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Understanding Contemporary Africa: A Multifaceted Perspective
Africa. The name conjures images – vibrant markets, sprawling savannas, ancient history. But contemporary Africa is far more complex than these simplistic portrayals. It’s a continent of rapid change, astonishing diversity, and untold potential, often misunderstood and misrepresented in global narratives. This comprehensive guide aims to unravel some of the complexities, offering a nuanced understanding of contemporary Africa's multifaceted realities. We'll delve into its political landscapes, economic development, social structures, and cultural dynamism, providing a framework for a more informed and empathetic perspective.
Political Landscapes: Navigating Shifting Power Dynamics
Understanding contemporary Africa requires acknowledging the diverse political systems across the continent. From established democracies like South Africa and Botswana to authoritarian regimes, and everything in between, the political landscape is incredibly varied.
The Legacy of Colonialism: A Lingering Shadow
The enduring impact of colonialism continues to shape political structures, economic inequalities, and social divisions in many African nations. Understanding these historical roots is crucial to appreciating contemporary challenges. The arbitrary borders drawn by colonial powers often ignored pre-existing ethnic and tribal boundaries, leading to ongoing conflicts and tensions.
The Rise of Democracy and its Challenges
While many African nations have transitioned to multi-party democracies, the journey has been fraught with challenges. Corruption, weak institutions, and ethnic conflicts often hinder democratic progress. Furthermore, the influence of external actors and the legacy of authoritarian rule continue to pose significant obstacles.
Regional Cooperation and Pan-Africanism
Despite the diversity, there's a growing emphasis on regional cooperation and Pan-Africanism. Organizations like the African Union (AU) play a crucial role in fostering collaboration on issues ranging from trade and security to human rights and development.
Economic Development: Beyond the Narrative of Poverty
While poverty remains a significant challenge, the narrative of a solely impoverished Africa is outdated and inaccurate. Contemporary Africa boasts a burgeoning middle class, rapid technological advancements, and significant economic growth in several regions.
The Rise of a Vibrant Private Sector
A growing private sector is driving innovation and economic diversification in many African countries. Entrepreneurs are leveraging technology and harnessing local resources to create new industries and job opportunities.
Challenges of Infrastructure and Development
Despite the progress, significant challenges remain, including inadequate infrastructure, limited access to finance, and volatile global markets. Addressing these hurdles is crucial for sustained economic growth and development.
The Role of Foreign Investment and Aid
Foreign investment plays a vital role in driving economic growth, but it’s crucial to ensure this investment is sustainable and benefits local communities. Similarly, aid effectiveness remains a subject of ongoing debate, with a focus on aligning aid with local development priorities.
Social Structures: A Tapestry of Cultures and Traditions
Africa's social fabric is incredibly diverse, encompassing a vast array of cultures, languages, religions, and traditions. Understanding this diversity is essential to appreciate the richness and complexity of African societies.
The Role of Family and Community
Family and community ties often remain strong, playing a vital role in social support and economic activity. These traditional structures often coexist alongside modernizing influences.
The Impact of Urbanization
Rapid urbanization is transforming African societies, leading to both opportunities and challenges. The influx of people into cities creates pressure on infrastructure, resources, and social services.
Youth and the Future
Africa's youthful population represents both a significant demographic dividend and a challenge. Investing in education, skills development, and employment opportunities for young people is crucial for future prosperity.
Cultural Dynamism: A Continent of Creativity and Innovation
Contemporary Africa is a hub of creative energy, from vibrant music and art scenes to innovative technological solutions. This cultural dynamism is shaping identities, challenging stereotypes, and driving progress.
The Power of Storytelling
Storytelling remains a powerful tool for preserving cultural heritage and shaping narratives. African artists and storytellers are using various mediums to challenge stereotypes and promote positive representations of the continent.
Technological Innovation
African innovators are leveraging technology to address local challenges and create opportunities. From mobile money solutions to agricultural technologies, innovation is transforming lives and economies.
Conclusion
Understanding contemporary Africa requires moving beyond simplistic generalizations and embracing the continent's immense diversity. It’s a continent of challenges, certainly, but also one of remarkable resilience, innovation, and potential. By engaging with its complexities, we can foster a more nuanced and informed perspective, contributing to a more equitable and collaborative future.
FAQs
1. What are the major economic sectors driving growth in contemporary Africa? Major sectors include telecommunications, technology, agriculture (particularly high-value crops and agribusiness), mining, and tourism. However, growth varies significantly by region and country.
2. How is climate change impacting Africa? Climate change disproportionately affects Africa, exacerbating existing challenges such as drought, famine, and displacement. Its effects are felt across various sectors, including agriculture, water resources, and human health.
3. What role does education play in Africa's development? Education is crucial for sustainable development. Investing in quality education at all levels is essential to equip the workforce with the skills needed for economic growth and to promote social progress.
4. What are some of the key challenges facing women in contemporary Africa? Women face multiple challenges, including gender-based violence, limited access to education and healthcare, and economic inequality. Empowering women is crucial for overall societal progress.
5. How can I learn more about specific African countries and their unique contexts? Explore reputable news sources, academic journals, and cultural organizations focusing on specific regions and countries. Seek out diverse voices and perspectives to gain a comprehensive understanding.
| understanding contemporary africa: Understanding Contemporary Africa April A. Gordon, Donald L. Gordon, 2001 April Gordon (sociology, Winthrop U.) and Donald Gordon (political science, Furman U.) present a textbook written for use in introductory undergraduate courses on Africa. Chapters overview themes of politics, economics, international relations, demographics and disease, the environment, family and kinship, women and development, religion, and literature. One chapter is devoted to a more detailed examination of the history of South Africa. For the most part, the essays support the viewpoints of t he former colonial powers and the international monetary institutions on African history and development and it is likely that many African academics and political activists would suggest that this book would lead more to misunderstanding contemporary Africa. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR |
| understanding contemporary africa: Understanding Contemporary Africa Peter J. Schraeder, 2020 The sixth edition of Understanding Contemporary Africa, and the first under the editorship of Peter Schraeder, combines the historic strengths of the previous editions with coverage of new topics suggested over the years by the many instructors who regularly assign the text in their classes. Entirely new chapters on the politics of public health, the changing role of women, and LGBTQ rights, along with new treatments of such classic topics as geography, history, politics, economics, international relations, kinship, religion, and more, make for an unparalleled introduction to the complexities of Africa today. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Politics and Society in Contemporary Africa Naomi Chazan, Robert A. Mortimer, Donald Rothchild, Peter Lewis, Stephen John Stedman, 1999-11-11 Africa has undergone significant political, economic, and social change since the first edition of this book was published in early 1988. Now revised and updated throughout, this new edition includes current economic, social, and political data, as well as entirely new sections on the dismantling of apartheid, civil society, democratization and multiparty politics, economic reform and structural adjustment, and the prospects for African development in the twenty-first century. Review comments on the first edition: 'Required reading for any course on politics and society of the African continent' West Africa. 'The best available textbook on the subject ... this volume stands unchallenged in its comprehensiveness and sophistication.' - Choice |
| understanding contemporary africa: Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia Gérard Prunier, Éloi Ficquet, 2015 Seeks to dispel the myths and clichés surrounding contemporary perceptions of Ethiopia by providing a rare overview of the country's recent history, politics and culture. Explores the unique features of this often misrepresented country as it strives to make itself heard in the modern world-- Publisher description. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Religions in Contemporary Africa Laura S. Grillo, Adriaan van Klinken, Hassan Ndzovu, 2019-03-28 Religions in Contemporary Africa is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the three main religious traditions on the African continent, African indigenous religions, Christianity and Islam. The book provides a historical overview of these important traditions and focuses on the roles they play in African societies today. It includes social, cultural and political case studies from across the continent on the following topical issues: Witchcraft and modernity Power and politics Conflict and peace Media and popular culture Development Human rights Illness and health Gender and sexuality With suggestions for further reading, discussion questions, illustrations and a list of glossary terms this is the ideal textbook for students in religion, African studies and adjacent fields approaching this subject area for the first time. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Understanding South Africa Martin Plaut, Carien Du Plessis, 2019 When Nelson Mandela emerged from decades in jail to preach reconciliation, South Africans truly appeared a people reborn as the Rainbow Nation. Yet, a quarter of a century later, the country sank into bitter recriminations and rampant corruption under Jacob Zuma. Why did this happen, and how was hope betrayed? President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is seeking to heal these wounds, is due to lead the African National Congress into an election by May 2019. The ANC is hoping to claw back support lost to the opposition in the Zuma era. This book will shed light on voters' choices and analyze the election outcome as the results emerge. With chapters on all the major issues at stake--from education to land redistribution-- Understanding South Africa offers insights into Africa's largest and most diversified economy, closely tied to its neighbors' fortunes. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Understanding African Philosophy Richard H. Bell, 2002 First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Political Protest in Contemporary Africa Lisa Mueller, 2018-06-28 Looking at protests from Senegal to Kenya, Lisa Mueller shows how cross-class coalitions fuel contemporary African protests across the continent. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Understanding Contemporary Journalism Tatah Mentan, 2022-01-03 Journalism is one of the most important professions today. Without it, large swaths of the world similarly might have remained dark, impoverished, tortured, because few people would have been aware of the nature and depth of the atrocities therein. You can't fix what you can't find. Indeed, we have only to look at places today where journalists must risk their lives to do their jobs-places such as Central Europe, the Philippines, Mexico, Myanmar, Russia, Turkey, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Cameroun, Afghanistan, and too many others-to appreciate anew what an incalculable difference the media make, reporting on wars, famines, genocide, and the tyrants who green-light them. But saving the world apparently is not enough. I have included a chapter on Peace Journalism because it uses conflict analysis and transformation to update the concept of balance, fairness and accuracy in reporting. This approach provides a new road map tracing the connections between journalists, their sources, the stories they cover and the consequences of their reporting-the ethics of journalistic intervention to play a role in global peace rather than fuelling conflicts. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Africa in Contemporary Perspective Manuh, Takyiwaa, Sutherland-Addy, Esi, 2014-05-08 An important feature of Ghanaian tertiary education is the foundational African Studies Programme which was initiated in the early 1960s. Unfortunately hardly any readers exist which bring together a body of knowledge on the themes, issues and debates which inform and animate research and teaching in African Studies particularly on the African continent. This becomes even more important when we consider the need for knowledge on Africa that is not Eurocentric or sensationalised, but driven from internal understandings of life and prospects in Africa. Dominant representations and perceptions of Africa usually depict a continent in crisis. Rather than buying into external representations of Africa, with its 'lacks' and aspirations for Western modernities, we insist that African scholars in particular should be in the forefront of promoting understanding of the pluri-lingual, overlapping, and dense reality of life and developments on the continent, to produce relevant and usable knowledge. Continuing and renewed interest in Africa's resources, including the land mass, economy, minerals, visual arts and performance cultures, as well as bio-medical knowledge and products, by old and new geopolitical players, obliges African scholars to transcend disciplinary boundaries and to work with each other to advance knowledge and uses of those resources in the interests of Africa's people. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Reframing Contemporary Africa Peyi Soyinka-Airewele, Rita Kiki Edozie, 2010-01-19 It is impossible to study Africa without understanding the debate about how to study Africa. At last, a book showcases the complexities and paradoxes of Africa’s recent and more distant history, while avoiding simplistic, Eurocentric conceptualizations of “black Africa.” With this book, Peyi Soyinka-Aiwerele and Rita Kiki Edozie offer students the background and perspectives they need to comprehend the dynamics of the continent as well as a clear path through the current literature and scholarly debate. With a cross-disciplinary approach that features political, historical, and economic analysis as well as popular culture and sociological views on contemporary issues, Reframing Contemporary Africa provides an unparalleled breadth of coverage. Essays written by a distinguished and international group of scholars—including William Ackah, Pius Adesanmi, Susan Craddock, Caroline Elkins, Siba Grovogui, Mahmood Mamdani, Mutua Makau, Celestin Monga, Wole Soyinka, and Paul Tiyambe Zeleza—are designed to distill original scholarship for undergraduate readers. Each contribution helps students engage with the work and arguments of luminaries while exposing them to renowned African thinkers. Contributors deliver analysis that allows students to see beyond the clichés commonly presented in the media (and even in scholarship), and helpful section openers by Soyinka-Airewele and Edozie frame forthcoming chapters, giving important thematic and historical context. Reframing Contemporary Africa will certainly provoke new debate and reflection, not merely about African issues and politics, but also about the West and its framing of Africa. |
| understanding contemporary africa: African Politics Ian Taylor, 2018-09-20 Africa is a continent of 54 countries and over a billion people. However, despite the rich diversity of the African experience, it is striking that continuations and themes seem to be reflected across the continent, particularly south of the Sahara. Questions of underdevelopment, outside exploitation, and misrule are characteristic of many - if not most-states in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this Very Short Introduction Ian Taylor explores how politics is practiced on the African continent, considering the nature of the state in Sub-Saharan Africa and why its state structures are generally weaker than elsewhere in the world. Exploring the historical and contemporary factors which account for Africa's underdevelopment, he also analyses why some African countries suffer from high levels of political violence while others are spared. Unveilling the ways in which African state and society actually function beyond the formal institutional façade, Taylor discusses how external factors - both inherited and contemporary - act upon the continent. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. |
| understanding contemporary africa: International Relations in Contemporary Africa Michael O. Anda, 2000 Although developing countries far outnumber fully industrialized states, they are often neglected in the study of international relations, especially with respect to the development of foreign policy theory. International Relations in Contemporary Africa attempts to fill this void in the literature on comparative international relations while at the same time providing a detailed analysis of the economic development and integration of West African countries. Michael Anda specifically focuses on the members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and their policies, which encourage coordination on issues ranging from science and technology to diplomacy and mutual defense. Tracing the diplomatic history of West Africa from independence to the present, he assesses the various dimensions of cooperation among the smaller and less developed states of West Africa while revealing the precarious nature of the economy and security in the region. Both detailed and comprehensive, International Relations in Contemporary Africa represents a significant contribution to African studies that appeal to those with an interest in the foreign policy of smaller states. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Marginality and Crisis Akanmu G. Adebayo, Olutayo Charles Adesina, Rasheed Olaniyi Olaniyi, 2010-05-25 Marginality and Crisis: Globalization and Identity in Contemporary Africa extends the scope and understanding of the effects of globalization and its forces on Africa. With each chapter written by specialists who recognize that the future of Africa is entwined with that of the rest of the world, this volume explains with fresh vigor the new thinking on the historical specificity, value, opportunity, and shortcomings of globalization for a continent many regard as marginalized and in crisis. In the face of much pessimism, several questions have engaged the attention of this young generation of African scholars: Where is Africa in relation to globalization? Where are the things that make Africa Africa (such as economy, politics, culture, identity, and human relations) headed? Are Africa's communities helpless against global forces or empowered by new avenues of access? How do scholars and policymakers engage the problems of globalization vis-^-vis Africa's ethnic, linguistic, and other identities? What are the economic and political trajectories in various countries and localities? An invaluable source for scholars, students, and the general reader, the essays in this book have confidently and clearly explored and explained the crises that have engulfed the continent in the age of globalization. Unlike other works that have dwelt only on the continent's victimhood, this volume identifies key areas in which Africa can become more proactive and outward-looking in response to the forces and values that take the globe as their reference points. |
| understanding contemporary africa: African Intelligence Services Ryan Shaffer, 2021-09-27 This book argues for making African intelligence services front-and-center in studies about historical and contemporary African security. As the first academic anthology on the subject, it brings together a group of international scholars and intelligence practitioners to understand African intelligence services’ post-colonial and contemporary challenges. The book’s eleven chapters survey a diverse collection of countries and provides readers with histories of understudied African intelligence services. The volume examines the intelligence services’ objectives, operations, leaderships, international partners and legal frameworks. The chapters also highlight different methodologies and sources to further scholarly research about African intelligence. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Christianity and Social Change in Contemporary Africa: Volume One B. Nyamnjoh, A. Carpenter, 2020-05-25 This volume brings together seven empirically grounded contributions by African social scientists of different disciplinary backgrounds. The authors explore the social impact of religious innovation and competition in present day Africa. They represent a selection from an interdisciplinary initiative that made 23 research grants for theologians and social scientists to study Christianity and social change in contemporary Africa. These contributions focus on a variety of dynamics in contemporary African religion (mostly Christianity), including gender, health and healing, social media, entrepreneurship, and inter-religious borrowing and accommodation. The volume seeks to enhance understanding of religions vital presence and power in contemporary Africa. It reveals problems as well as possibilities, notably some ethical concerns and psychological maladies that arise in some of these new movements, notably neo-Pentecostal and militant fundamentalist groups. Yet the contributions do not fixate on African problems and victimization. Instead, they explore sources of African creativity, resiliency and agency. The book calls on scholars of religion and religiosity in Africa to invest new conceptual and methodological energy in understanding what it means to be actively religious in Africa today. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Understanding Contemporary Education Tom O'Donoghue, 2016-07-15 Understanding Contemporary Education offers an essential exploration of key concepts and issues in education that will allow education studies students, as well as trainee and practising teachers to engage in reflection, not only on work at the classroom level, but on education more broadly. Using detailed examples, the book problematises many popular and taken-for-granted views, allowing the reader to challenge and seriously consider the nature of the education enterprise. In each chapter, a concept is carefully considered, with major features, controversies, and strengths and weaknesses highlighted. Key follow-up questions challenge the reader to reflect on specific issues, and encourage involvement, not just in their own teaching, but in the planning and determination of the total programme of their school, and where possible, that of the nation. The book is divided into seven main parts: The Social Context of Education Education Policy Curriculum Teaching and Learning Leadership in Education Teacher Preparation International Developments in Education. Drawing upon a wide variety of theoretical positions, Understanding Contemporary Education provides an accessible introduction to key themes and concepts in education, challenging readers to fully consider the purpose of education and to reflect intelligently on issues that affect all schools. It is a must-read book for those on education studies courses, as well as trainee and practising teachers. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Contemporary Regional Development in Africa Kobena T. Hanson, 2016-03-09 Contemporary Regional Development in Africa interrogates well-known concerns in the areas of regionalism and economic integration in contemporary Africa, while offering an added uniqueness by highlighting the capacity imperatives of the issues, and proposing critical policy guideposts. The volume juxtaposes a set of ’dynamic’ entanglements - new and micro-regionalism, informal cross-border trade, intra-African and African FDI plus cross-border investments, infrastructure development, science and technology, regional value-chains, conflict management and regional security - with fluid interpretations of regional development. The chapters provide snapshots of the several emerging and complex regionalisms and highlight a set of relevant and often overlapping analyses - drawing on authors’ nuanced and granular understanding of the African landscape. The varied, yet interlinked, nature of issues covered in this study make the book valuable and attractive to academics, researchers, policymakers and development practitioners. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Contemporary Issues in Africa's Development Ehimika A. Ifidon, Richard A. Olaniyan, 2018-04-18 This volume reports on the state of crisis in Africa in the early twenty-first century. Africa, on the eve of the ‘independence revolution’, was the continent of hope and high expectations. By the third decade of independence, optimism had been replaced by dismality. African states had been beset by ethno-political squabbles, military rule, civil wars, Islamic and insurgent movements, extreme poverty and disease. With the ascent of redemocratization in the 1990s and of ‘new’ pan-Africanism derived from the formation of the African Union, Africa appeared set to claim its vaunted destiny. This book asks, with hindsight to the first decade of the twenty-first century: how real was the renaissance in African life? If the dismal African condition is a phase in the historical development of Africa, this volume does not see any golden age in the past to which Africa aspires to return. There is clearly a continuation and persistence of crisis, with an absence of good governance, personalisation of state power, widespread disease, and policy failure in education, economy and infrastructural development. Although endowed with abundant human and natural resources, Africa remains the least developed and most indebted continent. Whither then the African Renaissance? The methodologies that underpin the contributions in this book are as diverse as the specialisations of the contributors. The collection questions ideologically protected assumptions and presumptions, presenting Africa as it is, because it is only by knowing where Africa truly stands that a proper direction can be charted for it. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Extracting Profit Lee Wengraf, 2018-02-19 Extracting profit explains why Africa, in the first decade and a half of the twenty-first century, has undergone an economic boom. This period of “Africa rising” did not lead to the creation of jobs but has instead fueled the growth of the extraction of natural resources and an increasingly-wealthy African ruling class. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Understanding Contemporary Latin America Richard S. Hillman, Thomas J. D'Agostino, 2011 This new edition of Understanding Contemporary Latin America has been thoroughly revised to reflect many significant events and trends of the past six years. The book includes entirely new chapters on economics and religion, as well as extensively updated material on politics, the military, international relations, environmental issues, nationalism, the role of women, and more. It is an indispensable introduction, both descriptive and analytical, to complexities of contemporary Latin America. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Botswana – A Modern Economic History Ellen Hillbom, Jutta Bolt, 2018-03-14 Together with Mauritius, Botswana is often categorized as one of two growth miracles in sub-Saharan Africa. Due to its spectacular long-run economic performance and impressive social development, it has been termed both an economic success story and a developmental state. While there is uniqueness in the Botswana experience, several aspects of the country’s opportunities and challenges are of a more general nature. Throughout its history, Botswana has been both blessed and hindered by its natural resource abundance and dependency, which have influenced growth periods, opportunities for economic diversification, strategies for sustainable economic and social development, and the distribution of incomes and opportunities. Through a political economy framework, Hillbom and Bolt provide an updated understanding of an African success story, covering the period from the mid-19th century, when the Tswana groups settled, to the present day. Understanding the interaction over time between geography and factor endowments on the one hand, and the development of economic and political institutions on the other, offers principle lessons from Botswana’s experience to other natural resource rich developing countries. |
| understanding contemporary africa: African History: A Very Short Introduction John Parker, Richard Rathbone, 2007-03-22 Intended for those interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this work looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. It illustrates key themes in modern thinking about Africa's history with a range of historical examples. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Understanding Contemporary Asia Pacific Katherine Kaup, 2021-02-20 |
| understanding contemporary africa: Anthropology and Development Jean-Pierre Oliver De-Sardan, 2013-07-18 This book re-establishes the relevance of mainstream anthropological (and sociological) approaches to development processes and simultaneously recognizes that contemporary development ought to be anthropology‘s principal area of study. Professor de Sardan argues for a socio-anthropology of change and development that is a deeply empirical, multidimensional, diachronic study of social groups and their interactions. The Introduction provides a thought-provoking examination of the principal new approaches that have emerged in the discipline during the 1990s. Part I then makes clear the complexity of social change and development, and the ways in which socio-anthropology can measure up to the challenge of this complexity. Part II looks more closely at some of the leading variables involved in the development process, including relations of production; the logics of social action; the nature of knowledge; forms of mediation; and ‘political‘ strategies. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Reflections VENETIA. PORTER, Charles Tripp, Natasha Morris, 2021-01-05 Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa brings together an extraordinary collection of work from the British Museum for the first time. The contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa is rich and vibrant. Whether living in their countries of birth or in diaspora, the featured artists are part of the globalised world of art. Here we see artists responding to and making work about their present, histories, traditions and cultures, reflecting on a part of the world that has experienced extraordinary change in living memory.The British Museum has been acquiring the work of Middle Eastern and North African artists since the 1980s, and the collection - principally works on paper - is one of the most extensive in the public sphere. Collected within the context of a museum of history, the works offer insights into the nature of civil societies, the complex politics of the region, and cultural traditions in their broadest sense, from the relationship with Islamic art, to the deep engagement with literature.The introduction to the book by curator Venetia Porter explores the history of the collection and the works included. The essential framework for understanding the politics and context within which the artists are working is provided by Charles Tripp's essay. The works are grouped into seven chapters, each beginning with a short introduction. The authors explore the selection within themes such as faith, abstraction and the female gaze. |
| understanding contemporary africa: The Politics of Custom John L. Comaroff, Jean Comaroff, 2018-03-08 Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Christianity and Controversies over Homosexuality in Contemporary Africa Ezra Chitando, Adriaan van Klinken, 2016-05-12 Issues of homosexuality are the subject of public and political controversy in many African societies today. Frequently, these controversies receive widespread attention both locally and globally, such as with the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda. In the international media, these cases tend to be presented as revealing a deeply-rooted homophobia in Africa fuelled by religious and cultural traditions. But so far little energy is expended in understanding these controversies in all their complexity and the critical role religion plays in them. Complementing the companion volume, Public Religion and the Politics of Homosexuality in Africa, this book investigates Christian politics and discourses on homosexuality in sub-Saharan Africa. The contributors present case studies from various African countries, from Nigeria to South Africa and from Cameroon to Uganda, focusing on Pentecostal, Catholic and mainline Protestant churches. They critically examine popular Christian theologies that perpetuate homophobia and discrimination, but they also discuss contestations of such discourses and emerging alternative Christian perspectives that contribute to the recognition of sexual diversity, social justice and human rights in contemporary Africa. |
| understanding contemporary africa: The Predicament of Blackness Jemima Pierre, 2013 What is the meaning of blackness in Africa? This title tackles the question of race in West Africa through its post-colonial manifestations. Pierre examines key facets of contemporary Ghanaian society, from the pervasive significance of 'whiteness' to the practice of chemical skin-bleaching to the government's active promotion of Pan-African 'heritage tourism'. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Politicizing Sex in Contemporary Africa Ashley Currier, 2019 This timely account of politicized homophobia contests portrayals of the African continent as hopelessly homophobic, highlighting how elites deploy it. |
| understanding contemporary africa: African Legal Theory and Contemporary Problems Oche Onazi, 2013-11-26 The book is a collection of essays, which aim to situate African legal theory in the context of the myriad of contemporary global challenges; from the prevalence of war to the misery of poverty and disease to the crises of the environment. Apart from being problems that have an indelible African mark on them, a common theme that runs throughout the essays in this book is that African legal theory has been excluded, under-explored or under-theorised in the search for solutions to such contemporary problems. The essays make a modest attempt to reverse this trend. The contributors investigate and introduce readers to the key issues, questions, concepts, impulses and problems that underpin the idea of African legal theory. They outline the potential offered by African legal theory and open up its key concepts and impulses for critical scrutiny. This is done in order to develop a better understanding of the extent to which African legal theory can contribute to discourses seeking to address some of the challenges that confront African and non-African societies alike. |
| understanding contemporary africa: African Time Lord Mawuko-Yevugah, 2013-06-07 In this wide-ranging collection of essays, Mawuko-Yevugah explores the challenges of political reform and democratic governance in Africa at the beginning of the 21st Century, focusing largely on Ghanas experience. The inspiration for the title of the collection, AFRICAN TIME, comes from Kwame Nkrumahs pan-African optimism as well as from recent discourses around African Renaissance, Africas Century, Africa Rising, etc. At Ghanas founding in 1957, Nkrumah proclaimed: Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up to the total liberation of the African continent. Today, from now on, there is a new African in the worldThat new African is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all, the black man is capable of managing his own affairs. That historic declaration, Mawuko-Yevugah argues, did not only set the tone and direction for Ghanas pan-African foreign policy but it has also made the country a reference point for Africas postcolonial tragedy in the form of political instability and economic decay. Exploring Ghanas recent strides in democratic consolidation within the context of fresh attempts to reinvent pan-Africanism and mainstream good governance on the continental development agenda, this book offers incisive, critical and a rare reflection on the changing landscape of contemporary African politics and governance through the eyes of a political journalist. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Rethinking and Unthinking Development Busani Mpofu, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2019-03-27 Development has remained elusive in Africa. Through theoretical contributions and case studies focusing on Southern Africa’s former white settler states, South Africa and Zimbabwe, this volume responds to the current need to rethink (and unthink) development in the region. The authors explore how Africa can adapt Western development models suited to its political, economic, social and cultural circumstances, while rejecting development practices and discourses based on exploitative capitalist and colonial tendencies. Beyond the legacies of colonialism, the volume also explores other factors impacting development, including regional politics, corruption, poor policies on empowerment and indigenization, and socio-economic and cultural barriers. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Worlds of Power Stephen Ellis, Gerrie ter Haar, 2004 One cannot understand the politics of the present without taking religious thought seriously. In Africa religious belief has a huge impact on politics, from the top of society to the bottom. Religious ideas show what people actually think about the world and how to deal with it. Ellis and ter Haar maintainthat the specific content of religious thought has to be mastered if we are to grasp the political significance of religion in Africa today, but their book also informs our understanding of the relationship between religion and political practice in general. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Understanding Boko Haram James J. Hentz, Hussein Solomon, 2017-05-08 The primary objective of this book is to understand the nature of the Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria. Boko Haram’s goal of an Islamic Caliphate, starting in the Borno State in the North East that will eventually cover the areas of the former Kanem-Borno Empire, is a rejection of the modern state system forced on it by the West. The central theme of this volume examines the relationship between the failure of the state-building project in Nigeria and the outbreak and nature of insurgency. At the heart of the Boko Haram phenomenon is a country racked with cleavages, making it hard for Nigeria to cohere as a modern state. Part I introduces this theme and places the Boko Haram insurgency in a historical context. There are, however, multiple cleavages in Nigeria ̶ ethnic, regional, cultural, and religious ̶ and Part II examines the different state-society dynamics fuelling the conflict. Political grievances are common to every society; however, what gives Boko Haram the space to express such grievances through violence? Importantly, this volume demonstrates that the insurgency is, in fact, a reflection of the hollowness within Nigeria’s overall security. Part III looks at the responses to Boko Haram by Nigeria, neighbouring states, and external actors. For Western actors, Boko Haram is seen as part of the global war on terror and the fact that it has pledged allegiance to ISIS encourages this framing. However, as the chapters here discuss, this is an over-simplification of Boko Haram and the West needs to address the multiple dimension of Boko Haram. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism and political violence, insurgencies, African politics, war and conflict studies, and IR in general. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Magic and Warfare N. Wlodarczyk, 2009-11-09 This study explores the roles played by magic in contemporary African warfare, specifically through the case of Sierra Leone, to assess its impact on behaviour in conflict. A conceptual framework is suggested for analysing culturally alien practices more broadly and to inform approaches to civilian and military intervention. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Understanding the Contemporary Middle East Jillian Schwedler, 2013 The fourth edition of Understanding the Contemporary Middle East has been fully revised and updated throughout to reflect the still-unfolding impact of the Arab Spring, the changing international environment, the impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and much more. The book also includes an entirely new chapter on the role of women in the Middle East. Maps, photographs, and details of basic political data enhance the text, widely acknowledged as the best available introduction to the region. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa Robtel Neajai Pailey, 2021-01-07 Based on rich oral histories, this is an engaging study of citizenship construction and practice in Liberia, Africa's first black republic. |
| understanding contemporary africa: An Analysis of Mahmood Mamdani's Citizen and Subject Meike de Goede, 2017-07-05 Mahmood Mamdani’s 1996 Citizen and Subject is a powerful work of analysis that lays bare the sources of the problems that plagued, and often still plague, African governments. Analysis is one of the broadest and most fundamental critical thinking skills, and involves understanding the structure and features of arguments. Mamdani’s strong analytical skills form the basis of an original investigation of the problems faced by the independent African governments in the wake of the collapse of the colonial regimes imposed by European powers such has Great Britain and France. It had long been clear that these newly-independent governments faced many problems – corruption, the imposition of anti-democratic rule, and many basic failures of day-to-day governance. They also tended to replicate many of the racially and ethnically prejudiced structures that were part of colonial rule. Mamdani analyses the many arguments about the sources of these problems, drawing out their hidden implications and assumptions in order to clear the way for his own creative new vision of the way to overcome the obstacles to democratization in Africa. A dense and brilliant analysis of the true nature of colonialism’s legacy in Africa, Mamdani’s book remains influential to this day. |
| understanding contemporary africa: Theological Education in Contemporary Africa Grant LeMarquand, Joseph D. Galgalo, 2004 Part One addresses 'Theological Foundations.' The five essays in this section deal with the Bible, Theology and Ecumenism. The subjects of theological methods, contextual hermeneutics, and appropriate curriculum are given special attention. Of course even foundational issues cannot be discussed in a vacuum and so each of the essays addresses these foundational subjects in the light of African realities. Part Two deals with 'Contemporary Issues.' It is particularly in this section that the traditional themes in African theology have been somewhat displaced by concerns which are today very pressing indeed. Three essays are devoted to the question of HIV/AIDS. This disease, which has devastated the African continent, demands a theological and practical response from those who claim to follow Jesus Christ. If the churches do not respond to this crisis with energy and determination we should not be surprised if the next generation wonders whether the Gospel has the power which we claim that it has. Two essays address the question of Islam and Muslim-Christian Relations in Africa. The resurgence of Islam in the world today is a concern of many. For those who believe in Jesus, this is a challenge which demands much wisdom and love. How should we respond to our Muslim neighbours? What are appropriate and thoughtful ways to share the love of Christ? Two further essays appear under the title of 'The Marginalized.' This could, of course, be a much large section. Those who suffer from AIDS could be included in this number, and one might have expected to see at least one essay on the place of women. In this volume, however, the 'disabled' and youth are highlighted. Both groups are clearly in need of the attention of the churches, and both groups are clearly misunderstood and neglected. The final section of Part Two contains essays, which focus attention on 'Theological Paedagogy.' All of the other contributions to this volume make suggestions and arguments about curriculum, resources, and issues of concern for theological educators. The causal aim of this book is that these essays may help us to reflect in an intentional way on the implications of contemporary realities for the future of theological education. |
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