The text in this volume covers a large period. It runs from the intensification of Islamic teaching during the reign of Alu Maana, to the struggles and intrigues at the court when Seeku Aamadu reigned over the neighbouring Islamic emirate of Maasina, to the French colonial regime. During the latter episode, a lot of attention is given to the manipulation of the appointment of rulers and the subsequent decline of their power under Modibo Keita and Moussa Traore in independent Mali. This interference of the French has resulted in doubts about the legitimacy of the kings, which is symbolized by...

Marginality does not mean isolation. In Africa where people are permanently on the move in search, inter alia, of a better elsewhere, marginality means disconnection to obvious possibilities and the invisibility of the myriad connections that make life possible for the ordinarily sidestepped. This book is about the workings of networks of the mobile in Africa, a continent usually associated with the global shadows of the world. How do changes in the possibilities for communication, with the recent hype of mobile technology, influence the social and economic dynamics in Africas mobile margins?...

The rapid increase in adoption of modern 'connective' technologies like the mobile phone has reshaped the social landscape of Africa. This book examines the myriad possibilities that the post-global moment offers African societies to develop and to relate, offering profound new insights into the processes of globalization.