World Cultures

An expansive history of the Sahara from prehistory to the present that shows how Saharans have, over time, built complex and cosmopolitan lives despite scarcity, conquest, and the relentless challenges of the desert environment What comes to mind when we think about the Sahara? Rippling sand dunes, sun-blasted expanses, camel drivers and their caravans perhaps. Or famine, climate change, civil war, desperate migrants stuck in a hostile environment. The Sahara stretches across 3.2 million square miles, hosting several million inhabitants and a corresponding variety of languages, cultures, and livelihoods. But beyond ready-made images of exoticism and squalor, we know surprisingly little about its history and the people who call it home.    Shifting Sands is about that other Sahara, not the empty wasteland of the romantic imagination but the vast and highly differentiated space in which Saharan peoples and, increasingly, new arrivals from other parts of Africa live, work, and move. It takes us from the ancient Roman Empire through the bloody colonial era to the geopolitics of the present, questioning easy clichés and exposing fascinating truths along the way. From the geology of the region to the religions, languages, and cultural and political forces that shape and fracture it, this landmark book tells the compelling story of a place that sits at the heart of our world, and whose future holds implications for us all.

Pass down the powerful teachings of African and African American oral traditions with these 50 beautifully illustrated cultural folktales. In this captivating collection of folklore from the African diaspora, discover the stories that have been passed down through generations and continue to teach valuable lessons today through their vibrant, illustrative language. Through its 50 folktales, Roots & Legends celebrates the richness of the African and African American cultures and champions the importance of oral tradition, a practice that rose up through the dark times of slavery and oppression. Thoughtfully curated and richly illustrated, Roots & Legends features the wonder and educational lessons of cultural stories and figures such as: The Flying Africans Sukey and the Mermaid The Legend of Big Momma How the Leopard Got Its Spots Coyote Steals the Sun The Haunting of Sweet Hollow Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock And more! Divided into seven sections covering the spiritual nature of animals, people, the land and its sometimes spooky inhabitants, and more, each page is filled with timeless tales of heroes, tricksters, and everyday wisdom, and invites you to immerse yourself in the depth and beauty of African and African American folklore. A perfect choice for families interested in passing down African and African American heritage through storytelling traditions, Roots & Legends will enchant readers of all ages through its beautifully illustrated and accessible collection of folklore.

Today, the majority of the world's Christian population lives in the Global South. This textbook offers in one volume a compact and vivid overview of the history of Christianity in Asia, Africa and Latin America since 1450, focussing on diversity and interdependence, local actors and global entanglements.

In much of Central Africa, eating wildlife is seen as a normal, desirable and common-sense practice. Almost all wild animals, from the largest mammals to the smallest invertebrates, are hunted, traded and consumed, providing vital income and nutrition for millions of people. But as demand for bushmeat grows, animal populations are being decimated, directly impacting biodiversity, local economies and public health. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Bushmeat explores questions ranging from deforestation and conservation strategies to infectious diseases, urban street food and law enforcement. It explains how the popularity of wild meat consumption has spread from rural areas into major cities, fueled by rapid urbanization, poorly defined regulations, and developing trade networks-whether small-scale and informal, or commercial and politically connected. While unsustainable hunting practices pose clear problems for wildlife conservation, they also increase the risk of rural food insecurity and of new infectious diseases emerging-as HIV, Ebola and Covid-19 have shown. But cultural attachment to wild meat, and its dietary importance for many communities, make the "bushmeat crisis" difficult to solve. Based on extensive interviews and a comprehensive review of secondary literature, Bushmeat presents a startling account of one of the Anthropocene's catastrophes in the making.

Africa's unique and diverse culture, embedded in age-long business practices, presents an interesting proposition for advancing indigenous knowledge and building sustainable structures. Casebook of Indigenous Business Practices in Africais a collection of case studies across Northern, Eastern, Central, Western and Southern parts of Africa. Indigenous enterprises contribute to the economic prosperity of Africa and are an essential part of the continent's business ecosystem. Contributing authors to this two-volume edited work explore the inherent potential of indigenous practices in bolstering business performance and stimulating social and economic development. The first volume focuses on Apprenticeship, Craft, and Healthcare, while this second volume considers Trade, Production and Financial Services, in featured African countries. Indigenous business practices hold great prospects for economic advancement in Africa, despite the dominance of Western business methods, which, although beneficial, are yet to drive the continent's developmental agenda. By identifying and exploring the unique features of these practices, multiple actors, including entrepreneurs, policymakers, students, educators, and practitioners, are provided with context-based information that can foster social and economic empowerment across the continent. The book extends the frontier of knowledge on the role of cultural orientation, values, and traditions in achieving a more prosperous Africa through the development of indigenous business knowledge.

Africa's unique and diverse culture, embedded in age-long business practices, presents an interesting proposition for advancing indigenous knowledge and building sustainable structures. Casebook of Indigenous Business Practices in Africais a collection of case studies across Northern, Eastern, Central, Western and Southern parts of Africa. Indigenous enterprises contribute to the economic prosperity of Africa and are an essential part of the continent's business ecosystem. Contributing authors to this two-volume edited work explore the inherent potential of indigenous practices in bolstering business performance and stimulating social and economic development. This first volume focuses on Apprenticeship, Craft, and Healthcare, while the second volume considers Trade, Production and Financial Services, in featured African countries. Indigenous business practices hold great prospects for economic advancement in Africa, despite the dominance of Western business methods, which, although beneficial, are yet to drive the continent's developmental agenda. By identifying and exploring the unique features of these practices, multiple actors, including entrepreneurs, policymakers, students, educators, and practitioners, are provided with context-based information that can foster social and economic empowerment across the continent. The book extends the frontier of knowledge on the role of cultural orientation, values, and traditions in achieving a more prosperous Africa through the development of indigenous business knowledge.

The voices in this book offer a multi-perspectival approach to Africa, focusing on the skills and the knowledge underpinning visual cultural expressions ranging from Akan symbolism to embodied performances by dancers and storytellers, even re-designed models of Western cars. Educators, designers, artists, critics, curators, and custodians based both in Africa and in Europe are configuring spaces for public, private, institutional as well as digital conversation - whether through pottery or portraiture, furniture or film, shoes or selfies, buildings or books. Readers are encouraged to question how African visual cultures are both 'in' and 'of'; identifying and confrontational; post- and decolonial; preserved and practised; old and new; borrowed and authentic; composite and complete; rooted and soaring. Disciplines being engaged include visual culture studies, media studies, performance studies, orature, literature, art and design - as well as their histories. The editors Mary Clare Kidenda, Lize Kriel and Ernst Wagner represent three nodes in the Exploring Visual Cultures north-south collaborative network: The Technical University of Kenya, the University of Pretoria in South Africa and Munich Academy of Fine Arts in Germany.

How can we map differing perceptions of the living environment? Mapping the Unmappable? explores the potential of cartography to communicate the relations of Africa's indigenous peoples with other human and non-human actors within their environments. These relations transcend Western dichotomies such as culture-nature, human-animal, natural-supernatural. The volume brings two strands of research cartography and »relational« anthropology into a closer dialogue. It provides case studies in Africa as well as lessons to be learned from other continents (e.g. North America, Asia and Australia). The contributors create a deepened understanding of indigenous ontologies for a further decolonization of maps, and thus advance current debates in the social sciences.

A collection of music from around the world to listen to and enjoy.