From self-assertion through dance we move on to a set of chapters that examine how dance is increasingly commodified in performances for tourists. While historically dancing and drumming were the prerogative of the caste of géwël (or the Manding jali), today unemployed youth of ‘noble’ descent are increasingly practising dance in spite of the resistance of conservative parents. In order to legitimize their new trade the dancers define themselves as ‘artists’. The worldwide demand for African dance thus generates a process of professionalization that one of Castaldi’s informants qualifies as no less than a revolution. Unfortunately, the emergence of a new profession also generates new structures of exploitation. Well written and thoroughly theorized, this book presents a thoughtprovoking post-colonial critique of the way in which the African body is presented in dance and represented in writing. It engages with various post-colonial critics. With astute observations about the vicissitudes of the global economy in which the dancers operate, the author lends a sympathetic eye to what is undoubtedly the most popular art in Africa. The book offers a radical perspective on a theme – the National Ballet of Senegal – that was long due serious attention. As always, there are some aspects of the book that could have been improved. Dealing with dance in a variety of contexts, Castaldi has had trouble integrating her interrelated narratives. While the book might have benefited from a stronger choreography, its very structure as a polyrhythmic ensemble also makes it a provocative experiment in post-colonial writing.
{"title":"Navigating Terrains of War: youth and soldiering in Guinea Bissau (review)","authors":"J. Einarsdóttir","doi":"10.1353/afr.0.0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/afr.0.0011","url":null,"abstract":"From self-assertion through dance we move on to a set of chapters that examine how dance is increasingly commodified in performances for tourists. While historically dancing and drumming were the prerogative of the caste of géwël (or the Manding jali), today unemployed youth of ‘noble’ descent are increasingly practising dance in spite of the resistance of conservative parents. In order to legitimize their new trade the dancers define themselves as ‘artists’. The worldwide demand for African dance thus generates a process of professionalization that one of Castaldi’s informants qualifies as no less than a revolution. Unfortunately, the emergence of a new profession also generates new structures of exploitation. Well written and thoroughly theorized, this book presents a thoughtprovoking post-colonial critique of the way in which the African body is presented in dance and represented in writing. It engages with various post-colonial critics. With astute observations about the vicissitudes of the global economy in which the dancers operate, the author lends a sympathetic eye to what is undoubtedly the most popular art in Africa. The book offers a radical perspective on a theme – the National Ballet of Senegal – that was long due serious attention. As always, there are some aspects of the book that could have been improved. Dealing with dance in a variety of contexts, Castaldi has had trouble integrating her interrelated narratives. While the book might have benefited from a stronger choreography, its very structure as a polyrhythmic ensemble also makes it a provocative experiment in post-colonial writing.","PeriodicalId":337749,"journal":{"name":"Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123894254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
with traditional Igbo political systems, proposing that Christianity established territorial organization over community identity. However, there is no discussion of Igbo cosmology as a defining aspect of the Nigerian civil war, nor of economic migration as one of the more definitive aspects of external identity construction. The last chapter of the section illustrates well the precarious nature of contemporary Nigerian federalism and the scramble for local government area formation (the LGA is the smallest politico-administrative unit) and federal funds in the contexts of national poverty, wealth and Igbo ethnicity. Part 3 (three chapters) discusses how Igbo community was created through town unions, traditional rulers, autonomous communities and local histories. Chapter 7 argues that town union creation was the most important aspect of self-organization in Igbo culture in the last century, although it was recently usurped by neo-traditional kingship institutions. Tension between the two institutions, or how the town union figured in daily life, are topics not tackled by Harneit-Sievers. Chapter 8 presents a strong argument for traditional rulers as agents of the state. A relatively modern ‘invention’ developed during Abacha’s regime when rulers were added to the national payroll; the author argues that traditional rulers have been rendered weak administrative chiefs, thus further complicating the imposition/imagination discords surrounding the post-colonial state. The section’s last chapter proposes that Igbo documentation of local histories has contributed to the construction of communities, but no specific examples are offered from Igbo perspectives. Part 4 consists of three case studies with common themes of community boundaries, institutionalization and local historical discourse. The case studies are situated in Umuopara (boundaries), Enuguwu-Ukwu (institutionalization), and Nike (historical discourse on slaves and ‘free-born’) and further portray the thematic arguments presented throughout the volume. Harneit-Sievers concludes by contending that a certain ‘Igbo exceptionalism’ continues to exist within the Nigerian state through autonomous definitions and formations of community identities, and that relationships between the state and local communities are contested, negotiated and redefined. The author offers a solid historical account, an expansive literature review of related aspects of Igbo culture, and some interesting constructivist theoretical arguments about Igbo towns and communities. Nevertheless, the lack of an Igbo ‘voice’ and perspective in his narrative leaves the reader seeking a deeper understanding of Igbo concepts of community and identity.
{"title":"Aawambo Kingdoms, History and Cultural Change: perspectives from Namibia (review)","authors":"M. Salokoski","doi":"10.1353/AFR.0.0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/AFR.0.0015","url":null,"abstract":"with traditional Igbo political systems, proposing that Christianity established territorial organization over community identity. However, there is no discussion of Igbo cosmology as a defining aspect of the Nigerian civil war, nor of economic migration as one of the more definitive aspects of external identity construction. The last chapter of the section illustrates well the precarious nature of contemporary Nigerian federalism and the scramble for local government area formation (the LGA is the smallest politico-administrative unit) and federal funds in the contexts of national poverty, wealth and Igbo ethnicity. Part 3 (three chapters) discusses how Igbo community was created through town unions, traditional rulers, autonomous communities and local histories. Chapter 7 argues that town union creation was the most important aspect of self-organization in Igbo culture in the last century, although it was recently usurped by neo-traditional kingship institutions. Tension between the two institutions, or how the town union figured in daily life, are topics not tackled by Harneit-Sievers. Chapter 8 presents a strong argument for traditional rulers as agents of the state. A relatively modern ‘invention’ developed during Abacha’s regime when rulers were added to the national payroll; the author argues that traditional rulers have been rendered weak administrative chiefs, thus further complicating the imposition/imagination discords surrounding the post-colonial state. The section’s last chapter proposes that Igbo documentation of local histories has contributed to the construction of communities, but no specific examples are offered from Igbo perspectives. Part 4 consists of three case studies with common themes of community boundaries, institutionalization and local historical discourse. The case studies are situated in Umuopara (boundaries), Enuguwu-Ukwu (institutionalization), and Nike (historical discourse on slaves and ‘free-born’) and further portray the thematic arguments presented throughout the volume. Harneit-Sievers concludes by contending that a certain ‘Igbo exceptionalism’ continues to exist within the Nigerian state through autonomous definitions and formations of community identities, and that relationships between the state and local communities are contested, negotiated and redefined. The author offers a solid historical account, an expansive literature review of related aspects of Igbo culture, and some interesting constructivist theoretical arguments about Igbo towns and communities. Nevertheless, the lack of an Igbo ‘voice’ and perspective in his narrative leaves the reader seeking a deeper understanding of Igbo concepts of community and identity.","PeriodicalId":337749,"journal":{"name":"Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127035099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
unpropitious surroundings. Neither country comes under focus in this book (South Africa is mentioned on one page only). The book under review is not a straightforward survey of the trials and tribulations of recent democratization attempts in Africa. Instead, it is a rather odd hybrid, structured in three separate sections. The first section is entitled ‘Intellectuals, writers and soldiers’ and features three chapters that collectively look at how three of Africa’s literary giants – Soyinka, Ngugi and Achebe – have viewed the problematic of Africa’s political vicissitudes. In addition, the section also includes a chapter on how Africa’s (many) military rulers have sought to justify their regimes through literary defences. The second section is entitled ‘Students, youths and people’. It has three fieldwork-based chapters covering what might be called bottom-up political opposition in three countries: Cameroon, Nigeria, and Malawi. Seemingly tacked on to the end is a rather unrelated chapter about ‘identity and knowledge production in the fourth generation’ that does not really fit well with the preceding three chapters. There is no concluding chapter to tie things together. Overall, it is not clear to whom this book is supposed to appeal. It is too variable and poorly focused for the political scientists, while I suspect that those interested in the use of literature as a political weapon will not find much here with which they were not already familiar.
{"title":"Amina (review)","authors":"Michael Janis","doi":"10.1353/afr.0.0017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/afr.0.0017","url":null,"abstract":"unpropitious surroundings. Neither country comes under focus in this book (South Africa is mentioned on one page only). The book under review is not a straightforward survey of the trials and tribulations of recent democratization attempts in Africa. Instead, it is a rather odd hybrid, structured in three separate sections. The first section is entitled ‘Intellectuals, writers and soldiers’ and features three chapters that collectively look at how three of Africa’s literary giants – Soyinka, Ngugi and Achebe – have viewed the problematic of Africa’s political vicissitudes. In addition, the section also includes a chapter on how Africa’s (many) military rulers have sought to justify their regimes through literary defences. The second section is entitled ‘Students, youths and people’. It has three fieldwork-based chapters covering what might be called bottom-up political opposition in three countries: Cameroon, Nigeria, and Malawi. Seemingly tacked on to the end is a rather unrelated chapter about ‘identity and knowledge production in the fourth generation’ that does not really fit well with the preceding three chapters. There is no concluding chapter to tie things together. Overall, it is not clear to whom this book is supposed to appeal. It is too variable and poorly focused for the political scientists, while I suspect that those interested in the use of literature as a political weapon will not find much here with which they were not already familiar.","PeriodicalId":337749,"journal":{"name":"Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute","volume":"495 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127585503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the autumn of 2004.? a remarkable gathering of 102 scholars took place at St Antony's College, Oxford: they had come for an interdisciplinary symposium on 'Trees, rain, and politics in Africa: the dynamics and politics of climatic and environmental change'. Symposium papers were grouped into panels that focused on either particular resources (such as trees and water) or particular aspects of social relationships (such as politics and discourses). This format resulted in a series of dialogues between the natural science and social science paradigms, and this first half of the present issue o? Africa takes as its theme just one of those interdisciplinary conversations. Taken together, these authors demonstrate how the hybridization of natural science and social science can benefit understandings of the African past, interpretations of the African present and planning for the African future.1 All three articles focus on the unexpected social and ecological effects of physical boundaries in the semi-arid Karoo region of South Africa, but in different historical contexts. For both people and wildlife, life in the Karoo had long centred on mobility and flexibility as adaptations to the area's scarce and unpredictable rainfall. In the late nineteenth century, however, South African farmers increasingly inscribed social organization upon the landscape by enclosing land with fences (van Sittert 2002). This reorganization of space had, as this group of articles shows, severe long-term consequences because enclosure made relationships between society and ecology in the region increasingly inflexible. As the Karoo system 'hardened' through the physical means of fencing, the social means of institution building and the ideological means of apartheid policies, particularly fragile landscapes became less resilient. Current efforts to conserve the unique vegetation of the Karoo are building new physical, social and ideological structures atop a complex history of ecological disruption, social differentiation and ideological contestation. Each of the following articles on the region shows the complex local legacy of boundary making in the Karoo. Together, however, they show a regional process and point out
{"title":"Introduction: The Ecology of Fencing","authors":"M. Sheridan","doi":"10.1353/AFR.0.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/AFR.0.0004","url":null,"abstract":"In the autumn of 2004.? a remarkable gathering of 102 scholars took place at St Antony's College, Oxford: they had come for an interdisciplinary symposium on 'Trees, rain, and politics in Africa: the dynamics and politics of climatic and environmental change'. Symposium papers were grouped into panels that focused on either particular resources (such as trees and water) or particular aspects of social relationships (such as politics and discourses). This format resulted in a series of dialogues between the natural science and social science paradigms, and this first half of the present issue o? Africa takes as its theme just one of those interdisciplinary conversations. Taken together, these authors demonstrate how the hybridization of natural science and social science can benefit understandings of the African past, interpretations of the African present and planning for the African future.1 All three articles focus on the unexpected social and ecological effects of physical boundaries in the semi-arid Karoo region of South Africa, but in different historical contexts. For both people and wildlife, life in the Karoo had long centred on mobility and flexibility as adaptations to the area's scarce and unpredictable rainfall. In the late nineteenth century, however, South African farmers increasingly inscribed social organization upon the landscape by enclosing land with fences (van Sittert 2002). This reorganization of space had, as this group of articles shows, severe long-term consequences because enclosure made relationships between society and ecology in the region increasingly inflexible. As the Karoo system 'hardened' through the physical means of fencing, the social means of institution building and the ideological means of apartheid policies, particularly fragile landscapes became less resilient. Current efforts to conserve the unique vegetation of the Karoo are building new physical, social and ideological structures atop a complex history of ecological disruption, social differentiation and ideological contestation. Each of the following articles on the region shows the complex local legacy of boundary making in the Karoo. Together, however, they show a regional process and point out","PeriodicalId":337749,"journal":{"name":"Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132269397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The following reflections came to mind during my work in 2005 and 2006 on producing the revised 2 edition of my Africa: guide to reference material (Lochcarron: Hans Zell, 2007), hereinafter referred to as my Guide. They also draw upon and recommend for further reading a number of perceptive articles that have been published on Africanist reference works in the last few years. The emphasis, as in my Guide, will be on reference material other than bibliographies. I have already written in these pages about African studies bibliography (McIlwaine 2001) and Peter Limb in last year’s volume gave an elegant ‘state-of-the art’ account of this field (Limb 2006). The introduction to my Guide argues that while bibliographies of Africa are comparatively well covered by existing lists such as J.D. Pearson, World bibliography of African bibliographies (Oxford: Blackwell, 1975) and Yvette Scheven, Bibliographies for African studies, 1970-1985 (Oxford: Hans Zell, 1988) and Bibliographies for African studies, 1987-1993 (London: Hans Zell, 1994), coverage of other categories of reference works is much less readily available. This lack of coverage is something that both editions of my own work and Al Kagan’s Reference guide to Africa: a bibliography of source, 2 ed., (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005) seek to remedy. The question that needs to be asked, of course, is: what is meant by ‘reference works’? The term is vague, especially when one has specifically excluded bibliographies. The two main defining characteristics are, firstly, that such sources are concerned primarily with providing factual data, rather than interpretation, and secondly, that their arrangement is intended to facilitate rapid consultation, rather than requiring the whole text to be scanned to locate facts. Such tidy guidelines are easy to draw and impossible to maintain. As I note in my Guide, perhaps the first ‘reference work’ for Africa that would come into many minds would be Lord Hailey’s An African survey, discussed further below, which is a volume that accompanies its extensive factual data by equally extensive comment and interpretation, and that is arranged as a straightforward monograph with chapters, rather than having a quick-reference structure. It is also, of course, wrong to suggest that collections of factual information imply no interpretation: the very process of selection of what data to include and what to exclude, and how they should be presented, obviously involves interpretation. The first edition of my Guide had no limits on the date of publication of titles included, and indeed contained many references to sources published in the 19 century. The new 2 edition only includes material published since 1938 (the year of Lord Hailey’s African survey) but this decision was taken simply to
在2005年和2006年编写我的《非洲:参考资料指南》修订版(Lochcarron: Hans Zell, 2007)期间，我产生了以下几点思考，以下简称《指南》。他们还借鉴并建议进一步阅读一些在过去几年出版的关于非洲主义者参考作品的有洞察力的文章。和我的指南一样，重点将放在参考资料而不是参考书目上。我已经在这些页面上写过关于非洲研究参考书目(McIlwaine 2001)， Peter Limb在去年的卷中给出了这个领域的优雅的“艺术状态”描述(Limb 2006)。我的指南的引言认为，虽然现有的书目比较好地涵盖了非洲的参考书目，如J.D. Pearson的《非洲参考书目世界》(牛津:布莱克威尔，1975年)和Yvette Scheven的《非洲研究书目》，1970-1985年(牛津:汉斯·泽尔，1988年)和《非洲研究书目》，1987-1993年(伦敦:汉斯·泽尔，1994年)，但对其他类别参考书目的覆盖要少得多。我自己的作品和Al Kagan的《非洲参考指南:来源参考书目，2版》(Lanham, MD:稻草人出版社，2005)都试图弥补这一缺失。当然，需要问的问题是:“参考作品”是什么意思?这个词是模糊的，特别是当一个人明确地排除书目时。两个主要的决定性特征是，第一，这些来源主要是提供事实数据，而不是解释，第二，它们的安排是为了促进快速协商，而不是要求浏览全文以确定事实。这样整洁的指导方针很容易画出来，而且不可能维护。正如我在我的指南中所指出的，也许许多人会想到的第一本关于非洲的“参考著作”是黑利勋爵的《非洲调查》，下面将进一步讨论，这是一卷书，伴随着大量的事实数据，同样广泛的评论和解释，它被安排为一个简单的专著，有章节，而不是一个快速的参考结构。当然，认为事实性信息的收集不意味着解释也是错误的:选择包括哪些数据，排除哪些数据，以及如何呈现这些数据的过程显然涉及解释。我的《指南》第一版对所包括的标题的出版日期没有限制，而且确实包含了许多19世纪出版的资料。新版只收录了自1938年(黑利勋爵非洲调查的那一年)以来出版的材料，但这个决定只是为了
{"title":"The three ages of African studies reference works","authors":"J. Mcilwaine","doi":"10.3366/ABIB.2006.VII","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/ABIB.2006.VII","url":null,"abstract":"The following reflections came to mind during my work in 2005 and 2006 on producing the revised 2 edition of my Africa: guide to reference material (Lochcarron: Hans Zell, 2007), hereinafter referred to as my Guide. They also draw upon and recommend for further reading a number of perceptive articles that have been published on Africanist reference works in the last few years. The emphasis, as in my Guide, will be on reference material other than bibliographies. I have already written in these pages about African studies bibliography (McIlwaine 2001) and Peter Limb in last year’s volume gave an elegant ‘state-of-the art’ account of this field (Limb 2006). The introduction to my Guide argues that while bibliographies of Africa are comparatively well covered by existing lists such as J.D. Pearson, World bibliography of African bibliographies (Oxford: Blackwell, 1975) and Yvette Scheven, Bibliographies for African studies, 1970-1985 (Oxford: Hans Zell, 1988) and Bibliographies for African studies, 1987-1993 (London: Hans Zell, 1994), coverage of other categories of reference works is much less readily available. This lack of coverage is something that both editions of my own work and Al Kagan’s Reference guide to Africa: a bibliography of source, 2 ed., (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005) seek to remedy. The question that needs to be asked, of course, is: what is meant by ‘reference works’? The term is vague, especially when one has specifically excluded bibliographies. The two main defining characteristics are, firstly, that such sources are concerned primarily with providing factual data, rather than interpretation, and secondly, that their arrangement is intended to facilitate rapid consultation, rather than requiring the whole text to be scanned to locate facts. Such tidy guidelines are easy to draw and impossible to maintain. As I note in my Guide, perhaps the first ‘reference work’ for Africa that would come into many minds would be Lord Hailey’s An African survey, discussed further below, which is a volume that accompanies its extensive factual data by equally extensive comment and interpretation, and that is arranged as a straightforward monograph with chapters, rather than having a quick-reference structure. It is also, of course, wrong to suggest that collections of factual information imply no interpretation: the very process of selection of what data to include and what to exclude, and how they should be presented, obviously involves interpretation. The first edition of my Guide had no limits on the date of publication of titles included, and indeed contained many references to sources published in the 19 century. The new 2 edition only includes material published since 1938 (the year of Lord Hailey’s African survey) but this decision was taken simply to","PeriodicalId":337749,"journal":{"name":"Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121746502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
les images des éternels conflits Noirs/Blancs et sédentaires/nomades mis au goût du jour sous la colonisation française, seraient l’expression de clivages ataviques. Un des objectifs des auteurs face à cette idée sera d’emblée de faire ressortir la conviction qu’au contraire, cet espace frontière permet la construction d’une intégration régionale vécue tant dans la longue durée qu’au quotidien en adéquation avec une construction identitaire. Le discours tenu tout le long de cet ouvrage se déroule à deux niveaux : au niveau de l’État frontière et à celui des espaces frontières en marge de la centralité. L’agencement y suit une démarche géographique où la première partie est consacrée à la géo-histoire au sens braudélien du terme et la seconde aux dynamiques frontalières interdépendantes. C’est ainsi que les auteurs de cet ouvrage se penchent tant sur le découpage et la conception de l’espace que sur les composantes humaines, ethniques, religieuses et culturelles de la Mauritanie en remettant des idées reçues en question notamment sur la période coloniale et leurs interactions. Les articles qui composent cette publication participent à un agencement spatial qui suit une ligne sud–nord et un schéma chronologique: à partir de l’espace sud, vallée du fleuve Sénégal et période coloniale et indépendance avec des références constantes à un passé lointain et aux structures de la société depuis le 10e siècle et les échanges caravaniers. De l’argumentation dans un contexte géographico-spatial, on passe aux formes sociales qui organisent cet espace et qui sont liées a l’urbanisation/non urbanisation, au climat, à la religion et à ses normes, aux langues mais aussi à l’aménagement linguistique, au système éducatif, à la formation des élites et aux stratifications sociales. Cette approche résolument historique privilégie un éclairage sur la longue durée en réinstallant la Mauritanie dans la sous-région, en analysant l’évolution de ses relations avec ses voisins et entre les différentes composantes de sa population pour déboucher sur la période actuelle et ses complexités. S’il faut louer l’attention particulière mise sur la frontière sud et la remise en question des préjugés coloniaux et post indépendance, on peut regretter que cela se fasse au détriment des espaces est et nord malgré un bref tour d’horizon de la question sahraouie. Cet ouvrage, cependant, s’il ne livre pas bien sûr toutes les clés pour comprendre et analyser la Mauritanie moderne, a le mérite de faire un état des lieux critique, de revisiter certains préjugés et de poser les questions fondamentales qui en font un outil indispensable pour rebondir sur la période actuelle et aborder le présent avec un regard plus nuancé certes mais même parfois résolument nouveau.
{"title":"Battling Terrorism in the Horn of Africa (review)","authors":"P. Woodward","doi":"10.1353/AFR.2007.0084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/AFR.2007.0084","url":null,"abstract":"les images des éternels conflits Noirs/Blancs et sédentaires/nomades mis au goût du jour sous la colonisation française, seraient l’expression de clivages ataviques. Un des objectifs des auteurs face à cette idée sera d’emblée de faire ressortir la conviction qu’au contraire, cet espace frontière permet la construction d’une intégration régionale vécue tant dans la longue durée qu’au quotidien en adéquation avec une construction identitaire. Le discours tenu tout le long de cet ouvrage se déroule à deux niveaux : au niveau de l’État frontière et à celui des espaces frontières en marge de la centralité. L’agencement y suit une démarche géographique où la première partie est consacrée à la géo-histoire au sens braudélien du terme et la seconde aux dynamiques frontalières interdépendantes. C’est ainsi que les auteurs de cet ouvrage se penchent tant sur le découpage et la conception de l’espace que sur les composantes humaines, ethniques, religieuses et culturelles de la Mauritanie en remettant des idées reçues en question notamment sur la période coloniale et leurs interactions. Les articles qui composent cette publication participent à un agencement spatial qui suit une ligne sud–nord et un schéma chronologique: à partir de l’espace sud, vallée du fleuve Sénégal et période coloniale et indépendance avec des références constantes à un passé lointain et aux structures de la société depuis le 10e siècle et les échanges caravaniers. De l’argumentation dans un contexte géographico-spatial, on passe aux formes sociales qui organisent cet espace et qui sont liées a l’urbanisation/non urbanisation, au climat, à la religion et à ses normes, aux langues mais aussi à l’aménagement linguistique, au système éducatif, à la formation des élites et aux stratifications sociales. Cette approche résolument historique privilégie un éclairage sur la longue durée en réinstallant la Mauritanie dans la sous-région, en analysant l’évolution de ses relations avec ses voisins et entre les différentes composantes de sa population pour déboucher sur la période actuelle et ses complexités. S’il faut louer l’attention particulière mise sur la frontière sud et la remise en question des préjugés coloniaux et post indépendance, on peut regretter que cela se fasse au détriment des espaces est et nord malgré un bref tour d’horizon de la question sahraouie. Cet ouvrage, cependant, s’il ne livre pas bien sûr toutes les clés pour comprendre et analyser la Mauritanie moderne, a le mérite de faire un état des lieux critique, de revisiter certains préjugés et de poser les questions fondamentales qui en font un outil indispensable pour rebondir sur la période actuelle et aborder le présent avec un regard plus nuancé certes mais même parfois résolument nouveau.","PeriodicalId":337749,"journal":{"name":"Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116992310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
by the authors’ comparative referencing of other African coups and relevant theories by Chazan and others. Due to Hughes and Perfect’s rich knowledge and well-rounded perspective, the analysis of Jawara’s legacy is likely to remain an authoritative statement on that subject. Hughes and Perfect provide a seminal work that will become a key reference in historiography of The Gambia. The work is not a comprehensive examination of that country; the focus remains firmly centred on the realm of top-down state governance and electoral politics. Nonetheless, the authors’ insight and attention to detail make the work of potential interest for most Gambianists and anyone desiring a broad perspective on the machinations of the urban and political elites following the establishment of Bathurst. The book will thus be an excellent background source for analyzing recent, contemporary and future developments in ‘the Smiling Coast of West Africa’. On their first page the authors repeat the common characterization of The Gambia as ‘unusually democratic’ and stable. It would be worthwhile to investigate the exact significance of that label. While this author must admit to having used a similar description of the country as relatively peaceful, such nebulous assertions beg for further examination of the standard of measurement. Although there have been some encouraging developments, including unprecedented progress on the pressing issue of women’s status and welfare, Gambian electoral politics and governance have become notably contentious in the early twenty-first century. There appears to be a worrying trend towards heightening tensions and overt manifestations of authoritarianism and violence. It remains to be seen whether the country will avoid widespread violent conflict of the type that has engulfed many of the countries in the sub-region. Regardless of what occurs, A Political History will be a vital resource for situating future developments in their historical context.
{"title":"Carrying the Sun on Our Backs: unfolding German colonialism in Namibia from Caprivi to Kasikili (review)","authors":"Wolfgang Zeller","doi":"10.1353/AFR.2007.0067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/AFR.2007.0067","url":null,"abstract":"by the authors’ comparative referencing of other African coups and relevant theories by Chazan and others. Due to Hughes and Perfect’s rich knowledge and well-rounded perspective, the analysis of Jawara’s legacy is likely to remain an authoritative statement on that subject. Hughes and Perfect provide a seminal work that will become a key reference in historiography of The Gambia. The work is not a comprehensive examination of that country; the focus remains firmly centred on the realm of top-down state governance and electoral politics. Nonetheless, the authors’ insight and attention to detail make the work of potential interest for most Gambianists and anyone desiring a broad perspective on the machinations of the urban and political elites following the establishment of Bathurst. The book will thus be an excellent background source for analyzing recent, contemporary and future developments in ‘the Smiling Coast of West Africa’. On their first page the authors repeat the common characterization of The Gambia as ‘unusually democratic’ and stable. It would be worthwhile to investigate the exact significance of that label. While this author must admit to having used a similar description of the country as relatively peaceful, such nebulous assertions beg for further examination of the standard of measurement. Although there have been some encouraging developments, including unprecedented progress on the pressing issue of women’s status and welfare, Gambian electoral politics and governance have become notably contentious in the early twenty-first century. There appears to be a worrying trend towards heightening tensions and overt manifestations of authoritarianism and violence. It remains to be seen whether the country will avoid widespread violent conflict of the type that has engulfed many of the countries in the sub-region. Regardless of what occurs, A Political History will be a vital resource for situating future developments in their historical context.","PeriodicalId":337749,"journal":{"name":"Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute","volume":"90 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115081820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
As Smith notes in his preface, his research is centred on the Igbo east of Nigeria, and thus many aspects of his description can be applied to the whole country only with great caution. At times there is some slippage in the narrative between the ‘east’ and ‘Nigeria’, but the more serious problem is that corruption takes on meaning largely in relation to national-level processes of governance and patron–clientage. Smith notes that ‘corruption’ is also a category of local knowledge, designating everything from flamboyant national corruption down to everyday practices of local deception. This is true elsewhere in the federation. Examining the relationship of the national to the local would have been useful: Smith’s work is potentially of great comparative interest, and such an account would have underlined his book’s broader applicability. It might also have allowed one to appreciate how the contemporary culture of (eastern Nigerian) corruption came into being. Such an account would make it easier to read Smith alongside books like Richard Joseph’s Democracy and Prebendal Politics and the classic essays on Nigerian corruption by M. G. Smith and Peter Ekeh. More generally, important recent work on related topics, by scholars like Bayart, Ellis, Hibou, Chabal, Daloz and Mbembe is cited but not really discussed. This is in part because these authors all focus centrally on the state. Nonetheless, Smith’s contribution could be even greater if it were systematically related to this literature. Although I fear that Smith’s important contribution will not be as easily appreciated given his lack of extended discussion of the secondary literature, this remains an important work. It should be read by anyone with an interest in crime or corruption.
{"title":"Everyday Corruption and the State: Citizens and Public Officials in Africa (review)","authors":"Laura Mann","doi":"10.1353/afr.2007.0082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/afr.2007.0082","url":null,"abstract":"As Smith notes in his preface, his research is centred on the Igbo east of Nigeria, and thus many aspects of his description can be applied to the whole country only with great caution. At times there is some slippage in the narrative between the ‘east’ and ‘Nigeria’, but the more serious problem is that corruption takes on meaning largely in relation to national-level processes of governance and patron–clientage. Smith notes that ‘corruption’ is also a category of local knowledge, designating everything from flamboyant national corruption down to everyday practices of local deception. This is true elsewhere in the federation. Examining the relationship of the national to the local would have been useful: Smith’s work is potentially of great comparative interest, and such an account would have underlined his book’s broader applicability. It might also have allowed one to appreciate how the contemporary culture of (eastern Nigerian) corruption came into being. Such an account would make it easier to read Smith alongside books like Richard Joseph’s Democracy and Prebendal Politics and the classic essays on Nigerian corruption by M. G. Smith and Peter Ekeh. More generally, important recent work on related topics, by scholars like Bayart, Ellis, Hibou, Chabal, Daloz and Mbembe is cited but not really discussed. This is in part because these authors all focus centrally on the state. Nonetheless, Smith’s contribution could be even greater if it were systematically related to this literature. Although I fear that Smith’s important contribution will not be as easily appreciated given his lack of extended discussion of the secondary literature, this remains an important work. It should be read by anyone with an interest in crime or corruption.","PeriodicalId":337749,"journal":{"name":"Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute","volume":"199 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114619661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Writing Madness: borderlines of the body in African literature (review)","authors":"Drew Shaw","doi":"10.1353/afr.2007.0075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/afr.2007.0075","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":337749,"journal":{"name":"Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123154607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Culture of Corruption: everyday deception and popular discontent in Nigeria (review)","authors":"Steven Pierce","doi":"10.1353/AFR.2007.0072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/AFR.2007.0072","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":337749,"journal":{"name":"Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute","volume":"92 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124638044","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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