The Crises of Postcoloniality in Africa

Authors

Kenneth Omeje
Dauda Abubakar
John M. Kabia
Jeremy Keenan
Chris M. A. Kwaja
Pamela Machakanja
Macharia Munene
Tim Murithi
Martha Mutisi
Raphael Chijioke Njoku
Moses Onyango
Douglas A. Yates
Publication System

Synopsis

CODESRIA, 2015, 248p:, ISBN: 978-2-86978-602-8

The Crises of Postcoloniality in Africa is an assemblage of transdisciplinary essays that offer a spirited reflection on the debate and phenomenon of postcoloniality in Africa, including the changing patterns and ramifications of problems, challenges and opportunities associated with it. A key conceptual rhythm that runs through the various chapters of the book is that, far from being demised, postcoloniality is still firmly embedded in Africa, manifesting itself in both blatant and insidious forms. Among the important themes covered in the book include the concepts of postcolonialism, postcoloniality, and neocolonialism; Africa’s precolonial formations and the impact of colonialism; the enduring patterns of colonial legacies in Africa; the persistent contradictions between African indigenous institutions and western versions of modernity; the unravelling of the postcolonial state and issues of armed conflict, conflict intervention and peacebuilding; postcolonial imperialism in Africa and the US-led global war on terror, the historical and postcolonial contexts of gender relations in Africa, as well as pan-Africanism and regionalist approaches to redressing the crises of postcoloniality.

‘In this book, the colonial trope of Africa is subjected to critical analyses from the points of view of postcoloniality. The result is a varied, complex, and interesting exposition of the contemporary challenges and dilemmas of Africa from the many standpoints of postcolonial theory. It makes a useful contribution to our understanding of modern African politics.’

Abdul Raufu Mustapha, Department of International Development, University of Oxford

 

Chapters

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Author Biographies

Kenneth Omeje

is Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Bradford’s John & Elnora Ferguson Centre for African Studies. He is also Professor of International Relations at the United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya, and Senior Research Associate in the Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He holds a PhD in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford and an MA degree in Peace & Conflict Studies from the European Peace University in Stadt-Schlaining, Austria. He has previously held the position of Lecturer/Research Fellow in African Peace & Conflict Studies at the Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, and in the Institute for Development Studies/Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He has held visiting research fellowship positions at the Centre for African Studies, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA (1992); Institute of Higher Education, Comprehensive University of Kassel, Germany (Summer 2000), the Law Department, Keele University, UK (Spring 2000) and Department of International Politics, University of Wales, Aberystwyth (2001). Kenneth is the author of High Stakes and Stakeholders: Oil Conflict & Security in Nigeria (Ashgate, 2006); Extractive Economies and Conflicts in the Global South: Multi-regional Perspective on Rentier Politics (an edited volume, Ashgate, 2008); State–Society Relations in Nigeria: Democratic Consolidation, Conflicts and Reforms (an edited volume, London: Adonis & Abbey, 2007); War to Peace Transition: Conflict Intervention and Peacebuilding in Liberia (an edited volume, Lanham-Maryland: University Press of America, 2009). He has more than 80 publications, including tions to international encyclopedias and articles in well regarded peer-reviewed journals.

Dauda Abubakar

currently teaches in Africana Studies and Political Science Departments at the University of Michigan-Flint. He received his PhD from the Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research agenda interrogates the nexus of identity politics, citizenship rights and democratization in the global South, particularly postcolonial Africa. His professional affiliations include membership in the American Political Science Association, African Studies Association, as well as the International Studies Association, where he has presented many scholarly papers and also chaired panels.

John M. Kabia

is a Sierra Leonean scholar and Programme Worker at the UK-based Survivors for Peace, The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. He was previously an Associate Research Fellow at the Africa Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Bradford, UK. John graduated with a PhD in International Politics and Security Studies from the Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford in 2006. His latest publications include Humanitarian Intervention and Conflict Resolution in West Africa: From ECOMOG to ECOMIL (Ashgate, 2009); Dangers of Co-deployment: UN Cooperative Peacekeeping in Africa (co-authored with David Francis, Mohamed Faal and Alex Ramsbotham, Ashgate, 2005); and eacekeeping and Peace support Operations in Sierra Leone (with Andreau Sola-Martin, Bradford 2007).

Jeremy Keenan

is a Social Anthropologist specializing in the anthropology and political economy of conflicts associated with extractive industries in Africa, as well as the current ‘War on Terror’. He is presently a Teaching Fellow in Anthropology at Bristol University and Visiting Professor at Exeter University’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS). His publications include several books on the Sahara, notably The Tuareg: People of Ahaggar; Sahara Man: Travelling with the Tuareg; The Lesser Gods of the Sahara and The Sahara: Past, Present and Future. His latest book, Alice in the Sahara: Moving Mirrors and the USA War on Terror in the Sahara (forthcoming, Pluto) details both the way in which the US has fabricated the ‘War on Terror’ across the Sahara and Sahel and its impacts on local peoples.

Chris M. A. Kwaja

a lecturer and researcher at the Centre for Conflict Management and Peace Studies, University of Jos, Nigeria. He is a Doctoral Candidate of International Relations and Strategic Studies at the Department of Political Science, University of Jos. He is also a recipient of several research awards such as the CODESRIA Governance Institute on Private Military and Security Companies, 2009; United Nations Mandated University for Peace Doctoral Research Award, 2009; as well as the Peace Fellow Award of the West Africa Research Centre, 2010. His research interests include the politics of identity in Africa, privatization of security, democratiza, peace studies, and security sector reform in transition societies.

Pamela Machakanja

a Senior Lecturer and Associate Director in the Institute of Peace, Leadership and Governance at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. She holds a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Bradford, United Kingdom. She also holds a second PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Zimbabwe. Pamela’s areas of research interest include peace and conflict analysis, memory and transitional justice in post-conflict societies, gender-based violence in conflict zones, and the dynamics of leadership and governance in transitional societies. She has published widely in her areas of specialization, including a monograph entitled: National Healing and Reconciliation in Zimbabwe: Challenges and Prospects and a book chapter on ‘Synopses of Peace and Conflict Studies Research Methodologies’. Pamela is a member of a number of professional boards, including the Africa University Board of Directors, Africa University Senate, the International Association for Methodist Schools, Colleges and Universities (IAMSCU), the International Academic Council for Africa (IAC)- University for Peace and the Editorial board of the Africa Peace and Conflict Journal.

Macharia Munene

is a Professor of History and International Relations at the United States International University, Nairobi and a Visiting Professor at UniversitatJaume I, Castellon, Spain. He holds a PhD in Diplomatic History from Ohio University. He is the author of Politics of Transition in Kenya, 1995-1998 (2001), The Truman Administration and Decolonization of Sub-Saharan Africa (1995), and co- author of Understanding Conflict and Its Management: Some Kenyan Perspective (1998). He is the co-editor of United States and Africa: From Independence to the End of the Cold War (1995), Constitutional Documentary History of kenya 1895–2002 (2006), and American Studies in East Africa (1993).

Tim Murithi

is a Research Fellow with the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town, and Head of the Justice and Reconciliation in Africa Programme at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town, South Africa. He was formerly the Head of Programme of the Peace, Security and Conflict (PSC) Report Programme based in the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Addis Ababa Office. He is a member of the International Editorial Boards of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development and the African Peace and Conflict Journal (UPEACE), the journal Peacebuilding and the African Journal of Conflict Resolution (ACCORD). He is the editor of the Routledge Handbook of Africa’s International Relations, Routledge, 2013; and the author of two books entitled: The Ethics of Peacebuilding, Edinburgh University Press, 2009, and The African Union: Pan-Africanism, Peacebuilding and Development, Ashgate Publishers, 2005. He is also editor of three books entitled Zimbabwe in Transition: A View from Within, Jacana, 2011; The African Union Peace and Security Council: A Five Year Appraisal, ISS, 2012; and Towards a Union Government of Africa: Challenges and opportinities, ISS, 2008, and co-editor of The African Union and its Institutions published by Jacana in Johannesburg in 2008.

Martha Mutisi

a PhD candidate at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) at George Mason University, in Virginia. She is a Lecturer in the Institute of Peace, Leadership and Governance (IPLG) at Africa University in Zimbabwe. Martha coordinates a programme on Mainstreaming Peace and Leadership Education in Zimbabwean universities. Her research interests include governance, post-conflict peacebuilding, democratization, development and gender.

Raphael Chijioke Njoku

is the Director of the International Studies Program, Chair of the Department o Economics, Chair of the Department of Languages and Literature, and Professor of African/World History at Idaho State University. He received his doctorate in African history from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. Dr Njoku had earlier earned a doctorate in Political Science from Vrije University Belgium. He is the author of Culture and Customs of Morocco (2005), African Cultural Values: Igbo Political Leadership in Colonial Nigeria, 1900-1966 (2006), and co-editor of five books: Missions, States and European Expansions (2007), War and Peace in Africa (2010a), Africa and the Wider World (2010b), African History (2011), and The History of Somalia (2013). Dr Njoku has also published 32 scholarly articles founding editor of Notes and Records: The International Journal of African and African Diaspora Studies.

Moses Onyango

a Lecturer and International Relations Programme Coordinator at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, United States International University-Africa (USIU-A). He holds a BA degree in International Relations from USIU-A and a Master’s degree in International Studies from Rhodes University, South Africa. He also holds a Post-graduate certificate in Academic Practice. Moses has published many articles and book chapters on postcolonial conflicts and security issues in the Horn of Africa. He served as consultant to different UN agencies and NGOs in Botswana prior to joining USIU-A. His current research interests include international relations theories in their application to contemporary conflicts and conflict resolution in the Horn of Africa.

Douglas A. Yates

is a Political Scientist who teaches African Politics, Development, Conflict, and Research Methods at the American University of Paris (AUP) and the American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy (AGSIRD). He is the author of The Rentier State in Africa: Oil-Rent Dependency and Neo-Colonialism in the Republic of Gabon (Africa World Press, 1996), the co-editor with Rudolf Traub-Merz of Oil Policy in the Gulf of Guinea: Security & Conflict, Economic Growth, Social Development (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2004), co- author with David Gardinier of the 3rd edition of the Historical Dictionary of Gabon (Scarecrow Press, 2006), and the author of The French Oil Industry and the Corps des Mines in Africa (Africa World Press, 2009).

References

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March 4, 2015

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