Pre-Modern History of Africa
Things Fall Apart by
THINGS FALL APART tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around Okonkwo, a "strong man" of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first of these stories traces Okonkwo's fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives, and in its classical purity of line and economical beauty it provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict between the individual and society. The second story, which is as modern as the first is ancient, and which elevates the book to a tragic plane, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world through the arrival of aggressive, proselytizing European missionaries. These twin dramas are perfectly harmonized, and they are modulated by an awareness capable of encompassing at once the life of nature, human history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul. THINGS FALL APART is the most illuminating and permanent monument we have to the modern African experience as seen from within.
Location: Online & Mugar Stacks PR9387.9.A3 T5 1996ISBN: 9780435905255Publication Date: 1996-11-25
Colonial rule & its legacy
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Historical Problems of Imperial Africa by
In a completely revised version of his ""Problems"" book (originally published in 1970), Professor Collins presents the most important issues in the study of colonial Africa such as: The Partition of Africa;Collaboration or Resistance to European Rule in Africa; Colonial Rule in Africa; Educating the African; Forging a National Identity; and, Exploitation or Development in Africa.
Location: DT29 .H57 2007ISBN: 9781558764316Publication Date: 2007-01-01
The Dark Webs: Perspectives on Colonialism in Africa by
"The Dark Webs is an intellectual history of colonialism in Africa. The book focuses on ideas espoused by historians and creative writers on various aspects of colonial rule; the sources of the ideas; the vision of a post-colonial society that they created; and a critique of those ideas. Some essays focus on the works of notable scholars such as Ruth First and Ade Ajayi, while some chapters review themes of broad historiographical significance."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Location: DT31 .D24 2005ISBN: 0890895821Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Exporting Empire: Africa, colonial officials and the construction of the British imperial state, c.1900-1939 by
For Africans, rank and file colonial officials were the most visible manifestation of British imperial power. But in spite of their importance in administering such vast imperial territories, the attitudes of officials who served between the end of the nineteenth century and the Second World War, as well as what shaped such attitudes, have yet to be examined in any systematic way.In this original and revisionist work, Prior draws upon an enormous array of private and official papers to address some key questions about the colonial services. How did officials' education and training affect the ways that they engaged with Africa? How did officials relate to one another? How did officials seek to understand Africa and Africans? How did they respond to infrastructural change? How did they deal with anti-colonial nationalism? This work will be of value to students and lecturers alike interested in British, imperial and African history.
Location: DT32.5 .P75 2013ISBN: 9780719083686Publication Date: 2013-02-01European Hegemony and African Resistance, 1880-1990 by The main thrust of this study is that throughout the process of partition, African nations tried hard to check the tidal wave of European assault. What served as the decisive factor in these encounters were the superiority of Europeans' weapons, in addition to such factors as fraudulent treaties of friendship, the role of missionaries and traders, divide-and-conquer strategies, and direct military interventions.
Location: DT31 .C515 2004ISBN: 0773464867Publication Date: 2003-01-01
The Making of Citizen and Subject in Contemporary Africa by
In analyzing the obstacles to democratization in post- independence Africa, Mahmood Mamdani offers a bold, insightful account of colonialism's legacy--a bifurcated power that mediated racial domination through tribally organized local authorities, reproducing racial identity in citizens and ethnic identity in subjects. Many writers have understood colonial rule as either "direct" (French) or "indirect" (British), with a third variant--apartheid--as exceptional. This benign terminology, Mamdani shows, masks the fact that these were actually variants of a despotism. While direct rule denied rights to subjects on racial grounds, indirect rule incorporated them into a "customary" mode of rule, with state-appointed Native Authorities defining custom. By tapping authoritarian possibilities in culture, and by giving culture an authoritarian bent, indirect rule (decentralized despotism) set the pace for Africa; the French followed suit by changing from direct to indirect administration, while apartheid emerged relatively later. Apartheid, Mamdani shows, was actually the generic form of the colonial state in Africa. Through case studies of rural (Uganda) and urban (South Africa) resistance movements, we learn how these institutional features fragment resistance and how states tend to play off reform in one sector against repression in the other. Reforming a power that institutionally enforces tension between town and country, and between ethnicities, is the key challenge for anyone interested in democratic reform in Africa.
Location: JV246 .M35 1996ISBN: 0691011079Publication Date: 1996-04-21
Africa since 1940 by
Frederick Cooper's book on the history of decolonization and independence in Africa is part of the textbook series New Approaches to African History. This text will help students understand the historical process out of which Africa's position in the world has emerged. Bridging the divide between colonial and post-colonial history, it allows readers to see just what political independence did and did not signify and how men and women, peasants and workers, religious leaders and local leaders sought to refashion the way they lived, worked, and interacted with each other.
Location: Note: located in Reserve RoomISBN: 0521772419Publication Date: 2002-10-10
Browse books and e-books in the BU collections on Africa and Colonization
Nationalism and Independence - Decolonization
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The Political Thought of African Independence by
The Political Thought of African Independence: An Anthology of Sources brilliantly frames the debates that captivated the world as former European colonies in Africa began their transition to sovereign rule in the 1950s and '60s. Its wealth of key documents are enhanced by Gregory Smulewicz-Zucker's General Introduction, part introductions, headnotes, and annotations, providing needed contextual information and supports for readers.
Location: Mugar Stacks DT31 .P59 2017ISBN: 9781624665400Publication Date: 2017-09-01
Decolonization since 1945 by
One of the most significant changes of the post-1945 world has been the decline and final dismemberment of European colonial empires in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific and the Caribbean. In 1939, roughly a third of the world's entire population lived under colonial rule. At the end of the century, less than one per cent do so. In this study, each major European overseas colony, rather than being subject to chronological or thematic subdivision, receives separate, extensive and consecutive treatment.
Location: JV151 .D67 2001ISBN: 9780333745991Publication Date: 2001The Short Century: independence and liberation movements in Africa, 1945-1994 by This is a broad survey of cultural life in Africa from the independence movements through the post-colonial era to the end of apartheid in 1994. It covers all areas of the performing and fine arts, photography, literature, theatre, music and film.
Location: NX587 .S49 2001ISBN: 3791325027Publication Date: 2001-04-01
The Lieutenant of Kouta by
The Lieutenant of Kouta is the first novel in Massa Makan Diabaté's award-winning trilogy. Featuring an introduction by leading Diabaté scholar Cheick M. Chérif Keïta and Shane Auerbach, it tells the story, part tragicomic and part hagiographic, of an African lieutenant in the French Army who returns as a decorated hero from the battlefields of Europe to Kouta, a fictionalized version of the author's own birthplace, the Malian town of Kita. Upon his return, Siriman Keita finds it difficult to adjust to village life as he navigates traditional customs in his attempts to create his place in the predominantly Muslim Kouta. The novel offers a rich and nuanced representation of Mali on the brink of independence; it is a tapestry of traditional Mandinka society and the French colonial apparatus, illustrating the dynamic interplay between the two. This text is, ultimately, a story of one man's transformation coinciding with that of his country.
Location: OnlineISBN: 9781609175122Publication Date: 2017-02-01- The Political Thought of African Independence by
The Political Thought of African Independence: An Anthology of Sources brilliantly frames the debates that captivated the world as former European colonies in Africa began their transition to sovereign rule in the 1950s and '60s. Its wealth of key documents are enhanced by Gregory Smulewicz-Zucker's General Introduction, part introductions, headnotes, and annotations, providing needed contextual information and supports for readers.
Location: Mugar Stacks DT31 .P59 2017ISBN: 9781624665400Publication Date: 2017-09-01
European Hegemony and African Resistance, 1880-1990 by
The main thrust of this study is that throughout the process of partition, African nations tried hard to check the tidal wave of European assault. What served as the decisive factor in these encounters were the superiority of Europeans' weapons, in addition to such factors as fraudulent treaties of friendship, the role of missionaries and traders, divide-and-conquer strategies, and direct military interventions.
Location: DT31 .C515 2004ISBN: 9780773464865Publication Date: 2003-01-01
Ending British Rule in Africa by
On the eve of World War II, a small, impoverished group of Africans and West Indians in London dared to imagine the unimaginable: the end of British rule in Africa. In books, pamphlets, and periodicals, they launched an anti-colonial campaign that used publishing as a pathway to liberation.West Indians George Padmore, C. L. R. James, and Ras Makonnen; Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta and Sierra Leone's I. T. A. Wallace Johnson -made their point: that colonial rule was oppressive and inconsistent with the democratic ideals Britain claimed at home. Ending British Rule in Africa draws on previously unexplored manuscript and archival collections to trace the development of this publishing community from its origins in George Padmore's American and Comintern years through the independence of Ghana in the 1957. This original study will be of interest to scholars and general readers interested in social movements, diaspora studies, empire and African history, publishing history, literary history, and cultural studies.
Location: DA125.N4 P65 2009ISBN: 9780719077678Publication Date: 2009-07-27
Decolonization in Africa. 2nd ed. by
John Hargreaves examines how the British, French, Belgian, Spanish and Portuguese colonies in tropical Africa became independent in the postwar years, and in doing so transformed the international landscape. African demands for independence and colonial plans for reform - central to the story - are seen here in the wider context of changing international relationships.
Location: DT29 .H37 1996ISBN: 9780582249172Publication Date: 1996
The United States and Decolonization in West Africa, 1950-1960 by
As an investigation of America's response to the decolonization process in West Africa, The United States and Decolonization in West Africa, 1950-60 fills several important gaps. The history of America's involvement in Africa remains understudied. This book focuses on a neglected decade when the "wind of change" swept across Africa. Critical of the traditional "nationalist" interpretation of the decolonization process in Africa, the author begins his book by placing the transition of British and French West African territories to statehood with a neocolonialist framework. In doing so, he abandons the conventional definitions and usages of "independence" and "decolonization", and makes a compelling case that these are two related but different phenomena. Nwaubani argues that the United States was not a catalyst in the transition process in West Africa, but rather acted in a neocolonialist fashion itself. He also gives a nuanced appraisal of the Cold War, demonstrating that it was not as important as popularly believed in determining US behavior in Africa. The primary focus of the book is on West Africa, with case studies focusing on the Ewe, Ghana (including the Volta dam project), and Guinea. But the broad issues discussed are framed in the larger context of sub-Saharan Africa, and against the backdrop of the larger debates about the nature of post-1945 United States diplomacy. Ebere Nwaubani is a member of the History Department, University of Colorado at Boulder.
Location: DT476.2 .N88 2001ISBN: 9781580460767Publication Date: 2001-01-15
- Find more books/e-books in BU Libraries on Africa's Independence movements & decolonization.
- Find Open Primary & Secondary sources collection on Africa & Decolonization
The African State System in Post-colonial period.
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The African State by
The African state is more essential than ever for the sustainability of the long march towards political, economic, and cultural development. This volume captures the diversity of African states and leadership by examining eight states from northern, western, eastern, and southern Africa. Contributing African scholars transcend current thinking on the nature of the state and its role in transforming the fortunes of the continent. They establish a conceptual framework that allows for a complex but concrete and integrated analysis of the African state. Leader, regime, administration, and commonwealth provide the four key factors for identification of state types in Africa. Different combinations of these factors produce various types of states ranging from Botswana's relatively integral political system to the "cadaverous" Somali state. States examined in this collection include: Botswana Ethiopia Ghana Libya Nigeria South Africa Sudan All of the book's contributors have done substantial scholarly works on their respective countries. Their essays provide practical means of assessing reform programs intended to enhance state effectiveness. This book will be of great value not only to scholars, but also to policy makers and others concerned with the construction of a positive future for the African continent.
Location: JQ1875 .A743 2002ISBN: 9780325070988Publication Date: 2002-10-01
The State in Africa : the politics of the belly by Location: JQ1879.A15B3713 1993ISBN: 9780582064225Publication Date: 1993
State Building and Democratization in Africa by
Deals with democratization efforts in Africa and how progress or lack of it affects the process of state building in the continent. Authors do not share the same views on the appropriate level of state intervention in economic activity and the feasibility for Africa of the development ideology corre
Location: JQ1875 .S7 1999ISBN: 0275963535Publication Date: 1999-01-30
Politics and Society in Contemporary Africa by Location: JQ1875 .P635 1999ISBN: 9780333694756Publication Date: 1999-08-01
Making Nations, Creating Strangers by
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.
Location: DT30.5 .M35 2007ISBN: 9789004157903Publication Date: 2007-05-11
Reconstituting the State in Africa by
Contributors to this volume highlight the failure and socio-economic and political problems of post-colonial African state and make constructive and convincing suggestions of how the problems can be addressed. They do not argue for the scrapping of the state but its reconstitution in ways that will enable it to be people's-oriented.
Location: JQ1875 .R425 2007ISBN: 9781403973139Publication Date: 2007-04-12
The Crises of Postcoloniality in Africa by Location: DT30.5 .C75 2015ISBN: 9782869786028Publication Date: 2015
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