From the appearance of Bound to Violence in the late 1960s, Yambo Ouologuem has been one of Africa's most controversial writers. For some critics, the young Malian signaled an entire new direction for African letters: a fiercely courageous postindependence literature. For others, his novel revealed too much, bringing to light horrors many preferred to ignore. Today Ouologuem is credited with    More >

Reportage and interviews by the first woman journalist allowed free access to the peoples and places of Yemen. Deonna offers both verbal and photographic images of this largely traditional society. Traveling from capital to village, from coast to desert, Deonna talks, and looks, and takes her pictures. She encounters kindness, courtesy, curiosity, and an ancient civilization, troubled, proud, but    More >

The pattern of migrants maintaining strong ties with their home communities is particularly common in sub-Saharan Africa, where it has important social, cultural, political, and economic implications. Lillian Trager explores the significance of hometown connections for civil society and local development in Nigeria. Rich ethnographic description and case studies illustrate the links that the Ijesa    More >

The authors of Young Families present an unparalleled view of the realities of teenage pregnancy in South Africa. Drawing on empirical data, multilevel approaches, and interdisciplinary perspectives on the dynamics that underpin young peoples' experiences of having and caring for a child, they explore the contexts in which young families are constituted and shaped, as well as the kinds of    More >

They are part of rebel factions, national armies, paramilitaries, and other armed groups and entrenched in some of the most violent conflicts around the globe. They are in some ways still children?yet, from Afghanistan to Sierra Leone to Northern Ireland, you can find them among the fighters. Why? Young Soldiers explores the reasons that adolescents who are neither physically forced nor abducted    More >

Though there is much discussion of the role of youth in recent upheavals in the Middle East, there are few serious analyses of just what that role has been. Haggai Erlich sheds important light on this topic, focusing on the activism of educated young people in creating revolutionary change and the part played by higher education in shaping new generations of youth. Moving from the nineteenth    More >

Though it has been some six centuries since explorer Zheng He visited Africa, scholar Li Xinfeng finds connections between Zheng's voyages and China-Africa relations today. Li discusses Zheng's travels at length, ranging from details of his ships and crews to the nature of the relationships that he forged. As he considers the explorer's legacy in the current global environment, he    More >

Countering the dominant media narratives of economic stagnation, Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land offers a more positive and nuanced assessment of the results of the contentious land reforms that were introduced in Zimbabwe in 2000. The authors do not minimize the depredations of the Mugabe regime. Rather, they show how "ordinary" Zimbabweans have taken charge of their destinies in    More >

Examining sanctuary as it relates to both historical and modern conflicts—and proposing a theory of sanctuary that might allow for useful new peacebuilding strategies—the authors of this original collection highlight efforts made by local people around the world to achieve safety and democracy in the midst of violent civil wars.    More >