Selected New Materials:April 2009
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Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles. Richard Dowden. Africana Library: DT14 .D69, 2009
After a lifetimes close observation of the continent, one of the world’s finest Africa correspondents has penned a landmark book on life and death in modern Africa. In captivating prose, Dowden spins tales of cults and commerce in Senegal and traditional spirituality in Sierra Leone; analyzes the impact of oil and the internet on Nigeria and aid on Sudan; and examines what has gone so badly wrong in Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Congo. From the individual stories of failure and success comes a surprising portrait of a new Africa emerging an Africa that, Dowden argues, can only be developed by its own people. Dowdens master work is an attempt to explain why Africa is the way it is and calls for a re-examination of the perception of Africa as the Dark Continent. He reveals it as a place of inspiration and tremendous humanity. (Bowker’s Books in Print)
For the Freedom of Her Race: Black Women and Electoral Politics in Illinois, 1877-1932. Lisa G. Materson. Africana Library: E 185.93.I2 M38 2009
Focusing on Chicago and downstate Illinois politics during the incredibly oppressive decades between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 a period that is often described as the nadir of black life in America; Lisa Materson demonstrates the impact that migrating southern black women had on Midwestern and national politics, first in the Republican Party and later in the Democratic Party. Materson shows that as African American women migrated beyond the reach of southern white supremacists, they became active voters, canvassers, suffragists, campaigners, and lobbyists, mobilizing to elect representatives who would push for the enforcement of the Reconstruction Amendments in the South. In so doing, black women kept alive a very distinct strain of Republican Party ideology that favored using federal power to protect black citizenship rights. Materson also examines the Republican failure to enact anti lynching legislation, which began the move of black women toward the Democrats, and she discusses women's embrace of the Democratic Party with the election of FDR in 1932.For the Freedom of Her Race is an important contribution to the story of African American women's role in electoral politics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, illuminating questions about voting rights, electoral organization, and the struggles for racial and gender equality in the United States. (Bowker’s Books in Print)
The Antelope’s Strategy: Living in Rwanda After the Genocide. Jean Hatzfeld. Africana Library: DT450 .44 H7313, 2009
A powerful report on the after effects of the genocide in Rwanda and on the near impossibility of reconciliation between survivors and killers In two acclaimed previous works, the noted French journalist Jean Hatzfeld offered a profound, harrowing witness to the unimaginable pain and horror in the mass killings of one group of people by another. Combining his own analysis of the events with interviews from both the Hutu killers who carried out acts of unimaginable depravity and the Tutsi survivors who somehow managed to escape, in one, based mostly on interviews with Tutsi survivors, he explored in unprecedented depth the witnesses understanding of the psychology of evil and their courage in survival; in the second, he probed further, in talks with a group of Hutu killers about their acts of unimaginable depravity. Now, in The Antelopes Strategy, he returns to Rwanda seven years later to talk with both the Hutus and Tutsis he had come to know some of the killers who had been released from prison or returned from Congolese exile, and the Tutsi escapees who must now tolerate them as neighbors. (Bowker’s Books in Print)
Open Wound: The Long View of RACE In America. William McKee Evans. Africana Library: E185. E93 2009
In this boldly interpretive narrative, William McKee Evans tells the story of America's paradox of democracy entangled with a centuries-old system of racial oppression. This racial system of interacting practices and ideas first justified black slavery, then, after the Civil War, other forms of coerced black labor and, today, black poverty and unemployment. At three historical moments, a crisis in the larger society opened political space for idealists to challenge the racial system: during the American Revolution, then during the irrepressible conflict ending in the Civil War, and, finally, during the Cold War and the colonial liberation movements. Each challenge resulted in an historic advance. But none swept clean. Many African Americans remain segregated in jobless ghettoes with dilapidated schools and dismal prospects in an increasingly polarized class society. Evans sees a new crisis looming in a convergence of environmental disaster, endless wars, and economic collapse, which may again open space for a challenge to the racial system. African Americans, with their memory of their centuries-old struggle against oppressors, appear uniquely placed to play a central role. (Bowker’s Books in Print)
Rumba Rules: The Politics of Dance Music in Mobutu’s Zaire. Bob W. White. Africana Library: ML 3917.C67 W45 2008
Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled Zaire (now the Democratic Republic Congo) from 1965 until 1997, was fond of saying "happy are those who sing and dance," and his regime energetically promoted the notion of culture as a national resource. During this period Zairian popular dance music (often referred to as la rumba zairoise) became a sort of musical franca in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. But how did this privileged form of cultural expression flourish in one of the continent's most brutal authoritarian regimes? In Rumba Rules, the first ethnography of popular music in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bob W. White examines not only the economic and political conditions that brought this powerful music industry to its knees, but also the ways that popular musicians sought to remain socially relevant in a time of increasing insecurity. Drawing partly on his experiences as a member of a local dance band in the country's capital city Kinshasa, White offers extraordinarily vivid accounts of the live music scene, including practices such as libanga, the relatively recent phenomenon of "throwing," or shouting, the names of wealthy or powerful people during performances in exchange for financial support or protection. With dynamic descriptions of how bands practiced, performed, and splintered, White highlights how the ways that power was sought and understood in Kinshasa's popular music scene mirrored the charismatic authoritarianism of Mobutu's rule. In Rumba Rules, Congolese speak candidly about political leadership, social mobility, and what it meant to be a bon chef (good leader) in Mobutu's Zaire. (Bowker’s Books in Print)
The Souls of W.E.B. DuBois : new essays and reflections. Edward J. Blum and Jason R. Young. Africana Library: E 185.97.D73.S68 2009
The Souls of W. E. B. Du Bois explores the relationship of W. E. B. Du Bois's seminal book, The Souls of Black Folk, to other works in his scholarly portfolio and to his larger project concerning race, racial identity, and the social objectives of scholarly engagement. The new, original chapters in this book, written by leading Du Bois scholars, offer a critical reading of Souls and its relevance a century later in today's world. The chapters’ show how Souls extends, refines, or introduces ideas developed in Du Bois's The Philadelphia Negro and Black Reconstruction, and how Souls relates to Du Bois's early considerations of social activism on the behalf of African Americans and to his thinking about the situation of African American women. The book demonstrates how significant Souls is for Du Bois's overarching objectives concerning racial theorizing, the social conditions affecting race, and the possibilities for social justice. (Bowker’s Books in Print)
Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady. Barbara A. Seals et’al. Africana Library: E185.86 .G58 2009
In churches or beauty shops or anyplace where groups of women gather, especially black women, it is not uncommon for them to talk about the advice they would like to pass on to the incoming first lady. A group of women in upstate New York went one step further and decided to publish their words of wisdom for Michelle Obama in a book called Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady. The poems and letters were compiled by two education specialists, Barbara Seals Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram, who are co-founders of the Uncrowned Queens Institute for Research and Education on Women at the University at Buffalo in New York. The idea blossomed after the Obamas were portrayed as fist-thumping terrorists on a New Yorker magazine cover last July. The idea was growing really throughout the primary as we were watching Michelle coming forward and taking on a more active role and becoming a person that we could identify with and that we liked, Nevergold tells NPR's Michele Norris. After the election, Nevergold and Brooks-Bertram decided to ask women to write letters of support, adulation and love to Michelle Obama because they thought she will need that when she gets to the White House, Nevergold says. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?)
The Hot Cold War: The USSR in Southern Africa. Vladimir Shubin. Africana Library: DT1105 .S65 S48 2008
Vladimir Shubin has unrivalled knowledge of the Soviet role in Africa in the decades of the Cold War. His personal yet scholarly account will be required reading for anyone interested in the fascinating story of the liberation of southern Africa.
This book analyses the causes of armed conflicts in Southern Africa during the Cold War. It examines the influence of the various external forces in the region during this period and their relationship to local movements and governments. The book focuses on states experiencing violent internal conflict and foreign intervention that is Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The author provides an unique history of the key part that the Soviet Union played in these developments. Spanning 30 years, the book explores how each country struggled for genuine independence against colonialism and apartheid and their place in the wider conflicts encompassed by the Cold War. (amazon.ca/Hot-Cold-War-Southern-Africa/)
Life after Violence: A People’s Story of Burundi. Peter Uvin. Africana Library: DT450.68 .U95 2009, 2009
Burundi recently emerged from twelve years of civil war. In this book, ordinary Burundians, farmers, artisans, traders, mothers, soldiers and students talk about the past and the future, war and peace, their hopes for a better life and their relationships with each other and the state. Young men, in particular, often seen as the cause of violence, talk about the difficulties of living up to standards of masculinity in an impoverished and war-torn society; weaving a rich tapestry, Peter Uvin pitches the ideas and aspirations of people on the ground against the assumptions often made by the international development and peace-building agencies. This groundbreaking book on conflict and society in Africa will have profound repercussions for development across the world. (Bowker’s Books in Print)
Maroon Communities In South Carolina: A Documentary Record. Timothy James Lockley. Africana Library: E450 .M38 2009
Maroon communities were small, secret encampments formed by runaway slaves, typically in isolated and defensible sections of wilderness. The phenomenon began as runaway slaves, unable to escape to safe havens in sympathetic colonies, opted instead to band together for survival near the sites of their former enslavement. In this first survey of documentary records of marronage in colonial and antebellum South Carolina, Lockleys offers opportunity to assess the unique features and trends of the maroon experience in the Palmetto State. Lockley surveys eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century historical sources gathered from newspaper reports, court proceedings, government and military records, correspondence, and reward advertisements to illustrate the efforts of white South Carolinians to locate maroon communities, defend against raiding parties, and kill or capture runaways living in these societies. (Bowker’s Books in Print)
A War with a Silver Lining: Canadian Protestant Churches and the South African War, 1899-1902. Gordon L. Heath. Africana Library: DT1918 .R44 H42, 2009
Why the Canadian Protestant churches were enthusiastic supporters of Canada's war effort in South Africa? A War with a Silver Lining makes a distinct contribution to our understanding of the church's role in shaping Canadian discourse on the South African War and its national significance. There is a growing literature on religion, missions, imperialism and war, all subjects that inform and will be informed by this study." Carman Miller, McGill University, author of Painting the Map Red: Canada and the South African War, 1899-1902 "A well-documented, carefully balanced, and widely informed argument which adds a great deal to the understanding of Canada's churches and religious idealism as significant contributors to English Canadian enthusiastic participation in the war. Duff Crerar, Grande Prairie Regional College and author of Padres in No Man's Land: Canadian Chaplains and the Great War. (Amazon.ca/War-Silver-Lining)
The Africans. S. Burlington, VT: Annenberg Media, 2006, 1986. 5 videodiscs (ca. 540 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 363, disc 1-5, Programs 1-9
This series examines three major influences on the varied and complex continent of Africa, including indigenous heritage, Western culture, and the Islamic religion. Africa’s geography, history, cultures, religions, and rich diversity are explored. Problems facing Africa, along with the causes, are also examined.
I Live and Become. Venice, CA: Menemsha Films, 2008. 1 videodisc (140 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 411
A young boy who isn’t an orphan is transported away from his home during Operation Moses at a Sudanese refugee camp, in order to honor his mother’s wishes of finding a better and safer life. An impoverished Ethiopian mother pushes her Christian son to pretend to be Jewish, so that he may immigrate to Israel as part of Operation Moses. Participants: Yael Abecassis, Roschdy Zem, Moshe Agazai, Sirak M. Sabahat, Mosche Abebe, Yitzhak Edgar, Roni Hadar, Rami Danon.
Teach Me To Dance. Sutton, Surrey, Canada: African Children’s Choir, 2004. 1 videodisc (88 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 410
This inspiring 20th anniversary gospel concert at the beautiful Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver B.C. is an accumulation of two decades of heart warming music and performances by the African Children’s Choir. Since arriving in Vancouver in September 1984 their incredible journey has taken them around the globe where they have exhilarated audiences every where with their message of hope and healing. The performance, featuring 60 current and former members of the African Children’s Choir, unites today’s Choir children with young adults who were members of the very first Choirs in the mid-1980s. This moving concert, dedicated to South African children orphaned by AIDS, features traditional gospel favorites performed during the Choir’s early years, as well as new music.
This is Our Moment: Election Night 2008. Chicago, IL: Chicago Sun-Times, 2008. 1 videodisc (42 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 409
Relive the excitement and watch the historic moment as media across the country announced that Senator Barack Obama was elected the new President of the United States. Be moved again by Barack Obama’s speech, presented in its entirety. Participants: Speaker: Barack Obama. Commentators: Carol Marin, Richard Roeper, Mary Mitchell.
Still Walking in the Light. Bellingham, WA: Music for Life Institute, African Children’s Choir, 2000. 1 videodisc. Africana Library: Videodisc 13
Video of the African Children’s Choir’s 15th anniversary concert on January 14, 2000, with special guests, the Young Africans. Participants: African Children’s Choir.
Vision of the Struggle: Willard Straight Hall Takeover 20 Years Later: April 19, 1989. Ithaca, NY: Gossa Vision Production, 1989. 1 videodisc (32 min.). Africana Library: Videodisc 412
This film is a retrospective look at the takeover and how it impacted both the Cornell and Ithaca communities. Film maker Gossa Tsegaye interviewed three of the student leaders who took part in the takeover as well as the Africana Studies and Research Center founder and director James Tuner and an Ithacan resident. Included in the film is some rare footage from the takeover.
