AFRICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY: A MOSAIC IN TRANSFORMATION is the first single-authored textbook to examine continuity and change in African politics and... society from the pre-colonial era to the present. It fills the needs of those with little prior knowledge while balancing this background information with thorough analysis for those already familiar with the subject. An emphasis has been placed on making sense of general developments on the African continent as a whole while introducing the distinctive natures of Africa's 53 countries. Each chapter emphasizes the major trends associated with a topic, trends that are further explored through illustrative case studies that represent all regions of the African continent. Each chapter concludes with a list of readings for further exploration and research. Numerous maps, tables, figures, and boxed elements highlight fundamental issues of interest. Because each chapter stands alone, instructors can assign chapters that relate topics that are of greatest relevance to the course or reorder chapters to better suit their syllabi.

"A well-balanced presentation... especially notable for its succinct review of the factors currently controlling the South African political situation."... —The Nation"... authoritative work... " —Foreign Affairs"... broad enough in its reach to be useful to teaching in interdisciplinary African studies courses for undergraduates." —Perspective"Gus Liebenow has produced a winner, eminently suitable for classroom use, with enough substance to be of interest to both teachers and students." —Africa TodayA sympathetic but hardheaded analysis of the crisis issues common to the continent as a whole: the struggle for national identity, poverty, the unresolved festering issue of white supremacy in Southern Africa, the problem of political community in the African urban setting, and the struggle for popular control over government.

This book reviews fifty years of research on politics in Africa. It synthesizes insights from different scholarly approaches and offers an original... interpretation of the knowledge accumulated over the years. It discusses how research on African politics relates the study of politics in other regions and mainstream theories in Comparative Politics. It focuses on such key issues as the legacy of a movement approach to political change, the nature of the state, the economy of a location, the policy deficit, the agrarian question, gender and politics and ethnicity and conflict.

Poverty is a large and growing problem in Africa resulting in an immense amount of avoidable suffering, foreshortened lives, frustrated potentials, and... joyless existences. The poverty trap is more than just an economic phenomenon but a social phenomenon as well. 'African Poverty at the Millennium: Causes, Complexities, and Challenges' is confined to the sub-Saharan region of Africa. The analysis found in Part I of this book, emphasizes the many-sided nature of poverty and the importance of going beyond generalizations about the poor. Part II looks at the various causes of poverty in Africa, stressing the powerful ill-effects of a combination of sluggish past economic growth and large, possibly widening, inequalities. It also draws attention to the strength of the social and political factors contributing to poverty. Part III outlines an anti-poverty strategy, highlighting the necessity for an inclusive and far-reaching approach, on the basis of joint action by concerned governments and donors. The poor in Africa are triply disadvantaged. Firstly, there is a widening international gap as African social indicators lag behind the rest of the world, partly as a result of poor growth. Secondly, by Africa's poor performance in turning income to social welfare. Thirdly, by national disparities in health and education between the poor and non-poor.

This book explores the political history of Liberia and its descent to civil war, the regional ramifications of the war, and conflict intervention and... peacekeeping efforts. It also examines the problems, challenges, and opportunities of post-war reconstruction and peacebuilding. It is comprised of various academic and policy contributions by Liberian specialists and Liberian-based scholars. The policy contributions have been crafted in part to articulate policy-relevant recommendations and strategies for the consolidation of peace to avert a recurrence of war and large-scale disruptive conflicts in the future.

The first entirely new translation of Galileo's major writings for more than fifty years, this marvelous volume includes selections from all of his... important writings on science, including virtually the complete text of A Sidereal Message and a substantial part of his masterpiece, the Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems. The book contains all of Galileo's contributions to the debate on science and religion, including the letters to Benedetto Castelli and the Grand Duchess Christina, plus key documents from Galileo's trial before the Inquisition. William R. Shea's introduction gives a clear, lively overview of Galileo's career and achievements, and his notes explain the scientific and philosophical background.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Two thirds of the population in the Middle East is under 25 years old, and there's been an explosive growth of college graduates. Still, there aren't... enough jobs to go round. They're having a collective quarter-life crisis. In the months before turning 25 herself, BBC producer Allegra Stratton set out to meet them.She visits Beirut, Amman, Cairo, Dubai, Kuwait City and Damascus during a time of potentially momentous change, looking for youth culture as we know it. She sits in on auditions for the Lebanese version of American Idol and tries to get into a men-only Starbucks in Egypt. She interviews pop stars and filmmakers and djs, visits the gay community, and meets the region's most famous single mother. Along the way she discovers a massive video industry of airbrushed, heavily produced, scantily clad singers that hold the affections of young Arabs. And all of them - members of the Muslim Brotherhood and of sports clubs alike - talk of the same Islamic revival. Yet there's a contradiction. Many of the fans of these semi-naked popstrels are also extremely devout. 'Muhajabah' means one who veils. So what to call the veiled women Stratton encounters who strive for sexiness by lavishing what's left unveiled - face and feet - with make-up, jewelry, and killer shoes? Muhajababes, and they may represent the Islamic Middle East in a refreshingly surprising way.

Its title recalls Bret Easton Ellis’s infamous book, but while Ellis’s narrator was a blank slate, African Psycho’s protagonist is a quivering... mass of lies, neuroses, and relentless internal chatter. Gregoire Nakobomayo, a petty criminal, has decided to kill his girlfriend Germaine. He’s planned the crime for some time, but still, the act of murder requires a bit of psychological and logistical preparation. Luckily, he has a mentor to call on, the far more accomplished serial killer Angoualima. The fact that Angoualima is dead doesn’t prevent Gregoire from holding lengthy conversations with him. Little by little, Gregoire interweaves Angoualima’s life and criminal exploits with his own. Continuing with the plan despite a string of botched attempts, Gregoire’s final shot at offing Germaine leads to an abrupt unraveling. Lauded in France for its fresh and witty style, African Psycho’s inventive use of language surprises and relieves the reader by injecting humor into this disturbing subject.

Frantz Fanon: Conflicts and Feminisms represents a bold examination of previous feminist criticisms of Fanon and argues that Fanon's writings on women... and resistance provide the formative kernels of a liberating praxis for women existing under colonial and neocolonial oppression. Sharpley-Whiting skillfully brings together approaches from a broad range of academic fields, including critical race theory, literary and cultural criticism, and psychoanalysis as she assesses the relevance of Fanon's theories of oppression to a feminist politics of resistance.

In a hard-hitting meditation on the role that color plays among African Americans and in wider society, Marita Golden dares to put herself on the line,... expressing her fears and rage about how she has navigated through the color complex. To be sure, this is book is not a pity party—but, rather, a nuanced look at identity, and the irrepressible and graceful will of the human spirit. Peppering her narrative with “Postcards from the Color Complex,” reminiscences of some of the author’s most powerful experiences, Golden takes us inside her world, and inside her heart, to show what a half-century of intraracial and interracial personal politics looks like. We come to see the world through the eyes of the young Marita, and the dualism that existed in her own home: the ebony-hued father, who cherished her and taught her to be “black and proud,” and the lighter-skinned mother, who one summer afternoon admonished Marita while she was outside, “Come on in the house, it’s too hot to be playing out here. I’ve told you don’t go playing in the sun, ’cause as it is, you gonna have to get a light-skinned husband for the sake of your children.”At every turn in her life—in high school, her black-power college days, as a young married woman in Africa, as a college professor, as an accomplished author, and even today—race and color are the inescapable veils through which Golden has been viewed.In her most daring book to date, esteemed author Marita Golden has the courage to take on a topic others only talk about behind closed doors.

African religion is ancestor worship; that is, funeral preparations, burial of the dead with ceremony and pomp, belief in eternal existence of souls of... the dead as ancestors, periodic remembrance of ancestors, and belief that they influence the affairs of their living descendants. Whether called Akw?sidai, Homowo, Voodoo, Nyant?r (Aboakyir), Candomblé, or Santeria in Africa or the African Diaspora, ancestor worship centers on the ancestors and deities. This makes it a tenably viable religion, because living descendants are genetically linked to their ancestors.The author, a traditional king and professor, studies the Akan in Ghana to demonstrate that ancestor worship is as pragmatic, systematic, theological, teleological, soteriological — with a highly trained clerical body and elders as mediators — and symbolic as any other religion in the world. Ancestor worship follows prescribed rites and rituals, formulas, precepts for ritual efficacy, and festivities of honor with music and dances to provoke ancestors and deities into joining in the celebration.

African Religions and Philosophy is a systematic study of the attitudes of mind and belief that have evolved in the many societies of Africa. In this... second edition, Dr Mbiti has updated his material to include the involvement of women in religion, and the potential unity to be found in what was once thought to be a mass of quite separate religions. Mbiti adds a new dimension to the understanding of the history, thinking, and life throughout the African continent. Religion is approached from an African point of view but is as accessible to readers who belong to non-African societies as it is to those who have grown up in African nations. Since its first publication, this book has become acknowledged as the standard work in the field of study, and it is essential reading for anyone concerned with African religion, history, philosophy, anthropology or general African studies.

This book presents a portrait of African religious history framed in the religious themes common to the rest of the world. It looks at the... traditional religions that provided the philosophical, religious, and ethical basis of African culture. Focusing primarily on traditional African religions and their related myths, rituals, authorities , ethics , and artwork, the book also includes substantial treatment on nationalism, African Islam and Christianity. For anyone who wants to gain an understanding of the relationship between African religion and culture.

Fantu Cheru attempts to shed new light on the topic of economic development in Africa. He roots his wide-ranging arguments firmly in the actual... realities of what is going on in Africa --the practical lessons to be learned from both mistakes made and the initiatives which have born positive fruit. He argues for a middle way that goes beyond simple state-led versus market-driven approaches to Africa's development.