Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-240) and index.
Contents:
Maledictions of the political order : a selection of modern challenges. Antecedents : race and romanticism -- National consciousness, international struggle : Cabral, Kaunda and the thought of liberation -- The new African man : the political thought of transformation -- 'Big Men' : the limitations in thought of Mobutu and Banda -- The coup 'artists' and th new nationalism on command : Rawlings and Sankara -- The legacy of Fanon -- The old liberationist : Robert Mugabe -- The moral African and the African Renaissance : Thabo Mbeki -- The responsibility to be free : the untapped potential of a new Pan-Africanism -- Maledictions of the political order : a selection of modern challenges.
Summary:
African liberation is often seen in terms of heroism, but seldom in terms of thought. Even Sartre, in his preface to Frantz Fanon's seminal The Wretched of the Earth, wrote of the 'native' with his coiled muscles about to explode into rebellion. The African and the black person are denied the condition of philosophy, apparently driven only by frustration and anger. Stephen Chan's new book charts the long history of African political thought, from the years of North American slavery, through the development of modern African nationalism and the difficulties of governing new states, to Africa's political philosophy today, taking on the world as an equal. He dwells at length on major figures from Marcus Garvey and Kwame Nkrumah's postcolonial generation to Biko, Mandela and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. He shows their leadership to be inseparable from their ideas, and from those of literary giants including Fanon, W.E.B. Du Bois and Ngugi wa Thiong'o. This is no hagiography: Chan critically examines his thinkers, who also include Mugabe and Mobutu, and expresses concern for the future of Pan-Africanism. But his fascinating account reveals a thoughtful continent that has made complex, significant contributions to the world's intellectual commons-yet continues to seek freedom. -- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.