Description
Book SynopsisUsing Sierra Leone as a case study, this book examines the nature of knowledge production and interpretation of African history since the decade of African independence. This anthology provides critical reflections on major themes such as ethnicity, class, gender, identity formation, nation building, resistance, and social conflict.
Trade ReviewThis collection of essays, showcasing the works of very accomplished and prominent scholars of Sierra Leone’s history at home and abroad, seeks to reconfigure the western paradigms of engagement and interpretation of historical knowledge about Sierra Leone and re-center the conversation to include and reflect indigenous perspectives of the nation’s past through exploring social constructs such as class, gender, identity formation, nation building, resistance, and social conflict. The writers’ examination of the significance of these issues in recalibrating western notions of history and its sociocultural context illustrates the various paradoxes and transformative moments in Sierra Leone and West Africa. * International Journal of African Historical Studies *
In an ethos of endemic corruption, ethnic-based politics, degraded educational structures, environmental pollution, and praetorian ambiguity, this anthology identifies the way to renewal. It plumbs the disquieting tensions of the trenches, gives voice to the marginalized, and rescues us from the cynical narratives of elite interests and personages. We see grassroots potential for relevance and verve, and our editors supply a long-felt need for interpretations of complex phenomena of gender, race, ethnicity, and social class. -- McSamuel Dixon-Fyle, Professor of History, DePauw University
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction Sylvia Ojukutu-Macauley and Ismail Rashid Chapter 2: Rebellious Subjects and Citizens: Writing Subalterns into the History of Sierra Leone Ismail Rashid Chapter 3: Clapping With One Hand: The Search for a Gendered ‘Province of Freedom’ in the Historiography of Sierra Leone Sylvia Ojukutu-Macauley Chapter 4: (Re) envisioning the African Diaspora: Historical Memory and Cross-fertilization in Post-colonial Sierra Leone Nemata Blyden Chapter 5: Historical Memory, Pan-Africanism and National Identity Tamba M’bayo Chapter 6: The Chalmers Commission and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Sierra Leone Official Inquiries as Historical Memory Lansana Gberie Chapter 7: Decolonization and the Rise of Krio Separatism Gibril Cole Chapter 8: The Roots of Military Praetorianism in Sierra Leone Festus Cole Chapter 9: History and Memory in Contemporary Sierra Leone: Re-inscribing Fragments from an Atlantic Past Ibrahim Abdullah Chapter 10: History, Memory and Post-Colonial Sierra Leone Arthur Abraham Chapter 11: Sierra Leone at Fifty: Confronting Old Problems and Preparing for New Challenges Yusuf Bangura Chapter 12: They Hold Up Half the Sky: Prospects and Challenges for Sierra Leonean Women in the 21st Century and Beyond Sylvia Ojukutu-Macauley
