Utopians at the Parliament: The World's Parliament of Religions and the Columbian Exposition of 1893

This article examines the Columbian Exposition and World's Parliament of Religions, both held in Chicago in 1893. While both events drew on nineteenth-century beliefs in the superiority of Western Christianity, they reflect divergent views on technology, social inequality, and urban reform. The Exposition's "White City" offered visitors a temporary, otherwordly escape, whereas the World's Parliament emphasized the importance and possibility of concrete solutions to social problems. As such, these events express radically different forms of utopian speculation in Gilded-Age America.     

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.

     

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).     

Archaeology in African museums

Museums curate, document, conserve, and protect the earth's diverse natural and cultural heritage for purposes of educating humankind. Through research, exhibitions, and other activities that stress our common demominators and achievements, museums help us to forge and affirm local, ethnic, national, and international identities, unity, and pride. To accomplish such diverse goals, museums require dynamic, dedicated, ethical, and fairly well-educated staff. Museums must also be well-funded and should have local, national, and international support systems. This paper discusses the challenges faced by museum professionals in Africa, especially archaeologists, as they attempt to unearth, and in some cases reinterpret, Africa's cultural history.     

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"。     

Trends in African Agricultural Trade

Sub-Saharan agriculture, with few exceptions, has stagnated despite official goals of achieving self-sufficiency and increasing export earnings. African agriculture has suffered deteriorating terms of trade, inadequate technology and infrastructure, and policies which severely discourage agricultural enterprise. In some countries structural adjustment and policy reform are occurring, and there remains great potential for agricultural development due in part to prospective advantages in natural resources and abundant labor. Discussed here are a specific set of institutional reforms needed to mobilize agricultural entrepreneurship.     

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.