Foreword : the Arab reawakening: an Africa renaissance perspective / Thabo Mbeki -- Introduction : beginning again? : the question of a continent -- From Cairo to the Cape : the dilemmas of revolution -- Shamil Jeppie -- Gathering the pieces : the structural, social, and psychological elements of African renewal / Don Foster -- Understanding a flawed miracle : the history, dynamics, and continental implications of South Africa's transition -- Charles Villa-Vicencio -- Irreconcilable truths : gender-based violence and the struggle to build an inclusive history -- Helen Scanlon -- Tunisia : a successful revolution? / Ibrahim Sharqieh -- Is there a centre to hold? : the problem of transition-building in Libya / Asif Majid -- Egypt : the pharaoh returns : the "politics of order" and the Muslim yearning for freedom / Ebrahim Rasool -- Political theology in the aftermath of the Arab spring / Ebrahim Moosa -- The one and the many : religious coexistence and belonging in post-apartheid society / Abdulkader Tayob -- A popular revolution? : gender inequality and political change in North Africa / Katherine Marshall -- A "new" pan-africanism / Chris Landsberg -- The potential of an African assertion : once more, in the name of a renaissance / Erik Doxtader -- Appendices -- Timeline of African independence -- Arab spring timeline -- Pan-africanism: select agreements and initiatives.
Summary:
The hope and despair surrounding the Afro-Arab Spring in North Africa has only begun to be played out in regional and global politics. And the call for an African renaissance that followed the miraculous political transition in South Africa is, twenty years later, viewed with similar ambiguity. What is clear is that current developments in Africa, north and south, promise something markedly different from what has prevailed at any point since the dawn of the African independence movements of the 1950s and 60s. But the continent's own identity remains unresolved, posing the question whether and how its multiple and divergent experiences can be understood and perhaps woven into a basis for unity. Contributors to this volume explore whether or not events north of the Sahara and on the southern tip of Africa can be catalysts for change in other parts of the continent. Chapters assesses the nature of political resistance, revolution, and transition in North and Southern Africa, addressing critical factors--economics, culture, gender, theology--that reveal the promises and perils of African reform. Includes a foreword by former South African president Thabo Mbeki.
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.