Backlist
The African Issues series was published for the IAI by James Currey Publishers, now part of the Boydell & Brewer Group. The series is now closed. See James Currey an imprint of Boydell & Brewer www.jamescurrey.com for further details including how to order books.
‘Letting them die’: why HIV/Aids prevention programmes fail African issues
Catherine Campbell
South Africa has the worst AIDS epidemic in the world. In this one mining community in South Africa, AIDS will kill six out of ten young women and four out of ten young men, The book highlights the barriers and constraints to controlling this national crisis. People explain in their own words. There are interviews with migrant mineworkers, commercial sex workers and young women and men.
Catherine Campbell is a Reader at the London School of Economics, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Natal.
ISBN: 9780852558683, 224pp. 2003, paperback
Peace without Profit. How the IMF blocks rebuilding in Mozambique
Joseph Hanlon
Where is the boom that should have followed the end of Mozambique's war? Post-war reconstruction is slow. The economic crisis continues. Peasants returned to the countryside; nobody came to buy their crops. Workers went back to their factories; there was no money to buy their products.
History demonstrates that deflation is the opposite of what is needed. Mozambique has followed the IMF/World Bank prescription of structural adjustment. This stops Mozambique rebuilding. It even prevents an active role by the private sector.
ISBN: 9780852558003, 192pp. 2003, paperback
Angola: anatomy of an oil state
Tony Hodges
Angola's MPLA rulers abandoned state socialism in the early 1990s and embraced unfettered capitalism. There was no protection for the poor, apart from aid provided by foreign donors. The families of the erstwhile Marxist elite are amassed fortunes from diamond concessions, the privatization of state assets and privileged access to foreign exchange and bank loans. Political patronage and cronyism blocked economic and political reforms that would strengthen government accountability and transparency in the management of public resources. The country is rich in oil, diamonds and other natural resources. But instead of funding development, these resources are fuelling a conflict that has reduced most Angolans to poverty, with the second highest child mortality rate in the world. This succinct book is a comprehensive account of these profound changes in Angola's political economy.
Tony Hodges worked in Angola for United Nations agencies from 1994 to 1998.
ISBN: 9780852558744, 256pp. 2003, paperback
The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars
Douglas H. Johnson
The civil war in the Sudan is one of Africa's longest and most intractable conflicts. Once confined to the southern Sudan, fighting spread to other parts of the country and across international borders. Oil, slavery and the war against terrorism have placed the Sudan on the diplomatic agenda. With this new international interest comes the opportunity to address the root causes of the war and construct a comprehensive peace.
Douglas H. Johnson is a leading Western expert on Sudan.
ISBN: 9780852553923, 234pp, 2003, paperback. ISBN: 9780852553916, hardback
Somalia: economy without state
Peter D. Little
Stateless or near stateless territories, increasingly common in Africa, are characterised by ‘second economies’ based on trans-border trade, ‘smuggling’, informal finances and global circuits of remittances and goods. This study is of Somalia, an extreme case of an economy without a government.
Peter D. Little is Professor of Anthropology, University of Kentucky.
ISBN: 9780852558652, 224pp. 2003, paperback. ISBN: 9780852558669, hardback.
Fortress Conservation: the preservation of the Mkomazi Game Reserve, Tanzania
Dan Brockington
Dan Brockington challenges the broad vision of Africa's environment, history and society that drives conservation policies across the continent. He argues that this vision has been harmful, unjust and unnecessary, tracing its effects on the people at the Mkomazi Game Reserve in Tanzania.
Dan Brockington is a Research Fellow at New Hall, Cambridge.
ISBN: 9780852554173, 192pp. 2002, paperback. ISBN: 9780852554180, hardback.
Mozambique and the Great Flood of 2000
Frances Christie and Joseph Hanlon
The Mozambique floods of March 2000 dominated international television. Rosita, the baby born in a tree, appeared in papers across the world. These images gave a picture of helplessness. But the Mozambicans were prepared and, with the help of international aid, stopped a disaster from becoming a catastrophe.
Joseph Hanlon is the author of four other books on Mozambique; Frances Christie has fifteen years of experience of writing about aid and emergencies in Mozambique.
ISBN: 9780253214737, 176pp. 2001, paperback
Killing for Conservation: wildlife policy in Zimbabwe
Rosaleen Duffy
Wildlife conversation policy is often discussed within the broader debates of sustainable development. This case study of Zimbabwe illustrates how the politically controversial policy agenda of wildlife utilization is part of the wider realm of global environmental politics.
Rosaleen Duffy is a lecturer in politics at Lancaster University.
ISBN: 9780852558461, 192pp. 2000, paperback. ISBN: 9780852558454, hardback.
Africa Works: disorder as political instrument
Patrick Chabal and Jean-Pascal Daloz
Africa Works offers an original interpretation of the continent's precarious condition. The authors draw on a wide range of disciplines and comparative material to review the major political, social, and cultural trends of present day Africa.
The authors explore three fundamental issues: the ‘informalization’ of politics; 're-traditionalization' of society; and the productivity of economic 'failure'. They develop a new paradigm – the political instrumentalizalion of disorder – which makes sense of the processes and provides a realistic analysis of Africa's contemporary politics.
Patrick Chabal is Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Jean-Pascal Daloz is Senior CNRS Researcher, Centre d'etude d'Afrique noire, Bordeaux.
ISBN: 9780852558140
Congo–Paris. Transnational traders on the margins of the law
Janet MacGaffey and Rémi Bazenguissa-Ganga
From Johannesburg to Cairo and from Dakar to Nairobi as well as in Paris the Congolese traders are renowned and envied. Congo–Paris draws on the histories of traders who work between the Congos and France and who switch in and out of the law. The authors challenge traditional anthropology, questioning ‘is anthropology condemned to be reduced to territories, unable to follow networks?' This book follows the networks to examine the way in which the second economy has been extended transnationally, globally on the margins of the law.
ISBN: 9780852552605, 208pp. 2000, paperback
The Criminalization of the State in Africa
Jean-Francois Bayart,
Stephen Ellis and Beatrice Hibou
Fraud and smuggling on a major scale, the plundering of natural resources, the privatization of state institutions, the development of an economy of plunder, the growth of private armies. All of these features of public life in Africa suggest that the state itself is becoming a vehicle for organized criminal activity. The authors ask: have we moved on from 'classical' corruption? They argue there is a difference between the corruption of previous decades and the criminalization of some African states now taking place, with major operators now able to connect with global criminal networks.
Contents: Introduction by Jean-Francois Bayart – From kleptocracy to the felonious state? by Jean-Francois Bayart, Stephen Ellis and Beatrice Hibou – The 'social capital' of the felonious state, or the ruses of political intelligence by Jean-Francols Bayart – The new frontiers of crime in South Africa by Stephen Ellis – The 'social capital' of the state as an agent of deception, or the ruses of economic intelligence by Beatrice Hibou –Conclusion by Jean-Francois Bayart.
ISBN: 9780852558126, 192pp. 1999, paperback
Famine Crimes: politics and the disaster relief industry in Africa
Alex de Waal
Famine is preventable. The persistence of famine reflects political failings by African governments, western donors and international relief agencies. When freedom from famine is a basic right or a political imperative, famine is prevented. Case studies from Ethiopia to Botswana demonstrate African success–- but they are often not acknowledged or repeated. However, humanitarian intervention and other high-profile relief operations have failed. Progress lies in bringing the fight against famine into democratic politics, and calling to account those guilty of creating famines.
Alex de Waal is a writer and activist on African issues. He is a programme director at the Social Science Research Council and a fellow of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.
ISBN: 9780852558102, 256pp. 1997, paperback
The Lie of the Land. Challenging received wisdom on the African environment
Edited by Melissa Leach and Robin Mearns
Images of children starving because of environmental destruction have become an integral part of the way that Africa is perceived in the North. That is a typical signpost to the lie of the land. This book questions the reasoning behind such images.
How do environmental orthodoxies become established? Historically informed research in this book show that many of the orthodoxies are ill-conceived or represent the interests of certain powerful groups.
What are the alternative and appropriate approaches for policy-making? This pioneering book draws eleven key cases together to explore their commonalities. Challenges to received wisdom have reached a critical mass which allow comparative analysis.
ISBN: 9780852554098, 256pp. 1996, paperback
Fighting for the Rain Forest. War, youth and resources in Sierra Leone
Paul Richards
Sierra Leone's war is a crisis of modernity. Sierra Leone's youth belong to a modern, trans-Atlantic culture. In remote digging camps, young people watch Rambo videos and have a sophisticated understanding of world affairs from the BBC. These are part of the cultural resources with which the war is fought.
The rain forest is central. The war is fought in the rain forest, and can only be understood in the context of old traditions of social and technical management of the forest. There is no evidence that a crisis of deforestation or overpopulation has contributed to the war.
Meantime, many people are learning to live with war, and building peace locally. Aid agencies must learn from these initiatives if relief is to contribute to peace and not conflict.
ISBN: 9780852553978, 208pp. 1996, paperback
Museums and Urban Culture in West Africa
Edited by Alexis B.A.Adande & Emmanuel Arinze
Towns were a recurrent feature of African civilisations. Archaeology is a key discipline for the study of urban life before the colonial period. This volume also addresses aspects of urban culture in modern West Africa, generating research and exhibitions on subjects as diverse as funerary arts, modern sculpture, cholera awareness and the ingenuity of the urban recycling artisan.
‘…a very readable introduction to the urban phenomenon in West Africa and its significance for museums.’ – Museum Anthropology
Published for the IAI by James Currey Publishers.
ISBN 9780852552759, 180pp. 2002, paperback
African Philosophy as Cultural Inquiry
Edited by Ivan Karp and D. A. Masolo
Ten probing essays by distinguishing African, European, and American scholars, examine the role of African philosophy across disciplinary boundaries to embrace ideas taken from history, literary studies, anthropology, and art. This diverse book presents a lively view of how philosophical questions can be applied to interpretations of culture and reveals the manufactured nature of philosophical discourse in the multiple and variable settings that exist in contemporary Africa.
Published for the IAI by Indiana University Press.
ISBN 9780253214171, 280pp. 2000, paperback
African Philosophy in Search of Identity
D.A. Masolo
Kenyan philosopher DA Masolo traces the history of the major themes, debates, and participants in African philosophy since the 1940s. African thinkers, Masolo argues, have used philosophy as the primary vehicle for theoretical articulation of their identities and as the means for contesting identities imposed by outsiders. Like other philosophical systems and traditions, African philosophy has grown out of particular cultural circumstances and embraces many different constructions of African reality, problems, and methods of acquiring meaningful knowledge.
‘Masolo offers an expansive and lucidly panoramic view of the origin and developments in African philosophy.’ – Africa Today
Published for the IAI by Indiana University Press .
ISBN 9780253207753 302pp. 1994, paperback
Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar And Saho
I.M. Lewis
First published in the IAI’s Ethnographic Survey of Africa series in 1955, new editions with supplementary material were published in 1969 and 1994.
An in-print edition of the book published in 1998 is available from Red Sea Press.
ISBN 9781569021057 228pp. 1998, paperback