Reframes the story of modern Ethiopia around the contributions of the Oromo people and the culturally fluid union of communities that shaped the nation's politics and society. Although the Oromo are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, their history has been distorted in order to buttress twentieth-century notions of a homogeneous Ethiopian state. The Other Abyssinians tells the story of the Oromo people's contribution to modern Ethiopia, tracing their experiences from the early nineteenth century onward and detailing the varied interactions of Oromo groups throughout the Ethiopian highlands. Focusing on the historic provinces of Wallo and Shawa, this well-researched work elucidates the importance of these territories in the creation of Ethiopia and the history of the Oromo. It casts the Oromo as Abyssinians and central in all aspects of modernEthiopian life, while making a case for Ethiopia, a nation without a colonial legacy, as an example of indigenous African identity formation that challenges notions of "tribal" or ethnic identities. Author Brian J. Yates details the cultural practices that integrated the populations of the highlands into the Abyssinian group; in addition, he analyzes the political structures that evolved concurrently. The book, notably, utilizes a community-based framework to underscore the fluidity of modern national identity. All in all, the work offers a close study of Ethiopian modernization policies and illuminates how Africans might have crafted their nations without the legaciesof colonialism.

This study of nineteenth-century clove plantations on Zanzibar provides an important contribution to debates in global historical archaeology. Broadening plantation archaeology beyond the Atlantic World, this work addresses plantations run by Omani Arab colonial rulers of Zanzibar. Drawing on archaeological and historical data, this book argues for the need to examine non-Western contexts of colonialism and capitalism as coeval with those in the North Atlantic World. This work explores themes of capitalism, colonialism, plantation landscapes, African Diaspora communities, gender and sexuality, locally produced and imported goods in historic contexts, and Islamic historical archaeology.

Answers long misunderstood. Locked Gates unearths an impressive amount of evidence of previously unrecognized technological advancements of the ancient past. Evidence based on myths and legends of the Middle East and confirmed through modern technology sources, such astrophysical evidence provided by NASA, geological substantiation provided by the science journals such as NATURE, and countless main steam science documents. Think of Howard West's book as your ball of thread similar to the thread that lead Theseus out of the darkness of Minotaur's Labyrinth.

The radio in Africa has shaped culture by allowing listeners to negotiate modern identities and sometimes fast-changing lifestyles. Through the medium of voice and mediated sound, listeners on the station – known as Radio Bantu, then Radio Zulu, and finally Ukhozi FM – shaped new understandings of the self, family and social roles.

Through particular genres such as radio drama, fuelled by the skills of radio actors and listeners, an array of debates, choices and mistakes were unpacked daily for decades. This was the unseen literature of the auditory, the drama of the airwaves, which at its height shaped the lives of millions of listeners in urban and rural places in South Africa. Radio became a conduit for many talents squeezed aside by apartheid repression. Besides Winnie Mahlangu and K.E. Masinga and a host of other talents opened by radio, the exiles Lewis Nkosi and Bloke Modisane made a niche and a network of identities and conversations which stretched from the heart of Harlem to the American South. Nkosi and Modisane were working respectively in BBC Radio drama and a short-lived radio transcription centre based in London which drew together the threads of activism and creativity from both Black America and the African continent at a critical moment of the late empire.

Radio Soundings is a fascinating study that shows how, throughout its history, Zulu radio has made a major impact on community, everyday life and South African popular culture, voicing a range of subjectivities which gave its listeners a place in the modern world.

During the Zimbabwean struggle for independence, the settler regime imprisoned numerous activists and others it suspected of being aligned with the guerrillas. This book is the first to look closely at the histories and lived experiences of these political detainees and prisoners, showing how they challenged and negotiated their incarceration.

"Although the Igbo constitute one of the largest ethnic nationalities of Nigeria and the West African sub-region, little is know about their political history before the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. This book is then a pioneer study of the broad changes Igbo political systems have undergone since the prehistoric period"--

Of all the states of the Middle East and North Africa, Libya has long been the country about which the least is known. It is only in recent times that scholars and the general public alike have begun to appreciate the complexity of Libya's turbulent history including the recent February 17th Revolution in 2011 when protests broke out throughout Libya, demanding better living conditions and more job opportunities. When the Qaddafi regime responded with force, killing scores of unarmed civilians, the protesters called for regime change. In what came to be known as the February 17th Revolution, the Qaddafi regime was overthrown and Qaddafi was killed in October 2011. In July 2012, the Libyan people elected a General National Congress charged with overseeing the drafting of a new constitution and the election of a national government. This fifth edition of Historical Dictionary of Libya covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, society, conflicts, and the culture of Libya. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Libya.

Today, the East African state of Tanzania is renowned for wildlife preserves such as the Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and the Selous Game Reserve. Yet few know that most of these initiatives emerged from decades of German colonial rule. This book gives the first full account of Tanzanian wildlife conservation up until World War I, focusing upon elephant hunting and the ivory trade as vital factors in a shift from exploitation to preservation that increasingly excluded indigenous Africans. Analyzing the formative interactions between colonial governance and the natural world, The Nature of German Imperialism situates East African wildlife policies within the global emergence of conservationist sensibilities around 1900.

Mohammed Bashir Salau addresses the neglected literature on Atlantic Slavery in West Africa by looking at the plantation operations at Fanisau in Hausaland, and in the process provides an innovative look at one piece of the historically significant Sokoto Caliphate.

This book provides the first comprehensive history of the peoples of the Middle Niger written by an English-speaking scholar. "The Island of Gold" was the medieval Muslim and later European name for a fabled source of gold and other tropical riches. Although the floodplain of the Niger river lies far from the goldfields, the mosaic of peoples along the Middle Niger created a wealth in grain, fish and livestock that supported some of Africa's oldest cities, including Timbuktu. These ancient cities of the region that came to be known as Western Sudan were founded without outside stimulation and their inhabitants long resisted the coercive, centralized state that characterized the origins of earliest towns elsewhere.

In this book, Roderick James McIntosh uses the latest archeological and anthropological research to provide a bold overview of the distant origins of life for the inhabitants of the Middle Niger, and an explanation for their social evolution. He shows, for instance, the difficulties the peoples faced in adapting to an unpredictable climate, and how their particular social organization determined the unusual nature of their responses to that change. Throughout the book oral traditions are integrated into the story, providing vivid insights into the inhabitants' complex culture and belief systems.

This 7-volume collection originally published between 1963 and 1979 contains a mix of titles on Asia and Africa. The individual titles cover topics including the Commonwealth, education, history, law, literature, politics, and society. Drawing on a great depth of knowledge and research, these titles were written by experts in their respective fields.

This book examines the debates and processes on woodland exploitation in Zimbabwe during the colonial era (1890-1960). It explores the social, economic, and political contexts of perceptions on woodland distribution and management. Much of the period was characterized by both local and global debates about environmental problems, generating in their wake politically charged and emotive language about the consequences--deforestation, soil erosion, and threats to wildlife. This study analyses the history of exploitation and conservation of the Zimbabwean teak (mkusi or Baikiea plurijuga) and its associated species in Northwestern Matabeleland from 1890 to 1960. Timber exploitation was among the top three colonial economic activities in Matabeleland, including ranching and tobacco cultivation. Concessionaire capitalists and forestry officials dominated the exploitation and conservation of the Zambezi teak woodland or gusu, respectively. On one hand, capitalists sought to extract as much commercial hardwood timber as they could while on the other hand, foresters restricted tree felling. In this first critical work on the topic, author Vimbai Kwashirai focuses on woodland conservation and commercial development in Zimbabwe during the colonial period. Emphasis is placed on the tensions, conflicts, and sometimes the collusions between timber companies and the developing state. This book provides a rich example of Green Imperialism along the lines of Richard Grove, but goes beyond that by giving an economic historical account that situates conservation history within the broader political-economic context. This book is based on broad archival research, and it traces the relationship between conservation and the development of commercial capital from forest enterprises in colonial Zimbabwe. It delivers much insight on the conflicts and tensions of the workings of the British South Africa Company (a capitalist enterprise that was at the same time overseeing the development of a state polity of the then Rhodesia), providing evidence for a strong argument for the development of industrial capital under colonialism. The forestry service was caught in these tensions of supporting and enterprise, but also trying to regulate that green capital and establish the beginnings of protected forests in Zimbabwe. This book casts much light on the environmental impact on a part of Africa caused by the push and pull of politics and economics. This book will be an important addition to collections in African studies, environmental studies, and political science.

The Arab tribes of Iraq, differing widely as they do in customs and manner of speech, remain in all essentials of thought and conduct a distinctive and unique group. Their land embraces wide deserts, fertile fields, and boundless swamp and a unique form of life and living. Taking the central figure of Haji, Rikkan the writer-traveller tries to show an accurate picture of Arab tribal life as a whole.

Survival in the 'Dumping Grounds' examines a defining aspect of South Africa's recent past: the history of apartheid-era relocation. While scholars and activists have long recognised the suffering caused by apartheid removals to the so-called 'homelands', the experiences of those who lived through this process have been more often obscured. Drawing on extensive archival and oral history research, this book examines the makings and the multiple meanings of relocation into two of the most notorious apartheid 'dumping grounds' established in the Ciskei bantustan during the mid-1960s: Sada and Ilinge. Evans examines the local and global dynamics of the project of bantustan relocation and develops a multi-layered analysis of the complex histories - and ramifications- of displacement and resettlement in the Ciskei.

Development has remained elusive in Africa. Through theoretical contributions and case studies focusing on Southern Africa's former white settler states, South Africa and Zimbabwe, this volume responds to the current need to rethink (and unthink) development in the region. The authors explore how Africa can adapt Western development models suited to its political, economic, social and cultural circumstances, while rejecting development practices and discourses based on exploitative capitalist and colonial tendencies. Beyond the legacies of colonialism, the volume also explores other factors impacting development, including regional politics, corruption, poor policies on empowerment and indigenization, and socio-economic and cultural barriers.

John Ludwig Burckhardt (1784-1817), Swiss by birth, travelled to London in 1806 with an introduction to Sir Joseph Banks, leading member of the African Association. Burckhardt thereafter devoted himself to the exploration of the interior of Africa, acquainting himself with the language and customs of Arabic peoples in order to pass through Islamic countries then hostile to Christians. Indeed, so proficient he became in the vulgar Arabic, and in his knowledge of the Qu'ran, that he was not only accepted as a true believer, but praised as a great Muslim scholar. In 1814 he became one of the first Christians to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca. In 1817, while at Cairo, Burckhardt contracted dysentry from which he died. He was buried as a holy pilgrim in the Muslim cemetery there. 'Travels in Nubia' was the first of several works based on Burckhardt's journals to be published by the African Society. First published in 1819, this facsimile edition of a rare work will be greatly welcomed by Arabic scholars.

Through the research and experiences of scholars whose native homes span ten countries, this collection shifts the discussion of belonging and affinity within Africa and its diaspora toward local perceptions and the ways in which these notions are asserted or altered. The interactions and relationships of the researchers with their subjects, sites, and data in context permits a deeper exploration of the role that race and, more specifically, "blackness" may or may not play. The book accomplishes this through a rare comparative and multidisciplinary exploration of African and Africa diasporic communities and their relationships with the scholars of diverse backgrounds who conduct research among them.

This book paints an image of sociality in duress, describing how new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) bring possible changes in political engagement and civic-ness. The political branch of the field of ICT-for-Development (ICT4D) is firmly convinced that this translates in civic engagement and democratisation. This book questions this conception, by showing that mistrust greatly increases through new ICT in a society where mistrust has been internalised. These processes are examined in the society encountered in Sokode, the capital of the Central Region of Togo, in the period between 2015 and 2020, when the mobile phone became widespread among young people. This ethnographic research provides a snapshot of the changes brought about by new ICT in the social fabrics and the lives of these young people. The place and period are highly relevant for getting a better understanding of the forms that civic engagement can take, and the roles that new ICT can play in settings of political repression. Togo has been ruled by the same family for over half a century, and Sokode is one of the rare places of fierce political opposition. However, young people do not persevere in massive street protests like in other countries, even though they appear to have every reason to do so. How can the circumstances and social processes be understood that are leading to this 'political silence', and how do frustration and anger find their way? The link between new ICT and civic engagement has more often been made, but mostly quantitative and volatile, lacking empirical grounding. This book demonstrates that there is indeed a connection between new ICT and social change. Through their phones, young people inform themselves in different ways, and they react differently to social and political changes. Their reflection on politics has also altered, minimal as it may seem. By closely regarding the context and mechanisms by which the trustworthiness of information is valued, this book contributes to the nascent research field of communication and political anthropology.

Founded in1912, the African National Congress worked tirelessly to promote democracy and protect the rights of South Africa's black population. Using a combination of armed struggle and conciliation, the ANC formed broad political alliances that ensured its victory in the 1994 general election and established Nelson Mandela as the first democratically elected president of South Africa. When he cast his own vote in this historic election, Mandela is said to have paid his respects at the memorial to John Dube (the first president of the ANC), proclaiming, "Mission accomplished, Mr. President." Eighty years after the ANC's founding, its dreams had finally been realized. In The Founders: The Origins of the ANC and the Struggle for Democracy in South Africa, author Andre Odendaal examines the creators of South Africa's early civil rights movement. This unique book chronicles the astonishing achievements of the pioneering intellectuals and activists who, from the 1860s onwards, led the struggle for black political rights in southern Africa's new colonial societies. Using a variety of sources, Odendaal demonstrates how the founders combined African humanism-or Ubuntu-with Western democratic constitutionalism and Christian beliefs to shape a new political vision that countered colonial and apartheid ideas. The Founders brings to life the remarkable generation of Africans who first developed the framework, form, and content of the freedom struggle in South Africa and is essential reading for those who wish to understand the context that produced Nelson Mandela and his famous African National Congress.

"Fanonian Practices in South Africa" examines Frantz Fanon's relevance to contemporary South African politics, and by extension, research on postcolonial Africa and the tragic development of postcolonies. Here leading Fanon scholar Nigel C. Gibson offers theoretically informed historical analysis, providing crucial scholarly insights into the circumstances that led to the current hegemony of neoliberalism in South Africa.

"Art in the Service of Colonialism" throws new light on how nothing in the Moroccan French Protectorate (1912-1956) escaped the imprints of metropolitan ideology and how the French transformed and dominated Moroccan society by looking at how the arts and crafts were transformed in the colonial period. Hamid Irbouh argues that during the Moroccan Protectorate (1912-1956), the French imposed their domination through a systematic modernisation and regulation of local arts and crafts. They also stewarded Moroccans into industrial life by establishing vocational and fine arts schools. The French archives, Arabic sources, and oral testimonies, which Irbouh used, demonstrate complex relationships between colonial administrators of both genders and their interactions with Moroccan officials, notables, and the poor. The French co-opted some locals into joining these educational institutions, which respected and reinforced familiar pre-Protectorate social structures. The artisans become The Best Workers in the French Empire, and artists exhibited abroad and cultivated a European and American clientele. The contradictions between reformist goals and the old order, nevertheless, added to social dislocations and led to rebellion against French hegemony. Irbouh focuses on how French women infiltrated the feminine Moroccan milieu to buttress colonial ideology, and how, at critical moments, Moroccan women and their daughters rejected traditional passive roles and sabotaged colonial plans. France's legacy in Moroccan arts and crafts provoked a backlash in the postcolonial period. After independence local artists, searching for their own identities, sought to reclaim their authenticity. The struggle to define a pristine visual heritage still rages, and the author, by underlining French contributions to Moroccan artistic and craft production, challenges the conclusions of the artists and critics who have argued for the establishment of an unadulterated art devoid of most or even all foreign influences. As in so many areas of Moroccan society, this book reveals that the weight of colonial history remains heavily present. In this well-conceived book based on original archival sources Hamid Irbouh investigates how French colonial administrators employed French women to inculcate colonial ideology by establishing new craft schools for notable and poor families in Moroccan cities. The French intended not only to teach modernized versions of old Moroccan crafts, but also wanted to instill new work habits and modern concepts of time into the girls and young women who attended their schools. Dr. Irbouh demonstrates how French women administrators took the lead in this effort and also shows how Moroccan women absorbed their lessons, but also resisted the colonial enterprise. His is a novel approach to colonial art history, situating Moroccan art production in large social, political and ideological contexts.