Bøger i African Systems of Thought serien

What did it mean to be an African subject living in remote areas of Tanganyika at the end of the colonial era? For the Kaguru of Tanganyika, it meant daily confrontation with the black and white governmental officials tasked with bringing this rural people into the mainstream of colonial African life. T. O. Beidelman's detailed narrative links this administrative world to the Kaguru's wider social, cultural, and geographical milieu, and to the political history, ideas of indirect rule, and the white institutions that loomed just beyond their world. Beidelman unveils the colonial system's problems as it extended its authority into rural areas and shows how these problems persisted even after African independence.

Apartheid's Festival highlights the conflicts and debates that surrounded the 1952 celebration of the 300th anniversary of the landing of Jan Van Riebeeck and the founding of Cape Town, South Africa. Taking place at the height of the apartheid era, the festival was viewed by many as an opportunity for the government to promote its nationalist, separatist agenda in grand fashion. Leslie Witz's fine-grained examination of newspapers, brochures, pamphlets, and advertising materials reveals the expectations of the festival planners as well as how the festival was engineered, historical figures were reconstructed, and the ANC and other anti-apartheid organizations mounted opposition to it. While laying open the darker motives of the apartheid regime, Witz shows that the production of local history is part of a global process forged by the struggle between colonialism and resistance. Readers interested in South Africa, representations of nationalism, and the making of public history will find Apartheid's Festival to be an important study of a society in transition.

Contains essays that open fresh perspectives for understanding African societies and cultures through the study of objects. This title treats topics ranging from the production of material objects to the meaning of sticks, masquerades, household tools, clothing, and the television set in the contemporary repertoire of African material culture.

A penetrating look at changing perceptions of health, illness, and debility.

Examines and reassesses the use of oral resources in writing African history.

Assesses the direction and impact of African philosophy as well as its future role.

An eminent African philosopher asserts the compatibility of universal and particular values in defining cultural identities.

Beginning where stories of colonial liquor control and exploitation leave off, this title looks at the commerce of beer, it's valorising of male sociability and sports, and the corporate culture of South African Breweries, the world's most successful brewing company.

"... a great read. It is masterfully presented, and is an ideal text both for advanced undergraduates and graduate students." ΓÇöInternational Journal of African Historical Studies"... a detailed, critical guide to fifty years of African philosophy... " ΓÇöTeaching Philosophy"Masolo offers an expansive and lucidly panoramic view of the origin and developments in African philosophy." ΓÇöAfrica Today"The excellence of this book lies in the wealth of perspectives that it brings to the discussion on what constitutes philosophy, rationality, and meaningful reflection. It is both thought provoking and illuminating." ΓÇöEthicsA Kenyan philosopher surveys themes and debates in African philosophy over the last five decades. MasoloΓÇÖs purview includes Francophone and Anglophone philosophers in both the analytic and phenomenological traditions.

" -Research in African LiteraturesPoet and anthropologist Michael Jackson brings to this study of the folktales of the Kuranko people of Sierra Leone a sensitivity to the philosophical nuances of literature.

Features an introduction to Yoruba religion, as practiced in Africa and the Americas.

Mudimbe's exploration of how the "ideaof Africa was constructed by the Western world.

A collection of essays that demonstrate the central role that divination plays throughout Africa in maintaining cultural systems and in guiding human action. It offers insights for discussions in comparative epistemology, cross-cultural psychology, cognition studies, semiotics, ethnoscience, religious studies, and anthropology.

A work that modifies and extends Levi-Straussian myth analysis.

An intimate look at an evangelical Christian mission in Muslim Africa

Explores the analogy between metallurgy and human reproduction as expressed in African beliefs about processes of transformation, gender, and power. This work appeals to readers interested in questions of technology, gender, and culture.

Mudimbe addresses the multiple scholarly discourses that exist-African and non-African-concerning the meaning of Africa and being African.

Contends that it is through their encounter with Christian missions in the mid-19th century that the Yoruba came to know themselves as a distinctive people. This book focuses on the experiences of ordinary men and women and shows how the process of Christian conversion transformed Christianity into something more deeply Yoruba.

Attacks a myth popularized by ethno-philosophers such as Placide Tempels and Alexis Kagame that there is an indigenous, collective African philosophy separate and distinct from the Western philosophical tradition.