Across Africa, new collectivities are shifting the terms within which access to economic opportunity, social belonging, and political agency have historically been understood. Recent years have seen powerful waves of civic mobilization sweep across the continent. Less prominent articulations of contemporary political desire have also been percolating through the diffuse experiences of the African everyday. As differential access to global capitalism and its promises folds into modes of subjection—and escape—that are hard to predict, those who exercise power find ever more ways of guarding the borders and memberships of privileged groups. This book turns to the critically entangled terms of affect and access as a basis for exploring emergent orientations in the field of African cultural theorizing. It pays especial attention to scholarship engaging with the multifaceted coordinates of political and social participation, where complex assemblages of affective attachment, exchange, and realignment work in concert with demands for socio-political and economic forms of access. This book was originally published as a special issue of Safundi.
This volume focuses on the directions that African cultural studies has taken over the years and covers the following central themes: contemporary issues in African cultural studies; Gender and the making of identity; the dual discourses of Afropessimism and Afrofuturism; problematizing the African diaspora and methodology and African cultural studies. The second of two volumes, the book predominantly pulls together a rich reservoir of previously published articles from Critical Arts: South-North Cultural and Media Studies. Taken together the two volumes re-expose for international readers sets of theories, methodologies and studies that not only have been influenced by global trends, but which themselves have contributed to shaping those trends. While the first volume addressed foundational themes and issues in African cultural studies, this second volume focuses on the directions that African cultural studies is taking; the complex ways in which gender can be seen at work in the making of identity; the juxtaposition of two relatively new themes in African cultural studies, namely Afropessimism and Afrofuturism; the ways in which the presence of continental Africans in the diaspora problematize taken-for-granted conceptions of diaspora and diasporic identity; identifying some of the methodological issues and approaches that have been taken up in African cultural studies work. This book will be a key resource for academics, researchers and advanced students of African cultural studies, media and cultural studies, African studies, history, politics, sociology, and social and cultural anthropology, while also being of interest to those seeking an introduction to the sub-field of African cultural studies.
At a time when we have all lived through profound and unexpected disruptions to our shared spaces, routines, economies, societies, and work-lives, this book considers the nature and implications of rupture, the commons, and their conjoining. Addressing rupture and disruption through the lens of literary and cultural studies, this volume traverses genres — film, fiction, theatre, poetry, and the graphic novel — and continents, and addresses histories and identities as ecologies. The focus is resolutely contemporary, with nearly all of the texts being analyzed produced within the last decade. Beginning with the history of, and debates about, Garrett Hardin’s famous “tragedy of the commons,” Ruptured Commons engages with texts and cultures of disaster wherein artistic expression becomes a form of protest and a path to change. This collection both critically examines our arrival at and understanding of this moment, and explores diverse, and hopeful, visions for the future embedded within contemporary culture.
Migrating the Black Body explores how visual media—from painting to photography, from global independent cinema to Hollywood movies, from posters and broadsides to digital media, from public art to graphic novels—has shaped diasporic imaginings of the individual and collective self. How is the travel of black bodies reflected in reciprocal black images? How is blackness forged and remade through diasporic visual encounters and reimagined through revisitations with the past? And how do visual technologies structure the way we see African subjects and subjectivity? This volume brings together an international group of scholars and artists who explore these questions in visual culture for the historical and contemporary African diaspora. Examining subjects as wide-ranging as the appearance of blackamoors in Russian and Swedish imperialist paintings, the appropriation of African and African American liberation images for Chinese Communist Party propaganda, and the role of YouTube videos in establishing connections between Ghana and its international diaspora, these essays investigate routes of migration, both voluntary and forced, stretching across space, place, and time.
Peacebuilding in Contemporary Africa explores the challenges and opportunities faced by countries and societies transitioning from armed conflicts to peace in contemporary Africa. It evaluates the effectiveness, outcomes and failures of existing peacebuilding initiatives implemented by stakeholders, and proposes new strategies and approaches to facilitate the transition. The book investigates both micro- and macro-level conflicts in various parts of Africa, as well as the efforts made to resolve them and build peace. The book pays particular attention to grassroots-based micro-level conflicts often disregarded in peacebuilding literature, which tends to focus on macro-level, neo-liberal state reconstruction and peacebuilding efforts. The book adopts an evidence-based, policy-relevant approach to peacebuilding in Africa. The various chapter contributors offer a lucid analysis and critique of some of the prevailing paradigms and strategies of peacebuilding practiced in Africa. Together, the authors recommend innovative strategies to mobilise and coordinate governance institutions and partnerships at all levels (international, regional, national, and local) to prevent conflict escalation in volatile states and advance the rebuilding of violence-affected states and communities. Peacebuilding in Contemporary Africa provides a much-needed perspective from African scholars, and will be of interest to students, researchers, policy makers and practitioners with an interest in promoting legitimate policy interventions and sustainable peace in Africa.
Contemporary Healthcare Issues in Sub-Saharan Africa: Social, Economic, and Cultural Perspectives discusses contemporary healthcare issues in Sub-Saharan Africa to identify deficiencies in the system and provide workable recommendations for strengthening healthcare delivery on the continent. Contributors address topical issues such as drug quality, malaria control, health insurance, geriatric care, and the environment-health nexus. The contributors also study intimate partner violence and maternal-child health, food safety, prevalence of childhood tuberculosis, and cardiovascular diseases. This book provides in-depth analyses of current issues in Sub-Saharan Africa that blend theory and practice. The diverse group of contributors includes experts in clinical medicine, pharmacy, economics, anthropology, public health, and the social sciences.
Exploring the conflict between respect for privacy and deference to state authority in the context of family law today, each chapter in the Seventh Edition of Modern Family Law: Cases and Materials provides a lens to explore the appropriate role of the state in family decision making and helps equip students to handle current and emerging family law issues. The book features riveting well-edited cases, notes, interdisciplinary materials, and problems that highlight issues of gender, sexualities, race, and class. Integrating legal developments with perspectives from history, psychology, sociology, medicine, and philosophy, this casebook uniquely reflects the full diversity of the modern family, including key updates on marriage equality and parentage issues for LGBT-headed families, the nonmarital family, abortion, adoption, and assisted reproductive technology. New to the Seventh Edition: The latest Supreme Court family law cases (Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt; Masterpiece Cakeshop; Pavan v. Smith; Sessions v. Morales-Santana), and previews of upcoming cases (June Medical Services v. Gee and Bostock v. Clayton County) In-depth coverage of important recent uniform and model legislation (Uniform Parentage Act (2017); Uniform Nonparent Custody and Visitation Act (2018); pending VAWA Reauthorization Act (2020), ALI Restatement of Children and the Law (2019-2020), and ABA Model Act Governing Assisted Reproduction (2019) Landmark recent state and federal decisions (including LGBT rights, breastfeeding discrimination/accommodations, contraceptive fraud, divorce discrimination, marital paternity presumption, marital communications privilege, abortion restrictions, minors’ abortion rights, name disputes, challenges to state polygamy laws, parentage rights in multi-parent families, spousal spying for infidelity, and much more) Professors and students will benefit from: A mix of “classic” and cutting-edge materials illuminate family law’s past and its continuing development in an era of exciting change Materials—such as narratives, epilogues, personal communications, social science perspectives, and comparative information—bring family law to life and Thoughtfully organized materials clearly present basic principles and doctrines, while inviting policy-based reflections and questions about law reform Provocative questions and Problems based on cases and current events will spark lively class discussions
This volume brings together seven empirically grounded contributions by African social scientists of different disciplinary backgrounds. The authors explore the social impact of religious innovation and competition in present day Africa. They represent a selection from an interdisciplinary initiative that made 23 research grants for theologians and social scientists to study Christianity and social change in contemporary Africa. These contributions focus on a variety of dynamics in contemporary African religion (mostly Christianity), including gender, health and healing, social media, entrepreneurship, and inter-religious borrowing and accommodation. The volume seeks to enhance understanding of religions vital presence and power in contemporary Africa. It reveals problems as well as possibilities, notably some ethical concerns and psychological maladies that arise in some of these new movements, notably neo-Pentecostal and militant fundamentalist groups. Yet the contributions do not fixate on African problems and victimization. Instead, they explore sources of African creativity, resiliency and agency. The book calls on scholars of religion and religiosity in Africa to invest new conceptual and methodological energy in understanding what it means to be actively religious in Africa today.
This collection brings together accomplished and emerging scholars who are researching and working for grassroots social change throughout Africa and Asia. The essays within are sourced from a series of seminars held during the founding African Peace Research and Education Association Conference at the Economic Community of West African States Parliament in Abuja, Nigeria. The book draws strategic lines of connection between diverse peoples on the two most populous continents. Looking at contemporary Gandhian, Chinese, armed guerrilla, insurrectionist, state-supported, and civil resistance movements, each essay reviews recent attempts at peace-building, while also placing modern efforts in traditional, historic, indigenous contexts.
Preface by Hugh McIsaac Family mediation has quickly become a significant means of legal dispute resolution, recognized in most North American jurisdictions as a relief to already overburdened judicial systems. Using an innovative practical approach, the authors of Family Mediation incorporate the pivotal principles of family therapy into this new context--the judicial realm of family mediation. The practice model--therapeutic family mediation--thoroughly treats history, specific issues, and practice in an ecosystemic approach and responds to feminist critique of mediation. In addition, the authors offer important perspectives on mediating with multicultural populations and the role of the mediator in child custody disputes and child protection cases. Through examination of family mediation research as well as helpful case history vignettes, the authors of this volume take action to fill significant gaps between family therapy and mediation. Family Mediation provides a new take on family mediation that will benefit not only professionals and researchers in family studies, social work, clinical psychology, and sociology but also professional and volunteer mediators, conciliation court personnel, and family law specialists. "Family Mediation is an excellent blend of scholarship and practice, and it is the best of the books I have read on family mediation. First, it is clear and well written. Second, it provides an in-depth, current review of the divorce literature. The literature on divorce is large, uneven, and difficult to interpret. The authors have done a service to the profession by skillfully reviewing and integrating this literature." --Stephen J. Bahr, Brigham Young University "This book is one of the most comprehensive and well-researched texts on mediation to date. The authors have compiled an immense array of information regarding the history of family mediation, the practice and knowledge base, a review of literature regarding divorce, the principles of mediation, gender and cultural issues, elements in a child custody dispute, sharing parenting, cultural issues, and the use of mediation in dependency, and they include an excellent summary of research conducted. . . . Of particular value is the enormous scope of the review of literature and the work of others, not only in Canada but also the United States, Australia, and Great Britain, underscoring the international nature of this transformation. What Howard H. Irving and Michael Benjamin have done is chart a major shift in the handling of conflict and they have done it very well." --Family and Conciliation Courts Review "Howard H. Irving and Michael Benjamin have surveyed and summarized an immense amount of material within the covers of this volume, presenting it in a clear, readable style. It is one of the rare texts on mediation that does justice to the complexity of families generally and families in North America particularly--to their diversity of culture, to the scope of feminist thought and gender differences, and to the ranges of social class. Their attention to divergent forms of mediation and differences in practice across jurisdictions is broadly sighted. An excellent choice for a text in mediation." --Mary A. Duryee, Family Court Services, Alameda County, Oakland, CA "Howard H. Irving and Michael Benjamin grapple with what is the most difficult event that confronts almost half of all modern families--divorce. Historically, the developmental issues and problems surrounding divorce have been solved in the courts. But modern-day courts are overwhelmed by an avalanche of divorce cases, more than a million a year, and are unable to meet the needs of separating parties. Family Mediation offers a fundamentally different approach from the conventional legal system. The empirical research and clinical experience Irving and Benjamin bring to bear on this subject have resulted in the seminal work in this area. This delightful and thoughtful book is a must for the modern mediation practitioner who works with families and children." --Duncan Lindsey, Professor, UCLA, and Editor-in-Chief, Children and Youth Services Review "This book is unique in providing a complete overview of relevant subject areas for family mediation under one cover. Its writing is timely because it dispels some of the myths in the rapidly expanding field of family mediation. . . . Family Mediation is a comprehensive text that follows the development of family mediation through the present and concludes with the predictors of future directions. It is perhaps the most thorough critical review of the literature pertaining to family mediation and develops an inclusive practical model of practice for practitioners. The book is readable . . . responsible, and of interest to family mediators and the family law lawyers who work closely with them. It may become a must as a background for the novice family mediator about to embark on a course of training." --Laurel Pearson, McWhinney, Metcalfe, and Associates, Toronto, Canada
