Non-Orientalist Approach to African Studies - Recommended Novels

1.     Things Fall Apart: A Novel by Chinua Achebe

2.     The God of Small Things: A Novel by Arundhati Roy

3.     A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe

4.     Facing Mount Kenya by Jomo Kenyatta

5.     No Sweetness Here and Other Stories by Ama Ata Aidoo

6.     A Grain of Wheat (African Writers Series) by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

7.     Tsotsi: A Novel by Athol Fugard

8.     So Long a Letter (African Writers Series) by Mariama B

9.     Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta

10.  Purple Hibiscus: A Novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

11.  The River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

12.  Efuru (African Writers) by Flora Nwapa

13.  Petals of Blood by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

14.  Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

15.  God's Bits of Wood by Sembene Ousmane

16.  July's People by Nadine Gordimer

17.  Mother to Mother (Bluestreak) by Sindiwe Magona

18.  Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe

19.  Girls at War by Chinua Achebe

20.  One is Enough (African Women Writers Series) by Flora Nwapa

21.  Xala by Ousmane Sembene

22.  Khabzela: The Life and Times of a South African by Liz McGregor

23.  The Slave Girl: A Novel by Buchi Emecheta

24.  Never Again (Africa Women Writers Series) by Flora Nwapa

25.  African Perspectives on Colonialism (The Johns H... by A. Adu Boahen

26.  Changes: A Love Story by Ama Ata Aidoo

27.  Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali (Revised Edition) (Lon... by D T Niane

28.  African Short Stories by Chinua Achebe

29.  Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol (African Writers) by Okot P'Bitek

30.  The Famished Road by Ben Okri

31.  The Palm-Wine Drinkard and My Life in the Bush of... by Amos Tutuola

32.  Chaka (African Writers) by Thomas Mofolo

33.  Houseboy (African Writers) by Ferdinand Oyono

34.  The Concubine by Elechi Amadi

35.  Yoruba Trickster Tales by Oyekan Owomoyela

36.  No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe

37.  Death and the King's Horseman (Norton Critica... by Wole Soyinka

38.  Unbowed: A Memoir (Vintage) by Wangari Maathai

39.  Scarlet Song by Mariama Ba

40.  Nehanda by Yvonne Vera

41.  Dilemma of a Ghost and Anowa by Ama Ata Aidoo

42.  Oroonoko (Penguin Classics) by Aphra Behn

43.  Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta

44.  Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf

45.  The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior: An … by Tepilit Ole Saitoti

46.  Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka

47.  Sozaboy by Ken Saro-Wiwa

48.  The Poor Christ of Bomba by Mongo Beti

49.  A Walk in the Night and Other Stories by Alex La Guma

50.  Weep Not, Child (African Writers) by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

51.  The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (African … by Ayi Kwei Armah

52.  Comes the Voyager at Last: A Tale of Return to Africa by Kofi Awoonor

53.  This Earth, My Brother by Kofi Awoonor

“The Black Man’s Burden”: A Response to Kipling

In February 1899, British novelist and poet Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem entitled “The White Man’s Burden: The United States and The Philippine Islands.” In this poem, Kipling urged the U.S. to take up the “burden” of empire, as had Britain and other European nations. Theodore Roosevelt, soon to become vice-president and then president, described it as “rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view.” Not everyone was as favorably impressed as Roosevelt. African Americans, among many others, objected to the notion of the “white man’s burden.” Among the dozens of replies to Kipling’s poem was “The Black Man’s Burden,” written by African-American clergyman and editor H. T. Johnson and published in April 1899. A “Black Man’s Burden Association” was even organized with the goal of demonstrating that mistreatment of brown people in the Philippines was an extension of the mistreatment of black Americans at home.

---

Pile on the Black Man’s Burden.
'Tis nearest at your door;
Why heed long bleeding Cuba,
or dark Hawaii’s shore?
Hail ye your fearless armies,
Which menace feeble folks
Who fight with clubs and arrows
and brook your rifle’s smoke.
Pile on the Black Man’s Burden
His wail with laughter drown
You’ve sealed the Red Man’s problem,
And will take up the Brown,
In vain ye seek to end it,
With bullets, blood or death
Better by far defend it
With honor’s holy breath.
Source: H.T. Johnson, “The Black Man’s Burden,” Voice of Missions, VII (Atlanta: April 1899), 1. Reprinted in Willard B. Gatewood, Jr., Black Americans and the White Man’s Burden, 1898–1903 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press), 1975, 183–184.

WHO chief condemns racist remarks from French scientists

African Society and Politics - Updated March 21, 2020

POLITICS:

Faces Of Africa - Haile Selassie: The Pillar of a Modern Ethiopia, part 1 & 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVki9t3anJU

Faces of Africa - Jomo Kenyatta : The Founding Father of Kenya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPtAxH8jgyY

Faces Of Africa- Kwame Nkrumah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMY0iTcspNA

Documentary on Patrice Lumumba https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3MKWZ9slnM

Faces Of Africa - Mwalimu Julius Nyerere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6noZPkLwwU

Faces Of Africa- The Jerry Rawlings story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikHpFgKJax8

The Return of Steve Biko (Documentary by Jeff Ogola) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX_iKkOy134

Nelson Mandela: Madiba https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfCoyu7m4a4

Faces Of Africa - Sankara's Ghost https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cobVBgQKdlc

Faces Of Africa - Chief Obasanjo at your service https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azj7qk6RQdQ

Faces Of Africa - Dr. Sam Nujoma: Love for the People https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW9iCDtiKLY 

Faces of Africa— Idi Amin: Famous for the wrong reasons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQQ_b9bMb5U

TR 1 0:02 / 29:23 Faces Of Africa Ken Saro-Wiwa: All For My People https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcJIaSw8-98

Faces Of Africa - Kenneth Kaunda: The Man with a Big Heart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsQFmp9CDcw

Faces of Africa - Wangari Maathai: The Eco-warrior with a smile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOK1I8tIAqo

Faces of Africa - Mugabe: The Old Man and The Seat of Power, Part 1  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwCUhOHe9Sg

Faces of Africa - Mugabe: The Old Man and the Seat of Power, Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U1yoAih0-0

MUSIC:

Faces of Africa - Fela Kuti: The Father of Afrobeat, Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS_Yd_iMYWo

Faces of Africa - Fela Kuti: The Father of Afrobeat, Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ts87oRqdfQ

Faces of Africa - Youssou N'Dour: A Music Legend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mpSKb0euNw

Mali music documentary: Under African skies. 1989  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7TaPI28xDQ

A Visit to Ali Farka Touré https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1bNX6dgTs0

Senegal Music Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8jujmxu_Bs

Hirde dyama - 1971 Guinean documentary featuring Bembeya Jazz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl_0SxrnMxU

LITERATURE:

Faces of Africa - Wole Soyinka: Glutton of Tranquility https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhrOwxoOomk

Biography of Chinua Achebe,Origin,Education,Awards,Family,Wife https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRr9k44eYk4

TALK AFRICA: A conversation with Wole Soyinka https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFKYJBAnjV4

The Deamon, the Woman and the Bird - african fairy tale from Senegal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeNw0hOh0hk

THE LEGEND OF NGONG HILLS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAJ0oyF3IGQ

RELIGION:

Faces of Africa— Rastafarians: coming home to Africa 07/10/2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2-h7ooGgAg

SPORT:

Faces of Africa - King George Serves His Country https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR1X6BwGd_I

If Africa is a country, then Fidel Castro is one of our national heroes

By Sean Jacobs  

On 25 November 2016

Fidel Castro passed away. To many Africans Fidel was a hero, playing a central role in their liberation from colonialism.

If Africa is a country, then Fidel Castro is one of our national heroes.  This may come as a surprise to many oblivious of Africa’s postcolonial history and Castro’s role in it – especially the fate of white regimes and former Portuguese colonies in southern Africa.  In the west, Castro’s legacy is usually dismissed as an authoritarian, and Cuba as a one-party state with few freedoms. Despite the many achievements of Cuba under Castro (high quality public healthcare, as well as life expectancy, child immunisation and literacy systems parallel to those of first-world nations, and even surpassing the US), at various times the country became renowned for economic crisis, media repression, exiling and imprisoning dissidents, and discriminating against gays and people with AIDS.  Those things were a betrayal of the revolution, and it is important to acknowledge that. But history has absolved Castro when it comes to Cuba’s foreign policy, especially its Africa policy.

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A History of Africa by Hosea Jaffe

A History of Africa

Hosea Jaffe and preface by Samir Amin

https://www.zedbooks.net/shop/book/a-history-of-africa/

A masterful study spanning over two thousand years of African history, and which stresses the unique character of the continent's historical development.

Spanning more than two thousand years of African history, from the African Iron Age to the collapse of colonialism and the beginnings of independence, Hosea Jaffe's magisterial work remains one of the few to do full justice to the continent's complex and diverse past.  The great strength of Jaffe's work lies in its unique theoretical perspective, which stresses the distinctive character of Africa's social structures and historical development. Crucially, Jaffe rejects all efforts to impose Eurocentric models of history onto Africa, whether it be liberal notions of 'progress' or Marxist theories of class struggle, arguing instead that the key dynamics underpinning African history are unique to the continent itself, and rooted in conflicts between different modes of production.  The work also includes a foreword by the distinguished economist and political theorist Samir Amin, in which he outlines the contribution of Jaffe’s work to our understanding of African history and its ongoing post-colonial struggles.

Preface by Samir Amin    
Part One: African Communism and Despotism    
Part Two: European Colonialism – Resistance and Collaboration    
Part Three: Africa in the Inter-National Class Struggle    
Part Four: Imperialism – African Emancipation

Faces of Africa - Jomo Kenyatta : The Founding Father of Kenya

Where is the ‘African’ in African Studies?

By Robtel Neajai Pailey 

African Arguments - June 7, 2016

We need to put the ‘African’ in African Studies, not as a token gesture, but as an affirmation that Africans have always produced knowledge about their continent.

Last week, I was invited by Eritrean-Ethiopian masters student Miriam Siun of Leiden University’s African Studies Centre to give one of two keynote lectures on the topic, “Where Is the African in ‘African’ Studies?” I took a long-range view, declaring that Africans have always produced knowledge about Africa, even though their contributions have been “preferably unheard” in some cases and “deliberately silenced” in others.

For those who question what constitutes an ‘African’ in the heyday of multiple citizenships and transnational flows of goods, ideas, and people, an ‘African’ has birthplace or bloodline ties to Africa, in the first instance. More importantly, however, an ‘African’ has a psychological attachment to the continent and is politically committed to its transformation.

For those who might wonder about the purpose of African Studies as a field of scholarly inquiry, it is to constantly interrogate epistemological, methodological, and theoretical approaches to the study of Africa, inserting Africa and its people at the centre of that interrogation as subjects, rather than objects.

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Steve Biko speaks on The Black Consciousness Movement

Stop Trying To 'Save' Africa

By Uzodinma Iweala

The Washington Post - Sunday, July 15, 2007 

Last fall, shortly after I returned from Nigeria, I was accosted by a perky blond college student whose blue eyes seemed to match the "African" beads around her wrists.  "Save Darfur!" she shouted from behind a table covered with pamphlets urging students to TAKE ACTION NOW! STOP GENOCIDE IN DARFUR!  My aversion to college kids jumping onto fashionable social causes nearly caused me to walk on, but her next shout stopped me.  "Don't you want to help us save Africa?" she yelled.  It seems that these days, wracked by guilt at the humanitarian crisis it has created in the Middle East, the West has turned to Africa for redemption. Idealistic college students, celebrities such as Bob Geldof and politicians such as Tony Blair have all made bringing light to the dark continent their mission. They fly in for internships and fact-finding missions or to pick out children to adopt in much the same way my friends and I in New York take the subway to the pound to adopt stray dogs.

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Notes on the History of Modern Africa

1960: Robert Mangalso Sobukwe, with 21 other leaders of the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), was put on trial in Johannesburg for organising the Positive Action Campaign against Pass Laws that resulted in the ruthless Sharpeville-Langa massacres

[Walter Rodney] was assassinated in Guyana in 1980, at the age of 38 and remarkably, he accomplished so much in so little time. It is a very central feat that Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Bob Marley, Frantz Fanon, none of whom reached the age of forty." — Horace Campbell

Biko's Quest Theatre Production

Patrice Lumumba: the most important assassination of the 20th century

The US-sponsored plot to kill Patrice Lumumba, the hero of Congolese independence, took place 50 years ago today

Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja

The Guardian – Mon 17 Jan 2011

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/17/patrice-lumumba-50th-anniversary-assassination

 

Patrice Lumumba, the first legally elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was assassinated 50 years ago today, on 17 January, 1961. This heinous crime was a culmination of two inter-related assassination plots by American and Belgian governments, which used Congolese accomplices and a Belgian execution squad to carry out the deed.
Ludo De Witte, the Belgian author of the best book on this crime, qualifies it as "the most important assassination of the 20th century". The assassination's historical importance lies in a multitude of factors, the most pertinent being the global context in which it took place, its impact on Congolese politics since then and Lumumba's overall legacy as a nationalist leader.
For 126 years, the US and Belgium have played key roles in shaping Congo's destiny. In April 1884, seven months before the Berlin Congress, the US became the first country in the world to recognise the claims of King Leopold II of the Belgians to the territories of the Congo Basin.

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Garvey's Ghost By Geoffrey Philp

Garvey's Ghost

By Geoffrey Philp

https://www.bookfusion.com/books/116198-garvey-s-ghost

When Kathryn Bailey's teenaged daughter disappears from their home in Miami, the single Jamaican woman pursues every possible angle to find her. Kathryn's search leads her to a meeting with Jasmine's college professor, Jacob Virgo, a devout Garveyite and Rastafarian. Although their initial encounter is unpleasant, they must join forces to find Jasmine before it is too late. Through the teachings of Marcus Garvey, they learn to break down subtle barriers and find an unexpected bridge to new understandings and love.

Recommended African Movies - DO NOT WATCH HOLLYWOOD MOVIES ABOUT AFRICA

 Life, Above All Official (2010)

Goodbye Bafana - Trailer (2007)

LUCKY - Trailer (2011)

Mother of George - Trailer (2013) 

LITTLE ONE - Trailer (2012)

The Return of Muammar Gaddafi

by Haythem Guesmi

AFRICA IS A COUNTRY - December 17, 2017  

One of the unintended consequences of the angry reactions to the slave auctions in Libya, is a renewed romanticization of the supposed pan-African legacy of the late Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. At its heart, it reflects a depressing understanding of African politics which rules that a fair dictator is better than a chaotic political void.  Gaddafi ruled Libya for more than forty years since the military coup in 1969. His regime maintained a bureaucratic-authoritarian rule that criminalized political participation and dissent, legitimized a continual stability mainly through a corrupt redistribution of oil revenues in the forms of free healthcare and free education, and a pervasive cult of personality. Post-Gaddafi, Libya now has two rival parliaments and three governments. The dissolution of his autocratic rule after the 2011 uprisings has led to a state of social, financial, and political lawlessness.

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Remember Frantz Fanon on the anniversary of his death by watching these 2 films

Frantz Omar Fanon, the Martiniquais-French psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary and writer whose works are influential in the fields of post-colonial studies, critical theory and Marxism, passed away on this day, December 6, 1961, at just 35 years old. Leukemia was the cause of death.  Fanon's writings include the author’s two critically significant works – Black Skin, White Masks (1952) and Wretched of the Earth (1961) – essentially manifestos presenting a utopian vision of a world in which the colonized frees himself/herself and becomes independent of the colonizer, both physically and mentally. Fanon’s theories were influential during those years, especially on the Third Cinema movement, right from its launch in the 1960s - a time of anti-colonial revolutionary struggles in the so-called "Third World," and rising political movements against the dominance of Western countries. Third Cinema was formed to address the need for a new kind of cinema that critiqued neocolonialism, Western imperialism and capitalism; an anti-oppression stance that challenged the status quo of political and social power around the world that left the "Third World" at a disadvantage.

 

The Battle of Algiers (English Subtitles) 

 Concerning Violence Official Trailer 1 (2014) - Documentary HD

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The Colonial Nature of African Dictatorships

HUFFINGTON POST - 11/06/2017

In writing about Forbes Burnham’s dictatorial regime in Guyana, Walter Rodney explained: “Hitler had a mad wish to rule the world. For this reason, he is generally described as a megalomaniac. Hitler’s megalomania was backed by the powerful German economy and the might of the German army. Burnham’s megalomania is closer to comedy and farce. It takes the form of wearing a General’s uniform and hoping that the army will conquer his own people.” Walter Rodney was describing the dictatorship of Burnham in Guyana and his description could just as easily be applied to African dictators as well. These are dictators who rule over small and impoverished countries, and often resort to using military force to subdue their own people. These are dictators like Faure Gnassingbé of Togo.

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It’s been 50 years since Britain left. Why are so many African judges still wearing wigs?

By Kevin Sieff

THE WASHINGTON POST - September 17, 2017

NAIROBI — The British gave up their last colonies in Africa half a century ago. But they left their wigs behind.  Not just any wigs. They are the long, white, horsehair locks worn by high court judges (and King George III). They are so old-fashioned and so uncomfortable, that even British barristers have stopped wearing them.  But in former British colonies — Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Malawi and others — they live on, worn by judges and lawyers. Now, a new generation of African jurists is asking: Why are the continent’s most prominent legal minds still wearing the trappings of the colonizers?  It’s not just a question of aesthetics. The wigs and robes are perhaps the most glaring symbol of colonial inheritance at a time when that history is being dredged up in all sorts of ways. This year, Tanzanian President John Magufuli described a proposed free-trade agreement with Europe as a “form of colonialism.” In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe still refers to the British as “thieving colonialists.”

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Chinese migrants have changed the face of South Africa. Now they’re leaving.

Lily Kuo

QUARTZ - SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

Zhu Jianying, the owner of a home goods shop in southwest Johannesburg, plans to leave South Africa as soon as she can. Her store is making less than half of what it was two years ago when it first opened. She worries about security—Chinese traders like herself are often targeted. She and her family hardly ever leave the mall that houses her store and their apartment on an upper floor.  “It’s like we’re prisoners in our home,” Zhu says, standing by the cash register in her shop, “Forever Helen,” after the English name she adopted when she moved to South Africa in 2000. Stuffed animals hang from the wall. A digital sign by the entrance says: “We stock furniture, toys, beds.” On a Sunday afternoon Forever Helen is empty, as are many of the neighboring shops selling electronics, fake flowers, curtains, and furniture brought over from China.

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