Africa articles from June 2007

Africa archives from June 2007

Family resemblances, practical interrelations and material extensions: understanding sexual prohibitions, production and consumption in Kilimanjaro.
June 22, 2007... ABSTRACT Through the 'procreative paradigm', sexuality and its relationships to other social practices have recently regained importance in the study of sub-Saharan Africa. Despite its apparent novelty, I argue that this paradigm invokes...

Seclusion, protection and avoidance: exploring the Metida complex among the Datoga of northern Tanzania.
June 22, 2007... ABSTRACT This article deals with metida avoidance practices as they emerge in daily and ritual practice among the agro-pastoral Datoga-speaking peoples of Tanzania. The elaboration of the avoidance practices varies starkly between and...

'Serious games': licences and prohibitions in Maasai sexual life.
June 22, 2007... ABSTRACT This article discusses sexual licences and prohibitions among the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania with particular reference to the institutionalized yet controversial sexual relations between young pre-menarche girls and adolescent...

Things fall apart? (1) Management, environment and Taungya farming in Edo State, Southern Nigeria.
June 22, 2007... ABSTRACT Environmental degradation in Africa is often linked to management failure and political decline. One example of this is the dominant understanding of the unfolding of Taungya farming in Southern Nigeria in recent decades. An...

Recollections of childhood experiences during the Nigerian civil war.
June 22, 2007... ABSTRACT During the three decades following the end of the Nigerian civil war little attention has been given to the children who lived through the hostilities. This article on the recollections of present-day adults who experienced the...

Slow going: the mortuary, modernity and the hometown association in Bali-Nyonga, Cameroon.
June 22, 2007... ABSTRACT The article describes a new mortuary in Cameroon, which has been constructed in a government hospital by the Bali-Nyonga Development and Cultural Association (BANDECA). The history and character of this hometown association is...

Understanding recent African wars.(Rethinking the Economics of War: the Intersection of Need, Creed, and Greed)(An African Peace Process: Mandela, South Africa and Burundi)(Violence and Belonging: The Quest for Identity in Post-Colonial Africa)(Conflict and Collusion in Sierra Leone)(Oil: Politics, Poverty and the Planet)(Civil War, Civil Peace)(Book review)
June 22, 2007... CYNTHIA J. ARNSON AND WILLIAM ZARTMAN (eds), Rethinking the Economics of War: the intersection of need, creed, and greed. Washington DC and Baltimore: Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Johns Hopkins University Press (pb $55-978 0 8018 8297 5)....

Donal B. Cruise O'Brien, Symbolic Confrontations: Muslims imagining the state In Africa.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... DONAL B. CRUISE O'BRIEN, Symbolic Confrontations: Muslims imagining the state in Africa. London: C. Hurst (pb 16.50 [pounds sterling]--1850656991). 2004, 243 pp. In April 2001, on the day of the legislative elections that were to...

Elizabeth Isichei, The Religious Traditions of Africa: a history.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... ELIZABETH ISICHEI, The Religious Traditions of Africa: a history. Westport, CT: Praeger (hb 42.99 [pounds sterling]--978 0 325 07114 5). 2004, xii + 432 pp. 'This book is a historical introduction to the major religions of Africa, a task...

Jean Allman and John Parker, Tongnaab: the history of a West African god.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... JEAN ALLMAN AND JOHN PARKER, Tongnaab: the history of a West African god. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press (pb $24.95- 978-0-253-218063). 2005, xi + 300 pp. While vacationing in Bolgatanga in 1992, Jean Allman and John Parker...

Danouta Liberski-Bagnoud, Les Dieux du territoire: penser autrement la genealogie.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... DANOUTA LIBERSKI-BAGNOUD, Les Dieux du territoire: penser autrement la genealogie. Paris: CNRS Editions/Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (pb 25 [euro] - 978 2 271 06014 3). 2002, 244 pp. Based on long-term fieldwork among the...

Isak Niehaus with Eliazaar Mohlala and Kally Shokane, Witchcraft, Power and Politics: exploring the occult in the South African lowveld.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... ISAK NIEHAUS with Eliazaar Mohlala and Kally Shokane, Witchcraft, Power and Politics: exploring the occult in the South African lowveld. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan University Press (pb $22 - 978 0 7453 1558 4). 2001, 246 pp. Isak...

M. J. Spierenburg, Strangers, Spirits and Land Reforms: conflicts about land in Dande, northern Zimbabwe.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... M. J. SPIERENBURG, Strangers, Spirits and Land Reforms: conflicts about land in Dande, northern Zimbabwe. Leiden: Brill (pb 978 9004139 57 2). 2004, 260 PP. This book examines 'internal' land reforms in post-colonial Zimbabwe. These...

Tanya Lyons, Guns and Guerrilla Girls: women in the Zimbabwean liberation struggle.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... TANYA LYONS, Guns and Guerrilla Girls: women in the Zimbabwean liberation struggle. Trenton: Africa World Press (pb US$29.95 - 1 592 21167 4). 2004, 338 pp. The book is based on the author's PhD thesis and draws upon 12 months of fieldwork...

Christine J. Walley, Rough Waters: nature and development in an East African marine park.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... CHRISTINE J. WALLEY, Rough Waters: nature and development in an East African marine park. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press (pb $22.95-978 0691115603; hb $60 978 0691115597). 2004, 336 pp. Christine Walley describes the development...

Thomas V. McClendon, Gender and Generations Apart: labour tenants and customary law in segregation-era South Africa, 1920s to 1940s.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... THOMAS V. McCLENDON, Gender and Generations Apart: labour tenants and customary law in segregation-era South Africa, 1920s to 1940s. Oxford: James Currey (pb 16.95 [pounds sterling]-9780 85255 955 0); New York: Heinemann (pb $24.95--0...

James L. Giblin with Blandina Kaduma Giblin, a History of the Excluded: making family a refuge from state in twentieth-century Tanzania.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... JAMES L. GIBLIN with BLANDINA KADUMA GIBLIN, A History of the Excluded: making family a refuge from state in twentieth-century Tanzania. Oxford, Dares Salaam: James Currey, Oxford/Mkuki na Nyota (pb 16.95 [pounds sterling]-7808525546-61);...

Simon Ottenberg, Farmers and Townspeople in a Changing Nigeria: Abakaliki during colonial times (1905-1960).(Book review)
June 22, 2007... SIMON OTTENBERG, Farmers and Townspeople in a Changing Nigeria: Abakaliki during colonial times (1905-1960). Ibadan: Spectrum Books (pb N3000, 24.95 [pounds sterling]--978 029 533 X). 2005, xxi + 364 pp. At first sight, this history of a...

Oliver Furley and Roy May (eds), Ending Africa's Wars: progressing to peace.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... OLIVER FURLEY AND ROY MAY (eds), Ending Africa's Wars: progressing to peace. Aldershot, Hampshire and Burlington, VT: Ashgate (hb 50.00 [pounds sterling]--9780754639329). 2006, 258 pp. Africa remains a continent plagued by socio-economic...

Kenneth Omeje, High Stakes and Stakeholders: oil conflict and security in Nigeria.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... KENNETH OMEJE, High Stakes and Stakeholders: oil conflict and security in Nigeria. Aldershot, Hampshire and Burlington, VT: Ashgate (hb 55.00 [pounds sterling]--0754647277). 2006, 218 pp. The oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria has...

Jeremiah I. Dibua, Modernization and the Crisis of Development in Africa: the Nigerian experience.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... JEREMIAH I. DIBUA, Modernization and the Crisis of Development in Africa: the Nigerian experience. Aldershot: Ashgate (hb 60 [pounds sterling]--978 0 7546 4228 2). 2006, 388 pp. This book revisits what in the two decades preceding the end...

David Kerr (ed.), African Theatre: Southern Africa.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 22, 2007... DAVID KERR (ed.), African Theatre: Southern Africa. Oxford: James Currey (pb 12.95 [pounds sterling]--9780 852555 972). 2004, 192 pp. This is a small but important collection of essays, interviews, notes and book reviews on contemporary...

Stephanie Newell, West African Literatures: ways of reading.(Book review)
June 22, 2007... STEPHANIE NEWELL, West African Literatures: ways of reading. Oxford: Oxford University Press (hb 35.00 [pounds sterling]--978 0 19 929887 4). 2006, 259 pp. Newell's book offers several distinct features. First, it is remarkably...