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African Ark: Mammals, landscape and the ecology of a continent
by Dr. Ara MonadjemThe story of how Africa’s mammals have helped shape the continent’s landscapes over time to support an amazing diversity of lifeAfrica is home to an amazing array of animals, including the world’s most diverse assortment of large mammals. These include the world’s largest terrestrial mammal, the African elephant, which still roams great swathes of the continent alongside a host of other well-known large mammals with hooves such as hippopotamuses, giraffes, rhinoceroses, and zebras. African Ark: Mammals, Landscape and the Ecology of a Continent tells the story of where these mammals have come from and how they have interacted to create the richly varied landscape that makes up Africa as we know it today. It gives an equal airing to small mammals, such as rodents and bats, which are often overlooked by both naturalists and zoologists in favor of their larger cousins. African Ark not only describes the diversity of African mammals and the habitats in which they live; it also explains the processes by which species and population groups are formed and how these fluctuate over time. A book on mammals would not be complete without attention placed on the impact of megafauna on the environment and the important roles they play in shaping the landscape. In this way, mammals such as elephants and rhinoceros support countless plant communities and the habitats of many smaller animals. The book brings in a human perspective as well as a conservation angle in its assessment of the interaction of African mammals with the people who live alongside them. African Ark is at once scientifically rigorous and accessible for the layperson and student alike, while drawing on the contributions of numerous zoologists, ecologists and conservationists dedicated to the understanding of Africa and its wildlife.
African Armies: Evolution And Capabilities
by Pauline H. Baker Bruce E. ArlinghausAfrican armies have undergone significant changes since African nations won independence from colonial rule. Once mainly small constabulary forces relegated to the maintenance of internal order, these armies have become larger, more modern institutions, largely in response to growing external security threats. Previous analyses have focused on African military units as political actors, with little or no attention paid to their actual abilities and desires to perform defense functions. This study examines the evolution of African armed forces, their impact on the societies in which they operate, and their current capabilities, with special attention to their effectiveness as military institutions.
African Art Now
by Osei BonsuOver the past two decades contemporary African art has taken its rightful place on the world stage. Today, African artists work outside the confines of limiting categories and outdated perceptions; they produce art that is as much a reflection of Africa's tumultuous past as it is a vision of its boundless future. African Art Now is an expansive overview featuring some of the most interesting and innovative artists working today. Far-reaching in its scope, this book celebrates the diversity and dynamism of the contemporary African art scene across the continent today.Featuring the work of Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Michael Armitage, Amoako Boafo, Cassi Namoda, Cinga Samson, Zina Saro-Wiwa and many more.
African Art Now
by Osei BonsuOver the past two decades contemporary African art has taken its rightful place on the world stage. Today, African artists work outside the confines of limiting categories and outdated perceptions; they produce art that is as much a reflection of Africa's tumultuous past as it is a vision of its boundless future. African Art Now is an expansive overview featuring some of the most interesting and innovative artists working today. Far-reaching in its scope, this book celebrates the diversity and dynamism of the contemporary African art scene across the continent today.Featuring the work of Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Michael Armitage, Amoako Boafo, Cassi Namoda, Cinga Samson, Zina Saro-Wiwa and many more.
African Art Now: 50 Pioneers Defining African Art for the Twenty-First Century
by Osei BonsuThis deluxe hardcover survey, featuring profiles of 50 artists on the rise, is the definitive guide to contemporary African art.With African artists attracting sizable audience numbers to museums, setting sky-high auction records, and appearing in mainstream press, it has become impossible to overlook the cultural significance of contemporary African art today. Author and curator Osei Bonsu's engaging profiles of leading African artists—along with gorgeous full-color reproductions of their work—introduce readers to a generation of movers and shakers whose innovative artwork reflects on Africa as both an idea and an experience. Using diverse forms, languages, and expressions to articulate what it means to be a part of the world, these artists generate alternate histories and imaginative futures—work that is both personal and political, universal and incredibly specific. Their work helps define contemporary African art as a vast artistic and cultural movement.STELLAR ROSTER OF ARTISTS: Amoako Boafo, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Bronwyn Katz—from household names to up-and-coming artists, African Art Now features some of the most exciting artists working today. IMPORTANT AND TIMELY: Over the past two decades, contemporary African art has become part of the global mainstream, inspiring countless exhibitions, fairs, and auctions around the world. And yet, African art remains overlooked as an area of dedicated study due to continued academic and cultural bias. This book shines a spotlight on the artists whose wide-ranging accomplishments represent the shifting dynamics and boundless possibilities of African art today. Perfect for:Artists, art collectors, art lovers, and museumgoersEducators and studentsAnyone interested in learning about contemporary African art
African Art Reframed: Reflections and Dialogues on Museum Culture
by Bennetta Jules-Rosette J.R. OsbornOnce seen as a collection of artifacts and ritual objects, African art now commands respect from museums and collectors. Bennetta Jules-Rosette and J.R. Osborn explore the reframing of African art through case studies of museums and galleries in the United States, Europe, and Africa. The authors take a three-pronged approach. Part One ranges from curiosity cabinets to virtual websites to offer a history of ethnographic and art museums and look at their organization and methods of reaching out to the public. In the second part, the authors examine museums as ecosystems and communities within communities, and they use semiotic methods to analyze images, signs, and symbols drawn from the experiences of curators and artists. The third part introduces innovative strategies for displaying, disseminating, and reclaiming African art. The authors also propose how to reinterpret the art inside and outside the museum and show ways of remixing the results. Drawing on extensive conversations with curators, collectors, and artists, African Art Reframed is an essential guide to building new exchanges and connections in the dynamic worlds of African and global art.
African Art and Agency in the Workshop
by Till Förster Sidney Littlefield KasfirThe role of the workshop in the creation of African art is the subject of this revelatory book. In the group setting of the workshop, innovation and imitation collide, artists share ideas and techniques, and creative expression flourishes. African Art and Agency from the Workshop examines the variety of workshops, from those which are politically driven or tourist oriented, to those based on historical patronage or allied to current artistic trends. Fifteen lively essays explore the impact of the workshop on the production of artists such as Zimbabwean stone sculptors, master potters from Cameroon, wood carvers from Nigeria, and others from across the continent.
African Art and the Colonial Encounter: Inventing A Global Commodity (African Expressive Cultures)
by Sidney Littlefield KasfirFocusing on the theme of warriorhood, Sidney Littlefield Kasfir weaves a complex history of how colonial influence forever changed artistic practice, objects, and their meaning. Looking at two widely diverse cultures, the Idoma in Nigeria and the Samburu in Kenya, Kasfir makes a bold statement about the links between colonialism, the Europeans' image of Africans, Africans' changing self representation, and the impact of global trade on cultural artifacts and the making of art. This intriguing history of the interaction between peoples, aesthetics, morals, artistic objects and practices, and the global trade in African art challenges current ideas about artistic production and representation.
African Art as Philosophy: Senghor, Bergson, and the Idea of Negritude
by Souleymane Bachir DiagneThis critically acclaimed study offers a distinct, incisive look at how Senegalese philosopher Senghor sees in African art the most acute expression of Bergson&’s philosophy.Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001) was a Senegalese poet and philosopher who in 1960 also became the first president of the Republic of Senegal. In African Art as Philosophy, Souleymane Bachir Diagne uses a unique approach to reading Senghor&’s influential works, taking as the starting point for his analysis Henri Bergson&’s idea that in order to understand philosophers, one must find the initial intuition from which every aspect of their work develops. In the case of Senghor, Diagne argues that his primordial intuition is that African art is a philosophy.To further this point, Diagne looks at what Senghor called the &“1889 Revolution&” (the year Bergson&’s Time and Free Will was published), as well as the influential writers and publications of that period—specifically, Nietzsche and Rimbaud. The 1889 Revolution, Senghor claims, is what led him to the understanding of the &“Vitalism&” at the core of African religions and beliefs that found expression in the arts.
African Art in Motion
by Robert Farris ThompsonThis title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1974.
African Art, Interviews, Narratives: Bodies of Knowledge at Work (African Expressive Cultures)
by Joanna Grabski and Carol MageeJoanna Grabski and Carol Magee bring together a compelling collection that shows how interviews can be used to generate new meaning and how connecting with artists and their work can transform artistic production into innovative critical insights and knowledge. The contributors to this volume include artists, museum curators, art historians, and anthropologists, who address artistic production in a variety of locations and media to question previous uses of interview and provoke alternative understandings of art.
African Artisanal Mining from the Inside Out: Access, norms and power in Congo’s gold sector (Routledge Studies of the Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development)
by Sara GeenenArtisanal mining is commonly associated with violent conflict, rampant corruption and desperate poverty. Yet millions of people across Sub Sahara Africa depend on it. Many of them are living in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), home to important mineral reserves, but also to a plethora of armed groups and massive human rights violations. African Artisanal Mining from the Inside Out provides a rich and in-depth analysis of the Congolese gold sector. Instead of portraying miners and traders as passive victims of economic forces, regional conflicts or disheartening national policies, it focuses on how they gain access to and benefit from gold. It shows a professional artisanal mining sector governed by a set of specific norms, offering ample opportunities for flexible employment and local livelihood support and being well-connected to the local economy and society. It argues for the viability of artisanal gold mining in the context of weak African states and in the transition towards a post-conflict and more industrialized economy. This book will be of great interest to researchers and postgraduates studying natural resources and development as well as those in development studies, African studies, sociology, political economy, political ecology, legal pluralism, and history.
African Bank Investments Limited (A)
by Lynn Sharp Paine Will HurwitzLess than a year after joining the board of African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL), the newest director finds himself in difficult discussions with other directors about removing the struggling company's CEO. The case is set in South Africa in mid-2014 as shares in ABIL, which traded on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, are declining precipitously. The case describes ABIL's origins and evolution, including the acquisition and growth of its wholly owned subsidiary African Bank, a provider of unsecured loans to help individuals pay for expenses such as vehicle repairs, home renovations, funeral costs, medical bills, and education. As ABIL's profits rose and share price soared, it became the darling of analysts. However, when the South African economy turned sour, customers started defaulting on their loans, and ABIL and African Bank began to struggle. As ABIL's stock price dropped, the management team faced difficult questions about the company's lending practices, risk management processes, and plans to turn the business around. By 2014, the situation was grim, and pressure mounted from shareholders and market regulators for the board to take action. The case details the history of unsecured lending in South Africa, describes the regulatory, social, and legal contexts for the company and its business model, and explores the company's unique corporate structure and executive and director dynamics.
African Bank Investments Limited (B)
by Lynn Sharp Paine Will HurwitzLess than a year after joining the board of African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL), the newest director finds himself in difficult discussions with other directors about removing the struggling company's CEO. The case is set in South Africa in mid-2014 as shares in ABIL, which traded on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, are declining precipitously. The case describes ABIL's origins and evolution, including the acquisition and growth of its wholly owned subsidiary African Bank, a provider of unsecured loans to help individuals pay for expenses such as vehicle repairs, home renovations, funeral costs, medical bills, and education. As ABIL's profits rose and share price soared, it became the darling of analysts. However, when the South African economy turned sour, customers started defaulting on their loans, and ABIL and African Bank began to struggle. As ABIL's stock price dropped, the management team faced difficult questions about the company's lending practices, risk management processes, and plans to turn the business around. By 2014, the situation was grim, and pressure mounted from shareholders and market regulators for the board to take action. The case details the history of unsecured lending in South Africa, describes the regulatory, social, and legal contexts for the company and its business model, and explores the company's unique corporate structure and executive and director dynamics.
African Bargaining Power with China: Foreign Investment and Rising Influence (African Governance)
by Christina SeyfriedThis book provides a detailed account of the political economy around investment deal negotiations between African governments and private Chinese investors. The book draws on evidence from experiments and hundreds of interviews with policy makers and Chinese investors across Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania. It shows that governments of authoritarian or one-party dominant states, which are among the top-receivers of Chinese investments, are able to easily and successfully act collectively to impose human capital and technology transfer requirements. The book argues that, rather than treating African countries as "price-takers" in the face of increasing Chinese influence in the continent, we should instead recognise the significant bargaining leverage that many African governments have to influence deal conditions, especially with smaller private Chinese companies. It demonstrates that several African governments can instead act "as price-setters" and that the success of the rising Chinese presence in Africa, and whether this leads to positive or negative development outcomes, fundamentally depends on the development strategies that individual African governments decide on. In the context of an often-polarised debate, the original research presented in this book has important implications for the future economic development strategies of African countries. As such, it will be of interest to researchers working on Chinese and African investment, politics, institutions, business, economics, and international relations.
African Battle Traditions of Insult: Verbal Arts, Song-Poetry, and Performance (African Histories and Modernities)
by Tanure OjaideThis book explores the “battles” of words, songs, poetry, and performance in Africa and the African Diaspora. These are usually highly competitive, artistic contests in which rival parties duel for supremacy in poetry composition and/or its performance. This volume covers the history of this battle tradition, from its origins in Africa, especially the udje and halo of the Urhobo and Ewe respectively, to its transportation to the Americas and the Caribbean region during the Atlantic slave trade period, and its modern and contemporary manifestations as battle rap or other forms of popular music in Africa. Almost everywhere there are contemporary manifestations of the more traditional, older genres. The book is thus made up of studies of contests in which rivals duel for supremacy in verbal arts, song-poetry, and performance as they display their wit, sense of humor, and poetic expertise.
African Border Disorders: Addressing Transnational Extremist Organizations (Routledge Studies in African Politics and International Relations)
by William F.S. Miles Olivier J. WaltherSince the end of the Cold War, the monopoly of legitimate organized force of many African states has been eroded by a mix of rebel groups, violent extremist organizations, and self-defence militias created in response to the rise in organized violence on the continent. African Border Disorders explores the complex relationships that bind states, transnational rebels and extremist organizations, and borders on the African continent. Combining cutting edge network science with geographical analysis, the first part of the book highlights how the fluid alliances and conflicts between rebels, violent extremist organizations and states shape in large measure regional patterns of violence in Africa. The second part of the book examines the spread of Islamist violence around Lake Chad through the lens of the violent Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, which has evolved from a nationally-oriented militia group, to an internationally networked organization. The third part of the book explores how violent extremist organizations conceptualize state boundaries and territory and, reciprocally, how do the civil society and the state respond to the rise of transnational organizations. The book will be essential reading for all students and specialists of African politics and security studies, particularly those specializing on fragile states, sovereignty, new wars, and borders as well as governments and international organizations involved in conflict prevention and early intervention in the region.
African Borders, Conflict, Regional and Continental Integration (Border Regions Series)
by Inocent Moyo Christopher Changwe NshimbiThis book looks at the ways African borders impact war and conflict, as well as the ways continental integration could contribute towards cooperation, peace and well-being in Africa. African borders or borderlands can be a source of problems and opportunity. There is often a historical, geospatial and geopolitical architecture rooted in trajectories of war, conflict and instability, which could be transformed into those of peace, regional and continental integration and development. An example is the cross-border and regional response to the Boko Haram insurgency in West Africa. This book engages with cross-border forms of cooperation and opportunity in Africa. It considers initiatives and innovations which can be put in place or are already being employed on the ground, within the current regional and continental integration projects. Another important element is that of cross-border informality, which similarly provides a ready resource that, if properly harnessed and regulated, could unleash the development potential of African borders and borderlands. Students and scholars within Geography, International Relations and Border Studies will find this book useful. It will also benefit civil society practitioners, policymakers and activists in the NGO sector interested in issues such as migration, social cohesion, citizenship and local development.
African Calliope: A Journey to the Sudan
by Edward Coolbaugh HoaglandFollow Hoagland's travels, from equatorial mountain forests to the Sahara desert; from small Sudanese towns in the south and west to short stays in the capital, Khartoum. Hoagland's eye for detail presents the reader with electrifying images of life in the Sudan - rotten diets, disease, coups and civil war, the traders, poachers, tribal headmen, and those who come to help.
African Canadian Leadership: Continuity, Transition, and Transformation
by Tamari Kitossa Erica S. Lawson Philip S.S. HowardChallenging the myth of African Canadian leadership "in crisis," this book opens a broad vista of inquiry into the many and dynamic ways leadership practices occur in Black Canadian communities. Exploring topics including Black women’s contributions to African Canadian communities, the Black Lives Matter movement, Black LGBTQ, HIV/AIDS advocacy, motherhood and grieving, mentoring, and anti-racism, contributors appraise the complex history and contemporary reality of blackness and leadership in Canada. With Canada as a complex site of Black diasporas, contributors offer an account of multiple forms of leadership and suggest that through surveillance and disruption, practices of self-determined Black leadership are incompatible with, and threatening to, White "structures" of power in Canada. As a whole, African Canadian Leadership offers perspectives that are complex, non-aligned, and in critical conversation about class, gender, sexuality, and the politics of African Canadian communities.
African Catholic: Decolonization and the Transformation of the Church
by Elizabeth A. FosterElizabeth Foster examines how French imperialists and the Africans they ruled imagined the religious future of sub-Saharan Africa in the years just before and after decolonization. The story encompasses the transition to independence, Catholic contributions to black intellectual currents, and efforts to create an authentically “African” church.
African Cats: A Lion’s Pride
by Catherine HapkaFrom the Disney Nature film, African Cats. This book introduces readers to a lioness and her cub and their life on the African plains. Filled with fun lion facts!
African Cats: Sita the Cheetah
by Disney PressInspired by the journey of the cheetahs in the Disney Nature film, African Cats: The Kingdom of Courage.