Suchergebnisse

This volume reports on the state of crisis in Africa in the early twenty-first century. Africa, on the eve of the 'independence revolution', was the continent of hope and high expectations. By the third decade of independence, optimism had been replaced by dismality. African states had been beset by ethno-political squabbles, military rule, civil wars, Islamic and insurgent movements, extreme poverty and disease. With the ascent of redemocratization in the 1990s and of 'new' pan-Africanism derived from the formation of the African Union, Africa appeared set to claim its vaunted destiny. This book asks, with hindsight to the first decade of the twenty-first century: how real was the renaissance in African life?If the dismal African condition is a phase in the historical development of Africa, this volume does not see any golden age in the past to which Africa aspires to return. There is clearly a continuation and persistence of crisis, with an absence of good governance, personalisation of state power, widespread disease, and policy failure in education, economy and infrastructural development. Although endowed with abundant human and natural resources, Africa remains the least developed and most indebted continent. Whither then the African Renaissance?The methodologies that underpin the contributions in this book are as diverse as the specialisations of the contributors. The collection questions ideologically protected assumptions and presumptions, presenting Africa as it is, because it is only by knowing where Africa truly stands that a proper direction can be charted for it.

In a world where the Negro groped for recognition, Ethiopia (Abyssinia), with its ancient institutions and sovereignty virtually intact, was a symbol of racial pride and achievement. This Ethiopia was however invaded by Italy in 1935. It was a racial interpretation that the Negro world gave the Italian invasion. African-American interest in Africa which hitherto had been romantic and sentimental, with the Italian invasion became practical, and in this case designed to strengthen Ethiopian resistance. In the end, African-American contribution, though symbolically significant, was paltry. This can be accounted for by the relative poverty of African-Americans, and the time and cultural distance separating them from Africa.

In a world where the Negro groped for recognition, Ethiopia (Abyssinia), with its ancient institutions and sovereignty virtually intact, was a symbol of racial pride and achievement. This Ethiopia was however invaded by Italy in 1935. It was a racial interpretation that the Negro world gave the Italian invasion. African-American interest in Africa which hitherto had been romantic and sentimental, with the Italian invasion became practical, and in this case designed to strengthen Ethiopian resistance. In the end, African-American contribution, though symbolically significant, was paltry. This can be accounted for by the relative poverty of African-Americans, and the time and cultural distance separating them from Africa.