Kategoria BISAC: History >> Africa - General

"As French and American historians of France are revisiting the history of French racism today, William B. Cohen s book is more important than ever. It has become a classic." Nancy L. Green

In this pioneering work, William B. Cohen traces the ways in which negative attitudes toward blacks became deeply embedded in French culture. Examining the forces that shaped these views, Cohen reveals the persistent inequality of French interactions with blacks in Africa, in the slave colonies of the West Indies, and in France itself. Now a classic, The French Encounter with Africans is essential...

" W]ithout a doubt one of the most important studies so far completed on literature in French grounded in the experiences of migrants of sub-Saharan African origin." --Alec Hargreaves, Florida State University

France has always hosted a rich and vibrant black presence within its borders. But recent violent events have raised questions about France's treatment of ethnic minorities. Challenging the identity politics that have set immigrants against the mainstream, Black France explores how black expressive culture has been reformulated as global culture in the multicultural and...

"In the old South Africa we killed people. Now we re just letting them die." Pieter Dirk Uys, South African satirist

Today in South Africa, HIV/AIDS kills about 5 in 10 young people. Many of the victims are miners and commercial sex workers who ply their trade in mining communities. In this critique of government-sponsored and privately funded HIV/AIDS prevention programs in South Africa, Catherine Campbell exposes why it has been so difficult to stop the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Campbell s research focuses on local vectors of the disease such as what people believe about the spread and...

Contemporary Africa is the product of three major influences--an indigenous heritage, Western culture, and Islamic culture. "The Africans" looks at these legacies, how they co-exist, and their impact on the continent and the people who are called African. This reader, a supplement to the telecourse, provides an introduction to a variety of historical and contemporary writings on Africa.

Contemporary Africa is the product of three major influences--an indigenous heritage, Western culture, and Islamic culture. The Africans looks at these legacies, how they co-exist, and their impact on the continent and the people who are called African. This reader, a supplement to the telecourse, provides an introduction to a variety of historical and contemporary writings on Africa.

Contemporary Africa is the product of three major influences--an indigenous heritage, Western culture, and Islamic culture. "The Africans" looks at these legacies, how they co-exist, and their impact on the continent and the people who are called African. This reader, a supplement to the telecourse, provides an introduction to a variety of historical and contemporary writings on Africa.

"The Making of a Pariah State" takes the reader behind the flamboyance and apparent irrationality of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi to expose his attempt to impose national cohesion on the Arab, Muslim, and Third World elements under his leadership. Addressed to the general reader interested in foreign affairs, this timely and unique book provides a coherent framework for understanding why Libya is involved in international terrorism and the danger Qaddafi poses to the Third World and the West.

This unique volume tells the story of the Algerian counterrevolution from the viewpoint of the ordinary foot soldier in the O.A.S. (Organisation Armee Secrete). In a series of interviews with former O.A.S. participants, and using many unpublished documents and personal diaries, Harrison examines the motives of these defenders of French Algeria. Were they criminals, sociopaths, or honorable men more sensitive to their country's fate than were many of their contemporaries? Harrison poses this question in the book's introduction and then seeks the answer with an objective eye.

Challenging...

Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of France's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, this book looks in depth at the use of torture during the French-Algerian War (1954-1962) to reveal the failure of that liberal democratic state to uphold its obligations on rights. Rita Maran examines the Mission Civilisatrice ideology that justified the routine use of torture during that war and points out that human rights violations traceable to ideology occur irrespective of a state's political system or tradition of rights. The book contrasts the routinization of...

Written lucidly and simply to serve as an introduction to the study of the African continent from a human population perspective, this book demonstrates important factors in the ebb and flow of group size and structure using the example of the fastest growing region in the world. From a total original population of less than a quarter million in prehistoric times to the present count of 642 million people in 1990, Africa is now demonstrating an annual growth rate of 3.0%, the highest on the planet. While the rest of the world's population is expected to increase by 60%, Africa's is...

The partition of Africa was one of the most spectacular episodes in modern history. For Europeans, Africa was still an unknown continent in 1880. Thirty years later almost all of it was under European control. This race for colonies went hand in hand with a host of thrilling exploits and dramatic conflicts, of which Stanley's exploration of the Congo and Gordon's death in Khartoum are just two examples.

The partition of Africa was one of the most spectacular episodes in modern history. For Europeans, Africa was still an unknown continent in 1880. Thirty years later, almost all...

Focusing on the growing transnational community of Ismailis (Muslim Shi'a followers of the Aga Khan), this study analyzes the transnational and cultural characteristics of the Ismaili social service network in the context of state/society relations. There are approximately 20 million Ismailis worldwide in over 20 countries throughout the world, and they have developed--under the auspices of the Aga Khan--a sophisticated private sector nonprofit social service network of hospitals and schools that serves the health care and education needs of Ismailis and non-Ismailis. Based on research and...

The dominant issues in African political thought from the 1960s onward have been development and socialism. In the present decade new issues have arisen such as democracy, civil society, the nation-state, and the relevance of traditional political institutions. Typically, however, these new issues have been discussed in models of thought which already served in the 1960s or even before. Boele van Hensbroek aims to provide the necessary insight into the history of African political thought as well as an analytical framework to clarify contemporary African discourses on democracy.

He...

The view that Africa regressed the moment that colonial governments left its shores is widespread. This volume is a counterpoint to the orthodoxy. Here 13 scholars with specializations ranging from literature and history to philosophy and economics argue that Africa has advanced since colonialism and is poised to march forward in spite of setbacks and disappointments. The contributors to the book contend that development is about human beings, so they do not rely exclusively on statistical estimates and projections.

"Afro-Optimism" is a book with a simple thesis: Africa is marching...

In this accessible narrative, Louw effectively tells the story of 20th-century South Africa by examining three political periods: British Hegemony (1900-1948), the Afrikaner Nationalist Period (1948-1993), and the post-1994 Black Nationalist Period. He argues that apartheid was premised upon the notion of political partition and not white supremacy. Apartheid was a political strategy, constructed by the ethnic minority in order to prevent them from becoming politically powerless. Unfortunately the partition plan failed, causing an era of pain for South Africa.

With apartheid...

This remarkable study explores the use of the visual and performing arts to promote nonviolence and social harmony in sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses on Gelede, a popular community festival of masquerade, dance, and song, held several times a year by the Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria and the Republic of Benin. Babatunde Lawal, an art historian and African scholar who has taught in Nigeria, Brazil, and the United States, is himself a Yoruba and has taken an active part in Gelede. He writes from the perspective of an informed participant/observer of his own culture.

Lawal bases his...

In 1886, Queen Ranavalona III of the African island nation of Madagascar offered U.S. President Grover Cleveland two striking handwoven silk textiles. The American government later reciprocated with an autographed photographic portrait of the president. Although on the surface a straightforward diplomatic exchange, the objects used--and the ideas behind them--reveal a wealth of information about the culture and history of Madagascar, and its relations with the West.

The essays in Objects as Envoys contextualize and explain the broader significance of this exchange, deftly...