The history of Liberia and the United States are closely tied together, but few people have taken the necessary steps to understand the complicated relationship between the two countries. " Liberia: America's Footprint in Africa " traces the history of an African nation whose fate is closely tied to an uprising of slaves that began on the island that is now Haiti. The violence there caused people in the United States to wonder about the future of slavery and blacks in their own nation. In this detailed history written by a Liberian educator, you'll discover: how the American Colonization Society played a critical role in the creation of Liberia; how courageous blacks living in the United States persevered in seeking freedom; how Liberia is culturally, socially, and politically connected to the United States. Discover the rich history of two nations and why Liberia remains relevant today. Enriched with interviews of scholars, Liberian community elders and detailed research, " Liberia: America's Footprint in Africa " is a step-by-step account of an overlooked country.

Enige land se geskiedenis lewer figure op waarvan die grootsheid nie deur tyd en vergetelheid gestroop kan word nie. In die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks is Marthinus Theunis Steyn so ’n figuur: ’n man wat hom selfloos aan sy volk gewy het en bereid was om alles vir sy mense se vryheid op te offer. Die leser word op boeiende wyse betrek by Marthinus Theunis Steyn se kleurvolle lewensverhaal: hoe hy nooit sy herkoms as Vrystaatse plaasseun verraai het nie en selfs as president in voeling met die eenvoudigste Boere gebly het; hoe hy sy uitmergelende siekte met volharding bly beveg het en hoe sy geloof in God en sy liefde vir sy gesin en sy erfgrond hom in tye van beproewing staande gehou het.

How do educators and activists in today's struggles for change use historical materials from earlier periods of organizing for political education? How do they create and engage with independent and often informal archives and debates? How do they ultimately connect this historical knowledge with contemporary struggles? History's Schools aims to advance the understanding of relationships between learning, knowledge production, history and social change. This unique collection explores engagement with activist/movement archives; learning and teaching militant histories; lessons from liberatory and anti-imperialist struggles; and learning from student, youth and education struggles. Six chapters foreground insights from the breadth and diversity of South Africa's rich progressive social movements; while others explore connections between ideas and practices of historical and contemporary struggles in other parts of the world including Argentina, Iran, Britain, Palestine, and the US. Besides its great relevance to scholars and students of Education, Sociology, and History, this innovative title will be of particular interest to adult educators, labour educators, archivists, community workers and others concerned with education for social change.

Few would disagree that since 1990 Sub-Saharan Africa has undergone a process of political transformation. Where one-party systems once stood, multi-parties are now dominant; where heads of state once ruled autocratically, open elections have emerged. In this study, both African and non-African scholars take a critical look at the evolution and contradictions of democratization in seven African nations: Malawi, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana, and Gabon, each at a different stage in the democratization process. Some of these countries historically have not received much attention in North America. For example, little is known about Malawi, and Gabon has escaped notice outside the Francophone world. While other works have focused primarily upon the role that institutions have played in the democratization process, this study looks at individual leaders. Some of the authors were themselves participants in the reform movements in their home countries, and they examine the role that the military and the church played in the process. This volume also includes a discussion of why democratization has stagnated or been reversed in some nations.

This collection of essays on international relations and conflict in Africa is offered as a scholarly tribute to Professor Victor Ojakorotu, a distinguished scholar of African international politics. The editors, rising scholars Kelechi Johnmary Ani and Kayode Eesuola, have assembled a team of contributors whose work examines vital themes for understanding modern Africa. The volume encompasses assessments of African international politics, governance, conflict dynamics, and peacekeeping efforts, focusing on the national conflicts in Central African Republic and Somalia, protests in South Africa, terrorism in Nigeria, and insecurity in West African states. The dynamics of diplomacy and challenges of bilateral and multilateral relations, peacekeeping, gender in governance, and international trade figure prominently. International Relations and Security Politics in Africa will be essential reading for all students of the continent. The second theme of International Relations and Environmental Conflict in Africa covers pressing issues of environmental politics, such as environmental activism and litigation, climate change, conservation, the challenges of coastal communities, flood prevention, and waste management. Oil subsidy removal, rule of law, and the roles of media and religion are also closely considered. This collection's final theme covers domestic security issues, such as policing, ethno-religious conflicts, local conflicts between farmers and herdsmen, and strategies of conflict resolution. Other issues under discussion include peacebuilding, urban machine politics, the place of children and youth in nation building, and the intersection of politics and psychology in self-determination struggles. Of vital importance to any student of modern Africa, these chapters offer a solid and detailed compendium of readings to contextualize key international relations subjects in the real world. The compendium is also a fitting tribute to the life's work of one of the brightest scholarly minds Africa has produced.

This is the account of a huge Central African country, almost completely unprepared for liberation from colonial rule in 1960, plunged into the anarchy of factional struggles for central power, against a background of regional separatism. A UN force stepped in to prevent the mineral rich province of Katanga from breaking away and stayed for nearly four years, after which quarrelling warlords fought for central power, or for or against separatism. In 1965, Mobutu came to power, ruling as a dictator his Single Party State, until he was finally toppled in 1997 by a Tutsi backed invasion force led by Kabila.

This is the extraordinary story of Mikidadi, an ordinary Tanzanian from a remote coastal island, who became a Koran-school teacher, charity leader, environmental activist and guardian of an extended family. But this biography is not only about Mikidadi's life and legacy, but also his times. He lived through transitions from colonialism to independence, socialism to neoliberalism, a single- to a multi-party state, and a local Swahili Islam to a more globalized and politicized form. He also experienced the growth of corruption, and the increasing role of Western NGOs and Islamic charities. In considering how wider historical processes impacted on Mikidadi, as life got progressively harder for his family, this book seeks to counter some of the recent rewriting of Tanzania's post-colonial history. Skilfully moving through the decades, between events at national, regional and individual levels, between three generations, and even adding a further layer of her own life as an anthropologist, Caplan succeeds in writing an engaging, accessible account that will appeal to both academics and students. For at the centre of this book is an unlikely friendship that began in 1966 between a 12-year-old boy and a 23-year-old woman, and lasted nearly four decades, to be cut short by Mikidadi's untimely death in 2002. Recollections of meetings, and extracts from fieldwork notes and correspondence, bring a lively immediacy to this exchange, in which profound cultural differences between researcher and researched are transcended in interconnected lives. "This clear and well-written book celebrates a life and its place in history. It is an exemplar of public anthropology." - David Zeitlyn, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Oxford. 'An unprecedented ethnographic analysis of contemporary Tanzanian history exploring how individuals, families and communities over time perceive, act, negotiate and strive to adjust in the shade of shifting political, economic and ideological conditions.' - Kjersti Larsen, Professor, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo 'Clear, engaging, and insightful, this accessible biography provides a rich entry point into African history and anthropology through an intimate account of life in a coastal East African village.' - Christine J. Walley, Professor of Anthropology, Director of Graduate Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 'A model of participatory and ethical research, Mikidadi is an invaluable resource for scholars, students, development practitioners, and environment activists.' - Marjorie Mbilinyi, Professor, University of Dar es Salaam (1968-2003); Principal Policy Analyst, Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (2004-14)

In Middle Eastern and Islamic societies, the politics of sexual knowledge is a delicate and often controversial subject. Sherry Sayed Gadelrab focuses on nineteenth and early-twentieth century Egypt, claiming that during this period there was a perceptible shift in the medical discourse surrounding conceptualisations of sex differences and the construction of sexuality. Medical authorities began to promote theories that suggested men's innate 'active' sexuality as opposed to women's more 'passive' characteristics, interpreting the differences in female and male bodies to correspond to this hierarchy. Through examining the interconnection of medical, legal, religious and moral discourses on sexual behaviour, Gadelrab highlights the association between sex, sexuality and the creation and recreation of the concept of gender at this crucial moment in the development of Egyptian society. By analysing the debates at the time surrounding science, medicine, morality, modernity and sexuality, she paints a nuanced picture of the Egyptian understanding and manipulation of the concepts of sex and gender.

Africa has emerged as a prime arena of global health interventions that focus on particular diseases and health emergencies. These are framed increasingly in terms of international concerns about security, human rights, and humanitarian crisis. This presents a stark contrast to the 1960s and '70s, when many newly independent African governments pursued the vision of public health "for all," of comprehensive health care services directed by the state with support from foreign donors. These initiatives often failed, undermined by international politics, structural adjustment, and neoliberal policies, and by African states themselves. Yet their traces remain in contemporary expectations of and yearnings for a more robust public health.
This volume explores how medical professionals and patients, government officials, and ordinary citizens approach questions of public health as they navigate contemporary landscapes of NGOs and transnational projects, faltering state services, and expanding privatization. Its contributors analyze the relations between the public and the private providers of public health, from the state to new global biopolitical formations of political institutions, markets, human populations, and health. Tensions and ambiguities animate these complex relationships, suggesting that the question of what public health actually is in Africa cannot be taken for granted. Offering historical and ethnographic analyses, the volume develops an anthropology of public health in Africa.

Contributors: P. Wenzel Geissler; Murray Last; Rebecca Marsland; Lotte Meinert; Benson A. Mulemi; Ruth J. Prince; and Noemi Tousignant.

Great Presidents of Nigerian 4th Republic Nigeria has arrived; Nigeria is born again with the most credible April 2011 general and presidential elections in 50 years according to International Community. President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, VP Namadi Sambo and INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega deserve national and international honours. President Jonathan won landslide with 23 million votes across all party lines. The 'Promised Land' journey begins in earnest. Nigeria is marching forward steadfastly despite bumps and teething gestation problems to encounter. With 160 Million inhabitants, Nigeria is world's largest concentration of Blacks. President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan's presidency beginning May 29, 2011 represents the fulfillment of hope, change, salvation, good luck and blessings after decades of military dictatorships between 1966 and 1999. Structured like USA Presidency, bi-cameral Legislature and Independent Judiciary, Nigeria became beloved to International Community sooner than anticipated. With membership in UN, OPEC, Commonwealth of Nations, AU, ECOWAS, NEPAD, Nigeria is seventh world's largest petroleum supplier and fifth supplier to USA. Nigeria is becoming economic super-power - 'Vision 2020' with abundance of oil, gas, bitumen, gold, etc. Nigeria is beautified by Atlantic Ocean, Rivers Niger and Benue, Lake Chad, Tinapa Holiday Resort (world-class), Olumo Rock, Igbesa Free Trade Zone. Nigeria, blessed and protected from natural disasters never witnessed devastating Tsunami, Katrina, volcano, thunderstorm, iceberg, earthquake and mudslide that wipe-out settlements and kill thousands seasonally. International Social Scientists' 4-year survey rated Nigeria as the world's happiest country (2006) while USA, Britain, Japan and Russia were outside the first 10. Also, International Financial Agencies confirmed Nigeria's 35% return on investment as world's highest. Nigeria's incredible hospitality encourages some Americans, Europeans and Asians to become naturalized citizens of Nigeria.Oil-rich country Nigeria, often described as African giant, peace and power broker Nigeria, granted amnesties to secessionists (1970), Niger Delta militants (2009) and settled Bakassi Peninsula dispute with Cameroon (2006) diplomatically. War-mongering super-powers and allies, intimidating and occupying weaker nations illegally, should emulate Nigerian leadership examples of Presidents Obasanjo, Yar'Adua and Jonathan's peaceful conflict resolution best practices for world peace. Wake Up Nigerians Make Nigeria Great and Prosperous Failure Is Not An Option Nigerians Are Tired of Excuses for Avoidable Leadership Indiscretion and Slumber for 50 Years of Independence Always Put Nigeria First Change 'Business as Usual' GOD BLESS THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA

Sitting on the terrace of the royal plantation Frederiksgave, his favourite retreat, Governor Edward Carstensen came to see the inevitable: Denmark had to give up her ¬possessions in Africa. As fate would have it, he came to be the instrument by which two centuries of Danish involvement on the Gold Coast was terminated, thereby making way for the emergence of the colonial system that developed there. After the abolition of the slave trade, Denmark had struggled to find ways and means to legitimate her continued stay at the Coast. At an early stage the Danes initiated a number of attempts to establish experimental plantations to cultivate export crops such as cotton, coffee and sugar. But a transition from slave trade to ¬legitimate products required stability and peace, and a need for control, which the rather limited Danish presence was not able to maintain. CLOSING THE BOOKS comprises a compilation of the official reports that the last Danish Governor sent home during his term of office at the Gold Coast. The reports reflect his personal views regarding the economic and political situations there, as well as his ideas on the "civilization of Africa."

David Livingstone (1813-1873) was one of the supreme representatives of the British Empire. Yet his career suffered many set-backs during his own life-time, and since his death his reputation has swung between extremes of adulation and dismissal. Were his epic journeys through Africa purely to save souls and counter the slave trade? Or were they the first steps towards bringing the peoples of Central Africa under the control of Europeans who would destroy their values and exploit them economically? Beyond these questions, there lies the puzzle of Livingstone's own character and its contradictions.
Livingstone's career was certainly an extraordinary one. Born in poverty in Blantyre, Scotland, he educated himself by heroic endeavor, later proving him-self to be a remarkable linguist and scientist. His missionary journeys brought him into contact with a wide range of African peoples, for whom he showed remarkable sympathy. "David Livingstone: Mission and Empire is a scholarly and readable account of Livingstone's life and of his achievements.

Routledge Library Editions: Slavery is a collection of previously out-of-print titles that examine various aspects of international slavery. Books analyse the Atlantic slave trade, and its effects on Africa; modern slavery around the world; slave rebellions and resistance; the Abolitionist movements; the suppression of the slave trade; slavery in the ancient world; and more besides. These writings form part of the vital research into slavery through the ages, and together form a succinct overview.

Gustavus Vassa was on the vanguard of the anti-slavery movement in England at the end of the eighteenth century. He provided a voice for people of African descent in the British Atlantic world. His Interesting Narrative has influenced countless works, both fiction and non-fiction.

"Tom Epley has done a brilliant job . . . This seminal piece will become part of our curriculum at the African Leadership Academy . . . It will stimulate the future leaders of Africa to look at development issues in a refreshing new manner." Fred Swaniker, Founder and CEO, African Leadership Academy.
"Author Tom Epley is a myth-busting thinker and planner with a lifetime career of getting results from dysfunctional organizations as a highly successful turnaround CEO. Tom Epley has done more hands-on turnarounds than just about anyone." David Bonderman, General Partner TPG].
THE TRUTH WE ALL KNOW Despite the billions of dollars in funds for aid and development that have been poured into Africa, it remains a crucible of failed attempts at improving the dismal economy, life expectancy, food supply, and spread of AIDS and other diseases: in fact continuing decline persists.
THE LIE WE ALL BELIEVE Pouring more money into Africa and sending more well-intentioned world aid and NGO advisors, bearing new programs, technology, or other schemes, will help.
THE TRUTH WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND The "fixes" promulgated by the outside world have not only been wasteful, but have significantly contributed to the five-decades-long decline of Africa. Radically different approaches are critically necessary.
Hundreds of economists, journalists, philanthropists, academicians and bureaucrats continuously present their points of view, but Epley is the first to apply an entire career of actually getting results from large complex organizations to Africa s problems. In The Plague of Good Intentions he offers commonsense, workable, and proven albeit controversial prescriptive remedies Epley s iconoclasm stands out . . . medicine of clear but tough thinking . . . will] help address the pathologies that ail this tragic continent Geoffrey Garrett, President of the Pacific Council on International Policy] to create substantive and lasting change for the people of Africa .
"Epley draws on the rich experience he's had over the past three decades in successfully 'turning around' more than a dozen failing companies to derive lessons for reversing the deteriorating conditions of failing countries . . . Severe changes from what has been standard practice in the conduct of foreign aid programs . . . An] insightful, and illuminating book." Charles Wolf Jr., PhD, Founder of the Pardee RAND Graduate School of Policy Analysis.
Epley warns: Do not give another penny to African causes until you read The Plague of Good Intentions unless you want to contribute to the further devastation of Africa

"Wives of the Leopard" explores power and culture in a pre-colonial West African state whose army of women and practice of human sacrifice earned it notoriety in the racist imagination of late nineteenth-century Europe and America. Tracing two hundred years of the history of Dahomey up to the French colonial conquest in 1894, the book follows change in two central institutions. One was the monarchy, the coalitions of men and women who seized and wielded power in the name of the king. The second was the palace, a household of several thousand wives of the king who supported and managed state functions.

Looking at Dahomey against the backdrop of the Atlantic slave trade and the growth of European imperialism, Edan G. Bay reaches for a distinctly Dahomean perspective as she weaves together evidence drawn from travelers' memoirs and local oral accounts, from the religious practices of vodun, and from ethnographic studies of the twentieth century. Wives of the Leopard thoroughly integrates gender into the political analysis of state systems, effectively creating a social history of power. More broadly, it argues that women as a whole and men of the lower classes were gradually squeezed out of access to power as economic resources contracted with the decline of the slave trade in the nineteenth century. In these and other ways, the book provides an accessible portrait of Dahomey's complex and fascinating culture without exoticizing it.

From trailblazing political activist Angela Y. Davis, a major new collection of essays and interviews that argue for a radical rethinking of our prison systems

An icon of revolutionary politics, Angela Y. Davis has been at the forefront of collective movements for prison abolition for over fifty years. Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, the first of two important new volumes, brings together an essential collection of Davis’s essays, conversations, and interviews over the years, showing how her thinking has sharpened and evolved even as she has remained uncompromising in her commitment to collective liberation.

Davis traces a genealogy of the penal system, from slavery to the prison industrial complex, offering a trenchant analysis of the relationship between the prison system and capitalism, both in the US and on a global scale. Combining decades of analytical brilliance and lessons from organising both inside and beyond prison walls, Davis addresses the history of abolitionist practice, details the unique contributions of women to abolitionist struggles, and offers the radical tools we need for revolutionary change.

Powerful and rewarding, filled with insight and provocation, Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, is essential reading for anyone seeking to imagine a world without prisons.

A CONSERVATION HISTORY WITH LESSONS FOR TODAY Conservation Song explores ways in which colonial relations shaped meanings and conflicts over environmental control and management in Malawi. By focus- ing on soil conservation, which required an integrated approach to the use and management of such natural resources as land, water and forestry, it examines the origins and effects of policies and their legacies in the post-colonial era. That interrelationship has fundamental contemporary significance and is not simply a phenomenon created in the colonial period. For instance, like other countries in the region, post-colonial Malawi has been bedevilled by increasing rates of environmental degradation due, in part, to the expansion of human and ani- mal populations, cash crop production, drought and consequent deforestation. These issues are as critical today as they were six or seven decades ago. In fact, they are part of a conservation song that has a long and complex history. The song of conservation was initially composed and performed in the colonial peri- od, modified during the immediate postcolonial period and further refashioned in the post-dictatorship period to suit the evolving political climate; but the basic lyrics remain essentially the same. This book attempts to explain the evolution of the conservationist idea whilst demonstrating changes and continuities in peasant-state relations under different political systems. The dominant narrative posits conservation as a progressive movement aimed at re-organising natural resources and protecting them from destruction but the idea was contested and deeply embedded in colonial power relations and scien- tific ethos. Conservation emerged as an important tool of colonial state interven- tion and control concerning people and scarce resources. Conservation Song shows how the idea of conservation was rooted in and driven by a particular type of science about the organisation of space and landscapes. It offers a strategic entry point to understanding the historical roots of Africa's social and ecological problems over time, which are also intertwined with power and poverty relation- ships. In the postcolonial period, the conservation tempo subsided and became neglected in public discourse, only to re-emerge in the 1990s through the democratisation movement.

Die Angola-Boere was afstammelinge van die Dorslandtrekkers wat vir sewe jaar deur woeste en onbekende lande moes swerf voordat hulle die “beloofde land” bereik het. Hier vertel die ou Boerepioniers op hulle eie, ongekunstelde manier van hulle jagvernuf en krygsvernuf – en hoe hulle in Angola geleef en die land help tem het. Willie Meester (Opperman) vertel van die kaalvoetjagter Larssen (“die knapste olifantjagter wat seker ooit geleef het”), die jagkonings van die Shimborro, die kwaai olifant van Catengue, petaljes met seekoeie, leeujag en slawerny in Angola. Oom Willem Grobler (’n Voortrekker-afstammeling) vertel van oom Paul Venter en sy viool en die veldtogte teen Maranga, Ndoendoema en Huambo. Oom Peet van der Merwe (skrywer van Ons halfeeu in Angola) vertel van die Vlugekspedisie (1906) en die Wenekspedisie (1907).

A riveting study of Africa's demographics - its youth and growth - and what they mean for the continent, today and into the future. 'Essential reading' Guardian 'Intensely researched - and very important!' The Week 'The research in Youthquake is meticulous' Tim Marshall, Reaction 'Attempts to end the hysteria and ignorance surrounding demographic trends' New Statesman 'Meticulously researched, nuanced and brilliant' Mary Harper Africa's population growth in the last 50 years has been unprecedented. By mid-century, the continent will make up a quarter of the global population, compared to one-tenth in 1980. Africa's youth is the most striking aspect of its demography. As the rest of the world ages, almost 60 per cent of Africa's population is younger than 25 years old. This 'youthquake' will have immense consequences for the social, economic and political reality in Africa. Edward Paice presents a detailed, nuanced analysis of the varied demography of Africa. He rejects the fanciful over-optimism of some commentators and doom-laden prophecies of others, while scrutinising received wisdom, and carefully considering the ramifications of the youthquake for Africa and the world.