Between Democracy and Terror: The Sierra Leone Civil War.(Book review) (original) (raw)
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Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des études africaines
Canadian Journal of African Studies, 2022
A History of the Republic of Biafra is an impressive scholarly contribution to the ever expanding literature on Nigeria’s civil war. As an intervention, the book stands out as the first examination of the war from the perspective of law and crime within Biafra. It is bold and eloquent, with a critical narrative that not only disembowels the history, life and lifestyle within the breakaway republic.
Differences, 2020
This collection of texts is drawn from the Silvia Federici Papers, recently donated to the Feminist Theory Archives at the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women. The works presented here date from Federici’s teaching work in Nigeria from 1984 to 1987 and include subsequent scholarship and activism as a member of the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa in the early 1990s. Consisting of journal entries, short articles, and drafts, the writings provide first-hand accounts of the effects of structural adjustment and military government repression on Nigeria’s economy, environment, and education system with emphasis on the accompanying repression of women. A final draft article from circa 1993 unfolds a broad critique of an international capitalist discourse on structural adjustment in Africa and Latin America. A brief introduction by Arlen Austin contextualizes these works in relation to Federici’s oeuvre and the history they address.
Religion and the Making of Nigeria
2016
Selee, and Mike Van Dusen. I am grateful to these special friends for their kindness and generosity over the years. Seun Ajayi is a blessing and a joy-thank you, Seun, for your kind hospitality during my second residency at the Wilson Center. The research for this book proj ect required extensive archival work, and I would like to thank the archivists and librarians who provided assistance during the early stages of my research. I am particularly grateful to the archivists and librarians of the Wilson Center Library; the Library of Congress; Rhodes House Library, Oxford; Center for Mission Studies, Oxford; and the University of Ibadan Library. I would also like to thank my colleagues at Bowdoin College's Africana Studies Program and History Department for their collegiality and friendship. Bowdoin College's Committee for Faculty Development provided supplementary funding to support a critical sabbatical leave in 2012-2013. I am grateful to the college for this generous support. Jacob Olupona, the editor of the series in which this book is published, along with his colleagues, Dianne Stewart and Terrence Johnson, believed that this work can make an impor tant contribution to Africanist scholarship and at the same time encourage a serious dialogue on religious reconciliation in a post-9/11 world. I am indebted to them for their steadfast support for this work. The remarkable professional expertise of Miriam Angress, associate editor at Duke University Press, is second to none. Miriam diligently marshaled the manuscript through vari ous stages in the publication pro cess with exceptional professionalism. I am grateful to Miriam for her kindness and support. I should also thank two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and critiques of the manuscript. Acknowl edgments xi Many relatives and friends in Nigeria, the United States, and the United Kingdom opened the doors of their homes to me while I was conducting field and archival research for this book. My expression of thanks does not adequately capture the extent of my gratitude to these special people. I am particularly grateful to Segun and
Ibadan Journal of Peace & Development Page | 154 Ibadan Journal of Peace & Development Vols
Journal of Peace Studies and Development, 2015
The conceptual adoption of a hidden personality by Lagbaja, Nigeria's famous masked popular music artiste, to depict the facelessness of the common man represents artful diplomacy within African cultural milieu. Lagbaja relies on various resource materials including Yoruba folklore, oriki (descriptive poetry), owe (proverbs), afojuinuwo (imagination) and ohun to nlo (current affairs) in his satirical compositions. Through these elements, the artiste succeeds in making graphical representations of figures to facilitate transformative visualisation of the various political and socioeconomic occurrences in Nigeria without attracting any negative consequences on his person. This paper adopts Louise Meintjes' concept of music figure to analyse how Lagbaja deploys definitive narratives in negotiating his crusade for an egalitarian society. Specific attention is drawn to the nuance with which the artiste critiques the double burden state of Nigeria's polity as represented by her leaders' repressive actions on one hand, and corollary inactions of and consequences on the led on the other. The paper posits that the figuring of the dynamics of events that shape the day-today ordinary life of Nigerians facilitates its proper contextualisation in the reading and interpretation of Lagbaja's songs and drum texts.
Nile Journal of Political Science, 2021
In its first paragraph, the Foreword, written by the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Ganiyu Olatunji Olatunde, graphically captures the essence of the book and leaves no one in doubt over its worthy nature (p.iii). In Section One which comprises five chapters, Afolorunso Dairo and Fornatus Alabi, in the fourth chapter, accurately see peace building as "usually an aftermath of conflict…which takes critical and tactical analysis of issues by those who because of their positions in the society are respected by the populace" (p. 47). The authors engage analytically with the hazards of leadership in peace building (p. 56) but probably fail to distinguish between the roles of key stakeholders identified in the chapter who, in most cases, lack the expertise required for the "critical and tactical analysis of issues" (p.47) assigned to them which, in the scholarship of Security Studies, is the job of technical stakeholders who are security experts. This 529 page book comprises an impressive collection of carefully arranged chapters by authors from a multiplicity of academic backgrounds that are closely related to the field of religious and peace studies. Its six sections contain thirty-four chapters of varying quality contributed by fortyfive prolific scholars from twenty institutions of higher learning covering all but two of the sixgeopolitical zones of Nigeria. It is remarkable that only fourteen of these forty-five contributors are affiliated with Olabisi Onabanjo University, where the subject of the Festschrift is based. It is also remarkable that only two of the contributors are independent researchers whereas the others are eminent academics in various disciplines with no fewer than nine of them as respected Professors.
The paper is addressing the concept of African religion and politics thus redefining the traditional past of the African people. The argument of the article is taken from Ngugi's assertion that the African novelist has attempted to restore the African people through characterization in different works of art to his history. It is from this angle that the article has selected three works of art to demonstrate and illustrate the point. The ideas are also backed up by two theories, the Afro centric view and Negritudism. These theories found their way into the paper because of their strong bearing on the indigenous people. In light of this view the paper therefore will address the religion of the African people, how they conducted their politics, the position of women in politics, their belief systems and way of life hence repositioning them to their past experiences. It is against this condition that the article selected Mutasa's Nhume yaMambo (1990), Achebe's Arrow of God (1964) and Cesaire's A Notebook of a Return to my Native Land (1995) lay bare that Africans had a way of conducting their life prior to colonialism.