Africa articles from March 2007

Africa archives from March 2007

The life and afterlife of Yaa Asantewaa.
March 22, 2007... ABSTRACT This article is about Queen Mother Yaa As antewaa (c. 1830s-1921) of Edweso (Ejisu) in Asante, locally famous in tradition for her supposed leadership role in the last Anglo-Asante conflict (1900-1), and now internationally...

Ideology, regionalism, self-interest and tradition: an investigation into contemporary politics in northern Ghana.
March 22, 2007... ABSTRACT This article focuses on three concerns: (1) the historical and contemporary distinctiveness of the 'north' from the rest of Ghana; (2) the extent to which the 'north' is itself a distinct and united political entity; and (3) the...

Decentralization as a solution to the problem of cultured diversity: an example from Ethiopia.
March 22, 2007... ABSTRACT The failure of the nation state in sub-Saharan Africa has been a topic of great concern in recent years. In this article I explore in detail the historical experience of one ethnic group in the Horn of Africa, the Sidama, and show...

Kinship and contract in Somali politics.
March 22, 2007... ABSTRACT Traditional Somali politics was based on two dialectically related principles: kinship and contract (tol iyo xeer). Kinship was founded on the segmentary lineage system under which people traced their descent to common male...

Fighting boys, strong men and gorillas: notes on the imagination of masculinities in Kinshasa.
March 22, 2007... ABSTRACT The article provides insight into the current violent practices of urban youngsters in Kinshasa. At nightfall youth gangs transform the streets of Kinshasa's townships into arenas of the fight. Frequent regular clashes between...

Scotland yard in the bush: medicine murders, child witches and the construction of the occult: a literature review (1).
March 22, 2007... SCOTLAND YARD AND THE OCCULT In the Sherlock Holmes stories Scotland Yard famously does not deploy science or make use of all those studies of blood and ash and bone which Holmes himself had pioneered. But the Yard is never so clumsy as...

Maxine Sample (ed.), Critical Essays on Bessie Head.(Emerging Perspectives on Bessie Head)(Book review)
March 22, 2007... MAXINE SAMPLE (ed.), Critical Essays on Bessie Head. Westport CT and London: Praeger Publishers (hb $66.95, 37.99 [pounds sterling]-0 31331 557 4). 2003, 150 pp. HUMA IBRAHIM (ed.), Emerging Perspectives on Bessie Head. Trenton NJ and...

Onookome Okome (ed.), Ogun's Children: The Literature and Politics of Wole Soyinka Since the Nobel.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... ONOOKOME OKOME (ed.), Ogun's Children: the literature and polities of Wole Soyinka since the Nobel. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press (pb US$29.95-0 86543 667 3). 2004, 378 pp. This collection of 24 essays on Soyinka's post-Nobel works has...

P. Barrot (ed.), Nollywood - le phenomene video au Nigeria.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... P. BARROT (ed.), Nollywood--le phenomene video au Nigeria. Paris: L'Harmattan (pb 18 [euro]-2 7475 7971 9). 2005, 175 pp. This is the first book written in French on the Nigerian video industry--a landmark born of the authors' desire to...

Kwaku Larbu Korang, Writing Ghana, Imagining Africa: Nation and African Modernity.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... KWAKU LARBU KORANG, Writing Ghana, Imagining Africa: nation and African modernity. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press (hb 60.00 [pounds sterling]-1092-5228). 2004, 352 pp. Korang's study is so wide-ranging, the argument so...

Robert Muponde and Mandi Taruvinga (eds), Sign and Taboo: Perspectives on the Poetic Fiction of Yvonne Vera.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... ROBERT MUPONDE and MANDI TARUVINGA (eds), Sign and Taboo: perspectives on the poetic fiction of Yvonne Vera. Harare and Oxford: Weaver Press and James Currey (pb 14.95 [pounds sterling]-1 77922 004 9). 2002 and 2003, xvi + 236 pp. This is...

W. John Young, The Quiet Wise Spirit: Edwin W. Smith 1876-1957 and Africa.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... W. JOHN YOUNG, The Quiet Wise Spirit: Edwin W. Smith 1876-1957 and Africa. Peterborough: Epworth Press (pb 19.95 [pounds sterling]-0 7162 0553 X). 2002, 292 pp. W. John Young has produced a carefully researched account of the life of Edwin...

Michael Bollig, Risk Management in a Hazardous Environment.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... MICHAEL BOLLIG, Risk Management in a Hazardous Environment. New York: Springer (hb 80.50 [pounds sterling]--387 27581 9). 2006, 442 pp. Bollig examines risk in pastoral societies through a controlled comparison between two case studies: the...

Shane Doyle, Crisis and Decline in Bunyoro: Population and Environment in Western Uganda, 1860-1955.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... SHANE DOYLE, Crisis and Decline in Bunyoro: population and environment in western Uganda, 1860-1955. Nairobi: British Institute in Eastern Africa (pb 16.95 [pounds sterling]--0 85255 431 1; hb 45.00 [pounds sterling]--0 85255 432 X). 2006, 276...

Jeff Guy, The View Across the River: Harriette Colenso and the Zulu Struggle Against Imperialism.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... JEFF GUY, The View across the River: Harriette Colenso and the Zulu struggle against imperialism. Claremont, South Africa: David Philip Publishers (pb price not stated--0 86486 373 X); Charlottsville, VA: University Press of Virginia (pb price...

Jeremy Krikler, White Rising: The 1922 Insurrection and Racial Killing in South Africa.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... JEREMY KRIKLER, White Rising: the 1922 insurrection and racial killing in South Africa. Manchester: Manchester University Press (hb 25.00 [pounds sterling] 0719068444). 2005, xiv, plates + 405pp. With South Africa now in its second...

Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong (ed.), Themes in West Africa's History.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... EMMANUEL KWAKU AKYEAMPONG (ed.), Themes in West Africa's History. Oxford: James Currey (pb 16.95 [pounds sterling]--0 85255 995 X; hb 50.00 [pounds sterling]--0 85255 996 8); Athens: Ohio University Press (pb $24.95--0 8214 1641 3; hb $49.95--0...

Christopher R. Decorse, An Archaeology of Elmina: Africans and Europeans on the Gold Coast, 1400-1900.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... CHRISTOPHER R. DECORSE, An Archaeology of Elmina: Africans and Europeans on the Gold Coast, 1400-1900. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press (hb 34.50 [pounds sterling]--1 56098 971 8). 2001, 286 pp. Stretching over half a...

Gareth Austin, Land, Labor and Capital in Ghana: From Slave to Free Labor in Asante, 1807-1956 [Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora].(Book review)
March 22, 2007... GARETH AUSTIN, Land, Labor and Capital in Ghana: from slave to free labor in Asante, 1807-1956 [Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora]. Rochester NY: University of Rochester Press (hb 50.00 [pounds sterling], $75.00--9 781580...

Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia, A Life in Political History: Memoirs of Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... ALHAJI MUMUNI BAWUMIA, A Life in Political History: memoirs of Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia. Accra: Ghana Universities Press (pb 17.95 [pounds sterling]--9964 3 0335 1). 2004, 279 pp (distributed by the African Books Collective Ltd, Oxford). This...

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Charles C. Soludo and Mansur Murtar (eds), The Debt Trap in Nigeria: Towards a Sustainable Debt Strategy.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA, CHARLES C. SOLUDO and MANSUR MURTAR (eds), The Debt Trap in Nigeria: towards a sustainable debt strategy. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press (hb price not stated--1 59221 000 7; pb 17.99 [pounds sterling]--1 59221 001 5)....

DAVID TURTON (ed.), Ethnic Federalism: The Ethiopian Experience in Comparative Perspective.(Book review)
March 22, 2007... DAVID TURTON (ed.), Ethnic Federalism: the Ethiopian experience in comparative perspective. Oxford: James Currey (pb 16.95 [pounds sterling]-13: 978-085255-897-3. 2006, 246 pp. This fine edited volume examines the first decade of Ethiopian...