Women’s Roles in Sub-Saharan Africa
Toyin Falola and Nana Akua Amponsah
Women play essential, critical roles in every society; African women south of the Sahara are certainly no different. Women's Roles in Sub-Saharan Africa adds significantly to our understanding of the ways in which women contribute to the fabric of human civilization. This book provides an in-depth exploration of African women's roles in society from precolonial periods to the contemporary era. Topical sections describe the roles that women play in family, courtship and marriage, religion, work, literature and arts, and government. Each of the six chapters has been structured to elucidate women's roles and functions in society as partners, as active participants, as defenders of their status and occupations, and as agents of change. The authors present a thought-provoking work that looks at the complicated victimhood/powerful-female paradigm in women and gender studies in Africa, and challenge ideological interest in African historiography that privilege male representation.
Landscape, Environment and Technology in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa
Toyin Falola and Tyler Fleming
This volume seeks to identify and examine two categories of colonial and postcolonial knowledge production about Africa. These two broad categories are "environment" and "landscape," and both are useful and problematic to explore. Discussions about African environments often concentrate on Africans as perpetrators of their own land, causing degradation from lack of knowledge and technology. "Landscape" defines the category of knowledge produced by foreigners about Africa, where Africans remain part of the scenery and yield no agency over their surroundings. To flesh out these categories and explore their creation and how they have been deployed to shape colonial and postcolonial discourses on Africa, this volume investigates the "technological pastoral," the points of convergence and conflict between Western notions of pastoral Africa and the introduction of colonial technology, scientific ideas and commodification of land and animals.
Music, Performance and African Identities
Toyin Falola and Tyler Fleming
Cutting across countries, genres, and time periods, this volume explores topics ranging from hip hop’s influence on Maasai identity in current day Tanzania to jazz in Bulawayo during the interwar years, using music to tell a larger story about the cultures and societies of Africa.
Culture and Customs of Libya
Jason Morgan, Toyin Falola, and Bukola Adeyemi Oyeniyi
Libya is one of Africa's largest nations, but its topography is dominated by a huge southern desert with some of the hottest temperatures recorded anywhere in the world. Culture and Customs of Libya explores the daily lives of the 90 million men, women, and children who struggle to get by in this authoritarian state, where only a fraction of the land is arable and 90 percent of the people live in less than 10 percent of the area, primarily along the Mediterranean coast. In this comprehensive overview of modern Libyan life, readers can explore topics such as religion, contemporary literature, media, art, housing, music, and dance. They will learn about education and employment and will see how traditions and customs of the past—including those from Libya's long domination by the Ottoman Empire and 40 years as an Italian colony—are kept alive or have evolved to fit into today's modern age.
Ibadan: Foundation, Growth and Change, 1830-1960
Jason Morgan, Toyin Falola, and Bukola Adeyemi Oyeniyi
This is an unprecedented reference guide to the development of Ibadan from the last years of true African autonomy in the early nineteenth century through the onslaught of British colonialism, all the way up until Nigeria’s independence.Libya's long domination by the Ottoman Empire and 40 years as an Italian colony—are kept alive or have evolved to fit into today's modern age.
