The Changing World and Africa​


Book Description

This book brings contemporary Chinese scholarship into Africa, the relations between African states, and the relations between China and Africa into focus. As China becomes the biggest partner for many African states, constructing infrastructure across the continent, Western scrutiny has increased. This book offers a comprehensive look at what Chinese scholars have encountered on the ground, as well as comparative studies of how different nations have engaged with Africa.




The Palgrave Handbook of Africa and the Changing Global Order


Book Description

This handbook fills a large gap in the current knowledge about the critical role of Africa in the changing global order. By connecting the past, present, and future in a continuum that shows the paradox of existence for over one billion people, the book underlines the centrality of the African continent to global knowledge production, the global economy, global security, and global creativity. Bringing together perspectives from top Africa scholars, it actively dispels myths of the continent as just a passive recipient of external influences, presenting instead an image of an active global agent that astutely projects soft power. Unlike previous handbooks, this book offers an eclectic mix of historical, contemporary, and interdisciplinary approaches that allow for a more holistic view of the many aspects of Africa’s relations with the world.




Revisiting EU-Africa Relations in a Changing World


Book Description

This timely book explores the current state of EU-Africa relations from a multidisciplinary perspective, placing emphasis on recent developments in five areas that are crucial for EU-Africa relations: development cooperation, trade, migration, security and democratization. It considers how Africa’s dependence on the EU has decreased due to the declining importance of development cooperation, and increasing cooperation with emerging powers, notably the BRIC nations.




Self and Community in a Changing World


Book Description

Revisiting African philosophy's classic questions, D. A. Masolo advances understandings of what it means to be human -- whether of African or other origin. Masolo reframes indigenous knowledge as diversity: How are we to understand the place and structure of consciousness? How does the everyday color the world we know? Where are the boundaries between self and other, universal and particular, and individual and community? From here, he takes a dramatic turn toward Africa's current political situation and considers why individual rights and freedoms have not been recognized, respected, demanded, or enforced. Masolo offers solutions for containing socially destructive conduct and antisocial tendencies by engaging community. His unique thinking about community and the role of the individual extends African philosophy in new, global directions.




The Dark and Bright Continent


Book Description

THE DARK & BRIGHT CONTINENT: AFRICA IN THE CHANGING WORLD, has been described as one of the best written books about Africa by an African. The book kicks off with the Rhythms of Life; then it moves on to dissect the Ancient African Politics & Beliefs, Slavery & Colonization, Political, & Economic Independence of Africa. The reader is juxtaposed with the Coup D'Etat in Africa; he is taken from Rip Van Winkle as Africa, to Africa & the World; from Foreign Media & Africa to the Exogenous Use of Africans. It reaches its climax with The Future of Africa, which challenges everyone, & knocks on the conscience of the world. Said Dr. Alphine Jefferson, Professor of History & Director of African-American Studies at SMU, "....I have learned a lot from this book. If I am to teach an advanced course in African History, I will use it."




The African State in a Changing Global Context


Book Description

During the first 25 years of independence, the African state was largely driven from within by the ambition to establish political order in a world where national sovereignty over issues of development was not in question. The theme of this book is that more is at stake today than in the past.







Season of Rains


Book Description

Africa is playing a more important role in world affairs than ever before. Yet the most common images of Africa in the American mind are ones of poverty, starvation, and violent conflict. But while these problems are real, that does not mean that Africa is a lost cause. Instead, as Stephen Ellis explains in Season of Rains, we need to rethink Africa’s place in time if we are to understand it in all its complexity—it is a region where growth and prosperity coexist with failed states. This engaging, accessible book by one of the world’s foremost researchers on Africa captures the broad spectrum of political, economic, and social foundations that make Africa what it is today. Ellis is careful not to position himself in the futile debate between Afro-optimists and Afro-pessimists. The forty-nine diverse nations that make up sub-Saharan Africa are neither doomed to fail nor destined to succeed. As he assesses the challenges of African sovereignties, Ellis is not under the illusion that governments will suddenly become more benevolent and less corrupt. Yet, he sees great dynamism in recent technological and economic developments. The proliferation of mobile phones alone has helped to overcome previous gaps in infrastructure, African retail markets are becoming integrated, and banking is expanding. Businesses from China and emerging powers from the West are investing more than ever before in the still land-rich region, and globalization is offering possibilities of enormous economic change for the growing population of one billion Africans, actively engaged in charting the future of their continent. This highly readable survey of the continent today offers an indispensable guide to how money, power, and development are shaping Africa’s future.




Cultures and Societies in a Changing World


Book Description

In the Fourth Edition of Cultures and Societies in a Changing World, author Wendy Griswold illuminates how culture shapes our social world and how society shapes culture. She helps students gain an understanding of the sociology of culture and explore stories, beliefs, media, ideas, art, religious practices, fashions, and rituals from a sociological perspective. Cultural examples from multiple countries and time periods will broaden students′ global understanding. They will develop a deeper appreciation of culture and society, gleaning insights that will help them overcome cultural misunderstandings, conflicts, and ignorance; equip them to be more effective in their professional and personal lives, and become wise citizens of the world.




Africa in the Changing World Development Paradigm


Book Description

The volume contains abstracts of papers presented at the 12th Conference of Africanists organized by the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in May 2011. The Conference, held triennially since 1969 is a major event in the area of African studies in Russia and beyond. What is particularly remarkable is the number and the diversity of the participants: academics, diplomats, Moscow-based and provincial as well as foreign participants from a staggering number of countries: Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Cote d'Ivoire, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Kazakhstan, Mozambique, Nigeria, Poland, Spain, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, UAE, UK, USA, Zimbabwe. Subjects covered range from economics, foreign relations, security issues, administration to history, culture, linguistics and religious studies. The book is a good reference tool to today's problematics in African studies as it presents a cross-section of this vast and diverse field. The Conference, held triennially since 1969 is a major event in the area of African studies in Russia and beyond. What is particularly remarkable is the number and the diversity of the participants: academics, diplomats, Moscow-based and provincial as well as foreign participants from a staggering number of countries: Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Cote d'Ivoire, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Kazakhstan, Mozambique, Nigeria, Poland, Spain, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, UAE, UK, USA, Zimbabwe. Subjects covered range from economics, foreign relations, security issues, administration to history, culture, linguistics and religious studies. The book is a good reference tool to today's problematics in African studies as it presents a cross-section of this vast and diverse field.