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Books > History > African history > General
This book is an ambitious integration of ecological, archaeological, anthropological land use sciences, drawing on human geography, demography and economics of development across the East Africa region. It focuses on understanding and unpicking the interactions that have taken place between the natural and unnatural history of the East African region and trace this interaction from the evolutionary foundations of our species (c. 200,000 years ago), through the outwards and inwards human migrations, often associated with the adoption of subsistence strategies, new technologies and the arrival of new crops. The book will explore the impact of technological developments such as transitions to tool making, metallurgy, and the arrival of crops also involved an international dimension and waves of human migrations in and out of East Africa. Time will be presented with a widening focus that will frame the contemporary with a particular focus on the Anthropocene (last 500 years) to the present day. Many of the current challenges have their foundations in precolonial and colonial history and as such there will be a focus on how these have evolved and the impact on environmental and human landscapes. Moving into the Anthropocene era, there was increasing exposure to the International drivers of change, such as those associated with Ivory and slave trade. These international trade routes were tied into the ensuing decimation of elephant populations through to the exploitation of natural mineral resources have been sought after through to the present day. The book will provide a balanced perspective on the region, the people, and how the natural and unnatural histories have combined to create a dynamic region. These historical perspectives will be galvanized to outline the future changes and the challenges they will bring around such issues as sustainable development, space for wildlife and people, and the position of East Africa within a globalized world and how this is potentially going to evolve over the coming decades.
As the population of Africa increasingly converts to Christianity, the church has stepped up its involvement in secular affairs revolving around the transition to democracy in nations such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Comparative in approach, the author analyzes patterns of church-state relations in various sub-Saharan countries, and contends that churches become more active and politically prominent when elements and organizations of civil society are repressed by political factors or governing bodies, providing services to maintain the well-being of civil society in the absence of those organizations being repressed. The author concludes, that once political repression subsides, churches tend to withdraw from a confrontation with the state and their political role becomes unclear. This unique book advances the idea that in pluralist Africa, churches should focus their influence and resources on nurturing the fragile multiparty democracies and promoting peace and reconciliation. In his analysis of church-state relations in sub-Saharan Africa, Phiri shows how churches are drawn into confrontation with the state by the repression of civil society and that once civil society is liberated, direct church-state confrontation diminishes. In South Africa, churches led by figures such as Bishop Desmond Tutu assumed a major role after nationalist movements such as Nelson Mandela's African National Congress were banned and their leaders jailed. In Zimbabwe, the church assumed a confrontational role in 1965 after political movements were banned and their leaders exiled. In Zambia, churches became confrontational when the single-party rule repressed all opposition and supported the rise of the prodemocracy movement that ended Kenneth Kaunda's twenty-seven-year rule. Examining these situations and others in different parts of Africa, Phiri illuminates the major issues and conflicts and suggests ways in which the church can continue to help promote smooth transitions to democracy.
South Africa's search for a way through repression, violence, and the various attempts at reform to a nonracial democracy has been a frustrating one for participants and observers alike. The political logjam was broken by President F. W. de Klerk's speech of February 2, 1990 and the response of the ANC. The release of Nelson Mandela, the unbanning of political organizations, and the beginning of the negotiation process were highlights in the period under review. By focusing on the period from 1987 to August 1990, Kalley brings forward her well-received South Africa Under Apartheid. At the same time she provides an opportunity for researchers outside South Africa to gauge viewpoints from the widest spectrum of political persuasions. The bibliography is organized in one alphabetical sequence by author or title. The preponderance of articles cited is in English, and where this is not the case, titles in other languages have been translated. All information on imprint collation and series is provided in English. The bibliography is supplemented by (a) an author index which includes corporate and individual authors, editors, sponsoring bodies, and institutes, and (b) a subject index which links keywords to specific entries. This bibliography will be invaluable to all researchers seeking materials on contemporary South African affairs.
First full-length history of the Oromo 1300-1700; explains their key part in the medieval Christian kingdom and demonstrates their importance in shaping Ethiopian history. This revisionary account of the Oromo people and the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia transforms our perception of the country's development, rebutting the common depiction of the Oromo as no more than a destructive force and demonstrating their significant role in shaping the course of Ethiopian history. Tracing the early history of the Oromo as part of the Cushitic language speaking family of peoples, it establishes that they were neither foreigners nor newcomers to Ethiopia, but have been an integral part of the indigenous population since at least the first half of the 14th century. The massive 16th-century pastoral Oromo population movement revolutionized relations between the Christians and the Oromo. During the long process of assimilation that followed, with periods of both war and peace in central and southern Ethiopia, Oromo society was able to absorb and assimilate Cushitic and Semitic languagespeakers and Oromize them through the open, democratic and egalitarian Gada system; while in northern Ethiopia the Oromo themselves were absorbed into Christian Amhara society. Mohammed Hassen is Associate Professor in the Department of History, Georgia State University. His books include The Oromo of Ethiopia: A History, 1570 to 1860 (Cambridge University Press, 1990). He is a Contributing Editor of The Journal of Oromo Studies and The Horn of Africa journal.
The role of the police force was central in the politics and social life of Egypt during the British occupation between 1882 and 1914. Egyptians initially resisted British encroachment into the sphere of autonomy that had been reserved to them in police matters. However, preferring indirect rule to overt manifestations of power that would be signified by the use of the army, the British used the issue of reform to tighten their hold on Egypt by means of the police. This study applies modern criminological theory to examine the attendant political repression, torture, corruption, and rising crime that soon followed. Instead of the more professional and community-oriented police force exemplified by the bobbies in England, the British opted for a militarized Egyptian police force, better suited to the repression of political dissent than of ordinary crime. Tollefson seeks to account for rising crime in Egypt, which Lord Cromer, the British Consul-General between 1883 and 1907, referred to as Egypt's worst problem during his tenure. Under British control, defects in the police such as low pay, harsh discipline, and maltreatment of suspects persisted, and ordinary crime increased. This work confirms what students of colonial policing have come to appreciate; the police performed key security and social maintenance roles in colonial and quasi-colonial situations.
Britain and Africa in the twenty-first century provides the first analysis of UK-Africa policy in the era of austerity, Conservative government and Brexit. It explores how Britain's relationship with Africa has evolved since the days of Blair, Brown and 'Make Poverty History' and examines how a changing UK political environment, and international context, has impacted upon this longstanding - and deeply complex - relationship. This edited collection includes contributions from leading UK- and Africa-based scholars, as well as from Chatham House's Africa Programme Head and the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Africa. Examining trade, security, aid and peacekeeping, as well as the role of political parties, advocacy groups and the UK population itself, Britain and Africa provides an indispensable reference point for researchers and practitioners interested in contemporary UK-Africa relations and the place of Africa in British foreign policy. -- .
The late-medieval Portuguese who arrived in Africa were colonizers in the Roman style, gold merchants on an imperial scale, conquistadores in the Hispanic tradition. Although their empire struggled to survive centuries of Dutch and English competition, it revived in the 20th century on a tide of white migration. Settlers, however, brought racial conflict as well as economic modernization and Portuguese colonies went through spasms of violence which resembled those of Algeria and South Africa. Liberation eventually came but peoples of the old colonial cities clung tightly to their acquired traditions, eating Portuguese dishes, writing Portuguese poetry, and studying in Portuguese universities.
Cameroon-Nigeria Relations: Trends and Perspectives, edited by Osita Agbu and C. Nna-Emeka Okereke, examines various aspects of Cameroon-Nigeria relations since their attainment of independence in 1960. The Cameroon and Nigerian contributors contextualize core topical issues that have featured prominently in the course of bilateral relations between both countries, ranging from theoretical underpinnings to understanding the dynamics of Cameroon-Nigeria relations, to contending issues and areas of mutual interests driving diplomatic relations between them. The book reveals trends and dynamics while also accommodating divergent perspectives that demonstrate how theories can be applied to achieve real results. Of significant import is the prognosis that stimulates concerns for the future of Cameroon-Nigeria relations bearing in mind the strategic position of both countries in West and Central Africa. This book is an indispensable resource for scholars, diplomats, and foreign policy actors that will enrich understanding and inform opinions on charting future courses for healthy bilateral relations between Cameroon and Nigeria.
Egypt during the British occupation (1882-1922) was a strategically important site for securing British interests in the region. Most studies of Britons in Egypt during the occupation focus on the lives and activities of law-abiding British military and political elites. Using a variety of primary sources, this book deepens our understanding of the hidden British community beyond these elites - the lower and working classes, and those engaged in crime and misconduct - by bringing to light their demographic profile, socio-occupational diversity, criminal activities, and varying responses to the crises represented by World War I and the revolutionary period of 1919-1922. It will be essential reading for historians of British imperialism, Egypt, and the Middle East.
The king and his wives-letters and documents
This book explores the role of caravan transport and human porterage in the colony of German East Africa (present-day mainland Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi). With caravan mobility being of pivotal importance to colonial rule during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the exploration of vernacular transport and its governance during this period sheds new light on the trajectories of colonial statehood. The author addresses key questions such as the African resilience to colonial interventions, the issue of labor recruitment, and the volatility of colonial infrastructure. This book unveils a fundamental contradiction in the way that German administrators dealt with precolonial modes of transport in East Africa. While colonizers championed for the abolishment of caravan transport, they strongly depended on porters in the absence of pack animals or railways. To bring this contradiction to the fore, the author studies the shifting role of caravans in East Africa during the era of 'high imperialism.' Uncovering the extent to which porters and caravan entrepreneurs challenged and shaped colonial policymaking, this book provides an insightful read for historians studying German Empire and African history, as well as those interested in the history of transport and infrastructure.
Ralph J. Bunche (1904-1971), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950, was a key U.S. diplomat in the planning and creation of the United Nations in 1945. In 1947 he was invited to join the permanent UN Secretariat as director of the new Trusteeship Department. In this position, Bunche played a key role in setting up the trusteeship system that provided important impetus for postwar decolonization ending European control of Africa as well as an international framework for the oversight of the decolonization process after the Second World War. Trustee for the Human Community is the first volume to examine the totality of Bunche's unrivalled role in the struggle for African independence both as a key intellectual and an international diplomat and to illuminate it from the broader African American perspective. These commissioned essays examine the full range of Ralph Bunche's involvement in Africa. The scholars explore sensitive political issues, such as Bunche's role in the Congo and his views on the struggle in South Africa. Trustee for the Human Community stands as a monument to the profoundly important role of one of the greatest Americans in one of the greatest political movements in the history of the twentieth century. Contributors: David Anthony, Ralph A. Austen, Abena P. A. Busia, Neta C. Crawford, Robert R. Edgar, Charles P. Henry, Robert A. Hill, Edmond J. Keller, Martin Kilson, Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, Jon Olver, Pearl T. Robinson, Elliott P. Skinner, Crawford Young
The comparison of early Italy's and Japan's colonialism is without precedence. The majority of studies on Italian and Japanese expansion refer to the 1930-1940s period (fascist/totalitarian era) when Japan annexed Manchuria (1931) and Italy Ethiopia (1936). The first formative and crucial steps that paved the way for this expansion have been neglected. This analysis covers a range of social, political and economic parameters illuminating the diversity but also the common ground of the nature and aspirations of Japan's and Italy's early colonial systems. The two states alongside the Great Powers of the era expanded in the name of humanism and civilization but in reality in a way typically imperialistic, they sought territorial compensations, financial privileges and prestige. A parallel and deeper understanding of the nineteenth century socio-cultural-psychological parameters, such as tradition, mentality, and religion that shaped and explain the later ideological framework of Rome's and Tokyo's expansionist disposition, has never been attempted before. This monograph offers a detailed examination of the phenomenon of colonialism by examining the issue from two different angles. The study contributes to the understanding of Italy's and Japan's early imperial expansion. In addition, it traces the origins of these states' similar and common historical evolution in late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century.
Contact and interaction between Greek and Egyptian culture can be traced in different forms over more than a millennium: from the sixth century BC, when Greeks visited Egypt for the sake of tourism or trade, through to the Hellenistic period, when Egypt was ruled by the Macedonian-Greek Ptolemaic dynasty who encouraged a mixed Greek and Egyptian culture, and even more intensely in the Roman Empire, when Egypt came to be increasingly seen as a place of wonder and a source of magic and mystery. This volume addresses the historical interaction between the ancient Greek and Egyptian civilizations in these periods, focusing in particular on literature and textual culture. Comprising fourteen chapters written by experts in the field, each contribution examines such cultural interaction in some form, whether influence between the two cultures, or the emergence of bicultural and mixed phenomena within Egypt. A number of the chapters draw on newly discovered Egyptian texts, such as the Book of Thoth and the Book of the Temple, and among the wide range of topics covered are religion (such as prophecy, hymns, and magic), philosophy, historiography, romance, and translation.
First published in 1977. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
This book offers a genealogical critique of how food scarcity was governed in colonial Kenya. With an approach informed by the 'analysis of government', the study accounts for the emergence and persistence of dominant approaches to promoting food security in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa - policies and practices that prioritize increased agricultural production as the principal means of achieving food security. Drawing on a range of archival sources, the book investigates how those tasked with governing colonial Kenya confronted food as a particular kind of problem. It emphasizes the ways in which that problem shifted in conjunction with the emergence and consolidation of the colonial state and economic relations in the territory. The book applies a novel conceptual approach to the historical study of African food systems and famine, and provides the first longitudinal and in-depth analysis of the dynamics of food scarcity and its government in Kenya.
The world of Sub-Saharan African music is immensely rich and diverse, containing a plethora of repertoires and traditions. In The African Imagination in Music, renowned music scholar Kofi Agawu offers an introduction to the major dimensions of this music and the values upon which it rests. Agawu leads his readers through an exploration of the traditions, structural elements, instruments, and performative techniques that characterize the music. In sections that focus upon rhythm, melody, form, and harmony, the essential parts of African music come into relief. While traditional music, the backbone of Africa's musical thinking, receives the most attention, Agawu also supplies insights into popular and art music in order to demonstrate the breadth of the African musical imagination. Close readings of a variety of songs, including an Ewe dirge, an Aka children's song, and Fela's 'Suffering and Smiling' supplement the broader discussion. The African Imagination in Music foregrounds a hitherto under-reported legacy of recordings and insists on the necessity of experiencing music as sound in order to appreciate and understand it fully. Accordingly, a Companion Website features important examples of the music discussed in detail in the book. Accessibly and engagingly written for a general audience, The African Imagination in Music is poised to renew interest in Black African music and to engender discussion of its creative underpinnings by Africanists, ethnomusicologists, music theorists and musicologists.
Looks at the politics of the Catholic Church during a turbulent period in central Mozambique This book is concerned with the internal diversity and complexity of the Roman Catholic Church. It aims at exploring, unpacking, and explaining how the Roman Catholic institution works, how its politics are made, and how the latter impact its environment. Using the diocese of Beira in central Mozambique as a case study, and following insights by Max Weber, author Eric Morier-Genoud takes the novel "horizontal" approach of looking at congregations within the Church as a series of autonomous entities, rather than focusing on the hierarchical structure of the institution. Between 1940 and 1980, the diocese of Beira was home to some fifteen different congregations rangingfrom Jesuits to Franciscans, from Burgos to Picpus fathers. As in many areas of the world, the 1960s brought conflict to Catholic congregations in central Mozambique, with African nationalism and the reforms of Vatican II playinga part. The conflict manifested in many ways: a bishop's flight from his diocese, a congregation abandoning the territory in protest against the collusion between church and state, and a declaration of class struggle in the church. All of these events, occurring against the backdrop of the war for Mozambican independence, make the region an especially fruitful location for the pioneering analysis proffered in this important study. ERIC MORIER-GENOUD is Senior Lecturer in African History at Queen's University Belfast.
The orderly transfer of power from the white minority to the black
majority in South Africa was something of a political miracle. The
tasks facing the new government of Thabo Mbeki are formidable. If
Mbeki can succeed in giving his country and the African continent
the necessary leadership the rewards will be tremendous both for
South Africa itself and for the continent. If there is to be an
African renaissance the lead must come from South Africa.
Why does the zebra have stripes and the elephant a long trunk? How did the giraffe acquire a long neck and why does a hippopotamus lie in muddy water all day? How does an acacia tree kill grazing wild. Do wild animals speak to each other and do they have feelings? In The Greatest Safari, the reader is taken on an African adventure and told stories about the feelings, senses and communication of the savannah's many inhabitants. From sausage trees, cycads, termites and ants to lions, hyenas, bats and gorillas. This book deals with the mechanisms that propelled life. We humans have acquired the facility of feeling we are something special, and thus also the feeling that we constitute an evolutionary zenith. In contradiction to this, nature is indifferent and within its boundaries there is only one criterion for success, namely survival. What the brain can produce in terms of poetry and nuclear physics is beneath notice compared with the ability to survive. If we accept the prehistoric people Homo habilis and Homo erectus as the first human beings on Earth, bacteria are still thousands of times older and are currently the most successful organism.
'Why am I not white like everybody else?' Nan came and sat on the edge of my bed. 'What do you mean?' A tender finger brushed against my cheek. 'Well, everyone in this house is white. Why am I Black?' A generation of Nigerian children were born in Britain in the fifties and sixties, privately fostered by white families, then taken to Nigeria by their parents. Coconut is the story of one of those children. 1963, North London. Nan fosters one-year-old Florence Olajide and calls her 'Ann.' Florence adores her foster mother more than anything but Nan, and the children around her, all have white skin and she can't help but feel different. Then, four years later, after a weekend visit to her birth parents, Florence never returns to Nan. Two months after, sandwiched between her mother and father plus her three siblings, six-year-old Florence steps off a ship in Lagos to the fierce heat of the African sun. Swapping the lovely, comfortable bed in her room at Nan's for a mat on the floor of the living room in her new home, Florence finds herself struggling to adjust. She wants to embrace her cultural heritage but doesn't speak Yoruba and knows nothing of the customs. Clashes with her grandmother, Mama, the matriarch of the family, result in frequent beatings. Torn between her early childhood experiences and the expectations of her African culture, she begins to question who she is. Nigerian, British, both? Florence's story is an unputdownable tale of loss and loneliness, surviving poverty, maltreatment and fighting to get an education. Most of all, it's a moving, uplifting and inspiring account of one woman's self-determination to discover who she is and find her way to a place she can call home. Perfect for fans of Lemn Sissay's My Name is Why and Tara Westover's Educated. Audiobook narrated by Adjoa Andoh and featured on the Graham Norton Bookclub What readers are saying about Coconut: 'Wow, how do I even do this book justice... I absolutely loved this... I would recommend this book to everyone... important and powerful... completely captivating and fascinating... stunning.' Sibzzreads, 5 stars 'Heart-breaking... eye-opening... heart-warming... I couldn't recommend this enough... fantastic!' NetGalley reviewer 'Extraordinarily moving...a stunning read, beautifully written with searing honesty and humor.' Abi Dare, international bestselling author of The Girl with the Louding Voice 'One of the best non-fiction books I have read...Amazing.' NetGalley reviewer 'I sped through it as I could not put it down.' Goodreads reviewer 'Remarkable...with grace, wit, insight and not a little heartbreak.' Adjoa Andoh, actress and star of Netflix series Bridgerton 'Incredible... There were places I was shocked; places I was saddened; places I was amazed, and places where I laughed... Florence is now right up there at the top of my mental list of 'inspirational people'. NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars 'I found myself completely immersed from the start! Florence writes with honesty, beauty and courage...delving deeply into some of the most important issues of our times.' Christy Lefteri, international bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo 'A piece of poetic resilience, Coconut is an integral intervention in our understanding of race, identity and belonging.' David Lammy 'Fascinating, emotional and enlightening... I felt myself rooting for Florence all the way... captivating. Highly recommended.' Karen King |
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