African Political Thought

African Political Thought
Author: Guy Martin
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2012-12-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1403966346

For most of its history, the African continent has witnessed momentous political change, remarkable philosophical innovation, and the complex cross-fertilization of ideologies and belief systems. This definitive study surveys the concepts, values, and historical upheavals that have shaped African political systems from the ancient period to the postcolonial era and beyond. Beginning with the emergence of indigenous political institutions, it traces the most important developments in African history, including the Africanization of Islam, liberal democratic movements, socialism, Pan-Africanism, and Africanist-Populist resistance to the neoliberal world order. The result is an invaluable resource on a region too often ignored in the history of political thought.

Crossing the Line in Africa

Crossing the Line in Africa
Author: Ambe Ngwa
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 502
Release: 2019-01-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9956550787

This book explores a collective understanding of the perception and treatment of borders in Africa. The notion of boundary is universal as boundaries are also an important part of human social organization. Through the ages, boundaries have remained the container by which national space is delineated and contained. For as long as there has been human society based on territoriality and space, there have been boundaries. With their dual character of exclusivism and inclusivism, states have proven to adopt a more structural approach to the respect of the former in consciousness of the esteem of international law governing sovereignty and territorial integrity. However, frontier peoples and their realities have often opted for the latter situation, imposing a more functionalist perception of these imaginary lines and prompting a border opinion shift to a more blurring form of representation and meaning in most African communities. This collective multidisciplinary effort of understanding how tangible and intangible borders have influenced Africas attitude and existence for ages is worthy in its own rights. The difference between what borders are and what they are not to a people is the mere product of their own estimations and practices, a disposition that leads the contributors to this book to study borders beyond states or nations and how borders are crossed or transferred from one point to the other for the convenience of their histories and being.

Routledge Handbook of Francophone Africa

Routledge Handbook of Francophone Africa
Author: Tony Chafer
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 640
Release: 2023-11-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351142143

The Routledge Handbook of Francophone Africa brings together a multidisciplinary team of international experts to reflect on the history, politics, societies, and cultures of French-speaking parts of Africa. Consisting of approximately 35% of Africa’s territory, Francophone Africa is a shifting concept, with its roots in French and Belgian colonial rule. This handbook develops and problematizes the term, with thematic sections covering: Colonial and post-colonial ties between France and sub-Saharan Africa Belgium, Belgian colonialism and Africa The Maghreb African Francophones in France Francophone African literature and film ‘Francophone’ and ‘Anglophone’ Africa Beyond national boundaries and ‘colonial partners’ The chapters demonstrate the evolution of "Francophone Africa" into a multi-dimensional construct, with both a material and an imagined reality. Materially, it defines a regional territorial space that coexists with other conceptualisations of African space and borders. Conceptually, Francophone Africa constitutes a shared linguistic and cultural space within which collective memories are shared, not least through their connection to the French imperial imagination. Overall, the Handbook demonstrates that as global power structures and relations evolve, African agency is increasingly assertive in shaping French-African relations. Bringing this important debate together into a single volume, this Handbook will be an essential resource for students and scholars interested in Francophone Africa.

Figures croisées d'intellectuels

Figures croisées d'intellectuels
Author:
Publisher: KARTHALA Editions
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2007
Genre: Intellectuals
ISBN: 2845868669

Tout discours visant à appréhender les intellectuels constitue un défi majoré, pour peu qu'une telle tentative se trouve conduite par les membres de ce groupe d'appartenance. Par la pluralité de ses figures, de ses trajectoires, de ses postures et de ses lieux d'actions, l'intellectuel intervient dans l'espace public, lieu de débats et condition nécessaire pour son existence et ses activités. Qu'il appartienne à l'élite ou qu'il soit qualifié de populaire, l'intellectuel est un acteur, un sujet agissant par le biais de ses productions polymorphes fondées le plus souvent sur un savoir critique. Celles-ci ont en commun de porter sur l'orientation des sociétés concernées, d'intervenir dans la vie de la Cité. Dans quelle mesure des intellectuels appartenant à différentes traditions linguistiques ou aux mêmes traditions partagent-ils des repères épistémologiques analogues ? Quelles sont les incidences de la mondialisation sur leurs productions scientifiques ? Comment se positionnent-ils dans les différents espaces d'expérimentation parfois douloureuse de la démocratie ? Etre un intellectuel dans le domaine des sciences humaines et sociales, signifie-t-il détenir, sans en avoir le monopole, un rôle prépondérant au plan éthique dans l'exigence et l'intention de vérité, dans la posture critique, la pratique du dialogue et la reconnaissance de l'autre ? S'appuyant sur des recherches empiriques effectuées en Afrique, en Europe, en Asie, le livre propose de cerner diverses figures contemporaines d'intellectuels, leur rôle aussi bien dans la jonction de leurs sociétés avec le reste du monde, que dans les constructions abouties ou non d'une sphère autonome du pouvoir politique.

Integration regionale, democratie et panafricanisme. Paradigmes anciens, nouveaux defis

Integration regionale, democratie et panafricanisme. Paradigmes anciens, nouveaux defis
Author: Alexis Adandé
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2007
Genre: Africa
ISBN: 2869781792

A l'occasion du 30e anniversaire du CODESRIA, une importante moisson de contributions a été faite autour du thème central de la grande conférence commémorative, tenue à Dakar en décembre 2003, à savoir : "Intellectuels, nationalisme et idéal panafricain". Cet ouvrage réunit huit des nombreuses communications de la rencontre sur l'intégration régionale, démocratie et panafricanisme, dont celles de Bernard Founou-Tchuigoua, de Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan et d'Alexis Adandé. Chacun des auteurs a exploré, sous un angle particulier, des questions relatives à l'intégration régionale, à la démocratie ou au panafricanisme. Autant de paradigmes qui ont été forgés ou qui ont été examinés dans leur application au continent africain au cours du siècle passé, particulièrement durant la lutte pour l'émancipation et au lendemain des indépendances. En fait, ces paradigmes, qui gardent apparemment toute leur actualité, sont à nouveau examinés à la lumière des réalités contemporaines.

The Black Diaspora of the Americas

The Black Diaspora of the Americas
Author: Christine Chivallon
Publisher: Ian Randle Publishers
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2011
Genre: History
ISBN: 9766373965

The forced migration of Africans to the Americas through the trnasatlantic slave trade created primary centres of settlement in the Caribbean, Brazil and the United States - the cornerstones of the New World and the black Americas. However, unlike Brazil and the US, the Caribbean did not (and still does not) have the uniformity of a national framework. Instead, the region presents differing situations and social experiences born of the varying colonial systems from which they were developed. Using the Caribbean experience as the focus, Christine Chivallon examins the transatlantic slave trade and slavery as founding events in the identification of a black diaspora experience. The exploration is extended to include the United States to exemplify contrasting situations in slavery-based systems and identifies the links between the expressions of culture emanting from the black populations of the New World and the diversity of interpretations of the cultural identities of the black Americas.Divided into three main parts, The Black Diaspora of the Americas firstly examines the foundation of the black experiences of the New World by considering the slave trade. The second part takes a more theoretical examination of 'black diaspora' using Rastafarianism, Garveyism and Pan-Africanism while referencing the work of a range of thinkers including Stuart Hall, Paul Gilroy, Richard Price, douard Glissant, Melville Herskovits and Sidney Mintz. The work is concluded in the third part with the proposition of an a-centred community of persons of African descent - a culture devoid of centrality.The Black Diaspora of the Americas brings together the key arguments about creolisation and the concept of a black diaspora and presents an outstanding contribution to understanding the dynamics of diaspora.

The Politics of Biography in Africa

The Politics of Biography in Africa
Author: Anaïs Angelo
Publisher: Routledge Studies on Gender and Sexuality in Africa
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-05
Genre: Africa
ISBN: 9780367679408

"Bringing together historians, political scientists, and literary analysts, this volume shows how biographical narratives can shed light on alternative, little known or under-researched aspects of state power in African politics. Part 1 shows how biographical narratives breathe new life into subjects who, upon decolonization, had been reduced to silence - women, workers, and radical politicians. The contributors analyze the complex relationship between biographical narratives and power, questioning either the power of biographical codes peculiar to western, colonial origins, or the power to shape public memory. Part 2 reflects on the act of (auto- )biography writing as an exercise of power, one that blurs the lines between truth and invention. (Auto- )biographical narratives appear as politicized, ambiguous stories. Part 3 focuses on female leadership during and after colonization, exploring on how women gained, lost, or reinvented "power". Brought together, the contributions of this volume show that the function of biographical narratives should no longer oscillate between romanticized narratives and historical evidence; their varied formats all offer fruitful opportunities for a multidisciplinary dialogue. This book will be of interest to scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds working on the African postcolonial state, the decolonization process, women's and gender studies, and biography writing."--Publisher's description

The Feasibility of the Democratic Developmental State in the South

The Feasibility of the Democratic Developmental State in the South
Author: Daniel A. Omoweh
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 2869785127

The book examines the prospects of a democratic developmental state in Latin American, African and Asian countries, collectively referred to in this work as the global South. Practically, the state refers to the political leadership. Within this context, it interrogates the politics of the state and the unresolved critical issues it has engendered in the state-development discourse such as the need to re-conceptualize the developmental state, democratization, elections, inclusion, indigenous entrepreneurial and business class, political parties and cooperation among the countries of the South. It looks into the need to re-centre the sought state in the development process of the Southern countries after over two and a half decades of embracing neo-liberal policies and economic reforms that, rather than transform, sank the adjusted economies into deeper political, social and economic crises. It contends that the capacity of the state to overcome the market and democratic deficits resides with its democratic credentials. Finally, it suggests strategies that could lead to the rise of a democratic developmental state in the South.

Citizen and Subject

Citizen and Subject
Author: Mahmood Mamdani
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 381
Release: 2018-04-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1400889715

In analyzing the obstacles to democratization in post- independence Africa, Mahmood Mamdani offers a bold, insightful account of colonialism's legacy--a bifurcated power that mediated racial domination through tribally organized local authorities, reproducing racial identity in citizens and ethnic identity in subjects. Many writers have understood colonial rule as either "direct" (French) or "indirect" (British), with a third variant--apartheid--as exceptional. This benign terminology, Mamdani shows, masks the fact that these were actually variants of a despotism. While direct rule denied rights to subjects on racial grounds, indirect rule incorporated them into a "customary" mode of rule, with state-appointed Native Authorities defining custom. By tapping authoritarian possibilities in culture, and by giving culture an authoritarian bent, indirect rule (decentralized despotism) set the pace for Africa; the French followed suit by changing from direct to indirect administration, while apartheid emerged relatively later. Apartheid, Mamdani shows, was actually the generic form of the colonial state in Africa. Through case studies of rural (Uganda) and urban (South Africa) resistance movements, we learn how these institutional features fragment resistance and how states tend to play off reform in one sector against repression in the other. The result is a groundbreaking reassessment of colonial rule in Africa and its enduring aftereffects. Reforming a power that institutionally enforces tension between town and country, and between ethnicities, is the key challenge for anyone interested in democratic reform in Africa.