Customer Reviews (1)

You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but...
...a book on West Africa that has a cover photo of the Masai--who live in East Africa--is definitely off on the wrong foot.The fact that the error hasn't been corrected in the intervening seven years speaks ill of the publisher's commitment to a quality product. ... Read more

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Covers lifestyles of Southern African ethnic groups, Arab and European influences, religion, culture, and current problems facing Southern Africa. ... Read more

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Covers lifestyles of East African ethnic groups, Arab and European influences, religion, culture, and current problems facing East Africa. ... Read more

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This book provides a comprehensive description of the indigenous schooling process in Africa. It contends that an authentic educational program in Tanzania and elsewhere in Africa should be holistic in its unrelenting quest to educate the entire person: body, mind and spirit. ... Read more

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Many African countries are experimenting with schemes that put local people back into the conservation equation. This beautifully illustrated book with text by such as writers as Antjie Krog, Chenjerai Hove looks at the issues and the people involved. ... Read more

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The term African people refers to people who live in Africa, or people who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa. This includes members of the African diaspora resulting from the Atlantic Slave Trade such as Black British, Afro-Latin Americans, African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and Black Canadians. The term Black people is often used as a synonym for people of African ancestryparticularly in the Americas and Europe, although the two terms are not always considered synonymous ... Read more

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Warning
The Amazon is being colonised by a bunc of Alphapublishing books.This trend is best reversed.

Very poor value for money here.BIG price for Wikipedia downloads.If Kama exists, the three "editors" will be edited out of the earth's biosphere. Pleae do not fund evil. ... Read more

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This is a celebration of the rich diversity of the South African peoples, and the various traditions, beliefs and customs that have contributed to the making of this multicultural nation. In this extraordinary portfolio, author Sue Derwent and photographers Roger and Pat de Ia Harpe explore the many faces and cultures that make up this remarkable landscape. From the Sotho and Nguni to the Shangaan-Tsonga and Venda, many of these ancient cultures and lifestyles are still maintained and nurtured according to the conventions established by their ancestors over the centuries. The complexity of language, the timelessness of ritual, and the inherent skill reflected in indigenous craft are all integral to traditional African culture, and the inspirational images captured here honour the ancient traditions - among them arts and crafts, spiritual belief and customs - of their ancestors and the rich tapestry that remains their legacy. ... Read more

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In a remote area of Mali, West Africa, the people called Dogon survive today as they have for thousands of years: in mud-brick houses below the Bandiagara cliffs. In the sandy plains, they grow the millet and sorghum they need to live. This arresting photographic portrait allows us privileged access to their traditional way of life, remarkably maintained today even after extensive contact with Western civilization.

Stephenie HollymanÂ’s intimate pictures show a tightly knit, cooperative society engaging in daily activities and sacred rituals: planting and harvesting crops, creating crafts, and performing varied religious ceremonies, most notably the masked dances with which the Dogon celebrate the honored burial of their dead. Walter van BeekÂ’s engaging narrative displays the authority and observant eye of an anthropologist who has long lived among the people he writes about. This astonishing volume will find a rapt audience among readers of AbramsÂ’ acclaimed African Ceremonies and other popular books on vanishing African tribal customs. ... Read more

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Good pictures and very good texts
The book is very good. Make a jorney in one of the Africa most interesting tribe. You will enjoy it. Good for those who have never been among dogons and even for those who have been there. You will find a lot of interesting information. Some pictures are not excellent but anyway I would recommend this book. It is very deep. ... Read more

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Women and Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
For scholars in the fields of gender issues, development economics, and education, the authors offer a comprehensive presentation of current research at the nexus of these disciplines in sub-Saharan Africa.

Some19 contributors are represented in this eminently readable collection ofpapers. With 34 tables, the book is an authoritative source for studentsand teachers with an interest in African studies in general and educationfor women and girls in particular.

Bloch and Vavrus prepare the readerat the outset for what is to come with a well documented survey of thesub-field of gender and education in the region. Country-specific papersaddress issues of women's education in Guinea, Liberia, Tanzania, Nigeria,and South Africa, while topical papers address cultural constraints,nutrition, and nonformal and formal education.

Of special note isMarjorie Mbilinyi's chapter, "Searching for Utopia: The Politics of Genderand Education in Tanzania," a sweeping survey densely packed withhistorical and political insights seldom found in scholarly journals.Mbilinyi's reminder of the admonition of the late Julius Nyerere in TheArusha Declaration speaks for the entire volume: "We want revolution-arevolution which brings to an end our weakness, so that we are never againexploited, oppressed, or humiliated."

The book, one of the series,"Women and Change in the Developing World," edited by Mary Moran of ColgateUniversity, is unique in its coverage and rare in the quality of itswriting. No serious scholar of development and education should be withoutthis book. ... Read more

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This unique collection of rarely seen tribal art brings together nearly one thousand examples of powerful artifacts from the Songye tribe of
Central Africa.

A tribal people located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Songye are best known for their distinctive statuaries and masks, which for centuries have been used to protect villages, ward off enemies, and bring fertility and wealth. Approximately one thousand of these pieces are shown in this vibrant collection. The Songye often named their statues and decorated them with horns, skins, beads, tacks, shells, and bits of cloth. As a result, each item displays a singular, impressive identity. Considered to be imbued with magical energy and used only by village shamans, these statues have enormous cultural and historical significance, and they are also powerful works of art in their own right. ... Read more

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Defining Resource for Songye Fetish figure
This book is a major and defining resource for learning about and identifying the differences in Songye fetish figures. Multiple color and black&white plates. Differentiates the various areas and artistic styles within the Songye tribal area.

Also a Chapter on Kifwebe masks and other items, not bad but not the depth of the fetish statues.

At [...] a tad expensive, but if you have interest in Songye and/or African Tribal Art, it is a 'must have' book. ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: various Khoisan languages The indigenous people of southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Basarwa, Kung, or Khwe. These people were traditionally hunter-gatherers, part of the Khoisan group and are related to the traditionally pastoral Khoikhoi. Starting in the 1950s, and lasting through the 1990s, they switched to farming as a result of government-mandated modernization programs as well as the increased risks of a hunting and gathering lifestyle in the face of technological development. The Bushmen have provided a wealth of information for the fields of anthropology and genetics, even as their lifestyles change. One broad study of African genetic diversity completed in 2009 found the San people were among the five populations with the highest measured levels of genetic diversity among the 121 distinct African populations sampled. The terms San, Khwe, Sho, Bushmen, and Basarwa have all been used to refer to the hunter-gatherer peoples of southern Africa. Each of these terms has a problematic history, as they have been used by outsiders to refer to them, often with pejorative connotations. The individual groups identify by names such as Ju/'hoansi and !Kung (the punctuation characters representing different click consonants), and most call themselves by the term Bushmen when referring to themselves collectively. The different San language groups of Namibia met in late 1996 and agreed to allow the general term San to designate them externally. This term was historically applied by their ethnic relatives and historic rivals, the Khoikhoi. This term means outsider in the Nama language, and was deroga... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=317886 ... Read more

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Sir Frank Fraser Darling, pioneer ecologist and conservationist, spent many years surveying the wildlife resources of Africa. This book presents his journals which describe the safaris he made by foot, air and motor in Zambia, Kenya and the Sudan in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They provide a record of the now depleted wildlife stocks and the colourful tribal peoples he encountered, and give an insight into the environmental issues of the period and into the thoughts and motivations of Fraser Darling himself, the father of the modern conservation movement. This book should be of interest to anyone interested in conservation, ecology, African wildlife and people, travel and natural history. The editor of these journals, John Morton Boyd, was a friend and colleague of Fraser Darling for many years. He also written and editied books including "Fraser Darling's Islands", "The Highlands and Islands", and "The Hebrides - a Natural History". ... Read more

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Fang artis one of the most distinguished arts of Black Africa.Its masks, with their facial markings, abstract features and strong, elegant lines, were among the most influential in 20th century modern art. Fang figures, called Bieri, are renowned for their child-like proportions contrasted with a muscular, poised vigilance. Fang art also includes iron currency and other objects that exhibit the traditional African ability to making everyday functional objects things of artistic merit.Fangreviews these artifacts and their social, ritual or symbolic characters. Statuettes related to ancestors, dance masks of the various rites, insignia of power, headdresses and jewellery, decorated music instruments and everyday utensils, all have an amazingly varied aesthetic creativity, in harmony with their profuse world of beliefs and myths. ... Read more

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Fang sculpture
Fang masks and statues are among the most powerful of primitive art. The book gives you a good review ... Read more

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An objective look at the culture of the Tuareg
First published in 1977, The Tuareg: People Of Ahaggar by Jeremy Keenan is an even-handed and objective look at the culture of the Tuareg people of the central Sahara, who are perhaps most famous for a fierce defense of their homeland against French imperialism, a struggle which ultimately resulted in the expulsion of France from Algeria in 1962. Part history, part anthropology, The Tuareg: People Of Ahaggar is offers an historical analysis which is very highly recommended for Mideast Studies reference library collections. ... Read more

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An ethnography of the Tabwa people of Zaire and their categories of illness, medicine, divination and healing. Rich in case material, the text offers an understanding of an African approach to body parts, illnesses, symptoms and personal features through to actual methods of diagnosis, prognosis, and cure. ... Read more