Bøker utgitt av African Books Collective

Dzigbordi Dzordzome, a young woman from a strict Ghanaian home, struggles between the desire to forge her own identity, please her parent, and marry her college sweetheart Maxwell Owusu. Dzigbordi eventually leaves for the US, where she has to adjust to the realities of a culture she has imagined from books and movies. Her friendships and experiences in the US inevitably affect her relationships back in Ghana, and change her perceptions of herself and her homeland.

This newly edited volume, Bali Nyonga Today covers about thirty years of (1985-2015) developments in Bali Nyonga, Cameroon. Already well-established as a city-state prior to German colonization in the 19th century, Bali Nyonga continues to adapt to national and global changes since its incorporation into the modern state of Cameroon. With fresh contributions from 12 leading scholars, this volume covers a wide variety of themes and issues including; geographical and historical updates on Chamba migration and settlement in its present homeland in Northwestern Cameroon, an in-depth description of Bali Nyonga cultural associations within the country and the Bali diaspora in the United States, the coexistence of traditional and modern religious worldviews, traditional medicinal practices and life-cycle rituals of significance. Of noteworthy are two chapters devoted to Mungaka, the language of the Balis and its revival in the context of new language policies and developments in African linguistic. Spiced with numerous photos, many of which have never been published, the book is a welcome addition to studies in contemporary African history, culture and society.

This book argues that since the emergence of the Cameroon National Union (CNU) and the one-party state in 1966, Cameroonians have progressively degenerated into the syndrome of collective amnesia inspired by a culture of sycophancy, glorifying and deifying political leadership. These developments stand in stark contrast to what obtained in the nascent Southern Cameroons - the UN Trust territory administered by Britain until 1961 when its population voted overwhelmingly by 70.5% to gain their independence by establishing a federation with the then French-speaking Republic of Cameroon. From the late 1950s until the dismantling of the Cameroon Federation, Southern Cameroons and later West Cameroon had a vibrant parliament, a House of Chiefs (or Senate), an independent Judiciary, an ideal, corruption-free Public Service, a state government with ministers presided over by an Executive Prime Minister and, for a decade, West Cameroon provided the Vice Presidency for the Federal Republic of Cameroon. In what may be accurately described as Prof Anthony Ndi's seminal work, he contends and rightly so that solutions to the legion of problems that plague contemporary Cameroon may be easily found in the pages of The Golden Age of Southern Cameroons. Agents for this transformation do not have to be invented or imported from Mars; all we need is a patriotic spirit, political will, readiness to dialogue, transparency and commitment to democracy.

Healing Stings is an astonishing collection of poems that depict a society battling social, global and postcolonial challenges. Through a combination of terse and elegantly composed verse, this collection provides viable tools with which to overcome the hassles and possibly check the erosion of time-honoured moral values. Using the linguistic channels of distinction, perception and representation, the discourses of moods, subjectivity, atmosphere, generic hybridity amongst others, Healing Stings demonstrates that social ills like corruption, greed, intolerance, delinquency, chauvinism, gender-sensitive biases, and religious and cultural prejudices can be curbed and society made a better place. This is premised on the assumption that the right tools such as social dialogue, patriotism, love, tolerance, honesty, good governance, personal and communal creative initiatives, and the change of mentality should be harnessed for improvement, educating, mending, and governing. By changing our attitudes within the context of unity in diversity, we are guaranteed a set of resources that will bring about development, security, national unity and peace building.

Conducting social research requires an understanding of the general theories and principles of social science research. Such knowledge is essential for both social science students and all those undertaking research, evaluating, and designing different intervention strategies to existing social problems. The book is organized around seven main themes, namely: science; logic and objectivity in the social sciences; conceptualization, design and problem definition; types of social science research; sampling and research instruments; data processing and analysis; and theory building and presentation of research findings. Each chapter is treated at length, including illustrative examples from the literature and providing data from the author's own research experience, specifically drawing examples from a variety of Tanzanian social settings. Since the first edition of this book there has been an unprecedented rise of sophistication and diversification in the realm of social science research. The challenges, which continue to face researchers, include paradigmatic allegiances to definitional issues and sometimes lack of consensus about the standards of quality (in particular in qualitative research). This second edition, with suggestions from readers and peers, has been expanded to be more comprehensive, specifically developing practical aspects to facilitate students in the process of data collection, the role of hypotheses in the research process, and qualitative research.

Broad aspects of Alternative Disputes Resolution (ADR)and Arbitration are covered in this book, with emphasis on the application of ADR to specific areas. It describes in very succinct manner the meaning of ADR, analyses conflict under ADR models, their advantages over courtroom litigation and why it should be embraced. Chapter 5 is a particularly notable contribution to the body of knowledge, where the author demonstrates how it can be used to resolve matters in the heart of society, commercial and political disputes such as investment and election disputes. The book is not only a handy textbook for use by teachers and students, but should also meet the increasing needs of practising lawyers, judges, other professionals and corporate practitioners, oil and banking industries, the trades unions and state agencies concerned with mediation, conciliation and arbitration.

The most extensive urban demographic transitions ahead will take place in Africa and Asia. These transitions occur in regions where the majority of inhabitants remain trapped in vulnerable employment, which limits the capacities to plan, save, invest, and afford critical amenities, as well as limits the horizons of what is considered possible. Yet, the aspirations for mobility, security, consumption, and attainment are enormous. How can different rationalities and practices of everyday sociality be more effectively connected to the prevailing concepts informing formal political and policymaking projects? How can incommensurable facets of urban life be folded into each other as a matter of an enlarged political practice? There is no pre-existent map that tells us how to link these equally important dimensions of urban life. Thus, any effort to consider the relationship between them is by necessity an experiment.

A Nigerian woman scholar addresses three main areas of literature in gender and women''s studies, a discipline which has become a vast field of research, teaching and activism in Africa and beyond. She situates African women''s studies in the context ofinternational feminism, regional political and institutional conditions. The study addresses recent publications in the general field of state and politics, from precolonial times to the present; reviews a range of material grouped under the heading of cultural studies; and considers the historical and contempoary literature on all aspects of women''s involvement in various sphers of work and the economy. Finally, the author questions the relationship between women''s studies and the women''s movement in Africa.