You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
The dynamism of religion all over the world presupposes that discourse on it generally is a continuous exercise. As religion influences the environment of its operation so also is the influence of the environment on the practice of religion. Nigeria, a multi-religious nation has experienced and is still experiencing the positive as well the negative aspects of religious practices in her socio-political, economic and cultural spheres. There is no doubt that religion is manipulated by some people, which portray it in bad light and makes it vulnerable to criticisms despite the unanimity about its potential to be a force for good in the society. Recent developments in Nigeria indicate that relig...
This book consciously interrogates the varieties of opinions with regards to the socio-political and religious dynamics of Africans in the African continent as well as in the diaspora in the context of globalization. It highlights the significance and the consequences of globalization on these areas with regards to the African world views. Through the multi and interdisciplinary discourse in this volume, the diversity of opinions necessary for grappling with the complexity and plurality of global dynamics on various African ways of life are captured. These should give credence to the conviction that answers to questions about globalization of Africa in the past, the present, and projected future can only be provided by Africans and Africanists with the interest of Africa as the sole motivation of content and discontent debates. This volume contributes to such efforts in searching for viable answers to the challenges of globalization in Africa.
The Palgrave Handbook of African Traditional Religion interrogates and presents robust and comprehensive contributions from interdisciplinary experts and scholars. Offering a range of perspectives and opinions through the prism of understanding the past about African Traditional religions and, more importantly, capturing their dynamics in the present and projecting their sustainability and relevance for the future, this volume is an essential resource for knowledge and understanding of African Traditional religions in the global space of religious traditions.
The Afrikan Revolution in Ayiti: Libète ou Lanmò, Freedom or Death is an Afrocentric re-examination and interpretation around the historiography of the Haitian Revolution and provides an in-depth study that highlights several significant Afrikan epistemological and cosmological aspects that led to freedom.
Contemporary Perspectives on Religions in Africa and the African Diaspora explores African derived religions in a globalized world. The volume focuses on the continent, on African identity in globalization, and on African religion in cultural change.
The dynamic nature of Christianity has necessitated its movement from the cathedral to the mountain top. This has occasioned a proliferation of Prayer Mountains throughout Africa. In Yorubaland of southwestern Nigeria, Prayer Mountain is known as Ori-Oke. Like many communities in Africa, the Yoruba are confronted with fundamental challenges in life for which people do not rest until they find solutions. Within the praxis of Nigerian Christian lexicon Ori-Oke is synonymous with the enactment of a sacred space on a mountain top characterised by various prayer regimes, rituals, exorcism and religious practices, aimed at eliciting the help of the divine to alleviate the existential challenges of...
Since the 1990s, attempts at democratic transition have generated hopes for 'civil society' as well as ambivalence about the state. The interdisciplinary studies gathered here explore this dynamic through the complex interactions of state fragility, self-help, and self-organization in Nigeria. Nigeria stands as a particularly interesting case, as its multifaceted associational life extends far beyond civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs): as this volume reveals, there is a 'third sector' of Nigerian society encompassing everything from community self-help programs to ethno-religious affiliations to militias. Some of these formations have narrow, pragmatic aims, while others have an explicit socio-cultural or political agenda; most can be understood as compensating for the state's failure to deliver services and maintain regulatory frameworks. By examining the emergence of broader forms of civil society, this volume considers their successes while also assessing their costs and contradictions.
This handbook fills a large gap in the current knowledge about the critical role of Africa in the changing global order. By connecting the past, present, and future in a continuum that shows the paradox of existence for over one billion people, the book underlines the centrality of the African continent to global knowledge production, the global economy, global security, and global creativity. Bringing together perspectives from top Africa scholars, it actively dispels myths of the continent as just a passive recipient of external influences, presenting instead an image of an active global agent that astutely projects soft power. Unlike previous handbooks, this book offers an eclectic mix of historical, contemporary, and interdisciplinary approaches that allow for a more holistic view of the many aspects of Africa’s relations with the world.
The communities along the coastline of Ghana boast a long and vibrant maritime culture. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the region experienced creeping British imperialism and incorporation into the British Gold Coast colony. Drawing on a wealth of Ghanian archival sources, historian Kwaku Nti shows how many aspects of traditional maritime daily life—customary ritual performances, fishing, and concepts of ownership, and land—served as a means of resistance and allowed residents to contest and influence the socio-political transformations of the era. Nti explored how the Ebusua (female) and Asafo (male) local social groups, especially in Cape Coast, became bastions of indigenous identity and traditions during British colonial rule, while at the same time functioning as focal points for demanding a share of emerging economic opportunities. A convincing demonstration of the power of the indigenous everyday life to complicate the reach of empire, Maritime Culture and Everyday Life in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Coastal Ghana reveals a fuller history of West African coastal communities.