Us vs Them

Us vs Them
Author: Joshua Krook
Publisher: KDP, CreateSpace
Total Pages: 64
Release: 2014-07-30
Genre:
ISBN:

The modern city is a place of social circles; clusters of contacts who know each other and strangers who don’t. It is a place where diverse relationships are in decline. In the city, strangers seldom meet beyond daily functions. Instead they brush by with a haste and preoccupation that so defines a century of ‘too little time’. Where once we valued common courtesy, now we encourage the message of “stranger danger”. Often we do not test this message as we grow older. Instead we live side by side with strangers, and remain firmly as ever, psychologically miles apart. In this book I attempt to address this problem. I ask the following questions: 1) How can we bring back mutual understanding, empathy and common concern between ourselves, strangers and other groups? 2) How can we reduce our instinctual urge to categorise other people? 3) How can we restore a sense of “community” into modern cities? My own research reveals a large body of evidence leading to a single conclusion: if we want to connect with strangers in our society, and form diverse, cohesive communities, we must minimise the categorical distinctions in our everyday life. We must once again bring people together, in close physical proximity, even if they are from different segments of society. We can use physical proximity to overcome our natural urges to seek out ‘one of our own’ and foster communities that are more diverse and inclusive by nature. By bringing disparate groups into the same space, we can foster mutual understanding, empathy and in some cases friendship. This could mend some of the categorical division that exists in society today, including issues of racism, sexism and religious intolerance.

The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Africa

The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Africa
Author: R. Sooryamoorthy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 585
Release: 2023
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0197608493

The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Africa presents to a broad readership an accessible, comprehensive, up to date, and topical comparative analysis of sociological thinking in Africa. Sociological discourse about African societies has been challenging and difficult, due to a lack of both comprehensive analyses and holistic sociological evidence that covers Africa from past to present times. This Handbook brings together latest analyses of sociological phenomena from the best scholars working on numerous thematic areas. It provides contributions that locates African sociological thinking in historical context and takes a critical look at its current manifestations across the continent. This collection builds upon an existing body of literature which has demonstrated that while the analysis of African societies has long been an item on the agenda of sociologists worldwide, advances of the decolonial critique made notably by African scholars in Africa enhances the scholarship of the sociology of Africa. Thus, the collection is premised upon the understanding that in order to understand the sociology of Africa as significant intervention, the participation and representation of African ways of knowing and doing is a critical starting point. This Handbook comprises a series of scholarly and interdisciplinary perspectives on current debates over how best to unpack sociological imaginations in African context. The scholarly contributions, therefore, are based on both perspectives illustrating the importance of specificity in sociological phenomenon. The Handbook is arranged in seven parts: Context and Perspectives; Race, Ethnicity, and Religion; Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality; Medical Sociology: Political Economy and Development; Crime and Violence; and The Family and Education. Premised on the importance of African ways of knowing and doing, these chapters offer sociologists, researchers, and students an invaluable starting point for a fuller understanding of African sociology.

Security in Nigeria

Security in Nigeria
Author: Caroline Varin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2020-07-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1838607595

Nigeria is the most dynamic country on the African continent. Yet the legacy of colonialism, deep-rooted corruption, exposure to climate change and the proliferation of small arms have created a precarious security situation that holds back the country's potential for peace and prosperity. Security in Nigeria explores the many security threats facing Nigeria and assesses the government's responses to date. With contributors spanning three continents, it provides an original and comprehensive analysis of 'old' and 'new' security threats and offers original solutions to address the crisis.