Africa articles from September 2006

Africa archives from September 2006

Manimory and the aesthetics of mimesis: forest, Islam and state in Ivoirian dozoya.
September 22, 2006... ABSTRACT This article explores the hunting aesthetics of initiated Jula hunters of Cote d'Ivoire who call themselves dozos. It explains how their hunting aesthetic structures their relationship to Islam and the Ivoirian state. Although...

Between death and funeral: mortuaries and the exploitation of liminality in Kwahu, Ghana.
September 22, 2006... ABSTRACT This essay describes (1) how mortuaries changed the Akan funeral culture of Ghana and (2) how that converged with the interests of relatives and hospital managers. Such a development would not have been possible, however, (3)...

'We are all the same, because we all worship God.' The controversial case of a female saint in The Gambia.
September 22, 2006... ABSTRACT Based on ethnographic field research, this article explores religious discourses about proper ritual observance in The Gambia, a country where our understanding of processes of Islamization is largely lacking. These discourses...

Doing politics in Bushbuckridge: work, welfare and the South African elections of 2004.
September 22, 2006... ABSTRACT In the South African national elections of 2004 the ruling ANC (African National Congress) increased its majority, particularly within the poorer, black, rural voting districts. Drawing on ethnographic research that I conducted in...

Thugs or entrepreneurs? Perceptions of matatu operators in Nairobi, 1970 to the present.
September 22, 2006... ABSTRACT This essay examines the changing perceptions of matatu crews from the 1970s to the present. In the early 1970s commuters and many Kenyans typically viewed the matatu operators as an important, enterprising group of people,...

The idiom of age in a popular Kenyan newspaper serial.
September 22, 2006... ABSTRACT This article examines the narratives constructed around age in Kenya. Noting the 'spatial crossings' of the Kenyan subject, who is as much attuned to the village ethos as he is to the globalized world, the article problematizes...

Cultural primordialism and the post-structuralist imaginaire: plus ca change ...(Culture Troubles: Politics and the Interpretation of Meaning)(The Illusion of Cultural Identity)(Book review)
September 22, 2006... PATRICK CHABAL and JEAN-PASCAL DALOZ, Culture Troubles. Politics and the interpretation of meaning. London: Hurst and Co. (pb 14.95 [pounds sterling]-1 85065 800 5). 2006, 395 pp. JEAN-FRANCOIS BAYART, The Illusion of Cultural Identity. tr....

Karin Barber, The Generation of Plays: Yoruba Popular Life in Theater.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... KARIN BARBER, The Generation of Plays: Yoruba popular life in theatre. Bloomington: Indiana University Press (pb 29.95 [pounds sterling] - 0 253 21617 6). 2000, 485 pp. In 1981, while teaching at the University of Ife, Karin Barber started...

Tejumola Olaniyan, Arrest the Music! Fela and his rebel art and politics.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... TEJUMOLA OLANIYAN, Arrest the Music! Fela and his rebel art and politics. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press (pb $19.95-0 253 21718 0). 2004, 252 pp. A confession from a 'serious' professional Africanist historian: the...

Didier Nativel, Maisons royales, demeures des grands a Madagascar: l'inscription de la reussite sociale dans l'espace urbain de Tananarive au XIXe siecle.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... DIDIER NATIVEL, Maisons royales, demeures des grands a Madagascar: l'inscription de la reussite sociale dans l'espace urbain de Tananarive au XIXe siecle (with preface by Franqoise Raison-Jourde and postface by Faranirina Rajaonah). Paris:...

John Edward Philips (ed.), Writing African History.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... JOHN EDWARD PHILIPS (ed.), Writing African History. Rochester: University of Rochester Press (hb 45.00 [pounds sterling]--ISBN: 1 58046 164 6). 2005, 552 pp. In 1854 the Royal Geographical Society of London published a set of instructive...

Toyin Falola (ed.), Contemporary Africa, vol. 5.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... TOYIN FALOLA (ed.), Africa, Volume V: contemporary Africa. Durham: Carolina Academic Press (pb $50.00-0 89089 203 2). 2003, xxxiv + 962 pp. This book is the fifth and last volume of an immense history of Africa. After the other two...

Lowe Bjornsen, History Under Siege: Intensive Agriculture in the Mbulu Highlands, Tanzania, 19th Century to the Present .(Book review)
September 22, 2006... LOWE BJORNSEN, A History under Siege: intensive agriculture in the Mbulu Highlands, Tanzania, 19th Century to the present. Stockholm: Department of Geography, Stockholm University (pb $82.50-9122020950). 2004, 187 pp. The East African...

Andrew Burton, African Underclass: Urbanization, Crime and Colonial Order in Dar Es Salaam, 1919-61 .(Book review)
September 22, 2006... ANDREW BURTON, African Underclass: urbanization, crime and colonial order in Dares Salaam 1919-61. Oxford: James Currey (pb 16.95 [pounds sterling]-0 85255 975 7; hb 50.00 [pounds sterling]-0 85255 975 5). 2005. 338 pp. The urban lives of...

Elizabeth Schmidt, Mobilizing the Masses: Gender, Ethnicity, and Class in the Nationalist Movement in Guinea, 1939-1958 .(Book review)
September 22, 2006... ELIZABETH SCHMIDT, Mobilizing the Masses: gender, ethnicity, and class in the nationalist movement in Guinea, 1939-1958. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann (pb $27.95-0 325 07030 X). 2005, 308 pp. In September 1958, voters throughout France's empire...

Roger S. Gocking, The History of Ghana.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... ROGER S. GOCKING, The History of Ghana. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press (hb $45.00, 25.99 [pounds sterling]--0 313 31894-8). 2005, 331 pp. The Greenwood History of Modern Nations Series, and with it Roger Gocking's History of Ghana, fills a...

Cati Coe, Dilemma of Culture in African Schools: Youth, Nationalism, and the Transformation of Knowledge.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... CATI COE, Dilemma of Culture in African Schools: youth, nationalism and the transformation of knowledge. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press (pb $20.00--0 226 11131 8). 2005, 241 pp. Critical educational theorists have always...

Jonathan Sutherland and Diane Canwell, Zulu Kings and Their Armies.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... JONATHAN SUTHERLAND and DIANE CANWELL, Zulu Kings and Their Armies. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military (hb 19.99 [pounds sterling]--1 84415 060 7). 2004, 198 pp. Zulu Kings and Their Armies is yet another in the recent run of books on Zulu...

Sean Morrow, Brown Maaba and Loyiso Pulumani, Education in Exile: SOMAFCO, the ANC School in Tanzania, 1978 to 1992.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... SEAN MORROW, BROWN MAABA and LOYISO PULUMANI, Education in Exile: SOMAFCO, the ANC School in Tanzania, 1978 to 1992. Cape Town: HSRC Press (pb R175.00--0 79 69 2051 6). 2004. 232 pp. This book provides a narrative history of the ANC's...

Don Foster, Paul Haupt and Maresa de Beer, The Theatre of Violence: Narratives of Protagonists in the South African Conflict.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... DON FOSTER, PAUL HAUPT and MARESA DE BEER, The Theatre of Violence: narratives of protagonists in the South African conflict. Oxford: James Currey (pb 16,95 [pounds sterling]--0 85255 886 4). 2005, 364 pp. This is not yet another book on...

Carmel Schrire, Tigers in Africa: Stalking the Past at the Cape of Good Hope.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2006... CARMEL SCHRIRE, Tigers in Africa: stalking the past at the Cape of Good Hope. Lansdowne, South Africa: University of Cape Town Press (pb 1 919713 63 8); Windhoek: Out of Africa (pb--9916 2 231 4); and Charlottesville, VA: University Press of...

Alex de Waal (ed.), Islamism and Its Enemies in the Horn of Africa.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... ALEX DE WAAL (ed.), Islamism and its Enemies in the Horn of Africa. London: Hurst and Company (pb 17.50 [pounds sterling]--1 85065 731 9). 2004, 279 pp. It was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who abolished the Caliphate, the symbol of Muslim unity,...

John Hargreaves, Adrian Adams in Kounghani: A Memoir With Letters.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... JOHN HARGREAVES, Adrian Adams in Kounghani: a memoir with letters. Banchory: Woodend Publishing (pb 5.00 [pounds sterling]--978 0 9551397 0 3). 2005, 32 pp. Distributed by John Hargreaves, 22 Raemoir Road, Banchory AB31 5UJ Adrian Adams,...