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Books > History > African history > General
The slow collapse of the European colonial empires after 1945
provides one of the great turning points of twentieth century
history. With the loss of India however, the British under Harold
Macmillan attempted to enforce a 'second' colonial occupation -
supporting the efforts of Sir Andrew Cohen of the Colonial Office
to create a Central African Federation. Drawing on newly released
archival material, The Politics and Economics of Decolonization in
Africa offers a fresh examination of Britain's central African
territories in the late colonial period and provides a detailed
assessment of how events in Britain, Africa and the UN shaped the
process of decolonization. The author situates the Central African
Federation - which consisted of modern day Zambia, Zimbabwe and
Malawi - in its wider international context, shedding light on the
Federation's complex relationships with South Africa, with US
Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy and with the
expanding United Nations. The result is an important history of the
last days of the British Empire and the beginnings of a more
independent African continent.
Resolving the African Leadership Challenge: Insight From History
examines leadership in pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial
modern Africa, exploring the origin of Africa's leadership
challenge, and providing lessons to enhance leadership
effectiveness. New ground is broken here as the author examines:
The breadth of leadership issues across the entire continent The
evolution of issues over time; from the pre-colonial era to the
modern day The practical lessons that can be identified to resolve
the leadership challenge A clear roadmap to achieve better
leadership in Africa This interdisciplinary study provides a deeper
understanding of the history of leadership in Africa, giving us key
principles for today. It is essential reading for academic
researchers, postgraduate students, and practitioners, seeking to
adapt leadership theories to real-world local practice.
'n Nuwe en bygewerkte uitgawe van die publikasie wat in 1990 uitgegee is deur die Nasionale Parkeraad van Suid-Afrika (tans SANParke).
Dit is die uitvoerige voorgeskiedenis en geskiedenis van die ou Transvaalse Laeveld en die gebeure wat gelei het tot die ontstaan van een van die eerste bewaringsgebiede in die ou Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek toe die Sabie-reservaat in 1898 geproklameer is.
The Black Handbook is the authoritative guide to the people,
history and politics of Africa and the African Diaspora up until
the end of the 20th century. Who were Black Moses, the Black
Seminoles, the Black shots and the Black Pimpernel? Which Pope gave
the King of Portugal permission to invade, conquer and submit to
perpetual slavery the people of Africa? What was the African Blood
Brotherhood? Why was a Jamaican the last man to be beheaded in
Britain? Who were the Talented Tenth? Why did Egypt invade Ethiopia
in 1875? Who was the first black American woman to become a
millionaire? Who were the Mangrove Nine? Spanning three continents,
The Black Handbook describes and analyses, in an accessible way,
the essential events, ideas and personalities of the African world.
Muslims beyond the Arab World explores the tradition of writing
African languages using the Arabic script 'Ajami and the rise of
the Muridiyya order of Islamic Sufi in Senegal, founded by Shaykh
Ahmadu Bamba Mbakke (1853-1927). The book demonstrates how the
development of the 'Ajami literary tradition and the flourishing of
the Muridiyya into one of sub-Saharan Africa's most powerful and
dynamic Sufi organizations are entwined. It offers a close reading
of the rich hagiographic and didactic written, recited, and chanted
'Ajami texts of the Muridiyya, works largely unknown to scholars.
The texts describe the life and Sufi odyssey of the order's
founder, his conflicts with local rulers and Muslim clerics and the
French colonial administration, and the traditions and teachings he
championed that shaped the identity and practices of his followers.
In analyzing these Murid 'Ajami texts, Fallou Ngom evaluates
prevailing representations of the movement and offers alternative
perspectives. He demonstrates how, without the knowledge of the
French colonial administration, the Murids were able to use their
written, recited, and chanted 'Ajami materials as an effective
means of mass communication to convey the personal journey of
Shaykh Ahamadu Bamba, his doctrine, the virtues he stood for and
cultivated among his followers: self-reliance, strong faith, the
pursuit of excellence, nonviolence, and optimism in the face of
adversity. This, according to Muslims beyond the Arab World, is the
source of the surprising resilience, appeal, and expansion of
Muridiyya.
One of the few books about photography to come out of the continent and where the majority of contributors are African and work on the continent.
Going beyond photography as an isolated medium to engage larger questions and interlocking forms of expression and historical analysis, Ambivalent gathers a new generation of scholars based on the continent to offer an expansive frame for thinking about questions of photography and visibility in Africa. The volume presents African relationships with photography – and with visibility more generally – in ways that engage and disrupt the easy categories and genres that have characterised the field to date.
Contributors pose new questions concerning the instability of the identity photograph in South Africa; ethnographic photographs as potential history; humanitarian discourse from the perspective of photographic survivors of atrocity photojournalism; the nuanced passage from studio to screen in postcolonial digital portraiture; and the burgeoning visual activism in West Africa.
On account of its remarkable reach as well as its variety of
schemes and features, migration in the Victorian era is a paramount
chapter of the history of worldwide migrations and diasporas.
Indeed, Victorian Britain was both a land of emigration and
immigration. International Migrations in the Victorian Era covers a
wide range of case studies to unveil the complexity of
transnational circulations and connections in the 19th century.
Combining micro- and macro-studies, this volume looks into the
history of the British Empire, 19th century international migration
networks, as well as the causes and consequences of Victorian
migrations and how technological, social, political, and cultural
transformations, mainly initiated by the Industrial Revolution,
considerably impacted on people's movements. It presents a history
of migration grounded on people, structural forces and migration
processes that bound societies together. Rather than focussing on
distinct territorial units, International Migrations in the
Victorian Era balances different scales of analysis: individual,
local, regional, national and transnational. Contributors are:
Rebecca Bates, Sally Brooke Cameron, Milosz K. Cybowski, Nicole
Davis, Anne-Catherine De Bouvier, Claire Deligny, Elizabeth
Dillenburg, Nicolas Garnier, Trevor Harris, Kathrin Levitan,
Veronique Molinari, Ipshita Nath, Jude Piesse, Daniel Renshaw, Eric
Richards, Sue Silberberg, Ben Szreter, Geraldine Vaughan, Briony
Wickes, Rhiannon Heledd Williams.
This book examines the political and economic philosophy of Chief
Jeremiah Oyeniyi Obafemi Awolowo and his concepts of democratic
socialism (Liberal Democratic Socialism). It studies how Chief
Awolowo and his political parties, first the Action Group (AG)
1951-1966 and later the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) 1978-1983,
acted in various Nigerian political settings. Chief Awolowo was a
principled man, who by a Spartan self-discipline and understanding
of himself, his accomplishments, failures and successes, was a
fearless leader. He has set an example of leadership for a new
generation of Nigerian politicians. He was not only a brilliant
politician, but a highly cerebral thinker, statesman, dedicated
manager, brilliant political economist, a Social Democrat, and a
committed federalist. From all accounts, Chief Awolowo knew the
worst and the best, laughter and sorrow, vilification and
veneration, tribulations and triumphs, poverty and prosperity,
failures and successes in life.
In September 1958, Guinea claimed its independence, rejecting a
constitution that would have relegated it to junior partnership in
the French Community. In all the French empire, Guinea was the only
territory to vote "No." Orchestrating the "No" vote was the Guinean
branch of the Rassemblement Democratique Africain (RDA), an
alliance of political parties with affiliates in French West and
Equatorial Africa and the United Nations trusts of Togo and
Cameroon. Although Guinea's stance vis-a-vis the 1958 constitution
has been recognized as unique, until now the historical roots of
this phenomenon have not been adequately explained.
Clearly written and free of jargon, "Cold War and Decolonization
in Guinea" argues that Guinea's vote for independence was the
culmination of a decade-long struggle between local militants and
political leaders for control of the political agenda. Since 1950,
when RDA representatives in the French parliament severed their
ties to the French Communist Party, conservative elements had
dominated the RDA. In Guinea, local cadres had opposed the break.
Victimized by the administration and sidelined by their own
leaders, they quietly rebuilt the party from the base. Leftist
militants, their voices muted throughout most of the decade, gained
preeminence in 1958, when trade unionists, students, the party's
women's and youth wings, and other grassroots actors pushed the
Guinean RDA to endorse a "No" vote. Thus, Guinea's rejection of the
proposed constitution in favor of immediate independence was not an
isolated aberration. Rather, it was the outcome of years of
political mobilization by activists who, despite Cold War
repression, ultimately pushed the Guinean RDA tothe left.
The significance of this highly original book, based on previously
unexamined archival records and oral interviews with grassroots
activists, extends far beyond its primary subject. In illuminating
the Guinean case, Elizabeth Schmidt helps us understand the
dynamics of decolonization and its legacy for postindependence
nation-building in many parts of the developing world.
Examining Guinean history from the bottom up, Schmidt considers
local politics within the larger context of the Cold War, making
her book suitable for courses in African history and politics,
diplomatic history, and Cold War history.
A bold and innovative social history, The Seed Is Mine concerns the disenfranchised blacks who did so much to shape the destiny of South Africa. After years of interviews with Kas Maine and his neighbors, employers, friends, and family - a rare triumph of collaborative courage and dedication - Charles van Onselen has recreated the entire life of a man who struggled to maintain his family in a world dedicated to enriching whites and impoverishing blacks, while South Africa was tearing them apart.
“If ever one wondered whether the life of a single man could illuminate a century, [this] brilliant biography … proves the point.” — Carmel Schrire, The Boston Globe
“An epic … [that] tells of the loss of human potential generated by a politics that surrendered generosity and openness to self-interest and bigotry. It reveals the way an ordinary man can survive with dignity in such a world.” — Vincent Crapanzano, the New York Times
“A magnificent book [with] implications beyond its modest claims … This remarkable story compels foreboding but also kindles hope, for it shows the extraordinary courage of 'ordinary' men under severe difficulties.” — Eugene Genovese, Emory University
“[Van Onselen] teases out the subtleties of the paternalistic relationships between rural whites and blacks which gave rise to real friendships but also to much betrayal, anger, and humiliation . . . It is a monumental masterpiece of research, and a poetic evocation of the human spirit to survive … ” — Linda Ensor, Business Day
"This is the most unusual history of Africa... it compares three
religious systems: Christianity, Islam and indigenous African
religions, in their influence on the history of the continent.
Mavimbela seeks to demonstrate that all these religions are deeply
rooted in the customs, practices and beliefs of the respective
societies and that none are superior in their ability to explain
the natural phenomena encountered by their adherents... this book
is an extended expose of how a conquering power used either
Christianity or Islam to establish subjugation over African
people... The author hopes that by revisiting the painful detail of
that history and it's implications, African people might still
locate the bearings that might lead them back to their self-worth."
- Prof Ben Turok
An account of the author's grueling, but ultimately successful,
journey in 1957, through Africa's remote, primitive Kalahari
Desert, in search of the legendary Bushmen, the hunters who pray to
the great hunters in the sky.
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