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King Of Drinks - Schnapps Gin From Modernity To Tradition

by Dmitri Van Den Bersselaar

128,53€ + 10% CARD

 Imported schnapps gin has a remarkable history in West Africa. Gin was imported in great quantities between 1880 and World War I, when its consumption showed access to the modern, international world. Subsequently schnapps was transformed into a good that signified traditional, local culture. Today, imported schnapps has high status because of its importance for African ritual and as symbol of the status of chiefs and elders, but actual consumption is limited. This book explores this unexpected trajectory of commoditisation to investigate how imported goods acquire specific local meanings. This analysis of consumption and marketing of gin contributes to our understanding of patterns of consumption, rejection and appropriation within processes of identity formation, elite formation, and the redefinition of community in colonial and postcolonial West Africa.
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Governance Of Daily Life In Africa - Ethnographic Explorations Of Public And Collective Services

128,53€ + 10% CARD

 Anchored in an empirically-grounded anthropology, this book explores the notion of governance in a non-normative way. It describes and analyses the institutional and political processes through which social actors and groups - be they state, private or 'third-sector' - contribute to the provision of public and collective goods or services. The book draws on case studies from Anglophone and Francophone Africa, crossing anthropological traditions that have too often evolved in parallel directions and dealing with a range of topics such as health, water supply, sanitation and waste management, security, humanitarian aid, land issues and decentralisation. Beyond African boundaries, it contributes to current debates about governmentality, public policy, subject making, public/private boundaries, and the role of the state.
ENGLISH

Pot-King - The Body And Technologies Of Power

by Jean-Pierre Warnier

128,53€ + 10% CARD

 The king of Mankon, in the western highlands of Cameroon, is an agricultural engineer by training, a businessman, and a prominent politician on the national stage. He partakes in the "return of the kings" in the forefront of an African public space. This book analyses the principles of the sacred kingship which lie at the core of the king's different roles. While showing that the king's body acts as a container of bodily substances transformed into unifying ancestral life-essence by appropriate means, and bestowed upon its subjects, it develops an innovative approach to bodily and material cultures as an essential component of the technologies of power. In so doing, it departs significantly from previous approaches to sacred kingship.
ENGLISH

Making Nations, Creating Strangers - States And Citizenship In Africa

128,53€ + 10% CARD

 Who belongs to the nation? How is citizenship defined? And why have such identities become so politically explosive in recent years? This book explores the instrumental manipulation of citizenship and narrowing definitions of national-belonging which refract recent political struggles in Zimbabwe, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Somalia, Tanzania, and South Africa. Conflicts which have arisen over the resources of the post-colonial state are increasingly legitimated through recourse to claims of nationhood and citizenship. The contributors address the historical roots of national and ethnic identities, the material and symbolic resources which are contested within states, and the relative importance of elite manipulation and subaltern agency.
ENGLISH

Kenyan Khat - The Social Life Of A Stimulant

128,53€ + 10% CARD

 This book provides a richly detailed ethnography of Kenyan khat, tracing some of the many national and transnational trajectories this controversial stimulant takes from its centre of production in the Nyambene Hills to consumers in Kenya and throughout the world. The author, guided by his friend and khat connoisseur M'Mucheke, draws out the full economic, social and cultural significance of the substance, situating this significance within current debates on the legality of khat and the global rhetoric of the 'war on drugs'. The work explores how networks of Kenyan khat bring people of diverse backgrounds together in sometimes uneasy relationships, and highlights the vast cluster of meanings this remarkable commodity has accrued in its 'social life'.
ENGLISH

Land And The Politics Of Belonging In West Africa

197,43€ + 10% CARD

 Recognizing that land rights are ambiguous, negotiable and politically embedded, these case studies explore the long-term processes and recent changes in contemporary rural West Africa affecting the conversion of control over land into social and political capital and vice versa. They point to the colonial origins of what came to be viewed as 'customary' tenure and to the legal pluralism characterizing pre-colonial tenure arrangements. Furthermore, they show the spiritual and ritual importance of land that can be converted into political power and economic prerogatives, a dimension neglected by much of the recent literature. Analyses cover forest and savannah, state and segmentary societies, facilitating comparison and insights across the Anglo-Francophone divide.
ENGLISH

Shaping Tradition - Civil Society, Community And Development In Colonial Northern Ghana, 1899-1957

by Jeff Grischow

197,43€ + 10% CARD

 Using Northern Ghana as a case study, this book challenges the invocation of civil society as a tool for building community in the name of development. Far from equating civil society with community, colonial officials used the doctrine of community against African civil society. For colonial officers, civil society represented the corruption of authentic development, which could be avoided only by protecting traditional peasant communities in the face of economic transformation. The book charts this colonial program, from the creation of "native states" in the early twentieth century to an ambitious agricultural mechanisation scheme in the late 1940s. In its challenge to current writing on civil society, the study offers an important contribution to African history and development studies.
ENGLISH

Political Economy Of Health Care In Senegal

by Keita

136,48€ + 10% CARD

 This work is a political economic history that analyzes approximately 350 years of rivalry between traditional, Islamic, and European systems of health in the Senegambian region of West Africa.The work is divided into three parts. Part I focuses on the theoretical parameters of a political economy of health care. Part II addresses the historical nature of health care rivalries in the Senegambian region from the mid-seventeenth century through independence. And Part III looks at contemporary contention concerning health care delivery and the ways in which 'average' people craft alternative health care mechanisms while bringing pressure to bear on national and international bodies as well.A Political Economy of Health Care in Senegal should prove useful as a critical indicator of the ways in which historical agency is manifested historically and in contemporary health policy; policy that is often initiated outside of the "official" sector.
ENGLISH

Comrades, Clients And Cousins - Colonialism, Socialism And Democratization In Sao Tome And Principe

by Gerhard Seibert

197,43€ + 10% CARD

 Colonized in the late 15th century, Sao Tome and Principe were ruled by Portugal for 500 years, one of the longest periods of European domination in colonial history. In fact, during this period the Portuguese colonized the islands twice. Both colonizations were driven by the production of tropical cash crops; however, they occurred under rather different circumstances. Its long history as a plantation colony has made this African archipelago in many aspects more akin to the small Caribbean states. Since its decolonization in 1975 the small and impoverished country has experienced two fundamental changes to its political and economic system in a short period of 15 years. After embracing socialism and a centralized economy at independence, in 1990 the country introduced liberal democracy and a free-market economy. This case study analyses the course of political and economic changes in postcolonial Sao Tome and Principe. The central issue of the book is to which extent institutional changes based on external models altered local patterns of political culture and of doing politics. In addition, it examines the outcome of the consecutive economic policies and development approaches patterned on theses models. This second edition has been completely revised and updated for the period of 1998-2005, including the recent developments in the country's emerging oil sector.
ENGLISH

Living In The Shadow Of The Large Dams - Long Term Responses Of Downstream And Lakeside Communities Of Ghana'S Volta River Project

by Dzodzi Tsikata

197,43€ + 10% CARD

 Studies of populations affected by Large Dams are usually about physically displaced and resettled communities. This book on the Volta River Project breaks with the mould and tackles the long term environmental and socio-economic impacts of the Akosombo and Kpong Dams, and livelihood responses of two neglected groups- downstream and lakeside communities. In a detailed study which takes a gendered political economy of livelihoods approach, the book considers the contribution of factors such as the environmental restructuring of the Lower Volta, the exodus of its most economically active population to the Volta Lake, the State's neglect of affected communities, the changing socio-economic context of Ghana, and social relations of class, gender and kinship, to livelihood trajectories and outcomes.
ENGLISH

Bodywork: Dress As Cultural Tool - Dress And Demeanour In The South Of Senegal

by Janet Andrewes

197,43€ + 10% CARD

 This book looks at the encounter between dress and the body. In the social sciences, dress tends to be viewed as a form of communication, a way in which the wearer gives expression to his or her ideas or situation. 'Bodywork', rather than looking at what people do with their clothes, looks at what clothes do with the wearers.In the context of three small West African communities - Muslim, Christian and Animist - the book describes the dress styles and dress practices of the villagers and shows how a particular way of dressing influences the body's demeanour and habit. It considers thereby the role played by dress in the enculturation of the body.
ENGLISH

Migrants, Credit And Climate - The Gambian Groundnut Trade, 1834-1934

by Alieu Jeng e Kenneth Swindell

197,43€ + 10% CARD

 After the ending of the Atlantic slave trade West Africa experienced a period of transition to legitimate trade, which provided agricultural staples for the burgeoning European market. One early example was the groundnut trade, which developed along the River Gambia where myriad households grew the crop, which was purchased and transported by the merchant interest. Of crucial importance were pioneer migrant farmers, whose numbers were later swelled by other labour migrants drawn from a wide area. The trade pre-dated colonial partition, and producers were integrated into the international market by extended chains of merchant credit and indebtedness. By the latter part of the 19th century the vagaries of the world market were becoming apparent, as well as the climate, which together affected output and incomes. Colonial rule created conditions for the expansion of the trade, but food supply in the face of groundnut specialization became a fundamental issue and led to experiments with irrigation and mixed farming. In the 20th century the trade was marked by drought, the First World War, credit crises, de-monetization and trade depression, while throughout it remained a migrant driven economy.The book provides an account of the Gambian groundnut trade and the associated environmental, social and economic conditions, as well as commenting on liberal and radical analyses on the shift from the Atlantic slave trade through legitimate trade to colonial rule.
ENGLISH

Spatial Factor In African History - The Relationship Of The Social, Material, And Perceptual

197,43€ + 10% CARD

 The authors of this inter-disciplinary collection examine the role of space in six areas of West, Central and East Africa during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They demonstrate the active quality of space and analyze the ways in which people have contested and shaped space, including responses to crises. In addition, a lengthy essay re-interprets tropical African history, 1800-1930, using spatial theory. Contributors look at how people have constructed mental maps, used discourse to organize territories, and perceived social landscapes. The studies employ a tri-level approach, one that moves from specific places to regions to macro-regional or transnational systems and back again. Authors draw upon written and oral sources to reconstruct the past and employ innovative mapping techniques to illustrate spatial dynamics.
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Critical Perspectives On Politics And Socio-Economic Development In Ghana

eBook 10%

ENGLISH

Critical Perspectives On Politics And Socio-Economic Development In Ghana

197,43€ + 10% CARD

 This volume provides a comprehensive and integrated analysis of Ghanaian politics, economy and society, outlining tensions, dilemmas and prospects that the country has to contend with. The chapters critically examine the performance and prospects of democratic institutions and processes; responses to, and impact of, economic policies and programs; and how culture intersects with the preceding developments to shape socio-economic and political institutions and practices. The collection is divided into four thematic sections: * Politics, the State and Democratic Consolidation * Economic Crisis and Neo-Liberal Reforms: Responses and Implications * Indigenous Institutions and the Shaping of Development * Culture, Indigenous Knowledge and Development It combines rich, recent, empirical material with sophisticated theoretical analyses, and brings unique interdisciplinary perspectives to bear on the issues examined. Contributors include: Bruce J. Berman, Joseph R.A. Ayee, Wisdom J. Tettey, Senyo Adjibolosoo, Korba P. Puplampu, Peter Arthur, Edna D. Djokoto-Asem, Kobena T. Hanson, Baffour K. Takyi, Isaac Addai, Donald I. Ray, Louis Awanyo, Charlotte Kesson-Smith, Henry M. Codjoe, George J. Sefa Dei, and Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo.
ENGLISH

Contested Liberations, Transitions And The Crisis In Zimbabwe - Encounters With Post-Colonial (Counter)Cultures (2000-2020)

by Oliver Nyambi

~~115,28€~~ 103,75€ 10% OFF

 How and when does culture enter the discourse on liberation, transition and crisis in an African post-colony such as Zimbabwe? In a deeply polarised nation reeling from a difficult transition and an unrelenting economic crisis, it is increasingly becoming difficult for the ZANU PF regime to prescribe and enforce its monolithic concept of liberation. This book culls, from contemporary (counter)cultures of liberation and transition, the state of liberations in Zimbabwe. It explores how culture has functioned as a complex site where rigid state-authored liberations are legitimated and naturalised but also where they are negotiated, contested and subverted.
ENGLISH

Zimbos Never Die? - Negotiating Survival In A Challenged Economy, 1990s To 2015

136,48€ + 10% CARD

 This book seeks to explore how the Zimbabwean society and its institutions have survived if not succumbed to continuous economic crises in the country. From the 1990s Zimbabwe experienced a sustained economic decline challenged by both internal and external strains. Coupled with internal mis-governance and corruption, the nation plunged into a political and economic crisis which culminated in the second highest world inflation rate for an economy that is not at war. In the face of the harsh and continuously deteriorating economic environments, Zimbabweans as individuals as well as part of institutions adopted various strategies to negotiate and survive the economic scourge. Contributors include Wellington Bamu, Nathaniel Chimhete, Anusa Daimon, Innocent Dande, Sylvester Dombo, Tinotenda Dube, Rudo Gaidzanwa, Tafara Evelyn Kombora, Ushehwedu Kufakurinani, Bernard Kusena, Eric Kushinga Makombe, Albert Makochekanwa, Blessed Masawi, Ivo Mhike, Joseph P. Mtisi, Joseph Mujere, Wesley Mwatwara, Pius S. Nyambara, Tinashe Nyamunda, Mark Nyandoro, Takesure Taringana and Nicola Yon (Mutimurefu).
ENGLISH

Village And Its Ngos - Co-Constructing Ngo Presence In Rural Malawi

by Thomas Mcnamara

95,40€ + 10% CARD

 In rural Northern Malawi, villagers co-construct meanings for NGOs' projects and resources. NGOs and their staff are invoked within, yet simultaneously influence, intra-community debates. This book explores NGO presence through detailing relationships, personhoods and social changes within a rural community. It argues that NGOs' projects have less impact on many Malawians' lives than the ways their presence encourages villagers to re-image development and renegotiate intra-community obligations and entitlements. The book examines moral economies and discourses of development by detailing how development narratives are built around the symbols development actors emit. It also investigates the intra-village social lives of development brokers.
ENGLISH

State-Building South Sudan - International Intervention And The Formation Of A Fragmented State

by Sara De Simone

120,58€ + 10% CARD

 How did South Sudan become one of the most striking examples of state-building failure and state collapse after years of international support? What went wrong in the state-building enterprise? How did external intervention overlap and intertwine with local processes of accumulation of power and of state formation? This book addresses these questions analysing the intersection between international and local actors and processes. Based on original ethnographic and archival data, it provides a unique account of how state-building resources were captured and manipulated by local actors at various levels, contributing to the deepening of ethnic fragmentation and the politicization of ethnicity.
ENGLISH

Across The Waves - Strategies Of Belonging In Indian Ocean Island Societies

120,58€ + 10% CARD

 All the islands of the western Indian Ocean are immigrant societies: Austronesian seafarers, African slaves, Arab traders, South Asian indentured labourers and European plantation owners have all settled, some voluntarily, others less so, on Madagascar and Zanzibar, in the Mascarenes and the Comoros. Successive arrivals often struggle to establish their places in these societies, negotiating their way in the face of antipathy, resistance, even violence, as different claims to belonging conflict. The contributions to this volume take a selection of case studies from across the region, and from different perspectives, contributing to a theorisation of the concept of belonging itself. Contributors are Patrick Desplat, Franziska Fay, Marie-Aude Fouere, Akbar Keshodkar, Hans Olsson, Gitanjali Pyndiah, Ramola Ramtohul, Iain Walker
ENGLISH

African Agency In China'S Tea Trade - Commercial Networks, Brand Creation And Intellectual Property

by Ute Roschenthaler

125,88€ + 10% CARD

 Every month tons of green tea travel from China to West Africa in a movement that largely thrives beyond the attention of Western observers. In this trade, Malian merchants assumed a central role. They travel to China, visit family gardens and the factories, which process and package the product. Together with their Chinese suppliers, they select the tea leaves and create their brand. On Bamako's largest market, the Grand Marche, more than a hundred different tea brands are found, whose packages have colourfully, often eye-catching designs with brand-names such as Gazelle, Tombouctou, Arafat and Obama. This book explores the unique tea culture that celebrates with its brands the strength of desert animals, the fading glory of trading places, the excitement of social events and the accomplishments of admired politicians.
ENGLISH

Constructing History, Culture And Inequality - The Betsileo In The Extreme Southern Highlands Of Madagascar

by Sandra Evers

197,43€ + 10% CARD

 During the early 20th century, a group of ex-slaves established a frontier society in the no-man's-land of the extreme Southern Highlands of Madagascar.First settlers skilfully deployed a fluid set of Malagasy customs to implant a myth of themselves as tompon-tany or "masters of the land". Eventually, they created a land monopoly to reinforce their legitimacy and to exclude later migrants. Some of them were labelled andevo ("slave" or "slave descent"). The tompon-tany prohibited the andevo from owning land, and thereby from having tombs. This book focuses on the plight of the tombless andevo, and how their ascribed impurity and association with infertility, illness, death and misfortune made them an essential part of the tompon-tany world-view.
ENGLISH

Undercurrents Of Ethnic Conflict In Kenya

by John Oucho

197,43€ + 10% CARD

 This book analyses the ethnic conflict that engulfed Kenya's Rift Valley Province at the turn of the nineties when multi-party democratic politics were being reintroduced in the country. Its central thesis is that ethnic conflict in the country then was a function of several issues, among them ethnocentrism, politics, the land question and criminal behaviour in certain circles. Both its determinants and consequences are demographic, economic, political and socio-cultural, implying the risks involved in oversimplifying issues.
ENGLISH

Place In The World - New Local Historiographies In Africa And South Asia

197,43€ + 10% CARD

 Local histories, written and published by non-academic historians, constitute a rapidly expanding genre in contemporary non-Western societies. However, academic historians and anthropologists usually take little notice of them. This volume takes a comparative look at local historical writing. Thirteen case studies, set in seven different countries of sub-Saharan Africa, India and Nepal, examine the authors, their books and their audiences. From different perspectives, they analyse the genre's intellectual roots, its relationship to oral historical narratives, and its relevance and impact in local and wider arenas. Local histories, it turns out, pursue a variety of agendas. They (re)construct local and communal identities affected by rapid social change. Often, they (re)write history as part of cultural and political struggles. Openly or implicitly, all of them place local communities on the map of the world at large.
ENGLISH

Mediating Means And Fate - A Socio-Political Analysis Of Fertility And Demographic Change In Bamako, Mali

by Saskia Brand

197,43€ + 10% CARD

 Why do birth rates fail to drop in Sub-Saharan Africa? This question has preoccupied demographers and population planners for decades. The expectation of fertility decline is based on the demographic transition model which still dominates demographic thinking, and which assumes a universal development towards low mortality and fertility levels following modernisation.This book argues that population dynamics can only be understood when viewed in their particular context. It provides both a critique of demographic methods and theorizing, and a detailed analysis of fertility issues in the rapidly changing urban environment of Bamako, capital city of Mali.A new light is shed on the population debate through the conceptualization of the meso-level, illuminating a part of the social world which usually remains obscure.
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