Studies of African states and the state of African studies

Sandra T. Barnes, Patrons and Power: Creating a Political Community in Metropolitan Lagos, Manchester University Press for the International African Institute, 1986, pp.261. $128.00 (cloth).

Patrick Chabal (ed.), Political Domination in Africa: Reflections on the Limits of Power, Cambridge University Press, 1986, pp.211. $33.50 (paper).

Preston King, An African Winter, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1986, pp.249. $9.95 (paper).

John Sender and Sheila Smith, The Development of Capitalism in Africa, London, Methuen, 1986, pp.177. $27.95 (paper).

Robert Williams, Political Corruption in Africa, Aldershot, Gower, 1987, pp.145. £18.50 (cloth).     

African Islam

Book reviewed in this article: Islam in Africa, Nura Alkali, Adamu Adamu, Amal Yadudu, Rashid Motem, and Haruna Salihi, editors Muslim Identity and Social Change in Sub-Saharan Africa, Louis Brenner, editor     

野性非洲之动物“五趣”——非洲“五丑”:动物的别样风采

<正>非洲"五丑"通常指的是生活在非洲大草原上的斑鬣狗、疣猪、皱脸秃鹫、非洲秃鹳和角马。这五种动物,没有"五大"的高大威猛,没有"五小"玲珑可爱,也没有"五怪"的奇特灵动,它们的外表谈不上光鲜,给人们留下的印象或阴险狡诈,或憨直愚笨,渐渐的,这五种动物,就被冠以"五丑"的标签,而在他们并不算靓丽的外表下,却有着不为人知的生存智慧,称得上是动物界的"丑星"。     

A history of the African people

Abstract

Colonialism entailed numerous changes in Swazi socio-economic configurations, including a growing recourse to waged employment. Yet little is known about the dynamics that drove indigenous Swazi women to work for wages. This article argues that colonial policy, by adversely impacting areas of production involving Swazi people, drove women to seek wage employment. Moreover, this was not a smooth process, but a contested issue. Swazi men, chiefs, the monarchy and colonial administrators all attempted to frustrate female participation in wage employment. In spite of such barriers, as oral interviews with mid-twentieth century working women show, women continued to take up wage employment, and eventually secured the implicit support of colonial administrators in the service of the colonial economy.     

South Africa and the African Renaissance

This article addresses the question of the new South Africa's relationships with other countries in Africa in the context of the idea of an 'African Renaissance' which has recently gained currency. The authors identify two opposing conceptions of Africa's development, which they call 'globalist' and 'Africanist' respectively, and explore the tensions besetting South Africa's participation in an 'Africanist' project. They discuss the dilemma of South Africa's role on the continent as both an obvious and an impossible candidate for leadership, and argue for an 'Africanist' and post-structuralist approach to the political, economic and cultural development of the African continent.     

African metallurgy in the Atlantic world

This paper examines the history of African metallurgy in the era of Atlantic trade. It reports on excavations at the John Reeder foundry site in St Thomas, Jamaica. The transfer of African technologies to the Caribbean reveals the plantation economy's dependence on African technical expertise, not merely slave labour. The comprehensive focus on the Atlantic world also informs archaeological investigations of African-European interaction in West Central Africa. The complexity of Atlantic technological history is characterized by a diverse range of dynamic interactions, rather than the inevitable decline of Africanderived systems. Only by identifying processes as well as products of African technological interaction will it be possible fully to reconstruct the forging of the African past.

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Résumé Cet article examine l'histoire de la métallurgie africaine à l'ère du commerce atlantique. Il rend compte des excavations au site de la fonderie John Reeder, à St Thomas, en Jamaïque. Le transfert des technologies africaines aux Antilles révèle à quel point l'économie de plantation dépendait de l'expertise technique africaine, et pas seulement de l'esclavage. L'accent placé sur le monde atlantique inspire aussi les recherches archéologiques sur l'interaction afro-européenne à l'ouest de l'Afrique centrale. La complexité de l'histoire technologique atlantique est caractérisée par une gamme diverse d'interactions dynamiques, plutôt que par l'inévitable déclin des systèmes africains dérivés. Ce n'est qu'en identifiant les processus aussi bien que les produits de l'interaction technologique africaine qu'il sera possible de reconstruire complètement l'élaboration du passé africain.

     

非洲水世界 走进赛卢斯湿地

<正>赛卢斯禁猎区是非洲面积最大、历史最悠久的自然保护区,坐落在东非最大的河流,也是东非最大的湿地生态体系——鲁菲济河入海口三角洲。鲁菲济河日夜不休,平静安详地由西向东蜿蜒流淌,注入浩瀚的印度洋。主河道两侧有众多小溪流,在翠绿的原始森林中延伸,好像地球身上的血脉。鲁菲济河周边有无数个大