The Politics of History in Contemporary Africa

2010-07-19 Political Science

Author : M. Eze
Release : 2010-07-19
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 045/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Politics of History in Contemporary Africa by : M. Eze

Download or read book The Politics of History in Contemporary Africa written by M. Eze. This book was released on 2010-07-19. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book mediates a dialectics between power and subjectivity versus history and politics. The invention of Africa is not merely a residue of Africa's encounter with Europe but a project in continuity in contemporary history of Africa, where history has become a location of struggle and meaning, a location of power and domination. Eze contends that postcolonial African studies that thrive by way of unanimity, analogy, or homogenenity are merely advancing a "defeatist" historicism. It attempts to gain essence by inverting the terms of colonial discourse and is decisively implicated in the very logic of coloniality. This method of historiography not only stifles the overall socio-political imagination of contemporary Africa but offers a dogmatic blueprint for politics of domination. Eze argues that a chance for an African Renaissance is dependent on review mechanisms of African historiography.

Worlds of Power

2004 History

Author : Stephen Ellis
Release : 2004
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 162/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Worlds of Power by : Stephen Ellis

Download or read book Worlds of Power written by Stephen Ellis. This book was released on 2004. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With Christian revivals (including Evangelicals in the White House), Islamic radicalism and the revitalisation of traditional religions it is clear that the world is not heading towards a community of secular states. Nowhere are religious thought and political practice more closely intertwined than in Africa. African migrants in Europe and America who send home money to build churches and mosques, African politicians who consult diviners, guerrilla fighters who believe that amulets can protect them from bullets, and ordinary people who seek ritual healing: all of these are applying religious ideas to everyday problems of existence, at every level of society. Far from falling off the map of the world, Africa is today a leading centre of Christianity and a growing field of Islamic activism, while African traditional religions are gaining converts in the West. One cannot understand the politics of the present without taking religious thought seriously. Stories about witches, miracles, or people returning from the dead incite political action. In Africa religious belief has a huge impact on politics, from the top of society to the bottom. Religious ideas show what people actually think about the world and how to deal with it. Ellis and Ter Haar maintain that the specific content of religious thought has to be mastered if we are to grasp the political significance of religion in Africa today, but their book also informs our understanding of the relationship between religion and political practice in general.

Reframing Contemporary Africa

2010-01-19 Political Science

Author : Peyi Soyinka-Airewele
Release : 2010-01-19
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 075/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Reframing Contemporary Africa by : Peyi Soyinka-Airewele

Download or read book Reframing Contemporary Africa written by Peyi Soyinka-Airewele. This book was released on 2010-01-19. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is impossible to study Africa without understanding the debate about how to study Africa. At last, a book showcases the complexities and paradoxes of Africa’s recent and more distant history, while avoiding simplistic, Eurocentric conceptualizations of “black Africa.” With this book, Peyi Soyinka-Aiwerele and Rita Kiki Edozie offer students the background and perspectives they need to comprehend the dynamics of the continent as well as a clear path through the current literature and scholarly debate. With a cross-disciplinary approach that features political, historical, and economic analysis as well as popular culture and sociological views on contemporary issues, Reframing Contemporary Africa provides an unparalleled breadth of coverage. Essays written by a distinguished and international group of scholars—including William Ackah, Pius Adesanmi, Susan Craddock, Caroline Elkins, Siba Grovogui, Mahmood Mamdani, Mutua Makau, Celestin Monga, Wole Soyinka, and Paul Tiyambe Zeleza—are designed to distill original scholarship for undergraduate readers. Each contribution helps students engage with the work and arguments of luminaries while exposing them to renowned African thinkers. Contributors deliver analysis that allows students to see beyond the clichés commonly presented in the media (and even in scholarship), and helpful section openers by Soyinka-Airewele and Edozie frame forthcoming chapters, giving important thematic and historical context. Reframing Contemporary Africa will certainly provoke new debate and reflection, not merely about African issues and politics, but also about the West and its framing of Africa.

The Politics of Historical Memory and Commemoration in Africa

2021-12-06 History

Author : Cassandra Mark-Thiesen
Release : 2021-12-06
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 497/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Politics of Historical Memory and Commemoration in Africa by : Cassandra Mark-Thiesen

Download or read book The Politics of Historical Memory and Commemoration in Africa written by Cassandra Mark-Thiesen. This book was released on 2021-12-06. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays in Memory of Jan-Georg Deutsch The volume observes some of the principles that drove Prof. Jan-Georg Deutsch's research: highlighting present-day politics for the way they shape historical remembrance, learning from people on the ground through fieldwork and oral history, and bringing various parts of the African continent into discussion with one another. From Cape Town to Charlottesville, many societies are grappling with historical consciousness and the production of public memory. In particular, how and why societies remember and forget, what should serve as symbols of collective memory, and whether there exists space for multiple memory cultures are questions being vigorously debated once again. These discussions present particular challenges not only to official memory bound to ideological constructions of nationhood but also to the teaching of history and its links to social justice movements. The volume re-centres Africa and African history in memory studies, with each chapter drawing parallels to comparable cases in Africa and the world. An underlying assumption is that what can be learned from the politics of historical memory in Africa will have relevance for contemporary politics globally and for understanding how memories can be mobilised for political ends.

Contemporary African Politics

1999 History

Author : Bamidele A. Ojo
Release : 1999
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 286/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Contemporary African Politics by : Bamidele A. Ojo

Download or read book Contemporary African Politics written by Bamidele A. Ojo. This book was released on 1999. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eight papers from a November 1997 panel in Philadelphia provide a wide range of perspectives on the transition to democracy across the continent, which has been a major focus of attention since the end of the cold war. Some of the political scientist authors consider Africa as a whole, exploring such topics as the democratic discourse in international relations, the military, and economic recovery. Others look in particular at Uganda, Namibia, Nigeria, and South Africa. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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