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      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        January 2019

        Postcolonial African cinema

        Ten directors

        by David Murphy, Patrick Williams

        This is the first introduction of its kind to an important cross-section of postcolonial African filmmakers from the 1950s to the present. Building on previous critical work in the field, this volume will bring together ideas from a range of disciplines - film studies, African cultural studies, and, in particular, postcolonial studies - in order to combine the in-depth analysis of individual films and bodies of work by individual directors with a sustained interrogation of these films in relation to important theoretical concepts. Structurally, the book is straightforward, though the aim is to incorporate diversity and complexity of approach within the overall simplicity of format. Chapters provide both an overview of the director's output to date, and the necessary background - personal or national, cultural or political - to enable readers to achieve a better understanding of the director's choice of subject matter, aesthetic or formal strategies, or ideological stance. They also offer a particular reading of one or more films, in which the authors aim to situate African cinema in relation to important critical and theoretical debates. This book thus constitutes a new departure in African film studies, recognising the maturity of the field, and the need for complex yet accessible approaches to it, which move beyond the purely descriptive while refusing to get bogged down in theoretical jargon. Consequently, the volume should be of interest not only to specialists but also to the general reader.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2021

        African cities and collaborative futures

        Urban platforms and metropolitan logistics

        by Michael Keith, Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos, Susan Parnell

        This groundbreaking volume brings together scholars from across the globe to discuss the infrastructure, energy, housing, safety and sustainability of African cities, as seen through local narratives of residents. Drawing on a variety of fields and extensive first-hand research, the contributions offer a fresh perspective on some of the most pressing issues confronting urban Africa in the twenty-first century. At a time when the future of the region as a whole will be determined in large part by its cities, the implications of these developments are profound. With case studies from cities in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania, this volume explores how the rapid growth of African cities is reconfiguring the relationship between urban social life and its built forms. While the most visible transformations in cities today can be seen as infrastructural, these manifestations are cultural as well as material, reflecting the different ways in which the city is rationalised, economised and governed. How can we 'see like a city' in twenty-first-century Africa, understanding the urban present to shape its future? This is the central question posed throughout this volume, with a practical focus on how academics, local decision makers and international practitioners can collaborate to meet the challenge of rapid growth, environmental pressures and resource gaps.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        June 2023

        Worrier state

        Risk, anxiety and moral panic in South Africa

        by Nicky Falkof

        Risk, anxiety and moral panic are endemic to contemporary societies and media forms. How do these phenomena manifest in a place like South Africa, which features heightened insecurity, deep inequality and accelerated social change? What happens when cultures of fear intersect with pervasive systems of gender, race and class? Worrier state investigates four case studies in which fear and anxiety appear in radically different ways: the far right myth of 'white genocide'; so-called 'Satanist' murders of young women; an urban legend about township crime; and social theories about safety and goodness in the suburbs. Falkof foregrounds the significance of emotion as a socio-political force, emphasising South Africa's imbrication within globalised conditions of anxiety and thus its fundamental and often-ignored hypermodernity. The book offers a bold and creative perspective on the social roles of fear and emotion in South Africa and thus on everyday life in this complex place.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        November 2000

        Myth, legend, dust

        Critical Responses to Cormac McCarthy

        by Rick Wallach

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2021

        The Pan-African Pantheon

        by Adekeye Adebajo

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        April 2020

        Interweaving myths in Shakespeare and his contemporaries

        by Janice Valls-Russell, Agnès Lafont, Charlotte Coffin

        This volume proposes new insights into the uses of classical mythology by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, focusing on interweaving processes in early modern appropriations of myth. Its 11 essays show how early modern writing intertwines diverse myths and plays with variant versions of individual myths that derive from multiple classical sources, as well as medieval, Tudor and early modern retellings and translations. Works discussed include poems and plays by William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and others. Essays concentrate on specific plays including The Merchant of Venice and Dido Queen of Carthage, tracing interactions between myths, chronicles, the Bible and contemporary genres. Mythological figures are considered to demonstrate how the weaving together of sources deconstructs gendered representations. New meanings emerge from these readings, which open up methodological perspectives on multi-textuality, artistic appropriation and cultural hybridity.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2021

        African peace

        by Kathryn Nash

      • Trusted Partner
        January 2023

        The Legend of the Finless Porpoise

        by Mu Ling

        The hardworking and studious Reed is a well-known "wild child" in the fishing village. Influenced by the legend, he and his sister, He Ju, had the whimsical idea of learning the outstanding swimming skills from the porpoise, and thus became interested in the endangered species of porpoise. The porpoise, which had been repeatedly disturbed, always avoided them... By chance, the siblings, with their excellent swimming skills, rescued a baby porpoise that had been trapped by garbage. This cute porpoise has since become an exotic friend who plays the game with them ...

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        April 2011

        Postnationalist African Cinemas

        by Alexie Tcheuyap

        Postnationalist African cinemas convincingly interrogates the ways in which African narratives locate postcolonial identities and forms beyond essentially nationalist frameworks. It investigates how the emergence of new genres, discourses and representations, all unrelated to an overtly nationalist project, influences the formal choices made by contemporary directors. By foregrounding the narrative, generic, discursive, representational and aesthetic structures of films, this book shows how directors are beginning to regard film as a popular form of entertainment rather than political praxis. Tcheuyap investigates filmic genres such as comedy, dance, crime and epic alongside cultural aspects including witchcraft, sexuality, pornography and oracles. ;

      • 月球是人造的? Did Humans Build The Moon?

        by MicroStar

        Ancient myths and legends become real historical events.The story of "God created man" is not a "myth" but real human history.Who built the "moon"? This is the truth that shocked all scientists.A heavy wake-up call for mankind to start looking for the historical truth.The true description of "dinosaur extinction" allows everyone to see it immersivelyThe truth about humans and dinosaurs on earth at that time."Atlantis" is not just a legend;Their Star Wars with "Mu Continent" have already been recorded in China.The famous "Gonggong smashed into Mount Buzhou" and "Nuwa patched up the sky", who knew that they were related to more than 10,000 people?Years of Star Wars stories on Earth.Humanity's large-scale "Star Wars" happened in the past, not the future.The first alien group invaded the solar system more than 4,000 years ago. Why did they besiege the North and South Poles?"Yi" and "Chang'e" drove the "Moon Godship",Attack the alien fleet. Destroy nine giant alien battleships.Leaving behind the famous "Yi shoots for nine days", the truth of human history will be rewritten.Do you want to know about the conspiracy of aliens to intervene in human society in the past two hundred years?This is an enlightenment "textbook" on the history of "new humanity" that is suitable for all ages.Reunderstand yourself and human history.You will know why you came!!!where are you going?What is the final destination of mankind?Micro Dust Workshop premieres "Uncovering the Dust Series"Opening a new era of truth about human history.

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        Agriculture & related industries
        December 2010

        African Smallholders

        Food Crops, Markets and Policy

        by Hans Holmén, Magnus Jirstrom, Agnes Andersson, Wolday Amha, Fred Dzanku, Willis Olouch-Kosura, John Kadzandira, Olatunji Akande, Bernard Bashaasha, Hyde Haantuba, Peter Coughlin, Stephen K. Wambugu. Edited by Göran Djurfeldt, Ernest Aryeetey, Aida Isinika.

        Poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is predominantly a rural and agricultural phenomenon. The large majority of all poor are farmers and herders, therefore as long as the poor remain smallholders, alleviation of poverty remains an agricultural task. African Smallholders documents the farm-level effects of agricultural policies, focusing on a variety of themes including micro-credit, infrastructure, cash crop production and food security. To deepen our understanding of agricultural development it discusses staple food production in sub-Saharan Africa and its response to changing geo-political, macro-economic and agricultural policy. It is a useful resource for all those researching or involved with food security, agricultural and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa.

      • Trusted Partner
        July 2024

        The Untold Stories of African Agriculture

        Lessons from Ethiopia

        by Tsedeke Abate

        This landmark volume presents the results of a comprehensive and coherent in-depth assessment of Ethiopian agriculture and draws lessons from it to generate actionable recommendations that will inform policy decisions and priority setting for agricultural transformation across Africa. Policy makers in Africa are faced with the challenges of ensuring food and nutrition security and the economic wellbeing of their rapidly growing populations while at the same time maintaining the integrity of their natural resource base. Between 2000 and 2021, 74% of the growth in overall crop production on the continent was derived from increases in land area expansion, while increases in yield contributed only 26% of the growth. This unchecked expansion of land use puts the sustainability of the natural resource base under severe pressure. Even though some countries have made substantial increases in their farm productivity over the last two decades, the overall performance for Africa is far behind other regions. For the most part, in Africa, agriculture is not fulfilling its expected functions of food and nutrition security, increased export earnings, import substitution, and raw material supply for local industries. Attempts have been made to transform African agriculture over the years, but few countries have succeeded in achieving sustainable change. Using examples from Ethiopia this book identifies the major factors for success and the root causes of underperformance, and offers evidence-based recommendations for future decision making, policy change and the creation of growth. This book: · Draws on a unique set of case studies from Ethiopia described and told from a truly African perspective. · Emphasises to policy makers in Africa that development cannot be outsourced and there are no shortcuts; it is only through consistent effort and sustained support for their agricultural research and development that positive change can be brought about. · States that past agricultural development efforts by the international community have not properly included a strong African voice, and that therefore, all future academic research, policies and strategies dealing with the continent's agriculture and food security should be formulated by Africa's own leading thinkers and experts. · Is not a polemic; its arguments are knowledge and evidence based, building a compelling picture of how agricultural development can be sustained for the future.

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2017

        The South African War reappraised

        by Andrew Thompson, John M. MacKenzie

        The South African War was a catalyst in the creation of modern South Africa and was a major international event which had profound implications for British rule in other parts of their colonial empire. This was South Africa's own 'Great War' - the largest conflict waged by the British in the century between the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War. It shaped political discourse among South Africa's various communities and moulded the outlook of a generation of imperial administrators, soldiers and anti-colonial activists. The war launched South Africa as a moral issue of global significance, involving leading humanitarians, foreign 'pro-Boer' volunteers as well as pro-imperial contingents from various dominions and colonies of settlement, and would later find echoes in the campaign against apartheid. This volume includes a historiographical review of a century of writing on the war. It examines South Africa's place in the imperial structure and reappraises its impact on imperial defence and the political identities of Africans, Asians, Boer commandos and Cape Afrikaners. An analysis of the role of the media and the effects of the war on nationalists in India, Ireland and the Dominions is also included. The South African War reappraised will be of particular interest to students of imperialism, modern South Africa, nationalism and the media.

      • Trusted Partner
        Children's & YA
        2017

        Le serpent magique

        by Olivier Timma

        "Le serpent magique" tells one of the most famous legends of the Fang Béti cultural area: the crossing of the Sanaga by the Béti people in the middle of the seventeenth century. This legend features three great heroes: Ngaη Medza'a, "the serpent man", Nnëbodo "savior of men" and Kolo-Kunu "master of the word". Through this album, the author takes the reader through the mythical and fantastic universe of the history of the Beti people.

      • Fiction
        September 2022

        Did Humans Build The Moon?

        by MicroStar

        The Moon Created by Ancient Humans Ancient myths and legends have become the real historicalevents.The story of “God make human beings” is not a myth but atruth in our history.The fact about that made “moon” let all scientists feelsurprised.All readers will start to find historical truths after reading thisbook.

      • Trusted Partner
        Agriculture & related industries
        June 2011

        African Seed Enterprises

        Sowing the Seeds of Food Security

        by Edited by Paul Van Mele, J W Bentley, Robert G Guéi

        In most developing countries, good quality seed is hard to obtain and farmers struggle to save seed from one year to the next. Instead, they increasingly turn to public or private enterprises that multiply, store and distribute seed. African Seed Enterprises takes a people-centred look at the companies, public agencies and family farms that are taking on this role and making a difference to food security across Africa. Case studies are arranged by country, and each chapter includes a profile of the agricultural and policy environment that surrounds these enterprises and affects their development. Each case is unique and presents its own set of lessons, and as a whole, this wide range of experiences is a rich source of data and ideas for future enterprise, offering valuable insights for policy makers, academics and non-governmental organizations throughout the world.

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