Environmental and animal studies are rapidly growing areas of interest across a number of disciplines. Natures of Africa is one of the first edited volumes which encompasses transdisciplinary approaches to a number of cultural forms, including fiction, non-fiction, oral expression and digital media. The volume features new research from East Africa and Zimbabwe, as well as the ecocritical and eco-activist 'powerhouses' of Nigeria and South Africa. The chapters engage one another conceptually and epistemologically without an enforced consensus of approach. In their conversation with dominant ideas about nature and animals, they reveal unexpected insights into forms of cultural expression of local communities in Africa. The analyses explore different apprehensions of the connections between humans, animals and the environment, and suggest alternative ways of addressing the challenges facing the continent. These include the problems of global warming, desertification, floods, animal extinctions and environmental destruction attendant upon fossil fuel extraction. There are few books that show how nature in Africa is represented, celebrated, mourned or commoditised. Natures of Africa weaves together studies of narratives - from folklore, travel writing, novels and popular songs - with the insights of poetry and contemporary reflections of Africa on the worldwide web. The chapters test disciplinary and conceptual boundaries, highlighting the ways in which the environmental concerns of African communities cannot be disentangled from social, cultural and political questions. This volume draws on and will appeal to scholars and teachers of oral tradition and indigenous cultures, literature, religion, sociology and anthropology, environmental and animal studies, as well as media and digital cultures in an African context.

David Kramer se bekendheid strek wyer as die Karoovlaktes. Sy weghol-treffers en oorrompelende glimlag in die Volkswagen-advertensies het in die 1980's 'n huishoudelike naam van hom gemaak. Net meer as 'n dekade later het sy musiekblyspele saam met Taliep Petersen internasionale roem gebring met vertonings op die West End en Broadway. Maar wie is die man agter die kitaar en die rooi velskoene? Die biografie onthul 'n woordkunstenaar wat kan toor met Afrikaans, 'n slim sakeman en iemand met sterk beginsels wat opstaan teen ongeregtigheid. Die boek vertel van sy grootwordjare in Worcester en hoe hy sy stem as kunstenaar gevind het. Dit vertel ook van die uiters private mens agter die "almal se pel"-persona en van die skadukant van skielike roem. Kramer se lewenslange droom om 'n stem te gee aan die randfigure binne die Afrikaanse leefwereld het die afgelope dekade 'n werklikheid geword namate hy die werk van bruin folk musikante van die Karoo begin opteken het. As musikale antropoloog het hy 'n groot bydrae gelewer om ons verstaan van Suid-Afrikaanse musiek verder uit te brei. Die onthullende boek bied 'n rare blik op wat agter die skerms gebeur het in die loopbaan en die lewe van een van ons gewildste musikante.