"The West will begin to understand Africa when it realizes it's not talking to a child-it's talking to its mother." So writes Jeff Pearce in the introduction to his fascinating, groundbreaking work, African Ideas: How a Continent and Its People Changed the World. We learn early on in school how Europe and Asia gave us important literature, ......
When viewed from the economic centers of the Indian or Atlantic Oceans, the Ruvuma region of East Africa, crossing what is now Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique, would look like a periphery. But the same factors that marginalize the region historically brought distinct opportunities. In Fashioning Inland Communities, Yaari Felber-Seligman traces ......
Join thought leaders fighting to win the posthumous pardon of Marcus Garvey, one of the most influential figures in Black history. Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) was a Black political activist, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, which had a following of more ......
A compelling, fresh account of the battle of Rorke's Drift, featuring an array of previously unpublished material including defender accounts and artwork. The author questions what is widely believed to be historical fact and instead offers up his own interpretation of one of the most established actions of the hospital fight.
Gendered Network Memory in the Mara Region, Tanzania
Among communities in the Mara region of Tanzania, it is considered men's responsibility to maintain "history." But when Jan Bender Shetler's questions turned to specific familial connections within the village, she discovered her male informants had to occasionally leave the room-to ask their wives for clarification. The result is an original and ......
The Politics and Practice of Kenya's HIV-Prevention NGOs
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are ubiquitous in the Global South. Often international in origin, many attempt to assist local efforts to improve the lives of people often living in or near poverty. Yet their external origins often cloud their ability to impact health or quality of life, regardless of whether volunteers are local or foreign. ......
Covering 500 years of Ghana's history, The Ghana Reader provides a multitude of historical, political, and cultural perspectives on this iconic African nation. Whether discussing the Asante kingdom and the Gold Coast's importance to European commerce and transatlantic slaving, Ghana's brief period under British colonial rule, or the emergence of ......
Thomas Sankara, often called the African Che Guevara, was president of Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in Africa, until his assassination during the military coup that brought down his government. Although his tenure in office was relatively short, Sankara left an indelible mark on his country's history and development. An avowed ......
"Human beings," the acclaimed Egyptologist Jan Assmann writes, "are the animals that have to live with the knowledge of their death, and culture is the world they create so they can live with that knowledge." In his new book, Assmann explores images of death and of death rites in ancient Egypt to provide startling new insights into the particular ......
