Ausi Told Me: Why Cape Herstoriographies Matter provides fascinating insights into life at the Cape over several centuries, the indigenous inhabitants and their accumulated knowledge, and how attempts were made to systematically erase this knowledge during the colonial and apartheid eras. Yet the wisdom of the ages still resides with the Ausidi, the female, intergenerational knowledge-keepers who are revered for the central role they played in Rondevlei, Hardevlei and other communities on the Cape Flats before the forced removals from the 1960s onwards changed the landscape forever.

The book delves into many of the untold stories of the Cape, challenging various scholarly assumptions about the origins and enduring influence of the Khoi and San in the languages and cultures of southern Africa. The meticulously well-researched text is also skilfully interwoven with stories from current and former residents of the Cape Flats who speak candidly about their childhood experiences, the vast expanses of plants and flowers that used to more than satisfy local communities’ food and medicinal requirements, and the Ausidi – the formidable yet selfless family matriarchs, many of whom refused to be cowed by the apartheid regime’s forced removal policy and fought to protect their cherished livestock and land.

Ausi Told Me: Why Cape Herstoriographies Matter serves as a reminder that popular history is not unassailable; it should be regularly questioned and, where necessary, challenged. The book makes a powerful case for a decolonised approach to exploring and interpreting southern Africa’s neglected past – in which the stories, dreams, visions and rituals passed down through the generations are recognised once more as critical sources of scholarly knowledge and physical and emotional wellbeing.

Although much has been written about the conduct of the war in South Africa, very little has been written about how it was regarded on the world stage by powers both great and small. This collection of specially commissioned essays seeks for the first time to put the Boer War (1899-1902) in its international context. Each of the core chapters focuses on the perspective of one country (France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, and the United States) and assesses the extent to which each national government tried to capitalize on Britain's embarrassment and distraction while often entangled in imperialist ventures of their own. The anglophobia of many of the nations' press, the activities of pro-Boer organizations, and the shaping of public and parliamentary opinion are examined alongside the real politics and diplomatic considerations that took precedence. In addition, there are summation chapters that examine both the origins of the war and its legacy for Britain's expansionist ambitions. Together these essays present the latest findings on a watershed in international relations that heralded substantive changes of attitude and policy on the part of national governments towards their dependencies and had far-reaching consequences for alliance systems and the international balance of power at the start of the twentieth century.

Most studies of famine and the African food crisis stress how the socio-economic context influences the occurrence of food shortages. By contrast, this book argues that food insecurity itself influences the social and economic organization of the society. Through this approach, the author provides a new interpretation of the causes and consequences of Tanzania's present economic crisis. The book examines the effects of changing food availability on the functioning of the state, the market and clientage networks, over the past seven decades. The conclusion is that clientage is no less important than the state and market as an organizational force in Tanzanian society, and, under heightened food insecurity, the state and market lose ground to clientage.

In the story of the The Golden Republic, Bulpin sets a stage on which we meet some of the strangest characters that fate had ever attached to the puppet strings of destiny. The grim Mzilikazi; the hot-headed Hendrik Potgieter and his trekkers; prospectors like Charlie the Reefer; gaudy rogues like Gunn of Gunn and his Highlanders; bandits, highwaymen, rand lords, gold rushers, to name just a few. He tells of leaders like Pretorius and Kruger, and many others who each played a part in establishing the Republic of the Transvaal – a seemingly impossible task considering all the small wars and skirmishes on the veld and the rumble of arguments rising out of each farmhouse. In his remarkably engaging style of writing he sketches scenes of rough but beautiful land, which must have been fascinating to explorers who roamed about the old Transvaal with all its scenic novelties where every turn yielded some marvel for the geologist, the botanist, or the zoologist. The Golden Republic tells of the adventure that raised the Republic to its peak and the complex intrigues that brought it down to the dust; of misfortune and riches, and despair of such magnitude that the birth of a Republic seemed inevitable considering the economic disaster it at times experienced … Until gold poked out its shiny head and gave hope again. The characters who crowded into diggers’ towns were some of the wildest and most colourful ever known in the Transvaal. From all over South Africa they flocked to the scene, in the hope of finding fortune. Most of them were just opportunists, who knew nothing about gold except how to spend it. This is a brilliant book of the birth, life and death of the old Republic written in the tell-tale style Bulpin does so well.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Ruth was four years old when her father was arrested for high treason and her world was turned upside-down. She grew up in constant fear of Special Branch policemen knocking on the door to arrest her mother or father, prominent South African communist. Ruth learned how to keep her mouth shut, to look out for microphones in the walls and to beware of friends who could betray her trust.

At fourteen, Ruth left South Africa, clutching her teddy bear in one hand and her drawings in the other. A plan to England carried her into exile, a new world where she struggled to reconstruct a life fractured by fear.

With an artist’s eye for detail and colour, Ruth recalls her life with unflinching honesty: the Treason Trial; her struggle to conform; Friern Barnet Asylum for the ‘hopeless insane’; LSD, protests, and free love in London, art school and motherhood; communes and camping- all steps in a journey that finally brought her home to South Africa on the brink of change.

Heart- wrenchingly sad one minute, bursting with life and vigour the next, seamed throughout by strength and courage, girl on the edge allows us to look deep into one woman’s life and travel with her to the brink and back again.

This volume covers Kenya's history, society, culture, economics, politics, and environment from precolonial times through the first years of independence. The book comprises twenty-one chapters divided into two parts. Part I focuses on the long precolonial moment, detailing the nature of precolonial Kenyan societies and their economics, politics, gender dynamics, and social organization. Part II examines Kenyan societies' encounters with British colonialism, critically outlining the impact and implications of these encounters. The volume concludes with an examination of political consolidation after the country's attainment of political independence and the subsequent foundations for political authoritarianism.

This book vividly recreates the lives and identities of the children born of relationships between French men and African women in colonial French West Africa. The book shows how colonial policies and attitudes influenced the lives of this mixed-race population, and analyses their responses to living in a racially divided society.

Scholars opinions are mixed regarding the wonders Herodotus described in his travels. Among the buildings, the Egyptian Labyrinth was at the top of his list, and this has given rise to much speculation about its form, size, and purpose over the last two centuries. Pharoah's Gateway to Eternity searches for the answers to these problems.

This book depicts the history of Lamu, once an important East African port city, now known as an unspoiled tourist destination and scenic location for Hollywood movies. For centuries, communities from India, Yemen, and Oman intermingled with coastal and central African groups. This unique situation provides the author with a vantage point to observe non-European multicultural interaction. Oral traditions are central to this study. Records from both the distant past and the more recent period give voice to the opinions of the WaAmu on many issues: Islam, slavery, material culture, and the wide-ranging effects of colo-nialism. We see how religious practices differed between slaves who were brought to the Lamu hinterland and island, the Muslim Shi'a (who were themselves divided), and the orthodox Sunni community and the Hadramis, who introduced elements of Sufism. When outsiders threatened, the diverse religious groups almost always united against the opposition. The Portuguese and Turks put in an appearance, as did the French, Americans, and the Germans, who had imperial designs on the Lamu archi-pelago. But it was the British who triumphed in the late nineteenth century. The author describes internecine conflicts, the importance of Islam, and repeated efforts to thwart the British. Romero weaves into her account fascinating aspects of Lamu's material culture, social structure, and family life among those who are called the Swahili.

This book explores the lived experiences of formerly colonized people in the privacy of their homes, communities, workplaces, and classrooms, and the associations created from these social interactions. It examines the centrality of gender and social identity in the formation of non-western people in the British Empire.

During the late nineteenth century a number of organised treks left the Transvaal. The first of these left the ZAR in May 1874. Seven years later, in January 1881, after the amalgamation of the first three treks, they settled at Humpata on the Hufla highlands in the Portuguese colony of Angola. From 1892 to 1894 three further major treks followed. After the last major trek in 1907 the Portuguese government prohibited further treks. In 1928 about 2000 Angola Boers were repatriated to South-West Africa, while 380?470 remained in Angola. These treks were complex phenomena as a result of economic, religious and political factors. Initially, resistance to the irreligious and liberal government of T.F. Burgers were the most important reasons for the trek. New labour legislation, political uncertainty, internal dissent in the Transvaal and economic factors also contributed to the dissatisfaction. Lack of sufficient farming land, population pressure, poverty, misgivings about new taxes and the search for new hunting grounds probably played a minor role. Dread of modernisation and British imperialism, the introduction of intensive farming, gold fever, drought or natural disasters and the trekking spirit or trek fever probably played no role at all.

This book was by far the earliest book-length study of any aspect of modern Arabic literature to be published outside the Arab world.

On 2 September 1898 Kitchener's Anglo-Egyptian army defeated the massed armies of dervishes at the battle of Omdurman. To commemorate the centenary of these events, eleven historians have collaborated to produce a fresh reappraisal of the reconquest and its international repercussions. They examine some of the policies, personalities and issues involved from different perspectives.
British political and military policies are reviewed, with studies of the aims and motives of Lord Salisbury, the political problems of Kitchener's command, and the experience of campaigning in the Sudan. There are analyses of the images sent back from the Sudan, the difficulties of reporting the campaign, and the role of unofficial correspondents, with a facsimile reproduction of a dispatch from Winston Churchill.
The contributors examine the colonial difficulties that triggered the campaign, the machinations of the Kaiser in trying to bring about a war between Britain and France, the evolution of French attitudes and the resolution of the Fashoda crisis, the well-informed and incisive monitoring of events by Austria-Hungary, and the widespread European view that Omdurman constituted a triumph for 'civilisation'. Finally, the significance of the reconquest is reviewed for its impact upon Sudanese history, particularly for the deeply rooted and enduring legacy of Mahdism.

Just before Christmas 1989, a small group of armed fighters crossed a narrow river marking the frontier with Sierra Leone, and entered the West African state of Liberia. The civil war which followed plunged the African continent's oldest republic into a long and agonising nightmare, during which the country was torn apart and its people brutalised by terror, violence and bloodshed. The war promised to liberate Liberians after almost ten years of vicious dictatorship under President Samuel Doe; instead, as the first shots were fired, the seeds of Liberia's devastation were sown.
Mark Huband's account of the conflict, which begins a few days after the original incursion, is a moving and dramatic portrayal of the war as it unfolded. His extensive research and access to key figures in the conflict, together with a wealth of poignant and disturbing eye-witness detail, provide a fascinating portrait of Doe, his US-backed rule, and the enemies he made. Vivid and often harrowing, the book draws upon the author's experience of living among the fighters, the leaders and the terrorised population as they witnessed the growing horror of the conflict in which they had become trapped.

Filled with breathtaking accounts of death-defying mountain climbs and the spectacular beauty of the African countryside, this memoir is both a tale of adventure and self-discovery and proof that even the most naive and insular American can achieve a spiritual awakening.

The core of the book is Oliver's account of his research travels throughout tropical Africa from the 1940s to the 1980s; his efforts to train and foster African graduate students to teach in African universities; his role in establishing conferences and journals to bring together the work of historians and archaeologists from Europe and Africa; his encounters with political and religious leaders, scholars, soldiers, and storytellers; and the political and economic upheavals of the continent that he witnessed.

The war in the Western Sahara recently entered its sixteenth year. Although progress toward peace has been made, concrete steps to a final resolution have not yet occurred. This has had serious political, social, economic, and military consequences for the countries in the region. Despite the significance of the issue, until now very few scholarly works have dealt with the regional and international dimensions of the conflict. In particular, little attention has been paid to the role of the superpowers and of the United Nations in the region and to the other related issues which are the focus of this book.

The Western Sahara conflict raises serious questions about the role of international law and of the United Nations in achieving the decolonization of former colonial territories and resolving regional conflicts. Taken together, the work of the scholars, diplomats, and experts in international law who have contributed to this volume constitutes a significant contribution to our understanding of the role of outside powers in the origins and evolution of the war in the Western Sahara. Their work also casts new light on the efforts of the Maghrebi states to overcome regional divisions by themselves and on the continuing attempts by the United Nations to resolve the conflict in the Western Sahara and restore respect for international law. This work will interest specialists West African affairs and in international law and organizations.

Reviewing the data from other New Kingdom settlements on a micro-spatial level, this study reveals a highly diversified and unique pattern of habitation in the Nile Valley. The main focus of this work is the New Kingdom which offers the largest number of sites from any one period.

Islamic cultures in the Middle East have inherited and developed a legacy of urbanism spanning millennia to the ancient civilizations of the region. In contrast to well-organized states like China in history, Muslim peoples formed loose states based on intricate social networks. As a consequence, most studies of urban history in the Middle East have focused their gaze exclusively on urban social organization, often neglecting the extension of political power to rural areas. Covering Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Iran and Brunei, this volume explores the relationship between political power and social networks in medieval and modern Middle Eastern history. The authors examine social, religious and administrative networks that governed rural and urban areas and led to state formation, providing a more inclusive view of the mechanisms of power and control in the Islamic world.