This collection consists of 49 insightful essays by leading Cameroonian blogger Dibussi Tande, which originally appeared on his award-winning blog Scribbles from the Den. These essays tackle some of the most pressing and complex issues facing Cameroon today such as the stalled democratization process, the perennial Anglophone problem, the crisis of higher education, the absence of the rule of law, the lack of leadership renewal, a stifled collective memory, and a continued inability to harness technology for purposes of national development, among others. Scribbles from the Den goes beyond the news headlines to dispassionately analyze and unravel the complexities of Cameroonian politics and society.
Scribbles is an autobiography that shares the story about taking the broken pieces of living life with a rare muscle and nerve disease and discovering purpose in the face of what many people would dismiss as tragic. Chris Simning writes about celebrating the scribbles of his existence through exploring life's small blessings. His miraculous journey is one that interacts with his faith, which has ignited a personal revival that has caused his story to encourage hearts worldwide. This book focuses on finding peace by taking our scars of brokenness and transforming them into distinguishing marks that inspire. It's a story that chooses freedom to turn life's unfortunate circumstances into treasures, creating from the artistry of those misshapen pieces called your scribbles to live life fully.
One day, Mama Ngonsu told her son: "Normally, a child grew up and stayed around to help his parents. The world has changed, and things are no longer as they used to be. Things must not be normal all the time, otherwise life would not be life." When Emmanuel Kwanga gets a University scholarship, he travels from the lake and hills of Abehema to the Great City. Everyone in the village has invested in him their hopes for the good life. When the life they've imagined is cut short by the University guillotine, Emmanuel Kwanga must struggle to make sense of what the good life means - for himself and for Abehema - in a world where things are no longer as they used to be. This novel is about coming of age and coming to terms in Mimboland. It is also about the fragility of life and the strength of the human spirit. The filth and screaming splendor of the city and the perplexed tranquility of the village are juxtaposed, as the tension and conviviality between tradition and modernity are lived and explored. Roads and drivers, dreams and public transport link different geographies. Faltering along or speeding away, these spaces of risk, frustration and solidarity are filled with popular songs as vehicles for understanding events and relationships. With every crossing of the Pont de Maturit the story flows, and its mysteries surge. In this novel, the worlds of the living and the dead intermingle, as do the natural and the supernatural, the visible and the invisible.
Society of Illustrators, Dilys Evans Founder's Award Winner A New York Times Best Book of 2020 A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2020 PRAISE "Electrifying. Extraordinary. Enigmatic and gorgeous." —The Wall Street Journal "An epic dream captured in superbly meticulous detail." —Shaun Tan "Danger, magic, surprise and awe abound in this masterly, wordless debut." —The New York Times "I love Van den Ende's passion." —Brian Selznick, New York Times Book Review STARRED REVIEWS ★ "Marvelously engrossing—a triumph." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review ★ "Remarkable. Absolutely sui generis." —Booklist, starred review Without a word, The Wanderer presents one little paper boat's journey across the ocean, past reefs and between icebergs, through schools of fish, swaying water plants, and terrifying sea monsters. The little boat is all alone, and while its aloneness gives it the chance to wonder at the fairy-tale world above and below the waves, that also means it must save itself when it storms. And so it does. Readers young and old will find the strength and inspiration in this quietly powerful story about growing, learning, and life's ups and downs.
Bearing Witness: Poems from a Land in Turmoil is a poetic response to the devastating Anglophone Crisis/Ambazonian Conflict in Cameroon that has killed thousands of children, women and men, displaced over half a million people and left hundreds of communities in ruins. The poems in this volume capture an all-encompassing landscape marked by alienation, despair, displacement, loss, anger, trauma, as well as courage, hope, heroism, justice and resilience. These poems also engender psychic healing which has the potential of turning victims into survivors. With over 100 poems by 73 poets—seasoned and emerging, old and young, men and women—this collection is not only a guidepost of collective memory, but also the definitive literary work of this period in Cameroon’s checkered history.
A sketch . . . records something that happens between the artist and the object. Now closer to the artist, now closer to the object, but still hanging in the tension in between. Or the memory or recall of that tension. A composite of line, scratches, smears, swabs and dots that recreates an object, it learns its rhythm in the process. And becomes an object by itself. The artist sometimes keeps it to the essentials; at other times he dresses it up and makes it play a role. Set sail a narrative. And take one to new shores of experience. This uncovers new images. So this ceaseless doodling; the unravelling of what is, then its reknitting into novel composites. This volume of sketches, scribbles, drawings spans the work of the last 30 years, with the bulk of the material coming from the period between 1980 and the present. The selection has been put together by the artist himself, with the aim of compiling a definitive collection. This volume includes his early sketches from 1968, the black-and-white drawings for his reverse paintings from 1980, his China, Japan, London and Oxford sketches, drawings of nature, and figure studies. It provides a rich variety of mediums and styles, from works in crayon and watercolour to pen and ink scribbles, brush drawings, notes, doodles and working drawings. The volume opens with a thoughtful introduction by K. G. Subramanyan, reflecting on the importance and purpose of such sketches and drawings for an artist, and looking back on his experiences over a long and eminent career. There is also a substantial biographical sketch prepared by art historian and close associate R. Siva Kumar, who has observed K. G. Subramanyan s oeuvre over the years. A leading artist, theoretician and teacher, K. G. Subramanyan is Professor Emeritus at Kala Bhavan. He lives and works in Santiniketan.
Claude Ake's study is primarily concerned with what he terms 'the most perinicious form of imperialism' namely scientific knowledge. Ake analyses how Western social sciences, whether consciously or inadvertently, foist capitalist values and capitalist development on the Third World, and serve imperialist ends. He unravels the theory of political development/'westernisation', exposing its ideological character and condemning 'Western development studies as worse than useless'. He then develops his analysis of the imperialist and ideological characteristics of Western social sciences to posit alternatives which may more successfully overcome permanent underdevelopment; and advocates a struggle for a new model of social sciences which is socialist-orientated, and that developing countries reject Western models. The study was first published in 1979, revised in 1982, is newly reissued, and for the first time, widely available outside Africa. Claude Ake (1939-1996) was one of Africa's most distinguished political and social scientists and democrats of the twentieth century, writing widely and polemically on what were his life-long concerns of democracy and the future of the African continent.
A journal that's beyond words. For beginning journal-keepers, especially tweens, it can be tough to put feelings into words. But putting feelings into doodles - that's a whole different story. Introducing Doodle Journal, a book that makes self-expression as simple as letting your pen do its thing. This prompted journal is filled with cool, doodly artwork growing out of the corners and creeping up the edges of the pages like a wild vine of inspiration. But plenty of space on every spread is left invitingly clear, waiting for the journal-keeper's touch. There are also tons of activities, including ""doodle-starters"" -- faintly printed guidelines of cool shapes and patterns. Trace over them, adding your own embellishments, to make the designs your own. It's the satisfaction of creation with no artistic skills required. Clever journal prompts and drawing ideas mean there is never a struggle thinking of what to doodle. And, of course, the one tool you need is included: a custom-designed gel pen, mounted in a convenient holder. It's everything you need to do the doodles of your life.
This collection of poems evolves as a network and satellite of an expressive pursuit of justice with a difference. For, though this poetry simultaneously shapes global and grassroots smiles and tears, its corpus is no matter for laughter or weeping. In familiar but not identical voices, the poet tackles social evils as parasites while cross-examining cultural assumptions in the same vein. Triple form -title poem, Letters to Ethiopia and Some Random poems, explores nightmares of colonial mission civilisatrice by dint of two decades of inspirational events from 1965 as invitations into a more serene world emerging from post-discoveries.
