Selected New Materials: April 2007
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Child Soldier. Evans O. Maedeh. Africana Library: PR 9407 .S83 M19 2006
As part of the peace process in Khartoum, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) has been releasing hundreds of child soldiers since March 2004. Many of these children, generally aged 10 to 17, had been recruited by force (from about aged 7 or 8) to fight. They were stranded in Malakal where an SOS Children runs a community for orphans. Unlike in the western region of Dafur, the terribly maltreated population in the country's south may have a reason to hope for better times. It will take decades to overcome the aftermath of conflict, which left more than two million people dead. (images.google.com)
Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide. Gerard Prunier. Africana Library: DT 159.6 D27 P78 2007
In mid-2004 the Darfur crisis in Western Sudan forced itself onto the center stage of world affairs. Arab Janjaweed militias, who support the Khartoum government, have engaged in a campaign of violence against the residents of Western Sudan. A formerly obscure 'tribal conflict' in the heart of Africa has escalated into the first genocide of the twenty-first century. In sharp contrast to official reaction to the Rwandan massacres, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called the situation in Darfur ”genocide" in September 2004. Its characteristics-Arabism, Islamism, famine as a weapon of war, mass rape, international obfuscation, and a refusal to look evil squarely in the face-reflect many of the problems of the global South in general and of Africa in particular. Journalistic explanations of the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe have been given to hurried generalizations and inaccuracies: the genocide has been portrayed as an ethnic clash marked by Arab-on-African violence, with the Janjaweed militias under strict government control, but neither of these impressions is strictly true. Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide explains what lies behind the conflict, how it came about, why it should not be oversimplified, and why it is so relevant to the future of the continent. (Bowker’s in Print)
Fingernails Across the Chalkboard. Randall Horton et’’al. Africana Library: PS509 .A43 F56 2007
Featuring a wide assortment of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, this powerful volume confronts the existence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic within the Black Diaspora. Defining a cultural dialogue that will be prevalent well into the 21st century, these writings celebrate life and the living by humanizing the effects of HIV and giving powerful voices to the affected and afflicted. The writings, presented in four major sections, speak out about the hard-hitting truths that surround HIV; the forms of abuse, such as incest and rape, which cast HIV into the lives of girls and women; the issues of grief and loss; and the range of reactions, from acceptance to denial, activism, and the search for justice. The writers featured include Dennis Brutus, Tony Medina, Randi, Triant, Truth Thomas, Duriel Harris, Frank X. Walker, Arisa White, Tara Betts, and Lamont B. Steptoe. (Bowker’s Book in Print)
Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Black Athlete. William C. Rhoden. Africana Library: GV583.R46 2006
Rhoden scores heavily with this Muhammad Ali of a book, one that blends autobiography with history, clarity of insight with passion. A series of invaluable and irrefutable history lessons and contemporary cameos to illustrate Rhoden’s thesis that even the best paid of black American athletes live a double life—highly compensated, but in a state not unlike bondage. (Bowker’s Book in Print)
Ghana: One Decade of the Liberal State. Kwame Boafo-Arthur. Africana Library: DT512.32 .G53 2007
This unique collection is an invaluable guide to Ghana's political past, present and future. It examines how Ghana has dealt with the problems of institution-building, state-market relations and democratic leadership since its return to constitutional rule in 1993. The contributors also assess the future of the democratic experiment in one of sub-Saharan Africa's rare 'islands of peace' by focusing on the challenges posed by security, human rights and foreign policy in the twenty-first century. Ghana has witnessed a 'revolution through the ballot box', since its return to constitutional rule in 1993. Yet this period of sustained democratic government in an era of globalization and liberal triumphalism has brought with it new demands. How has Ghana faced up to the problems of institution-building, state-market relations and democratic leadership?nbsp; Can it deal with the challenges posed by security, human rights and foreign policy in the twenty-first century? This unique collection interrogates all these issues and assesses the future of the democratic experiment in one of sub-Saharan Africa's rare 'islands of peace'. (Bowker’s Books In Print)
History of Sub-Saharan Africa. Robert O. Collins and James M.Burns. Africana Library: DT351 .C68 2007
An accessible introduction to sub-Saharan history for students and general readers. The authors describe the rise of empires in the classical period, the slave trade, and the European conquest. The concluding section focuses on twentieth century Africa as it gains independence and searches for a new identity beyond colonialism.
In a trawl through the entire sweep of sub-Saharan history, the authors have written an accessible introduction for students and general readers. The opening chapter ongeography and climate frames the discussion, demonstrating how the environment has shaped the societies and cultures of those living in the region. Thereafter they describe the rise of states and empires in the classical period, the slave trade, and the European conquest. The concluding section focuses on Africa in the twentieth century as it gains independence and searches for a new identity beyond colonialism. (Bowker’s Book in Print)
In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America. By Eddie S. Glaude Jr. Africana Library: G53, 2007
In this timely book, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., one of our nation’s rising young African American intellectuals, makes an impassioned plea for Black America to address its social problems by recourse to experience and with an eye set on the promise and potential of the future, rather than the fixed ideas and categories of the past. Central to Glaude’s mission is a rehabilitation of philosopher John Dewey, whose ideas, he argues, can be fruitfully applied to a renewal of African American politics. According to Glaude, Dewey’s pragmatism, when attentive to the darker dimensions of life—or what we often speak of as the blues—can address many of the conceptual problems that plague contemporary African American discourse. How blacks think about themselves, how they imagine their own history, and how they conceive of their own actions can be rendered in ways that escape bad ways of thinking that assume a tendentious political unity among African Americans simply because they are black, or that short-circuit imaginative responses to problems confronting actual black people. (Bowker’s Books In Print)
Jim Brown: The Fierce Life of An American Hero. Mike Freeman. Africana Library: GV939 .B75 F74 2006
He intimidated people on and off the football field. He was brutal yet brilliant, narcissistic yet magnanimous, relentless yet unyielding. Most of all, he was the greatest football player of all time. He was Jim Brown. Jim Brown was an astonishing physical specimen with tremendous skills and intelligence. An athlete who played a number of sports at Syracuse University, he ultimately discovered that it was the violence of football that appealed to him most. The idea of physically dominating other men, surviving ferocious battles on the field against opponents who would just as soon call him a nigger as try to gouge out his eyes fueled an astonishing, record-making NFL career that led to the Hall of Fame. He battled his defenses, sometimes his teammates, and often the Cleveland Browns' legendary head coach Paul Brown. But Jim Brown had ambitions greater than football. He used his athletic brilliance to launch a movie career, becoming Hollywood's first Black action hero, culminating in a scandalous love scene with America's sweetheart Raquel Welch. (Bowker’s Book in Print)
Lynchings in Mississippi: A History, 1865-1965. Julius E. Thompson. Africana Library: HV 6465 M7 T46 2007
Lynching, the mob practice of kidnapping and murdering as a form of vigilante justice, was especially prevalent in Mississippi. During the 100 years after the Civil War, almost one in every ten lynching in the United States took place in Mississippi. As in other southern states, lynchings were carried out primarily by white mobs against black victims. Characterized by brutality and the complicity of communities and courts, few of the more than 500 lynchings in Mississippi during that era resulted in criminal convictions. This book studies lynching in Mississippi from the Civil War through the civil rights movement. Arranged chronologically, it examines how lynching unfolded in the state, and assesses the large number of deaths, the reasons, the distribution by counties, cities and rural locations, and public responses to these crimes. The final chapter covers lynching's legacy in the decades since 1965, and an appendix offers a lynching chronology. (Bowker’s Book in Print)African Art: It’s Cultural Meaning. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2004. Videodisc (22 min.) Africana Library: Videodisc 278
This illuminating program examines the symbolism, aesthetics, and functionality of African art through the vast region’s sculpture, masks, architecture, ornaments, clothing, and utensils. Narrator, Sidney Nolan.
La noire de: Black Girl. United States: New Yorker Video, 2005.1 videodisc (80 min.) Africana Library: Videodisc 288
In La noire de, a Senegalese maid goes to the Riviera with her employers and gains a new perspective on what it means to be African outside of Africa. A story of exile and despair. Borom Sarret follows a cart driver as he meets an unfortunate array of people in Dakar. Participants, La noire de: Mbissine Thérèse Diop, Anne-Marie Jelinck, Momar Nar Sene, Robert Fontaine. Borom sarret: Ly Abdoulaye, Albourah.
The Reporters: San Bushmen of the Kalahari. BBC World and BBC News 24. BBC World, London: 2005. 1 videodisc (23 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 290
The Bushmen of the Kalahari are set to resume their legal battle with the Botswanan government to win the right to return home. Sue Lloyd-Roberts has been to Botswana to find out what is behind the policy of moving the Bushmen out of the reserve. Participants, Host, Sue Lloyd-Roberts. Festus Mogae, John Gurney, Roy Sesana, Gordon Bennett.
Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation, 2006. 1 videodisc (61 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 287
A look at the conceptualization of masculinity in hip-hop culture. Includes interviews with prominent rappers, music industry executives, and social critics.
Notorious C.H.O. New York: Wellspring Media, 2002. 1 videodisc (95 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc, 285
Notorious C.H.O. is Margaret Cho’s hilarious follow-up to her hit comedy sensation I’m the one that I want. This hugely successful one-woman show toured 37 cities in North America last year and closed with a sold-out performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall. A brilliant, taboo-busting comedian in the spirit of Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and George Carlin, Margaret Cho is known as much for her raunchy humor as she is for her enormous contributions as a social equalizer".
I’m The One That I Want. New York: Fox Lorber Center Stage: Distributed by Winstar TV & Video, 2001. 1 videodisc (96 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 284
Margaret Cho does a stand-up comedy concert in San Francisco.
Road Trip to Kenya: A Path toward Global Understanding. Princeton, NJ: Films Media Group, 2007. 2 videodiscs (42 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 273
Enthusiastic young adults serve as on-screen guides in this two-part series, which travels to Kenya to study compelling issues in culture and ecology. The series takes an investigative approach, revealing Kenya’s many strengths, challenges, contrasts, and opportunities. Visiting different parts of the country and hearing commentary from a wide range of experts, viewers will gain a clear picture of Kenya’s cultural diversity, education system, landscape, and natural resources--while learning about its relationship to the global community.
Africa In Defiance of Democracy. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2004. 1 videodisc (videodisc) (56 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 275
Throughout Africa, democracy has long been touted as the cure for the continent’s ongoing unrest. But can such a form of government flourish in countries where extreme poverty is the norm and violence is the chief tool of statecraft? Spanning the continent from Libya to South Africa, this program seeks to understand Africa’s complex political situations, addressing the ’Big Man’ syndrome and the one-party state, the destabilizing effects of armed conflict, the mismanagement of industry and natural resources, and strained relations with the industrialized world.
Freedom’s Call. New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 2006. 1 videodisc (30 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 281
Two African-American journalists who covered the events of the Civil rights movement in the fifties and sixties return to the deep South where it all took place. The journalists are Dorothy Gilliam,who later became first female African American reporter at The Washington Post, and Ernest Withers, renowned photographer whose photos were published in the black press, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. Their journey brings back memories of those turbulent times. They travel to Memphis, Little Rock, Oxford, Jackson and the Mississippi Delta. Along the way they stop to meet with Minniejean Brown Trickey, one of The Little Rock Nine, and James Meredith, the first African- American to attend The University of Mississippi. Symbolic of the progress made is that today the travelers stay at the Peabody Hotel, from which they would have been barred back then. Photographs, newspaper clips and eyewitness accounts bring the heroic struggle alive, a struggle in which these two courageous journalists participated and recorded for posterity.
Ali Rap: His Words Are As Powerful As His Punch. Santa Monica, CA: Genius Entertainment, 2006. 1 videodisc (44 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 258
The life of Muhammad Ali is explored through the unpredictable raps and rhymes he spouted throughout his career.
American Blackout. New York: Disinformation Co., 2006. 1 videodisc (86 min.)
Africana Library: Videodisc 259
Critically examines the contemporary tactics used to control our democratic process and silence voices of political dissent. Chronicles the recurring patterns of voter disenfranchisement from Florida 2000 to Ohio 2004 while following the story of Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.
Imagining Peace and Economic Transformation in The Horn of Africa: Framing the Ethio-Somalia Conflict in the Context of the Region. Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University. 2007. 1 videodisc (134 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 293
Opening the discussion with a brief introduction of current Ethiopian literature, Dr. Ayele Bekerie details the history of the Horn of Africa. He describes the differences in people, culture, and how the Nile River contributed to the 2006 Ethio-Somalia crisis. Critically examining the conflict, Bekerie pushes for peace and pronounces a plan towards economic progress within the region.
Jean Rouch and His Camera, in the Heart of Africa. Watertown, MA: Documentary Educational Resources, 2004. 1 videodisc (77 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 283
This program provides an in-depth look at the film work of Jean Rouch and his associates from Niger who participated in production of many of Rouch’s Niger-based films.
Lenny Bruce: Without Tears. New York, N.Y.: First Run Features, 2004? 1 videodisc (75 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 282
Documentary about comedian Lenny Bruce, who died in 1966. In his personal life he was a tortured soul, and his humor was ahead of the times, but his influence was enormous. He attacked hypocrisy, racism, war and organized religion, and was rewarded by being hounded by the police.
Margaret Cho: Revolution. New York, NY: Wellspring, 2004. 1 videodisc ( 85 min). Africana Library: Videodisc 286
In her latest concert film, Margaret Cho tackles the axis of evil, the joy of bodily functions, her loser ex-boyfriend and her now world-famous mother.
The Masai Today: Changing Traditions. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2004. 1 videodisc (53 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 274
Describes the pastoral life of the Masai tribe in Africa. The program follows the life of a family over the course of seven years as a glimpse into the life of the Masai as they struggle with the challenges of modernity.
Nightfighters: The Tuskegee Airmen. Santa Monica, CA: Xenon Pictures, Inc., 2002. 1 videodisc (52 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 261
The 332nd Fighter group has a unique place in the annals of WWII air force fighter groups. The group was completely Black and confounded the expectations and prejudices held by white Americans in the 1930’s and 1940’s, excelling as pilots and becoming a crack unit, accomplishing goals others couldn’t. Includes interviews with Alfred Anderson, Lee Archer, and Roscoe Brown.
Forgotten Genius. Boston: WGBH Boston Video, 2007. 1 videodisc (112 min.).
Africana Library: Videodisc 289
Story of Percy Julian’s scientific breakthroughs and a biography of his life with period reenactments based on newly opened family archives and interviews with dozens of colleagues and relatives. Participants, Narrated by Courtney B. Vance. Commentary by James Anderson, Gregory Petsko, Bernard Witkop, Dagmar Ringe, Gregory Robinson, Ned Heindel, Ray Dawson.
Road to Riches: Black Empowerment in Today’s South Africa. Princeton, N.J.: Films Media Group, 2007. 1 videodisc (60 mins.). Africana Library: Videodisc 276
This Wide angle documentary examines economic empowerment programs designed to help transfer more of the nation’s wealth and opportunity to its Black majority.
The Right to Femininity: Fighting Female Circumcision in Africa Today. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2005. 1 videodisc (46 minutes). Africana Library: Videodisc 277
The custom of female circumcision faces growing opposition in Africa. This program presents multiple perspectives on the issue, interviewing health care personnel, professional circumcisers, women who have undergone the ritual, and men who are against it. Examining medical and emotional problems that follow genital mutilation, the video also features signs of positive change, including a Nigerian drama troupe that stages anti-circumcision productions and groups like UNICEF, CARE Austria, and the Girls’ Power Initiative that campaign in areas where the ritual’s effects are most profound.
Shores of Africa. Princeton, NJ: Films Media Group, 2007. 2 videodiscs (ca. 106 min.)
Africana Library: Videodisc 279
This two-part series provides an economic, political, and cultural portrait of African life, focusing on the countries located along the eastern and western shores of the continent. Each program analyzes the dynamics of trade, language, religion, geography and history that have given Africa its present and evolving shape.
É minha Cara: That’s My Face, A Film. New York, NY: Wellspring Media, 2003. 1 videodisc (60 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 292
Filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris travels to Africa and Brazil in search of his spiritual ancestors.
The Tuskegee Airmen. New York, N.Y.: HBO Home Video, 2000. 1 videodisc (106 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 260
It is 1943 and the Germans are winning the Second World War as the U.S. suffers huge losses on the ground and in the air. Four newly recruited pilots are united by a desire to serve their country, at a time when Black flyers are not welcomed in the Air Force. Now, through the brutal demands of their training, to the perils of flying over nations at war, the men they call "The Tuskegee Airmen" must undertake the riskiest mission of their lives--to prove to America that courage knows no color. Their success could earn them respect, save lives and help win a terrible war. Their failure could destroy more hopes and dreams than their own. Starting: Laurence Fishburne, Allen Payne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Courtney Vance, Andre Braugher, Chris McDonald, John Lithgow, and Cuba Gooding, Jr.
What We Want, What We Believe: The Black Panther Party Library. Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2006. 4 videodiscs (720 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 280
Features three films on the Black Panther Party made in 1968-1969 by the Newsreel film collective and additional footage on Black Panther history and legacy from Roz Payne and the Newsreel filmmakers. Includes extensive video and audio interviews with party members and movement participants as well as documents from the Roz Payne Archives chronicling both the movement and government attempts to suppress it.
