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Books > History > African history > General
Bart de Graaff is ’n Nederlandse historikus en joernalis wat ’n
besonderse belangstelling in die Suid-Afrikaanse politiek en
kultuur het. In 2015 en 2016 het hy verskeie besoeke aan
Suid-Afrika en Namibie gebring. Sy oogmerk was om die nasate van
die Khoi-Khoin, synde die eerste “ware mense” van die subkontinent,
op te spoor, en aan die woord te stel. Hierdie boek is die
resultaat van sy onderhoude. De Graaff kontekstualiseer nie net die
geskiedenis van die Khoi-Khoin en haar vele vertakkings nie, maar
stel ook bepaalde eietydse leiersfigure in die onderskeie
gemeenskappe aan die woord. Daarvolgens word die historiese kyk na
legendariese kapteins soos die Korannas se Goliat Yzerbek, die
Griekwas se Adam Kok, die Basters se Dirk Vilander, Abraham
Swartbooi van die Namas en Frederik Vleermuis van die Oorlams
afgewissel met De Graaff se persoonlike reisindrukke en die talle
gesprekke wat hy met die waarskynlike nasate van bogenoemde leiers
gehad het. In sy onopgesmukte skryfstyl, vol deernis en humor,
vertel De Graaff van hierdie ontmoetings en gesprekke en algaande
kom die leser onder die indruk van die sistemiese geweld wat teen
die Khoi-Khoin oor soveel eeue heen gepleeg is. Dit is ’n
belangrike boek wat die geskiedenis en huidige stand van die bruin
mense onder hulle landsgenote se aandag bring.
Herewith an historical journey from the third century to the
multiethnic metropolis of the twentieth century, bringing together
two diverse histories of the city. Ancient Alexandria was built by
the Greek Ptolemies who in thirty years completed the first
lighthouse and the grand library and museum which functioned as a
university with the emphasis on science, known as 'The Alexandrian
School', attracting scholars from all over the ancient world. Two
of the most eminent were Euclid, the father of geometry, and
Claudios Ptolemy, writer of The Almagest, a book on astronomy.
These are the oldest surviving science textbooks and the city was
known as "the birthplace of science". Herein there are stories
about scientists, poets and religious philosophers, responsible for
influencing the western mind with their writings. Modern Alexandria
was rebuilt in 1805 by multiethnic communities who created a
successful commercial city and port with an enviable life-style for
its inhabitants for 150 years. In 1952 the Free Officers of the
Egyptian Army masterminded a coup to free the country from the
monarchy and British domination. In 1956 the socialist regime under
Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser closed the Suez Canal, resulting in the
Anglo-French-Israeli invasion. This outburst of Egyptian
nationalism and military revolution by this understandably
anti-Western regime included the confiscation of property belonging
to foreigners and the subsequent mass exodus of business and
artisan classes that hitherto had made the city so successful. The
author was an eye-witness to these events and he sets out the
political errors and failures of both Egyptian and Western leaders.
The legacy of the resulting political and social confusions is
deeply apparent in the continuing unrest in the Middle East, and in
particular in Egypt.
Kolonie aan die Kaap is die derde van vyf boeke oor vroeë blanke vestiging aan die Kaap.
In dié deel vestig Karel Schoeman die aandag op die eerste blanke intrekkers. Die VOC (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie), het in 1651 besluit om in Tafelbaai ’n verversingspos te stig ten behoewe van die Kompanjie se skeepvaart tussen Nederland en die Ooste en dis met hierdie doel dat kommandeur Jan van Riebeeck in Desember van daardie jaar met sy vlootjie van vyf skepe na die Kaap uitgeseil het.
Die eerste hoofstuk gee aandag aan Van Riebeeck se lewe en loopbaan tot en met hierdie datum en in die tweede hoofstuk word die werksaamhede rondom die vestiging van die verversingspos aan die hand van Van Riebeeck se dagboeke en briewe en die geskrifte van vroeë besoekers beskryf. Die omstandighede van die pioniersgroepie wat uitvoering aan Van Riebeeck se opdragte en ambisieuse planne moes gee, word in hoofstuk 3 bespreek. Aanvanklik moes alle lewensmiddele, gereedskap, saad, plantjies en selfs perde uit die Ooste ingevoer word. ’n Fort, wat skuiling en beskerming teen wilde diere en vyandige Khoi-stamme moes gee, is in 1666 voltooi. Hoe die verskillende sosiale groeperinge soos die hoë amptenare, die ambagsmanne, soldate en slawe in dié Fort gewerk, geleef en soms ook gesterf het, die onthale, kerk- en gebedsdienste en militêre parades kom in hoofstuk 4 aan die bod.
’n Klein klompie hoë Kompanjiesamptenare was deel van die Kaapse nedersetting, maar dit was hoofsaaklik uit die groter groep werksvolk, soldate en matrose dat die latere vryburgers afkomstig was. Die uiters moeilike omstandighede, teenslae en mislukkings van die aanvanklike groepie van nege, maar ook die enkele suksesverhale, word in hoofstuk 7 bespreek. Die boek sluit af met ’n oorsig oor Van Riebeeck se latere loopbaan in die Ooste en sy oorlye in 1677.
This is a monograph about the medieval Jewish community of the
Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Through deep analyses of
contemporary historical sources, mostly documents from the Cairo
Geniza, life stories, conducts and practices of private people are
revealed. When put together these private biographies convey a
social portrait of an elite group which ruled over the local
community, but was part of a supra communal network.
How and why did the Congolese elite turn from loyal intermediaries
into opponents of the colonial state? This book seeks to enrich our
understanding of the political and cultural processes culminating
in the tumultuous decolonization of the Belgian Congo. Focusing on
the making of an African bourgeoisie, the book illuminates the
so-called evolues' social worlds, cultural self-representations,
daily life and political struggles. https://youtu.be/c8ybPCi80dc
I am an African American male who has had to deal with the racism
and prejudice in this country, so the history that we were deprived
of as children is where my expertise lies. There are hundreds of
facts and events that are very important to the enrichment and
growth of the black nation. We've come very far without knowing our
history; imagine, if we were grounded in our roots, how far we'd
be. You can handcuff my wrists, you can shackle my feet, you can
bind me in your chains, you can throw me in your deepest darkest
dungeon ...but you can't enslave my thinking, for it is free like
the wind. Jaye Swift has sold over 40,000 CDs on the streets by
himself. His music is the epitome of hip hop, and his name has been
recognized by some of the greatest in music. His credibility in
music is flawless, and he has refused to record with mindless
artists who have no substance or integrity. It is only to his
credit that But You Can't Enslave My Thinking ...has been written
with the same impeccable consistency and wisdom. It's designed to
enlighten the minds of non-African Americans and enrich the lives
of all African Americans.
Beginning in the late 1930s, a crisis in colonial Gusiiland
developed over traditional marriage customs. Couples eloped, wives
deserted husbands, fathers forced daughters into marriage, and
desperate men abducted women as wives. Existing historiography
focuses on women who either fled their rural homes to escape a new
dual patriarchy-African men backed by colonial officials-or
surrendered themselves to this new power. "Girl Cases: Marriage and
Colonialism in Gusiiland, Kenya 1890-1970" takes a new approach to
the study of Gusii marriage customs and shows that Gusii women
stayed in their homes to fight over the nature of marriage. Gusii
women and their lovers remained committed to traditional
bridewealth marriage, but they raised deeper questions over the
relations between men and women.
During this time of social upheaval, thousands of marriage
disputes flowed into local African courts. By examining court
transcripts, "Girl Cases" sheds light on the dialogue that
developed surrounding the nature of marriage. Should parental
rights to arrange a marriage outweigh women's rights to choose
their husbands? Could violence by abductors create a legitimate
union? Men and women debated these and other issues in the
courtroom, and Brett L. Shadle's analysis of the transcripts
provides a valuable addition to African social history.
In ancient Egypt, one of the primary roles of the king was to
maintain order and destroy chaos. Since the beginning of Egyptian
history, images of foreigners were used as symbols of chaos and
thus shown as captives being bound and trampled under the king's
feet. The early 18th dynasty (1550-1372 BCE) was the height of
international trade, diplomacy and Egyptian imperial expansion.
During this time new images of foreigners bearing tribute became
popular in the tombs of the necropolis at Thebes, the burial place
of the Egyptian elite. This volume analyses the new presentation of
foreigners in these tombs. Far from being chaotic, they are shown
in an orderly fashion, carrying tribute that underscores the wealth
and prestige of the tomb owner. This orderliness reflects the
ability of the Egyptian state to impose order on foreign lands, but
also crucially symbolises the tomb owner's ability to overcome the
chaos of death and achieve a successful afterlife. Illustrated with
colour plates and black-and-white images, this new volume is an
important and original study of the significance of these images
for the tomb owner and the functioning of the funerary cult.
Now combined into a single volume, these three brief history texts
provide a concise and eye-opening overview of the history of the
Middle East. Each is written by a leading expert, and all have been
hailed as outstanding introductions for the general reader. These
texts have been widely translated and adopted at universities in
Turkey, Norway, Italy, and Germany, as well as throughout North
America.
This book offers broad-gauged analyses of the causes, nature, and
changing patterns of armed conflict in Africa as well as the
reasons for these patterns. It also situates conflicts that have
been haunting the African continent since the time of
decolonization within the various theoretical schools such as "new
war," "economic war," "neo-patrimonial," and "globalization." It
begins with the premise that conflict constitutes one of the major
impediments to Africa's socio-economic development and has made the
continent's future looks relatively bleak. At the dawn of the
twenty-first century, the international community has, once again,
treated Africa as a hopeless continent. This is due, in part, to a
number of political, military, and socio-economic problems, which
have made the continent miss the path towards sustainable
development. From the period of political independence in the 1960s
to the immediate post-Cold War period, the African political
landscape was dotted with many conflicts of different natures and
intensity (low-intensity conflicts, civil wars, mass killings, and
large-scale political violence). During the first four decades of
political independence, there were about 80 forceful changes of
government in Sub-Saharan Africa, while a large number of countries
in that region witnessed various forms of conflicts. This
collection assembles the work of distinguished African scholars who
offer valuable new insights into the problem of political
instability.
Liberia has a strong connection to the United States in that it was
founded by former slaves in 1822. Although Liberia had existed as
an independent African nation and a symbol of hope to the African
peoples under the rule of various colonial powers, its recent
history has been bedeviled by a prolonged upheaval following a
military coup d'etat in 1980. In this context, the narrative
highlights the distinctiveness of Liberians in their negotiation of
traditional indigenous and modern practices, and the changes
wrought by Christianity and Western influences.
In this work translations of four texts are provided from Ghadamis
and from Mali. The first is a biography of the Ghadamisi scholar
'Abdallah b. Abi Bakr al-Ghadamisi (1626-1719 AD), written by the
eighteenth-century author Ibn Muhalhil al-Ghadamisi. A second text
is "The History of al-Suq", concerning al-Suq, the historic town of
Tadmakka and the original home of the Kel-Essouk Tuareg. The third
text is "The Precious Jewel in the Saharan histories of the 'People
of the Veil'" by Muhammad Tawjaw al-Suqi al-Thani, a contemporary
Tuareg author. It pertains to the Kel-Essouk and their historical
ties with the Maghreb and West Africa. The final text is a
description of the Tuareg from the book "Ghadamis, its features,
its images and its sights" by Bashir Qasim Yusha', published in
Arabic in 2001 AD.
In 1894 Jesus appeared in a dream to Rainisoalambo during a period
of intense national crisis shortly before the French colonial
invasion of Madagascar. An educated member of the southern
highlands aristocracy, Rainisoalambo was also a traditional
medicine man who had fallen into grave difficulty. Being stricken
with a case of then-rampant leprosy, his business had vanished and
he and his family were starving. In this vision, Jesus told
Rainisoalambo to put away his sampy, the small idols and charms he
used for his traditional divining and healing. When he awoke, he
found that he was healed. He quickly got rid of his charms and
began a new life of fervent prayer, witnessing to his neighbors
about what had happened, and reading the gospels with new eyes, as
current reality rather than ancient reports of the far-away
dealings of the white man's god. A group of believers soon gathered
around him. Within a year of intense activity they had formally
organized themselves at Soatanna into what we would now call a base
community, the Disciples of the Lord. Their simple rules called
them to lives of economic sharing and self-sufficiency, cleanliness
and orderliness in their persons, houses, and lands, learning to
read the Bible, daily communal prayers and study, and sending out
apostles and evangelists to establish other such households and
communities. This was the beginning of what is now called the
Fifohazana, or Awakening. More than a century later the movement
comprises several tobys, or base communities, following the
appearance of several more prophets, female and male, and their
miracle-working. The members of the movement, or mpiandry, live
throughout the island, some in the tobys butmost in the cities and
villages as members of a variety of churches. The Fifohazana
continues to stress spiritual healings, exorcisms, personal service
to the poor and sick, cleanliness, prayer, Bible study, and
witnessing. This volume provides the reader with a very clear
understanding of what the Fifohazanamovement is all about
historically, theologically, in terms of the main characters
involved, its tremendous contributions to what a Christian healing
ministry might ideally be, and as it relates to the larger world of
church and society. The book is strengthened by the contributions
of a diverse international group of scholars and participants in
the movement. This has fostered the creation of an authentic piece
of research, which combines the actual voices of participants
within the movement itself along with the perspectives of scholars,
who analyze the movement from the external periphery. This is the
first book-length treatment of the Fifohazana in English. Editor
Cynthia Holder Rich has gathered contributions from authors from
five countries, including several members of the movement, to offer
several perspectives onto the history and current life of the
movement. Articles include analysis of major movement leaders, the
place of healing in the movement, history of the conflict between
the missions and the movement, the significance of oral expression
in proclamation and as a means of revival, the role of women as
leaders in the movement, and theological issues. The Fifohazana is
one of the most intriguing current instances of indigenous
Christianity in the world. While the movement has greatly evolved
and changed in over a century, Jesus continues to appear and raise
up newleaders. Various branches of the movement have developed a
variety of institutions, but the movement has not lost its power of
transformation and change. The Fifohazana: Madagascar's Indigenous
Christian Movement is an important volume for research libraries,
universities, African studies institutions and theological schools.
A century ago, one of the five most recognizable names in the world
was arguably that of Paul Kruger, president of the Transvaal
Republic-a small Southern African country inhabited by a white
tribe-who took on the overwhelming superiority of the mighty
British Empire in defense of his people's sovereign independence.
It was a David and Goliath story. As most of the world-including
the US-cheered the Boers on, they fought a desperate war to the
bitter end (1899-1902) against colonialism, until their country lay
smoldering in ruins and an estimated 27, 929 Boer women and
children, as well as an untold number of blacks, had died in
British concentration camps.Yet within little more than half a
century, those same Afrikaners had squandered their political
capital and gone from being the world's favorite underdog to one of
the most reviled names in history. Their subsequent social
engineering project known as apartheid became an abhorrent concept
in the eyes of the international community. Bernard Botes Kruger is
a fifth-generation descendant of the wartime president, Paul
Kruger. He is an Afrikaner who lived most of his life in the
turmoil and conflict that has dominated his country's history. His
new historical novel, A Battlement of Spears, tells the remarkable
story of how not only the Afrikaners, but also the many other
former sovereign nations within the redrawn borders of the postwar
South Africa struggled to come to terms with a common identity,
often with devastating consequences. "What cruel twist of tectonic
irony caused the deepest scar on the earth's surface across the
face of that continent that would also suffer the most appalling of
human tragedies?" the author asks. Set against the backdrop of the
timeless mountain called in Zulu uKhahlamba (Barrier of Spears), a
dramatic geographic boundary that divided nations throughout
history, A Battlement of Spears is an epic story spanning
twenty-four years and two continents, of two young men with similar
interests but vastly different cultural backgrounds who become
unlikely friends. In a tragic series of events they will discover
what sacrifices are exacted from those who would dwell in the
symbolic no man's land of the summit, where fog often obscures the
vision and deprivation dulls the senses, until it becomes all too
easy to drift into hostile territory or stumble into the jaws of
the precipice. In the process they will become separated, spending
a lifetime before finding each other again a world away, on a
different continent. But in the course of their respective
journeys, they will also learn that barriers are not always what
they seem, and that choices are sometimes inevitable, with
far-reaching consequences. In that hauntingly beautiful land it is
never merely about survival, but about the things that make it
truly worthwhile, such as loyalty, friendship and honor, regardless
of the price. Written in a style that endeavors to entertain while
enlightening the uninformed about South Africa's long road to
democracy, the book provides extensive background explanations
(yes, footnotes) to those interested in the historical,
anthropological or linguistic aspects of a 'rainbow nation, ' which
today recognizes eleven official languages and several royal
families, besides a multitude of unofficial languages and dialects.
And while A Battlement of Spears is a work of fiction, based,
according to the author, on "countless true stories," it becomes
evident within the first few pages that many of the events
portrayed are too detailed and specific not to have been
experienced by someone. Some elements of the story are unmistakably
autobiographical, but much of it simply represents the collective
consciousness of a people struggling to find solutions.
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Duleep Samuel
Hardcover
R4,240
Discovery Miles 42 400
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