Download or read book The Arabic Script in Africa written by Meikal Mumin and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2014-01-30 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arabic script in Africa contains sixteen papers on the past and present use of Arabic script to write African languages. These writing traditions, which are sometimes collectively referred to as Ajami, are discussed for single or multiple languages, with examples from all major linguistic phyla of Africa but one (Khoisan), and from all geographic areas of Africa (North, West, Central, East, and South Africa), as well as a paper on the Ajami heritage in the Americas. The papers analyze (ethno-) historical, literary, (socio-) linguistic, and in particular grammatological aspects of these previously understudied writing traditions and exemplify their range and scope, providing new data for the comparative study of writing systems, literacy in Africa, and the history of (Islam in) Africa.

Download or read book Encyclopedia of the Yoruba written by Toyin Falola and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2016-06-20 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The encyclopedia gives a complex, yet detailed, presentation of the Yorùbá, a dominant ethnic group in West Africa . . . an invaluable resource.” —Yoruba Studies Review The Yoruba people today number more than thirty million strong, with significant numbers in the United States, Nigeria, Europe, and Brazil. This landmark reference work emphasizes Yoruba history, geography and demography, language and linguistics, literature, philosophy, religion, and art. The 285 entries include biographies of prominent Yoruba figures, artists, and authors; the histories of political institutions; and the impact of technology and media, urban living, and contemporary culture on Yoruba people worldwide. Written by Yoruba experts on all continents, this encyclopedia provides comprehensive background to the global Yoruba and their distinctive and vibrant history and culture. “Readers unfamiliar with the Yoruba will find the introduction a concise and valuable overview of their language and its dialects, recent history, mythology and religion, and diaspora movements . . . Highly recommended.” —Choice

Download or read book Libraries and Archives in the Digital Age written by Susan L. Mizruchi and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-03-09 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The role of archives and libraries in our digital age is one of the most pressing concerns of humanists, scholars, and citizens worldwide. This collection brings together specialists from academia, public libraries, governmental agencies, and non-profit archives to pursue common questions about value across the institutional boundaries that typically separate us.

Download or read book Proceedings of the 7th World Congress of African Linguistics Buea 17 21 August 2012 written by Atindogbe, Gratien G. and published by Langaa RPCIG. This book was released on 2016-12-19 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a composite of 40 purely scientific and peer-reviewed papers presented during the Seventh World Congress of African Linguistics (WOCAL7) at the University of Buea, Cameroon, in 2012. The different chapters of the volume fall within the scope of African languages in relation to linguistics and other related disciplines, where a varied range of theoretical examinations, investigations and/or discussions as well as pure description of aspects of language are offered. For the purpose of clarity and easy accessibility of the content, the chapters are further subcategorized into nine sections, which include: Borrowing, Discourse Analysis, Historical Linguistics, Intercultural Communication, Language Documentation, Language in Education, Morpho-syntax, Phonetics and Phonology, and Sociolinguistics

Download or read book From Dust to Digital written by Maja Kominko and published by Open Book Publishers. This book was released on 2015-02-16 with total page 724 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much of world’s documentary heritage rests in vulnerable, little-known and often inaccessible archives. Many of these archives preserve information that may cast new light on historical phenomena and lead to their reinterpretation. But such rich collections are often at risk of being lost before the history they capture is recorded. This volume celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Endangered Archives Programme at the British Library, established to document and publish online formerly inaccessible and neglected archives from across the globe. From Dust to Digital showcases the historical significance of the collections identified, catalogued and digitised through the Programme, bringing together articles on 19 of the 244 projects supported since its inception. These contributions demonstrate the range of materials documented — including rock inscriptions, manuscripts, archival records, newspapers, photographs and sound archives — and the wide geographical scope of the Programme. Many of the documents are published here for the first time, illustrating the potential these collections have to further our understanding of history.

Download or read book One World Many Knowledges written by Halvorsen, Tar and published by African Minds. This book was released on 2016-05-12 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Various forms of academic co-operation criss-cross the modern university system in a bewildering number of ways, from the open exchange of ideas and knowledge, to the sharing of research results, and frank discussions about research challenges. Embedded in these scholarly networks is the question of whether a 'global template' for the management of both higher education and national research organisations is necessary, and if so, must institutions slavishly follow the high-flown language of the global 'knowledge society' or risk falling behind in the ubiquitous university ranking system? Or are there alternatives that can achieve a better, 'more ethically inclined, world? Basing their observations on their own experiences, an interesting mix of seasoned scholars and new voices from southern Africa and the Nordic region offer critical perspectives on issues of inter- and cross-regional academic co-operation. Several of the chapters also touch on the evolution of the higher education sector in the two regions. An absorbing and intelligent study, this book will be invaluable for anyone interested in the strategies scholars are using to adapt to the interconnectedness of the modern world. It offers fresh insights into how academics are attempting to protect the spaces in which they can freely and openly debate the challenges they face, while aiming to transform higher education, and foster scholarly collaboration. The Southern African-Nordic Centre (SANORD) is a partnership of higher education institutions from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. SANORD's primary aim is to promote multilateral research co-operation on matters of importance to the development of both regions. Our activities are based on the values of democracy, equity, and mutually beneficial academic engagement.

Download or read book Swahili Beyond the Boundaries written by Alamin Mazrui and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africa is a marriage of cultures: African and Asian, Islamic and Euro-Christian. Nowhere is this fusion more evident than in the formation of Swahili, Eastern Africa's lingua franca, and its cultures. Swahili Beyond the Boundaries: Literature, Language, and Identity addresses the moving frontiers of Swahili literature under the impetus of new waves of globalization in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These momentous changes have generated much theoretical debate on several literary fronts, as Swahili literature continues to undergo transformation in the mill of human creativity. Swahili literature is a hybrid that is being reconfigured by a conjuncture of global and local forces. As the interweaving of elements of the colonizer and the colonized, this hybrid formation provides a representation of cultural difference that is said to constitute a "third space," blurring existing boundaries and calling into question established identitarian categorizations. This cultural dialectic is clearly evident in the Swahili literary experience as it has evolved in the crucible of the politics of African cultural production. However, Swahili Beyond the Boundaries demonstrates that, from the point of view of Swahili literature, while hybridity evokes endless openness on questions of home and identity, it can simultaneously put closure on specific forms of subjectivity. In the process of this contestation, a new synthesis may be emerging that is poised to subject Swahili literature to new kinds of challenges in the politics of identity, compounded by the dynamics and counterdynamics of post-Cold War globalization.

Download or read book African Literacies written by Ashraf Abdelhay and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-02 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africa is often depicted as the continent with the lowest literacy rates in the world. Moving beyond this essentialising representation, this volume explores African literacies within their complex and diverse multilingual and multiscriptal histories and contexts of use. The chapters examine contexts from the Maghreb to Mozambique and from Senegambia to the Horn of Africa and critically analyse multiple literacy genres and practices – from ancient manuscripts to instant messaging – in relation to questions of language-in-education and policy, livelihoods, Islamic scholarship, colonialism, translocal migration, and writing systems. As a whole, the book serves as an advanced introduction to language and society in Africa seen through the lens of literacy, and marks a unique contribution to scholarship in literacy studies offering a convenient collection of perspectives on and from Africa.

Download or read book Cultural Politics of Translation written by Alamin M. Mazrui and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-19 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first full-length examination of the cultural politics at work in the act of translation in East Africa, providing close critical analyses of a variety of texts that demonstrate the myriad connections between translation and larger socio-political forces. Looking specifically at texts translated into Swahili, the book builds on the notion that translation is not just a linguistic process, but also a complex interaction between culture, history, and politics, and charts this evolution of the translation process in East Africa from the pre-colonial to colonial to post-colonial periods. It uses textual examples, including the Bible, the Qur’an, and Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, from five different domains – religious, political, legal, journalistic, and literary – and grounds them in their specific socio-political and historical contexts to highlight the importance of context in the translation process and to unpack the complex relationships between both global and local forces that infuse these translated texts with an identity all their own. This book provides a comprehensive portrait of the multivalent nature of the act of translation in the East African experience and serves as a key resource for students and researchers in translation studies, cultural studies, post-colonial studies, African studies, and comparative literature.

Download or read book Language Literature and Culture in a Multilingual Society written by Ozo-mekuri Ndimele and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2016-12-14 with total page 1129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The papers here were selected from presentations made at the 24th Annual Conference of the Linguistic Association of Nigeria (LAN) which held at Bayero University Kano. The book contains seventy-seven (77) papers addressing various issues in linguistics, literature and cultures in Nigeria. The book is organized into four sections, as follows: Section One Language and Society; Section Two Applied Linguistics; Section Three Literature, Culture, Stylistics and Gender Studies and Section Four Formal Linguistics.

Download or read book The Story of Swahili written by John M. Mugane and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2015-07-15 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Swahili was once an obscure dialect of an East African Bantu language. Today more than one hundred million people use it: Swahili is to eastern and central Africa what English is to the world. From its embrace in the 1960s by the black freedom movement in the United States to its adoption in 2004 as the African Union’s official language, Swahili has become a truly international language. How this came about and why, of all African languages, it happened only to Swahili is the story that John M. Mugane sets out to explore. The remarkable adaptability of Swahili has allowed Africans and others to tailor the language to their needs, extending its influence far beyond its place of origin. Its symbolic as well as its practical power has evolved from its status as a language of contact among diverse cultures, even as it embodies the history of communities in eastern and central Africa and throughout the Indian Ocean world. The Story of Swahili calls for a reevaluation of the widespread assumption that cultural superiority, military conquest, and economic dominance determine a language’s prosperity. This sweeping history gives a vibrant, living language its due, highlighting its nimbleness from its beginnings to its place today in the fast-changing world of global communication.

Download or read book One Thousand Languages written by Peter Austin and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents an overview of the living, endangered, and extinct languages of the world, providing the total number of speakers of the language, its history, and maps of the geographic areas where it is presently spoken or where it was spoken in the past.

Download or read book Development Modernism and Modernity in Africa written by Augustine Agwuele and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology examines the "unfinished project of modernity" with respect to the unrealized potential for economic, social, and political development in Africa. It also shows how, facing the consequences of modernism, Africans in and out of the continent are responding to these unfinished projects drawing on (a) the customary, (b) the novelty of modernity, and (c) positive aspects of modernism, for the organization of their societies and the enrichment of their lives even as they contend with the negative aspects of modernity and modernism.

Download or read book Literature History and Identity in Northern Nigeria written by Tsiga, Ismaila A. and published by Safari Books Ltd. This book was released on 2016-02-22 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique collection of articles on literature in northern Nigeria is in three parts. Part one presents an overview of the running theme, in which Na’Allah explores the theoretical relationship between literature, history and identity in northern Nigeria, using the proverbial story of the blind man who holds a lamp while walking alone in the night. Similarly, Tsiga undertakes in a long bibliographical essay, a notable survey of the relationship between literature, history and identity in northern Nigeria, chronicling the development of life writing in the region dating back three hundred years. Part two focuses on the relationship between literature and history in northern Nigeria and begins with the article in which Illah investigates the theme. He uses the image of the bus to underscore the point he makes concerning the uniqueness of northern Nigerian literature, which continues its journey, even without a spare tyre. Equally in this part, Balogun discusses Yerima’s Attahiru, Ameh Oboni: The Great as theatres of colonial resistance; just as Methuselah also examines the heroism celebrated in Ahmed Yerima’s Attahiru. Adamu revisits the trans-fictional use of the Grimm Brothers’ tale in the early published Hausa written narratives, while Yunusa and Malumfashi examine similar historical concerns in Abubakar Imam and Sa’adu Zungur, respectively. This part concludes with Garba assessing the transformation of the written Hausa prose narratives into radio broadcasts; while Abiodun examines in a historiographic survey the various forms and composition of Ilorin music. In what might have been the scholar’s last conference article before his sudden death, Nasidi, in Part three, opens the debate on literature and identity in northern Nigeria, eloquently theorising on the relationship with Foucault, his favourite philosopher. AbdulRaheem illustrates how the literature of the people of Ilorin is their identity marker, while Kazaure investigates the split character in Labo Yari’s Man of the Moment. Ibrahim explores identity in marriage between migrants and natives in Kanchana Ugbabe’s Soul Mates, while Aondofa investigates globalisation and indigenous television. Using Tiv film typology, like Aondofa, Sulaiman examines the use of diction in characterisation in the film industry. The third of the contributors on the film industry, AbdulBaqi, uses films shown on DSTV’s African Magic channels to investigate matrimonial harmony in North Central Nigeria. Jaji revisits the antecedents and prospects in the relationship between prose and identity in northern Nigeria. Giwa offers a detailed investigation of Zaynab Alkali’s The Initiates on gender politics. Similarly, Muhammad and Muhammad are concerned with identity and the gender politics in Bilkisu Abubakar’s To Live Again and The Woman in Me. The last article in the book, jointly written by Yusuf, Anwonmeh and Agulonye, offers the only viewpoint on children’s literature in northern Nigeria.

Download or read book Stringing Coral Beads The Religious Poetry of Brava c 1890 1975 written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-08-13 with total page 858 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents Sufi poems from Brava (on Somalia’s Benadir coast) in the town’s vernacular (Chimiini). They allow insight into their authors’ intellectual world and show how the common people of this East African port city lived and learned Islam.

Download or read book Historical Dictionary of Nigeria written by Toyin Falola and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-06-21 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Historical Dictionary of Nigeria: Second Edition introduces Nigeria’s rich and complex history. Readers will find a wealth of information on pre-20th century history, Nigeria under British colonial rule, and important post-independence issues while providing greater attention to Nigeria’s role in international relations, diaspora, and contributions to arts, film and culture in particular. This revised edition covers major developments since the last edition such as the rise of the terrorist group Boko Haram and the election of Muhammadu Buhari to the presidency in 2015 among others. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Nigeria: Second Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,000 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Nigeria.

Download or read book Nigeria written by Toyin Falola and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by leading experts in African studies, this broad introduction to Nigeria follows the history of the republic from the early period to the present day. As Africa's most populated country and major world exporter of oil, Nigeria is a nation with considerable international importance—a role that is hampered by its economic underdevelopment and political instability. This book examines all major aspects of Nigeria's geography, politics, and culture, addressing the area's current attempts at building a strong nation, developing a robust economy, and stabilizing its domestic affairs. Perfect for students of African history, geography, anthropology, and political science, this guidebook provides an overview and history of Nigeria from the early period to contemporary times. Chapters focus on each region in the country; the government, economy and culture of Nigeria; the challenges and problems Nigerians face since the country's independence; and topics affecting everyday life, including music, food, etiquette, gender roles, and marriage.