The text provides an ethnographic analysis of the social and cultural aspects of installing and managing a piped drinking water system in La... Purificacion Tepetitla, a community located in the densely populated and semiarid region of the Valley of Mexico. The account shows how politics and culture shape community initiatives to develop adequate and equitable drinking water supplies in the Valley of Mexico's changing ecology. The research is based on 22 months of ethnographic fieldwork, carried out from 1993 to 2000. The book applies the culture concept to drinking water issues and furthers students' understanding of human diversity in terms of economics, ecological adaptation, politics, kinship, gender, ethnicity, health beliefs and practices, and religion and ritual.

This Book Is Concerned With the story of Africa from antiquity to modern times, as told in the chronicles and records of chiefs and kings, travellers... and merchant-adventures, poets and pirates and priests, soldiers and persons of learning. Framed and introduced as a continuous narrative based on what was thought and written at the time, African Civilization Revisited is designed to illustrate the drama and variety, challenge and achievement of humankind in Africa's long history. It is offered as a contribution to the fuller understanding of Africa today, as well as a guide to the Africa of yesterday and of long ago.

This major new revised edition of African Civilizations reexamines the physical evidence for developing social complexity in tropical Africa over the... past four thousand years and considers possible explanations of the developments that gave rise to it. Graham Connah focuses on urbanism and state formation in seven main areas of Africa: Nubia, Ethiopia, the West African savanna, the West African forest, the East African coast and islands, the Zimbabwe Plateau, and parts of Central Africa. Extensively illustrated and offering an extended bibliography, this book provides essential reading on the topic.

Constitutionalism is steadily becoming the prevalent form of governance in Africa. But how does constitutionalism deal with the lingering effects of... colonialism? And how does constitutional law deal with Islamic principles in the region? African Constitutionalism and the Role of Islam seeks to answer these questions. Constitutional governance has not been, nor will be, easily achieved, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im argues. But setbacks and difficulties are to be expected in the process of adaptation and indigenization of an essentially alien concept—that of of nation-state—and its role in large-scale political and social organization.An-Na'im discusses the problems of implementing constitutionalized forms of government specific to Africa, from definitional to conceptual and practical issues. The role of Islam in these endeavors is open to challenge and reformulation, and should not be taken for granted or assumed to be necessarily negative or positive, An-Na'im asserts, and he emphasizes the role of the agency of Muslims in the process of adapting constitutionalism to the values and practices of their own societies. By examining the incremental successes that some African nations have already achieved and An-Na'im reveals the contingent role that Islam has to play in this process. Ultimately, these issues will determine the long-term sustainability of constitutionalism in Africa.

Fu-Kiau Bunseki, Ph.D. is one of the great scholars of the African religion, and the leading authority on the Bantu-Kongo civilization. He is also a... genuine practitioner of the Kongo spiritual tradition. He is intiated in the three "secret societies" Lemba, Khimba and Kimpasi. Lemba is the foundation for several African based religious practices including Palo Mayombe (Cuba), Vodou Petro (Haiti) and Candomble Angola (Brasil). African cosmology of the Bantu-Kongo explores the Bantu-Kongo religious and philosophical teachings, as well as concepts of law and crime. It connects the reader with one of the most ancient and powerful spiritual traditions-explore "seven-direction walk" our origin and links to society, nature and the universe.

From interdisciplinary and continental perspectives, this volume explores elements of African culture and ideas, indigenous and modern, and how they... have evolved through the ages. It considers areas such as education; cross-culturalism; the relationship between African, Arabic and Egyptian civilizations; traditions of philosophy; music, the performing arts and literature; language; gender; and the impact of colonialism and pan-Africanism.

Africa, according to the contributors to this anthology, is one cultural river with numerous tributaries articulated by their specific responses to... history and the environment. They concentrate on the similarities in behavior, perceptions, and technologies of African culture that tie those tributaries together. The fourteen original essays by leading scholars of African studies are organized in four general divisions which consider the ethno-cultural motif, the artistic tradition, concepts of cultural value, and cultural continua.

This is a collection of essays written by scholars and professionals on the field of Dance and African American Studies covering four major areas of... the disciplines. It provides historical, philosophical and aesthetic information on the subject matter drawing from the African continent and the African Diaspora.

This study assesses the extent to which African decolonization resulted from deliberate imperial policy, from the pressures of African nationalism, or... from an international situation transformed by superpower rivalries. It analyzes what powers were transferred and to whom they were given. Pan-Africanism is seen not only in its own right but as indicating the transformation of expectations when the new rulers, who had endorsed its geopolitical logic before taking power, settled into the routines of government.

In the ongoing battle against global poverty, the countries of Africa continue to present the greatest challenge. African Development offers a... comprehensive introduction to the issues, actors, and institutions interacting across the diverse continent. Each chapter is organized around three fundamental questions: Where are we now? How did we get to this point? What are the current debates? Interspersed throughout are vivid sidebars acquainting the student with ten well-known "big men" and ten equally important but lesser known African actors. The text also includes the ABCs of development jargon. Other useful features include chapter-by-chapter suggestions for further reading and a comprehensive index.

In the ongoing battle against global poverty, the countries of Africa continue to present the greatest challenge. African Development offers a... comprehensive introduction to the issues, actors, and institutions interacting across the diverse continent. Each chapter is organized around three fundamental questions: Where are we now? How did we get to this point? What are the current debates? Interspersed throughout are vivid sidebars acquainting the student with ten well-known "big men" and ten equally important but lesser known African actors. The text also includes the ABCs of development jargon. Other useful features include chapter-by-chapter suggestions for further reading and a comprehensive index.

The African Diaspora presents musical case studies from various regions of the African diaspora, including Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and... Europe, that engage with broader interdisciplinary discussions about race, gender, politics, nationalism, and music.

The first comprehensive study of Africa's economic history, beginning with the origins of domesticated food production and concluding with the... attainment of political independence. The author draws insights from both liberal and Marxist approaches without adopting either one. The book's particular strengths lie in Austen's balance of cultural and geographical areas, his analysis of trade and commerce, and his portrayal of emerging regional economies.

This book explains why African countries have remained mired in a disastrous economic crisis since the late 1970s. It shows that dynamics internal to... African state structures largely explain this failure to overcome economic difficulties rather than external pressures on these same structures as is often argued. Far from being prevented from undertaking reforms by societal interest and pressure groups, clientelism within the state elite, ideological factors and low state capacity have resulted in some limited reform, but much prevarication and manipulation of the reform process, by governments that do not really believe that reform will be effective.

African families face serious crises today. They are under economic, demographic and political pressures of all kinds; yet, families are not mere... hapless victims of global change. They are proactive, resilient agents and creators of change. This volume studies global and national transformation from the point of view of families in local communities. Contributors are from Africa, North America, and Europe, and provide socially and historically based, culturally rich, multigenerational, and comparative perspectives on family life in Africa today. The essays explore contemporary change in African families, and consequences for children and parents, the elderly, gender roles, moral values, fertility, health (HIV and nutrition), and economic development. Ultimately, despite desperate economic, sociohistorical, demographic and political circumstances, African families remain vitally important for social and psychological support throughout an individual's life span.