Living With Africa

In 1952, a young Belgian scholar of European medieval history traveled to the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) to live in a remote Kuba village. Armed with a smattering of training in African cultures and language, Jan Vansina was sent to do fieldwork for a Belgian cultural agency. As it turned out, he would help found the field of African history, with a handful of other European and African scholars. "I'm not an ethnologist, I'm a historian!" Vansina was to repeat again and again to those who assumed that people without written texts have no history. His discovery that he could analyze Kuba oral tradition using the same methods he had learned for interpreting medieval dirges was a historiographical breakthrough, and his first book, Oral Tradition as History, is considered the seminal work that gave the study of precolonial African history both the scholarly justification and the self-confidence it had been lacking. Living with Africa is a compelling memoir of Vansina's life and career on three continents, interwoven with the story of African history as a scholarly specialty. In the background of his narrative are the collapse of colonialism in Africa and the emergence of newly independent nations; in the foreground are the first conferences on African history, the founding of journals and departments, and the efforts of Africans to establish a history curriculum for the schools in their new nations.

This magnificent photographic survey is a personal tour through the length and breadth of Africa by one of the worlds leading nature and wildlife photographers. Steve Bloom achieves here a truly breathtaking intimacy not only with the continents extraordinary animal life and natural environment but also with its diverse peoples. His remit is staggeringly comprehensive: landscapes from desert to jungle, wildlife from insect to great game, and human life from remote tribal village to teeming metropolis. In a series of essays, Bloom combines vivid personal experience with a passionate articulation of the challenges faced by Africas people and environment in the 21st century. Everywhere is apparent his deep affection and affinity for the continent where he grew up, and to which he has felt compelled to return throughout his life. This luxury boxed gift edition of Living Africa features a limited edition Leopard print.

Born into a Xhosa royal family around 1792 in South Africa, Jan Tzatzoe was destined to live in an era of profound change—one that witnessed the arrival and entrenchment of European colonialism. As a missionary, chief, and cultural intermediary on the eastern Cape frontier and in Cape Town and a traveler in Great Britain, Tzatzoe helped foster the merging of African and European worlds into a new South African reality. Yet, by the 1860s, despite his determined resistance, he was an oppressed subject of harsh British colonial rule. In this innovative, richly researched, and splendidly written biography, Roger S. Levine reclaims Tzatzoe's lost story and analyzes his contributions to, and experiences with, the turbulent colonial world to argue for the crucial role of Africans as agents of cultural and intellectual change.

Originally published in 1967, this book represents the late Professor Brown’s twin skills as historian and as educationalist at their best. It is one of a series of books which he edited, and which was offered to Africa teachers in training. The series was designed to help those who were called upon to teach the many subjects of the primary school curriculum or two or more subjects with the junior forms of secondary schools. It is dedicated to the proposition that giving a good basic education to a country’s children is vital to its development programme. Godfrey Brown’s book starts with a discussion of the place and purpose of history in education – why do we teach it to children? He then describes methods of teaching language skills in history, observation and (at some length) social development through history. He ends with The History of the Future and two practical appendices listing where the African teacher of history could obtain useful teaching material.

This book addresses the conceptual difficulties and political contestations surrounding the applicability of the term "African-Canadian". In the midst of this contested terrain, the volume focuses on first generation, Black Continental Africans who have immigrated to Canada in the last four decades, and have traceable genealogical links to the continent.

Discover what it’s like to grow up in South Africa with this fascinating, nonfiction Level 2 Ready-to-Read, part of a series all about kids just like you in countries around the world! Dumela! My name is David, and I’m a kid just like you living in South Africa. South Africa is a country filled with stunning cities, amazing animals, and many different cultures—that’s why they call South Africa the rainbow nation! Have you ever wondered what South Africa is like? Come along with me to find out! Each book in our Living in… series is narrated by a kid growing up in their home country and is filled with fresh, modern illustrations as well as loads of history, geography, and cultural goodies that fit perfectly into Common Core standards. Join kids from all over the world on a globe-trotting adventure with the Living in… series—sure to be a hit with children, parents, educators, and librarians alike!

"When severe draught hit her village in Zimbabwe, Elizabeth, then eight, had no idea that this moment of utter devastation would come to define her life purpose. Unable to move from hunger, she encountered a United Nations aid worker who gave her a bowl of warm porridge and saved her life. This transformative moment inspired Elizabeth to become a humanitarian, and she vowed to dedicate her life to giving back to her community, her continent, and the world. Grounded by the African concept of ubuntu--"I am because we are"--I Am a Girl from Africa charts Elizabeth's quest in pursuit of her dream from the small village of Goromonzi to Harare, London, New York, and beyond, where she eventually became a Senior Advisor at the United Nations and launched HeForShe, one of the world's largest global solidarity movements for gender equality. For over two decades, Elizabeth has been instrumental in creating change in communities all around the world; uplifting the lives of others, just as her life was once uplifted. The memoir brings to vivid life one extraordinary woman's story of persevering through incredible odds and finding her true calling--while delivering an important message of hope and empowerment in a time when we need it most"--

Sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest region in the world. But its current status has skewed our understanding of the economy before colonization. Rönnbäck reconstructs the living standards of the population at a time when the Atlantic slave trade brought money and men into the area, enriching our understanding of West African economic development.