This book uses text and photographs to highlight a transdisciplinary research project (2018-2022) about artisanal and small-scale gold mining that involved transdisciplinary collaboration between... Show moreThis book uses text and photographs to highlight a transdisciplinary research project (2018-2022) about artisanal and small-scale gold mining that involved transdisciplinary collaboration between academics, artists, and gold miners. With the title Exploring Transformations to Sustainability in Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining: Trans-regional and Multi-Actor Perspectives, or Gold Matters for short, the project examined whether and how societal transformations towards sustainable mining futures are possible in artisanal and small-scale gold mining. It brought together a multi-national team to conduct research in Brazil, Suriname, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, and Uganda. Show less
This book starts with Vansina, who holds that old cultural traditions in Africa have been destroyed, but that new ones are emerging. With Prah, the study argues that a key role is played by... Show moreThis book starts with Vansina, who holds that old cultural traditions in Africa have been destroyed, but that new ones are emerging. With Prah, the study argues that a key role is played by education, which has to be based on African languages and values. Using a new quantitative comparative analysis, the study shows that maintaining former colonial languages as medium of instruction will become impossible to sustain. Over the next decade, some African countries will have to transition to African languages. The issue of language choice has vexed researchers and policymakers. The study shows how all over the world, designed languages serve speakers of several discerned languages. This solution could also be used in Africa, as demonstrated through six brief case studies. African languages in education will bolster the new, decolonised cultural traditions already taking shape on the continent. Show less
Common Threads explores the ties that bind India and Africa through the material medium of cloth, from antiquity to the present. Cloth made in India has been sold across African markets for... Show moreCommon Threads explores the ties that bind India and Africa through the material medium of cloth, from antiquity to the present. Cloth made in India has been sold across African markets for millennia, by Indian, African, and European traders. The history of this trade offers perspectives into the rich stories of bi-directorial migrations of peoples, across the Indian Ocean, the exchange of visual aesthetics, and the co-production of cultures in the two geographies. Common Threads uses photographs to tell the story of the creation of these textiles in India, which today is concentrated in the small town of Jetpur in the Rajkot district of Gujarat. It sheds light on the artists and the agencies in India that are involved in the design, production, and logistics of this enterprise. Most significantly, it highlights the role of African consumers in defining the evolution of these genres of fabric, and the centrality of people-to-people connections in sustaining the continued cosmopolitanism of these transoceanic connectivities Show less
Western donor countries consider a proper functioning multiparty democracy as one of the most import conditions for achieving more legitimate governance and subsequently economic development and... Show moreWestern donor countries consider a proper functioning multiparty democracy as one of the most import conditions for achieving more legitimate governance and subsequently economic development and reduction of poverty in their partner countries. Support to free and fair elections is an integral part of the ‘good governance’ agenda of the traditional donor community. On the basis of the findings of this study, it appears however that it is not so much the acceptance of Western type political institutions or compliance with generally endorsed liberal-democratic standards that determine the possibilities for developing countries to achieve economic transformation and substantial poverty reduction, but rather the nature of the political settlement among the political elites. Show less
ASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 58 (2017).... Show moreASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 58 (2017). African Studies Centre Leiden. Show less
ASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 59 (2017).... Show moreASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 59 (2017). African Studies Centre Leiden. Show less
ASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 57 (2017).... Show moreASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 57 (2017). African Studies Centre Leiden. Show less
ASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 60 (2017). African... Show moreASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 60 (2017). African Studies Centre Leiden. Show less
ASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 53 (2016). African... Show moreASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 53 (2016). African Studies Centre, Leiden. Show less
ASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 52 (2015).... Show moreASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 52 (2015). African Studies Centre, Leiden. Show less
Hof, S. van 't; Oberst, U.; Robson, A.E.I.; Smits, H.J. 2015
ASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 50 (2015). African... Show moreASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 50 (2015). African Studies Centre, Leiden. Show less
ASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 49 (2015).... Show moreASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 49 (2015). African Studies Centre, Leiden. Show less
After his theological studies, Harrie Leyten (1935) worked as a missionary in Ghana for ten years. He studied social anthropology at Oxford University and became Africa curator of the Tropenmuseum... Show moreAfter his theological studies, Harrie Leyten (1935) worked as a missionary in Ghana for ten years. He studied social anthropology at Oxford University and became Africa curator of the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam in 1975, and taught at the University of Amsterdam and the Reinwardt Academy in Amsterdam. His thesis has become a reflection of his long career. In it, he deals with questions such as: how have (mostly European and American) anthropologists viewed objects with power since Tyler's theory of Animism in the 19th century? How have African anthropologists in the past decades reacted to these views? The same questions are put with regard to (mostly European) missionaries who have been active in Africa since the middle of the 19th century: how have they viewed (in their perception: pagan) objects with power? How have African theologians in the past decades reacted to these views? Throughout the thesis emphasis is laid on the way material culture has been described and interpreted in books on (traditional) African art. The differences between ethnographies from the colonial era and those of more recent times are amplified. Show less
This study about David Livingstone is different from all other publications about him. Here, Livingstone is not the main topic of interest; the focus is on nutrition and health in precolonial... Show moreThis study about David Livingstone is different from all other publications about him. Here, Livingstone is not the main topic of interest; the focus is on nutrition and health in precolonial Africa and Livingstone is the author's key informant, as a medical doctor, sharp observer, and talented writer. After a close examination of Livingstone's writings and comparative reading of contemporary authors, the present author has been able to draw cautious conclusions about the relatively favourable conditions of health and nutrition in southern and central Africa during the precolonial period. His findings shed new light on the medical history of Sub-Saharan Africa. The surprise awaiting 19th century and earlier travellers in Africa was that the inhabitants of the interior, even the 'slaves', were healthier and better fed than many of their contemporaries in Europe's Industrial Revolution Show less
This book brings together in a comparative analysis the results of studies of the various cultural, social, economic and historical aspects that are formative in African societies' experiences of... Show moreThis book brings together in a comparative analysis the results of studies of the various cultural, social, economic and historical aspects that are formative in African societies' experiences of how people negotiated the spaces and times of being in transit on the road to prosperity. Show less
Hof, S. van ‘t; Oberst, U.; Robson, A.E.I.; Seuren, G.; Smits, H.J. 2015
ASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 51 (2015).... Show moreASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. Issue 51 (2015). African Studies Centre, Leiden. Show less
Ordinary social violence, - i.e. recurrent mental or physical aggression occurring between closely related people - structures social relationships in Africa, and in the world. Studies of violence... Show moreOrdinary social violence, - i.e. recurrent mental or physical aggression occurring between closely related people - structures social relationships in Africa, and in the world. Studies of violence in Africa often refer to ethnic wars and explicit conflicts and do not enter the hidden domain of violence that this book reveals through in-depth anthropological studies from different parts and contexts in Africa. Ordinary violence has its distinctive forms embedded in specific histories and cultures. It is gendered, implicates witchcraft accusations, varies in rural and urban contexts, relates to demographic and socio-economic changes of the past decades and is embedded in the everyday life of many African citizens. The experience of ordinary violence goes beyond the simple notion of victimhood; instead it structures social life and should therefore be a compelling part of the study of social change. Show less
Comment imaginer la forme de l'Etat dans sa gestion de la cohabitation ethnique sous un angle positif pour l'Afrique aujourd'hui et demain? Telle est la question thématique fondamentale de... Show moreComment imaginer la forme de l'Etat dans sa gestion de la cohabitation ethnique sous un angle positif pour l'Afrique aujourd'hui et demain? Telle est la question thématique fondamentale de Pascal Touoyem de Cameroon. La réalité ethnique en Afrique continue d'être déterminante comme dimension absolue de l'existence individuelle et collective au point de constituer une hypothèque grave pour ce qui est du fonctionnement normal de ces Etats. C'est pourquoi le continent noir est riche en Etats faillis, effondrés, ou en passe de le devenir. A l'ère globale, le modèle politique de l'Etat multi-ethnique doit permettre la mise en perspective d'un néo-constitutionnalisme démotique (de 'demos' ou peuple) permettant de restituer aux ethnies, leur statut de nations sociologiques. L'enjeu étant celui de jeter les bases d'une renaissance politique africaine adossée sur la nature plurinationale des sociétés africaines par-delà le multipartisme. Le nouveau pacte social et politique qui fonde l'Etat multi-ethnique permettrait ainsi aux pays d'Afrique noire de se doter d'une démocratie fondée sur le principe 'gagnant-gagnant'. La théorie de l'Etat multinational ouvre la perspective d'une innovation constitutionnelle, politique et conceptuelle des sociétés plurinationales au XXIe siècle: celle d'une refondation de notre imaginaire pour une réorientation globale de la pensée politique africaine dans ses besoins, ses désirs, ses quêtes, ses attentes et ses espérances. Show less
