Nnewi is a town in the Igbo region of Nigeria that has come into prominence for many reasons: its contact with the colonial powers; as the headquarters of the Onitsha Southern County Council and of the local government; and for the many eminent figures originating in the area. This is a biographical account of the contributions of Chief Leonard Nsoedo of Nnewi to the socio-economic and political development of the town of Nnewi and to Nigeria generally. The authors emphasise his role as one of the pivots of modern Nnewi. They set his story firmly in a historical context, charting the major historical, political and religious developments in the region that provide the backdrop to his life in the twentieth century.
Since independence in 1960, Nigeria has undergone tremendous change shaped by political instability, rapid population growth, and economic turbulence. The Historical Dictionary of Nigeria introduces Nigeria's rich and complex history. Readers will find a wealth of information on important contemporary issues like AIDS, human rights, petroleum, and faith-based conflict.
Popular music an acculturative product of the African folk musicscrutinized along the lines of musical and social processes as inseparable pair in developing the various genres of the eclectic musical form. In Nigeria, it is the congruent collaboration of creativity and politico-socio-economic activities of the mid-1940s (the period following the World War II) that evolved the various genres of popular music of the landa process that is still in being! The social processes that span through the diverse fields of economics, politics, linguistics, sociology, philosophy, and religion made up a manifold agency of acculturation, commercialization, urbanization, and class stratifications. Similarly, the musical processes emanating from the folk musical practices of conception, composition, and classification of genres; recruitment of group members and administrative personnel; training, packaging, costuming, and aesthetics; and then the performance proper are carried over into a parallel development of a neo-folk form that became popular. The popularity of the new form is due to a socio-musical interchange that is both structural and functional. The peculiar nature of the product of this new musical expressionpoptherefore presents four possible angles for definition. The definitions could be stylistic, sociological, process- or theory-based. The genres developed include highlife, afrobeat, rock, calypso, disco, hip hop, rhythm n blues, funk, and reggae. However, the star feature of this investigation is the Afro-reggae genre of Nigeria. The primary research process of survey was backed up by historical and descriptive methods to unearth the leaning on the rhythm of social life by popular music artistes to develop the African reggae genre, especially in Nigeria.
Every year more and more Europeans, including Germans, are embracing Islam. It is estimated that there are now up to one hundred thousand German converts—a number similar to that in France and the United Kingdom. What stands out about recent conversions is that they take place at a time when Islam is increasingly seen as contrary to European values. Being German, Becoming Muslim explores how Germans come to Islam within this antagonistic climate, how they manage to balance their love for Islam with their society's fear of it, how they relate to immigrant Muslims, and how they shape debates about race, religion, and belonging in today’s Europe. Esra Özyürek looks at how mainstream society marginalizes converts and questions their national loyalties. In turn, converts try to disassociate themselves from migrants of Muslim-majority countries and promote a denationalized Islam untainted by Turkish or Arab traditions. Some German Muslims believe that once cleansed of these accretions, the Islam that surfaces fits in well with German values and lifestyle. Others even argue that being a German Muslim is wholly compatible with the older values of the German Enlightenment. Being German, Becoming Muslim provides a fresh window into the connections and tensions stemming from a growing religious phenomenon in Germany and beyond.
The question of whether Islam is compatible with democracy may best be answered not from the classical sources or even from the cauldron of Middle East politics but from the lived experiences of Muslim communities around the world. In large and diverse countries, the varied political values of different cultures can make or break the democratic experiment. Regardless of their cultural context, transitions from military to civilian rule require attention to the grassroots civic cultures that form the foundations of democratic federalism. John Paden, a noted expert on West African and Islamic societies, uses Nigeria as a critical case study of how a diverse country with a significant Muslim population is working to make the transition to a democratic society. Although little-studied, the non-Arab Muslim communities of West Africa are an important indicator as to whether Islamic democracy in a diverse nation is possible. Nigeria's success is vital to regional and global stability. As the largest country in Africa, with a population that is about half Muslim and half Christian or traditional animist, Nigeria is also the seventh largest producer of oil in the world and has gone through a series of political traumas ranging from civil war to military rule. The current democratic government is trying to balance rule-of-law concerns at a time when many communal tensions are coming to the surface. Muslim Civic Cultures and Conflict Resolution in Nigeria takes us inside the complex world of Nigerian politics, with a focus on the ways Muslim civic cultures deal with matters of leadership and conflict resolution. The book provides an essential context to the current international concern with issues ranging from Shari'a law and communal violence, to the broader war on terrorism. It argues that the requirement for regional political cooperation serves as a counterbalance to more extreme forms of political expression. Paden shows that if the Nigerian political model o
In the early 1900s the motor-vehicle (car, bus, lorry or motor-cycle) was introduced in sub-Saharan Africa. Initially the plaything and symbol of colonial domination, the motor-vehicle transformed the economic and social life of the continent. Indeed, the motor-vehicle is arguably the single most important factor for change in Africa in the twentieth century. A factor for change that thus far has been neglected in research and literature. Yet its impact extends across the totality of human existence; from ecological devastation to economic advancement, from cultural transformation to political change, through to a myriad of other themes. This edited volume of eleven contributions by historians, anthropologists and social and political scientists explores aspects of the social history and anthropology of the motor-vehicle in Africa.
Large volume food processing and preparation operations have increased the need for improved sanitary practices from processing to consumption. This trend presents a challenge to every employee in the food processing and food prepara tion industry. Sanitation is an applied science for the attainment of hygienic conditions. Because of increased emphasis on food safety, sanitation is receiving increased attention from those in the food industry. Traditionally, inexperienced employees with few skills who have received little or no training have been delegated sanitation duties. Yet sanitation employees require intensive training. In the past, these employees, including sanitation program managers, have had only limited access to material on this subject. Technical information has been confined primarily to a limited number of training manuals provided by regulatory agen cies, industry and association manuals, and recommendations from equipment and cleaning compound firms. Most of this material lacks specific information related to the selection of appropriate cleaning methods, equipment, compounds, and sanitizers for maintaining hygienic conditions in food processing and prepara tion facilities. The purpose of this text is to provide sanitation information needed to ensure hygienic practices. Sanitation is a broad subject; thus, principles related to con tamination, cleaning compounds, sanitizers, and cleaning equipment, and specific directions for applying these principles to attain hygienic conditions in food processing and food preparation are discussed. The discussion starts with the importance of sanitation and also includes regulatory requirements and voluntary sanitation programs including additional and updated information on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP).
