Dr Oliver’s HONORABLE ROBBERS
A highly pampered young medical undergraduate, whose father had invested so heavily in his education and who was the pride of his parents, derails from his course in the university and joins a secret cult.In the course of his initiation, he discovers to his chagrin that his highly revered father, who was one of the economic pillars of the society, was indeed one of the secret patrons of the murderous organization. He discovers further that his once adored father must have made his billions from the criminal activities of the organization.A later chance discovery by the distraught father that his treasured only son was a new entrant into the criminal gang sets off an instant deep-seated remorse from the father that was to lead him into violation of the sworn tenets of the organization. These tenets included an order "never to quit" at the level at which he was. The reprisals from the evil organization were instant.Other beneficiaries of the evil gang and prot矇g矇s of the absconded kingpin got into governance and were to pollute what was otherwise a highly revered legislative body.Greed and avarice were to lead to mutual mistrust and destruction.The emergence of a new generation of leaders out of the ashes of virtual Armageddon appeared to hold out some light at the end of the tunnel: A new generation, new hope, and a new breath of fresh air emerged for a people held down for too long by a cabal that had its fangs thrust deeply into the flesh of the society!
Fighting for the Rain Forest
Do small wars in Africa manifest a 'new barbarism'? What appears as random, anarchic violence is no such thing. The terrifying military methods of of Sierra Leone's soldiers may not fir conventional western models of warfare, but they are rational and effective nonetheless. The war must be understood partly as a 'performance', in which techniques of terror compensate for lack of equipment. PAUL RICHARDS is Professor of Technology and Agrarian Development, Wageningen University, and Professor of Anthroplogy, University College, London Published in association with the International African Institute North America: Heinemann
Japuonj Aloys Afulo (1922-2006)- Part I
Japuonj Afulo, a Luo-Kadimo elder, was meant to be his father's herdsboy, but somehow manouvres his way to school, ending up as a headteacher in 1946. Starting off as an Anglican in Usenge sector school, Siaya County (Kenya), Japuonj proceeds to Yala intermediate and gets converted to Catholic. He walks many kilometres to Aluor, carrying only Kuon Anang'a as his meal for all the days, in order to undertake Catechism / Confirmation lessons. Aluor was a far location to which he must walk from his Kasau (Kadimo)/ Kadimu) home, spend at least a week, and walk back, relying on the same Kuon Anang'a (specially prepared & preserved sorghum thick porridge made from milk). Japuonj walks through a successful yet busy and challenging teaching career path. After 2-3 year experience, he established a new, and the first Catholic school, Nyamonye, in Kadimo (Kadimu) amongst his father's uncles, the Kowil. Here he successfully navigates through a very rough terrain for two decades, even losing his first Wife, Akoth Olali nyar Kobong'. He marries Margaret Nyar Kagwa, and works in Nyamonye for 2 decades before leaving for Barkanyango school following a Kisumu Gunshot mishap. Along the way, Japuonj successfully tries his luck in the then prestigious provincial administration as an assistant chief, (then called Mruka) but is persuaded by the then Father in Charge, Auderaa not to take up the position even though he won. This gives his number two, Zedekiah Opala (Nyakwar Jiii) a chance to become an assistant .chief. All along, Japuonj proves to be a point man for the catholic's Mill Hill mission in the entire Bondo and Rarieda sub-counties, and successfully walking the journey from Aluor, and seeing the establishment of Lwak, Nyangoma and Nyamonye missions. His initial efforts to bring the missionaries to establish the Nyamonye mission fails after the hosts to be refuse to offer land. This gives Nyangoma a chance, a mistake that Nyamonye faithfuls pay for heavily by walking to Nyang'oma for 20 years before finally having a parish established there by Fr Kraackman. Whike in Nyamonye, Japuonj starts off other catholic schools in Kadimo (Kadimu), but Ulungo and Lul fail to survive due to religious conflict with the dominant CMS, while Goye is submerged by the Independence floods of 1964. Othach Survives courtesy of shrewd community and parent mobilization by Afulo's in law, Mzee Okongo. Afulo proves to be an all round leader who is also elected by his dominant Kadimo kin as the founding chair of the of newly formed kanyathuon welfare association, Dala Branch. He successfully leads the association for 3 decades, registering key achievements of establishing 6 primary schools and at least a secondary school in the Kanyathuon sub-clans, before finally passing over the mantle to a youthful but promising Wison Odhiambo Oreme. He retires gracefully after 40 years of remarkable service, but continue to offer his services to the community as a mentor and advisor. He dies in 2006, leaving behind two widows, Margaret Akelo nya Kagwa, and Margaret Auma nyar Ugenya, alongside 16 highly successful professional adult children, and at least 40 grandchildren. The book discusses to depth the Kadimo genealogy, comprising Kanyathuon, Ajongo, Bith / Oyugi and Maganda. Besides, the book delves into the migration of the Japuonj's ancestor, Dimo, right from his brief sojourn in Soroti, Alego, and triumphant arrival and conquest of Yimbo @ Misori. The book further discusses the Dimo relationship with other clans he found settled in Yimbo, with a special relationship built with the Goma through a deliberate marriage . pact. This is a rich history of the Kadimu and Kenya, in various sectors, with a focus on religion and education. The cultural practices of the Luo, including Nago Lak (removal of 6 lower teeth), are discussed, as well as marriage, dowry, traditional foods of Yimbo, and a brief history of introduction of new religion to East Africa, Kenya and
Bacteriology in British India
The first book to provide a social and cultural history of bacteriology in colonial India, situating it at the confluence of colonial medical practices, institutionalization, and social movements. During the nineteenth century, European scientists and physicians considered the tropics the natural home of pathogens. Hot and miasmic, the tropical world was the locus of disease, for Euopeans the great enemy of civilization. Inthe late nineteenth century when bacteriological laboratories and institutions were introduced to British India, they were therefore as much an imperial mission to cleanse and civilize a tropical colony as a medical one to eradicate disease. Bacteriology offered a panacea in colonial India, a way by which the multifarious political, social, environmental, and medical problems and anxieties, intrinsically linked to its diseases, could have a single resolution. Bacteriology in British India is the first book to provide a social and cultural history of bacteriology in colonial India, situating it within the confluence of advances in germ theory, Pastuerian vaccines, colonial medicine, laboratory science, and British imperialism. It recounts the genesis of bacteriology and laboratory medicine in India through a complex history of conflict and alignment between Pasteurism and British imperial medicine. By investigating an array of laboratory notes, medical literature, and literary sources, the volume links colonial medical research with issues of poverty, race, nationalism, and imperial attitudes toward tropical climate andwildlife, contributing to a wide field of scholarship like the history of science and medicine, sociology of science, and cultural history. Pratik Chakrabarti is Chair in History of Science and Medicine, University of Manchester.
Natural Resources and Conflict in Africa
The first comprehensive account of the linkage between natural resources and political and social conflict in Africa. Conflict over natural resources has made Africa the focus of international attention, particularly during the last decade. From oil in Nigeria and diamonds in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to land in Zimbabwe and water in theHorn of Africa, the politics surrounding ownership, management, and control of natural resources has disrupted communities and increased external intervention in these countries. Such conflict has the potential to impact natural resource supply globally, with both local and wide-reaching consequences. The United States, for example, estimates that a quarter of its oil supply will come from Africa by 2015. Natural Resources and Conflict in Africa is the first book to offer a detailed look at conflict over various natural resources in several African countries. Abiodun Alao undertakes this broad survey by categorizing natural resources into four groups: land [including agricultural practices and animal stock], solid minerals, oil, and water. Themes linking these resources to governance and conflict are then identified and examined with numerous examples drawn from specific African countries. Alao's approach offers considered conclusions based on comparative discussions and analysis, thus providing the first comprehensive account of the linkage between natural resources and political and social conflict in Africa. Abiodun Alao is professor of African studies at King's College London.
Sacred River
The reincarnation of a legendary nineteenth-century Caribbean emperor as a contemporary African leader is at the heart of this novel. Sacred River deals with the extraordinary lives, hopes, powerful myths, stories, and tragedies of the people of a modern West African nation. It is also the compelling love story of an idealistic philosophy professor and an ex-courtesan of incomparable beauty. Two hundred years after his death, the great Haitian emperor Henri Christophe miraculously appears in a dream to Tankor Satani, president of the fictional West African country of Kissi, with instructions for Tankor to continue Henri Christophe's rule, which had been interrupted by "that damned Napoleon." Ambitious in scope, Sacred River is a diaspora-inspired novel, in which Cheney-Coker has tackled the major themes of politics, social strife, crime and punishment, and human frailty and redemption in Malagueta, the fictional, magical town and its surroundings first created by the author in The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar, for which he was awarded the coveted Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Sacred River is equally about love and politics, and marks the return to fiction of one of Africa's major writers.
The Fante and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Examines the history of the Fante people of southern Ghana during the transatlantic slave trade, 1700 to 1807. The history of Ghana attracts popular interest out of proportion to its small size and marginal importance to the global economy. Ghana is the land of Kwame Nkrumah and the Pan-Africanist movement of the 1960s; it has been a temporary home to famous African Americans like W. E. B. DuBois and Maya Angelou; and its Asante Kingdom and signature kente cloth--global symbols of African culture and pride--are well known. Ghana also attracts a continuous flow of international tourists because of two historical sites that are among the most notorious monuments of the transatlantic slave trade: Cape Coast and Elmina Castles. These looming structures are a vivid reminder of the horrific trade that gave birth to the black population of the Americas. The Fante and the Transatlantic Slave Trade explores the fascinating history of the transatlantic slave trade on Ghana's coast between 1700 and 1807. Author Rebecca Shumway brings to life the survival experiences of southern Ghanaians as they became both victims of continuous violence and successful brokers of enslaved human beings. The era of the slave trade gave birth to a new culture in this part of West Africa, just as it was giving birth to new cultures across the Americas. The Fante and the Transatlantic Slave Trade pushes Asante scholarship to the forefront of African diaspora and Atlantic World studies by showing the integral role of Fante middlemen and transatlantic trade in the development of the Asante economy prior to 1807. Rebecca Shumway is assistant professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh.
The Granta Book of the African Short Story
Presenting a diverse and dazzling collection from all over the continent, from Morocco to Zimbabwe, Uganda to Kenya. Helon Habila focuses on younger, newer writers - contrasted with some of their older, more established peers - to give a fascinating picture of a new and more liberated Africa. These writers are characterized by their engagement with the wider world and the opportunities offered by the end of apartheid, the end of civil wars and dictatorships, and the possibilities of free movement. Their work is inspired by travel and exile. They are liberated, global and expansive. As Dambudzo Marechera wrote: 'If you're a writer for a specific nation or specific race, then f*** you." These are the stories of a new Africa, punchy, self-confident and defiant. Includes stories by: Fatou Diome; Aminatta Forna; Manuel Rui; Patrice Nganang; Leila Aboulela; Zo禱 Wicomb; Alaa Al Aswany; Doreen Baingana; E.C. Osondu.
The Front Line Runs Through Every Woman
Theorizes the experiences of women in wartime, and specifically of African women during Zimbabwe's anti-colonial struggle. A Zimbabwe-specific study, focusing on the lives of women in a small locale (Chiweshe) during the anti-colonial insurgency, this book is also a challenge to established and still current modes of thought and research orientationswhich over-simplify the complex realities women face in the full range of violent conflicts, both past and present. By contextualizing the voices of women of Chiweshe, not only is an important and under-developed aspect of Zimbabwean and African history revealed, but a new approach to comprehending the highly-tensioned lives of women in war is presented, which is characterized here as Gendered Localised Resistance. This is examined through the prism of life in the Protected Villages in Chiweshe experienced in everyday social relations, revolutionary roles, and food security. It traces how women forged strategies of survival and resistance in the middle of guerrilla warfare pitted between the forces of the state and the revolutionary resistance movements. The book can be read as a unique and richly detailed account of the lives of women during the Zimbabwe civil war and liberation struggle; as a wider argument about how researchers can approach and incorporate lived experience into accounts of larger dynamics (war/revolution); and as a substantial and important contribution to feminist historiography and writings on women and war. Eleanor O' Gorman is Senior Associate at the Gender Studies Centre and a Research Associate at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge; an independent consultant who has advised the UN, the UK Government (DFID and FCO), the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, the European Commission, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Zimbabwe: Weaver Press
Rising Anthills
Female genital excision, or the ritual of cutting the external genitals of girls and women, is undoubtedly one of the most heavily and widely debated cultural traditions of our time. By looking at how writers of African descent have presented the practice in their literary work, Elisabeth Bekers shows how the debate on female genital excision evolved over the last four decades of the twentieth century, in response to changing attitudes about ethnicity, nationalism, colonialism, feminism, and human rights. Rising Anthills (the title refers to a Dogon myth) analyzes works in English, French, and Arabic by African and African American writers, both women and men, from different parts of the African continent and the diaspora. Attending closely to the nuances of language and the complexities of the issue, Bekers explores lesser-known writers side by side with such recognizable names as Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Flora Nwapa, Nawal El Saadawi, Ahmadou Kourouma, Calixthe Beyala, Alice Walker, and Gloria Naylor. Following their literary discussions of female genital excision, she discerns a gradual evolution--from the 1960s, when writers mindful of its communal significance carefully "wrote around" the physical operation, through the 1970s and 1980s, when they began to speak out against the practice and their societies' gender politics, to the late 1990s, when they situated their denunciations of female genital excision in a much broader, international context of women's oppression and the struggle for women's rights.
South Africa
Including short stories from some of South Africa's best and most renowned writers (Nadine Gordimer, J.M. Coetzee, and Alan Paton, to name only a few), this collection accompanies readers to a recent, but altogether different South Africa, reflecting perspectives of both the oppressed and the oppressors. Some of the stories are previously unpublished, but all of them constitute examples of the most imaginative and provocative South African writing, from many disparate perspectives.
Crossing the Zambezi
This is the story of 150 years of conflict and contested claims over control and access to the waters and banks of the River Zambezi, one of Africa's longest and most important rivers. This book is a history of claims to the Zambezi, focussed on the stretch of the river extending from the Victoria Falls downstream into Lake Kariba, which today constitutes the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is a story of150 years of conflict over the changing landscape of the river, in which the tension between the Zambezi's 'river people' and more powerful others has been central. The Zambezi is one of Africa's longest and most important rivers - securing access to its waters and control over its banks, traffic and commerce were crucial political priorities for leaders of precolonial states no less than their colonial and postcolonial successors. The book is about the ways in which the course of the Zambezi has shaped history, its shifting role as link, barrier or conduit, the political, economic and cultural uses of the technological projects that have transformed the landscape, and their legacies in the conflicts of today. By investigating how the claims made today by Zambezi 'river people' relate to longer history of claims and appropriations, the book contributes to long-standing debates over the relationship between geography and history, landscape and power. JOANN MCGREGOR is a Lecturer in Geography at University College London
Under African Skies
Spanning a wide geographical range, this collection features many of the now prominent first generation of African writers and draws attention to a new generation of writers. Powerful, intriguing and essentially non-Western, these stories will be welcome by an audience truly ready for multicultural voices. With contributions from: Amos Tutuola (Nigeria)Camara Laye (Guinea)Birago Diop (Senegal)Sembene Ousmane (Senegal)Lu穩s Bernardo Honwana (Mozambique)Ngugi wa Thiong'o (Kenya)Tayeb Salih (Sudan)Es'kia Mphahlele (South Africa)Grace Ogot (Kenya)Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana)Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)Bessie Head (South Africa/Botswana)Similih M. Cordor (Liberia)Ren矇 Philombe (Cameroon)Tijan M. Sallah (Gambia)Ken Saro-Wiwa (Nigeria)Don Mattera (South Africa)Yvonne Vera (Zimbabwe)V矇ronique Tadjo (Ivory Coast)Ben Okri (Nigeria)Alexander Kanengoni (Zimbabwe)Mzamane Nhlapo (Lesotho)Steve Chimombo (Malawi)Sindiwe Magona (South Africa)Nuruddin Farah (Somalia)Mandla Langa (South Africa)
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
Extensive use has been made of Ngugi's Detained: A Writer's Prison Diary This interpretation of the work of Ngugi wa Thiong'o discusses his philosophy, writing style, social and political focus, and ultimate vision and aspirations. Each work of fiction is examined in depth, and there is an evaluation of Ngugi's standing as a writer and social figure. Separate chapters cover each of Ngugi's novels, from The River Between and Weep Not, Child to Matigari, as well as his drama and short stories. There is alsoan examination of his social commentaries in the popular press, to which the early formation of his ideological position can be traced. Kenya: EAEP
Reading Chinua Achebe
Analysis of the writings of Chinua Achebe aimed at students of literature. Simon Gikandi has set out to reveal '...the very nature of [Achebe's] creativity, its prodigious complexity and richness...its paradoxes and ambiguities. This is scholarship of real stature and supersedes all other studies of Achebe's writing. It comes at a good time. Achebe's literary reputation is equal to that of any living author and a substantial critical canon has been established. - G.D. Killam, Professor of English, University of Guelph Kenya: EAEP
