Limamou Laye, an Islamic leader from present-day Senegal, has proclaimed himself the reincarnation of Muhammad, with his son later proclaiming himself to be a reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Limamou Laye established a tariqa, or Sufi organization, based upon his claims and the miracles attributed to him. This study analyzes Limamou Laye's goals for his community, his theology; as well as the various elements --- both local and global - that created him and helped him to emerge as a religious leader of significance. This book also explores how the growth of Islamic communities in Senegambia stems from an evolving conflict between the traditional governments and the emerging Islamic communities. Douglas H. Thomas demonstrates that Sufism was the obvious vehicle for the growth of Islam among West Africans, striking a chord with indigenous cultures through an engagement with the spirit world which pre-Islamic Senegambian religions were primarily concerned with.

Fifty years ago, Nigeria endured a period of violent disturbance leading to the breakaway of the Eastern Region under the name Biafra. The resulting conflict (1967-70) aroused shock and protests around the world because of mass starvation in the war zone. While Britain supplied arms to the federal Nigerian government, and France to the Biafrans, relief agencies with contributions from countless individuals organised a memorable airlift of food and medicine to the Biafrans' Uli airstrip. Jonathan Derrick, then a journalist for the London weekly West Africa, followed these events closely and recorded the war in the magazine's news pages, right up to the federal forces' final victory and the remarkable reconciliation between supporters of Biafra--predominantly Igbo--and other Nigerians. He later worked for some years in Nigeria, and has studied much of the material published on the war since 1970. Here, he recounts the history of the conflict as documented in West Africa, referring to later literature on and analysis of the events, which inspired passion at the time and have provoked debate ever since. His account deals with myths, misapprehensions and controversies surrounding the conflict, while recalling the tragic facts of a grim episode in African history.

This volume proposes a historical analysis of Italian-Libyan relations in contemporary times. After examining the colonialism of liberal Italy, which in 1911 culminated in the military campaign for the conquest of the Libyan regions, it evaluates the impact of fascism in Libya and the attempt to launch a broader pro-Arab policy. The third section analyzes the construction of the so-called 'special relationship' between Rome and Tripoli since the 50s when an economic interdependence between the Libyan oil producer and the Italian industrial power was pursued despite political differences. Finally, the volume also focuses on the dramatic implosion of Libya and the loss of its political unity following the fall of the Gaddafi regime, which on the one hand, scaled back Italy's regional role, on the other, spread instability throughout the Euro-Mediterranean area. The volume uses a historiographical methodology focused on primary sources and updated scientific literature but also includes specialized analyses of the most current scenarios. This is the first systematic work on the Italian-Libyan relationship produced in English, accessible to area scholars, specialists, analysts and students, who intend to deepen their understanding of one of the pivotal factors of the Euro-Mediterranean balance, which is currently missing.

This intriguing memoir details in a quiet and restrained manner with what it meant to be a committed black intellectual activist during the apartheid years and beyond. Few autobiographies exploring the 'life of the mind' and the 'history of ideas' have come out of South Africa, and N Chabani Manganyi's reflections on a life engaged with ideas, the psychological and philosophical workings of the mind and the act of writing are a refreshing addition to the genre of life writing. Starting with his rural upbringing in Mavambe, Limpopo, in the 1940s, Manganyi's life story unfolds at a gentle pace, tracing the twists and turns of his journey from humble beginnings to Yale University in the USA. The author details his work as a clinical practitioner and researcher, as a biographer, as an expert witness in defence of opponents of the apartheid regime and, finally, as a leading educationist in Mandela's Cabinet and in the South African academy. Apartheid and the Making of a Black Psychologist is a book about relationships and the fruits of intellectual and creative labour. Manganyi describes how he used his skills as a clinical psychologist to explore lives - both those of the subjects of his biographies and those of the accused for whom he testified in mitigation; his aim always to find a higher purpose and a higher self.

This study enriches understanding of East Africa's refugee situation by examining the conditions that gave rise to it and how the refugees themselves sought to reconstruct their lives. Focusing on the 1990s, Veney compares Kenya and Tanzania, two nations that did not generate many refugees, but become important hosts for the general region. Veney argues that the restrictive refugee policies that were adopted in Tanzania and Kenya were a direct product of liberalization and democratization, the result of two nations forced to clarify their refugee policies at a time of immense internal political and socioeconomic transformation.

Millions of people have fled from conflicts and persecution in all parts of this Northeast African country, and many thousands more have been enslaved as human spoils of war. In this book, refugees and abductees recount their escapes from the wars in Darfur and South Sudan, from political and religious persecution, and from abduction by militias. In their own words, they recount life before their displacement and the reasons for their flight. They describe life in the major stations on the "refugee railroads:" in the desert camps of Khartoum, the underground communities of Cairo, the humanitarian metropolis of Kakuma refugee camp, and the still-growing internally displaced persons camps in Darfur. NARRATORS INCLUDE: ABUK, a native of South Sudan now living in Boston, who survived ten years as a slave after being captured by an Arab militia. MARCY AND ROSE, best friends who have spent the vast majority of their lives in a refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya. They remember almost nothing of their former homes in Sudan. MATHOK, who struggled to find opportunities as a refugee in Cairo, but eventually fell into a world of gangs and violence. JOHN, a teacher fighting to keep a school for Sudanese refugees alive in a poverty-stricken slum in Nairobi.

Already a classic of war reporting and now reissued as a Grove Press paperback, Black Hawk Down is Mark Bowden's brilliant account of the longest sustained firefight involving American troops since the Vietnam War. On October 3, 1993, about a hundred elite U.S. soldiers were dropped by helicopter into the teeming market in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia. Their mission was to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord and return to base. It was supposed to take an hour. Instead, they found themselves pinned down through a long and terrible night fighting against thousands of heavily-armed Somalis. The following morning, eighteen Americans were dead and more than seventy had been badly wounded. Drawing on interviews from both sides, army records, audiotapes, and videos (some of the material is still classified), Bowden's minute-by-minute narrative is one of the most exciting accounts of modern combat ever written--a riveting story that captures the heroism, courage, and brutality of battle.

Imperialism, Decolonization and Africa honours John Hargreaves and reflects his academic interests. Three studies concern imperial questions in Africa in the nineteenth century (the Krio and the British, the kingdom of Asante and the prelude to the partition of East Africa) and two more discuss international aspects of decolonization in the twentieth century in relation to the French in Africa and the British in the Middle East. There is also a note on John Hargreaves and a bibliography of his publications.

The Rosetta Stone contains a decree written three times in Greek, Demotic and hieroglyphic that provided the key to the mysterious hieroglyphic script of ancient Egypt, and opened up 3,000 years of the country's history and culture. This book tells the fascinating story of one of archaeology's icons, from its creation in the second century BC, to its discovery in 1799 during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, to the subsequent race to decipher its hieroglyphic text. Undertaken by two brilliant scholars - the Frenchman Jean-Francois Champollion, and the English physicist Thomas Young - it was the former who eventually succeeded in making the crucial breakthrough. Today the Rosetta Stone stands in the Museum as an enduring symbol of human understanding and communication through the ages.

In a sweeping narrative that traverses 600 years, one that eloquently weaves precise historical detail with poignant personal reportage, Pulitzer Prize finalist Howard W. French retells the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in America and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe's dehumanising engagement with the "darkest" continent. Born in Blackness dramatically retrieves the lives of major African historical figures whose stories have been repeatedly etiolated and erased over centuries, from unimaginably rich medieval African emperors who traded with Asia; to Kongo sovereigns who heroically battled seventeenth-century European powers; to ex-slaves who liberated Haitians from bondage. In doing so, French tells the story of gold, tobacco, sugar and cotton-and the greatest "commodity" of all, the millions of people brought in chains from Africa to the New World, whose reclaimed histories fundamentally help explain our present world.

The subject of race and identity is a burning issue which continues to occupy the attention not only of South Africans but also the wider residents of the continent of Africa and those who are Africans in the Diaspora. The outburst of xenophobic attacks against foreigners mostly of Black African origins in some communities of Kwa-Zulu Natal and areas of Johannesburg during 2008 and 2015 has raised questions about the social cohesion of South African society linked to unresolved structural identity issues bequeathed by the nation's past colonial and apartheid legacy. This publication argues that there is an embedded schizophrenic identity crisis within the society that requires scholarly interrogation. The chapters assemble scholarly voices from different ethnic groups that examine the central research question of this study: Who is an African? Within the wider Southern African context, identity and ethnicity politics are framing nationalist economic policies and are impacting on social cohesion within many countries. Writing from different social and racial locations the authors have critically engaged with the central question and offer some important insights that can serve as a resource for all nations grappling with issues of race, ethnicity, identity constructed politics, and social cohesion.

Looting has become an increasingly popular concept in South Africa as an unsophisticated interpretation of ownership by "force" of property during periods of mayhem. However, looting is a complex concept whose origin spans a long history that cuts across time and space. In The Afrocentricity Trajectories of Looting in South Africa, edited by Mfundo Masuku, Dalifa Ngobese, Mbulaheni Obert Maguvhe, and Sifiso Ndlovu, contributors provide sophisticated analysis on the concept of "looting" and address nuances in the concept of looting, looking at links to spiraling inequality and poverty, racialization of property ownership, and skewed access and benefits of economic policies. As shown in this collection, looting has taken on a variety of political meanings: a challenge to the violence of racial capitalism, an alternative and accelerated path to justice, and a way to call attention to the reality of racial violence that is often ignored by the media, to name a few. This volume provides a critical analysis of looting from a multi-disciplinary approach that focuses on a combination of themes to show that looting is deeply rooted in property "ownership" and spiraling poverty and inequality that is structural in nature.

White workers occupied a unique social position in apartheid-era South Africa. Shielded from black labour competition in exchange for support for the white minority regime, their race-based status effectively concealed their class-based vulnerability. Centred on this entanglement of race and class, Privileged Precariat examines how South Africa's white workers experienced the dismantling of the racial state and the establishment of black majority rule. Starting from the 1970s, it shows how apartheid reforms constituted the withdrawal of state support for working-class whiteness, sending workers in search of new ways to safeguard their interests in a rapidly changing world. Danelle van Zyl-Hermann tracks the shifting strategies of the blue-collar Mineworkers' Union, culminating in its reinvention, by the 2010s, as the Solidarity Movement, a social movement appealing to cultural nationalism. Integrating unique historical and ethnographic evidence with global debates, Privileged Precariat offers a chronological and interpretative rethinking of South Africa's recent past and contributes new insights from the Global South to debates on race and class in the era of neoliberalism.

African photography has emerged as a significant focus of research and scholarship over the last twenty years, the result of a growing interest in postcolonial societies and cultures and a turn towards visual evidence across the humanities and social sciences. At the same time, many rich and fascinating photographic collections have come to light. This volume explores the complex theoretical and practical issues involved in the study of African photographic archives, based on case studies drawn from across the continent dating from the 19th century to the present day. Chapters consider what constitutes an archive, from the familiar mission and state archives to more local, vernacular and personal accumulations of photographs; the importance of a critical and reflexive engagement with photographic collections; and the question of where and what is 'Africa', as constructed in the photographic archive. Essential reading for all researchers working with photographic archives, this book consolidates current thinking on the topic and sets the agenda for future research in this field.

This book, written by a strong advocate of colonization, is critical of the efforts of the abolitionists.

How did South Africa, a former pariah of the world, come to host the 2010 World Cup? Laduma! answers this question by telling the story of football in South Africa and how it was transformed from a British colonial export into a central aspect of the black experience. An immensely informative and vital account, the book explores the Africanization of the game with the introduction of rituals and magic, and the emergence of distinctive playing styles. Using archival research, interviews, newspaper and magazine articles, advertisements, and photos, Laduma! chronicles the impact of indigenous sporting traditions, such as stick fighting, and the power struggles between different football associations and white authorities. Soccer influenced class and generational divisions, shaped masculine identities, and served as a mobilizing force for township and political organizations. This new, updated edition of Laduma! embodies sporting history at its best and will be of interest to ardent soccer fans as well as general readers and scholars seeking to inform themselves ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulnesstells the story of the author's mother, Nicola Fuller. Nicola Fuller and her husband were a glamorous and optimistic couple and East Africa lay before them with the promise of all its perfect light, even as the British Empire in which they both believed waned. They had everything, including two golden children - a girl and a boy. However, life became increasingly difficult and they moved to Rhodesia to work as farm managers. The previous farm manager had committed suicide. His ghost appeared at the foot of their bed and seemed to be trying to warn them of something. Shortly after this, one of their golden children died. Africa was no longer the playground of Nicola's childhood. They returned to England where the author was born before they returned to Rhodesia and to the civil war. The last part of the book sees the Fullers in their old age on a banana and fish farm in the Zambezi Valley. They had built their ramshackle dining room under the Tree of Forgetfulness. In local custom, this tree is the meeting place for villagers determined to resolve disputes. It is in the spirit of this Forgetfulness that Nicola finally forgot - but did not forgive - all her enemies including her daughter and the Apostle, a squatter who has taken up in her bananas with his seven wives and forty-nine children. Funny, tragic, terrifying, exotic and utterly unself-conscious, this is a story of survival and madness, love and war, passion and compassion.

The battle of Rorke's Drift is established in history as one of Britain's most incredible actions where approximately 155 defenders held off a Zulu force of over 4,000 warriors, in a savage, bloody conflict with no quarter given by either side. The battle led to a display of incredible fortitude, courage and tenacity resulting in mutual respect between British red coat and Zulu warrior. Using a vast array of primary accounts, including lesser known, and previously unpublished examples, the author describes the battle in vivid detail. The actions of each of the 11 Victoria Cross recipients are looked at in detail, together with those men who were awarded the DCM. Illustrated with previously unpublished artwork, 'Rorke's Drift-A New Perspective' is a gripping account, which questions what is commonly believed to be the true interpretation of the hospital fighting. A truly compelling read, packed with numerous footnotes and sources, appealing to both the casual reader and the serious historian.