AAAD 315: Political Protest and Conflict in Africa: Home
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Useful Titles
The Oxford Handbook of Nigerian Politics by
The Oxford Handbook of Nigerian Politics offers a comprehensive analysis of Nigeria's very rich history and ever changing politics to its readers. It provides a deep understanding of Nigeria's socio-political evolution and experience by covering broad range of political issues and historicaleras.
ISBN: 9780198804307Publication Date: 2018-12-18
Sierra Leone by
Sierra Leone came to world attention in the 1990s when a catastrophic civil war linked to the diamond trade was reported globally. This fleeting and particular interest, however, obscured two crucial processes in this small West African state. On the one hand, while the civil war wasmomentous, brutal and affected all Sierra Leoneans, it was also just one element in the long and faltering attempt to build a nation and state given the country's immensely problematic pre-colonial and British colonial legacies. On the other, the aftermath of the war precipitated a hugeinternational effort to construct a "liberal peace", with mixed results, and thus made Sierra Leone a laboratory for post-Cold War interventions.Sierra Leone examines 225 years of its history and fifty years of independence, placing state- society relations at the centre of an original and revealing investigation of those who have tried to rule or change Sierra Leone and its inhabitants and the responses engendered. It interweaves thehistorical narrative with sketches of politicians, anecdotes, the landscape and environment and key turning-points, alongside theoretical and other comparisons with the rest of Africa. It is a new contribution to the debate for those who already know Sierra Leone and a solid point of entry for thosewho wish to know.
ISBN: 9780199361762Publication Date: 2014-06-01
Dedan Kimathi on Trial by ISBN: 9780896803176Publication Date: 2017-11-27
The Roots of African Conflicts by
Violent conflicts have exacted a heavy toll on Africa's societies, polities and economies. The causes of conflict are too often examined by scholars from the countries that run the proxy wars and sell the arms to fuel them. This volume offers theoretically sophisticated, empirically grounded and compelling analyses of the roots of African conflicts. '...The studies in these two books seek to advance our understanding of African conflicts by going beyond the conventional and fashionable analyses of Africanist scholarship, often inflected with, if not infected by, Afropessimism, or the simplistic stereotypes conveyed in the western media that is infused with Afrophobia....these conflicts must be understood in comparative perspective, not in isolation. Violent conflict in Africa is indeed part of the human drama, but the tendency to impose universalist models of conflict driven from stylized western experiences or faddish theorising must be resisted... such paradigms lead to poor analysis and bad policy. Conflict is too serious a matter, and its costs too grave, for glib modeling or lazy journalistic speculation uninformed by the histories of, and unmindful of the concrete conditions in, the societies under scrutiny.' - From the introduction by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza Published in association with OSSREA North America: Ohio U Press; South Africa: Unisa Press . Conflict is too serious a matter, and its costs too grave, for glib modeling or lazy journalistic speculation uninformed by the histories of, and unmindful of the concrete conditions in, the societies under scrutiny.' - From the introduction by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza Published in association with OSSREA North America: Ohio U Press; South Africa: Unisa Press . Conflict is too serious a matter, and its costs too grave, for glib modeling or lazy journalistic speculation uninformed by the histories of, and unmindful of the concrete conditions in, the societies under scrutiny.' - From the introduction by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza Published in association with OSSREA North America: Ohio U Press; South Africa: Unisa Press . Conflict is too serious a matter, and its costs too grave, for glib modeling or lazy journalistic speculation uninformed by the histories of, and unmindful of the concrete conditions in, the societies under scrutiny.' - From the introduction by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza Published in association with OSSREA North America: Ohio U Press; South Africa: Unisa Press
ISBN: 9781847013002Publication Date: 2008-01-17
City of Thorns by
To the charity workers, Dabaab refugee camp is a humanitarian crisis; to the Kenyan government, it is a 'nursery for terrorists'; to the western media, it is a dangerous no-go area; but to its half a million residents, it is their last resort. Situated hundreds of miles from any other settlement, deep within the inhospitable desert of northern Kenya where only thorn bushes grow, Dadaab is a city like no other. Its buildings are made from mud, sticks or plastic, its entire economy is grey, and its citizens survive on rations and luck. Over the course of four years, Ben Rawlence became a first-hand witness to a strange and desperate limbo-land, getting to know many of those who have come there seeking sanctuary. Among them are Guled, a former child soldier who lives for football; Nisho, who scrapes an existence by pushing a wheelbarrow and dreaming of riches; Tawane, the indomitable youth leader; and schoolgirl Kheyro, whose future hangs upon her education. In City of Thorns, Rawlence interweaves the stories of nine individuals to show what life is like in the camp and to sketch the wider political forces that keep the refugees trapped there. Rawlence combines intimate storytelling with broad socio-political investigative journalism, doing for Dadaab what Katherinee Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers did for the Mumbai slums. Lucid, vivid and illuminating, City of Thorns is an urgent human story with deep international repercussions, brought to life through the people who call Dadaab home.
ISBN: 9781250067647Publication Date: 2016-01-05
Useful Titles
Political Protest in Contemporary Africa by
From spray-painted slogans in Senegal to student uprisings in South Africa, twenty-first century Africa has seen an explosion of protests and social movements. But why? Protests flourish amidst an emerging middle class whose members desire political influence and possess the money, education, and political autonomy to effectively launch movements for democratic renewal. In contrast with pro-democracy protest leaders, rank-and-file protesters live at a subsistence level and are motivated by material concerns over any grievance against a ruling regime. Through extensive field research, Lisa Mueller shows that middle-class political grievances help explain the timing of protests, while lower-class material grievances explain the participation. By adapting a class-based analysis to African cases where class is often assumed to be irrelevant, Lisa Mueller provides a rigorous yet accessible explanation for why sub-Saharan Africa erupted in unrest at a time of apparent economic prosperity.
ISBN: 9781108438254Publication Date: 2018-06-28
Women and Power in Postconflict Africa by
The book explains an unexpected consequence of the decrease in conflict in Africa after the 1990s. Analysis of cross-national data and in-depth comparisons of case studies of Uganda, Liberia and Angola show that post-conflict countries have significantly higher rates of women's political representation in legislatures and government compared with countries that have not undergone major conflict. They have also passed more legislative reforms and made more constitutional changes relating to women's rights. The study explains how and why these patterns emerged, tying these outcomes to the conjuncture of the rise of women's movements, changes in international women's rights norms and, most importantly, gender disruptions that occur during war. This book will help scholars, students, women's rights activists, international donors, policy makers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and others better understand some of the circumstances that are most conducive to women's rights reform today and why.
ISBN: 9781107535879Publication Date: 2015-10-20
Environment and Conflict by
Environmental degradation is a fast-growing problem that not only threatens to erode future development and undermine economic prosperity, but also victimizes and displaces ordinary peoples and communities in some of the most fragile areas of the world. Often grassroots opposition and mobilization is seen through a secular lens, implying that collective action is merely material and provincial. In this book John Agbonifo argues for a decolonization of the environment and to see the environment from the perspective of local communities. He examines the case of the Ogoni struggle against the Shell oil company, and asks how may we understand the struggle of the Ogoni against the state and Shell? Was the conflict merely about a minority ethnic drive at securing provincial advantages in distributional matters, or the legitimate actions of a local community aimed at preserving its environment and livelihood? Exploring the material and symbolic, provincial and nationalist dimensions of Ogoni motivation, Agbonifo's book is the first serious attempt to discuss these issues. The book will appeal to scholars and students of the Niger Delta conflicts, resource-related conflicts and social movements, in Africa and elsewhere. Those researching in the fields of development studies, political geography, civil society and collective action will also find it useful.
ISBN: 9781315579962Publication Date: 2018-07-11
Omar Al-Bashir and Africa's Longest War by
President Omar al-Bashir is Africa's and arguably Arabia's most controversial leader. In power since 1989, he is the first sitting head of state to be issued with an arrest warrant, for war crimes, by International Criminal Court. He has been a central personality in Islamic and African politics, as well as a love-to-hate figure for the US in the 'war on terror'. For military history readers, Al-Bashir is a field marshal who has fought possibly the world's longest conflict. Modern Sudan has been embroiled in war since 1955. No proper biography has been written on him before. Nor has there been a comprehensive military history of Sudan. The book briefly covers the military background until independence. Then it dissects the long north-south civil war until Bashir's Islamist military coup in 1989. Thereafter it narrates the wars in the east, south, west (in Darfur), International political and military intervention is also factored in. The author draws on in-depth one-on-one interviews with Bashir himself and his family and close political, military and intelligence colleagues.
ISBN: 9781473828230Publication Date: 2015-07-19
A Poisonous Thorn in Our Hearts by
What happened after Africa's biggest country split in two? When South Sudan ran up its flag in July 2011, two new nations came into being. In South Sudan a former rebel movement faces colossal challenges in building a new country. At independence it was one of the least developed places onearth, after decades of conflict and neglect. The '"rump state'", Sudan, has been debilitated by devastating civil wars, including in Darfur, and lost a significant part of its territory, and most of its oil wealth, after the divorce from the South. In the years after separation, the two Sudansdealt with crippling economic challenges, struggled with new and old rebellions, and fought each other along their disputed border.Benefiting from unsurpassed access to the politicians, rebels, thinkers and events that are shaping the Sudans, Copnall draws a compelling portrait of two misunderstood countries. A Poisonous Thorn in Our Hearts argues that Sudan and South Sudan remain deeply interdependent, despite theirseparation. It also diagnoses the political failings that threaten the future of both countries. The author puts the turmoil of the years after separation into a broader context, reflecting the voices, hopes and experiences of Sudanese and South Sudanese from all walks of life.
ISBN: 9781849043304Publication Date: 2014-06-01
Useful Titles
Protest! by
An authoritative, richly illustrated history of six centuries of global protest art Throughout history, artists and citizens have turned to protest art as a means of demonstrating social and political discontent. From the earliest broadsheets in the 1500s to engravings, photolithographs, prints, posters, murals, graffiti, and political cartoons, these endlessly inventive graphic forms have symbolized and spurred on power struggles, rebellions, spirited causes, and calls to arms. Spanning continents and centuries, Protest! presents a major new chronological look at protest graphics. Beginning in the Reformation, when printed visual matter was first produced in multiples, Liz McQuiston follows the iconic images that have accompanied movements and events around the world. She examines fine art and propaganda, including William Hogarth's Gin Lane, Thomas Nast's political caricatures, French and British comics, postcards from the women's suffrage movement, clothing of the 1960s counterculture, the anti-apartheid illustrated book How to Commit Suicide in South Africa, the "Silence=Death" emblem from the AIDS crisis, murals created during the Arab Spring, electronic graphics from Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution, and the front cover of the magazine Charlie Hebdo. Providing a visual exploration both joyful and brutal, McQuiston discusses how graphics have been used to protest wars, call for the end to racial discrimination, demand freedom from tyranny, and satirize authority figures and regimes. From the French, Mexican, and Sandinista revolutions to the American civil rights movement, nuclear disarmament, and the Women's March of 2017, Protest! documents the integral role of the visual arts in passionate efforts for change.
ISBN: 9780691198330Publication Date: 2019-10-29
Ripples of Hope by
In Ripples of Hope, Robert M. Press tells the stories of mothers, students, teachers, journalists, attorneys, and many others who courageously stood up for freedom and human rights against repressive rulers--and who helped bring about change through primarily nonviolent means. Global in application and focusing on Kenya, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, this tribute to the strength of the human spirit also breaks new ground in social movement theories, showing how people on their own or in small groups can make a difference.
ISBN: 9789089647481Publication Date: 2015-10-15
Sharing the Burden of Stories from the Tutsi Genocide by
This book deals with literary representations of the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda. The focus is a transnational, polyphonic writing project entitled 'Rwanda: écrire par devoir de mémoire' (Rwanda: Writing by Duty of Memory), undertaken in 1998 by a group of nine African authors. This work emphasizes the Afropolitan cultural frame in which the texts were conceived and written. Instead of using Western and Eurocentric tropes, this volume looks at a so-called 'minority trauma': an African conflict situated in a collectivist society and written about by writers from African origin. This approach enables a more situated study, in which it becomes possible to draw out the local notions of ubuntu, oral testimonies, mourning traditions, healing and storytelling strategies, and the presence of the 'invisible'. As these texts are written in French and to date not all of them have been translated into English, most academic research has been done in French. This book thus assists in connecting English-speaking readers not only to a set of texts written in French with significant literary and cultural value, but also to francophone trauma studies research.
ISBN: 9783030420925Publication Date: 2020-04-24
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