Download or read book Morality and Economic Growth in Rural West Africa written by Paul Clough and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2014-06-01 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The land, labor, credit, and trading institutions of Marmara village, in Hausaland, northern Nigeria, are detailed in this study through fieldwork conducted in two national economic cycles - the petroleum-boom prosperity (in 1977-1979), and the macro-economic decline (in 1985, 1996 and 1998). The book unveils a new paradigm of economic change in the West African savannah, demonstrating how rural accumulation in a polygynous society actually limits the extent of inequality while at the same time promoting technical change. A uniquely African non-capitalist trajectory of accumulation subordinates the acquisition of capital to the expansion of polygynous families, clientage networks, and circles of trading friends. The whole trajectory is driven by an indigenous ethics of personal responsibility. This model disputes the validity of both Marxian theories of capitalist transformation in Africa and the New Institutional Economics.
Download or read book Contemporary Perspectives on African Moral Economy written by Isaria N. Kimambo and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2008 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The topic of African moral economy was first raised by Goran Hyden in 1980 as one of the main obstacles to economic transformation of the African peasantry. The suggestion caused serious academic debates between the proposer and other scholars on African societies, especially those using political economy as the framework of their analysis. But Hyden continued to defend his thesis until interest in the debate faded out. More recently Japanese scholars have taken up the topic as it appears to have new relevance in comparison with the fast transformations which have taken place in Southeast Asian rural communities. The focus of this book is to give a detailed comparison between African rural communities and those of Southeastern Asia. Attention is focused on the two main aspects of African peasantry life: the right to subsistence and the norm of reciprocity. A wide interdisciplinary approach is employed to demonstrate the dynamism displayed by these societies.
Download or read book Morality Crisis and Capitalism written by Jean-Paul Baldacchino and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2022-09-13 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'May you live in interesting times’ was made famous by Sir Austen Chamberlain. The premise is that ‘interesting times’ are times of upheaval, conflict and insecurity - troubled times. With the growing numbers of displaced populations and the rise in the politics of fear and hate, we are facing challenges to our very ‘species-being’. Papers in the volume include ethnographic studies on the ‘refugee crisis’, the ‘financial crisis’ and the ‘rule of law crisis' in the Mediterranean as well as the crisis of violence and hunger in South America.
Download or read book Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies written by Akram-Lodhi, A. H. and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2021-12-14 with total page 744 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the emerging and vibrant field of critical agrarian studies, this comprehensive Handbook offers interdisciplinary insights from both leading scholars and activists to understand agrarian life, livelihoods, formations and processes of change. It highlights the development of the field, which is characterized by theoretical and methodological pluralism and innovation.
Download or read book State and Society in Nigeria written by Williams, Gavin and published by Malthouse Press. This book was released on 2019-04-15 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first edition of State and Society in Nigeria, published in 1980, was and remains a dominant influence in teaching, research, policy and practice of state-society relations in Nigeria for more than a generation. The volume of essays has remained one of the most cited in the field – testimony to its enduring content and perspective as well as the beauty, accessibility and clarity of its language. This new edition revisits, extends and reconsiders aspects of the first edition in light of developments in the literature since 1980 and offers new insights and interpretations on issues of political economy, politics, and sociology such as the country’s Civil War (1967-1970) the political economy of oil, debt, and democratization and the complexities and ethnic identities and rivalries and religious accommodation and conflict, and of the multiple ways in which they intersect with one another.
Download or read book The Upper Guinea Coast in Global Perspective written by Jacqueline Knörr and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2016-02-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For centuries, Africa’s Upper Guinea Coast region has been the site of regional and global interactions, with societies from different parts of the African continent and beyond engaging in economic trade, cultural exchange and various forms of conflict. This book provides a wide-ranging look at how such encounters have continued into the present day, identifying the disruptions and continuities in religion, language, economics and various other social phenomena. These accounts show a region that, while still grappling with the legacies of colonialism and the slave trade, is both shaped by and an important actor within ever-denser global networks, exhibiting consistent transformation and creative adaptation.
Download or read book Agency and Causal Explanation in Economics written by Peter Róna and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-11-07 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book provides an exploration of the consequences of the ontological differences between natural and social objects (sometimes described as objects of nature and objects of thought) in the workings of causal and agency relationships. One of its important and possibly original conclusions is that causal and agency relationships do not encompass all of the dependent relationships encountered in social life. The idea that social reality is contingent has been known (and largely undisputed) at least since Wittgenstein’s “On Certainty”, but social science, and most notably economics has continued to operate on the basis of causal and agency theories borrowed or adapted from the natural sciences. This volume contains essays that retain and justify the partial or qualified use of this approach and essays that totally reject any use of causal and agency theory built on determined facts (closed systems).The rejection is based on the possibly original claim that, whereas causation in the objects of the natural sciences reside in their properties, human action is a matter of intentionality. It engages with critical realist theory and re-examines the role of free will in theories of human action in general and economic theory in particular.
Download or read book Theorizing Cohesive Development written by Sunil Ray and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2020-05-07 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume proposes an alternative development paradigm to the existing capitalist extant one, and studies how it is distinctly different from the older system. Rooted in the principles of solidarity between humans, as well as between humans and nature, this alternative paradigm replaces the methodological individualism of capitalism by ‘reciprocal altruism’, a new logic of capital, to give pace and direction to the development process. The essays in this volume highlight instances of various forms of solidarity that have emerged in the contemporary world—such as resistance movements of informal workers, the formation of an autonomous cooperative of self-employed waste pickers in India, called SWaCH, and Brazil and Cuba’s experiments with Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE)—to achieve long sustaining cohesive development. They also provide recommendations as to how the State can mold its development process to the benefit of marginalized communities, especially in India and Bangladesh. Featuring insights from leading experts in the field, Theorizing Cohesive Development will be an indispensable read for students and researchers of development studies, economics, political economy, political science and sociology, minority studies and Asian studies.
Download or read book Reflecting on Reflexivity written by T. M. S. (Terry) Evens and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Humanness supposes innate and profound reflexivity. This volume approaches the concept of reflexivity on two different yet related analytical planes. Whether implicitly or explicitly, both planes of thought bear critically on reflexivity in relation to the nature of selfhood and the very idea of the autonomous individual, ethics, and humanness, science as such and social science, ontological dualism and fundamental ambiguity. On the one plane, a collection of original and innovative ethnographically based essays is offered, each of which is devoted to ways in which reflexivity plays a fundamental role in human social life and the study of it; on the other—anthropo-philosophical and developed in the volume’s Preface, Introduction, and Postscript—it is argued that reflexivity distinguishes—definitively, albeit relatively—the being and becoming of the human.
Download or read book Anthropological Optimism written by Anna J. Willow and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-04-25 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book theorizes the roles of optimism in anthropological thinking, research, writing, and practice. It sets out to explore optimism’s origins and implications, its conceptual and practical value, and its capacity to contribute to contemporary anthropological aims. In an era of extensive ecological disruption and social distress, this volume contemplates how an optimistic anthropology can energize the discipline while also contributing to bettering the lives, communities, and environments of those we study. It brings together scholars diverse in background, career stage, and theoretical approach in a collective attempt to comprehend the myriad intersections of anthropology and optimism. The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have recently underscored the larger, longer-term catastrophes of climate change, ecosystemic collapse, social injustice, and antipathy toward scientific knowledge and those who produce it. In this context, exceedingly few anthropologists feel comfortable observing and documenting passively while their research communities face unrelenting waves of (un)natural disasters. We need to act. But we also need to hope. Discontent with the state of the world and cultural anthropology’s turn to increasingly positive, future-oriented, and engaged work have converged to unleash a courageously optimistic anthropology. This book is a timely springboard for this impactful and emergent approach.
Download or read book Vertiginous Life written by Daniel M. Knight and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2021-09-11 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vertiginous Life provides a theory of the intense temporal disorientation brought about by life in crisis. In the whirlpool of unforeseen social change, people experience confusion as to where and when they belong on timelines of previously unquestioned pasts and futures. Through individual stories from crisis Greece, this book explores the everyday affects of vertigo: nausea, dizziness, breathlessness, the sense of falling, and unknowingness of Self. Being lost in time, caught in the spin-cycle of crisis, people reflect on belonging to modern Europe, neoliberal promises of accumulation, defeated futures, and the existential dilemmas of life held captive in the uncanny elsewhen.
Download or read book The Green Belt Movement written by Wangari Maathai and published by Lantern Books. This book was released on 2003 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wangari Maathai, founder of The Green Belt Movement, tells its story including the philosophy behind it, its challenges, and objectives.
Download or read book Re Inventing Africa s Development written by Jong-Dae Park and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-12-31 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book analyses the development problems of sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) from the eyes of a Korean diplomat with knowledge of the economic growth Korea has experienced in recent decades. The author argues that Africa's development challenges are not due to a lack of resources but a lack of management, presenting an alternative to the traditional view that Africa's problems are caused by a lack of leadership. In exploring an approach based on mind-set and nation-building, rather than unity – which tends to promote individual or party interests rather than the broader country or national interests – the author suggests new solutions for SSA's economic growth, inspired by Korea's successful economic growth model much of which is focused on industrialisation. This book will be of interest to researchers, policymakers, NGOs and governmental bodies in economics, development and politics studying Africa's economic development, and Korea's economic growth model.
Download or read book Cultural Anthropology written by Jack David Eller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-01-08 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cultural Anthropology: Global Forces, Local Lives presents all the key areas of cultural anthropology as well as providing original and nuanced coverage of current and cutting-edge topics. An exceptionally clear and readable introduction, it helps students understand the application of anthropological concepts to the contemporary world and everyday life. Thorough treatment is given throughout the text to issues such as globalization, colonialism, ethnicity, nationalism, neoliberalism, and the state. Changes for the third edition include a brand new chapter on medical anthropology and an updated range of cases studies with a fresh thematic focus on China. The book contains a number of features to support student learning, including: A wealth of color images Definitions of key terms and further reading suggestions in the margins Summaries at the end of every chapter An extensive glossary, bibliography and index.
Download or read book The Ebola Epidemic in West Africa written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2016-12-30 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most recent Ebola epidemic that began in late 2013 alerted the entire world to the gaps in infectious disease emergency preparedness and response. The regional outbreak that progressed to a significant public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) in a matter of months killed 11,310 and infected more than 28,616. While this outbreak bears some unique distinctions to past outbreaks, many characteristics remain the same and contributed to tragic loss of human life and unnecessary expenditure of capital: insufficient knowledge of the disease, its reservoirs, and its transmission; delayed prevention efforts and treatment; poor control of the disease in hospital settings; and inadequate community and international responses. Recognizing the opportunity to learn from the countless lessons of this epidemic, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop in March 2015 to discuss the challenges to successful outbreak responses at the scientific, clinical, and global health levels. Workshop participants explored the epidemic from multiple perspectives, identified important questions about Ebola that remained unanswered, and sought to apply this understanding to the broad challenges posed by Ebola and other emerging pathogens, to prevent the international community from being taken by surprise once again in the face of these threats. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.
Download or read book Poverty in a Rising Africa written by Kathleen Beegle and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2016-03-10 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perceptions of Africa have changed dramatically. Viewed as a continent of wars, famines and entrenched poverty in the late 1990s, there is now a focus on “Africa rising†? and an “African 21st century.†? Two decades of unprecedented economic growth in Africa should have brought substantial improvements in well-being. Whether or not they did, remains unclear given the poor quality of the data, the nature of the growth process (especially the role of natural resources), conflicts that affect part of the region, and high population growth. Poverty in a Rising Africa documents the data challenges and systematically reviews the evidence on poverty from monetary and nonmonetary perspectives, as well as a focus on dimensions of inequality. Chapter 1 maps out the availability and quality of the data needed to track monetary poverty, reflects on the governance and political processes that underpin the current situation with respect to data production, and describes some approaches to addressing the data gaps. Chapter 2 evaluates the robustness of the estimates of poverty in Africa. It concludes that poverty reduction in Africa may be slightly greater than traditional estimates suggest, although even the most optimistic estimates of poverty reduction imply that more people lived in poverty in 2012 than in 1990. A broad-stroke profile of poverty and trends in poverty in the region is presented. Chapter 3 broadens the view of poverty by considering nonmonetary dimensions of well-being, such as education, health, and freedom, using Sen's (1985) capabilities and functioning approach. While progress has been made in a number of these areas, levels remain stubbornly low. Chapter 4 reviews the evidence on inequality in Africa. It looks not only at patterns of monetary inequality in Africa but also other dimensions, including inequality of opportunity, intergenerational mobility in occupation and education, and extreme wealth in Africa.
Download or read book Economic Development in Africa Report 2021 written by UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT. and published by . This book was released on 2022-01-07 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The African Continental Free Trade Area is expected to be a game changer for development ambitions in Africa.
