Continuity and Change in a West African Society

Continuity and Change in a West African Society
Author: Eugene L. Mendonsa
Publisher:
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2001
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

This book looks at the political economy of the Sisala of Northern Ghana, showing how the creation of their society was influenced from the very beginning by the world system -- primarily through slave raiding. Mendonsa shows how their society continues to be influenced by the global economy today, and how such contacts with the outside world are altering their ability to survive in the savanna as farmers. The two main foci of the book are: (1) How outside influences (agricultural inputs, consumer goods, cash-cropping, and urban markets) have affected and changed the relationships between elders, women, and young men, as elders attempt to control the labor of their subordinates within the context of the gerontocracy that functions as the political economy of their society. (2) Dependency on petroleum, petroleum-driven machinery, imported fertilizer, and other chemicals. This is a tenuous position for Sisala farmers, many of them being subordinates -- women and young men -- who have become involved in cash-cropping. Mendonsa proposes a more sustainable form of farming in animal-traction technology and gives data to show how such technology and organic methods such as composting, green manuring, and intercropping can provide a sustainable base for the ongoing nature of Sisala society.

North African Politics

North African Politics
Author: Yahia H. Zoubir
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2015-09-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317412095

In the aftermath of the turmoil that shook North Africa in late 2010 and early 2011, commentators and analysts have sought explanations to the factors that triggered the uprisings and to understand why a region, seemingly characterized by relative stability for decades, would suddenly erupt in convulsions. Had an underlying dynamism in the region overwhelmed what were ostensibly stable authoritarian regimes? What were the connections to events and dynamics beyond the region, such as countries in the Middle East, international commodity markets, and environmental factors, amongst others? Why had allies abetted authoritarianism for so long, and what were the implications for such alliances? North African Politics: Change and continuity brings together experts to explore these questions, providing in-depth analyses of important developments in the region, which build upon and complement the 2008 companion volume, North Africa: Politics, Region and the Limits of Transformation. This 21-chapter volume is a key contribution that responds to the need in the Anglo-American sphere for sustained, critical studies on North Africa and examines political, economic, security, social and military aspects of the region. Focused studies on individual countries allow detailed discussion of regional factors. The book also examines extrinsic, trans-regional dynamics, such as North Africa’s influential interdependencies with the Levant and the Gulf, Europe, Sahelian and sub-Saharan Africa, and North America. Its innovative approach provides new perspectives on North Africa, extending its research scope to include Egypt and exploring China’s evolving role in the region. Providing an important contribution in the assessment of the ever-shifting political and social tectonics within and beyond North Africa, North African Politics is an essential resource for students, scholars and policy makers in Middle Eastern and North African Studies, and beyond.

Urbanization and Social Change in West Africa

Urbanization and Social Change in West Africa
Author: Josef Gugler
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 1978-07-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780521213486

Originally published in 1978 as part of the Urbanization in Developing Countries series, this is an interdisciplinary study of rapid urban growth in West Africa. Gugler and Flanagan first explore the history of the cities of the early West African empires and they draw on the work of social anthropologists and sociologists, as well as demographers, economists, geographers, historians, political scientists and social psychologists. They then describe the urban explosion that the region experienced after World War II. They explore the implications of widespread urban unemployment and underemployment, the housing crisis and the emergence of metropolitan areas such as Lagos. The literature on urbanization and social change in Black Africa in general, and West Africa in particular, expanded at a fast pace in the years preceding publication. This critical review of the disparate findings filled a gap in African Studies and threw light on the understanding of Third World urbanization.

French Colonialism Unmasked

French Colonialism Unmasked
Author: Ruth Ginio
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2006-12-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 080325380X

Before the Vichy regime, there was ostensibly only one France and one form of colonialism for French West Africa (FWA). World War II and the division of France into two ideological camps, each asking for legitimacy from the colonized, opened for Africans numerous unprecedented options. French Colonialism Unmasked analyzes three dramatic years in the history of FWA, from 1940 to 1943, in which the Vichy regime tried to impose the ideology of the National Revolution in the region. Ruth Ginio shows how this was a watershed period in the history of the region by providing an in-depth examination of the Vichy colonial visions and practices in fwa. She describes the intriguing encounters between the colonial regime and African society along with the responses of different sectors in the African population to the Vichy policy. Although French Colonialism Unmasked focuses on one region within the French Empire, it has relevance to French colonial history in general by providing one of the missing pieces in research on Vichy colonialism. Ruth Ginio is a research fellow at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the author of articles in International Journal of African Historical Studies, Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, Cahiers d'etudes africaines, and several other journals.

From Slave Trade to 'Legitimate' Commerce

From Slave Trade to 'Legitimate' Commerce
Author: Robin Law
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2002-08-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780521523066

This edited collection, written by eleven leading specialists, examines the nineteenth-century commercial transition in West Africa: the ending of the Atlantic slave trade and the development of alternative forms of 'legitimate' trade, mainly in vegetable products. Approaching the subject from an African, rather than a European or American, perspective, the case studies consider the effects of transition on the African societies involved. They offer significant insights into the history of pre-colonial Africa and the slave trade, the origins of European imperialism, and longer-term issues of economic development in Africa.

Indian Cotton Textiles in West Africa

Indian Cotton Textiles in West Africa
Author: Kazuo Kobayashi
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2019-06-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 303018675X

This book focuses on the significant role of West African consumers in the development of the global economy. It explores their demand for Indian cotton textiles and how their consumption shaped patterns of global trade, influencing economies and businesses from Western Europe to South Asia. In turn, the book examines how cotton textile production in southern India responded to this demand. Through this perspective of a south-south economic history, the study foregrounds African agency and considers the lasting impact on production and exports in South Asia. It also considers how European commercial and imperial expansion provided a complex web of networks, linking West African consumers and Indian weavers. Crucially, it demonstrates the emergence of the modern global economy.

Controlling Knowledge

Controlling Knowledge
Author: Louis Brenner
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2001-03-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780253339171

"I know of no one who has taken such an ambitious swath of time and done such a good job of showing the continuity and change across those one hundred years. . . . a splendid achievement, the result of decades of research and reflection." —David Robinson Controlling Knowledge examines the history of West African Muslim society in the Republic of Mali, formerly the Soudan Français, in the 20th century. Focusing on the transformation of Muslim institutions—especially modernized Muslim schools (médersas) and voluntary organizations—over the past hundred years, Louis Brenner uncovers the social and political processes that have produced new forms, definitions, and expressions of Islam that are patently different from those that prevailed a century earlier. Brenner's study shows that Muslim society in Mali is religiously pluralistic and that it has developed different ways of relating religious obligations to prevailing social and political conditions. Although they were heavily influenced by French and Middle Eastern models, Brenner demonstrates that it was in opposition to French colonial authority that the first médersas and voluntary associations appeared. The complex array of power relations within which these institutions evolved, under French colonial rule and in the postcolonial secularist state, is revealed in this thoughtful book. Controlling Knowledge makes a major contribution to our understanding of Muslim history in Mali and West Africa, both in recent decades and over the long term.

Hot Feet and Social Change

Hot Feet and Social Change
Author: Kariamu Welsh
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 446
Release: 2019-12-23
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0252051815

The popularity and profile of African dance have exploded across the African diaspora in the last fifty years. Hot Feet and Social Change presents traditionalists, neo-traditionalists, and contemporary artists, teachers, and scholars telling some of the thousands of stories lived and learned by people in the field. Concentrating on eight major cities in the United States, the essays challenges myths about African dance while demonstrating its power to awaken identity, self-worth, and community respect. These voices of experience share personal accounts of living African traditions, their first encounters with and ultimate embrace of dance, and what teaching African-based dance has meant to them and their communities. Throughout, the editors alert readers to established and ongoing research, and provide links to critical contributions by African and Caribbean dance experts. Contributors: Ausettua Amor Amenkum, Abby Carlozzo, Steven Cornelius, Yvonne Daniel, Charles “Chuck” Davis, Esailama G. A. Diouf, Indira Etwaroo, Habib Iddrisu, Julie B. Johnson, C. Kemal Nance, Halifu Osumare, Amaniyea Payne, William Serrano-Franklin, and Kariamu Welsh

African History: A Very Short Introduction

African History: A Very Short Introduction
Author: John Parker
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2007-03-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 0192802488

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.

Food Preferences and Taste

Food Preferences and Taste
Author: Helen Macbeth
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 232
Release: 1997-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1782381880

Food preferences and tastes are among the fundamentals affecting human existence; the sociocultural, physiological and neurological factors involved have therefore been widely researched and are well documented. However, information and debate on these factors are scattered across the academic literature of different disciplines. In this volume cross-disciplinary perspectives are brought together by an international team of contributors that includes socialand biological anthropologists, ethologists and ethnologists, psychologists, neurologists and zoologists in order to provide access to the different specialisms on the topic.