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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.

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2021

        The Pan-African Pantheon

        by Adekeye Adebajo

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        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
        The Arts
        October 2017

        4 saints in 3 acts

        A snapshot of the American avant-garde in the 1930s

        by Patricia Allmer, John Sears

        Four Saints in Three Acts by Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson was a major avant-garde phenomenon of the 1930s, an experimental opera that nonetheless achieved remarkable popular success. Photography was a key element of that success, but its complex roles in the construction, representation and dissemination of the opera have hitherto received little critical attention. The photographic recording of the all-African American cast in particular affords a unique insight into the complexities of Four Saints in relation to the Harlem Renaissance and the New York avant-gardes of the time. This book, published in collaboration with The Photographers' Gallery, London, presents a wide selection of photographs of the cast, performances, and other material - many images reproduced for the first time - alongside essays by an international range of scholars exploring different aspects of the opera, including dance, fashion, music, and avant-garde writing, as well as photography.

      • 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. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2021

        African peace

        by Kathryn Nash

      • Trusted Partner
        January 2023

        African Women in Digital Spaces

        Redefining Social Movements on the Continent and in the Diaspora

        by edited by Msia Kibona Clark, Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed

        From Tamale to Paris, Hong Kong to Texas and back to Ouagadougou, this collection of scholarly chapters, poetry and personal essays theorizes the lives of African women and people of marginalized genders on the continent and the diaspora. The book is an important intervention in conversations on social movements and their convergence with digital media and other praxis tools. The contributors bring a refreshing perspective to discourses on African feminists' agency and how this manifests in their organizing in the physical world and in the digital public sphere. The volume demonstrates the relationships between the struggles of African feminists on the continent and the diaspora charting pathways for African scholars to build coalitions and work toward collective liberation.

      • 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.

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      • 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
        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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        Mytes et Legendes Africains (African Myths and Legends)

        by Adotévi Joël, Kanad Sambiani Tani, Gilka, Assem, Anani Accoh, Adomayakpo Papi

        Six stories to make young and old travel through history, the imaginations of Africa. The myth of Shango, the legend of the buffalo woman, the legend of the mother of the Tuaregs, the story of King Agokoli, then that of the Amazons of Dahomey and finally that of the Ablafo

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        July 2021

        A savage song

        by Margarita Aragon, Aaron Winter

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        November 2023

        South African London

        by Andrea Thorpe

      • Trusted Partner
        Agriculture & related industries
        May 2005

        African Food Crisis

        Lessons from the Asian Green Revolution

        by Edited by Göran Djurfeldt, Hans Holmén, Magnus Jirstrom, Rolf Larsson, Paul Van Mele, A Salahuddin, Noel P Magor

        Why can Asia now feed its rapidly growing population, but Africa continues to experience famine? This book is the outcome of a three-year project coordinated by a group of Swedish researchers with collaborating scholars from Africa and Asia. It provides a comparative study between Asian agricultural development during the Green Revolution in food production and the current problematic agricultural situation in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on case studies of eight African and eight Asian countries (focusing on the early part of the Green Revolution), this book presents a causal and explanatory model of Asian green revolutions. It discusses why such progress has been made in Asia, but has not yet occurred in Africa. It also examines the implications of the case studies for future development in 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
        Insecticide & herbicide technology
        May 1998

        African Cereal Stem Borers

        Economic Importance, Natural Enemies and Control

        by Edited by Andrew Polaszek

        An assemblage of approximately twenty moth species belonging to the families Crambidae, Pyralidae and Noctuidae constitute the most important cereal pests in many parts of Africa. The caterpillars of these moths bore into the stems of maize, sorghum, millet and rice, often killing the plant, and are commonly known as stem or stalk borers. The cereals attacked are grown by smallholders to feed themselves and their families and are of great importance as the staple food for the population in most parts of Africa. Complex control measures, including the use of chemicals, are often inappropriate.This book provides fundamental information necessary for formulating integrated pest management of African cereal stem borers, in particular any natural enemy component. Firstly, the economically important species are characterized regionally and according to their biology and host plants, both wild and cultivated. The taxonomy of the moths, their larvae and their natural enemies is examined in detail and techniques of rearing are described. Illustrated keys are provided for their recognition, and their distributions and hosts are listed. Finally, the control measures currently in use and those being investigated, are summarized.This book is essential reading for applied entomologists, agronomists and extension workers with an active interest in cereal production in Africa and will be of value to all those concerned with integrated pest management in the tropics.

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