Understanding Contemporary Africa (First Flight Level One Reader) [Paperback]

April A. Gordon (Other Contributor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 477 pages
• Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers; 3 Sub edition (August 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555878504
• ISBN-13: 978-1555878504
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #825,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Introduction to a Fascinating Continent, May 20, 2005

By 

Justice - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding Contemporary Africa (First Flight Level One Reader) (Paperback)

I loved this book. It's extremely well-written, sensitive, and demonstrates a wealth of knowledge about African cultures, politics, religions, economies, gender relations, and, in one of the best chapters in the book, literature. You don't often see such a skillful sketch of the impressive African novels and poems that have been written in the past few generations.

This is the perfect book to assign to students who have no exposure to anything African (which, unfortunately, is most undergraduates). Although it's an introduction to the topic, those who know a great deal about it will find that almost all of it resonates with the other literature they have read, whether historical, political, or otherwise. It's a very compassionate and progressive look at Africa. All modern challenges to the continent are presented so that students get a multi-dimensional look at Africa's struggles. Environmental and agricultural problems are presented in tandem with economic and political ones, so that students will have a real context in which to put all future readings about Africa. But unlike so many African books, the text provides sections such as the one on literature, to show that Africa has many achievements, instead of focusing only on negativity, as unfortunately many books on the topic do. At the same time, it does not gloss over the tragedies on the continent and their causes, and difficult topics such as the AIDS crisis are treated in a sensitive manner.

It is a great book and I can't imagine there's one better out there. However, were I to make suggestions to the editors they would be the following:

1. The historical section could be slightly larger. The historical context is dealt with in one chapter, and yet a more extensive discussion of certain historical events would help students better understand some of the continent's present difficulties.

2. The literature section could be extended to include popular culture, music, every day entertainments, festivals, etc. Students would enjoy some additional stories showing the richness of so many African cultures. Although the literature section does this, it could do so more thoroughly.

3. The economic section would benefit from more success stories. Although it has an excellent discussion of the crushing debt burden and the role of international financial institutions in African economies, which students must know about, it would help to see some dicussions not just of how local business and initiative is stifled, but descriptions of these businesses.

I've read some fascinating things about African entrepreneurship and ingenuity in industry against all kinds of odds. Although many of these efforts were stifled by the state, I think students would benefit from knowing about dynamic efforts such as these.



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