and make sense of how the past informs the present. His argument is that the violence against Black farmworkers was not only on the exploitation of cheap labour, but also an anxiety white farmers felt about their settler-colonial appropriation of land. This anxiety, Nkosi argues, is pervasive in current heated public debates on the land question and calls for ‘land expropriation without compensation’. Furthermore, the dispossession of Black people from their land cannot be overcome until there is a recognition of the dead and restless spirits of the land, and a spiritual return to home for Black people’s ancestors. Until such time, the cycles of violence will persist.This book will be of interest to academics and scholars working in the area of land and workers’ struggles but also to the general reader who wants to gain a deeper understanding of redress and social justice on multiple levels.Table of Contents Prologue: Emazambaneni: the land of terror Chapter 1 The spectre of the human potato Chapter 2 Whose eyes are looking at history? Chapter 3 Bethal, the House of God Chapter 4 Violence: the white farmers’ fears erupt Chapter 5 These eyes are looking for a home Chapter 6 Bethal today Chapter 7 Our eschatological future Bibliography Acknowledgements Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisUnisa 1873-2018: The making of a distance learning university presents a critical appraisal of Unisa’s transformation as it navigates the unfolding saga of South Africa’s political development. The history of Unisa is fraught with a complex, oft-times ambiguous and contradictory, relationship with the state.This official history of the University of South Africa provides a platform on which future narratives around Unisa can be constructed. As a distinctly colonial institution, Unisa was a site of friction between the colonial powers and nascent captive forces of Afrikaner nationalism and white supremacist ideology. The character of present day Unisa allows for the expression of alternative and dissenting opinions despite its proximity to a constitutionally crafted state in its pursuit of the `African university in service of humanity’. This is highlighted in the motifs of transformation, Africanisation and democratisation explored in the book.Unisa 1873-2018 captures the university’s transitions from an examining body to one that has fully embraced open distance and e-learning, more attuned to student needs. It delineates Unisa’s shift to a more representative and African orientated institution serving the needs of the continent.Table of Contents Abbreviations Preface Foreword By Professor M. Makhanya Introduction CHAPTER 1 The University of the Cape of Good Hope and Unisa, 1873–1946 CHAPTER 2 A.J.H. van der Walt: Higher education by correspondence, 1946–1956 CHAPTER 3 Samuel Pauw: Consolidation and expansion, 1956–1972 CHAPTER 4 Theo van Wijk: `A beacon of reasonableness’? 1972–1988 CHAPTER 5 Cas van Vuuren: Transition deferred, 1989–1993 CHAPTER 6 Marinus Wiechers: Transition and discord, 1994–1997 CHAPTER 7 Antony Melck: Steadying the Unisa ship, 1998–2001 CHAPTER 8 Barney Pityana: The African university in the service of humanity, 2002–2010 CHAPTER 9 Mandla Makhanya: Inculcating ethical values, 2011–2018 Afterword Bibliography Contributors

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is the true story of Adolphine, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who was twenty-two when she had to flee her home in the war-ravaged DRC in 1996. She walked thousands of kilometres across Southern Africa to be reunited with her husband Sepano in Cape Town after two years of desperate searching. Her incredible journey to escape the ruinous rule of Mobutu Sese Seko was filled with many moments of terror and despair, with every country having its own share of xenophobia. She told the writer – the retired national tracing coordinator of the International Red Cross's Restoring of Family Links programme in South Africa – "I felt as if the earth had teeth, I felt its bite when I was fleeing through Africa…"Her story is a powerful intimate account of belonging and the anguish of displacement, of settling and being uprooted and how a deeply troubled household navigates this across time and space. Her story strongly highlights the vulnerability of women and children in times of war and unrest. Adolphine's experience is by no means unique. But the telling of it is important, as it puts a 'human face' on a 'humanitarian' disaster. Migration has been ongoing for centuries, but it can be said that it has in recent years become the theme of our time, even the next most critical international crisis after World War II. Adolphine affirms that it gave her relief "to voice out my life." "I am a child of the African land. Refugees are like nomads who wander from one place to another. Perhaps if people knew more about us, how we struggle to survive, there would be more understanding in the world.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is an examination of the island of St Helena’s involvement in slave trade abolition. After the establishment of a British Vice-Admiralty court there in 1840, this tiny and remote South Atlantic colony became the hub of naval activity in the region. It served as a base for the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron, and as such became the principal receiving depot for intercepted slave ships and their human cargo. During the middle decades of the nineteenth century over 25,000 ‘recaptive’ or ‘liberated’ Africans were landed at the island. Here, in embryonic refugee camps, these former slaves lived and died, genuine freedom still a distant prospect.This book provides an account and evaluation of this episode. It begins by charting the political contexts which drew St Helena into the fray of abolition, and considers how its involvement, at times, came to occupy those at the highest levels of British politics. In the main, however, it focuses on St Helena itself, and examines how matters played out on the ground. The study utilises documentary sources (many previously untouched) which tell the stories of those whose lives became bound up in the compass of anti-slavery, far from London and long after the Abolition Act of 1807. It puts the Black experience at the foreground, aiming to bring a voice to a forgotten people, many of whom died in limbo, in a place that was physically and conceptually between freedom and slavery.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction 1. A Place of Immense Advantage 2. London and Jamestown 3. Sailortown 4. Life and death in the depots 5. ‘All, all, without avail’. Medicine and the liberated Africans 6. After ‘liberation’ 7. Island Lives Conclusion Appendix 1. Slave prize cases tried at Freetown, Luanda, Cape Town and St Helena, 1836–68 Appendix 2. Prizes adjudicated by the Vice-Admiralty court of St Helena Appendix 3. Liberated African emigration from St Helena Appendix 4. Emigrant voyages from St Helena Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi was the signature moral horror of the late 20th century. Andrew Wallis reveals, for the first time, the personal lives and crimes of the family group (`Akazu’) that destroyed their country and left one million dead. Wallis’ meticulous research uncovers a broad landscape of terror, looking back to the `forgotten’ Rwandan genocide of the early 1960s and the failure by the international community, to learn lessons of prevention and punishment, a failure that would be repeated thirty years later. Taking the rise and fall of Akazu personalities and their mafia-like network as its central strand, Stepp'd in Blood reveals how they were aided and abetted by western governments and the churches for decades. And how post-1994, many successfully evaded international justice to enjoy comfortable retirements in the same countries that supported them when they were in power. Stepp'd in Blood publishes in the year of the 25th commemoration of the Rwandan Genocide.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is an examination of the island of St Helena’s involvement in slave trade abolition. After the establishment of a British Vice-Admiralty court there in 1840, this tiny and remote South Atlantic colony became the hub of naval activity in the region. It served as a base for the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron, and as such became the principal receiving depot for intercepted slave ships and their human cargo. During the middle decades of the nineteenth century over 25,000 ‘recaptive’ or ‘liberated’ Africans were landed at the island. Here, in embryonic refugee camps, these former slaves lived and died, genuine freedom still a distant prospect.This book provides an account and evaluation of this episode. It begins by charting the political contexts which drew St Helena into the fray of abolition, and considers how its involvement, at times, came to occupy those at the highest levels of British politics. In the main, however, it focuses on St Helena itself, and examines how matters played out on the ground. The study utilises documentary sources (many previously untouched) which tell the stories of those whose lives became bound up in the compass of anti-slavery, far from London and long after the Abolition Act of 1807. It puts the Black experience at the foreground, aiming to bring a voice to a forgotten people, many of whom died in limbo, in a place that was physically and conceptually between freedom and slavery.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction 1. A Place of Immense Advantage 2. London and Jamestown 3. Sailortown 4. Life and death in the depots 5. ‘All, all, without avail’. Medicine and the liberated Africans 6. After ‘liberation’ 7. Island Lives Conclusion Appendix 1. Slave prize cases tried at Freetown, Luanda, Cape Town and St Helena, 1836–68 Appendix 2. Prizes adjudicated by the Vice-Admiralty court of St Helena Appendix 3. Liberated African emigration from St Helena Appendix 4. Emigrant voyages from St Helena Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisOver the past 25 years, Rwanda has undergone remarkable shifts and transitions: culturally, economically, and educationally the country has gone from strength to strength. While much scholarship has understandably been retrospective, seeking to understand, document and commemorate the Genocide against the Tutsi, this volume gathers diverse perspectives on the changing social and cultural fabric of Rwanda since 1994. Rwanda Since 1994 considers the context of these changes, particularly in relation to the ongoing importance of remembering and in wider developments in the Great Lakes and East Africa regions. Equally it explores what stories of change are emerging from Rwanda: creative writing and testimonies, as well as national, regional, and international political narratives. The contributors interrogate which frameworks and narratives might be most useful for understanding different kinds of change, what new directions are emerging, and how Rwanda’s trajectory is shaped by other global factors.The international set of contributors includes creative writers, practitioners, activists, and scholars from African studies, history, anthropology, education, international relations, modern languages, law and politics. As well as delving into the shifting dynamics of religion and gender in Rwanda today, the book brings to light the experiences of lesser-discussed groups of people such as the Twa and the children of perpetrators.Trade Review‘Rwanda since 1994 supports the field of Rwanda Studies in reorienting itself from genocide history towards progress since the atrocities.’ Anna Katila, WasafiriTable of ContentsIntroductionHannah Grayson and Nicki HitchcottRwanda is Not Hotel RwandaMalaika UwamahoroPart One: A Changing Nation‘Memory-Traces’ in the Works of Felwine Sarr and Bruce Clarke: What Stories of Change Can Commemorate the Genocide Against the Tutsi?Eloïse BrezaultCompeting Narratives and Performances in Rwanda’s Gacaca CourtsAnanda Breed and Astrid JamarHuman Rights Reporting on Rwanda’s Gacaca Courts: a Story of Stagnation and FailureBenjamin Thorne and Julia ViebachThe Incorporation of Women in Rwandan PoliticsLouise Umutoni-BowerRe-branding Rwanda’s Peacekeeping Identity during Postconflict TransitionGeorgina Holmes and Ilaria BuscagliaOne Rwanda for all Rwandans’: (Un)Covering the Batwa in Post-Genocide RwandaMeghan Laws, Richard Ntakirutimana and Bennett CollinsPart Two: Changing PeopleWriting as Reconciliation: Bearing Witness to Life After GenocideCatherine GilbertDecolonizing Trauma Therapy in RwandaCaroline Williamson SinaloPromising Generations: From Intergenerational Guilt to Ndi UmunyarwandaRichard M. BendaImbabazi, Kwicuza & Christian Testimonials of ForgivenessMadelaine HronStories as Change: Using Writing to Facilitate Healing Among Genocide Survivors in RwandaLaura Apol

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA comprehensive guide to the medieval popular romance, one of the age's most important literary forms. Popular romance was one of the most wide-spread forms of literature in the middle ages, yet despite its cultural centrality, and its fundamental importance for later literary developments, the genre has defied precise definition,its subject matter ranging from tales of chivalric adventure, to saintly women, and monsters who become human. The essays in this collection seek to provide an inclusive and thorough examination of romance. They provide contexts,definitions, and explanations for the genre, particularly in, but not limited to, an English context. Topics covered include genre and literary classification; race and ethnicity; gender; orality and performance; the romance and young readers; metre and form; printing culture; and reception. CONTRIBUTORS: ROSALIND FIELD, RALUCA L. RADULESCU, MALDWYN MILLS, GILLIAN ROGERS, JENNIFER FELLOWS, THOMAS H. CROFTS, ROBERT ALLEN ROUSE, JOANNE CHARBONNEAU, DESIREE CROMWELL, AD PUTTER, KARL REICHL, PHILLIPA HARDMAN, CORY JAMES RUSHTONTrade ReviewServes as a nice introduction to the critical complexities of what are all too often dismissed as simplistic texts. * JOURNAL OF THE EARLY BOOK SOCIETY *A valuable collection of essays on the popular romance, a genre traditionally neglected by scholars. Highly recommended. * CHOICE *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is a detailed and original study of the creation of the province of Equatoria, located in present-day Southern Sudan. No detailed account has previously been published on the effort to conquer and create a new Egyptian province in the 1870s in the interior of Africa, despite its importance to the history of the on-going northsouth conflict in the Sudan. The annexation of Equatoria emerged from the Khedive (viceroy) Ismail's aspiration for an African empire that would control the source of the White Nile at Lake Victoria. At the time he was under pressure from the British government to suppress the lucrative slave trade in the Turco-Egyptian Sudan, and to this end the new province was to be under direct control of Cairo and not the authorities in Khartoum. The two conquering expeditions of Equatoria were led by Britons, Samuel Baker and Charles Gordon (later Governor-General of the Sudan). With them were other Europeans, Americans, Sudanese and Egyptians. Baker, Gordon and some of the others left detailed accounts of their experience in the region. All of which contribute to our knowledge not only of the difficulties involved in the annexation of a region thousands of kilometres from Cairo, but also geographical data and a record of the complex human relations that developed between the men involved in the expeditions, and the creation of the new province. Official documents from the Egyptian state archive, Dar al-Wathaiq, provide detailed accounts of the politics of the annexation of Equatoria, and these accounts are discussed in their historical context.Table of ContentsPreface; Part One: Egypt & the White Nile -- The Quest of the River's Source; Egypt's Southern Expansion. Part Two: Conquest & Annexation -- Samuel Baker's Expedition -- The Treacherous Nile; The March to Masindi; Resistance & Co-operation: the Natives & the Slave Traders. Part Three: The Creation of a New Egyptian Province -- Charles Gordon's Expedition -- Samuel Baker's Departure & Charles Gordon's Arrival; The Route to Central Africa; Military Stations on the White Nile; The Great Lakes; Conclusion; Sources & Bibliography; Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSudan is at a crossroads. The country could soon witness one of the first partitions of an African state since the colonial era. The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement guarantees a referendum on self determination for Southern Sudan, which is scheduled for January 2011. The agreement ended a 20-year old civil war pitting the indigenous population against successive Arab Muslim regimes in Khartoum. By the late 1990s the international community had largely judged the war insoluble and turned its attention elsewhere. Following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 a peace process between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and Army (SPLM/A) took hold. This book shows how that war, which ultimately claimed two million deaths and twice as many displaced, was finally brought to an end. The talks were facilitated by IGAD under Kenyan leadership, and supported by a 'Troika' of the US, UK, and Norway -- whose intense engagement in the negotiations was critical for reaching the peace agreement in January 2005. Although the cast of characters in this drama ranged from President George W Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell to unnamed officials in east African hotels, two figures stood out: the SPLM/A Chairman, Dr John Garang, and Ali Osman Taha, First Vice President of Sudan. Norwegian Minister of International Development Hilde F Johnson's personal relationships with these two leaders gave her unique access and provided the basis for her pivotal role in the negotiations. She was party to virtually all their deliberations throughout this crucial period of Sudanese and African history. This book describes this process from a unique, insider's perspective. Her account provides a level of detail seldom achieved in works of contemporary African history and diplomacy. As Sudan soon faces the most decisive moment in its history, this book is indispensable reading.Trade Review"It is a sad truth that waging peace is always much harder than waging war. Fortunately, it is infinitely more rewarding. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended Sudan's second civil war in 2005 took almost three years to mature and would never have been signed had it not been for the dedication of a small number of individuals from Sudan and the broader international community. Amongst the latter, Hilde F Johnson, at the time Norway's Minister for International Development and now Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, stands out for her tireless efforts to help bring the protagonists together." -- From the Foreword by Kofi A Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, 19972006Table of ContentsForeword by Kofi Annan; Introduction: Africa's Longest Civil War; The Troika; The Watershed Agreement on Self-Determination; Peace-Making in Peril: Conflict & Confrontation; From Enemies to Partners in Peace; Inching Forward; Sealing the Deal; The First Taste of Peace; Epilogue: Achievements & Challenges; Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSudan is at a crossroads. The country could soon witness one of the first partitions of an African state since the colonial era. The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement guarantees a referendum on self determination for Southern Sudan, which is scheduled for January 2011. The agreement ended a 20-year old civil war pitting the indigenous population against successive Arab Muslim regimes in Khartoum. By the late 1990s the international community had largely judged the war insoluble and turned its attention elsewhere. Following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 a peace process between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and Army (SPLM/A) took hold. This book shows how that war, which ultimately claimed two million deaths and twice as many displaced, was finally brought to an end. The talks were facilitated by IGAD under Kenyan leadership, and supported by a 'Troika' of the US, UK, and Norway -- whose intense engagement in the negotiations was critical for reaching the peace agreement in January 2005. Although the cast of characters in this drama ranged from President George W Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell to unnamed officials in east African hotels, two figures stood out: the SPLM/A Chairman, Dr John Garang, and Ali Osman Taha, First Vice President of Sudan. Norwegian Minister of International Development Hilde F Johnson's personal relationships with these two leaders gave her unique access and provided the basis for her pivotal role in the negotiations. She was party to virtually all their deliberations throughout this crucial period of Sudanese and African history. This book describes this process from a unique, insider's perspective. Her account provides a level of detail seldom achieved in works of contemporary African history and diplomacy. As Sudan soon faces the most decisive moment in its history, this book is indispensable reading.Trade Review"It is a sad truth that waging peace is always much harder than waging war. Fortunately, it is infinitely more rewarding. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended Sudan's second civil war in 2005 took almost three years to mature and would never have been signed had it not been for the dedication of a small number of individuals from Sudan and the broader international community. Amongst the latter, Hilde F Johnson, at the time Norway's Minister for International Development and now Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, stands out for her tireless efforts to help bring the protagonists together." -- From the Foreword by Kofi A Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, 19972006Table of ContentsForeword by Kofi Annan; Introduction: Africa's Longest Civil War; The Troika; The Watershed Agreement on Self-Determination; Peace-Making in Peril: Conflict & Confrontation; From Enemies to Partners in Peace; Inching Forward; Sealing the Deal; The First Taste of Peace; Epilogue: Achievements & Challenges; Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is a detailed and original study of the creation of the province of Equatoria, located in present-day Southern Sudan. No detailed account has previously been published on the effort to conquer and create a new Egyptian province in the 1870s in the interior of Africa, despite its importance to the history of the on-going northsouth conflict in the Sudan. The annexation of Equatoria emerged from the Khedive (viceroy) Ismail's aspiration for an African empire that would control the source of the White Nile at Lake Victoria. At the time he was under pressure from the British government to suppress the lucrative slave trade in the Turco-Egyptian Sudan, and to this end the new province was to be under direct control of Cairo and not the authorities in Khartoum. The two conquering expeditions of Equatoria were led by Britons, Samuel Baker and Charles Gordon (later Governor-General of the Sudan). With them were other Europeans, Americans, Sudanese and Egyptians. Baker, Gordon and some of the others left detailed accounts of their experience in the region. All of which contribute to our knowledge not only of the difficulties involved in the annexation of a region thousands of kilometres from Cairo, but also geographical data and a record of the complex human relations that developed between the men involved in the expeditions, and the creation of the new province. Official documents from the Egyptian state archive, Dar al-Wathaiq, provide detailed accounts of the politics of the annexation of Equatoria, and these accounts are discussed in their historical context.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe second volume explains how the League of Nations mandates system fused two of the predominant and compelling global forces of the twentieth century: imperialism and Wilsonian internationalism. After the First World War, Britain and France administered most of Germany's former tropical African colonies as "mandates" under the supervision of the League as "a sacred trust of civilization." This system of international trusteeship changed British and French rule in Africa. In short, "mandates" were not "colonies." Mandates meant less militarism, more commercial equality, a greater emphasis on the interests of Africans, and an end to the extension of European national sovereignty over colonized peoples. Accountability to the League also required the British and French to reconsider traditional economic, strategic, and ideological assumptions about their empires. In the process, the "sacred trust" sowed the seeds of self-doubt about the very purpose and future of European imperialism. The mandates system continued to represent a genuine internationalisation and reformation of colonialism and had long-term economic, political, and cultural consequences for Africans and Europeans within the mandated territories. Despite the Depression, repeated Anglo-French foreign policy failures, growing humiliations for Geneva, and war in Africa and Europe, the principles and practices of international trusteeship proved persistent. Mandates demonstrated the relevance of international law, the importance of the League of Nations, and the impact of Wilsonian principles on international relations and European imperialism.

Read more less

Book SynopsisHerewith an historical journey from the third century to the multiethnic metropolis of the twentieth century, bringing together two diverse histories of the city. Ancient Alexandria was built by the Greek Ptolemies who in thirty years completed the first lighthouse and the grand library and museum which functioned as a university with the emphasis on science, known as 'The Alexandrian School', attracting scholars from all over the ancient world. Two of the most eminent were Euclid, the father of geometry, and Claudios Ptolemy, writer of The Almagest, a book on astronomy. These are the oldest surviving science textbooks and the city was known as "the birthplace of science". Herein there are stories about scientists, poets and religious philosophers, responsible for influencing the western mind with their writings. Modern Alexandria was rebuilt in 1805 by multiethnic communities who created a successful commercial city and port with an enviable life-style for its inhabitants for 150 years. In 1952 the Free Officers of the Egyptian Army masterminded a coup to free the country from the monarchy and British domination. In 1956 the socialist regime under Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser closed the Suez Canal, resulting in the Anglo-French-Israeli invasion. This outburst of Egyptian nationalism and military revolution by this understandably anti-Western regime included the confiscation of property belonging to foreigners and the subsequent mass exodus of business and artisan classes that hitherto had made the city so successful. The author was an eye-witness to these events and he sets out the political errors and failures of both Egyptian and Western leaders. The legacy of the resulting political and social confusions is deeply apparent in the continuing unrest in the Middle East, and in particular in Egypt.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWritten by a critically positioned participant in Zimbabwe's political history, this book covers more than a generation of eyewitness account and scholarly analysis by a war veteran academic and activist. Traces the roots of Zimbabwe's well known, but little analysed, revolution of 2000 to the 1970s guerrilla war, revealing the foundational philosophies, cosmologies and experiences that are manifest in the War Veterans-led revolution. The book is a bold account of an ongoing bottom-up struggle against neo-colonialism, settler economy and international capital. It traces the unfolding events of Zimbabwe's war of liberation, revealing little-known factsthat help to explain the complexity of current politics, ideology and class conflicts. Based on grounded empirical research this scholarly analysis differs significantly from the standard journalistic accounts of this topic.The book illustrates that the popular land occupations of 2000 were part of a much wider current under the surface that reconfigured industry, mining, finance, commerce and trade. War Veterans led a revolution that challenged thestate, ruling ZANU PF, the MDC, President Robert Mugabe, settler and international capital. Zimbabwe's revolution sets a new agenda and raises anew the intriguing question 'what are the people of Africa trying to free themselvesfrom and what are they trying to establish?' Zvakanyorwa Wilbert Sadomba is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe: Zvakanyorwa Wilbert Sadomba (PB)Trade ReviewA thorough account of the pain, poverty and repression that the country went through as the locals sought and aspired for political independence. * JOURNAL OF MODERN AFRICAN STUDIES *Offers a historical perspective that traces the origins of the conflict, providing an analysis that traces the deep-seated roots of the war veterans' frustration. [...] Provides a vivid account of [the author's] personal experiences and a thorough account of the pain, poverty and repression that the country went through. * JOURNAL OF MODERN AFRICAN STUDIES *Table of ContentsPart I Formation of the Vanguard: Zimbabwe's Liberation War The Journey: An Introduction Chitepo & ZIPA Periods: 1962-1977 Third Phase of War: Roots of Mugabe Era: 1977-1979 Part II Relegation, Reorganisation & Mobilisation Continuities & Discontinuities Reorganisation & Social Mobilisation: 1987-1997 Part III The Revolution & its Dynamics Early Phase of the Revolution: 1998-2000 Politics towards Rupture: 1997-2000 The Eruption of the Revolution: 2000-2002 Responses & International Impact: 2003-2010 Conclusion

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis study recounts the reasons why the order for the Herero genocide was very likely issued by the Kaiser himself, and why proof of this has not emerged before now. In 1904, the indigenous Herero people of German South West Africa (now Namibia) rebelled against their German occupiers. In the following four years, the German army retaliated, killing between 60,000 and 100,000 Herero people, one of the worst atrocities ever. The history of the Herero genocide remains a key issue for many around the world partly because the German policy not to pay reparations for the Namibian genocide contrasts with its long-standing Holocaust reparations policy. The Herero case bears not only on transitional justice issues throughout Africa, but also on legal issues elsewhere in the world where reparations for colonial injustices have been called for. This book explores the events within the context of German South West Africa (GSWA) as the only German colony where settlement was actually attempted. The study contends that the genocide was not the work of one rogue general or the practices of the military, but that it was inexorably propelled by Germany's national goals at the time. The book argues that the Herero genocide was linked to Germany's late entry into the colonial race, which led it frenetically and ruthlessly to acquire multiple colonies all over the world within a very short period, using any means available. Jeremy Sarkin is Chairperson-Rapporteur of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and is at present Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. He is also an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa and of the State of New York. A graduate of theUniversity of the Western Cape and of Harvard Law School he has been visiting professor at several US universities where he has taught Comparative Law, International Human Rights Law, International Criminal Law and Transitional Justice Southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and Zimbabwe): University of Cape Town Press/JutaTrade Review[A] fine book. * WASHINGTON MONTHLY *Underscores the many issues that are still unresolved and will hopefully inspire further historical research. * CANADIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY *Brings to light another dark chapter in Germany's history, a scholarly addition to any world history collection. * MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW *Table of ContentsIntroduction Aetiology of a genocide Annihilating 'the African tribes with streams of blood & streams of gold': implementing the genocide Did the Kaiser order the genocide? Conclusion

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn historical overview of Ethiopia's transformation from a multicultural empire into a modern nation state. Provides the gist of one scholar's knowledge of this country acquired over several decades. The author of numerous works on Ethiopia, Markakis presents here an overarching, concise historical profile of a momentous effort to integrate a multicultural empire into a modern nation state. The concept of nation state formation provides the analytical framework within which this process unfolds and the changes of direction it takes under different regimes, as well as a standard for assessing its progress and shortcomings at each stage. Over a century old, the process is still far from completion and its ultimate success is far from certain. In the author's view, there are two majorobstacles that need to be overcome, two frontiers that need to be crossed to reach the desired goal. The first is the monopoly of power inherited from the empire builders and zealously guarded ever since by a ruling class of Abyssinian origin. The descendants of the people subjugated by the empire builders remain excluded from power, a handicap that breeds political instability and violent conflict. The second frontier is the arid lowlands on the margins of the state, where the process of integration has not yet reached, and where resistance to it is greatest. Until this frontier is crossed, the Ethiopian state will not have the secure borders that a mature nation state requires. John Markakis is a political historian who has devoted a professional lifetime to the study of Ethiopia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa. He has published several books and many articles on this area.Trade ReviewA magisterial work that synthesizes a half-century's research. ... Historians, political scientists, social anthropologists, and policy makers will find this book enlightening and useful. * AFRICAN AFFAIRS *Precisely because of the debates it will spark, it is vitally important that people who are engaged with Ethiopia, both Ethiopians and international aid workers, diplomats and others, read and discuss it. * INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS *Worthwhile reading and certainly one of the best explanations of the present situation in Ethiopia published so far. It is a must read for those interested in Ethiopia and, indeed, the Horn of Africa. * SOUTHWORLD *Essential reading for all who want to understand how the Ethiopian empire arrived at its present configuration. * LEEDS AFRICAN STUDIES BULLETIN *Table of ContentsIntroduction - Part I The Lowland Periphery High and Low Land: A Study in Contrast Afar & Somali Borana, South Omo, Gambella & Beni Shangul Gumuz - Part II Building the State: The Imperial Model Winning an Empire Building the Imperial State: 1916-1974 Imperial Rule in the Periphery - Part III Rebuilding the State: The Socialist Model The 1974 Revolution Building the Socialist State: 1974-1991 The Socialist State in the Periphery - PART IV Rebuilding the State: The Federal Model Building the Federal State: 1991-1995 Ruling the Federal State : 1995-2010 - Part V The Federal State in the Periphery The Highland Periphery & the Lowland Afar The Somali Borana, South Omo, Gambella & Beni Shangul Gumuz Conclusion

Read more less

Book SynopsisExamines how the lives of pastoralists in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia are deeply affected by the creation of mutually exclusive ethnic territories and proposes ways to reverse this trend. Focuses on pastoralism, politics, policies and development in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. It is based on anthropological field research over a period of thirty-four years and attempts a synthesis of historical findingsand political anthropology, including studies carried out from a perspective of development intervention. Presenting a detailed ethnographic view of recent events of ethnic violence in Kenya, the authors analyse how local patterns of conflict among pastoralists were influenced by both national and regional politics, which have encouraged an increased tendency of territorialized ethnicity. The authors then discuss ways of getting out of the ethnic trap and revitalizing a mobile livestock economy in a region where other forms of land use are impossible or much less effective. A companion volume to Islam and Ethnicity in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia, it will be of particular interest to political anthropologists, students of nomadism, pastoral economy ecology, and globalization. Günther Schlee is director of the Department of 'Integration and Conflict', Max Planck Institute forSocial Anthropology, Halle, Germany; Abdullahi Shongolo is an independent scholar based in Kenya.Trade ReviewA rich and fascinating look at the complex matrix of clan alliances and conflicts within and between pastoral societies in the context of local and national politics. * NOMADIC PEOPLES *The best reference book for political scientists, historians and administrators who seek to understand the critical issues driving conflict and impeding development in any interethnic pastoralist community in East Africa. * AETHIOPICA *Has profound implications for understanding 'tribalism' in Kenyan politics [and provides] invaluable insight into the regional context, as well as useful analyses for those researching ethnic conflict and policy implications in other parts of the world. * LUCAS BULLETIN *Table of ContentsIntroduction - Günther Schlee Moi Era Politics, Transnational Relations & the Territorialization of Ethnicity - Abdullahi A. Shongolo and Günther Schlee The Post-Moi Period (2002-2007) - Günther Schlee and Abdullahi A. Shongolo Feedbacks & Cross-fertilizations: the 'Declaration of Indigenous Communities of Mylae District' - Günther Schlee Some Comparative Perspectives, Conclusions & Recommendations - Günther Schlee

Read more less

Book SynopsisTheorizes the experiences of women in wartime, and specifically of African women during Zimbabwe's anti-colonial struggle. A Zimbabwe-specific study, focusing on the lives of women in a small locale (Chiweshe) during the anti-colonial insurgency, this book is also a challenge to established and still current modes of thought and research orientationswhich over-simplify the complex realities women face in the full range of violent conflicts, both past and present. By contextualizing the voices of women of Chiweshe, not only is an important and under-developed aspect of Zimbabwean and African history revealed, but a new approach to comprehending the highly-tensioned lives of women in war is presented, which is characterized here as Gendered Localised Resistance. This is examined through the prism of life in the Protected Villages in Chiweshe experienced in everyday social relations, revolutionary roles, and food security. It traces how women forged strategies of survival and resistance in the middle of guerrilla warfare pitted between the forces of the state and the revolutionary resistance movements. The book can be read as a unique and richly detailed account of the lives of women during the Zimbabwe civil war and liberation struggle; as a wider argument about how researchers can approach and incorporate lived experience into accounts of larger dynamics (war/revolution); and as a substantial and important contribution to feminist historiography and writings on women and war. Eleanor O' Gorman is Senior Associate at the Gender Studies Centre and a Research Associate at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge; an independent consultant who has advised the UN, the UK Government (DFID and FCO), the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, the European Commission, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Zimbabwe: Weaver PressTrade ReviewWell researched and carefully argued, [it is] a well written, well-researched, theoretically sophisticated contribution to the history of the war. * ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE *[This] richly detailed study helps to refocus how we understand the role of women in war; liberating our understanding from a binary model or victim/agent that has dominated the literature for far too long. * LUCAS BULLETIN *This book offers unique insights. [The author's] analysis of women's survival and resistance strategies in a bygone war helps readers to better understand the struggles African women face in contemporary wars and the methods they use to cope and resist. * CHOICE *A grimly realistic book. If you have time to read only one book on women in the Zimbabwean war then this should be it. * JOURNAL OF MODERN AFRICAN STUDIES *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Women, War, Voice & Agency Situating Women in Revolution: Battlefront Myths & Homefront Lives Re-Framing Women's Revolutionary Lives: Women, Gender & Local Resistance Setting the Fieldwork Context: Zimbabwe as Arena, Chiweshe as Locale Women's Perceptions of Revolutionary Participation: Understandings of Agency & Consciousness Living with & within Revolution: Challenges to Unity & Community The Front Line Runs Through Every Woman: Resistance & Survival by Women in Revolutionary War Conclusion: Women's Agency & Voice in War Reconsidered

Read more less

Book SynopsisExposes the 'blind spot' in popular and academic histories about the role of African soldiers in the creation of Britain's empire, through a re-telling of one of the best known episodes in British imperial military history. The Anglo-Egyptian re-conquest of Sudan - Churchill's 'River War' - has been well chronicled from the British point of view, but we still know little about its front line troops, the Sudanese soldiers of the Egyptian Army, the menwho fought in all the battles, served as interpreters, military recruiters, and ethnic ambassadors throughout the campaign, and who were the real victors at the Battle of Omdurman. Making use of both published contemporary accounts and unpublished primary sources located in the United Kingdom and Sudan, Slaves of Fortune provides an historiographic correction. It argues that nineteenth-century Sudanese slave soldiers were social beings and historical actors, shaping both European and African destinies, just as their own lives were being transformed by imperial forces. Ronald M. Lamothe is Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts AmherstTrade ReviewAn important addition to the historiography of modern Sudan. . [It] will be very important reading for anyone who is interested not only in modern Sudanese history but also in gaining a better understanding of the complex relations between State and army. * DIGEST OF MIDDLE EAST STUDIES, vol. 22, no. 1 *In examining martial race theory and British/Sudanese relationships, Lamothe adds to the historiography of imperial history. [The book] is an important contribution to the history of Great Britain's campaigns along the Nile from 1896-8. [...] General readers of military history as well as scholars will learn much. * AFRICAN HISTORY *As well as being of obvious interest to military historians, this book gives an insight into a particular class of slaves in Africa, one that had existed in one form or another since the Pharaohs. * BASA NEWSLETTER *Thorough, extensive and well documented. * SUDAN STUDIES *'This is 'history from below' that rescues Sudanese soldiers from the shadows to which they were relegated in the contemporary accounts of the River War and also in most subsequent histories. So it adds a new dimension to the much tilled fields of Sudan's recent military and social history. -- David KillingrayTable of ContentsIntroduction: 'Ali Jifun's Fashoda Homecoming "The Backbone of the Egyptian Army" "Servants of His Highness the Khedive" "Flavour of Domesticity" " Brotherhood that Binds the Brave" "Tea with the Khalifa" Epilogue: Mutiny at Omdurman

Read more less

Book SynopsisHakim Wärqenäh Eshäté (Dr Charles Martin), born into a family of Ethiopian aristocrats but adopted by a British officer and raised in India, played a significant role in influencing medicine, education and economic development in Ethiopia throughout the first half of the 20th century. This is the first full biography of Hakim Wärqenäh Eshäté, or Dr Charles Martin (1865-1952), who was Ethiopia's first western trained physician as well as a statesman, administrator, diplomat, author and a major progressiveforce in modern Ethiopian history. Yet he had overlapping identities as a world citizen, citizen of the British empire and Ethiopian nationalist, living in many different countries but never wholly belonging in any one. The childof Ethiopian aristocrats, he was found on the battlefield of Magdala by a British officer and raised and educated in India. First employed in the Indian civil service he subsequently served as a physician to three Ethiopian emperors. The key turning point in his life came with his marriage to an Ethiopian aristocrat, closely related to two Empresses, a marriage which greatly enhanced his influence at court. This is as much a family biography as hisbiography, and focuses especially on his work as an educator, governor of a model province and, finally, the climax of his career when, as Ethiopian ambassador to England, he was a key international figure in protesting the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and mobilizing world opinion against Italy and for Ethiopia. He became a spokesman for the African diaspora during the 1930s and an Ethiopian elder statesman in the 1940s, and his extended family (and many of those he mentored) had an impact on modern Ethiopian history. The biography is based on Charles Martin's unpublished diary and autobiography and archival research in Ethiopia and Europe. Peter Garretson was educated in Ethiopia (the Sandford School), London (Westminster School and SOAS) and the United States (Haverford College). He has taught at the University of Khartoum, Swarthmore and Florida State University, where he is now Associate Professor of History and Director of the Middle East Center.Trade ReviewOnce again the historian has presented us with an excellent work. The narrative is fluent, the interpretation objective and the sources are well selected. * AETHIOPICA *A goldmine for readers interested in the social and political transformation of Ethiopia into a modernizing polity. * INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORICAL STUDIES *Students of Ethiopian history are greatly indebted to Garretson for this comprehensive account of the life of a unique member of a fascinating generation of Ethiopian intellectuals. * JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY *This detailed [...] narrative illustrates much that is important about this turbulent period in Ethiopian, and indeed global, history. * REVIEWS IN HISTORY *Table of ContentsIntroduction Youth & Education: Ethiopia, India & Burma (1865-1896) Return to Ethiopia (1896-1901) Campaigning in the Ogaden & Return to Burma (1901-1907) Transitions in Life: From Burma to England to Ethiopia (1907-1910) A Man of Substance in Ethiopia & Burma: Marriage & Political Influence (1910-1919) Return of a Progressive to Addis Ababa (1919-1924) An Increased Pace of Modernization (1924-1930) International Diplomacy, Education & Recruitment: Wärqenäh in Britain, the USA & India (1927-1931) Governor of a Model Province: Chärchär (1930-1935) Ethiopian Ambassador to the Court of St. James (1935-1936) London & India: "So the Whole Thing is Finished" (1936-1942) Ethiopia: Family & Elder Statesman (1942-1952) Conclusion

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe first major study of the experiences of the hundreds of thousands of African soldiers who served with the British army during the Second World War. During the Second World War over half-a-million African troops served with the British Army as combatants and non-combatants in campaigns in the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, Italy and Burma - the largest single movement of African men overseas since the slave trade. This account, based mainly on oral evidence and soldiers' letters, tells the story of the African experience of the war. It is a 'history from below' that describes how men were recruited for a war about which most knew very little. Army life exposed them to a range of new and startling experiences: new foods and forms of discipline, uniforms, machines and rifles, notions of industrial time, travel overseas, new languages and cultures, numeracy and literacy. What impact did service in the army have on African men and their families? What new skills did soldiers acquire and to what purposes were they put on their return? What was the social impact of overseas travel, and how did the broad umbrella of army welfare services change soldiers' expectations of civilian life? And what role if any did ex-servicemen play in post-war nationalist politics? In this book African soldiers describe in their own words what it was like to undergo army training, to travel on a vast ocean, to experience battle, and their hopes and disappointments on demobilisation. DAVID KILLINGRAY is Professor Emeritus of History, Goldsmiths, and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London.Trade Review[An] impressive study. * CONTEMPORARY REVIEW *An important scholarly contribution, but which, with its sweeping introduction and engaging style, can be read by all for pleasure and profit. * BBC HISTORY *REVIEWS OF THE CLOTH EDITION * . *Sober and judicious but also thrilling and dramatic. * AFRICA *Will become the one-stop reference for research on Anglophone Africa and its soldiers during World War II. [...] Killingray succeeds in putting human faces on some of the nearly one million African soldiers who laboured and fought. * INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORICAL STUDIES *Will be the standard work on the subject for years, probably decades to come, an entirely fitting pedestal given David Killingray's leadership in this field. * INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS *Of particular interest is [the author's] challenge to the conventional wisdom that returning soldiers were the vanguard of independence movements. Recommended. * CHOICE *The most comprehensive work attempted on the subject thus far. [...] This book addresses issues which will not only appeal to African specialists, and military and imperial historians, but should interest many social, political, cultural, transnational and economic historians too. * REVIEWS IN HISTORY *[A]n impressive synthesis of primary and secondary sources on Africans' contributions to the British Second World War effort. [...] It is replete with first-hand examples and voices from African men and draws upon a formidable range of materials and sources. * PAMBAZUKA NEWS *A well written book that makes a valuable contribution and should be read by anyone interested in the Second World War, Africa and/or race and military service. * JOURNAL OF MILITARY HISTORY *A ground-breaking book which reveals as much about the imperial British as it does about their African subjects. * NORTH SOUTH *David Killingray's fascinating new book sets out in compelling prose and finely researched detail the extraordinary story of Africa's stalwart and generous support of the Empire's most perilous of wars. * TLS *A must for those undertaking historical research. * SOLDIER MAGAZINE *Table of ContentsIntroduction Africa 1939 Recruiting Army life Indiscipline, strike & mutiny War Going home & demobilisation Ex-servicemen & politics The social impact of war service Postscript

Read more less

Book SynopsisA distinguished scholar's magnum opus and the first full account of Malawi's colonial history. This is the first comprehensive history of Malawi during the colonial period. Using a wide range of primary and secondary sources, it places this history within the context of the pre-colonial past. The book examines the way in which British people, starting with David Livingstone, followed by the pioneer Scottish Presbyterian missionaries and including soldiers, speculators, colonial officials and politicians, played an influential part in shaping Malawi. But even more important is the story of how Malawian people responded to the intrusion of colonialism and imperialism and the role they played in the dissolution of the colonial state. There is much here on resistance to colonial occupation, including religious-inspired revolt, on the shaping of the colonial economy, on the influence of Christian missions and on the growth of a powerful popular nationalism that contained within it the seeds of a new authoritarianism. But space is also given to less mainstream activities: the creation of dance societies, the eruption of witchcraft eradication movements and the emergence of football as a popular national sport. In particular, the book seeks to demonstrate the interrelationship between environmental and economic change and the impact these forces had on a poverty-stricken yet resilient Malawian peasantry. Malawi: Mzuni Press John McCracken is Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Stirling University. He has taught at University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, University College of Dar es Salaam and was Professor and Head of the Department of History at Chancellor College, University of Malawi from 1980-83 and returned as Visiting Professor in 2009. John McCracken was awarded ASAUK's Distinguished Africanist Award in 2008.Trade ReviewThis is a book which should be read by anyone interested in the history of Africa. McCracken has produced a text which will shape research on Malawi for years to come. * LUCAS *A highly valuable contribution to historical writing on Malawi and provides a useful synthesis of previously published work. ... [It] will inspire a new generation of historians to deepen our understanding of these issues and many more that remain under-researched in the country's fascinating but often neglected history. * AFRICAN AFFAIRS *A truly monumental achievement, and the fruit of a lifetime's work at the forefront of the study of Malawi. * JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN STUDIES *A masterful survey of Malawi's modern past [which] is bound to become the go-to text for students and scholars ... and must surely become a standard reference for those interested in Malawi's modern history, politics and economics. * AFRICA *[An] awe-inspiring book...McCracken has now delivered his long-awaited magnum opus. ... A towering scholarly achievement [that] will surely stand the test of time for generations to come. * IJAHS *An impressive work of detailed scholarship and a highly recommended addition to academic library International Studies and African History reference collections. * MID-WEST BOOK REVIEW *[A] magisterial account [and] a landmark event in the country's historiography. [.] It is a book so distinguished by the depth and quality of its analysis that it will take its place in the front rank of the literature addressing the colonial period in Africa. [.] Scholars, students and all interested readers will be grateful to have such a comprehensive, gripping and dependable account. * THE SOCIETY OF MALAWI JOURNAL *A good solid read. * CHARTIST *This major history [.] replaces all previous histories of the country [and] will stand as a foundation to all future research. Its breadth of treatment is as impressive as its immense range of primary and secondary sources. * ROUND TABLE *Table of ContentsIntroduction The land and the people Commerce, Christianity and colonial conquest The making of the colonial economy, 1891-1915 Religion, culture and society The Chilembwe rising Malawi and the First World War Planters, peasants and migrants: the interwar years The Great Depression and its aftermath Contours of colonialism The age of development The urban experience Peasants and politicians, 1943-1953 The liberation struggle, 1953-1959 The making of Malawi, 1959-1963 Prelude to independence: unity and diversity Revolt and realignment, 1964-1966

Read more less