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This short story collection is the outcome of the writing residency for African women writers held in Jinja, Uganda, in January 2011. Writers from across English-speaking Africa contribute stories as diverse as the continent itself, stories that explore universal concerns in acutely individual ways. Among others, an upper-class Ghanaian confronts the irony of race from a prison cell; a Zambian mourns her sister and tackles the restrictions of tradition in a surprisingly humorous way; in Tanzania, two strangers go to extremes to seek elusive health; a Ugandan housewife reflects on personal and world politics as she watches a dog fight; another Ghanaian remembers a love affair that led her into an ancestor's embrace; two Nigerians shopping in London get more than they bargained for; and in a 2011 Caine Prize nominated story by Ugandan writer Beatrice Lamwaka, children cry tears of pain and happiness during an armed conflict.
This book is largely the personal account by Patrick Mbunwe Samba, of how life in his home village of Binshua has been permeated throughout by belief in witchcraft. The book not only provides a historical account informed by his reminiscences of his childhood, it shows as well that even today, belief in witchcraft is very widespread. Witchcraft exerts a profound influence on society in Binshua and in Cameroon in general. The book also provides accounts of the experiences of others, some of them very recent, and gives examples of what injustices and suffering can be caused by the notion that any misfortune must have been caused by witchcraft. For the overwhelming majority of people in village communities such as Binshua, Samba argues, anything not immediately understandable is witchcraft - which is synonymous with mystery. Many educated Africans, too, revert to such traditional attitudes in stressful situations. It may be thought surprising that in spite of the impact of Christianity, Western culture and the improved level of education, the majority of people still believe in witchcraft, and that this phenomenon not only persists but is actually increasing. The book perplexes and challenges by avoiding to provide simple answers to the question whether which witchcraft is real or imagined.
This is a comparative ethnographic study of witchcraft and associated violence between the kingdoms of Kom and Venda in Cameroon and South Africa respectively. The book shows why despite its prevalence in both societies, witchcraft does not lead to open violence in Kom, while such large-scale violence is commonplace in Venda. It reveals that this difference can be explained by factors such as the variations in local ideas on witches, differences in the role of traditional authorities, and various state interventions on witchcraft matters. The book demonstrates, through a rich collection of detailed cases, that contrary to anthropological theory that views witchcraft as a mechanism for the expression and resolution of social tensions and conflicts, witchcraft may at times become a disturbance of amicable social relations. Witchcraft accusations may occur in a context where strained social relations have not preceded them. The knowledge and experience that people have about witchcraft is sufficient to trigger an accusation and a violent reaction. Different forms of witchcraft account for variations in witchcraft attributions and accusations. This comparison provides a valuable contribution to ongoing witchcraft policy discourse amid widespread citizen anxiety over witchcraft, and the increasing call on the post-colonial state to intervene and protect its citizens against occult aggression.
We Have Crossed Many Rivers: New Poetry from Africa is a fascinating anthology of some of the finest contemporary poetic voices from twenty-nine African countries. Inspired by the examples of first generation African poets like Wole Soyinka, Christopher Okigbo, Dennis Brutus, and Mazisi Kunene, the poets in this anthology display rootedness in, and preoccupation with, the discourses of identity and political freedom. At the same time, they engage the more contemporary themes of human and economic rights, governance, the natural environment, love, family and generational relations representative of the African continent. Poems from Tanure Ojaide, Yewande Omotoso, Reesom Haile and Frank Chipasula are inlcluded and in all there are contributions from 68 poets.
In a tribute to Hon. Justice Iorhemen Hwande CFR, Chief Judge of Benue State this book includes contributions from a variety of scholars from Nigeria. 14 essays cover a wide range of topics such as: Insider Dealing by Company Directors and the Nigerian Capital Market; United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea as a Tool for the Resolution of Climate Change Disputes; Is a Practicing Christian Lawyer/Judge in Nigeria an Anachronism?; The Justiciability and Enforcement of Social Rights; and International Economic Law and Development.
Faced with a deepening crisis in their universities, African students have demonstrated a growing activism and militancy. They have been engaged in numerous, often violent, strikes for improvements in their deteriorating living and study conditions and the introduction of a democratic culture in the universities and society as a whole, including the right to express their views, organise in student unions and participate in university management. This book focuses on a recent violent strike action in Cameroons state universities, with special attention to the University of Buea the only English-speaking university in the country between 1993 and 2011. Such a detailed study on student strikes is still rare in African studies, and maybe even more important, this book pays special attention to certain elements that have been of great significance to the strike but are often overlooked in narratives of other student actions in Africa, namely the use of cell phones, differences in gender roles of student activists, the religious dimensions of the strike, the central role of some public spaces like bars and cafés for the planning and execution of student strikes, and the power of the photocopier. The book goes far beyond simply documenting the various protest actions of students against the state and university authorities. It also provides ample room for comments from journalists and other civil-society members and groups on various aspects of the strike.
Idasa's Democracy Index - initially developed for South Africa - is being expanded into Southern Africa in an effort to broaden the capacity of individuals and organisations monitoring and supporting democratic governance efforts in the region. This inaugural Democracy Index for Namibia is intended to set a benchmark for democracy to be measured against. The tool assesses the country's depth of democracy through five focus areas: participation, elections, accountability, political rights, and human dignity. The research relies on expert analysis to answer a set of questions that interrogate how closely, in practice, democracy meets the broad ideal of self-representative government. More specifically, to what extent can citizens control elected officials and government appointees who make decisions about public affairs? And how equal are citizens to one another in this accountability process? The purpose of the scores is to assist citizens in making their own judgements, based on the information made available, to stimulate national debate and to provide democracy promoters with a tool for identifying issues and needs that can be addressed by education, advocacy, training, institution building and policy revision.
Understanding Policy Domains, their Salient Forces, and Organisational Challenges examines the complexity of policy making processes within the context of human action arising from culture, life necessities, and politics. It provides an understanding of human, environmental and institutional behaviour, and identifies the policy factors that underline the success or failure of governments and institutions. This book provides policy-makers, practitioners and other researchers in the field with a clear understanding of the process of policy-making and who is responsible for what. It sets the tone for academics and policy practitioners to confront the problems and challenges that countries face as they seek to improve governance and service delivery. The author provokes debate on the cause and effect of past, present and future human actions, bringing into play the issues of honesty, transparency and political will. He promotes policy as a way towards achieving social harmony in the human struggle for survival. User-friendly for both students and lecturers, as well as for researchers, government and NGO policy 'gurus', Understanding Policy Domains, their Salient Forces, and Organisational Challenges is also valuable for political parties whose members are often unaware of this important aspect of government responsibility.
When a correlation emerges between a prophecy and a police investigation, and a kidnapper maintains his presence at a crime scene, a woman dreads the passage of time. She cannot understand why a man set an innocent teenager on fire and kidnapped her son. The kidnapped boy's father knows when two warring hangmen stand on the same scaffold, one must bow to the other or die. Into the fray comes a game ranger, an ex-decathlete expert at tracking man-eating crocodiles. However, a Senator twice his age counting her fertility days desperately wants him in bed. She isn't aware her sweetheart is in the belly of a world no criminologist can understand. As mayhem takes centre-stage in a community suffering the brunt of a veiled matrix of calamities, is the ranger further bait, a weapon or a sacrificial ram between crouching outlaws?
When an ex-commando, a man seeking celebrity status, prepares to rob the Louvre Museum of the Mona Lisa, his 'wife' discovers that she is his mistress. In the eye of a cyclone, her son and she base their lives on hope. With a business proposal is another murderer prophesied as 'a demon in human form'. At the Vatican, he once aspired to be the first black pope. He is angry with God and his eyes are set on a billion-dollar heist. The ex-priest baits his archenemy and makes his way to a scaffold. Of the happiness he found after cursing God, he is tired. Scars disfigure his manhood. The two men are fugitives lethally dangerous to the other. While the ex-priest desires to honour the same gods and spirits that wrecked his priesthood, the ex-commando must rise above his limitations or he risks total ruin.
The 2011 Transformation Audit presents a collection of articles by South African thought leaders, which asks how the country can set goals and achieve them in a hostile global climate that threatens developmental gains that have been painstakingly achieved. For nearly two decades, South Africans have conducted exhaustive analyses of the country's challenges, embarked on bold scenario exercises and, more recently, produced forward looking strategies aimed at addressing these challenges. The most eminent of these in recent years were the Department of Economic Development's New Growth Path, and the National Planning Commission's Draft National Development Plan. We know now what the problems are and, by and large, what needs to change to address them. Courage is required now to forge consensus, to take decisions on strategies, and to start implementing them. As in previous years, this publication, with its slightly different format and appearance, seeks to provide analysis and provoke debate on how this might be achieved.
Too Young to Die
(2012)
Mzi wants one thing: revenge. He is full of hatred and anger for his old girlfriend Ntombi and her new boyfriend Olwethu. It was their fault that he was arrested for being part of Zakes' carjacking gang. But now to stay out of jail Mzi can't make one wrong move. And at Harmony High Mzi no longer gets the respect he once had. Kids who feared him now tease him. Only his old friend Vuyo and the sexy Priscilla give him comfort, and encourage him to regain his power by getting back into the world of crime. Will Mzi manage to get his revenge on Olwethu, and still stay out of jail? Or will he be making the biggest mistake of his life?
From the bleak days of severe marginalisation; days when words such as women s empowerment or affirmative action were taboo in Kenya, Time for harvest: Women and Constitution Making in Kenya captivatingly traces women s struggles to change their status, their lives and their entire destiny. It is a brilliant exposition of the sheer ingenuity, perseverance and tenacity to contribute to the attainment of an all inclusive Constitution that banishes, inter alia, gender discrimination in all spheres of life, including social, economic, cultural, and political spheres. In this way, it opens up massive space for Kenyan women to exhale . Wanjiku deftly tells the story of many great women actors in the struggle and the nature of their contribution while sparing us the pain that was suffered by individual women and their families as they identified with what at times seemed like mission impossible. They must be the women who, in her words, have names, hearts that ache, eyes that weep, feet that hurt . The books is suitable for the general reader as well as scholars in cultural and feminist studies. Student of politics, law, history, sociology, anthropology and literature who want to know the path travelled by Kenyans - women specifically - in constitution making will find it useful.
The Wicked Walk
(2012)
Nancy slaps palms with her friends and laughs a lot. She wears bell-bottom pants which swing when she walks through Uhuru Gardens. Nancy will finish secondary school this year, but she doesn't really know what will happen to her after that. Deo reads seriously, but he also spends many evenings in bars. He works in a factory laboratory, where his Form VI education elevates him above the other workers. He knows that there are some 'big men' who live off the sweat of the others at the factory; it isn't right, but what does a lone youth do about it? Deo also wants to marry Nancy. Magege, the manager of 'Mountain Goat Rubber Factory', has the means to fulfill all his personal wants-including his taste for young girls. Nancy's mother, Maria, has no private means except selling her own body and her dream of a better life for her daughter. The Wicked Walk swirls around the lives of these four, set on a backdrop of workers' struggles and the rhythm of Dar es Salaam as city dwellers, and especially youths, know it. In this searingly honest, and at times poignant, novel the author raises important questions about the position of women in society, the causes of prostitution, corrupt and inefficient managers, and the groupings of youth who struggle towards ideological clarity as they attempt to understand their society.
The Trials of an Half Orphan
(2012)
Death strikes and claims the mother of Martin Smith when he is still in primary five, leaving him and his siblings at the mercy of a volcanic tempered and cruel father. No longer prepared to accept any beatings from his father, he runs away from home and takes up residence in a deserted house in a neighbouring village with little to live on. His fate appears sealed. Just when all hope seems lost, appears Mr Finley Banks - a Peace Corp Volunteer and teacher. Martin Smith is pleased to be treated like a son once more, only for Mr Finley Banks to come to the end of his stay in the country five years later. How will things turn out with him gone? Set in Cameroon and Italy, this is a story of opportunities and opportunism. It is the story of the trials, thrills and tribulations of a young African half orphan boy determined to make it in life.
This book brings together six seminal essays by Professor Bernard Nsokika Fonlon, essays first published mostly in the 1960s in ABBIA (Cameroon Cultural Review) and in the pages of leading newspapers in Cameroon. Preoccupied with the cultural dignity, humanity and freedom of Africa and Africans, Fonlon never contented himself with stating the problem. In a very Socratic and scientifically systematic approach, he proposed solutions as well. Patiently pedagogical, philosophical and steeped in the classics he convinced his readers through the force of argument. In 'The Task of Today;' Fonlon invites Cameroonians and Africans to face the challenge of nation-building and development in a world where imperialism is far from dead and buried. 'Random Leaves from My Diary' shares his aspirations and challenging experiences as a young seminarian learning to be relevant to God and the Catholic Church. In 'Will We Make or Mar' Fonlon is worried, and indeed frustrated, by the temptations of material pursuits and the love of money threatening to derail modern elites charged with the postcolonial destiny of African nations. As a member of the Cameroon National Union, in 'Under the Sign of the Rising Sun, ' Fonlon preaches patriotism and compromise. In 'Idea of Literature, ' Fonlon expresses his passion for art as the pursuit of beauty and the sublime, stressing, as he was wont to do, that no race or culture has a monopoly of this aspiration. 'A Case for Early Bilingualism' invites Cameroonians to take advantage of their English and French linguistic colonial heritage, by embracing bilingualism in early childhood and playing a major role in an interconnected world where interpretation and translation is eternally needed.
The Sunbird
(2012)
The travails of day-to-day existence notwithstanding, Scolastica is an ordinary woman in Tobeningo who has struggled to carve a fairly successful life for herself. She is not a novice when it comes to putting out fires, thanks to a bubbling teenage daughter, a sugar-daddy chairman of the local Native Authority and the sudden re-appearance of a former sweetheart. But when her son sets out to commemorate his father's passing, on a false alarm, it is her life skills and sense of purpose that are tested to the limit. As the sole privy to the true situation, she is in a race against time to avert a calamity from befalling her son and her people. In her path, besides the vicissitudes of daily living, are the high-handedness and ineptitude of local politics, as well as the straightjacket and mysticism of both religion and tradition. How will she fare?
This is a comprehensive study and erudite description of the struggle of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems in an Age of Globalization, using in particular eighty-four children's traditional games in south-eastern Zimbabwe. The book is an informative and interesting anthropological account of rare African children's games at the risk of disappearing under globalization. The virtue of the book does not only lie in its modest philosophical questioning of those knowledge forms that consider themselves as superior to others, but in its laudable, healthy appreciation of the creative art forms of traditional literature that features in genres such as endangered children's traditional games. The book is a clarion call to Africans and the world beyond to come to the rescue of relegated and marginalized African creativity in the interest of future generations.
This book is the fascinating study of Christian enclaves in the Southern Cameroons of the colonial era. The Christian enclaves came into being with absolute spontaneity as a modus vivendi. Oblivious of the danger in store both colonial governments and traditional authorities provided the conditions in which these Christian villages took root and flourished. However what had taken root in the territory as a self-protection mechanism, soon unleashed its lethal, enticing tentacles luring both the wives of royals and commoners into their bosom. This disruptive influence of Christian villages threatened the survival of ethnic groups, arousing the rancour of traditional authorities and civil administrators. In many ways the Christian enclaves inhibited the potential of colonial governments to administer the territory. These states within a state propagated by the missionary in the most insidious and perfidious of all manners sowed within their own bosom the seed of self-destruction. The whole issue of runaway wives of royals and commoners alike who took refuge in the Christian villages troubled both the colonial and traditional authorities. By offering a safe haven to these runaway wives and welcoming women who were outside the traditional male authority in a tribal setup, the missionaries began sowing within the Christian communities the seeds of their own self destruction. Records of wives of Fons and commoners escaping into these enclaves, eloping with a man and returning pregnant remained the regular subject of several colonial intelligence reports. Highhanded methods by missionaries in these villages brought both the missionaries and their work into disrepute. In less than a quarter of a century these enclaves had lost the war of attrition waged by colonial and traditional authorities. Worn out by endless strife and dissension within and without and forced by contingency, what had been conceived to be ideal Christian communities with snowballing effects, saw its premature demise.
The golden thread that cuts across the various chapters of the book is the emphasis that good constitutions anchor certain tenets that have garnered recognition as hallmarks of democratic dispensation. These hallmarks include the concept of separation of powers; the doctrine of the rule of law; constitutionalism and human rights. These attributes have largely been secured by the 2010 Constitution. Thus, this book is expected to contribute to this new promise by making knowledge on the Constitution accessible through breaking down and contextualising its provisions. It is certain to be useful to law and government students, lawyers, researchers and other persons who seek to understand the new constitutional order.
The role played by Botswana in various southern African liberation struggles has previously been neglected in historical studies. The country?s politics of support and mobilisation early on in Namibia?s struggle for independence from South Africa proved crucial for the formative period of both nation states. Botswana?s difficult and contradictory position as neighbour of the South African apartheid state and colonial power in Namibia are carefully dealt with, as are the challenges faced by the fragile Namibian refugee networks and liberation movements, SWANU and SWAPO, operating in Botswana for decades. ?The Inevitable Pipeline into Exile? deals with a crucial phase of nationalism and transnational politics during the period of southern African decolonisation at the height of South Africa?s diplomatic and military aggression throughout the region.
The genus Gromphas Brullé (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) comprises four species, of which G. aeruginosa (Perty) and G. amazonica Bates are known to occur in Peru. This paper presents a revised description of Gromphas as well as illustrated diagnoses and distributional and ecological data on the Peruvian species.
The Gathering Storm
(2012)
The slow awakening of the people of Bulembe to the true meaning of 'independence' encapsulated in the parallel stories of the Kamuyuga family, who shed their old identity and turn into the wealth-grabbing 'Alkarims', and the Lubele family, who remain exploited peasants. But do the people remain forever caught under the burdens of the past, blinded by the skin-deep 'changes' to the present? This is revealed through the eyes of Simon Lubele, son of Bulembe dedicated to real change. Hamza Sokko renders the tranquil beauty of the Anyalungu plateau on which Bulembe lies, deep-rooted customs of its peasants, the crushing twin burdens of static African tradition and oppressive colonial machinery with poignancy and quiet insight.
The Devil's Hill
(2012)
Dani is gifted in all ways, yet he lives under the shadow of his hero, an old friend and a school dropout. The day he discovers a heap of money and a gun under a trap door in his friend's house, he realised his friend was no longer a mere bully but a member of a dangerous gang wanted for various crimes ranging from smuggling diamonds, carjacking to murder. This becomes the beginning of a nightmare that nearly costs Dani his life as well as that of another of his friends, Zack.
The Cowrie Necklace is a graphic account of the struggle for meaning in life. The poems are a carefully woven sizzling and cracking attempt to mirror society. The poet runs a long and wide gamut of poetic themes which include the intricacies of joy and sadness, God and the devil, nature and nurture, good and evil, love, deceit and treachery. The narrative style is reminiscent of Wole Soyinka, Francesco Nditsouna and D.H. Lawrence. The Cowrie Necklace is a "must read".
Larvae of thirty one species of antlions (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) belonging to eleven genera live in the protection of cave mouths or large rock overhangs in Australia. New taxa proposed here include the following three new genera: Australeon, Newleon, Speleon. The following twelve new species are described: Froggattisca kakadu; Froggattisca rennerensis; Newleon fragilis; Speleon cavernicolus; Speleon pilliga; Speleon yallingup; Stenoleon xanthopsis; Xantholeon cavernicolus; Xantholeon kakadu; Xantholeon newi; Xantholeon pallens; Xantholeon pentlandensis. Two cave species are transferred into a new genus becoming new combinations: Australeon illustris (Gerstaecker), Australeon manselli (New and Matsura). The small non-cave species previously placed in Stenoleon Tillyard are transferred to Bandidus Navás, becoming B. gradostriatus (New), B. copleyensis (New), B. grandithecus (New), and B. navasi (New), new combinations. All known species of six genera (Stenoleon Tillyard, Xantholeon Tillyard, Eophanes Banks and three new genera) are known only in cave mouths. Also, species of Heoclisis Navás, Froggattisca Esben Petersen, Glenoleon Banks, Heoclisis Navás and Myrmeleon Linnaeus contain species living in cave mouths. Two main types of caves are found in Australia; those with loose organic material and those with loose inorganic material. The cave habitat is divided into four zones and several subzones. Many species are restricted to one zone or another but species of Stenoleon may overlap zones. Discussions of the species and some of their biological requirements are provided. One new parasite record is given, an undetermined species of Echthrobacella Girault (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) reared from the larvae of Speleon yallingup Miller and Stange. Diagnoses or descriptions are given for all of these cave species including distributional data. Keys to the cave mouth inhabiting antlions of Australia (adults and larvae) are provided including a revised key to the Xantholeon Tillyard.
The Cameroon Condition
(2012)
The Cameroon Condition brings together three seminal essays by George Ngwane, one of the most renowned, committed and daring Anglophone Cameroon writers. 'The Mungo Bridge, ' is a stinging indictment of the tenuous relations between La Republique du Cameroun and the Southern Cameroons - a marriage gone sour right from the honeymoon. It raises hard questions on the failed union, and is uncompromisingly courageous in the solutions it proposes. This popular essay was first published at a time when it was risky to be open and critical, especially on what has come to be known as The Anglophone Problem. 'The Anglophone File' discusses the narrow and barren politics of belonging that have exacerbated divisions and controversies among Anglophone elites, turning them into political fodder for the Francophone dominated state. The essay suggests ways out of the divisions and intrigue that have kept Anglophones permanently at daggers drawn against each other, and facilitated their exploitation, humiliation and marginalization. The third essay, 'Fragments of Unity, ' concerns the South West Region, whose leaders Ngwane criticizes of political opportunism and of a chronic lack of vision and fortitude with regard to the socio-economic development of the region. It calls for a leadership free of the docility, mediocrity and praise-singerliness. These are powerful essays that have attracted praise and criticism alike. They are essays to leave few indifferent. Their continued relevance to current debates makes of them a most read.
How can African theology survive the self-repetition of mere cultural apologia or contextualization-stereotypes, and mature into a critical theoretical discipline responding to the challenges of the postmodern world-order? Dr. Humphrey M. Wawe contributes here a sound theological reflection using the hitherto unused methodological paradigm of mapping the inroads in the 'transaction' between the Bible and African culture.
Roselyne M. Jua has taught English and American Literature and Creative Writing at the Universities of Yaounde (1986-1993) and Buea (1993-2012). At the University of Buea, she served as Dean of Faculty of Arts from 2010 to 2012. She is Director of Academic Affairs at the University Bamenda, North West Region, since August 2012. Dr Jua has published articles in peer-reviewed journals and edited the plays of Victor E. Musinga among which+are The Barn+and+The Tragedy of Mr. No-Balance. She is co-author with Bate Besong of+To the Budding Creative Writer: A Handbook.
It is 127 years since the Scramble for Africa divided up the continent, imposing borders that have led to conflict rather than peace and stability. It is 100 years since the African National Congress (ANC) was founded as the first African liberation movement with pan-African roots. It is nearly 50 years since the Organization of African Unity (OAU) was founded in May 1963 and ten years since the African Union (AU) was born with a vision that seeks 'the actualisation of human dignity, development and prosperity for the entire African people ... anchored on a vision of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa...driven and managed by its own citizens...and representing a dynamic force in the international arena'. The achievement of the AU vision is predicated on colonialism being dead. However, it has actually been replaced by neocolonialism, which requires extra vigilance from Africa and its diaspora in order for the unity and renaissance dreamed of to become a reality. The chapters in Africana World: From Fragmentation to Unity and Renaissance address colonial and postcolonial African realities with a view to present a holistic and transcontinental appraisal of questions, issues and challenges that confront the continent. Contributors are drawn from different parts of the world - Africa, Europe and the Americas - and it is this eclectic range of scholarly views that lends a rich historicity to the meaning of Africanity. The book contains multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary engagements with Africa's rich cultural heritage, its lingering contemporary challenges, its multifaceted systems of knowledge and its future in the exciting context of the twenty-first century. Africana World: From Fragmentation to Unity and Renaissance is put together in order to help develop the study and knowledge of African liberation across the continent and the diaspora. This first volume launches a new book series, following the Scramble for Africa conferences held every May to commemorate the founding of the OAU, which will be published annually to support the scholarly study of African unity and renaissance in order to replace the lingering imagery of colonialism in Africa with a fully liberated African consciousness.
Swimming with Cobras
(2012)
Swimming with Cobras is a memoir about a journey to find a foothold in a foreign land grappling with its own identity, offering rare and important insight into a corner of South Africa's past. Rosemary Smith's life as an activist in the Eastern Cape began when she moved from England with her South African born husband in the mid-1960s. They made their home in Grahamstown where they raised four children. As a member of the Black Sash she participated in events spanning three decades in an intensely politicised and oppressed province. Through her involvement she made the transition to full integration in a country that at first struck her as alien and strange.
This handy book is a beginner's complete course in the Swahili language, designed especially for foreigners. The book is a result of the author's many years of teaching experience. It is divided into two parts: part one covers pronunciation; Swahili greetings and manners; classification of nouns; adjectives, verbs, adverbs, etc. in twenty-eight lessons and thirty-six exercises. part two includes a study of Swahili usage in specific situations (e.g. at home, in the market, on the road, at the airport, etc.); eleven further lessons and thirteen exercises; the key to the exercises in Parts One and Two; and a Swahili-English vocabulary of words used in the book.
One of the greatest challenges faced by African women writers is finding the time and the space to write. In November 2011 the third FEMRITE African Women Writers Residency alleviated this challenge for 15 women writers from 11 different countries across the continent. The writers from Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Tunisia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, and Botswana gathered in Kampala, Uganda for two weeks. This anthology is the product of the writing developed before and during the residency. The short stories included are told from different perspectives, with varied voices, some experienced, others less so, but all told with freshness and honesty.
The bicultural polity of Cameroon has become problematic over the years. In addition to the increasing marginalization experienced by its English speaking component in many domains (politics, administration, economy, culture), it is facing mounting inequality and disarray despite the nation-building aspirations at reunification in 1961. This book examines the very basis of the union crisis by tracing the causes to the asymmetrical nature of negotiations between the contracting partners the founding fathers of the union and the politics of guile and force that has characterized the regimes in Yaound. From a federal model that takes the equality of the contracting parties as a given, the polity has developed into an ethno-regional patchwork designed by its architects to be essentially unequal in nature. Consequently, the segmented Anglophone community can exist only in contradiction within itself. They have been worked into the regimeís statecraft of consciously maintaining or re-activating ethnic boundaries inherited from colonialism. An analysis of the cultural and linguistic dimension of the union shows contrasting drives between the assimilation/attempts to dominate by the French-speaking component and resistance by Anglophones. The analyses further show the projected harmonization and rollback by the State, the creative blends and the crystallization around continuing or reproduced colonial experiences, a fierce competition between elites with a drive to impose the culture of the demographically dominant and a refusal to accept the idea of a linguistic minority. The contentious experience, Yenshu Vubo argues, can still be remedied by reforms in a politics of possibilities.These reforms must be ready to re-examine the constitutional basis of the union by revisiting the often dismissed question of the form of the state defined as one and indivisible (a new federal architecture as requested by several political voices). Institutions should be restructured to attend to diversity issues and essential linguistic differences while consolidating any strategic gains of the union such as the creative blends and the acceptance of specifi cities of each community, statutory equality of citizenship and the essential clauses of the fi rst federation.
Stars of the Long Night
(2012)
Set in the Niger Delta this novel tells the tale of a women's struggle for equality in a traditional patriachal society. Set against the once-in-a-generation festival at which the one chosen by the gods performs the dance of 'the mother mask', Ojaide weaves a tale of suspense while displaying the traditions and religious beliefs that define the Niger Delta.
The richness of public and academic discourses on the past, present and future direction of South Africa's role in Africa and the world suggests that as a sub-discipline of politics, South African foreign policy is ready for a systematic and regular appraisal in the form of a series of publications that the Institute for Global Dialogue will call South African Foreign Policy Review. This is also because constant changes in international and domestic circumstances impinge on the management and analysis of South Africa's foreign policy. This, the first review provides an important opportunity to build on existing foreign policy works in order to take stock of the road already travelled in the past decade or so. This is crucial in laying some basis for anticipating the country's future role, and considering the opportunities and challenges, which future volumes of the review will consider. This volume provides a wide-ranging appraisal of the relationship between stated foreign policy goals and actual outputs and outcomes, an assessment of how foreign policy has actually been operationalized and implemented. To this end, common themes in South African foreign policy provide the framework for the first review. These include foreign policy decision-making; soft power dynamics in the foreign policy's strategic calculus; diplomatic tools used - economic diplomacy, peace diplomacy and paradiplomacy; South Africa's relations with key states in Africa, in the global south and in the global north; South Africa's approach to Africa multilateral, global multilateralism/governance. The review hopes to stimulate further discussion and thinking on the challenges confronted, and the future shape and direction of South Africa's foreign policy.
Son of a Red Devil
(2012)
This is the story of Lukemba Gelindo. He was adopted by a former football player, August Hellemans - also called Gustaf - of the national Belgian team - The Red Devils. Gelindo and his brother were adopted after they were abandoned in a nursery home where they had been mistreated. He grew up in a Flemish village where people had never seen a black person. In general, Flemings are still surprised when they hear blacks speaking their language fluently. This can lead to perplexing and frustrating encounters with ignorance and arrogance, such as during a job interview where Gelindo had to justify himself over and over again as to where he learned to speak the Flemish language. This is also the story of the differences in mentality between the Flemings and Walloons viewed from a black perspective through the eyes of someone who is intimately familiar with both cultures. Gelindo's parents were Flemings but he always went to French speaking schools. It is as well, a story about racism, especially racism that stems from Flemings - which is quite implacable, to say the least. Evidence of this statement is not far-fetched; black people are completely absent in the Flemish media, except perhaps as footballers or musicians, meant to entertain but not to claim rights, entitlements or any serious measure of social visibility. More personally, this story is about Gelindo's experience undergoing psychiatric treatment and also about the sexual tensions between his mother and him. Among other things, it is also Gelindo's aim to speak out against the manner in which young black children get objectified by the rich and famous as the latest 'must have' things, designer accessories up for adoption and adaptation. Like in the rest of the world, this trend is also seen in Flemish magazines in which parents pose in photos with their little black trophy children. The account is direct, honest, uncompromising, laced with cynicism, and in many ways therapeutic.
Since the end of World War II, global capitalism, spearheaded by US financial interests and backed by the most lethal military force that has ever been assembled, has consolidated its power over the world economy. In the past decades, especially, transnational corporations have tightened their control over national governments and international institutions. The imposition of free trade policies and the increasing privatization of social services have facilitated the accumulation of fabulous wealth for the owners of capital at the expense of working people and the environment worldwide. Contemporary capitalism now dominates every major sector of the world economy. The social and environmental costs of contemporary capitalism are prohibitive. The global megatrends of rising inequality and absolute poverty, political instability, and global climate change-all compounded and accelerated by this predatory mode of production-are adversely affecting the lives and threatening the future of every inhabitant of nations and the entire world. In view of these megatrends and the current global economic crisis, the conclusion that contemporary capitalism does not serve the interests of the vast majority of the people on the planet and is both economically and environmentally unsustainable, is self-evident. History offers harsh lessons. The political violence of the 20th century, which resulted in an estimated 200 million deaths and untold economic and environmental destruction, cautions us to work for socialism in the 21st century with every means at our disposal except violence. Facing the awful power and willingness of capitalism to coerce and corrupt, we must find ways to make soft power prevail. Clearly, a revolution is in order-it is time to place the socialist alternative on the national and world agenda.
So the Path Does Not Die
(2012)
Protagonist Finas search for happiness and belonging begins on the night of her aborted circumcision and continues through her teenage years in Freetown, Sierra Leones capital; her twenties in the Washington Metropolitan Area; and ends with her return to Sierra Leone to work as an advocate for war-traumatized children. The novel explores the problems she encounters in each setting against the backdrop of the tensions, ambiguities, and fragmentation of the stranger/immigrant condition and the characters struggles to clarify their ideas about home and abroad. Finas circumcision gets significant, though not sensational, play in the different attitudes toward the practice between her and her fiancé Cammy, a Trinidadian urologist. The differences complicate their relationship at a time when skeletons from their pasts threaten their impending marriage. The stories of Finas friend, African-American Aman and her fiancé, Nigerian Bayo; of Edna (Finas foster sister) and her husband Kizzy; and of Mawaf, a war-traumatized teen, unfold in subplots that merge with the main plot and overarching theme of belonging as characters straddle home and abroad places.
Snoqualmia, new genus, is described for two species of polydesmid millipeds from the northwestern
United States: Snoqualmia snoqualmie, new species, from Washington State, and S. idaho, new species,
from Idaho. Males of S. idaho possess unusually complex gonopods, perhaps the most complex to be found in the Order
Polydesmida. Snoqualmia is placed in context with other polydesmid genera known from North America. The
polydesmid fauna of North America is discussed, as well as characters of the gonopods of the family.
From an exploration of the cooperative movement's various international iterations to a perspicacious survey of the history of cooperatives in Tanzania, Dr. Lyimo highlights the issues facing farmers and business people and illustrates the way in which cooperative effort- enterprises that put people, and not capital, at the center of their business- can not only improve members' economic power in bargaining for better marketing conditions and prices, but also to increase employment opportunities, thereby improving the standard of living for a large number of people.
Running with Mother
(2012)
Unsentimental and unselfpitying, this short but powerful novel by Chris Mlalazi vivifies an account by Rudo, a fourteen-year-old school girl who observes the terrifying events that take place in her village. Running with Mother provides us with a gripping story of how Rudo, her mother, her aunt and her little cousin survive the onslaught. Shocking as the story that unfolds may be, it is balanced by the resilience, self-respect, unselfishness and stoicism of the protagonists. Mlalazi's novel is written with insight, humour and provides a salutory reminder that even in the worst of times, we can find humanity.
The subject of revolutionary overthrow of constitutional orders in Africa is at the intersection of three disciplines: jurisprudence and legal philosophy, constitutional law and power politics, and civil-military relations, that is, military security policy which is one aspect of national security policy. The subject is of interest in at least four ways. It problematizes the inescapable question of governance in the African continent. It challenges the democratization agenda in Africa - how does one democratize not only political governance but also the instruments of violence in the state? It also challenges African constitutional lawyers and policy makers to seek a constitutional model that addresses the enduring menace of the power of the gun in African affairs and the changing role of the military in African politics. Finally, it underscores concerns about sovereignty and national security. This book contributes to a fuller understanding of the coup syndrome in African. To this end, it vigorously interrogates the place of coups in the governance of Africa, and explores the relevance of Kelsen's theory of revolutionary legality in the context of coup d'états in Africa. It is a major contribution by a leading thinker in the field.
A comprehensive revision of the Subfamily Parandrinae (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) from the Afrotropical Region is presented. Two new genera are described: Adlbauerandra and Meridiandra. The known species from the Afrotropical Region are excluded from Parandra Latreille, 1802, which resulted in the following new combinations: Acutandra beninensis (Murray, 1862), A. comoriana (Fairmaire, 1895), A. gabonica (Thomson, 1858), Adlbauerandra morettoi (Adlbauer, 2004) and Meridiandra capicola (Thomson, 1861). Eighteen new species are described: Acutandra amieti, A. barclayi, A. camiadei, A. dasilvai, A. delahayei, A. gaetani, A. garnieri, A. grobbelaarae, A. hugoi, A. jolyi, A. leduci, A. leonardi, A. lucasi, A. noellae, A. oremansi, A. plenevauxae, A. quentini, and A. vingerhoedti. The species Parandra comoriana Fairmaire, 1895 is revalidated and a lectotype is designated. Parandra beninensis Murray, 1862 and Parandra conradti Kolbe, 1893 are revalidated. A lectotype is designated for Parandra gabonica Thomson, 1858 as the designation by Quentin and Villiers (1975) was considered as invalid. Keys are presented to separate genera and all species of African Parandrinae from each other. Illustrations are provided for all the species including many special characters used in the keys.
Despite a long history of regional integration and a multiplicity of regional organisations in southern Africa, the effect of regional integration on economic growth and poverty reduction remains debatable or elusive. This causes many to doubt whether regional integration is in actual fact an effective poverty-reduction strategy. Accordingly, the focus of this book is to explore and analyse whether specific Southern African Development Community (SADC) trade integration policies, especially the trade liberalisation regime, have produced economic growth and reduced poverty in the region. While it is generally agreed that economic growth is the panacea to poverty reduction, there is little evidence as to whether regional integration in Africa is associated with economic growth in the countries concerned and subsequently leads to poverty reduction. The book makes recommendations on how the SADC FTAs can contribute to poverty reduction and socioeconomic development, and goes on to suggest policy proposals on how to enhance the contribution of the FTAs to poverty eradication and economic development. It also identifies specific activities to be undertaken to enable supply-side and productive competitiveness interventions to support the FTAs and contribute to economic development. The potential constraints and negative impacts of the FTAs are investigated and highlighted, and possible solutions are recommended and motivated.
This book makes an important contribution to existing knowledge on the processes of reading and comprehension by identifying the various approaches and corresponding theories. The book is organized in various chapters that cumulatively lead to our entry into the three key areas. Chapter One provides important background to reading as a skill, explaining the hidden dynamics that avoid the process and outcome of reading. Chapter Two deals with comprehension and vocabulary, both very important aspects of the reading process, while Chapter Three focuses on the relationship between reading, remembering and perception. Chapters four and five deal with various ways of assessing comprehension and the role of the reader respectively.
In more developed democracies, such as the US and Germany, interest groups both shape and promote public opinion. Regrettably, this is not always true in South Africa's nascent system. This anthology tries to understand why interest groups do not affect or advance public opinion in South Africa and then suggests how interest groups can redress the situation.