Böcker i African Dynamics-serien

This book contains a range of original studies on one of the major challenges in Africa today: the controversial role of youth in politics, conflict and rebellious movements. The issue is not only the drafting of child soldiers into insurgent armies or predatory militias, as in Somalia, Sierra Leone or Congo, but, more generally, that of the problematic insertion of large numbers of young people in the socio-economic and political order of post-colonial Africa. Even educated youths are being confronted with a lack of opportunities, blocked social mobility, and despair about the future. African youth, while forming a numerical majority, largely feel excluded from power, are socio-economically marginalized, thwarted in their ambitions, and have little access to representative positions or political power.

"Situating Globality" explores the ways in which African societies are appropriating elements of an emerging global culture and economy, and analyses the significance of this appropriation in local struggles, the expression of critical thinking, ideologies and ritual styles of behaviour.

At times of economic and political crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa, urban dwellers display a large degree of creativity in their survival strategies by developing social networks and constructing imaginative and original practices and ideas. This volume views the urban neighbourhood from two different perspectives and explores the importance of these creative processes. The first approach considers the neighbourhood as a geographical domain in which people are engaged in a variety of activities to advance their material and immaterial well-being, making use of their 'wealth' of opportunities, assets and diverse forms of natural, physical, financial, human and social capital. The second angle sees the neighbourhood as not necessarily geographically located or bounded but as having been created and defined by human beings. These neighbourhoods may take on the form of self-help organizations, associations or churches, or be based on gender, generational, ethnic or occupational identities.

Drawing on a wide range of historical and anthropological case studies from various parts of Africa, this anthology provides an understanding of the importance of agency in processes of social transformation, especially in the context of crisis and structural constraint.

Mobilization against apartheid, the campaign against blood diamonds, the women's movement in Liberia, where Africa's first female head of state was elected in 2005 these are all examples of socially based movements that have had a major effect on Africa's recent history. Yet the most influential theories concerning social movements worldwide have paid little heed to Africa, basing themselves more often on cases drawn from other continents. This volume draws together contributions from some leading writers on social movements in Africa, setting empirical studies alongside a couple of theoretical chapters. Africa s social movements have distinctive features that are related to the continent s specific history.

Drawing on extensive fieldwork in nine African countries, this volume offers different perspectives on the emerging markets for well-being. The chapters discuss how medical staff, patients and citizins navigate markets for health and healing.

This book offers a series of new studies on the dynamics of political and legal culture as well as of conflict management in contemporary Africa, taking inspiration from and honoring the scholarly contributions and impact of Prof. Gerti Hesseling (1946-2009) in African Studies.

In Transforming Innovations in Africa the authors explore how external innovations (products, technologies, services, institutions and processes) that were envisaged, developed and designed elsewhere, came to be innovatively and sometimes unexpectedly appropriated and transformed within Africa.

This book takes a closer look at the surprising increase in agricultural production in African countries since 2000, which appear to be keeping pace with population growth, and the translation to Africa how to feed the increasingly urbanized and growing populations in the coming decades.

This book analyses the various cultural, social, economic and historical aspects that are formative in African societies' experiences of being in transit on the road to prosperity. It gives insight into transformations that took place in African societies in the past century.