Suchergebnisse

Within Latin American and Africana Studies, Afro-Latin America is an area of growing interest as departments are hiring more faculty to teach specialty courses. There is a move to institutionalize Afro-Latin American Studies as a field of its own so this Handbook will likely plug a large gap in the field.The contributors as recognized experts across different fields within Latin American and Africana Studies. Gender diversity is strong as is the inclusion of scholars from the region.Comprehensive - it addresses four fields of analysis: disciplinary studies, problem focused fields, regional/country case studies, and pioneers or classics of such studies.Features an introduction and a conclusion written by the editors, a foreword, written by a prominent Afro-Latin American Studies and short section introductions, also written by the editors. All of this is overseen by an eminent international editorial board

I am now in that phase of life when old people like me tend to reminisce and give account. Since my long academic life was committed to American Studies, I wondered how this came about, and although I am aware of the inevitable mix between coincidence and symbolic self-construction, I believe that my career was rooted in certain moments of experience: a seminar on Melville, the physical exposure to "America," and the significance America had for me from childhood on. I also believe that a temperamental affinity to an idea of democracy built on communication led me to embrace the democratic belief that is at the core of American Studies. At the same time, my own process of disillusionment ran parallel to the critical redefinition of American Studies that has characterized the development of the field during the last forty years or so. In what follows, I have tried to reflect on my original enthusiasm, and on where I stand now, in an effort to be realistic and optimistic at the same time.

In the 1990s a livelihood approach to poverty in Africa emerged, with an emphasis on agency as opposed to structure. Situated in an actor-oriented perspective, the livelihood approach focuses on (poor) individuals and households, aiming at a dynamic and holistic understanding of their actions. This chapter outlines the disciplinary roots of the livelihood approach and its modern articulations. It then argues that a new generation of livelihood studies is needed which politicizes issues of livelihood by putting more emphasis on the analysis of power relations, both on the micro and the meso/macro levels. In addition, the increasing multilocality of African livelihoods, associated with income diversification, multitasking and growing mobility, should be taken into account. The new multilocal networks of African livelihoods could constitute an important undercurrent for the strengthening of African development.