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Books > History > African history > General
As one of the most important natural resources, the management of
water is becoming increasingly important as water resources are
growing more scarce. This is especially the case for rural areas
and developing countries, such as Africa. In sub-Saharan African
(SSA) countries today, the demand for water resources is
increasing. In this innovative study, the author examines these
forms of traditional or customary institutions of water management
in a manner that has never been done before. First, the author
provides us with an understanding and appreciation of the
differential impact of customary institutions on drinking- and
irrigation-water management. Most sociological studies on rural
water management in SSA have addressed water-management issues
without adequately analyzing customary institutions and showing how
they affect rural water management. Most studies in river-basin
management focus on water for irrigation. Few studies have examined
how the customary and statutory institutions influence water
management for different water uses. This study looks at how the
management of water for domestic use differs from the management of
water for livestock and small-scale irrigation. The second unique
contribution of this book is the analysis of the role of women and
how customary and statutory institutions affect women's
participation in water management. Few studies have looked at the
role of women and their contribution to rural water management.
Previous studies have focused only on the statutory institutions.
Finally, the study offers a valuable comparison of the
effectiveness of statutory and customary institutions in
enforcement of their regulations, resolving natural-resource
conflicts, and in ensuring access to water for different uses.
Although many researchers recognize the importance of customary
institutions, their analysis tends to focus more on the statutory
institutions for water management. In this book, both formal and
informal water-management institutions are considered for a more
balanced understanding. The findings of this study will serve as
the basis for formulating policies and programs that include
customary institutions in the management of rural water resources
in Tanzania. In Tanzania, lack of access to safe water for many
rural populations is a major concern. Lack of safe water has
implications for rural people and the country as a whole. Policy
makers, nongovernmental organizations, planners, and water
providers need to be informed so they can incorporate customary
institutions into policies and strategies for management of rural
water resources. This is an important book for African studies,
environmental studies, and policy studies.
This book examines social change in Africa through the lens of hip
hop music and culture. Artists engage their African communities in
a variety of ways that confront established social structures,
using coded language and symbols to inform, question, and
challenge. Through lyrical expression, dance, and graffiti, hip hop
is used to challenge social inequality and to push for social
change. The study looks across Africa and explores how hip hop is
being used in different places, spaces, and moments to foster
change. In this edited work, authors from a wide range of fields,
including history, sociology, African and African American studies,
and political science explore the transformative impact that hip
hop has had on African youth, who have in turn emerged to push for
social change on the continent. The powerful moment in which those
that want change decide to consciously and collectively take a
stand is rooted in an awareness that has much to do with time.
Therefore, the book centers on African hip hop around the context
of "it's time" for change, Ni Wakati.
This volume is a timely survey of the changes that have been
occurring in South African politics and society since the unbanning
of the exile liberation movements in 1990. It brings together a
collection of seasoned scholars who examine the debates over
changes in such areas as the economy, the state, the legal system,
the position of women and foreign relations. The volume explores
the forces pushing for radical change in South African society as
well as those resisting it and is particularly notable for bringing
a political science perspective to bear on such issues as the
restructuring of government and the constitution.
In most accounts of warfare, civilians suffer cruelties and make
sacrifices silently and anonymously. This volume details the dismal
impact war has had on the African people over the past five hundred
years, from slavery days, the Zulu War, World Wars I and II, to the
horrific civil wars following decolonization and the genocide in
Rwanda. In most accounts of warfare, civilians suffer cruelties and
make sacrifices silently and anonymously. Finally, historians turn
their attention to those who are usually caught up in events beyond
their control or understanding. This volume details the dismal
impact war has had on the African people over the past five hundred
years, from slavery days, the Zulu War, World Wars I and II, to the
horrific civil wars following decolonization and the genocide in
Rwanda. Chapters provide a representative range of civilian
experiences during wartime in Africa extending from the late
eighteenth century to the present, representing every region of
Africa except North Africa. Timelines, glossaries, suggested
further readings and maps are included, and the work is fully
indexed. The book begins with Paul E. Lovejoy's study of the
ubiquitous experience of African slavery which has so profoundly
affected the development of the continent and the lives of its
people. John Laband then examines the rise of the Zulu kingdom in
the early nineteenth century and its subsequent conquest by
Britain, thus charting the fate of civilians during the formation
of an African kingdom and their experiences during colonial
conquest. The Anglo-Boer War is situated at a crucial crossroads
between colonial and modern warfare, and the concentration camps
the British set up for Boer and African civilians pioneered a new
form of modern savagery. Bill Nasson examines this war's complex
effects on various categories of non-combatants in South Africa.
Because it was under colonial rule, Africa was dragged into the two
World Wars. Tim Stapleton shows in the fourth chapter that while
the African civilian response to the war of 1914-1918 was often
contradictory and ranged from collaboration to revolt, the effect
of the conflict was only to confirm colonial rule. In the following
chapter, David Killingray explains how and why the impact of the
Second World War on African civilians was rather different from
that of the First in that it undid colonial rule, and paved the way
for the future independence of Africa under modernized African
leadership. The Portuguese held on to their African empire long
after the other colonial empires had relinquished theirs in the
1960s. Angola, the subject of Chapter six, passed seamlessly out of
an independence struggle against Portuguese rule into civil war
that soon involved Cold War rivalries and interventions. Inge
Brinkman describes the dismal sufferings and displacement of
Angolan civilians during four decades of interminable fighting.
Liberia and Sierra Leone declined from relative stability and
prosperity into horrific civil war, and in Chapter seven Lansana
Gberie traces the deadly consequences for civilians and the efforts
to stabilize society once peace was tentatively restored. The Sudan
has suffered decades of ethnic and religious strife between the
government and the people of the southern and western periphery,
and in Chapter eight Jane Kani Edward and Amir Idris analyze what
this has meant, and still means, for the myriad civilian victims.
Chapter nine concludes the book with the most horrific single
episode of recent African history: the Rwandan genocide. Alhaji Bah
explains its genesis and canvasses the subsequent search for
reconciliation. The chapter ends with his discussion of African
mechanisms that should - and even might - be put in place to ensure
effective peacekeeping in Africa, and so save civilians in future
from the swarm of war's horrors.
This work is a path-breaking study of the changing attitudes of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa to Britain and the Commonwealth in the 1940s and the effect of those changes on their individual and collective standing in international affairs. The focus is imperial preference, the largest discriminatory tariff system in the world, and a potent symbol of Commonwealth unity.
This book looks into the role played by mediated communication,
particularly new and social media, in shaping various forms of
struggles around power, identity and religion at a time when the
Arab world is going through an unprecedented period of turmoil and
upheaval. The book provides unique and multifocal perspectives on
how new forms of communication remain at the centre of historical
transformations in the region. The key focus of this book is not to
ascertain the extent to which new communication technologies have
generated the Arab spring or led to its aftermaths, but instead
question how we can better understand many types of articulations
between communication technologies, on the one hand, and forms of
resistance, collective action, and modes of expression that have
contributed to the recent uprisings and continue to shape the
social and political upheavals in the region on the other. The book
presents original perspectives and rigorous analysis by specialists
and academics from around the world that will certainly enrich the
debate around major issues raised by recent historical events.
In From Jerusalem to the Lion of Judah and Beyond, author Steven
Carol provides a comprehensive understanding of Israel's foreign
policy, as well as its historic relationship with East Africa.Carol
conducted on the spot research in both Israel and East Africa for
his analysis. He shows why a small, embattled nation, beset by
mortal enemies from all sides, reached out and assisted other
nations in another part of the world. Carol presents a deeper
understanding of these issues: - Historic links- Economic and
technical cooperation- Military assistance- Political developments-
The break in relations- Historic developments since 1972- Pragmatic
engagement- The Entebbe Affair- The Rescue of the Beta Israel-
Relations restored - An Old/New friend-South SudanFrom Jerusalem to
the Lion of Judah and Beyond documents Israel's willingness to
offer a far greater share of its limited resources to international
assistance than practically any other nation, large or small. It
provides a relevant political analysis of a unique approach to
foreign policy.
In Rwanda's Genocide , Kingsley Moghalu provides an engrossing
account and analysis of the international political brinkmanship
embedded in the quest for international justice for Rwanda's
genocide. He takes us behind the scenes to the political and
strategic factors that shaped a path-breaking war crimes tribunal
and demonstrates why the trials at Arusha, like Nuremberg, Tokyo,
and the Hague, are more than just prosecutions of culprits, but
also politics by other means. This is the first serious book on the
politics of justice for Rwanda's genocide. Moghalu tells this
gripping story with the authority of an insider, elegant and
engaging writing, and intellectual mastery of the subject matter.
This book aims to fill some of the gaps in historical narrative
about labor unions, Nigerian leftists, and decolonization during
the twentieth century. It emphasizes the significance of labor
union education in British decolonization, labor unionism, and
British efforts at modernizing the human resources of Nigeria.
This offers an alternative to the colonialist and nationalist
explanations of the Mau Mau revolt, examining a widely studied
period of Kenyan history from a new perspective.
An area in the midst of deep change, Southern Africa was in turmoil
a short decade ago, its politics framed by white versus black,
colonialism versus decolonialism, majority rule versus minority
rights. With new political discourses beginning in the early 1990s,
the mood today is one of interdependencies between the SADC member
countries. To enhance one's understanding of the area, this book
provides a comprehensive guide to the history of Southern Africa
since the demise of colonialism. In detailed chronologies, it
traces the history of the twelve developing Southern African
countries-Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique,
Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Bringing together information on the political development of the
SADC member countries, the book aims to provide easy access to the
information. The detailed chronologies show the political events as
they unfolded, while the two indexes provide easy access to the
events. The book is a useful guide to key developments, the role
played by political parties, treaty information, and individual
personalities.
This book explores Czechoslovakia's diplomatic relations with
African states and places them within a wider Cold War
historiography, providing contextual background information on the
evolution of communist Czechoslovakia's pro-Soviet foreign policy
orientation. This shift in Soviet foreign policy made Africa a
priority for the Soviet bloc.
Real and Imagined Readers looks at an important period in South
African literary history, marked by apartheid censorship and the
extensive banning of intellectual and creative voices. Returning to
the archive, this book offers a reader-centric view of the
successive censorship laws, and the consequences of publication
control on the world of books. Books and print culture created
intersectional spaces of solidarity where ideas and knowledge were
contested, mediated and translated into the socio-political domain.
By focusing on these marginalised readers, Matteau Matsha sheds
light on the reading cultures and practices that developed in the
shadow of apartheid censorship, creating alternative literary
spaces. Real readers engaged in an elusive dialogue with the
censors' imagined readers, and definitions of literature and
readerships emerged from this unusual connection, leading to the
formation of literary conventions that inform reading politics to
this day. By understanding reading as a complex and dynamic
activity, this book stresses the importance of appreciating books
in relation to the social context in which they are written and,
most importantly, read.
"Empire forestry"-the broadly shared forest management practice
that emerged in the West in the nineteenth century-may have
originated in Europe, but it would eventually reshape the
landscapes of colonies around the world. Melding the approaches of
environmental history and political ecology, Colonial Seeds in
African Soil unravels the complex ways this dynamic played out in
twentieth-century colonial Sierra Leone. While giving careful
attention to topics such as forest reservation and exploitation,
the volume moves beyond conservation practices and discourses,
attending to the overlapping social, economic, and political
contexts that have shaped approaches to forest management over
time.
What is distinctive about this book is its interdisciplinary
approach towards deciphering the complex meanings of President
Gabriel Mugabe of Zimbabwe making it possible to evaluate Mugabe
from a historical, political, philosophical, gender, literal and
decolonial perspectives. It is concerned with capturing various
meanings of Mugabeism.
Max Esser was an adventurous young merchant banker, a Rhinelander,
who became the first managing director of the largest German
plantation company in Cameroon. This volume gives a vivid account
of the antecedents and early stages as experienced and described by
Esser. In 1896 he ventured, with the explorer Zintgraff, into the
hinterland to seek the agreement of Zintgraff's old ally, the ruler
of Bali, for the provision of laborers for his projected
enterprise. The consequences, many optimistically unforeseen, are
illustrated with the help of contemporary materials. Esser's
account is preceded by a look at his and his family's connections,
added to by an account of newspaper campaigns against him, and
completed by an examination of his Cameroon collection, which he
gave to the Linden Museum in Stuttgart.
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