Stereotyping Africa. Surprising Answers to Surprising Questions


Book Description

Characteristically, Africans in any Western country are asked so many different questions about "Africa," as Westerners love to refer to the many countries that make up that huge continent, as if Africa were a single nation state. So one begins wondering why it is that Africans, on the other hand, do not refer to individual European countries as "Europe" simply, then the trends and consequences of stereotyping begin setting in just as one is getting used to being asked if Africa has a president, or if one can say something in African. It is some of these questions that Emmanuel Fru Doh has collected over the years and has attempted answering them in an effort to shed some light on a continent that is in many ways like the rest of the world, when not better, but which so many love to paint as dark, backward, chaotic, and pathetic.




Stereotyping Africa. Surprising Answers to Surprising Questions


Book Description

"This book deals with an interesting but also painful topic: the stereotyping of Africa, in the West, notably in the United States of America. This is a laudable initiative.. a timely and courageous effort to deal with long-standing stereoxypes in the West"-Dr Piet Konings, Sociologist, African Studies Centre Leiden --




The Absurd and the Cameroonian Tragedy at Decolonization


Book Description

The Cameroons is in the grips of a perpetual tailspin. The confusion and lack of clarity in the nation threaten everyone's sanity. The Absurd and the Cameroonian Tragedy at Decolonization dissects these ills and tries to isolate what has caused them: emotional bankruptcy. Family life cannot survive in such an environment; which has been split down the middle since 1961. Political reality and slipshod behavior underlie the dystopian snare in which British Southern Cameroons finds itself within La Rpublique du Cameroun. Doh's narrative points to confusion and La Rpublique du Cameroun's bad faith dealings with British Southern Cameroons. This orphan in the storm quality extends to a far reach with The Absurd ... looking at the storm clouds that create such misery. Doh's characters have no control in a Francophone majority dominated world. This helplessness creates emotional stress and a severe breakdown requiring professional help. The social, political, and economic deficits are consequences of colonialism and the complicity of Francophone abettors of imperial exploitation. Africa is a marionette dancing on someone else's string. This book looks at theft, and the way in which kleptocracy at the governmental level has ripped the heart, spirit, and energy out of The Cameroons and shows how Doh's literature deals with the inability to count on anything and or observe a direct connection between the cause and the effect. Despite the negativity that permeates Doh's literature, he views The Cameroons as resilient.




The Political Economy of Poverty, Vulnerability and Disaster Risk Management


Book Description

Poverty remains a thorny and topical challenge and research topic to scholars and researchers on African development. Scholars in the Global North have since the Second World War sought to research poverty and underdevelopment in Africa, postulating what they think are the major causes of insipid and abject poverty in the continent, but with little or no success on how to solve the poverty enigma. Sadly, little research and homework have been done by scholars in context (in Africa) on why there seems to be more production rather than eradication of poverty and vulnerability in Africa and among Africans. This book is born out of the realisation for the need for both scholars on the ground and outside Africa to earnestly interrogate and reflect on the poverty situation that continues to haunt the people of Africa and rattle the conscience of the world at large. With contributors from across the continent and beyond, the volume offers a balanced and rigorous, multi-faceted analysis of Africa’s poverty and vulnerability from a rich tapestry of perspectives. The volume is handy to scholars and students in the fields of African and development studies, as well as to students of Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science and Policy Studies.




The State in Africa


Book Description

Introduction -- Framing the problem of the state in Africa -- Historical and theoretical context -- The state in Africa in an era of capitalist globalization : a theoretical exploration -- Slavery and capitalist globalization -- Colonial globalization or the extension of European Westphalian state to Africa -- Decolonizing imperial state in Africa, 1945-60 : plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose -- African developmentalist/nationalist state? -- From welfare/developmentalist to neo-liberal nation state in Africa -- Neo-liberal assault on the state in Africa : roots of state weakness, failure and collapse -- The state in Africa and civil society in historical perspective -- Future of the state in Africa in an era of neoliberal globalization -- An African state is possible : looking back in order to look ahead.




Nomenclatural Poetization and Globalization


Book Description

This prolific collection of essays, with contributions from scholars from across several disciplines, on the practice and implications of naming - Nomenclatural Poetization and Globalization - explores diverse concerns in onomastics, such as cultural and ethnic implications as well as individual identity formation processes in the age of Globalization and extends these to a variety of contemporary theories of appreciation and internationalization.




Fears, Doubts and Joys of Not Belonging


Book Description

This book is an opportune warning that alienation, estrangement and intentional diminishment serve as a cancer upon those who disburse it. The outsider suffers by being alone; the insider suffers even more by being forever known as a hypocrite who perpetuates dystopia. It uses literature as a hothouse for poisonous potted plants, the workings of a mind in turmoil and the exploration of a society or societies that seems to derive pleasure from others' ruin. Fears, Doubts, and Joy of Not Belonging considers themes that are biblical in scope from different societies and historical epochs. It is a sobering spiritual enlightenment of a child's "silent treatment" in adult form. The text complements language engineers and social scientists who are on a quest or search for how the individual responds to pressure that is unexpected, ill-conceived and in desperate need of alleviation. Not only does this particular type of cancer differ from the type a surgeon can treat, the stage at which this malady is diagnosed causes far more problems than if it were dealt with head on. Pursuing numerous examples of estrangement, this diverse text delves into a wide spectrum of human behavior while coming to the realization that these problems are universal and have been with us for a long, long time. The purpose of resistance, individuality and personal identity is to rise above these obstacles without losing hope, resilience or optimism.




The Writer, Resistance, and Anticipation of Freedom


Book Description

Drawing on the ever contentious and antagonistic relationship between the writer and the state, especially in the postcolony, the chapters assembled in this collection delineate Bill F. Ndi, the poet and playwright’s arduous and sometimes dangerous role as a custodian or guardian of the socioeconomics and politico-cultures of the Cameroonian postcolony and Africa at large. The chapters insist that granted The Cameroons’ quadruple experience of colonialism (through the Germans, the French, the British and La République du Cameroun), Cameroun and British Southern Cameroons’ history needs to purge itself of the epistemic and ontological violence of Francophonecentric historiography. “Bill F. Ndi possesses a unique and powerful voice within the Cameroonian literary scene and this apposite volume of critical essays attempts not only to situate him properly within that domain but also to significantly augment his already considerable stature.” Sanya Osha, University of Cape Town, South Africa “Bill F. Ndi is an unapologetic and committed firebrand writer with a position that refuses to seek validation from the same who oppress and blackball black writing. Hassan Yosimbom’s book is a testimony to Ndi’s resolve to resist anything that stands in the way of his people’s freedom.” Koua Viviane, PhD. (Comparative literature, Limoges: France), College of Liberal Arts, Auburn University, Auburn Alabama. “This book is a work of the utmost importance to understand the subtleties and complexities of the anglophone Cameroonian crisis and ongoing civil war in the Cameroons.” Professor Aghi Bahi, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire “In this book, Yosimbom delves into the intricate impact of imperialism by examining the works of Bill F. Ndi, a modern postcolonial writer of British Southern Cameroons extraction. The book is a compelling analysis of the relationship between writers and the state. It stresses the need to challenge Francophone-centric views and empower the marginalized and oppressed Anglophones in the Cameroons. Brought to the limelight is the rootedness of this historical imbalance and its perpetuation by Francophone-dominated regimes and the complicit panhandling Anglophone elites. Addressed are the themes of peace, identity, autonomy, resilience, and resistance…” Maimo Mary Mah, Development Communication Specialist/Consultant Drawing on the ever contentious and antagonistic relationship between the writer and the state, especially in the postcolony, the chapters assembled in this collection delineate Bill F. Ndi, the poet and playwright’s arduous and sometimes dangerous role as a custodian or guardian of the socioeconomics and politico-cultures of the Cameroonian postcolony and Africa at large. The chapters insist that granted The Cameroons’ quadruple experience of colonialism (through the Germans, the French, the British and La République du Cameroun), Cameroun and British Southern Cameroons’ history needs to purge itself of the epistemic and ontological violence of Francophonecentric historiography. “Bill F. Ndi possesses a unique and powerful voice within the Cameroonian literary scene and this apposite volume of critical essays attempts not only to situate him properly within that domain but also to significantly augment his already considerable stature.” Sanya Osha, University of Cape Town, South Africa “Bill F. Ndi is an unapologetic and committed firebrand writer with a position that refuses to seek validation from the same who oppress and blackball black writing. Hassan Yosimbom’s book is a testimony to Ndi’s resolve to resist anything that stands in the way of his people’s freedom.” Koua Viviane, PhD. (Comparative literature, Limoges: France), College of Liberal Arts, Auburn University, Auburn Alabama. “This book is a work of the utmost importance to understand the subtleties and complexities of the anglophone Cameroonian crisis and ongoing civil war in the Cameroons.” Professor Aghi Bahi, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire “In this book, Yosimbom delves into the intricate impact of imperialism by examining the works of Bill F. Ndi, a modern postcolonial writer of British Southern Cameroons extraction. The book is a compelling analysis of the relationship between writers and the state. It stresses the need to challenge Francophone-centric views and empower the marginalized and oppressed Anglophones in the Cameroons. Brought to the limelight is the rootedness of this historical imbalance and its perpetuation by Francophone-dominated regimes and the complicit panhandling Anglophone elites. Addressed are the themes of peace, identity, autonomy, resilience, and resistance…” Maimo Mary Mah, Development Communication Specialist/Consultant




The Repressed Expressed


Book Description

Through multiple points of resistance, The Repressed Expressed underscores how hard it is to build a community in any nation with no beneficial qualities of hope and transparency. This informative collection of essays highlights that wherever stability and order are lacking, the universal appeal is to express that which is suppressed. Also, like a map or guidebook, The Repressed Expressed indicates how people in such geographical prisons strive to transform their agitation into spiritual and political pathways, free of pain and hurt from, and anger towards a dirty and corrupted world. It thus, underpins discord and brings to the fore the authoritys penchant for heaping abuse upon those caused to live in fear. In short, The Repressed Expressed is an impressive compilation of literary evidence informing scholarship on opinions and beliefs relating to repression, its expression, and the immeasurable associated cost.




Konglanjo


Book Description

This collection of poems evolves as a network and satellite of an expressive pursuit of justice with a difference. For, though this poetry simultaneously shapes global and grassroots smiles and tears, its corpus is no matter for laughter or weeping. In familiar but not identical voices, the poet tackles social evils as parasites while cross-examining cultural assumptions in the same vein. Triple form -title poem, Letters to Ethiopia and Some Random poems, explores nightmares of colonial mission civilisatrice by dint of two decades of inspirational events from 1965 as invitations into a more serene world emerging from post-discoveries.