Description
Book SynopsisA leading anthropologist of Africa considers that continent's place within an egregiously imbalanced world economic and social order
Trade Review“
Global Shadows is one of the most thoughtful, provocative, intelligent books written about Africa in a very long time. It raises in the most profound possible way the question of what precisely Africa is in the twenty-first century: a place, a predicament, an imaginative object, a discursive trope, a ‘place-in-the-world’ whose economies and social orders, governance and geography, are undergoing bewilderingly complex transformations. James Ferguson challenges us to understand those transformations, this place-in-the-world, in an altogether fresh manner.”—John Comaroff, University of Chicago
“Speaking rationally about Africa is not something that has ever come naturally. This book is a tour de force. James Ferguson shows that a radical critique of the most obtuse and cynical prejudices about Africa can be made without one repeating and perpetuating these prejudices under some other guise.”—Achille Mbembe, author of
On the Postcolony“Ferguson's is a substantial voice for and about contemporary Africa.
Global Shadows is of general interest to Africanists and includes several essays that can be used productively in the classroom. . . . Together, [the essays] make a statement that, in its collective impact, is even more perceptive than in its unconnected parts.” -- Sandra T. Barnes * American Ethnologist *
“Unlike many essay collections, Ferguson’s adds up to a coherent whole, and is marked by his talent for providing fresh insights into stale or stagnant discussions. . . . Without doubt, and regardless of one’s perspective,
Global Shadows is a major gift to the discipline. It is a confident, thorough, and thought-provoking book that raises important questions not only about the idea of Africa but also about the future of anthropology.” -- Matthew Engelke * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *
"Ferguson's latest book is certainly a good read and presents a clear argument about Africa's engagement with the global system. . . . This is an extremely useful book for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of Africa's role in a neoliberal world order." -- Rosaleen Duffy * Modern African Studies *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii
Introduction: Global Shadows: Africa and the World 1
1. Globalizing Africa? Observations from an Inconvenient Continent 25
2. Paradoxes of Sovereignty and Independence: “Real” and “Pseudo-” Nation-States and the Depoliticization of Poverty 50
3. De-moralizing Economics: African Socialism, Scientific Capitalism, and the Moral Politics of Structural Adjustment 69
4. Transnational Topographies of Power: Beyond “the State” and “Civil Society” in the Study of African Politics 89
5.
Chryalis: The Life and Death of the African Renaissance in a Zambian Internet Magazine 113
6. Of Mimicry and Membership: Africans and the “New World Society” 155
7. Decomposing Modernity: History and Hierarchy after Development 176
8. Governing Extraction: New Spatializations of Order and Disorder in Neoliberal Africa 194
Notes 211
References 229
Index 249
