Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2020 -

This companion, edited by Kelly (Rutgers Univ.), expands on Taddesse Tamrat's 1972 work Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 by providing an overview of the present understanding of medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea. Designed for both scholars and those new to the field, this volume provides a narrative of this important region and period and also insight into the field's new directions. While the introduction of Islam and Christianity still dominates the story of the region during this time, because of the sources that they left behind, scholars are working to develop a broader understanding of medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea beyond religion and politics. While the majority of this collection's 15 essays still focus on religion, others examine the economic and gender history of the region, greatly enhancing the existing scholarship. Much of the work stems not only from the availability and use of new sources but also from a concerted effort to make many of the traditional sources for the region readily available through digitization. By the end, the reader will have in mind a clear picture of medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

This book highlights the reality of ethnicity in Africa, noting the contradictions between building European states on the basis of ethnicities while denying the same project in Africa as a result of colonialism. Ette (Delaware State Univ.) argues that it is necessary to understand the factors influencing ethnic conflicts as different minority groups are agitating for their rights within Africa today, evidenced by the never-ending tensions in Nigeria. Focusing on the Annang of southeastern Nigeria, the book examines how they defined their ethnicity, struggled to insert themselves in the politics of postcolonial Nigeria, and later reworked their identity. Their experience, Ette contends, is notable for having been reproduced all over the continent. He uses their case to argue that the role of ethnicity should not be ignored in African affairs, that ethnicity is not transitory, and that it is a crucial part of identity. This detailed history outlines the broad terrain of identity and culture and the social organization of the Annang, noting how the imposition of British colonial rule, the impact of Western education, and the repercussions of the Nigerian Civil War affect the contemporary project of ethnic identity.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Leader, a retired US Foreign Service officer, writes a compelling account of the Rwandan genocide through the lens of failed diplomacy. Rooted in her service as deputy to the US Ambassador to Rwanda during the early 1990s, the book critically examines how failed diplomatic efforts contributed to the Rwandan genocide. The book is organized into two parts and covers the period between 1991 and 1994 with short thematic chapters that explore the political conditions in Rwanda. Each chapter concludes with short commentaries from the author that add helpful context; her point of view as a diplomat in the years leading up to the genocide provides readers with insight into the diplomatic failures in Rwanda. The book concludes with six lessons for the future to shift "the current diplomatic culture of crisis response to conflict to a diplomatic culture of conflict prevention." This book is an essential addition to libraries serving undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty working on human rights issues across disciplines.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

In this fascinating but grim book, Harms (Yale Univ.) traces and analyzes the origins and final implementation of colonial rule in the Congo River Basin and the partition of equatorial Africa through explorers, guns, company rule, backdoor diplomacy, and open conferences. In 11 chapters, he examines the nuances of the "fractured and contested" actions and interactions of key European individuals, organizations, and governments in their pursuit of capital to the detriment of African inhabitants. The first eight chapters examine the activities of explorers through empire building, ivory exploitation, nationalistic rivalries, concession companies, international conferences, and ending the slave trade. The final three highlight European commissions of inquiry that exposed the violence, forced labor, malnutrition, whippings, killings, imprisonments, depopulation, abortions, and diseases that ravaged the Congolese, who were forced to supply stipulated quotas of ivory and later rubber to Belgium's King Leopold and France. Harms stresses that discussions of colonial reform never suggested abandoning the Congo but rather considered what new forms European partition should take. Exploitation occurred with wanton disregard for the consent of the colonized African people, whose resistance was crushed in brutal ways.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.

In this thoughtful volume, Corey-Boulet, a veteran Associated Press journalist with several years' experience working in West Africa, explores the collision of the international promotion of LGBT civil rights with foreign donors' interests in Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, and Liberia. Drawing on both personal interviews and documentation (international and in-country) to provide detailed context, he examines how these competing priorities intersect to affect the legal, social, and political realities of life for men and women in these African countries. The opening section on Cameroon discusses the May 2005 police raid on a club in the capital, Yaounde, and the trial of the group of men who became known as the "Yaounde 11," highlighting the low-key work being done by local activists and their degree of success. Next, the situation in Cote d'Ivoire is explored through one man's story, organizations founded by Ivorian LGBT people, and a widely publicized scandal. Finally, Corey-Boulet outlines the turbulent conditions in Liberia during and after its civil war, as political leaders' choices reinforced negative stereotypes that impacted the LGBT population. This is a valuable addition to the literature on the global LGBT movement.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.

Movie theaters in West Africa were popularized from the first decades of the 20th century, and by independence (c. 1960) many West African cities had multiple cinema houses, known as "dream palaces." Meanwhile, mobile cinema vans toured the countryside, putting on nighttime shows in villages and market towns. Goerg (Universite Paris Diderot) provides a comprehensive history of the venues in which West Africans experienced films imported from Britain and France, but also (and perhaps more influentially) from Egypt, India, and above all the US. Other historians have studied moviemaking in Africa, but Goerg offers a landmark study of moviegoing in both British and French colonies. In the former, many cinema houses belonged to African businessmen; in the latter, colonial investors cornered much of the market. Goerg is attentive to both the entrepreneurs who competed for audiences and the audiences themselves, noting that cinema halls were often racially segregated, though young men and women alike attended. Only from the late 1950s would they see African stories appear on-screen, but the very experience of attending the cinema, as a space of leisure, indelibly marked many spectators. Georg's book is essential for understanding this history.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.

This book expertly traces the historical development of South African apartheid, the US role in sustaining it, and the eventual victory of the South African liberation movement. Horne (Houston Univ.) contends that the liberation movements backed by the socialist bloc were necessary forces that ended direct European colonialism in Africa by 1994. In the US, anti-communism efforts led many liberals to exchange contradictory support for US foreign policy, including its backing of apartheid, for incremental reforms on domestic civil rights, stalling American alliances with ultimately victorious liberation struggles abroad. Horne details the political and military intrigues in the US and South Africa to achieve a three-part agenda: white supremacy, capitalist domination, and the elimination of socialist-led liberation movements. He explores the apartheid regime's Nazi sympathies, its ironically close connections to Israel, its ties to shadowy right-wing US groups, its dependence on US corporations, and its manipulation of terroristic organizations that fought liberation, revealing the intense anxiety, panic, and fear that gripped white US and South African leaders when confronted with black liberation. This book is essential to understand the global struggle against white supremacy and the complexities of African liberation movements.Summing Up: Essential. All readership levels.