February 16, 2017: Events and News

Events & Issues

-Call for Reviews
We have the following books available for reviewers. If interested please, notify both prof. Haron (HARONM@mopipi.ub.bw) and RA ( research_africa-editor@duke.edu) by email. We will send e.copies to reviewers residing in Africa. Please, consult RA Review Guidelines in advance at (https://sites.duke.edu/researchafrica/files/2017/02/Research-Africa-Review-Guidelines-1-1.pdf).

All review materials must be submitted by March 28, 2017.
A. Books
1. Fake Healing Claims for HIV and Aids in Malawi: Traditional, Christian and Scientific
Author: Klaus Fiedler. Publisher: Mzuni Press, Malawi, 2016
2. The Looting Machine: Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers, and the Theft of Africa’s
Wealth;
Author: Tom Burgis. Publisher: Public Affairs, USA, 2016
3. West African Ulama and Salafism in Mecca and Medina-Jawab al-Ifriki
Author: Ahmed Chanfi, Brill Press, 2016
4. Claiming Agency: Reflecting on TrustAfrica’s First Decade
Author: Halima Mahomed & Elizabeth Coleman (editors). Publisher: Spears Media Press, Cameroon,
2016
5. Doing Development in West Africa: A Reader by and for Undergraduates
Author/ Editor: Charles Piot. Publisher: Duke University Press, 2016
6. Salafism in Nigeria: Islam, Preaching and Politics
Author: Alex Thurston; recently published. Cambridge University Press.
7. Obama-Mentum. An Anthology of Transformational Poetry
Edited by Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah. Publisher: Kraft Books, Nigeria, 2016
8. Al-Thaqafah wa al-Muthaqafun fi Ifriqiya (Culture and the Intellectuals in
Africa).
Author: Hilmi Sharawy. Publisher: General Egyptian Book Organization, 2016
9. Ceerno Sileymaani BAAL. Fondateur de l’Almaamiya (1776-1890)
Author: Mamadou Youry Sall. Publisher: Presses universitaires De Dakar, Senegal, 2015
B. Film:
10. Sembene! Samba Gadjigo (Director), Jason Silverman (Director), 2015
11. Timbuktu, Director Abderrahmane Sissako, 2015

-Statehood in the era of securitisation: Morocco’s accession to the AU and its impact on Sahrawi self-determination
Briefing No. 1/2017/ 9 February 2017

Afro-Middle East Center, Johannesburgh, South Africa
Morocco’s accession to AU membership has resulted in both that state and those which opposed the accession claiming that the membership will be useful for their particular agendas. Morocco believes AU membership will help it expand its influence on the continent, and undermine the bid for Sahrawi independence. The Sahrawi Polisario Front and its Algerian backers argue that Morocco can now be forced to accede to Sahrawi demands. This insight looks beyond the rhetoric to analyze the implications of Morocco’s entry to the AU.

For more details, follow the following RA link:
http://www.amec.org.za/morocco/item/1521-statehood-in-the-era-of-securitisation-morocco-s-accession-to-the-african-union-and-its-impact-on-sahrawi-self-determination.html

-How Africa can build inclusive, safe and sustainable cities
Recently, world leaders gathered in New York to commit to the new sustainable development goals. For the first time, a specifically urban goal is among the 17 goals to be achieved by 2030. This goal is to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.” It reflects growing recognition that human development depends on how well urbanization is managed. According to Dr Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-Habitat and former mayor of Barcelona, the global view of “cities as containers of problems” must change. Cities are, in fact, “accelerators of development”.
Read more on the story in this link:
How Africa can build inclusive, safe and sustainable cities

-Kenyans Flock to Roadside Vendors Selling Cheap Secondhand Books, Spur Reading Boom
By Lydia Matata, Reporter

Roadside vendors selling cheap, secondhand books in Kenya’s capital of Nairobi have spurred a new reading phenomenon among Kenyans. However, local publishers worry that their new books can’t compete with the inexpensive deals.

Read more on the story in this link:

Kenyans Flock to Roadside Vendors Selling Cheap Secondhand Books, Spur Reading Boom 

NEW BOOKS كتب جديدة
– Terrorism and its Impact on Arab-African Relations [الارهاب و تأثيره على العلاقات العربية الأفريقية]
Author/ Editor: Ibrahim Nasr Deen
Language: Arabic

This book contains research papers that were presented at the Center for African Studies, Cairo University in April 2015. Book chapters present a variety of topics ranging from case studies of terrorist groups based in Africa to Islamist movements that actively involved in African politics. Groups such as Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria, Ansaruddin in Mali and Al-Shabab in Somalia are broadly examined in some key parts of the book. A major question in the book is how are these ‘Islam’ related groups impacting the relationship between Africans in the North (the Arabic speaking part of the continent) and Africans in the sub-Saharan part of the continent? Explanations given for this question capture the history and drama of the Arab Spring and the role of some Arab countries in managing or miss-managing the global phenomenon of terrorism.

Publisher: Dar al-Ittihad li-Taba’a, Cairo, Egypt, 2016
http://advertising-eg.com/ar/Item/1258/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%A9

– A Giant Tree has Fallen. Tributes to Ali Al-Amin Mazui [ترجل الفارس: تحيات لعلي أمين مزروي]
Author/ Editor: Seifudein Adem, Jideofor Adibe, Abdul Karim Bangura, Abdul Samed Bemath
Language: English

A Giant Tree Has Fallen memorializes the life and work of Ali Al’Amin Mazrui and comprises more than 130 tributes written by people ranging from heads of state to journalists. Willy Mutunga, Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya, here contributes a piece entitled “Growing Up with Mjomba (Uncle) Ali Mazrui.”

Publisher: African Perspectives Publishing/ 2016
http://africanperspectives.co.za/

– The Ink of the Scholars: Reflections on Philosophy in Africa
[حبر العلماء: تأملات في فلسفة أفريقيا]
Author: Souleymane Bachir Diagne
Language: English

In this book professor Diagne addresses a set of philosophical questions related to knowledge and knowledge production in Africa. What are the issues discussed today by African philosophers? Four important topics are identified here as important objects of philosophical reflection on the African continent. One is the question of ontology in relation to African religions and aesthetics. Another is the question of time and, in particular, of prospective thinking and development. A third issue is the task of reconstructing the intellectual history of the continent through the examination of the question of orality but also by taking into account the often neglected tradition of written erudition in Islamic centres of learning. Timbuktu is certainly the most important and most famous of such intellectual centres. The fourth question concerns political philosophy: the concept of “African socialisms” is revisited and the march that led to the adoption of the “African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights” is examined. All these important issues are also fundamental to understanding the question of African languages and translation.

Publisher: CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa), Dakar, Senegal, 2017
This book can be download in the following CODESRIA link:
http://newebsite.codesria.org/spip.php?article2610

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Research Africa welcomes submissions of books, events, funding opportunities, and more to be included in next week’s edition.

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Website: https://sites.duke.edu/researchafrica/