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Author: Tunde Obadina
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1422288897
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 112
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Book Description
Africa is the only continent where poverty levels have risen in recent decades, and many of its countries suffer from humanitarian crises, political unrest, or both. Knowledge of Africas complex, often troubled past is crucial to understanding its current problems. The Making of Modern Africa outlines the continents rich and diverse history, from its imposing ancient empires, to the crippling effects of European colonialism, to the dictators and fledgling democracies of the modern era. The book will provide an invaluable overview for students.
Author: Howard W. French
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
ISBN: 1631495836
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 444
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Book Description
Revealing the central yet intentionally obliterated role of Africa in the creation of modernity, Born in Blackness vitally reframes our understanding of world history. Traditional accounts of the making of the modern world afford a place of primacy to European history. Some credit the fifteenth-century Age of Discovery and the maritime connection it established between West and East; others the accidental unearthing of the “New World.” Still others point to the development of the scientific method, or the spread of Judeo-Christian beliefs; and so on, ad infinitum. The history of Africa, by contrast, has long been relegated to the remote outskirts of our global story. What if, instead, we put Africa and Africans at the very center of our thinking about the origins of modernity? In a sweeping narrative spanning more than six centuries, Howard W. French does just that, for Born in Blackness vitally reframes the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe’s dehumanizing engagement with the “dark” continent. In fact, French reveals, the first impetus for the Age of Discovery was not—as we are so often told, even today—Europe’s yearning for ties with Asia, but rather its centuries-old desire to forge a trade in gold with legendarily rich Black societies sequestered away in the heart of West Africa. Creating a historical narrative that begins with the commencement of commercial relations between Portugal and Africa in the fifteenth century and ends with the onset of World War II, Born in Blackness interweaves precise historical detail with poignant, personal reportage. In so doing, it dramatically retrieves the lives of major African historical figures, from the unimaginably rich medieval emperors who traded with the Near East and beyond, to the Kongo sovereigns who heroically battled seventeenth-century European powers, to the ex-slaves who liberated Haitians from bondage and profoundly altered the course of American history. While French cogently demonstrates the centrality of Africa to the rise of the modern world, Born in Blackness becomes, at the same time, a far more significant narrative, one that reveals a long-concealed history of trivialization and, more often, elision in depictions of African history throughout the last five hundred years. As French shows, the achievements of sovereign African nations and their now-far-flung peoples have time and again been etiolated and deliberately erased from modern history. As the West ascended, their stories—siloed and piecemeal—were swept into secluded corners, thus setting the stage for the hagiographic “rise of the West” theories that have endured to this day. “Capacious and compelling” (Laurent Dubois), Born in Blackness is epic history on the grand scale. In the lofty tradition of bold, revisionist narratives, it reframes the story of gold and tobacco, sugar and cotton—and of the greatest “commodity” of them all, the twelve million people who were brought in chains from Africa to the “New World,” whose reclaimed lives shed a harsh light on our present world.
Author: Tunde Obadina
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1422288897
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 112
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Book Description
Africa is the only continent where poverty levels have risen in recent decades, and many of its countries suffer from humanitarian crises, political unrest, or both. Knowledge of Africas complex, often troubled past is crucial to understanding its current problems. The Making of Modern Africa outlines the continents rich and diverse history, from its imposing ancient empires, to the crippling effects of European colonialism, to the dictators and fledgling democracies of the modern era. The book will provide an invaluable overview for students.
Author: Dayo Olopade
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 0547678339
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 287
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Book Description
“For anyone who wants to understand how the African economy really works, The Bright Continent is a good place to start” (Reuters). Dayo Olopade knew from personal experience that Western news reports on conflict, disease, and poverty obscure the true story of modern Africa. And so she crossed sub-Saharan Africa to document how ordinary people deal with their daily challenges. She found what cable news ignores: a continent of ambitious reformers and young social entrepreneurs driven by kanju—creativity born of African difficulty. It’s a trait found in pioneers like Kenneth Nnebue, who turned cheap VHS tapes into the multimillion-dollar film industry Nollywood. Or Ushahidi, a technology collective that crowdsources citizen activism and disaster relief. A shining counterpoint to conventional wisdom, The Bright Continent rewrites Africa’s challenges as opportunities to innovate, and celebrates a history of doing more with less as a powerful model for the rest of the world. “[An] upbeat study of development in Africa . . . The book is written more in wonder at African ingenuity than in anger at foreign incomprehension.” —The New Yorker “A hopeful narrative about a continent on the rise.” —The New York Times Book Review
Author: Richard J. Reid
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119381924
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 455
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Book Description
The new, fully-updated edition of the acclaimed textbook covering 200 years of African history A History of Modern Africa explores two centuries of the continent’s political, economic, and social history. This thorough yet accessible text help readers to understand key concepts, recognize significant themes, and identify the processes that shaped the modern history of Africa. Emphasis is placed on the consequences of colonial rule, and the links between the precolonial and postcolonial eras. Author Richard Reid, a prominent scholar and historian on the subject, argues that Africa’s struggle for economic and political stability in the nineteenth century escalated and intensified through the twentieth century, the effects of which are still felt in the present day. The new third edition offers substantial updates and revisions that consider recent events and historiography. Greater emphasis is placed on African agency, particularly during the colonial period, and the importance of the long-term militarization of African political culture. Discussions of the postcolonial period have been updated to reflect recent developments, including those in North Africa. Adopting a long-term approach to current African issues, this text: Explores the legacies of the nineteenth century and the colonial period in the context of the contemporary era Highlights the role of nineteenth century and long-term internal dynamics in Africa’s modern challenges Combines recent scholarship with concise and effective narrative Features maps, illustrations, expanded references, and comprehensive endnotes A History of Modern Africa: 1800 to the Present, 3rd Edition is an excellent introduction to the subject for undergraduate students in relevant courses, and for general readers with interest in modern African history and current affairs.
Author: Scott Straus
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801455677
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 401
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Book Description
Winner of the Grawmeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order, 2018 Winner of the Joseph Lepgold Prize Winner of the Best Books in Conflict Studies (APSA) Winner of the Best Book in Human Rights (ISA) In Making and Unmaking Nations, Scott Straus seeks to explain why and how genocide takes place—and, perhaps more important, how it has been avoided in places where it may have seemed likely or even inevitable. To solve that puzzle, he examines postcolonial Africa, analyzing countries in which genocide occurred and where it could have but did not. Why have there not been other Rwandas? Straus finds that deep-rooted ideologies—how leaders make their nations—shape strategies of violence and are central to what leads to or away from genocide. Other critical factors include the dynamics of war, the role of restraint, and the interaction between national and local actors in the staging of campaigns of large-scale violence. Grounded in Straus's extensive fieldwork in contemporary Africa, the study of major twentieth-century cases of genocide, and the literature on genocide and political violence, Making and Unmaking Nations centers on cogent analyses of three nongenocide cases (Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, and Senegal) and two in which genocide took place (Rwanda and Sudan). Straus's empirical analysis is based in part on an original database of presidential speeches from 1960 to 2005. The book also includes a broad-gauge analysis of all major cases of large-scale violence in Africa since decolonization. Straus's insights into the causes of genocide will inform the study of political violence as well as giving policymakers and nongovernmental organizations valuable tools for the future.
Author: Robert O. Collins
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781107037809
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
The second edition of A History of Sub-Saharan Africa continues to provide an accessible introduction to the continent's history for students and general readers. The authors employ a thematic approach to their subject, focusing on how the environment has shaped the societies and cultures of the African peoples. The text demonstrates how the geography, climate, and geology of Africa influenced the rise of states and empires, the emergence of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the European conquest, and the creation of independent African nations. Yet the book maintains a focus on the peoples whose creative energies built unique communities and traditions within the challenging context of the Africa landmass. In the process of reconstructing this continent's rich history, the authors analyze the contentious scholarly debates that have emerged out of this field. The book is illustrated with photographs, maps, and sidebars that feature the salient points on either side of the debates.
Author: Timothy Parsons
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 270
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Book Description
This book provides a new concept framework for understanding the factors that lead soldiers to challenge civil authority in developing nations. By exploring the causes and effects of the 1964 East African army mutinies, it provides novel insights into the nature of institutional violence, aggression, and military unrest in former colonial societies. The study integrates history and the social sciences by using detailed empirical data on the soldiers' protests in Tanganyika, Uganda, and Kenya. The roots of the 1964 army mutinies in Tanganyika, Uganda, and Kenya were firmly rooted in the colonial past when economic and strategic necessity forced the former British territorial governments to rely on Africans for defense and internal security. As the only group in colonial society with access to weapons and military training, the African soldiery was a potential threat to the security of British rule. Colonial authorities maintained control over African soldiers by balancing the significant rewards of military service with social isolation, harsh discipline, and close political surveillance. After independence, civilian pay levels out-paced army wages, thereby tarnishing the prestige of military service. As compensation, veteran African soldiers expected commissions and improved terms of service when the new governments Africanized the civil service. They grew increasingly upset when African politicians proved unwilling and unable to meet their demands. Yet the creation of new democratic societies removed most of the restrictive regulations that had disciplined colonial African soldiers. Lacking the financial resources and military expertise to create new armies, the independent African governments had to retain the basic structure and character of the inherited armies. Soldiers in Tanganyika, Uganda, and Kenya mutinied in rapid succession during the last week of January 1964 because their governments could no longer maintain the delicate balance of coercion and concessions that had kept the colonial soldiery in check. The East African mutinies demonstrate that the propensity of an African army to challenge civil authority was directly tied to its degree of integration into postcolonial society.
Author: Nigel Worden
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN: 9780631217169
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 208
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Book Description
Recent events in South Africa have taken on renewed interest for historians and general readers alike. In this third edition of The Making of Modern South Africa, Nigel Worden provides a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the key themes and debates central to an understanding of the region. The book examines the major issues in South Africa's history, from the colonial conquests of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, through the establishment of racism, segregation and apartheid; the spirit of reform, resistance and repression of the 1980s and up to the present day. In this new edition, Worden brings events up to the second democratic election of 1999, and incorporates new material published since 1990. With the break up of institutional apartheid, perspectives on recent South African history have undergone a significant shift. Nigel Worden examines these changes and assesses developments within the new South Africa in a wide historical context, providing a sharp, analytical overview for all those interested in modern South African history and politics.
Author: Howard W. French
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307424308
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322
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Book Description
In A Continent for the Taking Howard W. French, a veteran correspondent for The New York Times, gives a compelling firsthand account of some of Africa’s most devastating recent history–from the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, to Charles Taylor’s arrival in Monrovia, to the genocide in Rwanda and the Congo that left millions dead. Blending eyewitness reportage with rich historical insight, French searches deeply into the causes of today’s events, illuminating the debilitating legacy of colonization and the abiding hypocrisy and inhumanity of both Western and African political leaders. While he captures the tragedies that have repeatedly befallen Africa’s peoples, French also opens our eyes to the immense possibility that lies in Africa’s complexity, diversity, and myriad cultural strengths. The culmination of twenty-five years of passionate exploration and understanding, this is a powerful and ultimately hopeful book about a fascinating and misunderstood continent.
Author: Philip D. Curtin
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
ISBN: 9780299830250
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316
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Book Description
In this encyclopedic work of intellectual history, Philip D. Curtain sought to discover the British image of Africa for the years 1780 1850. "
