Books & arts
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Review of 'The Value of Nothing'
Jamie Pitman
2010-03-11, Issue 473
Jamie Pitman reviews Raj Patel's new book 'The Value of Nothing,' which he finds to be 'excellently written, passionate and engaging'.
Don’t let aspiring rulers get hold of this!
A review of ‘The ten commandments of Nigerian politics (or how to hook the Naija Mugu)’
Firoze Manji
2010-03-11, Issue 473
‘It’s one thing to have a secret manual for Nigerian rulers,’ writes Firoze Manji, ‘but quite another to have one that provides the recipe for class rule by the rogues and rascals that roam the rest of the continent. This short pamphlet should have been banned long ago.’
Mega-slumming or mega-tourism?
Review of 'Mega-slumming: A journey through sub-Saharan Africa’s largest shanty-town'
Firoze Manji
2010-03-03, Issue 472
Firoze Manji praises Adam Parsons’ style and his powerful descriptions of the lives, experiences and aspirations of the shackdwellers of Kibera, but argues that ‘Mega-slumming’ is very much written from a vantage point that serves to reinforce Western prejudices of Africa. Parsons portrays Africans ‘as objects of pity, for whom charity is needed’ and Manji argues that he does so because he has chosen only one lens to view the lives of these people through. Manji asserts that ‘A little bit of research would… have revealed to him that residents of Kibera have organised politically, have given voice to their demands, fought battles to have the right to organise, organised meetings, demonstrations, produced plays, music, poetry and writings of protest.’ He concludes that the writings of these people reveal a very different world to the one that Parsons portrays: A world of change.
Turning backwards to an uneasy past
A review of 'White Gods, Black Demons'
Bella Matambanadzo
2010-03-04, Issue 472
The ‘magic’ of Daniel Mandishona's ‘White Gods, Black Demons’ is that ‘it feels startlingly familiar’, writes Bella Matambanadzo. Another book to add to the ‘treasure trove’ of literature on the Zimbabwean question, each portrait in Mandishona’s anthology of short stories is ‘the product of prodigious observation and research’, writes Matambanadzo. ‘What a reader will cherish is that there is a kind of fidelity about the stories that leaves you knowing it to be true', while healthy 'doses of candour give breadth and wisdom, to what is a collection of comic tragedy told with tenderness'.
Confronting imperialism and neoliberalism
'Where is Uhuru? Reflections on the Struggle for Democracy in Africa'
Vicensia Shule
2010-03-04, Issue 472
Vicensia Shule reviews Issa G. Shivji's 'Where is Uhuru? Reflections on the Struggle for Democracy in Africa', a book in which the author 'eloquently expresses his thoughts on the evils of imperialism and neoliberalism'.
Mugabe and reconciliation
The genesis and meaning of 'We Are All Zimbabweans Now'
James Kilgore
2010-02-25, Issue 471
James Kilgore discusses the background to his new novel,'We Are All Zimbabweans Now', the story of an American graduate history student who travels to Zimbabwe in the 1980s with an 'idealised picture of Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwean notion of racial reconciliation'. The book attempts to provide a more 'nuanced' view of the country's history, says Kilgore, and invites readers, as its protagonist does, to interrogate their 'own assumptions and theories'.
Celebrating 'Ten Years of the Caine Prize for African Writing'
Book Review
Lennox Odiemo-Munara
2010-02-25, Issue 471
Lennox Odiemo-Munara provides us with a taste of ‘Ten Years of the Caine Prize for African Writing’, which revisits the winning short stories and those by other renowned writers of African literature. Odiemo-Munara concludes that as the Caine Prize enters its second decade, ‘we are certainly sure of marvelling the more at the grounding of a… literary tradition of a continent. It is a tradition that… “will bring many unsuspected gifts and wonderful surprises to the world in the fullness of time”.’
Review of 'Weh Dehn Say? Dehn Say Kapu Sehns Nor Kapu Word'
'Knowledge is More Than Mere Words', edited by Eustace James Palmer and Abioseh Michael Porter
Roland Bankole Marke
2010-02-25, Issue 471
Roland Bankole Marke reviews 'Weh Dehn Say? Dehn Say Kapu Sehns Nor Kapu Word', a collection of Sierra Leonean literature which he regards as 'a priceless addition to any library'.
‘Mugabe and the White African’: An exercise in dangerous help
Blessing-Miles Tendi
2010-02-18, Issue 470
A new film portraying a white Zimbabwean farmer’s struggle to resist the unlawful seizure of his land by a senior Zanu PF politician is undermined by its lack of ‘historical and political context’, writes Blessing-Miles Tendi.
Preparing for a mobile phone uprising in Africa
Anne Perkins
2010-02-11, Issue 469
Pambazuka Press was thrilled with a recent review of 'SMS Uprising' featured in The Guardian. Reproduced in this week's Pambazuka News, Anne Perkins's article explains how mobile phones can be used in the field to anyone daunted by technology.
Review of ‘China’s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities’
C. Fred Bergsten, Charles Freeman, Nicholas R. Lardy and Derek J. Mitchell
Lucy Corkin
2010-02-11, Issue 469
Lucy Corkin reviews ‘China’s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities’, by C. Fred Bergsten, Charles Freeman, Nicholas R. Lardy and Derek J. Mitchell, an assessment of China’s challenges, both internal and external and how this will affect the world in general and the US in particular. Although written primarily for US policymakers, it is ‘an excellent reference for China watchers from any discipline who seek to further understand the complexities of the Chinese state’, says Corkin.
Proud Teddy at the Proud Bird in Los Angeles
Alemayehu G. Mariam
2010-02-09, Issue 469
Alemayehu G. Mariam reflects on his evening at Ethiopian musician Teddy Afro’s concert in Los Angeles. In Teddy, Mariam sees more than a talented young musician, for ‘it is plain that [Teddy] does not sing just to sing. I really believe the man sings for one reason only: He is hopelessly in love with Ethiopia.’ Mariam describes a zealous crowd and a passionate scene, where a musician has the power to bring Ethiopians together and ‘revive’: ‘he is that strong steel bridge that spans the generation and geographic gap among Ethiopians.’
Review: 'Closing the Distance: How Governments Strengthen Ties with their Diasporas'
Dovelyn R. Agunias, ed., Migration Policy Institute 2009
Onyekachi Wambu
2010-02-04, Issue 468
Onyekachi Wambu reviews a ‘really useful’ new collection of essays that looks at how governments can integrate the contributions of their diaspora communities into national development programmes and policies, drawing on detailed examples from India, the Phillipines, Mali and Mexico. ‘Closing the Distance’ demonstrates what has always been clear in this area, writes Wambu – that ‘while countries can learn from each other, it is their own national priorities and understanding of the needs of their migrants and diasporas that should drive policy.’
Review of 'Performance and Politics in Tanzania: The Nation on Stage' by Laura Edmondson
Vicensia Shule
2010-01-27, Issue 467
Vicensia Shule reviews Laura Edmondson's 'Performance and Politics in Tanzania: The Nation on Stage', a book which she regards as decidedly limited in its analysis of the evolution of Tanzanian theatre.
Review of Jeremy Keenan's 'The Dark Sahara: America's War on Terror in Africa'
Dennis Sammut
2010-01-20, Issue 466
Dennis Sammut reviews Jeremy Keenan's 'The Dark Sahara: America's War on Terror in Africa', a book which tackles US counter-terrorist activities in Africa and alliances with dubious governments in the wake of 9/11.
Achebe: A true master of the word
Review of Chinua Achebe’s ‘The Education of a British-Protected Child’
Peter Wuteh Vakunta
2010-01-21, Issue 466
Chinua Achebe’s latest book,‘The Education of a British-Protected Child’, a ‘compendium of seventeen skilfully written non-fictional pieces’, is an ‘acerbic lampoon on the propagation of colonial stereotypes via the medium of literature,' writes Peter Wuteh Vakunta.
How to enjoy 'Tropical Fish'
Why I love Doreen Baingana
Chielo Zona Eze
2010-01-06, Issue 464
Chielo Zona Eze praises Doreen Baingana's 'Tropical Fish: Stories out of Entebbe', describing Baingana as a 'clever wizard who conjures a world of possibilities in the reader’s mind'.
Review of 'China into Africa: Trade, Aid and Investment' edited by Robert I. Rothberg
Lucy Corkin
2009-12-22, Issue 463
Lucy Corkin reviews 'China into Africa: Trade, Aid and Investment', edited by Robert I. Rotberg, a book which she regards as 'a very interesting read' despite its deficiencies in certain areas.
The failed promise of aid in Africa
Review of Dead Aid and Ending Aid Dependence
Ama Biney
2009-12-17, Issue 462
Ama Biney reviews two recent books, united in their call for Africa’s disengagement from aid dependency, but with sharply contrasting ideological visions for how to do this and to what end: Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid Why Aid is Not Working and How There is Another Way for Africa and Yash Tandon’s Ending Aid Dependence.
'Re-imagining the social in South Africa: Critique and post-apartheid knowledge', edited by Heather Jacklin and Peter Vale
University of KwaZulu-Natal Press
2009-12-17, Issue 462
A ‘revolutionary’ new volume of essays published by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Press seeks to revive the tradition of intellectual argument in post-apartheid South Africa.
Review of Linda Melvern's 'A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide'
Gerald Caplan
2009-12-10, Issue 461
Gerald Caplan reviews Linda Melvern's 'A People Betrayed: the Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide', praising its success in dispelling Western governments' claims of ignorance of developments in Rwanda leading up to the genocide.
Review of Francis Nyamnjoh's 'Married but Available'
Vicensia Shule
2009-12-10, Issue 461
Vicensia Shule gives an appreciative review of Francis Nyamnjoh's 'Married but Available'.
Post-freedom dreams and nightmares
A review of Lesego Rampolokeng’s ‘Bantu Ghost: A stream of (black) unconsciousness’
Mphutlane wa Bofelo
2009-12-10, Issue 461
Mphutlane wa Bofelo reviews 'Bantu Ghost: A stream of (black) unconsciousness', by Lesego Rampolokeng and finds that the South African writer, playwright and performance poet ‘is to literature and theatre what Fanon and Biko are to sociopolitical analysis and activism’.
Review of Fantu Cheru's 'Africa’s Development in the 21st Century: Reshaping the Research Agenda'
Michael Keating
2009-12-03, Issue 460
Michael Keating reviews Fantu Cheru's 'Africa’s Development in the 21st Century: Reshaping the Research Agenda', a book which he regards as inevitably limited by the fact that it is a mere 47 pages long.
Not everyone’s world is getting closer
Neoliberalism and globalisation in Africa: Contestations from the embattled continent
Claire Ceruti
2009-12-04, Issue 460
Claire Ceruti reviews 'Neoliberalism and globalisation in Africa: Contestations from the embattled continent', a collection of essays edited by Joseph Mensah.
How Africa found its voice at Ibadan
The rise of modern African literature
John Otim
2009-11-26, Issue 459
It was ‘from Ibadan that modern African literature rose’, John Otim writes in this week’s Pambazuka News. ‘There was a buzz, people sat up and took note. They examined the new thing, seeking out signs of deference to Empire, some acknowledgement, some appeal to European authority. Things Fall Apart showed none of that. It was Africa recreating Africa. The college and the city of Ibadan had found its voice’.
Hip Hop, youth culture and globalisation
Review of Mwenda Ntarangwi's 'East African Hip Hop – Youth Culture and Globalization'
Caroline Mose
2009-11-24, Issue 459
Caroline Mose reviews Mwenda Ntarangwi's 'East African Hip Hop – Youth Culture and Globalization', a book she regards as a 'welcome addition to the scanty but growing academic work on popular music and popular culture in East Africa'.
Somaliland and the struggle for nationhood
Review of Iqbal D. Jhazbhay's 'Somaliland: an African Struggle for Nationhood and International Recognition'
Hussein M. Adam
2009-11-24, Issue 459
Hussein M. Adam reviews Iqbal D. Jhazbhay's 'Somaliland: an African Struggle for Nationhood and International Recognition', a book he finds to be 'highly original, relevant, valid and timely'.
Literature and independence
Kenyan poets on 'Literature and independence' at the Stockholm International Poetry Festival
Shailja Patel
2009-11-24, Issue 459
Stockholm's International Poetry Festival in October had a special focus on Kenyan women poets. Ngwatilo Mawiyoo and Shailja Patel shared poems and reflections on 'Literature and independence in Kenya' at the festival's headline seminar. The audience represented a sizeable contingent of Africans based in Stockholm, including Okoth Osewe, whose Kenya Stockholm Blog is the go-to resource for all things Kenyan in Sweden. Osewe videotaped portions of the seminar, and has generously made them available to the public.
'TRANS: Transgender life stories from South Africa', eds Ruth Morgan, Charl Marais and Joy Rosemary Wellbeloved; Jacana Media
2009-11-26, Issue 459
A new book published by Jacana Media takes the reader on a journey into the many worlds inhabited by transgender South Africans. The life stories recounted in this collection are both inspiring and compelling and reveal the courage and strength of each of the story tellers involved. The narratives detail the constant challenges of living in a country, that, despite its progressive constitution, is still host to myriad prejudices and misunderstandings when it comes to trans people.
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