African Worlds

West African Worlds provides a critical assessment of social, economic and political change in Africa’s most populous and arguably most externally focused region. With an emphasis on globalisation and modernisation, case studies and commentary are integrated throughout to highlight the concerns and issues of the region. Enriched by an impressive mix of West African voices, this text combines theory and application with policy and practice to address socio-economic change, the pursuit of livelihoods, and development within West Africa.

" This volume consists of nine studies, each describing the world outlook of an African people as expressed in their myths of creation, traditions of origin, and religious beliefs. The studies are concerned with such widely divergent systems of thought as the complex metaphysical system of the Dogon of French West Africa, the magical cults of the Abuluyia of Kenya, the religious practices of the Lele of Kasai, in which the forest plays a dominant part, the secret societies of the Mende, and the ancestor cult of the Ashanti. The authors show how closely concepts of the divine ordering of the universe are related to the organization of society and the everyday activities of men, so that the enthronement of a king or chief, the brewing of beer, the building of a granary, the organization of a hunt, all have symbolic significance and are accompanied by appropriate rituals. The wealth of imagery and symbolism displayed in many of these myths, and the subtlety of the metaphysical concepts, will be a revelation to those who have not studied the thought of so-called primitive societies. Rarely out of print since it was first published in 1954, this new edition has an introduction by Professor Wendy James of the Institute of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Oxford. Contents: Introduction, Daryll Forde; The Lele of Kasai, Mary Douglas; The Abaluyia of Kavirondo (Kenya), Gunter Wagner; The Lovedu of the Transvaal, J. D. Krige/E. J. Krige; The Dogon of the French Sudan, Marcel Griaule/Germaine Dieterlen; The Mende in Sierra Leone, Kenneth Little; The Shilluk of the Upper Nile, Godfrey Lienhardt; The Kingdom of Ruanda, J. J. Maquet; The Ashanti of the Golden Coast, K. A. Busia; The Fon of Dahomey, P. Mercier. Daryll Forde was Professor of Anthropology, University London and Director of the International African Institute. "

Between 1730 and 1750, powerful healer and vodun priest Domingos Alvares traversed the colonial Atlantic world like few Africans of his time--from Africa to South America to Europe--addressing the profound alienation of warfare, capitalism, and the African slave trade through the language of health and healing. In Domingos Alvares, African Healing, and the Intellectual History of the Atlantic World, James H. Sweet finds dramatic means for unfolding a history of the eighteenth-century Atlantic world in which healing, religion, kinship, and political subversion were intimately connected.

Sport has been a component of African cultural life for several hundred years. In today’s globalized world, Africans and Africa have become a vital part of the international sporting landscape. This is the first book to attempt to survey the historical, contemporary and geographical breadth of that landscape, drawing on multidisciplinary scholarship from around the world. To gain an understanding of sport in Africa and its contributions to the global sports world, one must first consider the ways in which sport itself is a terrain of conflict and represents another symbolic territory to conquer. Addressing key themes such as colonialism, globalization, migration, apartheid, politics and international relations, sports media and broadcasting, ethnobranding, sports tourism and the African diaspora in Europe and the United States, this collection of original scholarship offers a significant contribution to this burgeoning field of research. Sport in the African World is fascinating reading for all students and scholars with an interest in sport studies, sport history, African history or African culture.

Our Continent, Our Future presents the emerging African perspective on this complex issue. The authors use as background their own extensive experience and a collection of 30 individual studies, 25 of which were from African economists, to summarize this African perspective and articulate a path for the future. They underscore the need to be sensitive to each country's unique history and current condition. They argue for a broader policy agenda and for a much more active role for the state within what is largely a market economy. Finally, they stress that Africa must, and can, compete in an increasingly globalized world and, perhaps most importantly, that Africans must assume the leading role in defining the continent's development agenda.

Wole Soyinka, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, here analyses the interconnecting worlds of myth, ritual and literature in Africa.