Notes from the Hyena's Belly

Notes from the Hyena's Belly
Author: Nega Mezlekia
Publisher: Picador
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2015-04-07
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1466893249

Winner of the Governor General's Award A Library Journal Best Book of 2001 Part autobiography and part social history, Nega Mezlekia's Notes from the Hyena's Belly offers an unforgettable portrait of Ethiopia, and of Africa, during the 1970s and '80s, an era of civil war, widespread famine, and mass execution. "We children lived like the donkey," Mezlekia remembers, "careful not to wander off the beaten trail and end up in the hyena's belly." His memoir sheds light not only on the violence and disorder that beset his native country, but on the rich spiritual and cultural life of Ethiopia itself. Throughout, he portrays the careful divisions in dress, language, and culture between the Muslims and Christians of the Ethiopian landscape. Mezlekia also explores the struggle between western European interests and communist influences that caused the collapse of Ethiopia's social and political structure—and that forced him, at age 18, to join a guerrilla army. Through droughts, floods, imprisonment, and killing sprees at the hands of military juntas, Mezlekia survived, eventually emigrating to Canada. In Notes from the Hyena's Belly he bears witness to a time and place that few Westerners have understood.

The God Who Begat a Jackal

The God Who Begat a Jackal
Author: Nega Mezlekia
Publisher: Picador
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2015-04-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1466893257

A Library Journal Best Book Nega Mezlekia's memoir Notes from the Hyena's Belly was described in the New York Times Book Review as "the most riveting book about Ethiopia since Ryszard Kapuscinski's literary allegory The Emperor and the most distinguished African literary memoir since Soyinka's Aké appeared 20 years ago." Mezlekia now offers a first novel steeped in African folklore and teeming with the class, ethnic and religious struggles of pre-colonial Africa. In The God Who Begat a Jackal, the 17th-century feudal system, vassal uprisings, religious mythology, and the Crusades are intertwined with the love between Aster, the daughter of a feudal lord, and Gudu, the court jester and family slave. Aster and Gudu's relationship is the ultimate taboo, but supernatural elements presage a destiny more powerful than the rule of man. With Mezlekia's enchanting storytelling and ironic humor, readers glimpse African deities that have long since weathered away and the social cleavages that have endured through time.

Beneath the Lion's Gaze: A Novel

Beneath the Lion's Gaze: A Novel
Author: Maaza Mengiste
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2011-01-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0393076776

"An important novel, rich in compassion for its anguished characters." —The New York Times Book Review This memorable, heartbreaking story opens in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1974, on the eve of a revolution. Yonas kneels in his mother’s prayer room, pleading to his god for an end to the violence that has wracked his family and country. His father, Hailu, a prominent doctor, has been ordered to report to jail after helping a victim of state-sanctioned torture to die. And Dawit, Hailu’s youngest son, has joined an underground resistance movement—a choice that will lead to more upheaval and bloodshed across a ravaged Ethiopia. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze tells a gripping story of family, of the bonds of love and friendship set in a time and place that has rarely been explored in fiction. It is a story about the lengths human beings will go in pursuit of freedom and the human price of a national revolution. Emotionally gripping, poetic, and indelibly tragic, Beneath The Lion’s Gaze is a transcendent and powerful debut.

The Hyena Scientist

The Hyena Scientist
Author: Sy Montgomery
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 85
Release: 2018-05-15
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1328476626

"An appealing, elegantly designed introduction to another much-maligned species." —Kirkus (starred review) "A fascinating, informative, and inclusive window into a feared and misunderstood species." —Booklist (starred review) This myth-busting addition to the critically acclaimed Scientists in the Field series by Sibert medal winning team Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop is perfect for nonfiction readers looking for more female scientist narratives, or a fresh perspective on an underrepresented animal—Hyenas! Timely and inspiring, The Hyena Scientist sets the record straight about one of history’s most hated and misunderstood mammals, while featuring the groundbreaking, pioneering research of a female scientist in a predominately male field in this offering by Sibert-winning duo Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop. As a scientist studying one of the only mammalian societies led entirely by females, zoologist Kay Holecamp has made it her life’s work to understand hyenas, the fascinating, complex creatures that are playful, social, and highly intelligent—almost nothing like the mangy monsters of pop culture lore.

Among the Bone Eaters

Among the Bone Eaters
Author: Marcus Baynes-Rock
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2015-08-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0271074043

Biologists studying large carnivores in wild places usually do so from a distance, using telemetry and noninvasive methods of data collection. So what happens when an anthropologist studies a clan of spotted hyenas, Africa’s second-largest carnivores, up close—and in a city of a hundred thousand inhabitants? In Among the Bone Eaters, Marcus Baynes-Rock takes us to the ancient city of Harar in Ethiopia, where the gey waraba (hyenas of the city) are welcome in the streets and appreciated by the locals for the protection they provide from harmful spirits and dangerous “mountain” hyenas. They’ve even become a local tourist attraction. At the start of his research in Harar, Baynes-Rock contended with difficult conditions, stone-throwing children, intransigent bureaucracy, and wary hyena subjects intent on avoiding people. After months of frustration, three young hyenas drew him into the hidden world of the Sofi clan. He discovered the elements of a hyena’s life, from the delectability of dead livestock and the nuisance of dogs to the unbounded thrill of hyena chase-play under the light of a full moon. Baynes-Rock’s personal relations with the hyenas from the Sofi clan expand the conceptual boundaries of human-animal relations. This is multispecies ethnography that reveals its messy, intersubjective, dangerously transformative potential.

The Unfortunate Marriage of Azeb Yitades

The Unfortunate Marriage of Azeb Yitades
Author: Nega Mezlekia
Publisher:
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2006
Genre: Ethiopia
ISBN: 9780143053064

Spanning from the 1960s to the 1990s, "The Unfortunate Marriage of Azeb Yitades" is an epic tale of a small village in eastern Ethiopia struggling to maintain its identity and heritage as the modern world encroaches on its isolation. Aba Yitades, the local priest, takes this challenge very personally. The father of three daughters, he is always alert to the new temptations they face--and never more so than when the arrival of a family of American missionaries threatens to put an end to the community's most treasured traditions. Steeped in the rich and unique culture of the Ethiopian highlands, this story of a village's reluctant but inevitable modernization--and one woman's tragic downfall--is told with Nega Mezlekia's customary wit and charm.

Sweetness in the Belly

Sweetness in the Belly
Author: Camilla Gibb
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2007-03-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101118296

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Dakota Fanning Like Brick Lane and The Kite Runner, Camilla Gibb’s widely praised new novel is a poignant and intensely atmospheric look beyond the stereotypes of Islam. After her hippie British parents are murdered, Lilly is raised at a Sufi shrine in Morocco. As a young woman she goes on pilgrimage to Harar, Ethiopia, where she teaches Qur’an to children and falls in love with an idealistic doctor. But even swathed in a traditional headscarf, Lilly can’t escape being marked as a foreigner. Forced to flee Ethiopia for England, she must once again confront the riddle of who she is and where she belongs.

Wizard of the Crow

Wizard of the Crow
Author: Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo
Publisher: East African Publishers
Total Pages: 788
Release: 2007
Genre: Africa
ISBN: 9789966254917

Of Wolves and Men

Of Wolves and Men
Author: Barry Holstun Lopez
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2004
Genre: Gray wolf
ISBN: 0743249364

Voices of the Arab Spring

Voices of the Arab Spring
Author: Asaad Alsaleh
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2015-03-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0231538588

Narrated by dozens of activists and everyday individuals, this book documents the unprecedented events that led to the collapse of dictatorial regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. Beginning in 2011, these stories offer unique access to the message that inspired citizens to act, their experiences during revolt, and the lessons they learned from some of the most dramatic changes and appalling events to occur in the history of the Arab world. The riveting, revealing, and sometimes heartbreaking stories in this volume also include voices from Syria. Featuring participants from a variety of social and educational backgrounds and political commitments, these personal stories of action represent the Arab Spring's united and broad social movements, collective identities, and youthful character. For years, the volume's participants lived under regimes that brutally suppressed free expression and protest. Their testimony speaks to the multifaceted emotional, psychological, and cultural factors that motivated citizens to join together to struggle against their oppressors.