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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political control & freedoms > Slavery & emancipation
In Critique Of Black Reason, eminent critic Achille Mbembe offers a capacious genealogy of the category of Blackness - from the Atlantic slave trade to the present - to critically reevaluate history, racism, and the future of humanity. Mbembe teases out the intellectual consequences of the reality that Europe is no longer
the world's center of gravity while mapping the relations between colonialism, slavery, and contemporary financial and extractive capital.
Tracing the conjunction of Blackness with the biological fiction of race, he theorizes Black reason as the collection of discourses and practices that equated Blackness with the nonhuman in order to uphold forms of oppression. Mbembe powerfully argues that this equation of Blackness with the nonhuman will serve as the
template for all new forms of exclusion.
With Critique Of Black Reason, Mbembe offers nothing less than a map of the world as it has been constituted through colonialism and racial thinking while providing the first glimpses of a more just future.
In 2011 while riding his motorbike through Mali, on his way home from London to Johannesburg, Stephen McGown was taken captive in Timbuktu by Al Qaeda. He was held captive for almost six years giving him the unenviable record of Al Qaeda’s longest held prisoner.
Together with writer Tudor Caradoc-Davies, he wrote his book Six Years With Al Qaeda: The Stephen McGown Story. In this inspirational biography Steve uncovers the extraordinary lengths he went through to survive; from learning French and Arabic, converting to Islam and accepting a name given to him by his captors. His aim was to raise his status among Al Qaeda, keep himself alive and hopefully make his way back home.
Thousands of kilometres away in Johannesburg, the shock of his kidnapping hit his wife Cath and the rest of the McGown family. Working every option they could find, from established diplomatic protocols to the murky back channels of the kidnap game, they set to work on trying to free Steve.
Months turned to years and while the captive-captor dynamic was ever-present, Steve witnessed first hand what no westerner has ever seen before, giving him a nuanced perspective on one of the worlds most feared terrorist organisations.
Utilizing key selections from American literature, this volume
aligns with ELA Common Core Standards to give students a fresh
perspective on and a keener understanding of slavery in the United
States. Slavery is a central feature of American history, one with
which the nation still has not come fully to terms. In this book,
that seminal topic is examined in a fresh way-through literature.
Organized chronologically to show evolving attitudes toward
American slavery in the 19th century, the work focuses on four key
19th-century texts that are frequently taught, using them as a
gateway for understanding this critical period and why slavery had
to be destroyed if the Union was to be maintained. In addition to
examining the four works-Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life
of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin,
Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and Mark
Twain's Huckleberry Finn-the book also provides numerous historical
documents that contextualize slavery in the literary texts. These
documents make it dramatically clear why issues such as abolition
and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 were so controversial for
19th-century Americans. Aligned with the ELA Common Core Standards,
the title supports history teachers with insights into classic
literary works, and it enhances the English curriculum with rich
elaborations of relevant historical context. Helps students
understand classic works of American literature from the slavery
era by putting them in the context of history, society, and culture
Helps students understand social and political issues relative to
slavery by analyzing their appearance in period literature
Documents how African Americans have been able to combat slavery
and racism against almost insurmountable odds Provides teachers
with a ready-reference that aligns with Common Core Standards in
English Language Arts (ELA) in Social Studies (informational texts)
Includes support tools such as document excerpts, discussion
questions and areas for study, and guidance on further research
Many believe that support for the abolition of slavery was
universally accepted in Vermont, but it was actually a fiercely
divisive issue that rocked the Green Mountain State. In the midst
of turbulence and violence, though, some brave Vermonters helped
fight for the freedom of their enslaved Southern brethren. Thaddeus
Stevens--one of abolition's most outspoken advocates--was a Vermont
native. Delia Webster, the first woman arrested for aiding a
fugitive slave, was also a Vermonter. The Rokeby house in
Ferrisburgh was a busy Underground Railroad station for decades.
Peacham's Oliver Johnson worked closely with William Lloyd Garrison
during the abolition movement. Discover the stories of these and
others in Vermont who risked their own lives to help more than four
thousand slaves to freedom.
"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
Slavery in the United States continues to loom large in our
national consciousness and is a major curricular focus in African
American studies, during Black History Month, and for slavery
units. This is the first encyclopedia to focus on the typical
experiences and roles and material life of female slaves in the
United States from Colonial times to Emancipation. More than 150
essay entries written by a host of experts offer a unique
perspective on the material life, events, typical experiences, and
roles of enslaved women and girls in both their interactions with
their owners and the little private time they could manage. This
groundbreaking volume is an exciting focus for research and general
browsing and belongs in all American History, Women's Studies, and
African American Studies collections.
The coverage includes entries illuminating women's work, on the
plantation, from the big house to the field and slave cabin as well
as individual entrepeneurialship. Aspects of daily life such as
food procurement and meals, folk medicine and healing, and hygiene
are revealed. Material life is uncovered through entries such as
Auction Block, Clothing and Adornments, and Living Quarters. Life
cycle events from pregnancy and birthing to childcare to holidays
and death and funeral customs are discussed. The resistance to
slavery and its horrors are enumerated in many entries such as
Abolition, Sexual Violence, and the Underground Railroad. A wider
understanding of the different ways that slavery played out for
various enslaved women can be seen in entries regarding African
origins and that depict regions in the North and South such as Low
Country and groups such as Maroon Communities. Profiles of noted
female slaves and their works are also included. Accompanying the
entries are suggestions for further reading. Further scholarly
value is added with a chronology and selected bibliography.
Numerous photos and sidebars complement the essays, with quotations
from oral history and literature plus document excerpts.
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