Muslim Societies in African History
David Robinson
Examining Islamisation, Arabisation, Africanisation and the Muslim societies of Africa over the past thousand years, David Robinson reveals the complex struggles of Muslims throughout the continent. His study ranges through Morocco, the Hausaland region of Nigeria, the "pagan" societies of Ashanti (Ghana) and Buganda (Uganda), and the ostensibly Christian state of Ethiopia.
February 2004
Cambridge University Press, UK
256 pages

Re-Imagining a Continent
Josef Gugler
This book is an analysis of fifteen films created by film-makers from Africa and its diaspora. The films featured cover topics ranging from new perspectives on Africa prior to the intrusion of the West, to the struggle against colonialism to post-colonial issues of authoritarian rule, neo-colonialism, corruption, inequality and the condition of the peasantry with the position of women a recurrent theme.
James Currey, UK
2003

Africa Shoots Back: Alternative Perspectives in Sub-Saharan Francophone African Film
Melissa Thackway
The author shows how directors working in a post-colonial context that has inevitably influenced film agendas and styles have produced a range of alternative, challenging representations. The book focuses on ways in which memory and history have become central themes and how local cultural forms have integrated into the film medium to depict African identities, realities and concerns.
James Currey, UK
2003

Pounders of Grain: A History of Women, Work, and Politics in Mozambique
Sheldon, Kathleen E.
This is a history of women in Mozambique, beginning in the mid-19th century with description of a variety of rural societies and ending with the impact of structural adjustment and processes of democratization at the end of the 20th century.
2002
Heinemann.
311 pages

From War to Peace on the Mozambique-Malawi Borderlands
Harri Englund
This book is the first full-length ethnography to tell villagers' stories from war to peace in Mozambique. Extended case studies of particular villages and families on the Mozambique-Malawi borderland form the core of the book. It traces their paths to war, exile and post-war reconstruction.
Edinburgh University Press, Scotland
2002
232 pages

A Tragedy of Lives: Women in Prison in Zimbabwe
Chiedza Musengezi & Irene Staunton
A collection of stories, based on interviews with former female prisoners. As a body, the stories show that women who find themselves in prison are often driven by circumstances into a situation where the emotional or material poverty of their lives makes breaking the law the only option.
2003
Weaver Press, Zimbabwe
240 pages

Eating Apes
Dale Peterson
The consumption of apes as it occurs today throughout much of their range combines with other threats (such as habitat destruction) to promise imminent extinctions. Eating Apes is a also book about people, in particular two individuals who became involved in the subject and problem: Karl Ammann, the determined and difficult man who took all the photographs appearing in this book, and Joseph Melloh, the gorilla hunter from Cameroon.
University of California Press, USA
2003
333 pages

An Economic Blueprint for Ghana
T.E. Anin
Ghana imports $100 million of rice a year which represents an unsustainable burden on the country's trade and exchange balances; and is a primary cause of devastation to the national economy. This book examines the extent to which past Ghanaian governments have succeeded in providing citizens with basic needs: food, water, clothing and shelter; and compares Ghana's economic performance with countries which were in comparable or worse positions in the 1960s and 1970s.
2003
Woeli Publishing Services
159 pages

Bola Ige. The Passage of a Modern Cicero
Ayo Banjo & Wale Okediran et.al
A tribute to mark the anniversary of the death of Chief BolaIge, the renowned Nigerian social-democrat politician scholar and cultural figure who was assassinated in December 2001. The book contains tributes, scholarly essays on Ige's contributions to politics, philosophy, law, literature and Nigeria's political development; and creative responses to Ige's life's work and memory in the form of poetry and drama.
2003
Bookcraft, Nigeria
240 pages

Foreign Policy with Particular Reference to Nigeria 1961-2000
Victor Nwaozichi Chibundu
This work presents the author's position on the consistency and continuity of Nigeria's foreign policy from independence until the present, with particular reference to this country's relationship with China.
2003
Spectrum Books, Nigeria
167 pages

Transforming Mozambique: The Politics of Privatization, 1975–2000
M. Anne Pitcher
This study of Mozambique’s shift from a command to a market economy draws on empirical material, including archival sources, interviews, political posters and corporate advertisements to reveal that the state is a central actor in the reform process, despite the claims of neo-liberals and their critics.
Cambridge University Press, UK
2002
320 pages

Islamic Criminal Law in Nigeria
Ruud Peters
A survey of Sharia criminal law, commissioned by the European Commission, aimed at providing an analysis of the re-islamification of the Northern Nigerian states, based on classical Islamic texts. The study identifies conflicts between the Koranic codes and the human rights principles guaranteed in the Nigerian federal constitution, and in the United Nations conventions on human rights.
2003
Spectrum Books, Nigeria
96 pages

'Half-London' in Zambia: Contested Identities in a Catholic Mission School
Anthony Simpson
This book describes life in St Antony's, a Zambian Catholic boys' mission boarding school, in the 1990s. Drawing upon Michel Foucault's notion of the panoptic gaze, Simpson demonstrates how students are both drawn to mission
education as a "civilizing process," yet also resist many of the lessons that the official institution offers.
Edinburgh University Press, Scotland
2003
224 pages

The Nordic Countries and Africa
Old and New Relations
Wohlgemuth, Lennart (Ed)
Various authors were invited to indicate what role Africa has played in politics, trade and other fields in their countries.
Published by Nordic Africa Institute
2002
53 pages

Salutation to the Gut
Wole Soyinka
This is a short essay written more than 40 years ago and never previously published. It is a celebration of Yoruba culture, gastronomy, hedonism, and poetry; and makes shrewd comparisons with European cultures, citing Jonathan Swift, Dr Johnson, and the classical Greeks.
Bookcraft, Nigeria
2003
110 pages

Malangatana
Edited by Julio Navarro
A collection of paintings by this world-famous Mozambican artist. Originally published in Portuguese this English translation offers a marvellous overview of the life and works of Malangatana Valente.
Mkuki nya Nyota
2003
223 pages

Conrad in Africa: New Essays on Heart of Darkness
Edited by Adriaan M. de Lange and Gail Fincham
A collection of essays with contributions by writers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, and South Africa. Topics include the development of narrative voice in Heart of Darkness; the relationship between fictionality and missionary discourse; the notion of race in Conrad´s work; and Heart of Darkness in contemporary classroom practice in European and South African contexts.
Columbia University Press, USA
2003

Ghanaianisms. A Glossary
Kari Dako
A compilation of words and expressions peculiar to English in Ghana, and used by English-speaking Ghanaians. The glossary contains some 2,000 entries. For each entry, the sources and history of the words, their meanings, and examples of usage are provided.
Ghana University Press
2003
234 pages

Ships of Slaves. Vol. 2
Thorkild Hansen & Kari Dako (trans.)
The second in the trilogy, The Ships of Slaves, which tells the story of the Danish/Norwegian participation in the transatlantic slave trade on the Gold Coast (now Ghana) to the West Indies. This volume details the journey the slaves underwent; the conditions in which they travelled, and resulting deaths along the way; and the auctions on St Thomas and St Croix in the West
Indies.
2003
Sub-Saharan Publishers, Ghana
204 pages

Taking Law to the People. Gender, Law Reform and Community Legal Eduction in Zimbabwe
Amy Shupikai Tsanga
This study analyses the challenges which face organisations charged with transmitting laws to the people; and examines the many factors - culture, gender, communication methods and organisational models - which affect the reception of state law.
2003
Weaver Press, Zimbabwe
304 pages

A Living Tradition. Studies in Yoruba Civilisation
Louis J. Munoz
This is a collection of papers written over the past few decades on Yoruba cultural heritage. It brings together a wealth of material on Yoruba history, art, and institutions within a framework of writing on the phenomenon, history, and sociology of tradition. A main theme is that there is no antithesis between tradition and modernity.
2003
Bookcraft, Nigeria
271 pages

War and Peace in the Sudan: A Tale of Two Countries
Mansour Khalid
Sudan has been at war with itself for the last forty years, except for a ten-year period of peace from 1972 to 1983. This book traces the root causes of the Sudanese conflict: the remnants of slave culture and the rift between North and South, exacerbated by a conflict of culture and religion. The author identifies new points of departure in the conflict, particularly after the agreement reached by John Garang de Marbos in the South and the leadership of the Northern parties.
2003
Kegan Paul

Mau Mau and Nationhood
Arms, Authority and Narration
Ed. E.S. Atieno Odhiambo & John Lonsdale
Fifty years after the declaration of the state of emergency Mau Mau still excites argument and controversy, not least in Kenya itself. This books combines retrospective overviews with fresh research to achieve a multi-layered analysis of an enduring topic.
James Currey
2003

Nation-Building, Propaganda and Literature in Francophone Africa
Thomas, Dominic
What characterizes the relationship between literature and the state? Should literature serve the needs of the state by constructing national consciousness, espousing state propaganda, and moulding good citizens? Or should it be dedicated to a different kind of creative social endeavour?
2002
Indiana University Press
296 pages

Ethiopia – The Challenge of Democracy from Below
Zewde, Bahru and Siegfried Pausewang (Eds)
This book analyses the democratic potential of Ethiopian non-governmental organisations, the independent press and advocacy groups as they are used by urban Ethiopians to express their democratic interests.
Published in co-operation with Forum for Social Studies, Addis Ababa
2002
215pp

Images and Empires: Visuality in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa
Edited by Paul S. Landau and Deborah D. Kaspin
Figurative images have long played a critical role in Africa - mediating relationships between the coloniser and the colonised, the state and the individual, and the global and the local. This volume considers the meaning and power of images in African history and culture.
University of California Press
2002
396 pages

Culture and the Senses: Bodily Ways of Knowing in an African Community
Kathryn Linn Geurts
This study investigates the cultural meaning system and resulting sensorium of Anlo-Ewe-speaking people in southeastern Ghana. The five-senses model has little relevance in Anlo culture, where balance is a sense, and balancing (in a physical and psychological sense as well as in literal and metaphorical ways) is an essential component of what it means to be human.
University of California Press, USA
2003
333 pages

The Sacrificed Generation: Youth, History, and the Colonized Mind in Madagascar
Lesley A. Sharp
Youth and identity politics figure prominently in this study of personal and collective memory in Madagascar. An ethnography of historical consciousness, it refutes dominant assumptions that African children are the helpless victims of postcolonial crises, incapable of organised, sustained collective thought or action.
University of California Press, USA
2002
368 pages

Re-examining Liberation in Namibia
Melber, Henning (Ed)
This book takes stock of emerging trends in Namibia’s political structure since independence in 1990.
Nordic Africa Institute
2003
149 pages

Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region
Daymond M.J. (ed)
This book brings over 120 selections by women in six countries of southern Africa, ranging from wedding songs and work songs to letters, prison diaries, poetry, memoirs, and recent testimony before South African's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
2003
Feminist Press
608pp

Ghana – Long Term Growth, Atrophy and Stunted Recovery
Leith, J. Clark & Ludwig Soderling
Ghana gained independence in 1957 but the country still faces increasing chaotic political and economic turbulence. A major reform programme was launched fifteen years ago, but its success has been modest. This book attempts to answer the question why Ghana has not achieved sustained and rapid long-term growth
Nordic Africa Institute
2003
110 pages

Beyond the Miracle: Inside the New South Africa
Allister Sparks
Sparks provides an account of the first nine years of democratic government in South Africa. Covering both the new regime's achievements and its failures, he asks whether South Africa can overcome its history and current global trends to create a truly non-racial, multicultural, and multiparty democracy.
University of Chicago Press, USA
2003
370 pages

Trends in Malawian Literature
Francis Moto
The author presents an assessment of the early missionaries’ contribution to early Malawian literature, and a brief examination of how Malawi’s post-independence politics affected Malawi’s literary landscapes. He outlines the concerns of later writers. He also analyses the effects of censorship on literature in Malawi, and why most post-independence novels have chosen safe topics, or practiced self-censorship.
Chancellor College Publishers
2003
194 pages

Zimbabwe's Fight to the Finish: The Catalyst of the Free Market
John L. Moore
This book challenges the Western interpretation that poor governance under President Mugabe is the sole cause of the Zimbabwean crisis. Inherited and highly unequal colonial structures, and the impoverishing impact of an IMF and World Bank conditionally sponsored Structural Adjustment Program are considered primarily responsible. Instead of isolating the country, Western states should help Zimbabwe resolve the land question, which is more likely to secure a democratic and prosperous future.
2003
Kegan Paul

Encounter Images in the Meetings between Africa and Europe
Palmberg, Mai (Ed)
Two basic European themes usually either romanticise "the primitive" or looks down on "the backward" idea of Africa. This book reflects an understanding of how images have evolved in the encounters between Africa and Europe.
Nordic Africa Institute
2001
290 pages

Africans and the Industrial Revolution in England: A Study in International Trade and Economic Development
Joseph E. Inikori
Drawing on classical development theory and recent theoretical advances on the connection between expanding markets and technological developments,this book reveals the role of the expansion of Atlantic commerce in the completion of England's industrialisation from 1650-1850.
Cambridge University Press, UK
2002
598 pages

Beyond the Barricades. A Collection of Contemporary Malawian Plays
Mufunanji Magalasi (Ed)
This collection comprises nine plays by five dramatists. The dramatists include the late Du Chisiza Jr., Mufananji Magalasi, Gertrude Webster Kamkwatira, Innocent Kommwa and Smith Likongwe.
Chancellor College Publishers, Malawi
2003
188 pages

The Unsung Song. An Anthology of Malawian Writing in English
Edited by Reuben Chirambo, Mix J. Iphani & Zondiwe Mbano
An introduction to contemporary literature in Malawi, comprising short stories, poetry, and some opening essays on literary genres.
Chancellor College Publishers, Malawi
2003
304 pages

Blind Moon
Chenjerai Hove
The poems reflect on the plight of the individual citizen and the state of Zimbabwe. They convey empathy for those who suffer anonymous deaths at the expense of tyrannical power, and yearning for a more peaceful world and spirit of common destiny.
Weaver Press, Zimbabwe
2003
64 pages

The Baobabs of Tete and Other Stories
Kari Dako
The title story is a reflection of the war in Mozambique, its people abandoned to drought and floods. Other stories in this collection are set in Botswana, Angola, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone and Liberia. 'Purple Heart' tells the story of Selina Clarke, a 13 year-old orphan and paraplegic with both legs amputated above the knee; a victim of one of Africa's civil wars.
Sub Saharan Publishers, Ghana
2002

Purple Hibiscus
Ngozi Chimamanda Adichie
In the city of Enugu, Nigeria, fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother, Jaja, lead a privileged life. But, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, their home life is anything but harmonious. Home is silent and suffocating. When Kambili's loving and outspoken Aunty Ifeoma persuades her brother that the children should visit her in Nsukka, Kambili and Jaja take their first trip away from home and they discover a whole new world.
2003
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
320 pages

Juggling Truths
Dow, Unity
This third novel by Botswana’s first and only female High Court Judge, Juggling Truths is the story of Monei - a young girl growing up in the village of Mochudi in the late 1960s. Simply surviving childhood and the education system is a major victory for Monei but she also has to learn to juggle her traditional African beliefs and Western mores.
Spinifex Press, Australia
2003

Lara and Kariba
Adetowun Ogunsheye
A story set in a small Nigerian town, about a young girl, Lara, and her dog, Kariba. Lara is the youngest child in her family and her siblings are away at school in the city. Lara develops a strong friendship with her dog, who accompanies her and her friends to school everyday. A story suitable for young children, reasonably fluent in reading. The author is a teacher with many children's books to her credit.
2003
Spectrum Books
18 pages