The So Pots of Central Africa

The So Pots of Central Africa
Author: Graham Connah
Publisher: BAR International Series
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2019
Genre: Art
ISBN:

African Archaeology, Volume 91 This book is an original study of very large pots in parts of Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria. Found in excavations and surface fieldwork, they have been attributed to the So, a group of pre-Islamic inhabitants of the area before the sixteenth century AD, who have become mythologised as giants. Originally for burial, in some cases the pots have been dug up by villagers and reused: for brewing beer or as dye pits for indigo cloth. The book focuses on a group of these pots that survived until the late twentieth century in villages in a small part of Borno, north-eastern Nigeria. With the passage of time and terrorist activities in the region, their fate is now unknown and the photographs from 1963 to 1993 reproduced in this book have become a major archive of an unusual pottery group.

Mlozi of Central Africa

Mlozi of Central Africa
Author: David Stuart-Mogg
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2024-01-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9996080218

For more than a century, historians and writers on Africa have almost invariably associated the name Mlozi with all the cruellest excesses of the central and east African slave trade during the nineteenth century. That Mlozi bin Kazbadema was a significant slaver who conducted his trade according to all the brutal conventions of his period is beyond dispute. His subsequent botched hanging at the end of a British-sponsored rope, following a drum-head trial of questionable legality, has been generally regarded as well-deserved and a fitting, if muscular, exemplar of Pax Britannica in action. In The End of the Slaver, a title taken from recollections of Mlozi's hanging by the medical missionary Dr. Kerr Cross, author David Stuart-Mogg examines Mlozi's life and milieu and carefully weighs the often conflicting evidence apparent between official military and government reports and the largely unpublished private letters and diaries written at the time by those who participated in Mlozi's downfall and elimination. Stuart-Mogg's carefully evaluated findings call into serious question the altruism and philanthropy that the ultimate, and inevitable, victors of the struggle accorded their actions and their undoubtedly laudable ultimate objective - the eradication of slavery in British Central Africa. Referring to this book as 'an unusually stimulating study, Professor Shepperson recommends that The End of the Slaver deserves to be widely-read, not only by those whose primary interest is in the history of Malawi but also by students of slavery and the anti-slavery movements in the nineteenth century - and, indeed by all who are concerned with man's inhumanity to man.

The Pot-King

The Pot-King
Author: Jean-Pierre Warnier
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2007-11-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9047422708

The king of Mankon, in the western highlands of Cameroon, is an agricultural engineer by training, a businessman, and a prominent politician on the national stage. He partakes in the “return of the kings” in the forefront of an African public space. This book analyses the principles of the sacred kingship which lie at the core of the king’s different roles. While showing that the king’s body acts as a container of bodily substances transformed into unifying ancestral life-essence by appropriate means, and bestowed upon its subjects, it develops an innovative approach to bodily and material cultures as an essential component of the technologies of power. In so doing, it departs significantly from previous approaches to sacred kingship.

The Objects of Life in Central Africa

The Objects of Life in Central Africa
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2013-09-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004256245

In The Objects of Life in Central Africa the history of consumption and social change from 1840 until 1980 is explored. By taking consumption as a vantage point, the contributions deviate from and add to previous works which have mainly analysed issues of production from an economic and political perspective. The chapters are broad-ranging in temporal and geographical focus, including contributions on Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola. Topics range from the social history of firearms to the perception of the railway and include contributions on sewing machines, traders and advertising. By looking at the socio-economic, political and cultural meaning and impact of goods the history of Central Africa is reassessed.

Central Africa to 1870

Central Africa to 1870
Author: David Birmingham
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 1981
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521284448

The complete Cambridge History of Africa aims to present the most comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis of historical development on the African continent and will be valuable to both students and teachers of African history.

The Scramble for Art in Central Africa

The Scramble for Art in Central Africa
Author: Enid Schildkrout
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 1998-03-28
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN: 9780521586788

Western attitudes to Africa have been influenced to an extraordinary degree by the arts and artefacts that were brought back by the early collectors, exhibited in museums, and celebrated by scholars and artists in the metropolitan centres. The contributors to this volume trace the life history of artefacts that were brought to Europe and America from Congo towards the end of the nineteenth century, and became the subjects of museum displays. They also present fascinating case studies of the pioneering collectors, including such major figures as Frobenius and Torday. They discuss the complex and sensitive issues involved in the business of 'collecting', and show how the collections and exhibitions influenced academic debates about the categories of art and artefact, and the notion of authenticity, and challenged conventional aesthetic values, as modern Western artists began to draw on African models.

Gender Epistemologies in Africa

Gender Epistemologies in Africa
Author: O. Oyewumi
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2011-01-03
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0230116272

This volume brings together a variety of studies that are engaged with notions of gender in different African localities, institutions and historical time periods. The objective is to expand empirical and theoretical studies that take seriously the idea that in order to understand gender and gender relations in Africa, we must start with Africa.

Food Culture in the Near East, Middle East, and North Africa

Food Culture in the Near East, Middle East, and North Africa
Author: Peter Heine
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2004-12-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0313062315

The similar cuisines of the Near East, Middle East, and North Africa stem from ancient cultures and variable climates, ranging from Mediterranean to desert. The major monotheistic religions developed in the Middle East, and students and other readers will learn how religious strictures on food and drink continue to play an important role in eating habits there today for Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Most of the population in the regions is Arab, and therefore the emphasis in this volume is mainly on the Arab Muslim food cultures. The impact of colonialism, globalization, and modernization of the foodways is also discussed in the topical chapters. This thorough overview provides huge insight into the lives of everyday people in the regions through their food culture. One chapter describes the major foodstuffs and how they are used. Another discusses gender roles and cooking, the use of cookbooks, and details the typical kitchen and its contents, from appliances to utensils. A chapter on typical meals shows the daily rituals of the various peoples. The Eating Out chapter provides a fascinating look at the workings and décor of small, traditional restaurants, the popularity of picnics, and more. Next, food in the context of religious holidays and life-cycle celebrations is discussed. Finally, traditional folk and modern beliefs about diet and health round out the coverage.

United States and Africa Relations, 1400s to the Present

United States and Africa Relations, 1400s to the Present
Author: Toyin Falola
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2020-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 030023483X

A comprehensive history of the relationship between Africa and the United States Toyin Falola and Raphael Njoku reexamine the history of the relationship between Africa and the United States from the dawn of the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the present. Their broad, interdisciplinary book follows the relationship's evolution, tracking African American emancipation, the rise of African diasporas in the Americas, the Back-to-Africa movement, the founding of Sierra Leone and Liberia, the presence of American missionaries in Africa, the development of blues and jazz music, the presidency of Barack Obama, and more.