West Africa during the Atlantic Slave Trade surveys archaeological data from Senegal to the Cameroon. It focuses on the past 500 years, a period that witnessed dramatic transformations in African political and social systems, as well as the consequences of European expansion, the advent of the Atlantic slave trade, and the expansion of Islamic polities in the West African Sahel. The geographical and topical scope of this volume draws together archaeological syntheses of various parts of West Africa and is an important resource for West Africanists and all researchers interested in the indigenous response to European expansion, as well as for those examining African continuities in the Americas.
Script and writing were among the most important inventions in human history, and until the invention of printing, the handwritten book was the primary medium of literary and cultural transmission. Although the study of manuscripts is already quite advanced for many regions of the world, no unified discipline of ‘manuscript studies’ has yet evolved which is capable of treating handwritten books from East Asia, India and the Islamic world equally alongside the European manuscript tradition. This book, which aims to begin the interdisciplinary dialogue needed to arrive at a truly systematic and comparative approach to manuscript cultures worldwide, brings together papers by leading researchers concerned with material, philological and cultural aspects of different manuscript traditions.
This dynamic international collection provides a comprehensive overview of twin cities on administrative and international borders across the world. Drawing on contemporary and historical examples, it documents constant and changing features of twinned communities over time. The chapters explore a variety of urban formations including independent cities located side-by-side; cities that have merged over decades or even centuries and those projected to merge; cities partitioned by treaties and cities duplicated in pursuit of better security, intensified trade or both between neighbouring countries. From Europe to Africa, North America to the Middle East, South America to Asia, this book focuses on relationships between cities, citizens and municipal/international borders. A cartographical contents and editorial commentary guide readers through diverse contributions. The authors ask how far cities are changing or remaining constant in the context of conurbanisation, Europeanisation and globalization. The book provides a glimpse into the variety of roles twin cities can play globally: from laboratories of integration and para-diplomatic actors to economic and cultural brokers. This is a valuable, engaging resource for researchers in the fields of geography, urban studies, border studies, international relations and global development. It will be of great use to individuals involved in twin-city initiatives and general readers.
This book analyzes the factors that drive Boko Haram’s violence, arguing that the movement is rooted in the historical and religious context of west Africa. The data presented is based on extensive research, including fieldwork in Nigeria, primary source analysis, archival work, and large-scale survey analyses. Each chapter deals with a different case-study that showcases a driver of Boko Haram’s violence, including how the jihad of Usman dan Fodio is used as a source of contemporary inspiration to Boko Haram; how the extrajudicial killing of its then leader Mohammad Yusuf spurred the group to violence; why the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls was motivated by both ideology and strategy; how the formation of a caliphate and pledging of allegiance to ISIS gave Boko Haram an amplified presence; and how the issue of takfir led to the fracturing of the movement. To succeed in the fight against Boko Haram, this book argues, the Nigerian state needs to couple military advances with deep social changes, such as combatting corruption, reforming the police, and investing equitably across the country. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism and political violence, African politics, war and conflict studies, and security studies in general.
Drylands have been cradles to some of the world’s greatest civilizations, and contemporary dryland communities feature rich and unique cultures. Dryland ecosystems support a surprising amount of biodiversity. Desertification, however, is a significant land degradation problem in the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions of the world. Deterioration of soil and plant cover has adversely affected 70% of the world’s drylands as a result of extended droughts as well as mismanagement of range and cultivated lands. The situation is likely to worsen with high population growth rates and accompanying land-use conflicts. The contributions to The Future of Drylands – an international scientific conference held under the leadership of UNESCO – address these issues and offer practical solutions for combating desertification along with conserving and sustainably managing dryland ecosystems. Major themes include the conservation of dryland biological and cultural diversity and the human dryland interface. This volume documents how our improved understanding of drylands provides insight into the health and future prospects of these precious ecosystems that should help ensure that dryland communities enjoy a sustainable future.
The term ‘radicalization’ immediately evokes images of extremism, Muslim fundamentalism, and violence. The phenomenon is considered one of the evil forces triggering acts of terrorism and confl icts around the world. These notions also colour the way we view Sub-Saharan Africa since the Boko Haram uprising in Nigeria in 2009 and the spillover consequences of the Libyan civil war in 2012. This book aims to broaden our understanding of radicalization. It searches for the deeper wellsprings of radicalization as a force not only negative in outcome, but also pregnant with opportunities and vital to social and political change. The book argues that radical ideas and persons appear primarily with a call for change. Certainly, these cries can turn extremely violent and lead to open confl ict, but could this violence have been avoided if the radicalization and people involved had initially been interpreted differently? Following an opening refl ection by a slam artist on the phenomenon of radicalization, the book presents four case studies from the past and six from the present day. The studies are drawn mainly from Sub-Saharan Africa, with one from the Netherlands. By focusing on ‘biographies of radicalization’ the book investigates the history of the phenomenon, the forms it takes, and the pathways that lead a person to become radicalized. Rather than focus on chronological accounts of events, the emphasis is on exploring personal trajectories and inside stories. What can we learn from these individual itineraries and forms of radicalization? Were violent outcomes inevitable, and how might the calls for change have been turned in a different direction? The last three chapters examine pathways out of radicalization, ending with a report on youth in Dakar who directly engage with problematic issues in society and creatively harness the energy for change without becoming violent radicals.
The primary objective of this book is to understand the nature of the Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria. Boko Haram’s goal of an Islamic Caliphate, starting in the Borno State in the North East that will eventually cover the areas of the former Kanem-Borno Empire, is a rejection of the modern state system forced on it by the West. The central theme of this volume examines the relationship between the failure of the state-building project in Nigeria and the outbreak and nature of insurgency. At the heart of the Boko Haram phenomenon is a country racked with cleavages, making it hard for Nigeria to cohere as a modern state. Part I introduces this theme and places the Boko Haram insurgency in a historical context. There are, however, multiple cleavages in Nigeria ̶ ethnic, regional, cultural, and religious ̶ and Part II examines the different state-society dynamics fuelling the conflict. Political grievances are common to every society; however, what gives Boko Haram the space to express such grievances through violence? Importantly, this volume demonstrates that the insurgency is, in fact, a reflection of the hollowness within Nigeria’s overall security. Part III looks at the responses to Boko Haram by Nigeria, neighbouring states, and external actors. For Western actors, Boko Haram is seen as part of the "global war on terror" and the fact that it has pledged allegiance to ISIS encourages this framing. However, as the chapters here discuss, this is an over-simplification of Boko Haram and the West needs to address the multiple dimension of Boko Haram. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism and political violence, insurgencies, African politics, war and conflict studies, and IR in general.
In The Yearning for Relief Klaas van Walraven traces the history of the Sawaba movement in Niger and its rebellion against the French-protected regime during the 1960s. The book analyses its guerrilla campaign and failure, followed by the movement’s destruction.
