Africa articles from March 2002

Africa archives from March 2002

Seen from below: conceptions of politics and the state in a Botswana village.
March 22, 2002... ABSTRACT Based on the contentions that rules cannot determine practice, and that the state is only a composite reality that needs to be analysed as a part of a wider socio-cultural totality, this article investigates how the state, as...

Politicians of the sacred grove: citizenship and ethnicity in southern Senegal.
March 22, 2002... ABSTRACT This article examines the traditional initiation of the former Senegalese Minister of Agriculture. At the age of fifty-five the Catholic Minister was initiated into the secrets of the sacred grove and thus acquired the status of...

Lineage organisation of the Tallensi compound: the social logic of domestic space in northern Ghana.
March 22, 2002... ABSTRACT Houses frequently embody culturally specific principles of social organisation. In this article Tallensi compounds in the Upper East Region of Ghana are examined in terms of compound layout and the kinship relations of their...

Muslims and meals: the social and symbolic function of foods in changing socio-economic environments.
March 22, 2002... ABSTRACT This article is about ideas and practices concerning the production, distribution, preparation and consumption of food among the Muslim Argobba of Ethiopia. Food among the Muslim Argobba of Ethiopia is an essential idiom, both for...

The uniqueness of Nguni mediumistic divination in southern Africa.
March 22, 2002... ABSTRACT Mediumistic divination is unique to the Nguni, as all other Bantu-speakers in southern Africa used a fairly 'objective' divinatory system involving a set of four incised bone tablets, or an assortment of astragals, shells and...

Himba animal classification and the strange case of the hyena.
March 22, 2002... ABSTRACT Continent-wide in African folklore the hyena is depicted as a dull witted, easily duped creature--despite the fact that the hyena is also known as a cunning and dangerous predator. This article explores why in particular the Himba...

Power in Ghana from early colonial times to the 1990s.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... SARA S. BERRY, Chiefs know their Boundaries: essays on property, power, and the past in Asante, 1896-1996. Oxford: James Currey (Portsmouth NH: Heinemann; Cape Town: David Philip), 2001, 260 pp., 40.00 [pounds sterling], ISBN 0 85255 694 2...

Peter Alexander, Workers, War and the Origins of Apartheid: labour and politics in South Africa.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... PETER ALEXANDER, Workers, War and the Origins of Apartheid: labour and politics in South Africa. Oxford: James Currey (Athens OH: Ohio University Press; Cape Town: David Philip), 2000, 220 pp., 40.00 [pounds sterling], ISBN 0 85255 766 3 hard...

Sandra Fullerton Joireman, Property Rights and Political Development in Ethiopia and Eritrea, 1941-74.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... SANDRA FULLERTON JOIREMAN, Property Rights and Political Development in Ethiopia and Eritrea, 1941-74. Eastern African Studies series. Oxford: James Currey (Athens OH: Ohio University Press), 2000, 163 pp., 40.00 [pound sterling], ISBN 0 85255...

Mariane C. Ferme, The Underneath of Things: violence, history and the everyday in Sierra Leone.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... MARIANE C. FERME, The Underneath of Things: violence, history and the everyday in Sierra Leone. Berkeley CA: University of California Press, 2001, 228 pp., 40.00 [pounds sterling] (US$60.00), ISBN 0 520 22542 2 hard covers, 17.95 [pounds...

C.R. Pennell, Morocco since 1830: a history.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... C. R. PENNELL, Morocco since 1830: a history. London: Hurst, 2001, 391 pp., 45.00 [pounds sterling], ISBN 1 85065 273 2 hard covers, 16.50 [pounds sterling], ISBN 1 85065 426 3 paperback. In his extended preface Richard Pennell offers an...

Joanna Lewis, Empire State-building: war and welfare in Kenya, 1925-52.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... JOANNA LEWIS, Empire State-building: war and welfare in Kenya, 1925-52. Oxford: James Currey (Athens OH: Ohio University Press; Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers), 2000, 374 pp., 40.00 [pounds sterling], ISBN 0 85255 790 6 hard...

Deryck Scarr, Seychelles since 1760: a history of a slave and post-slavery society.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... DERYCK SCARR, Seychelles since 1760: a history of a slave and post-slavery society. London: Hurst, 1999, 232 pp., 35.00 [pounds sterling], ISBN 85065 363 1 hard covers, 14.95 [pounds sterling], ISBN 085065 364 X paperback. Seychelles, we...

Patrick Bond, Cities of Gold, Townships of Coal: essays on South Africa's new urban crisis.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... PATRICK BOND, Cities of Gold, Townships of Coal: essays on South Africa's new urban crisis. Trenton NJ: Africa World Press, 2000, US$48.00, ISBN 0 86543 611 8 hard covers, US$29.95, ISBN 0 86543 612 6 paperback. One of South Africa's most...

Ato Quayson, Postcolonialism: theory, practice or process?(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... ATO QUAYSON, Postcolonialism: theory, practice or process? Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999, 208 pp., 50.00 [pounds sterling] (US$60.95), ISBN 0 7456 1712 3 hard covers, 14.99 [pounds sterling] (US$24.95), ISBN 0 7456 1713 1 paperback. ...

Melissa Leach and Robin Mearns (eds), The Lie of the Land: challenging received wisdom on the African environment.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... MELISSA LEACH and ROBIN MEARNS (eds), The Lie of the Land: challenging received wisdom on the African environment. Oxford: James Currey (Portsmouth NH: Heinemann for the International African Institute), 1996, 240 pp., 40.00 [pounds sterling],...

Julius O. Ihonvbere, Africa and the New World Order.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... JULIUS O. IHONVBERE, Africa and the New World Order. Society and Politics in Africa series 7. New York: Peter Lang, 2000, 257 pp., 18.00 [pounds sterling] (US$28.95), ISBN 0 8024 3889 8 paperback. This book appears to have been written in...