Download or read book Grasping Africa written by Stephen Chan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2007-01-26 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africa is huge, internationally vital, potentially rich and powerful yet mired in failure - political, economic, social and even cultural. Yet the story of contemporary Africa is not just one of global tragedy but also of enormous hope for the future. This stimulating and unconventional book on Africa today and its relationship with the West explores the many complex reasons behind Africa's failure to fulfil its potential - it is a continent blighted by colonialism, exploitation and the interference of great powers in the international relations of the region - and offers some genuinely original and well-argued suggestions for ways forward. Critical and objective yet involved and sympathetic, "Grasping Africa" demonstrates Stephen Chan's deep understanding of the history and politics of Africa based on his long experience of the continent in often dangerous circumstances.
Download or read book Grasping Africa written by Stephen Chan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2007-01-26 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africa is huge, internationally vital, potentially rich and powerful yet mired in failure - political, economic, social and even cultural. Yet the story of contemporary Africa is not just one of global tragedy but also of enormous hope for the future. This stimulating and unconventional book on Africa today and its relationship with the West explores the many complex reasons behind Africa's failure to fulfil its potential - it is a continent blighted by colonialism, exploitation and the interference of great powers in the international relations of the region - and offers some genuinely original and well-argued suggestions for ways forward. Critical and objective yet involved and sympathetic, "Grasping Africa" demonstrates Stephen Chan's deep understanding of the history and politics of Africa based on his long experience of the continent in often dangerous circumstances.
Download or read book Grasping Africa written by Stephen Chan and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation. Africa is huge, internationally vital, potentially rich and powerful yet mired in failure - political, economic, social and even cultural. Yet the story of contemporary Africa is not just one of global tragedy but also of enormous hope for the future. This stimulating and unconventional book on today's Africa and its relationship with the West explores the many complex reasons behind Africa's failure to fulfil its potential -- for example, colonialism, exploitation, and the interference ofgreat powers in the international relations of the continent -- and offers some very reasonable and well-founded suggestions for ways forward. Critical and objective yet involved and sympathetic, Grasping Africa demonstrates Stephen Chan's deep understanding of the history and politics of Africa based on his long and often dangerously-obtained experience of the continent.
Download or read book Rogue Urbanism written by Edgar A. Pieterse and published by Jacana Media. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beautifully designed and packaged, Rogue Urbanism enlarges and deepens the search for the rogue intensities that mark African cities as they find their voice and footing in a truly unwieldy world.
Download or read book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa written by Walter Rodney and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2018-11-27 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic work of political, economic, and historical analysis, powerfully introduced by Angela Davis In his short life, the Guyanese intellectual Walter Rodney emerged as one of the leading thinkers and activists of the anticolonial revolution, leading movements in North America, South America, the African continent, and the Caribbean. In each locale, Rodney found himself a lightning rod for working class Black Power. His deportation catalyzed 20th century Jamaica's most significant rebellion, the 1968 Rodney riots, and his scholarship trained a generation how to think politics at an international scale. In 1980, shortly after founding of the Working People's Alliance in Guyana, the 38-year-old Rodney would be assassinated. In his magnum opus, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Rodney incisively argues that grasping "the great divergence" between the west and the rest can only be explained as the exploitation of the latter by the former. This meticulously researched analysis of the abiding repercussions of European colonialism on the continent of Africa has not only informed decades of scholarship and activism, it remains an indispensable study for grasping global inequality today.
Download or read book Of Africa written by Wole Soyinka and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2012-11-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A member of the unique generation of African writers and intellectuals who came of age in the last days of colonialism, Wole Soyinka has witnessed the promise of independence and lived through postcolonial failure. He deeply comprehends the pressing problems of Africa, and, an irrepressible essayist and a staunch critic of the oppressive boot, he unhesitatingly speaks out. In this magnificent new work, Soyinka offers a wide-ranging inquiry into Africa's culture, religion, history, imagination, and identity. He seeks to understand how the continent's history is entwined with the histories of others, while exploring Africa's truest assets: "its humanity, the quality and valuation of its own existence, and modes of managing its environment—both physical and intangible (which includes the spiritual)." Fully grasping the extent of Africa's most challenging issues, Soyinka nevertheless refuses defeatism. With eloquence he analyzes problems ranging from the meaning of the past to the threat of theocracy. He asks hard questions about racial attitudes, inter-ethnic and religious violence, the viability of nations whose boundaries were laid out by outsiders, African identity on the continent and among displaced Africans, and more. Soyinka's exploration of Africa relocates the continent in the reader's imagination and maps a course toward an African future of peace and affirmation.
Download or read book Africa s Social and Religious Quest written by Randee Ijatuyi-Morphé and published by University Press of America. This book was released on 2014-01-30 with total page 647 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This well-crafted book probes the key dimensions of Africa’s existential predicament. It constitutes an intellectual response to a gnawing “African situation”—the starting point for grasping Africa’s social and religious quest. Beyond split explanations of external versus internal factors (e.g., colonization/slavery vs. leadership/cultural values), this study accounts more comprehensively for emergent issues shaping this situation. The situation reflects a gamut of problems in traditional African religion and material culture, which hitherto defines African communality, polities, and destinies vis-à-vis the cosmos and nature. Thus, African religion and communities, each with its own attendant values, do not operate by critical engagement with larger issues of society and civilization, especially those shaped by the advent of (post-) modernity. Rather, they operate via adaptation. The communal drive for natural and social harmony inevitably produces a preservationist view of culture (“leaving things as they are”). This study takes an integrative approach to religion, society, and civilization; eschews dichotomies; and broadly defines and re-signifies life and wholeness as a true end of Africans’ quest today.
Download or read book Grasping the Nettle written by Chester A. Crocker and published by US Institute of Peace Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among the unwelcome legacies of the past century are a group of conflicts, both intrastate and interstate, that seem destined never to end. From Kashmir to Nagorno-Karabakh, Colombia to Sudan, the Korean Peninsula to the Middle East, these deeply entrenched, intermittently violent conflicts have so far resisted all outside efforts to resolve them.What lessons aside from the apparent futility of mediation can such dismal situations possibly offer? As the distinguished contributors to "Grasping the Nettle" make plain, this is not a rhetorical question. Unyielding conflicts offer numerous insights not only about the sources of intractability but also about such facets of mediation and conflict management as how to gain leverage, when to engage and disengage, how to balance competing goals, and who to enlist to play supporting roles.The first part of this eye-opening volume identifies and analyzes the defining characteristics and underlying dynamics of intractable conflicts. The second part turns the spotlight on no fewer than eight current cases, in each instance chronicling the conflict's evolution, evaluating the internal and external factors that have conspired to prevent a settlement, and assessing whether past peacemaking initiatives have in fact only aggravated the conflict. The conclusion makes the point that even intractable conflicts eventually end and highlights the strategic approaches and tactical steps that have yielded success in the past for mediators and conflict managers from governments, international organizations, and NGOs."
Download or read book Biofuels Land Grabbing and Food Security in Africa written by Prosper B. Matondi and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2011-06-09 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The issue of biofuels has already been much debated, but the focus to date has largely been on Latin America and deforestation - this highly original work breaks fresh ground in looking at the African perspective. Most African governments see biofuels as having the potential to increase agricultural productivity and export incomes and thus strengthen their national economies, improving energy balances and rural employment. At the same time climate change may be addressed through reduction of green house gas emissions. There are, however, a number of uncertainties mounting that challenge this scenario. Using cutting-edge empirical case studies, this knowledge gap is addressed in a variety of chapters examining the effects of large-scale biofuel production on African agriculture. In particular, 'land grabbing' and food security issues are scrutinised, both of which have become vital topics in regard to the environmental and developmental governance of African countries. A revealing book for anyone wishing to understand the startling impact of biofuels and land grabbing on Africa.
Download or read book Divination s Grasp written by Richard Werbner and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2015-11-15 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A work of rare depth and profound insight that is destined to become a classic in African Studies and the anthropology of religion.” —Paul Stoller, author of Yaya’s Story: The Quest for Well-Being in the World Richard Werbner takes readers on a journey though contemporary charismatic wisdom divination in southern Africa. Beginning with the silent language of the divinatory lots, Werbner deciphers the everyday, metaphorical, and poetic language that is used to reveal their meaning. Through Werbner’s skillful interpretations of the language of divination, a picture of Tswapong moral imagination is revealed. Concerns about dignity and personal illumination, witchcraft, pollution, the anger of dead ancestors, as well as the nature of life, truth, cosmic harmony, being, and becoming emerge in this charged African setting. “Werbner’s Divination’s Grasp documents a long and distinguished career in the service of anthropology. It will be a touchstone for anthropological studies of divination for years to come.” —American Ethnologist “Richard Werbner’s superb account of moral imagination and the poetics of divination grasps the density of its subject, matching the insights of the diviner with those of the ethnographer. The book takes its place among the very best works of Africanist anthropology as a new classic in the tradition of ethnographic divination and a necessary reminder of live and deep traditions of African wisdom.” —Michael Lambek, University of Toronto Scarborough
Download or read book Love Africa written by Jeffrey Gettleman and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Jeffrey Gettleman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist, comes a passionate, revealing story about finding love and finding a calling, set against one of the most turbulent regions in the world. A seasoned war correspondent, Jeffrey Gettleman has covered every major conflict over the past twenty years, from Afghanistan to Iraq to the Congo. For the past decade, he has served as the East Africa bureau chief for the New York Times, fulfilling a teenage dream. At nineteen, Gettleman fell in love, twice. On a do-it-yourself community service trip in college, he went to East Africa—a terrifying, exciting, dreamlike part of the world in the throes of change that imprinted itself on his imagination and on his heart. But around that same time he also fell in love with a fellow Cornell student—the brightest, classiest, most principled woman he’d ever met. To say they were opposites was an understatement. She became a criminal lawyer in America; he hungered to return to Africa. For the next decade he would be torn between these two abiding passions. A sensually rendered coming-of-age story in the tradition of Barbarian Days, Love, Africa is a tale of passion, violence, far-flung adventure, tortuous long-distance relationships, screwing up, forgiveness, parenthood, and happiness that explores the power of finding yourself in the most unexpected of places.
Download or read book Africa Uprising written by Adam Branch and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-03-12 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Egypt to South Africa, Nigeria to Ethiopia, a new force for political change is emerging across Africa: popular protest. Widespread urban uprisings by youth, the unemployed, trade unions, activists, writers, artists, and religious groups are challenging injustice and inequality. What is driving this new wave of protest? Is it the key to substantive political change? Drawing on interviews and in-depth analysis, Adam Branch and Zachariah Mampilly offer a penetrating assessment of contemporary African protests, situating the current popular activism within its historical and regional contexts.
Download or read book A Sad Fiasco written by Jonas Kreienbaum and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2019-09-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Only in recent years has the history of European colonial concentration camps in Africa—in which thousands of prisoners died in appalling conditions—become widely known beyond a handful of specialists. Although they preceded the Third Reich by many decades, the camps’ newfound notoriety has led many to ask to what extent they anticipated the horrors of the Holocaust. Were they designed for mass killing, a misbegotten attempt at modernization, or something else entirely? A Sad Fiasco confronts this difficult question head-on, reconstructing the actions of colonial officials in both British South Africa and German South-West Africa as well as the experiences of internees to explore both the similarities and the divergences between the African camps and their Nazi-era successors.
Download or read book Mistaking Africa written by Curtis A Keim and published by Westview Press. This book was released on 2013-08-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many Americans the mention of Africa immediately conjures up images of safaris, ferocious animals, strangely dressed “tribesmen,” and impenetrable jungles. Although the occasional newspaper headline mentions genocide, AIDS, malaria, or civil war in Africa, the collective American consciousness still carries strong mental images of Africa that are reflected in advertising, movies, amusement parks, cartoons, and many other corners of society. Few think to question these perceptions or how they came to be so deeply lodged in American minds. Curtis Keim's Mistaking Africa looks at the historical evolution of this mind-set and examines the role that popular media plays in its creation. Keim addresses the most prevalent myths and preconceptions and demonstrates how these prevent a true understanding of the enormously diverse peoples and cultures of Africa. Updated throughout, the third edition includes a new chapter, "Where Is the Real Africa," discussing the multifaceted nature of the question and the importance of not grasping onto stereotypes of Africa's mythical past. Keim also includes new examples and new images to expand the visual narrative of western views about Africa. Mistaking Africa is an important book for African studies courses and for anyone interested in unraveling American misperceptions about the continent.
Download or read book Rural Resources and Local Livelihoods in Africa written by NA NA and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-09-27 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Top scholars examine issues which lead readers to better understand environmental change in the African continent and its effects on rural African livelihoods. Each of the studies in this book concerns four main issues: conservation, biodiversity, and environment; land use and livelihoods; environmental change; and policies for conservation and development. The volume looks closely at the details of rural resource use, access and control, the social institutions which shape this, and the effects on African environments. It is not possible to understand livelihoods in Africa - a central issue for all social and economic questions - without grasping the interplay between environmental change and the sustainability of rural livelihoods. The volume is groundbreaking in its detailed examination of this interplay, and its importance in grasping the roots of poverty and potential for its alleviation, and for its unique combination of natural and social science methods.
Download or read book Tobacco Control in Africa written by Jeffrey Drope and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume utilizes the work initiated and executed under a recent major public health initiative, the African Tobacco Situational Analyses (ATSA), which was sponsored by the Canadian government's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) with funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The program was conceived to illuminate the factors that will facilitate the reform of major public health policies, particularly, but not limited to, tobacco. The results, presented in this volume, are an important contribution to the literature on global public health and international development, and comprise the most comprehensive evidence-based analysis of tobacco policy in the African region.
Download or read book Neo Colonialism and the Poverty of Development in Africa written by Mark Langan and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-10-11 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Langan reclaims neo-colonialism as an analytical force for making sense of the failure of ‘development’ strategies in many African states in an era of free market globalisation. Eschewing polemics and critically engaging the work of Ghana’s first President – Kwame Nkrumah – the book offers a rigorous assessment of the concept of neo-colonialism. It then demonstrates how neo-colonialism remains an impediment to genuine empirical sovereignty and poverty reduction in Africa today. It does this through examination of corporate interventions; Western aid-giving; the emergence of ‘new’ donors such as China; EU-Africa trade regimes; the securitisation of development; and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Throughout the chapters, it becomes clear that the current challenges of African development cannot be solely pinned on so-called neo-patrimonial elites. Instead it becomes imperative to fully acknowledge, and interrogate, corporate and donor interventions which lock many poorer countries into neo-colonial patterns of trade and production. The book provides an original contribution to studies of African political economy, demonstrating the on-going relevance of the concept of neo-colonialism, and reclaiming it for scholarly analysis in a global era.
