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Orisa Ibeji
(2014)
Ahmed Yerima's play celebrates the phenomenon of twins among the Yoruba people. Orisa Ibeji is also about man's fear of death and love of life; destiny and reincarnation; and the place of the gods in human affairs. Yerima employs simple and beautiful language, dynamic characters and deft skill to navigate the labyrinth that is Orisa Ibeji.
The Fourth Masquerade
(2014)
As one of the most important Nigerian poets who continue to write the nation in verse, Yeibo, in this fifth collection of poems, has strategically fashioned a kind of poetry that does not only derive its idiom from the prosody and folk tradition of the Izon of Nigeria, it equally advances the poet's vision through form and structure. His recourse to folklore and reliance on oral materials in the image making process gives coherence and form to the poems. However, what distinguishes this collection from the previous ones is the question of the form through which he demonstrates an intense awareness of the Nigerian experience.
King of the Jungle
(2014)
In King of the Jungle, the bouts of ethno-religious violence in Jos are fused with the heartbreaking story of two brothers who go through life unaware of each other's existence. Carefully crafted with local colour which evokes memories of pre-2001 Jos, Bizuum Yadok's first novel weaves humour, urban realism, tragedy and redemption.
This book is about home. With Malawi as its focus, it seeks to understand ideas about home as expressed through poetry written by Malawians in English. Although African Literatures are studied those of Malawi have not received agreeable attention. This book surveys poetry by five Malawian writers - Felix Mnthali, Frank Chipasula, Jack Mapanje, Lupenga Mphande, and Steve Chimombo. The discussion negotiates scribed experience of exile, engendered by Dr. Banda's regime, and shows that the selected poets effectively converse with a sense of home, reflecting on its transformations in their work. Interrogating the strict definitions of home, the argument highlights that far from home-less exiles in fact clarify the sense of what 'home' is. The manoeuvre is one of thinking towards an unboundaried 'home'. This book will be of value not only to readers interested in the cultures of Africa but to all those with an interest in worldwide literary phenomena, and ideas therein of home and exile.
A child of a Jewish family fleeing Nazi-Germany and settling in apartheid South Africa in the 1930s, Ruth Weiss? journalistic career starts in Johannesburg of the 1950s. In 1968 banned from her home country, and then also from Rhodesia for her critical investigative journalism, she starts reporting from Lusaka, London and Cologne on virtually all issues which affect the newly independent African countries. Peasants and national leaders in southern Africa ? Ruth Weiss met them all, travelling through Africa at a time when it was neither usual for a woman to do so, nor to report for economic media as she did. Her writing gained her the friendship of diverse and interesting people. In this book she offers us glimpses into some of her many long-nurtured friendships, with Kenneth Kaunda or Nadine Gordimer and many others. Her life-long quest for tolerance and understanding of different cultures shines through the many personalized stories which her astute eye and pen reveals in this book. As she put it, one never sheds the cultural vest donned at birth, but this should never stop one learning about and accepting other cultures.
This study raises awareness to the emergence of a new genre in world literature?hybridized literature. It rejects the assumption according to which literatures written in less commonly taught languages should be subsumed into one universally accessible global idiom. Instead, Vakunta challenges literary scholars and readers of literature to regard untranslatability as the key to cross-cultural engagement. The book?s multiple approaches and innumerable sources generate complex interdisciplinary connections and provide an excellent introduction to a complex literary phenomenon alien to literati resident outside the officially bilingual multicultural and multilingual Republic of Cameroon.
This book is the celebration of one man's vendetta against a cancerous regime that thrives on the rape of democracy and human rights abuses. Lapiro de Mbanga, born Lambo Sandjo Pierre Roger on April 7, 1957 was a conduit for social change. He fought for change in his homeland and died fighting for change in Cameroon. Lapiro believed in the innate goodness of man but also had the conviction that absolute power corrupts absolutely. He was noted for contending that 'power creates monsters.' His entire musical career was devoted to fighting the cause of the downtrodden in Cameroon. He composed satirical songs on the socio-economic dysphonia in his beleaguered country. In his songs, he articulated the daily travails of the man in the street and the government-orchestrated injustices he witnessed. As a songwriter, Lapiro de Mbanga distinguished himself from his peers through bravado, valiance and the courage to say overtly what many a Cameroonian musician would only mumble in the privacy of their homes. Lapiro's anti-establishment music led to his arrest and imprisonment in September 2009 for three years. Released from prison on April 8, 2011 he was later given political asylum by the USA. On September 2, 2012 Lapiro relocated with some members of his family to Buffalo in New York where he died on March 16, 2014 after an illness. His revolutionary music and fighting spirit live on.
The Rising Sun and Boma
(2014)
The Rising Sun and Boma interrogate social evils such as moral decadence, corruption, and greed that are rife in the Cameroonian society. In both plays, Ipah, Paddy, Dinna, and Boma, for example, exemplify how waywardness and avarice can subvert moral integrity. At the same time, the plays problematise the intersection of tradition and modernity, articulating the tension inherent in both visions of life. Although the moral landscape of the drama appears sordid, characters like Abu Ipah and Joseph enkindle hope. Initially performed seventeen years ago, the plays are still as poignant as they are didactic and hilarious as they are refreshing. The characters are credible and compelling partly because of the felicitous language that is anchored in the local imagery.
Ruminations of Ipome
(2014)
Breadth taking in range of subject explored and profound in depth of emotions evoked, this collection of poems chronicles different shades of emotions resulting from personal loss and love, as well as celebrates and critiques issues of culture, nature, place, people, ethics, and politics. The language is luminous and honed by refreshing and suggestive imagery.
Iredi War : A Folkscript
(2014)
Iredi War was the winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2014. The playwright introduces the notion of 'folk script' with its special stamp. The use of the oral literature genre allows for the full exploitation of the creative licence which allows for the swings from the historical to the oral, the natural to the supernatural, the real to the fantastic.
African scholarly research is relatively invisible globally because even though research production on the continent is growing in absolute terms, it is falling in comparative terms. In addition, traditional metrics of visibility, such as the Impact Factor, fail to make legible all African scholarly production. Many African universities also do not take a strategic approach to scholarly communication to broaden the reach of their scholars' work. To address this challenge, the Scholarly Communication in Africa Programme (SCAP) was established to help raise the visibility of African scholarship by mapping current research and communication practices in Southern African universities and by recommending and piloting technical and administrative innovations based on open access dissemination principles. To do this, SCAP conducted extensive research in four faculties at the Universities of Botswana, Cape Town, Mauritius and Namibia.
How does one think about the form of the State in its management of conflicting ethnic groups in positive light in Africa in the present and in the future? Ethnic reality in Africa continues to be the principal determining factor of individual and collective existence, constituting an obstacle to the normal operation of its States, which often fail or collapse. In the global era, the re-organisation of power and of thought in plural societies leads to socio-political and geopolitical stabilisation. The author here argues for the implementation of 'deliberative democracy' or 'governance under the tree' as a synthesis of liberal and republican democracy based on the 'win-win' principle, different from majoritarian democracy where the 'winner takes all'. The theory of the multinational state thus proposes a constitutional, political and conceptual innovation in the plural societies of the 21st century: it entails restructuring the imagination to allow a global shift in African political thought, its needs, desires, quests, expectations and hopes.
African land rights systems
(2014)
This book, from ethical, interdisciplinary, and African perspectives, unveils the root causes of the increasing land disputes. Its significance lies upon the effort of presenting a broad overview founded upon a critical analysis of the existing land-related disputes. It is a perspective that attempts to evaluate the renewed interest in evolving theories of land rights by raising questions that can help us to understand better differences underlying land ownership systems, conflict between customary and statutory land rights systems, and the politics of land reform. Other dimensions explored in the book include the market influence on land-grabbing and challenges accompanying trends of migration, resettlement, and integration. The methodology applied in the study provides a perspective that raises questions intended to identify areas of contention, dispute, and conflict. The study, which could also be categorized as a critical assessment of the African land rights systems, is intended to be a resource for scholars, activists, and organizations working to resolve land-related disputes.
Population growth and the drop in the returns from the major cash crop (coffee) for small farmers are the main drivers that have influenced the farming systems and mobility of farmers in the Western Highlands of Cameroon. The main objective of the research that led to this book was to determine the interactions between farming systems and human mobility in this region of Cameroon. A comparative study was conducted through household and field surveys in three villages and conceptualized based on the systems approach. The different types of mobility were influenced by household social factors, the quest for 'high valued' farm plots and hired labour. Urban-rural migration contributed to occupation diversification and social mobility. The sustainability factor was a function of land use intensity, intensity of off-farm inputs, the household adjustment factor and mobility of the household. The sacred groves were rich in plant diversity of varied ecological and economic importance. Nitrogen mining was common at all levels of the farming system. These determinants and types of mobility claims are pertinent to the research area; the sustainability results of the farming systems reflect the reality on the ground; the nutrient flux evaluated at the crop and farm levels constitute a valuable database for future research.
The Swiss ophthalmologist Erika Sutter was born in Basel in 1917. She spent 32 years working in Elim Hospital, founded by the Swiss Mission in an impoverished rural area in North-Eastern South Africa. Together with her African colleague and friend, Selina Maphorogo, she founded the Care Groups, village self-help groups working for better health in their communities. The movement is still active after more than 30 years, and now has around 2,000 members, mostly women, in over 200 villages. Erika Sutter has received numerous international honours and awards for her pioneering work, including the award ?Woman of the Year? in 1984 from the South African newspaper ?The Star?, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel. For the creation of this biography, Erika Sutter spent many hours with the author, her friend Gertrud Stiehle, telling the story of her long life ? vividly, with a sharp eye for social issues, a hint of self-irony, and dry wit. Her account does not ignore events in the wider world. She experienced life on the Swiss-German border during the Second World War, and her years of working in South Africa were those when the apartheid policies of the South African Government were becoming more and more repressive, affecting many aspects of life in the country.
The purpose of this book is to show that the possession cult of Vimbuza presents itself as an oral genre which is part and parcel of African Oral Literature. The ethnolinguistic study which we undertake will permit us to catch a glimpse of its whole complexity. The analysis has a bearing on four principal aspects. Historical developments: a certain number of facts concerning the birth of possession among the Tumbuka; possession: the study attempts to show how the cult articulates itself with its beliefs and the use of divination; the social role: analysis of social functions; the style: an analysis of the linguistic procedures which are characteristic of Vimbuza songs. The presence of rhetorical figures would confirm that we are talking about an oral literary genre.
Tumbuka folktales are on the verge of extinction. If not recorded now, the loss would not only be the amusement they provide but chiefly lessons inherent. On the surface, they are simple narratives, however, subtly they evoke serious moral lessons that are very applicable to our everyday life today. This folklore collection is based on field research conducted by the authors in Citumbuka speaking areas of Mzimba and Rumphi districts in Nothern Malawi.
The essays collected together in this book reflect the author's varied experiences in the realms of politics and social struggle; he notes that they cannot be separated from his other experiences in his country, Egypt, over the years. These experiences extend from popular culture or folklore, through the wider political world of African liberation politics, to the Committee for the Defense of National Culture. This book is like a long trip through African culture from the 1950s to the beginning of the 21st century. These essays will most likely provoke a lot of memories, sweet and bitter; with maybe the bitter ones as the more lasting. The author notes that it appears as if the only relationship that seems to have mattered, for a long time, for the Egyptians with the rest of Africa was the river Nile, which joins the country to ten other countries, while a vast desert stands in-between. Such separation ignores the ancient relations between Pharaonic Egypt and the rest of Africa, and the role of Egypt in supporting many liberation movements on the continent. The author has set himself some tough questions in this book: Is it legitimate today to use race to sub-divide the African continent? Can this, moreover, be simply done as if race is ahistorical or an idealistic concept of identities? Or are we going to talk about Arabism in Egypt, Libya or Maghreb as if it were an identity gained with the advent of the Arabs, implying that these were 'lands with no people' - a sort of 'No Man's Land?' Or was this a fragile space that could not confront the invading empire? Or will Arabism equate with Bantuism or negroism sometimes, and Hausa and Swahili cultures at other times? These are the types of issues that Helmi Sharawy examines in this very important book. Experiences that inform this book began with the author's first encounter in March 1956, with some African youths who were in Cairo for higher studies or as representatives of liberation movements with whom he worked as an intermediary with the Egyptian national state, which work left on him an everlasting impression.
As one of the foremost scientists of the time, the Zurich-born botanist Hans Schinz travelled throughout the colony of German South-West Africa, now known as Namibia, from 1884 to 1886. During his expeditions, which covered the length and breadth of the country, he was an enthusiastic collector of many botanical, ethnographical, zoological and mineral samples. He described his experiences in vivid detail in letters to his family and colleagues in Zurich and Berlin. The extensive collections, with which he returned to Switzerland, and his subsequent research fostered his rapid career progression: in 1893 Hans Schinz became the director of the Zurich Botanical Gardens and in 1895 the Professor of Systematic Botany at the University of Zurich.
What does it mean to be marginal? For residents of Cape Town?s Langa Township, being considered marginal is subject to a host of social, physical and sometimes materialistic qualifications ? not least of which is owning a mobile phone. Through various presentations of unique aspects of township life revealed through ethnographic snapshots, this book reveals the complex realities of marginalization experienced by some residents in Langa Township, located in Cape Town, South Africa. Mobile phones have been embraced and accommodated by both local South Africans and African immigrant residents living and working in Langa. Among other things, the technology has become a way of challenging (real and imagined) marginalities within the township in particular and South Africa in general. The book provides empirical data on the role of technology in regards to migration and notions of belonging; specifically the ways that technology has mitigated distance for residents, provided opportunities for development, facilitated the negotiation of various marginalities, and offered new ways of belonging for Langa residents.
The Sahel has been the focus of scientific interest in environmental-human dynamics and interactions. The objective of the present study is to contribute to the recent debate on the re-greening of Sahel. The paper examines the dynamics of barren land in the Sahel of Burkina Faso through analysis of remotely-sensed and rainfall data from 1975–2011. Discussions with farmers and land management staff have helped to understand the anthropogenic efforts toward soil restoration to enable the subsistence farming agriculture. Results showed that area of barren land has been fluctuating during the study period with approximately 10-year cyclicity. Similarly, rainfall, both at national and local levels has followed the same trends. The trends of the area of barren land and rainfall variability suggest that when rainfall increases, the area of barren land decreases and barren land increases when rainfall decreases. This implies that rainfall is one of the main factors driving the change in area of barren land. In addition, humans have contributed positively and negatively to the change by restoring barren lands for agriculture using locally known techniques and by accelerating land degradation through intensive and inappropriate land use practices.
Maybe it was an error for crime reporter Maggie Cloete to ignore the call from the AIDS worker, before someone put four bullets in his chest. It is post-apartheid South Africa, at the turn of the century. But there is a threat to the country's new democracy: HIV/AIDS, which is met with fear and superstition. Now that fear has reached Pietermaritzburg and an AIDS activist is dead. Maggie's instincts are on red alert. Despite threats from politicians and gangsters, she learns too much about Balthasar's life and his work at the AIDS Mission to be distant and professional. She is deeply, and dangerously, involved. Balthasar's Gift continues the tradition of pacy, hard-boiled South African crime fiction.
This book employs the event of the Arab Spring revolution of 2011 to reflect on the event itself and beyond. Some of the chapters address the colonial encounter and its lingering reverberations on the African sociopolitical landscape. Others address the aftermath of large scale societal violence and trauma that pervade the African context. The contributions indicate the range of challenges confronting African societies in the postmodern era. They also illustrate the sheer resilience and inventiveness of those societies in the face of apparently overwhelming odds. What is the nature of political power in contemporary Africa as constituted from below instead of being a state driven phenomenon? What constitutes sovereignty without recourse to the usual academic responses and discourses? These two questions loom behind most of the deliberations contained in this book with contributions from an impressive field of international scholars.
This annotated bibliography provides a summary of scholarly work on children and youth in Africa published between 2001 and 2011. It draws from journal articles, monographs, and book chapters. This rich resource for scholars presents publications with a wide range of approaches to child and youth studies. Some scholars question certain views of children especially when it comes to their own agency and full participation in socioeconomic production at the household level. The idea that children are vulnerable social subjects is the predominant view that shaped much of the research reported on in this volume. Western restrictions, on specific age limits, that govern children's participation in work or labour, whether paid or not, and the subsequent rights that go along with them are often not easily translatable to many African contexts. This creates a kind of separation between African and Western scholars in their study and understanding of children. The overwhelming focus of research published on HIV/AIDS and orphans, violence and child-soldiers, children's rights, and street children, demonstrates the continued interest regarding children as vulnerable and in need of adult protection. Focusing on the vulnerability of children in Africa appears to be a result of the construction of childhood in terms of modern (mostly) Western perceptions which are based on chronological age mainly. This book is very important for all scholars working on children and the youth in Africa.
God was African
(2014)
When Kendem, a varsity instructor, returns to his native Lewoh countryside where he spent his childhood, he is seeking relief from the complexity of human civilization after attending the Fulbright Institute in the United States. Instead, he is confronted with two seething issues: how to reveal to his sick and troubled mother the situation in which he finds his elder brother, the successor of Mbe Tanju-Ngong's household, who travelled to the United States many years before and had never returned and the dispute over Fuo Beyano's funeral which is tearing the land apart, whether the deceased village chief, should be given a Christian burial or he should, according to the age-old tradition of Lewoh people, go through a ritual to enable him return and continue ruling his people.
In Search of Happiness
(2014)
Nana is fifteen when she travels from her village in the Eastern Cape to the city. She is overjoyed to be reunited with her family, even if they are living in a tiny shack. But she struggles to fit in at her new school, and she is shocked at the violence shown to Chino and Agnes, her Zimbabwean neighbours. When she and Agnes become close friends, and find love in unexpected places, Nana learns firsthand just how brutal ignorance can be and how hard it is to hold on to happiness.
In Chains for My Country is an account of the struggle of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC), a nonviolent liberation movement, to wrestle British Southern Cameroons from the colonial claws of la République du Cameroun. It is an epic and thrilling account of the life of British Southern Cameroons, which passed from colonial rule to foreign domination through annexation and attempted assimilation into neighbouring la République du Cameroun. Under British trusteeship, British Southern Cameroons graduated to self-government in 1954 with all hopes of independence. Instead, the Trust Territory was doomed to subservience in a contested union with la République du Cameroun. Failure to implement United Nations Resolution 1608 of April 1961 to establish the envisioned federation of two states equal in status facilitated la République du Cameroun's annexation and colonial occupation of a defenseless United Nations Trust as Britain withdrew all its personnel and forces. The territory has been reduced to two provinces of la République du Cameroun under the rule of proconsuls backed by an imperial occupation force with an agenda of nipping in the bud any resistance.
Elizabeth Stirredge's spiritual autobiography is a treasury of spiritual wisdom which paints all that which is needed to be a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and how God in His might works, transforms, and supports an ordinary soul to lead the life of extraordinary faithfulness. The text highlights Stirredge's intimate conviction as well as that of early Quakers. This translation is a welcomed venture because this is a central piece, deserving of much more attention than that which has been accorded to it until now.
From my friendships and loves are born the lines herein. My greatest desire is that we must learn to love to the best of our abilities and not better than the Best of our abilities. Requesting the latter would be demanding the impossible. For me, every heart is filled with goodness and love that only a positive posturing and channeling of their energies can warrant the transcendence of these terrestrial realities to flirt with their divine counterparts.
The Wish
(2014)
Mria is a good student who excels at science and math, she dreams of skyscrapers and one day training to be an engineer. However, her father has different ideas, he would rather see her become a lawyer, believing that science is not a suitable subject for girls to study. With the support of her best friend Sipe and teachers at schools, Mria tries to ?nd a way to show her father her talents and importance of following her dreams. Mwamgwirani J. Mwakimatu has crafted memorable characters with real-life dilemmas in this touching and entertaining, award-winning novel. Young readers and adults alike will enjoy this tale which shows the importance of following your dreams and believing in yourself.
The Kenyan population is highly concentrated in urban centres, leading to increased social, economic and environmental strains, with a significant percentage of urban dwellers living in sprawling slums. Urban development is increasingly a major focus, especially in the fight against urban sustainability problems. There is little practical orientation in the academic literature for the growing gap between the rich and poor. Current literature is enormously concerned with resource use and environmental pressures, paying scant attention to the nexus between urban sustainability and empowerment of the urban poor. This book initiates debates on the segment of urban population often referred to as 'the bottom of the pyramid (BOP)', by analysing the microfinance innovation following evaluation of the impacts of access to microfinance and financial training and the implications to urban sustainability in Kenya. The main conclusion reached is that microfinance has an instrumental role to play in promoting sustainable urban development as it supports social welfare improvement and increases the livelihood of participants, business development and urban sustainability to a certain extent, thereby empowering the urban poor in contributing to poverty alleviation.
Ask the Stars
(2014)
In Ask the Stars, Titus Mutuiria remembers how at the age of ten he seemed to lead a normal life of sibling rivalry with Njorua, Antonnina and Sarah until some events from their past threaten to rewrite his life. Njorua and Antonnina learn that Mutumia Mutana, the mother they have always known is not their biological mother while Titus learns that Muthuri Mukaru is not the biological father of himself and Sarah. What follows is a gripping story of jealousy, fear, loyalty, friendship and love as the siblings grow and confront an array of challenges as the family forge solutions to the troubles that beset them. The story of young love between Titus and Joan and the actions of a lurking rapist in the village bring added dimensions to the story, showing that things are not always what they seem. Eventually, the teenagers and their parents must nurture a love that strengthens their family and that also brings sanity to the village.
This is a book about the Tonga of Northern Malawi, sometimes called the Lakeshore Tonga to distinguish them from other ethnic groups with the same name further west in Central Africa. The Lakeshore Tonga were the first ethnic group to identify themselves with the Christian faith. The purpose of the research was to investigate the use of Tonga myths, folktales, proverbs and rituals for their role in Moral Education and assess and evaluate their contribution towards value formation for the youth. Each chapter in the book aims to discuss some ideas in the anthropology of religion and to illustrate them with specific case studies formed primarily through conversation with friends, both young and old, over some years.
A Book of Rooms
(2014)
Kobus Moolman has published six previous collections of poetry, and several plays. He has been awarded the Ingrid Jonker prize, the PANSA award, the South African Literary Award, the DALRO poetry prize and the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry award. He teaches creative writing at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
They are Coming
(2014)
This is the story of a small family in Lobengula township, Bulawayo: a shoemaker, Ngwenya, his wife, MaVundla, and their two children, Ambition and Senzeni, whose lives are turned upside-down when Senzeni joins the local youth militia. Mlalazi captures the texture of everyday life in the township, the humour, warmth, rivalry and fear as neighbours interact with each other or get swept up by events outside their control. Their constant search, however, is for autonomy and independence, for the ability to have control over their own lives. They are Coming provides us with perspectives often hidden from view, in a story where particular events are part of a more complex history.
Many Zanjian settlements (8th to 13th centuries AD) on Tanzania’s coast are considered to have collapsed and not regarded as belonging to the formation of the Swahili culture (13th to 16th centuries AD). With this regard, Swahili traditions found on Tanzania’s coast are seldom linked to local Zanjian precursors but to external influence especially from Lamu archipelago on the Kenya coast. Nevertheless, new archaeological evidences from Pangani Bay on the northern coast of Tanzania suggest that the external influences to cultural continuity and change from Zanjian to Swahili periods are overemphasized. This conclusion is grounded on archaeological field works conducted in the surrounding of Pangani Bay in 2010 and 2012, where major Swahili sites directly overlie Zanjian sites without recognizable changes of the cultural materials. The study compares and contrasts cultural materials (in particular pottery) and remains of economy and trade (fauna and glass beads) traditions from both Zanjian and Swahili phases. The aim of this comparative analysis is to trace change and continuity of archaeological traditions for better understanding the origin of Swahili culture in Pangani Bay.
In this endeavour, the analysis of ceramic, faunal remains and glass beads from Pangani Bay proposes negligible differences of materials and economical traditions from the late 1st to 2nd millennia AD. That is, local ceramic styles by Swahilis show only minor differences to those used by their ancestors, while fauna data suggest a similarity in subsistence economy between Zanjian and Swahili periods. Correspondingly, glass bead data indicate that although maritime trade became highly sophisticated during Swahili time, early involvement into oceanic far distance trade contact began in the Zanjian period. Thus, this thesis conveys all issues together. It presents research objectives, field work methods as well as analysis and interpretation of the results, with a main focus on ceramic, fauna and bead data. With the support of archaeological evidences, the current work concludes that there is more continuity than change in most of the Zanjian traditions that facilitated the origin of Swahili culture in Pangani Bay.
Africa's dynamic security environment is characterized by great diversity - from conventional challenges such as insurgencies, resource and identity conflicts, and post-conflict stabilization to growing threats from piracy, narcotics trafficking, violent extremism, and organized crime taking root in urban slums, among others. This precarious environment jeopardizes security at the societal, community and individual levels. In a globalized and interconnected world, millions of people worldwide are affected by some form of human insecurity. Infectious and parasitic diseases annually kill millions. Internally displaced persons number millions, including 5 million in Sudan alone. In Zambia 1 million people in a population of 11 million are reported to be HIV-positive, a situation much worse in other countries. Potable water crisis looms almost everywhere. In this book Tatah Mentan points out the need to shift the focus away from a state-centric and military-strategic emphasis on security to an interdisciplinary and people-centric approach that embraces notions like global citizenship, empowerment and participation. The primary elements of economic, food, health, environment, personal, community and political security all comprise the broader understanding of human security in an intricately interconnected world.
Searching for Bate Besong
(2014)
The future of the country in Searching for Bate Besong is compromised by irresponsible leadership, falsehoods, blind tyranny, waste, and lawlessness. Visionaries like Dockinta (a literary incarnation of Bate Besong, one of Cameroon's most fiery and revolutionary authors) who try to question or expose the status-quo are incarcerated and tortured by the brute forces of dictatorship. It however only needs the strong will and audacity, the messianic self-sacrifice and determination (which are the values Dockinta incarnates), to expose, ridicule and destroy power drunkenness. This play is sine qua non to searching for the collective memory of a community marginalized and subjugated by successive regimes of exploitation and repression. It promises the rediscovery of the dignity and destiny of an active volcano wrongfully rendered docile. The Search will liberate a people who agonized from the whips by the Germans, the hypocrisy of the British, the outright exploitation of the French and the eternal domination of La Republique du Cameroun. The search will culminate in liberating not only Cameroonians, but Africa from corruption, nepotism, tribalism, organized crime, wars and the abuse of basic human rights and freedoms.
Kids: Africa in Childhood Poetry powerfully conveys the wishful thinking, imaginations, experiences and critical reflections of children as they grow up. The volume grapples with a wide range of topics, sensations, encounters, emotions, imaginations and vistas commonplace in the psyche of many children across different geographical and cultural spaces. While the audacity of Mawere's poetry finds its basis in the poet's profound ability to uncover a multi-layered journey of childhood to adulthood, its merit lies in the character building, psychological, axiological and pedagogical lessons it imparts in today's youths: it teaches the youths the values of moral rectitude, critical observation and thinking, and careful questioning and reflection. This is a collection for all parents, teachers and the youths of between ages 5-18 who cherish a world ruled by peace and unconditional love of all by all.
Divining the Future of Africa : Healing the Wounds, Restoring Dignity and Fostering Development
(2014)
This book explores the relationship between Africa, the West and China. It notes that while Africa is a continent of diverse cultures, raw materials, human resource, indigenous knowledges, and above all the biggest recipient of foreign aid globally, it continues to lag behind all regions of the world in terms of socio-economic development. The book grapples with the important question on why this has been the case. It provides crucial critical insights on how Africa's situation could be reversed and the tapestry of its socio-economic problems eased. The book draws a link between culture, globalisation and socio-economic development, breaking new grounds in the discourse on development in post-colonial Africa. This is an incisive clarion call to bypass the outlandish claims and sterile discussions on the parodying of Africa by Euro-centric scholars. It is a contribution on the imperative to re-think the future of development in Africa. It makes a compelling argument by self-reliant development processes in which Africans reclaim their voice, independence and autonomy unapologetically. The book provides some grist for the mills of policy makers, institutional planners, practitioners and students of anthropology, political studies, sociology, economic history, local governance, cultural economics, and gender, development, African, heritage and international studies.
The history of people with disabilities has been dominated by their isolation and exclusion. The long fight towards inclusion - and inclusive education in particular - started not many years ago. Most were powerless to control their own destiny. Their participation in society has been the object of other's actions. In many countries their disability policies have a substantial element of protection and charity but not the right to equalisation of opportunities. This book highlights the process of change that is underway internationally. The equalisation of opportunities requires new processes through which the various systems of society such as health services and education are delivered. It means the right for people with disabilities to remain in their communities and to receive the schooling and social supports they need within the ordinary structures available in local communities. Strong advocacy is needed for this to happen. In particular parents need to be empowered, communities mobilised and professionals trained in new ways of working: hence this book. Drawing on experiences in Africa, the book describes the issues to be considered when it comes to implementing inclusive strategies: the processes to be followed and the roles of different sectors, such as people with disabilities, parents, policy makers, educationalists, health and community development professionals and crucially, society at large.
As Ama's wedding day approaches and her friends - Beauty, Matlakala and Pamela are there to lend varying degrees of support. But when tragedy strikes on Ama's wedding day and spreads to every corner of the group's lives they hold on to each other to survive. Will their misfortunes bring them closer together or will they tear the quilt of their friendship apart? They are our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, our girlfriends, our aunties. Pamela's body is a ravaged canvas of her troubles. Matlakala tries to prop up a failing relationship. Beauty's sharp tongue and dark secret threatens to doom her to a life lived alone. In To the Black Women We All Knew, Maenetsha showcases the modern township existence and its weakening yet ever-present link to tradition. Her vivid writing tells of the capriciousness of life and love and the strength of women in the face of a crisis..
Acacia
(2014)
Acacia is a strong and independent woman whose heart and heritage like rooted in Africa, while her reality in contemporary America finds itself in a very different time and place. In living her life, she must breach the distance between her current space and the ties that bind her. Straddling two sometimes opposing worlds of medicine and dance, Dr Acacia Graeme must find the balance between feeding her mind through work and study, and nourishing her soul and spirit through dance. And what happened when the music stops? Because it does, often. How will she get through the silence of her every day? This is the story of a flawed heroine whose intentions are pure, her truth perhaps less so. Torn between the enduring innocence of her first love and the life-long search that is her longing for one true love, she is compelled to come to terms with her own free nature and independent spirit and, in so doing, turn tragedy to triumph.
The Clash of the Titans and Other Short Stories is a sundry, marvellous collection of short stories that reflect and capture diverse life experiences. Mabeza and Mawere offer with great dexterousness a snapshot, richness, and practical potentialities of childhood to adulthood experiences in shaping, inspiring and influencing moral rectitude, industriousness and determination. This is an incisive and invigorating exposé steeped in candour and earnestness. For aficionados of creative writing, cognoscenti, students and instructors of English Literature, this is a collection to enjoy and cherish.
Day and Night in Limbo
(2014)
With humour, insight and irony, Lonkog recounts the joys and contradictions of daily life in a Northern Cameroon village. Living in Carrefour Poli in Northern Cameroon was never easy. How far will one have to go for drinking water during the dry season? Will there be money for kerosene to fill the lamp tank? For batteries for the torch? For a bowl of corn to make 'fufu' for the family? Will there be a night encounter with the poison of a snake or scorpion? The man of Carrefour Poli imagines when he last had a bottle of beer and when he will next have another. Children sit in class staring at the teacher, while their work suffers. People sit under trees for shade only to cut them down for firewood. Ministers run up and down, working very hard and sweating, but little changes. Day and night people turn around on the same spot. It takes a long time to build a nation. Everything is in limbo.
Mary Lederer provides a valuable critical/historical survey of the genesis and development of the English novel in Botswana. This book comes as a timely correction of the notion that Botswana has no sustained fiction written in English, thus filling a gap that has existed for a long time in the literature of that country.
This publication is the result of a baseline study of the state of the higher education systems in the five Portuguese speaking countries in Africa (PALOP): Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe. The project was undertaken by an African international expert in the field of higher education studies and was fully sponsored and supported by the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). The report offers a historical overview of the development of higher education in PALOP from colonial times to the present. The main objective of this baseline study is to map the landscape and dynamics of change in the higher education systems of PALOP countries. It focuses on describing the latest developments of trends of expansion, financing, governance and policy reforms closely linked to the development of higher education systems in these countries. Furthermore, the study will facilitate an informed debate and the dissemination of knowledge on the role of higher education for development in Africa.
Kokori: The Struggle for June 12 is the candid account of Chief Frank Kokori, former General Secretary of The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG). It details the roles he and other individuals played in the quest to revalidate the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was annulled by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. The book details, in depth, the events before, during and after the election, up until the incarceration of Chief Kokori as well as the political fall-out which followed.
The primary objective of What on Earth is a Ruling Party in a Multiparty Democracy? is to provoke thought and thereby stimulate debate. To this end, provocatively, this collection of topical issues ranges from 'The place of the miniskirt in sociocultural development' to 'Which citizen in Zambia should not take part in (partisan) politics?' The Author, Mubanga E Kashoki, is a Professor of African Languages at the institute of Economic and Social Research in the University of Zambia.
Was Nyakeera my Father
(2014)
Eavesdropping on his parents, James Kirika, a fifteen-year-old teenager, hears a conversation that suggests that he is not the biological son of the man he calls 'Father'. This realisation sends him into a tortured search for the man who brought him into this world. Things get complicated when the chief source of information, his old and hallucinating grandmother, gives him a fuzzy lead. Does he ever find out the truth?
Faith conversion experiences are first of all personal before being universal. While biblical history records relatively few conversion encounters as dramatic and as explosive as Saint Paul's on the road to Damascus, it is not rare for individuals in the throes of a religious conversion to fall prey to intensely agonizing confusion. That is what happened to Martin Jumbam when he marched for peace in his country alongside the charismatic and irrepressible Emeritus Archbishop of Douala in Cameroon, Christian Cardinal Tumi. He joined the prelate as a secular journalist but went back home more than ever conscious of his state as a fallen Christian, the first step in his journey of faith. Since then, all his writing, be it secular or religious, now bears the fruits of that encounter, characterized by intense empathy for the human person. This book recounts the myriad ways Jumbam's encounters with Christian Cardinal Tumi have activated, nourished and inspired his faith.
So Bright a Darkness
(2014)
Okafor ran wildly through the jungle, the phantom captain and his ghoulish platoon in hot pursuit. The faster he ran the more they gained on him. The earth suddenly became marshy and slippery under his feet, impeding speed and balance. He came to an intersection where the jungle paths crossed and saw a mound of earth about four feet high. Just beyond the mound stood a giant Iroko tree. Intuitively, he knew that if he jumped over the mound and quickly climbed up the tree, the ghostly captain and his soldiers would lose him. Eons merge in interstellar whirls. Realism, science fiction and fantasy fuse to drive this drama of transition, cross civilisation and self-discovery.
Nigeria at 100: What Next?
(2014)
Kpewi Durorp is the third attempt at bringing Durorp into the public domain, and is a more detailed introduction to the language. It contains sixteen chapters which address important elements of grammar, with some including mini bilingual dictionaries, with words organised not alphabetically but thematically, with the singular aim of facilitating learning and easy acquisition of the language. Durorp is an interesting and linguistically distinct semi-Bantu or Bantoid language spoken by a minority group of people known as Bororp or people of the Kororp ethnic group. A part of this ethnic group inhabits the Southwestern part of Cameroon while the other occupies the Southeastern tip of Nigeria. A minority group, Kororp has continued to suffer not only cultural and socio-economic shrinkage but also linguistic marginalisation characterised by an obvious erosion of some key elements of the language. Like any other language, however, Durorp has borrowings from languages such as Efik, Ejagham, and even English. There is a Durorp-English Dictionary to facilitate the development of Durorp vocabulary (Langaa, 2013).
This book details the historical background, legal basis and philosophy which lie behind the development of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Nigeria (EFCC). It also explores in detail the present set-up and structure of the agency, its apparatus or tools for executing its operational functions, how well it executed its roles, and analyzed its constraints or problems it grappled with and how they may have impeded its roles and their ramifications for the organization and the polity.
Oil Thefts and Pipeline Vandalization in Nigeria focuses on leakages in oil revenue through thefts and vandalisation which has now become a national shame and embarrassment. The book presents a scholarly evaluation of the evolution, etiology, causes, nature, extent, characteristics, legal aspects, trends rationale and modus operandi of the phenomena in the country. This study is a substantial academic contribution to our knowledge on the subject matter for further research by social scientists and scholars, legal practitioners, law enforcement professionals, criminal justicians, corporate officials and other interest groups and stakeholders.
Now I See You
(2014)
Armed robbery is nothing new in South Africa. But when a pair of clever and squeaky-sounding criminals go on a looting spree that rocks several small towns in the Eastern Cape, Detective Inspector Thabisa Tswane from The Eagles, the Special Violent Crimes Unit is called to work the case. There's only one problem, one of the most important witnesses in the case is her estranged grandfather, Chief Solenkosi, who ordered her violent expulsion from the village over ten years ago. In another world of lunches at the Michelangelo, private game lodges and platinum cards, the rich and slick Ollis Sando smoothes his way through cocktail parties and networking meetings. He is rumoured to be in line for the presidency in the upcoming elections. But he has a dirty past, something to hide and a hostage to hide it for him. In Now I See You Thabisa's traditional and professional skills will be pushed to the limit. She will have to learn the difference between looking and seeing. And in stirring twists of fate, we'll see that past and present blur, everything is interconnected and nothing can be assumed.
South African poetry today is charged with restlessness, burstng with diversity. Gone is the intense inward focus required to deal with a situation of systematic oppression, the enclosing effort of concentration on a single predicament. While politics and identity continue to be central themes, the poetry since the late 1990s reveals a richer investigation of ancestors and history, alongside more experimentation with language and translation; and enduring concern with the touchstones of love, loss, memory, and acts of witnessing. In the Heat of Shadows: South African Poetry 1996-2013 presents work by 33 poets and includes some translations from Afrikaans, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sesotho and Xitsonga. This collection follows on from Denis Hirson's 1997 anthology The Lava of this Land: South African Poetry 1960-1996.
In Growing up with Tanzania. Karim Hirji, a renowned Professor of Medical Statistics and Fellow of the Tanzania Academy of Science, presents a multi-faceted, evocative portrait of his joyous but conflicted passage to adulthood during colonial and early-Uhuru Tanzania. His smooth style engages the reader with absorbing true tales, cultural currents, critical commentary and progressive possibilities. By vibrantly contrasting the hope-filled sixties with the cynical modern era, he also lays bare the paradoxes of personal life and society, past and present.
This book is an ethnographic study of a group of migrants in Cape Town from Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa. It seeks to understand how migrants overcome structural exclusion by forming and maintaining convivial relationships through the Bay Community Church and how this is facilitated by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The book argues that ICTs are implicated in the negotiation of conviviality. ICTs allow for a negotiation of intimacy and distance; although their functions may facilitate more contact than is desired or further distance those already separated physically. This book interrogates the strict division between 'insiders' and 'outsiders' and highlights that migrants are able to sustain multiple networks and relationships, linking their home and host countries. Despite increasingly strict border control and animosity from host communities, migrants are able to overcome imposed identities such as 'outsider'. They do so by using ICTs such as cell phones and Facebook to emphasise their Christian identity, which is one of the main factors for inclusion in church-based networks. Membership with a mixed denominational church such as the Bay further challenges the notion that migrants stick to themselves. Inclusive communities such as the Bay and everyday desires for conviviality evoke the need to reconsider policies too narrowly articulated around the dichotomisation of 'foreigners' and 'nationals', 'home' and 'away', 'us' and 'them'.
Building on Fossungu's earlier works, and essentially providing Africa with original, critical, and multi-level analyses of the trio of globalization, democracy, and national determination, this book theorizes that African states have to unite in order to have any impact in the global economy. Using the failure of the Cameroon Goodwill Association of Montreal (CGAM) as a case study, the book urges Africans to make hard choices and avoid politickerization and midnight politics in favour of fossungupalogy (that is, the science of straightforwardness, necessitating the fearless looking at truth straight in the eye). The questions of the book are many but do all boil down to whether or not Africans fear the truth and do not therefore do politics. It is amazing that Africans in the West live in societies where fierce political competitors do embrace each other after one has defeated the other; but they are incapable of looking their so-called friends in the eye and saying, for example: 'Man, I think you've totally gotten it wrong this time.' Such comportment defines politickerization or negative competition. While attempting some possible responses to the numerous queries it raises, this book basically proffers the science of Four-Eyesism as a discipline that all African schools need to institute and make a compulsory subject: if the vandalized continent would have to be awakened to its realities. This book is rich in Fossungu's dazzling capacity to invent, define and use a multitude of new terminological constructs informed by African experiences.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Third World governments prescribed and imposed a certain kind of journalism variously called 'objective' journalism or 'development journalism'. They understood this as journalism restricted to reporting 'facts' as dished out by their propagandists and did not tolerate the questioning of government policy. By 'development journalism', they meant the mere reporting of government efforts to provide services, amenities and infrastructures and the singing of praises anytime a bridge was inaugurated, irrespective of whether it was well-built or whether the contract to build was awarded according to the norms of transparency and probity. This one-sided journalism was prevalent especially in state-owned media and media practitioners in the few private news publications that existed who did not toe the line were subjected to constant harassment and incarceration. However, with the coming of well-trained journalism graduates into the scene in the 1970s and the advent of global liberalization in the late 1980s and 1990s, daring journalists like Sam-Nuvala Fonkem thought it was time to take the bull by the horn and start taking a more critical look at government pronouncements, matching policy statements with real action in the field; in short, moving from 'objective' journalism to interpretative and investigative journalism. This collection of Sam-Nuvala Fonkem's writings is a sampling of the fruit of that new spirit to dare where angels hitherto feared to tread, to hold public officials to account and to expose the falsehood cached behind the political masquerade of the ruling class.
After The Tears
(2014)
Busi is pregnant with Parks' baby. Her granny is sick, there is no money for food, and her mother is still in Jozi. Her friends are supportive, but they don't understand how lonely it feels to be pregnant while they are out partying. She knows she should forget Parks, but she can't. So when he sends her an SMS telling her to meet him she goes - only to find out that he is not alone. And so Busi's life becomes more complicated than she can ever imagine.
Tiger in an African palace collects eight essays about kinship and belonging that Richard Fardon wrote to complement his monographs on West Africa. The essays extend those book-length descriptions by pursuing their wider implications for theory in social anthropology: exploring the relationship between comparison and historical reconstruction, and questioning the fit between personal, ethnic and cosmopolitan identities in contemporary West African nations. In an Introduction written specially for this Langaa collection, Richard Fardon retraces the career-long development of his preoccupation with concepts of identification and transformation, and their relevance to understanding West African societies comparatively and historically.
Bakari and Omari live on the island of Zanzibar and are the best of friends. It is the beginning of a long holiday and they are excited about what adventures are in store. Bakaris beloved grandmother comes to visit the family, bringing with her many gifts including a new friend for the boys! One day while exploring the boys discover hidden treasure. The boys, nicknamed The Detectives of Shangani, embark on a quest to discover the secrets of what they have found. They travel around the Spice Islands and meet strange characters, all to discover the mystery of the lost rubies! Nahida Esmail has crafted an exciting adventure tale with memorable characters. Young readers and adults alike, will enjoy this award-winning novel and the mysteries they uncover!
Textures
(2014)
Remembering a Legend: Chinua Achebe recaptures for the literary world the inimitable legacies of Chinua Achebe (1930-2013), Africa's leading novelist and literary philosopher of the 20th century. It addresses the questions of Achebe's role in establishing the African art of the novel, his theories and standards for the criticism of African writing. The volume articulates unequivocally how Achebe provided the message and pioneered a confident voice to African writers to express the message with audacity; repudiate without equivocation, any form of distortions of African past and present realities. The essays remind the reader how Achebe brought to the field of world literature new perspectives and vitality that distinguished the African art of storytelling from imaginative creativities elsewhere. This volume presents Achebe's articulation of the traditional and modern in African narrative techniques-linking the skills of the traditional artist (oral performer) to those of the modern writer; how the modern African creative artist can embellish his/her art with oral resources such as folktales, proverbs, sayings, festivals, songs, riddles, and myths. Chinua Achebe's unique distinctions as a novelist lie in the areas of informed vision and artistic integrity. His greatest legacy to 20th century world literature probably is his pioneer role in the 'nativization' and ingenious use of the English language. The exceptional genius of Achebe touched many traditional and cultural bases in his fiction, essays, and memoirs. The critical responses to Achebe's works in this book, address adequately almost every aspect of his creative imagination and craftsmanship. The reader will find in this convenient volume several seminal studies by two eminent scholars of Achebe's intriguing genius that authenticate him as among the best literary craftsmen of the 20th century and undeniably Africa's best.
Before the Rainbow
(2014)
Emmanuel Fru Doh, a native of Cameroon, holds a Ph.D. from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. He taught at the University of Yaounde (E.N.S. Bambili) for almost a decade-the 90s-before leaving for the US. He then had a brief stint as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota before settling into the Department of English at Century, a College within the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) System. Poet, novelist, social and literary critic, Emmanuel Fru Doh is the author of Nomads: The Memoir of a Southern Cameroonian.
On March 8, 2007, one of Cameroon's foremost scholars died in a ghastly traffic accident barely hours after launching his most forthright and acerbic collection of poems: Disgrace: Autobiographical Narcissus. Dr. Bate Besong was a social activist, a critic, troubadour, and playwright; an avant-garde, steeped in the tradition of the absurd, who fought against the corrupt system of governance that transmuted Cameroonians into a comatose and apathetic citizenry neutered by fear engendered by the workings of an existing Gestapo. For the first time, Emmanuel Fru Doh has gone beyond an analysis of Besong's plays into giving an in-depth appraisal of his poems which have, for a long time, held back critics because of their opacity. Doh examines each of Besong's plays and collections of poems in separate sections and succeeds in setting Besong's work in perspective - mindful of their concerns and
Taking the history of trade and of traders as its subject matter, this book offers the first economic history of northern Namibia during the twentieth century. It traces Namibia's way from a rural, largely self-relying society into a globalised economy of consumption. This transformation built on colonial economic activities, but it was crucially shaped by local traders, a new social elite emerging during the 1950s and 1960s. Becoming a trader was one of the few possibilities for black Namibians to gain monetary income at home. It was a pathway out of migrant labour, to new status in the local society and often to prosperity. Politically, most traders occupied a middle ground: content of their own social position, but intent on political emancipation from colonial rule. Economically, their energy and business acumen transformed northern Namibia into an increasingly urban consumer society. The development path they chose, however, depended too much on the colonial reserve economy to remain sustainable after 1990. Their legacy still shapes spatial and social structures in northern Namibia, but most traders' businesses have today closed down. By telling the history of the rise and decline of traders and trade in northern Namibia, this book is thus also a reflection on the conundrums of economic development under conditions of structural inequality.
In the 1980s, the University of Cape Town s social anthropology department was predominantly oriented by an expos style of critical scholarship. The enemy was the apartheid state, the ethical imperative was clear and a combative metaphor for doing research motivated the department. Andrew David Spiegel, known affectionately as Mugsy by his students and colleagues, has been a central, if understated, figure of this history and helped to frame the theoretical charge of a generation of students looking to counter apartheid from inside . In a series of interviews between the senior professor and one of his students Jessica Dickson Spiegel offers a unique perspective from the centre of anthropology s recent history in South Africa.
Esiaba Irobi (1960-2010) was one of Africa's most innovative and productive younger playwrights. Deeply rooted in the indigenous performance traditions of his Igbo ethnic group, Irobi's drama, in the tradition of Wole Soyinka, is a hybrid production involving an iconoclastic reconceptualisation of the heritage he appropriates, its fascinating conflation with other performance traditions, and their projection onto the arena of contemporary Nigerian politics. This study by Isidore Diala is the first book-length examination of Irobi's work. It portrays a highly creative individual who was literally driven by the creative urge. The five chapters of this study illuminate different aspects of Irobi's oeuvre and include a vivid portrayal of Irobi the actor in his dream role of Elesin Oba, the eponymous King's Horseman in Wole Soyinka's drama. Diala highlight's Irobi's fascination for African festivals, which feature prominently in the earlier plays.He also demonstrates that although he is rooted in his Igbo culture, Irobi draws on different ethnic groups, pointing to conceptions of pan-Africanism that include the wAfrican diaspora.
Bless me Father
(2014)
Bless Me Father is the true story of an incredible South African life. Born into a violent and broken family, and growing up in a variety of institutions, Cape Town based poet and writer Mario d'Offizi tells his remarkable, often shocking and ultimately inspiring life adventure - one that spans several decades in a country undergoing radical change. From his tough days at Boys Town to wild years in the advertising world, a stint in the restaurant business and a sharp edged journalistic adventure in the DRC, d'Offizi tells his critically acclaimed story with the unfailing sensitivity and warmth of a true poet.
This report focuses on the chronology and geography of collective violence against migrant entrepreneurs since South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994. The overall aim of the research was to document and create a chronological account of attacks on migrant businesses, to categorise the types and frequency of attacks and to map the locations where such events occurred.
The Last to Leave
(2014)
The Last to Leave is Margaret Clough's second collection of poetry. These poems follow on from her first extremely popular collection, At Least the Duck Survived (2011) in that the light, warm-hearted tone continues as does Clough's engagement with aging and mortality. These poems are a tonic and leave the reader feeling refreshed, saddened and better off. Clough has participated in The Franschoek Literary Festival, and has been invited to a number of reading engagements in the Western Cape, including the McGregor Poetry Festival. Her books sell out every time she reads.
Girl on the Edge: A Memoir
(2014)
Ruth was four years old when her father was arrested for high treason and her world was turned upside-down. She grew up in constant fear of Special Branch policemen knocking on the door to arrest her mother or father, prominent South African communist. Ruth learned how to keep her mouth shut, to look out for microphones in the walls and to beware of friends who could betray her trust. At fourteen, Ruth left South Africa, clutching her teddy bear in one hand and her drawings in the other. A plan to England carried her into exile, a new world where she struggled to reconstruct a life fractured by fear. With an artist's eye for detail and colour, Ruth recalls her life with unflinching honesty: the Treason Trial; her struggle to conform; Friern Barnet Asylum for the 'hopeless insane'; LSD, protests, and free love in London, art school and motherhood; communes and camping- all steps in a journey that finally brought her home to South Africa on the brink of change. Heart- wrenchingly sad one minute, bursting with life and vigour the next, seamed throughout by strength and courage, girl on the edge allows us to look deep into one woman's life and travel with her to the brink and back again.
Conviviality in Bellville: An Ethnography of Space, Place, Mobility and Being in Urban South Africa
(2014)
This book provides insight into the experiences of mobility and migration in contemporary South Africa, contributing to a field of literature about multiculturalism and urban public space in globalizing cities. It takes into consideration the greater international political and local socio-economic factors that drive migration, relationships and conviviality, and how they are intertwined in the everyday narrative of 'insiders' and 'outsiders'. The Bellville central business district demonstrates the realities of interconnected local and global hierarchies of citizenship and belonging and how they emerge in a world of accelerated mobility. The book further demonstrates how the emergence of conviviality in everyday public life represents a critical field for contemplating contemporary notions of human rights, citizenship and belonging.
The birth of a new nation is an exciting time. Mick Bond spent the years 1962-73 as a District Officer and a District Commissioner, actively participating in the demise of the colonial regime and then as a civil servant in independent Zambia. This detailed account of his life and work includes the daily routine of a colonial officer, his personal experiences of the 1964 Lumpa conflict and his involvement in the elections of 1962, 1964, and 1968.
A concern for social regeneration stands as the factor that animates Soyinka's life-long involvement in social and political activism, leading to hid incarceration for two years during the civil war, and his having to flee into exile during the period of Sani Abacha's dictatorship. Soyinka expresses this same concern for social regeneration in his writings, using difference metaphors. The focus of this work lies in the exploration of the articulations of social regeneration in the works of Wole Soyinka. The first past focuses on the dramatic works, and the argument of the author is that the metaphor adopted by Africa's foremost playwright in articulating his vision of social regeneration is that of ritual. Attention shifts in part two to Soyinka's two novels; and here, Bello goes to the roots of Yoruba metaphysics to fetch a metaphor which describes a creature with contradictory personality; which at once is committed to the regeneration of the social order while at the same time retaining a vindictive, vengeful nature.
Reading through the Charcoal Industry in Ethiopia : Production, Marketing, Consumption and Impact
(2014)
Studies in many African countries show that charcoal making is among the primary drivers of deforestation and subsequent land degradation. In the case of Ethiopia, charcoal is produced from state-owned (public) forests and woodlands. There is little regulatory intervention from the government side. Moreover, production is more traditional and the producers have little idea that charcoal can be produced efficiently with modern technologies. Although charcoal meets significant portion of urban households' energy needs in the country, and also support the livelihood of tens of thousands of rural households, it hardly attracted the attention of policy makers and development agents. A good majority of urban population who use charcoal on regular basis doesn't seem to know how charcoal is made, from where it comes, and its adverse environmental impacts. In cognizant of the potential environmental impact of charcoal production and marketing in the country, FSS commissioned this study with the objective to understand the environmental, social and economic implications of charcoal production, marketing and consumption in Ethiopia with aim to generate/increase awareness among the general public and incite a policy debate among concerned key stakeholders.
This Day
(2014)
Loss has left Ella Spinner alone to care for her husband, Bart, who suffers from clinical depression. Their days now echo the tides: any progress made, rolls back. Yet Ella keeps pushing against the monotony. Set in Mossel Bay, Ella?s day begins like any other. But on this day the minutes begin to crack allowing change to filter through. As we cheer on her tenacity, we?re left asking ourselves what motivates anyone to try again.
The goal of Perspectives on Student Affairs in South Africa is to generate interest in student affairs in South Africa. The papers contained herein are based on best practice, local experience and well-researched international and local theories. The papers in this book deal with matters pertaining to international and national trends in student affairs: academic development, access and retention, counselling, and material support for students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. They are linked to national and international developments, as described in the first two papers. This publication will assist both young and experienced practitioners as they grow into their task of developing the students entrusted to them. All contributors are South Africans with a great deal of experience in student affairs, and all are committed to the advancement of student affairs in South Africa. The editors are former heads of student affairs portfolios at two leading South African universities.
Feathers in Reverse
(2014)
Feathers in Reverse is the ideal gift for a loved one who is scared of poetry. It engages and immerses readers with the luring subtlety of a serpent. Themes treated include good and evil, heaven and earth, man and woman, birth and death, urbanism and rural life, wealth and poverty. As much as the poet highlights salient issues and conflicts in everyday life, he suggests answers to burning problems as well. A common thread runs through the over 300 poems feathered and featured in this collection. The notion of the 'feather' is cross-cultural. It reminds us of the feather used as a pen in ancient Europe and the 'red feather' that is stuck on the caps of African notables as a mark of distinction. Feathers in Reverse is a magic pudding to be sampled, shared and indulged.
Trends in Nollywood: A Study of Selected Genres is a welcome addition to the growing body of works on the Nigerian cinema. It is part film history and part film theory and criticism. The history part traces the origin of the Nigerian cinema up to the present era of video productions. The work examines in detail, the contextual issues which have helped to define emergent trends within the industry.
Touring Girls
(2014)
Touring Girls tells the story of Jacob Mbuy a young Cameroonian whose primary objective in life is having affairs with as many women as possible. He is obsessed with abusing young girls as well as instilling hopeless hope in adult women. His demise comes when he changes his world from the Christian to the Moslem world where he confronts a new type of women who behave strangely and cannot dance to his tunes. Protected by Islamic traditions and strict government laws, Jacob lands into a hell of unprecedented problems.
Blood Lines and other Plays
(2014)
Chris Anyokwu's new creative offerings are snapshots of a the quotidian reality in the playwrights homeland, Nigeria, where polygamy and its associated evils, crass materialism and its classless followers still predominate. Even the ivory towers are not left out as petty rivalry, dirty politics and even fetishism seem to be the name of the game.
Cameroon's Predicaments
(2014)
This book deals with a variety of socio-cultural, economic and political problems facing Cameroon and the rest of Africa, with particular reference to unemployment, corruption, poverty, criminality, violence, insecurity, and moral decadence. It presents a critical analysis of government policies from the colonial era to the present time; arguing that most of these policies have been stalled by an uncommitted leadership. The regime in Cameroon has drifted away from basic managerial and democratic principles in in favour of the ethnicisation of politics, sterile consumption, clientelism and patronage. The book contends that corruption has become the main instrument of governance whereby the political and economic elites control the wealth of the nation at the expense of a majority who wallow in abject poverty and misery. Faced with the difficult economic and political situation, most youth and the intelligentsia have adopted ?official and ?unofficial? means to circumvent all immigration rules to travel to affluent Western countries, the consequences notwithstanding. Brain drain is often the outcome. Further, it examines issues of social exclusion, political representation and marginalization with special focus on the predicament of Anglophone Cameroonians as a socio-cultural community. The inclusion of examples and case studies based on empirical and secondary data from Africa is intended to foreground the importance of comparison, and attract the interest of both academic and non-academic readership.
This book is a comprehensive appraisal of the political history of Nigeria since colonisation, with emphasis on political parties. The author argues that party coalitions in Nigeria can be explained by the factors of heterogeneity as well as the political systems the country has experimented with. He asserts the influence of the institution of the presidency in the current trend towards a two-party system.
Women?s contributions against apartheid under the auspices of the Namibian liberation movement SWAPO and their personal experiences in exile take center stage in this study. Male and female leadership structures in exile are analysed whilst the sexual politics in the refugee camps and the public imagery of female representation in SWAPO?s nationalism receive special attention. The party?s public pronouncements of women empowerment and gender equality are compared to the actual implementations of gender politics during and after the liberation struggle.
A Torrent of Terror
(2014)
Rome Aboh's poetry unmistakably enwraps the condition of the politically and socially cannibalised segment of his society; and the beauty of the verse radiates from his facility with language as the stylist and linguist. The section 'patriotism' with such poems as 'hour of truth' aptly brings out the socially obligatory role of the poets whose mission goes beyond versifying and sharing their personal fantasies and urges. Similarly the poem 'letter to the mp' echoes the agonies of the common masses who feel deceived by the ruling elite in their so-called democratic nations.
Death and the King's Grey Hair and Other Plays is a collection of three plays, 'Death and the King's Grey Hair, ' 'Truce with the Devil, ' and 'Fringe Benefits, ' which are all experimental plays from the early period of the writing career of Denja Abdullahi, who is presently renowned as a poet of populist expressions. 'Death and the King's Grey Hair' examines the use and misuse of absolute power based on an ancient Jukun myth of young kings and short reigns. 'Truce with the Devil' is a satire on the later abandonment of the creed of Marxism by its adherents, a kind of mockery of turncoat revolutionaries in the grip of practical social realities. 'Fringe Benefits', a radio play, is an expose of the happening in Nigeria's ivory towers, seen from the eyes of a participant-observer.
Fifty Years of Kiswahili in Kenya is a collection of articles that were presented at an international Kiswahili conference organized by the National Kiswahili Association (CHAKITA) Kenya in 2013, which was held at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). A few articles are however from a similar conference held in 2012 at Kenyatta University. The book exemplifies the importance of the Kiswahili language in various sectors of society. Therefore, within this book you will find articles that focus on the teaching of the Kiswahili language; Kiswahili as a tool for national economic development; the contribution of Kiswahili to national cohesion and integration; Kiswahili research in language and literature; Kiswahili and portrayal of women; children's literature in Kiswahili; and how Sheng affects Kiswahili. In short, the articles herein are a testimony of how Kiswahili has developed in the last fifty years in Kenya. This is a very important book for Kiswahili students and teachers. It is also an invaluable text for Kiswahili enthusiasts and all those who recognize its contribution to society.
The publication is the latest in the African Studies in Russia series of compilations and contains full articles and annotations of the most important - from the point of view of editors - works of Russian Africanists over a certain period. The authors work at the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). The present issue covers the years 2010 to 2013 and consists of two sections. The first section presents conceptual articles on Africa published in authoritative journals. The second section offers synopses of books by Russian authors on economics, cultural anthropology, social and political development, gender studies, and international relations of African countries. The main objective of the triennial series of compilations is to introduce new findings of Russian Africanists to interested foreign scholars who do not speak Russian.
In a country like Namibia, where few academics often have to cover a subject in all its aspects, the scope of research necessarily has to be wide. In the case of the one honoured with this Festschrift, Hans-Volker Joachim Gretschel, these areas cover the German language and literature, comparative literature, translation, as well as didactics and lexicography. In this book his colleagues, friends and companions address all of these issues. Nonetheless this is not a random potpourri but one united by the relevance for the development of Namibia. The reader can look forward to noteworthy articles showing the way for German and German Studies in Southern Africa.