Africa articles from March 2008

Africa archives from March 2008

Introduction: the ecology of fencing.(Editorial)
March 22, 2008... In the autumn of 2004, a remarkable gathering of 102 scholars took place at St Antony's College, Oxford: they had come for an interdisciplinary symposium on 'Trees, rain, and politics in Africa: the dynamics and politics of climatic and...

'The fertile brain and inventive power of man': anthropogenic factors in the cessation of springbok treks and the disruption of the Karoo ecosystem, 1865-1908.(Report)
March 22, 2008... ABSTRACT The demise of springbok treks, the irruptive migration patterns of the species in South Africa's Karoo region, has long been attributed to the rinderpest epizootic understood to have coincided in both time and space with the last...

One hundred years of separation: the historical ecology of a South African 'coloured reserve'.(Essay)
March 22, 2008... ABSTRACT During the twentieth century, the 20,000 hectares commons surrounding the village of Paulshoek as well as the neighbouring privately-owned farms have been significantly influenced by evolving land-use practices driven largely by...

Between global interests and local needs: conservation and land reform in Namaqualand, South Africa.(Essay)
March 22, 2008... ABSTRACT This article presents the case of the creation and expansion of Namaqua National Park in Namaqualand, South Africa, to highlight the contradictions between global interests in biodiversity conservation and local livelihoods....

From 'people's struggle' to 'this war of today': entanglements of peace and conflict in Guinea-Bissau.(Essay)
March 22, 2008... ABSTRACT This article aims at contributing to our understanding of violence and warfare in contemporary West Africa by adopting a bi-focal analysis that looks both at power struggles within the urban elite and at the grassroots...

Negotiated or negated? the rhetoric and reality of customary tenure in an Ashanti village in Ghana.(Essay)
March 22, 2008... ABSTRACT Customary land tenure is seen as a field in which social and political relationships are diverse, overlapping and competing. Property regimes are, therefore, often analysed in terms of processes of negotiation, with people's...

Disgust, bodily aesthetics and the ethic of being human in Botswana.(Report)
March 22, 2008... ABSTRACT This article explores how people in Botswana approach and navigate their own feelings of disgust and morbid curiosity towards the aesthetically impaired bodies of their fellow citizens, and the problems and opportunities these...

Gregory Maddox and Ernest Musa Kongola, Practicing History in Central Tanzania: writing, memory and performance.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... GREGORY MADDOX AND ERNEST MUSA KONGOLA, Practicing History in Central Tanzania: writing, memory and performance. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann (Social History of Africa series) (pb $29.95-978 0 3250 7056 8 and hb $99.95-978 0 3250 7057 5). 2006, 200...

Toyin Falola and Ann Genova (eds), Yoruba Identity and Power Politics.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... TOYIN FALOLA AND ANN GENOVA (eds), Yoruba Identity and Power Politics. Rochester NY: University of Rochester Press (hb 45.00 [pounds sterling]/$75.00--978 15804 6219 8). 2006, 384 pp. Without Toyin Falola, the state of Nigerian and...

Axel Harneit-Sievers, Constructions of Belonging: Igbo communities and the Nigerian state in the twentieth century.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... AXEL HARNEIT-SIEVERS, Constructions of Belonging: Igbo communities and the Nigerian state in the twentieth century. Rochester NY: University of Rochester Press (hb 45.00 [pounds sterling]--978 15804 6167 2). 2006, 400 pp. Harneit-Sievers...

Vilho Shigwedha and Lovisa Nampala, Aawambo Kingdoms, History and Cultural Change: perspectives from Namibia.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... VILHO SHIGWEDHA AND LOVISA NAMPALA, Aawambo Kingdoms, History and Cultural Change: perspectives from Namibia. Basel: P. Schlettwein Publishing Company (pb 45.00 [euro]--978 39081 9316 6). 2006, 300 pp. Within the covers of this book two...

Benjamin F. Soares, Islam and the Prayer Economy: history and authority in a Malian town.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... BENJAMIN F. SOARES, Islam and the Prayer Economy: history and authority in a Malian town. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press for the International African Institute (pb 17.99 [pounds sterling]--978 07486 2358 7). 2005, xiv + 306 pp. ...

Patrick Atuobi, Anthony Obeng Boamah and sjaak van der Geest (eds), Life, Love and Death: conversations with six elders in Kwahu-Tafo, Ghana.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... PATRICK ATUOBI, ANTHONY OBENG BOAMAH AND SJAAK VAN DER GEEST (eds), Life, Love and Death: conversations with six elders in Kwahu-Tafo, Ghana. Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis (pb 7.50 [euro]--978 90558 9261 7). 2005, 56 pp. In Twi an elder is...

Kevin A. Yelvington (ed.), Afro-Atlantic Dialogues: anthropology in the diaspora.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... KEVIN A. YELVINGTON (ed.), Afro-Atlantic Dialogues: anthropology in the diaspora. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press (pb $34.95--978 19306 1846 6). Oxford: James Currey (pb 18.95 [pounds sterling]--978 08525 5978 9). 2006, 502 pp. ...

Francesca Castaldi, Choreographies of African Identities: Negritude, dance, and the National Ballet of Senegal.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... FRANCESCA CASTALDI, Choreographies of African Identities: Negritude, dance, and the National Ballet of Senegal. Urbana and Chicago IL: University of Illinois Press (pb $25.00--978 02520 7268 0 and hb $50.00--978 02520 3027 7). 2006, 264 pp. ...

Henrik Vigh, Navigating Terrains of War: youth and soldiering in Guinea-Bissau.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... HENRIK VIGH, Navigating Terrains of War: youth and soldiering in Guinea-Bissau. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books (pb 15.00 [pounds sterling]-978 18454 5149 3 and hb 45.00 [pounds sterling]-978 18454 5148 6). 2006, 268 pp. In this book...

Bjorn Beckman and Gbemisola Adeoti (eds), Intellectuals and African Development: pretension and resistance in African politics.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... BJORN BECKMAN AND GBEMISOLA ADEOTI (eds), Intellectuals and African Development: pretension and resistance in African politics. London: CODESRIA/Zed Books/UNISA (pb 19.99 [pounds sterling]-978 18427 7765 7 and hb 65.00 [pounds...

Mohammed Umar, Amina.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... MOHAMMED UMAR, Amina. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press (pb. $19.95-978 15922 1404 4). 2005, 243 pp. Queen Amina of Zazzau, today Zaria, was a warrior queen who governed the Hausa in the sixteenth century. Mohammed Umar's contemporary Amina,...

Ernest Emenyonu (ed.), New Directions in African Literature: a review.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... ERNEST EMENYONU (ed.), New Directions in African Literature: a review. Special issue of African Literature Today 25. Oxford: James Currey/Trenton NJ: Africa World Press/Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books (pb 14.95 [pounds sterling]-978 08525...

Kaine Agary, Yellow-Yellow.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... KAINE AGARY, Yellow-Yellow. Lagos: Dtalkshop (pb $12.95-978 97807 0833 7). 2006, 179 pp. '"Yellow-Yellow". That is what most people in my village called me because of my complexion, the product of a Greek father and an Ijaw mother',...