In Conflict and Human Security Threats in Africa, South African scholar Victor Ojakorotu unravels the dynamics of conflicts and human security threats now affecting numerous African nations. While some of these conflicts are local, others are national and international. This current and highly engaging study captures multiple cases of insecurity, presenting discussions of terrorism, kidnapping, militia activities, human trafficking, political violence, teenage pregnancy, civil war, and armed conflicts, as well as strategies for their future management. Ojakorotu documents a philosophical assessment of African politics as well as the place of the "new" media in the politics of human security and the development of an African worldview in the post-modern intellectual arena. This book is a must-read for all students of African and global politics, as well as policy makers and diplomats working with Africa, which will soon be home to more than three billion people and a center of global growth.

The first decades of the twentieth century were years of dramatic change in Zanzibar, a time when the social, economic, and political lives of island residents were in incredible flux, framed by the abolition of slavery, the introduction of colonialism, and a tide of urban migration. "Pastimes and Politics" explores the era from the perspective of the urban poor, highlighting the numerous and varied ways that recently freed slaves and other immigrants to town struggled to improve their individual and collective lives and to create a sense of community within this new environment. In this study Laura Fair explores a range of cultural and social practices that gave expression to slaves' ideas of emancipation, as well as how such ideas and practices were gendered.
"Pastimes and Politics" examines the ways in which various cultural practices, including taarab music, dress, football, ethnicity, and sexuality, changed during the early twentieth century in relation to islanders' changing social and political identities. Professor Fair argues that cultural changes were not merely reflections of social and political transformations. Rather, leisure and popular culture were critical practices through which the colonized and former slaves transformed themselves and the society in which they lived.
Methodologically innovative and clearly written, "Pastimes and Politics" is accessible to specialists and general readers alike. It is a book that should find wide use in courses on African history, urbanization, popular culture, gender studies, or emancipation.

This book vividly depicts Somalia from its pre-colonial period to the present day, documenting the tumultuous history of a nation that has faced many challenges. Somalia is a nation with a history that stretches back more than ten millennia to the beginnings of human civilization. This book provides sweeping coverage of Somalia's history ranging from the earliest times to its modern-day status as a country of ten million inhabitants, providing a unique social-scientific treatment of the nation's key issues across ethnic and regional boundaries. The book addresses not only Somali sociocultural and political history but also covers Somalia's administration and economy, secessionist movements, civil and regional wars, and examines the dynamics of state collapse, democratization, terrorism, and piracy in contemporary times. The author details the extremely rich history of the Somali people and their customs while documenting past history, enabling readers to make meaning out of the country's ongoing crisis.

A merchant's account of his travels through an independent African state Muhammad ibn 'Umar al-Tunisi (d. 1274/1857) belonged to a family of Tunisian merchants trading with Egypt and what is now Sudan. Al-Tunisi was raised in Cairo and a graduate of al-Azhar. In 1803, at the age of fourteen, al-Tunisi set off for the Sultanate of Darfur, where his father had decamped ten years earlier. He followed the Forty Days Road, was reunited with his father, and eventually took over the management of the considerable estates granted to his father by the sultan of Darfur. In Darfur is al-Tunisi's remarkable account of his ten-year sojourn in this independent state. In Volume Two al-Tunisi describes the geography of the region, the customs of Darfur's petty kings, court life and the clothing of its rulers, marriage customs, eunuchs, illnesses, food, hunting, animals, currencies, plants, magic, divination, and dances. In Darfur combines literature, history, ethnography, linguistics, and travel adventure, and most unusually for its time, includes fifty-two illustrations, all drawn by the author. In Darfur is a rare example of an Arab description of Africa on the eve of Western colonization and vividly evokes a world in which travel was untrammeled by bureaucracy, borders were fluid, and startling coincidences appear almost mundane. A bilingual Arabic-English edition.

NIGERIAN WOMEN OF DISTINCTION, HONOUR AND EXEMPLARY PRESIDENTIAL QUALITIES; EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL GENDERS The book identifies scores of Nigerian revered women who match the most dignified women world-wide. Their wonderful attributes can lead Nigeria to the 'Promised Land' sooner than expected if given equal leadership opportunities. They abound in all professions including those exclusively left for men and they perform with excellence. It highlights socio-political activism of Chief Abigail Olufunmilayo Ransom-Kuti (25/10/1900-13/4/1978); Chief Hannah Awolowo's successes and unflinching support for her husband's course, Chief Obufemi Awolowo, first Premier of Western Nigeria, her revered Yorubaland eldership; and unparalleled antecedents of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Professor Dora Akunyili; Chief Olubunmi Etteh, first female Nigerian House Speaker; Chief Farida Waziri, EFCC ex-Chairperson and many others comprising 190 Nigerian women (past and present) with great and wonderful antecedents. Behind successful men are great women. When women are trained, knowledge spreads and impacts entire community. Women have inherent powers of accomplishments, invincibility and indispensability. Ironically, physically and economically powerful male chauvinists think they control everything, but their wives or girl-friends really take charge and control everything remotely including the powerful men. Imagine the world without women; it will be dull, boring, wifeless, motherless, childless and uninteresting without love, care, romance, beauty, affection, attractiveness, happiness and child production. It condemns discrimination, domestic violence, women and child abuse world-wide. Women can lead exemplarily if given equal opportunities as men. GOD BLESS NIGERIAN WOMEN

Ideal for high school students and undergraduates, this volume explores contemporary life and culture in Libya. Libya is one of Africa's largest nations, but its topography is dominated by a huge southern desert with some of the hottest temperatures recorded anywhere in the world. Culture and Customs of Libya explores the daily lives of the 90 million men, women, and children who struggle to get by in this authoritarian state, where only a fraction of the land is arable and 90 percent of the people live in less than 10 percent of the area, primarily along the Mediterranean coast. In this comprehensive overview of modern Libyan life, readers can explore topics such as religion, contemporary literature, media, art, housing, music, and dance. They will learn about education and employment and will see how traditions and customs of the past-including those from Libya's long domination by the Ottoman Empire and 40 years as an Italian colony-are kept alive or have evolved to fit into today's modern age. Two dozen black-and-white images A glossary of terms

Toda naci n est llamada a vivir un equilibrio entre la cultura y el progreso, a vencer la lucha del Posmodernismo y llegar a una renovaci n de sus estructuras. En este libro describo la historia del Pueblo Angolano partiendo desde su ra z cultural, de su dif cil lucha por su independencia, escurecida por la guerra civil y la llegada de los acuerdos de paz. Identifico algunos de los factores que han sido importantes en la b squeda profunda de realizar sus sue os de llegar a ser un pa?'s prospero y libre.

The nine contributions in The Trade in Papers Marked with non-Latin Characters initiated by Anne Regourd approach global history through the paper trade in Africa and Asia, mainly in the 19th-20th C. Les neuf contributions de Le commerce des papiers a marques a caracteres non-latins, dont Anne Regourd (ed.) est a l'initiative, projette de traiter d'histoire globale par le commerce du papier, principalement en Afrique et en Asie des xixe et xxe s.

Traces the dynamics of state-building in Juba, Southern Sudan 2005-2011, revealing how underlying ties of ethnicity and land dominated the actions of the various parties in post-conflict reconstruction and how these may continue to influence power and resource-sharing in the newly independent state of South Sudan. Naseem Badiey examines the local dynamics of the emerging capital city of Juba, Southern Sudan, during the historically pivotal transition period following the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Focusing on the intersections of land tenure reform and urban development, she challenges the dominant paradigm of 'post-conflict reconstruction' and re-conceptualizes state-building as a social process underpinned by negotiation. Badiey explores local resistance to reconstruction programmes, debates over the interpretation of peace settlements, and competing claims to land and resources not as problems to be solved through interventions but as negotiations of authority which are fundamental to shaping the character of the 'state'. While donors and aid agency officials anticipated clashes between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) following the CPA, they did not foresee internal divisions that impeded reconstruction in Southern Sudan, raising serious questions about the viability of an independent state. In Juba local elites interpreted the CPA in line with their economic and political interests, using claims to land, authority and political power to challenge the SPLM's agenda for urban reconstruction. In revealing how local actors strategically interpreted the framework of land rights in Southern Sudan, the book offers a basis for understanding the challenges that confront the nascent South Sudan's state-builders and their international partners in the future. NASEEM BADIEY is Assistant Professor of International Development andHumanitarian Action at California State University Monterey Bay.

Lumumba-Kasongo examines those forces that contributed to the fate of multiparty democracy in Africa. The forces include the state, political parties, ethnicity, nationalism, religion, underdevelopment, and the global market.

Multipartyism in Africa is not necessarily democratic. However, the processes toward multipartyism can produce democratic discourses if they can be transformed by popular and social movements. As the author points out, almost all social classes have demanded some form of democracy. Yet the sociological meanings and teleological perspectives of those forms of democracy depend on an individual or group's economic and educational status. The dynamics of the global context, as reflected in the adoption of the structural adjustment programs of the World Bank and the stability programs of the International Monetary Fund, are likely to produce non-democratic conditions in Africa. Lumumba-Kasongo challenges the existing paradigms on democracy and development, so the book is of considerable interest to scholars and policy makers involved with African politics and socio-economic development.

This collection, arranged and edited by Beverly G. Hawk, examines media coverage of Africa by American television, newspapers, and magazines. Scholars and journalists of diverse experience engage in debate concerning U.S. media coverage of current events in Africa. As each African crisis appears in the headlines, scholars take the media to task for sensational and simplistic reporting. Journalists, in response, explain the constraints of censorship, reader interest, and media economics. Hawk's book demonstrates that academia and the press can inform each other to present a fuller and more sensitive picture of Africa today.

This volume will be of interest to scholars and practitioners in African studies, African politics, journalism, and international relations.

A great writer's take on the war of his time
Several famous British novelists at the turn of nineteenth and twentieth centuries departed from the kinds of books that had brought them fame to write factual accounts of the momentous events of their own times. Most were writers of historical fiction and some were enthusiastic collectors of military history and staunch supporters of British imperialism, so it was perhaps inevitable that they would write of the unfolding events of empire. Notable among these authors were Rudyard Kipling, John Buchan and the author of this Boer War history, the famous creator of Sherlock Holmes and Brigadier Gerard, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. One might expect that Doyle would show a jingoistic bias towards all matters British and there certainly is an element of that within these pages, but in the main he took his role as historian seriously and produced a comparatively well balanced work on the Boer political position and their abilities as a military force. However, irrespective of perspective, Conan Doyle's book displays a reliable skill in penmanship that is both distinctive and entertaining. He began this substantial book while the war was being fought, but this edition represents its fourth and final edition completed in 1904 some time after the last shot had been fired. It comprehensively covers the entire conflict and the text includes five useful campaign maps. This is an essential addition to the library of the history of the Boer War as well as for those who simply enjoy Conan Doyle's craft. Available in softcover and hardcover with dust jacket.

Forests have been at the fault lines of contact between African peasant communities in the Tanzanian coastal hinterland and outsiders for almost two centuries. In recent decades, a global call for biodiversity preservation has been the main challenge to Tanzanians and their forests.
Thaddeus Sunseri uses the lens of forest history to explore some of the most profound transformations in Tanzania from the nineteenth century to the present. He explores anticolonial rebellions, the world wars, the depression, the Cold War, oil shocks, and nationalism through their intersections with and impacts on Tanzania's coastal forests and woodlands. In "Wielding the Ax," forest history becomes a microcosm of the origins, nature, and demise of colonial rule in East Africa and of the first fitful decades of independence.
"Wielding the Ax "is a story of changing constellations of power over forests, beginning with African chiefs and forest spirits, both known as "ax-wielders," and ending with international conservation experts who wield scientific knowledge as a means to controlling forest access. The modern international concern over tropical deforestation cannot be understood without an awareness of the long-term history of these forest struggles.

Routledge Library Editions: Colonialism and Imperialism is a 51-volume collection of previously out-of-print titles that examine the history, practice and implications of Western colonialism around the globe. From the earliest contact by European explorers to the legacies that remain today, these books look at various aspects of the topic that, taken together, form an essential reference collection. Two of the titles study colonialism in Southeast Asia by non-Western states, and provide a counterpoint in the European-focused study of worldwide colonialism.

This study critically examines for the first time the unlikely friendship between apartheid South Africa and non-white Japan. In the mid-1980s, Japan became South Africa's largest trading partner, while South Africa purportedly treated Japanese citizens in the Republic as honorary whites under apartheid. Osada probes the very different foreign policy-making mechanisms of the two nations and analyzes their ambivalent bilateral relations against the background of postcolonial and Cold War politics. She concludes that these diplomatic policies were adopted not voluntarily or willingly, but out of necessity due to external circumstances and international pressure.

Why did Japan exercise sanctions against South Africa in spite of their strong economic ties? How effective were these sanctions? What did the sensational term honorary whites actually mean? When and how did this special treatment begin? How did South Africa get away with apparently treating the Japanese as whites but not Chinese, other Coloureds, Indians, and so forth? By using Japan's "sanctions" against South Africa and South Africa's "honorary white" treatment of the Japanese as key concepts, the author describes the development of bilateral relations during this unique era. The book also covers the fascinating historical interaction between the two countries from the mid-17th century onward.

A compelling exploration of one of the most ill-advised and calamitous interventions in colonial development history. As colonial development took off after the Second World War, in the context of national food shortages, Britain's Labour Government initiated the Groundnut Scheme, an extraordinarily ambitious project to convert 3 million acres of bush in Tanganyika into the largest mechanized groundnut farm in the world. It was to prove the largest, most expensive and most disastrous development scheme ever undertaken by the British Government. Never previously analysed in depth, the author draws on a wide range of sources to discuss the political dynamics that drove the Groundnut Scheme forward, despite the gravest doubts of agriculturalists and economists, why it went wrong, and what its impact has been since on the practice of economic development. Initially employing the United Africa Company as agent, the government set up an Overseas Food Corporation to manage the Groundnut Scheme as an example of socialist development in Africa. Army surplus kit and demobbed soldiers poured into the country and were sent up the railway line to Kongwa to beat the bush. By the time the effort was abandoned in 1950, costs had risen to a colossal 36 million - equivalent to over 1 billion today - and yet almost no groundnuts had been exported. The prototype of many large-scale, government-run, high-cost development projects that failed to deliver, the Groundnut Scheme was perhaps the first major failure of agricultural development in Africa, and its legacy in development practice still with us today.

An essential overview of great kingdoms in African history and their legacies, written by world-leading experts. From the ancient Nile Valley to the savannas of medieval West Africa, the Great Lakes of East Africa and on to the forests and grasslands to the south, African civilizations have given rise to some of the world's most impressive kingdoms. Here, nine leading historians of Africa take a fresh look at these kingdoms over five thousand years of recorded history. How did royal power operate in Africa and how were kings - and queens - 'made'? Did they display their sacred royal power, as in the great public ceremonies of the West African kingdoms of Asante and Dahomey, or hide it away, as beneath the fringed, beaded crowns that concealed the faces of Yoruba kings? How have African peoples recorded, celebrated and critiqued royal authority and its legacies? While absolute monarchy in Africa - as elsewhere in the world - is on the wane in the modern era, 'traditional' kingship continues to exist within many of its present-day nations, preserving ancient cultural ideas about identity and power. Africa's history is often little known beyond the devastation wrought by the slave trade and European colonial rule. Presenting some of the most exciting recent developments in the understanding of states and societies in the deeper past, Great Kingdoms of Africa challenges the outdated notion of the continent as an indistinct realm of 'lost kingdoms'. It shows how kingdoms with deep roots continued to shape African history throughout the twentieth century and into the present day.