The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa
The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa

Author: John Allembillah Azumah

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2014-10-01

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 1780746857

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Thoughtful and challenging, this book argues for a reassessment of the role historically played by Islam in Africa, and offers new hope for in creased mutual understanding between African people of different faiths. Drawing on a wealth of sources, from the colonial period to the most up-to-date scholarship, the author challenges the widely held perception th at, while Christianity oppressed and subjugated the African people, Islam fitted comfortably into the indigenous landscape. Instead, this penetrating account reveals Muslim settlers to be as guilty of enforcing slavery and conversion as those of their more maligned sister tradition. Only with an acknowledgement of the true roles of both faiths in African history, suggests Azumah, can the people of both traditions move themselves and their continent towards a new future of tolerance and self-awareness.

Parties and Politics in Northern Nigeria
Parties and Politics in Northern Nigeria

Author: B.J. Dudley

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-11-05

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 1136961895

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First Published in 1968. In retrospect it now seems clear that the federal elections of December 1964 and the constitutional crisis which followed mark the apogee of the civilian government headed by Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. The ‘broadbased’ government which emerged from the crisis represented, at best, a shaky compromise. A decisive jolt came when in the early hours of January 15, 1966, a group of young army officers, mainly Ibo, led some soldiers in a coup which ended in the death of the Federal Prime Minister of Nigeria, Sir Abubakar. The regional Premiers of the North and the West were also killed, as were a number of high-ranking Hausa and Yoruba officers. This volume asks what went wrong and ledto Nigeria’s slow decline into civil chaos and the possibility of political disintegration.

If You’re Reading This…
If You’re Reading This…

Author: Siân Price

Publisher: Frontline Books

Published: 2012-02-29

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1848326106

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In this brilliant and profoundly moving collection of ‘farewell letters’ written by servicemen and women to their loved ones, Siân Price offers a remarkable insight into the hearts and minds of some of the soldiers, sailors and airmen of the past three hundred years. Each letter provides an enduring snapshot of an impossible moment in time – when an individual stares death squarely in the face. Some were written or dictated as the person lay mortally wounded; many were written on the eve of a great charge or battle; others were written by soldiers who experienced premonitions of their death, or by kamikaze pilots and condemned prisoners. They write of the grim realities of battle, of daily hardships, of unquestioning patriotism or bitter regrets, of religious fervor or political disillusionment, of unrelenting optimism or sinking morale – and above all, they write of their love for their family and the desire to return to them one day. Be it an epitaph dictated on a Napoleonic battlefield, a staunch, unsentimental letter written by a Victorian officer, or an email from a soldier in modern day Afghanistan, these voices speak eloquently and forcefully of the tragedy of war and answer that fundamental human need to say goodbye.

The African City
The African City

Author: Bill Freund

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2007-03-05

Total Pages: 199

ISBN-13: 1139459554

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This book is comprehensive both in terms of time coverage, from before the Pharaohs to the present moment and in that it tries to consider cities from the entire continent, not just Sub-Saharan Africa. Apart from factual information and rich description material culled from many sources, it looks at many issues from why urban life emerged in the first place to how present-day African cities cope in difficult times. Instead of seeing towns and cities as somehow extraneous to the real Africa, it views them as an inherent part of developing Africa, indigenous, colonial, and post-colonial and emphasizes the extent to which the future of African society and African culture will likely be played out mostly in cities. The book is written to appeal to students of history but equally to geographers, planners, sociologists and development specialists interested in urban problems.

Decolonization and African Society
Decolonization and African Society

Author: Frederick Cooper

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1996-08-28

Total Pages: 702

ISBN-13: 9780521566001

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This detailed and authoritative volume changes our conceptions of 'imperial' and 'African' history. Frederick Cooper gathers a vast range of archival sources in French and English to achieve a truly comparative study of colonial policy toward the recruitment, control, and institutionalization of African labor forces from the mid 1930s, when the labor question was first posed, to the late 1950s, when decolonization was well under way. Professor Cooper explores colonial conceptions of the African worker and shows how African trade union and political leaders used the new language of social change to claim equality and a share of power. This helped to persuade European officials that the 'modern' Africa they imagined was unaffordable. Britain and France could not reshape African society. As they left the continent, the question was how they had affected the ways in which Africans could reorganize society themselves.

Reinventing Africa
Reinventing Africa

Author: Annie E. Coombes

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1994-01-01

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9780300068900

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Between 1890 and 1918, British colonial expansion in Africa led to the removal of many African artifacts that were subsequently brought to Britain and displayed. Annie Coombes argues that this activity had profound repercussions for the construction of a national identity within Britain itself--the effects of which are still with us today. Through a series of detailed case studies, Coombes analyzes the popular and scientific knowledge of Africa which shaped a diverse public's perception of that continent: the looting and display of the Benin "bronzes" from Nigeria; ethnographic museums; the mass spectacle of large-scale international and missionary exhibitions and colonial exhibitions such as the "Stanley and African" of 1890; together with the critical reaction to such events in British national newspapers, the radical and humanitarian press and the West African press. Coombes argues that although endlessly reiterated racial stereotypes were disseminated through popular images of all things "African," this was no simple reproduction of imperial ideology. There were a number of different and sometimes conflicting representations of Africa and of what it was to be African--representations that varied according to political, institutional, and disciplinary pressures. The professionalization of anthropology over this period played a crucial role in the popularization of contradictory ideas about African culture to a mass public. Pioneering in its research, this book offers valuable insights for art and design historians, historians of imperialism and anthropology, anthropologists, and museologists.

Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1800
Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1800

Author: John Thornton

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1998-04-28

Total Pages: 483

ISBN-13: 113964338X

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This book explores Africa's involvement in the Atlantic world from the fifteenth century to the eighteenth century. It focuses especially on the causes and consequences of the slave trade, in Africa, in Europe, and in the New World. African institutions, political events, and economic structures shaped Africa's voluntary involvement in the Atlantic arena before 1680. Africa's economic and military strength gave African elites the capacity to determine how trade with Europe developed. Thornton examines the dynamics of colonization which made slaves so necessary to European colonizers, and he explains why African slaves were placed in roles of central significance. Estate structure and demography affected the capacity of slaves to form a self-sustaining society and behave as cultural actors, transferring and transforming African culture in the New World.

Routledge Handbook of Agricultural Biodiversity
Routledge Handbook of Agricultural Biodiversity

Author: Danny Hunter

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-10-03

Total Pages: 692

ISBN-13: 1317753291

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The world relies on very few crop and animal species for agriculture and to supply its food needs. In recent decades, there has been increased appreciation of the risk this implies for food security and quality, especially in times of environmental change. As a result, agricultural biodiversity has moved to the top of research and policy agendas. This Handbook presents a comprehensive overview of our current knowledge of agricultural biodiversity in a series of specially commissioned chapters. It draws on multiple disciplines including plant and animal genetics, ecology, crop and animal science, food studies and nutrition, as well as social science subjects which explore the socio-economic, cultural, institutional, legal and policy aspects of agricultural biodiversity. It focuses not only on the core requirements to deliver a sustainable agriculture and food supply, but also highlights the additional ecosystem services provided by a diverse and resilient agricultural landscape and farming practices. The book provides an indispensable reference textbook for a wide range of courses in agriculture, ecology, biodiversity conservation and environmental studies.

Ghana in Search of Development
Ghana in Search of Development

Author: Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-22

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 1351793136

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This title was first published in 2001. When Ghana became independent in 1957, becoming the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to banish colonialism, there was a general optimism that irreversible socio-economic development was about to unfold. But by the end of the 1970s Ghana paradoxically became the first country in Twentieth Century Africa to have experienced socio-economic decline. What failed Ghana? This book seeks to answer this question. By combining sociological, economic, political and institutional perspectives, this book focuses on the interplay between state politics and socio-economic development. It provides a model, which suggests that Ghana’s postcolonial development has suffered mainly as a result of the failure or inability of governing elites to develop consensual politics and a clearly specified long-term development objective that could be widely understood, accepted and have relevance for policy making. This book presents a much-needed self-assessment of the post-colonial development experience which contends that governance, economic management and institution building are basic challenges without which the search for development is likely to falter.