African Interest

Brief Summary Is African Christianity a religious marketplace now dominated by only two big players, the Catholic Church and Pentecostals? There is an important if largely unremarked diversity within African Christianity; on the one hand, an enchanted Christianity that views the world as pervaded by spiritual forces, and on the other a disenchanted Christianity that discounts them. An enchanted Christian sees his glorious destiny threatened by witches, spirits, and ancestral curses. Churches catering for this worldview lay bare the workings of this spirit world, and this enchanted imagination, along with the prosperity gospel, and emphasis on the pastor's 'anointing', are the principal characteristics of much African Pentecostalism. Gifford argues that the enchanted religious imagination militates against development by encouraging fear and distrust, diminishing human responsibility and agency, and downplaying functional rationality. The prosperity gospel of 'covenant wealth from tithes and offerings' is the antithesis of Weber's Protestant ethic; and to magnify the person of the pastor is to perpetuate the curse of the 'Big Man'.Official Catholicism, totally disenchanted and long associated with schools and hospitals, is now involved in development, from microfinance to election monitoring, from conflict resolution to human rights. This 'NGO-ization of Catholicism', made almost inevitable by funding from secular donors like the EU and UN, even if defended theologically, comes at the price of failing to address the 'religious' needs of so many African Christians. ISBN:9781849044776 Author:Paul Gifford

Brief Summary An exploration of Shakespeare as a global poet Shakespeare in Swahililand tells the unexpected literary history of Shakespeare's influence in East Africa. Beginning with Victorian-era expeditions in which Shakespeare's works were the sole reading material carried into the interior, the Bard has been a vital touchstone throughout the region. His plays were printed by liberated slaves as one of the first texts in Swahili, performed by Indian laborers while they built the Uganda railroad, used to argue for native rights, and translated by intellectuals, revolutionaries, and independence leaders. Weaving together stories of explorers staggering through Africa's interior, eccentrics living out their dreams on the savanna, decadent émigrés, Cold War intrigues, and even Che Guevara, Edward Wilson-Lee--a Cambridge lecturer raised in Kenya--tallies Shakespeare's influence in Zanzibar, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Traveling through these countries, he speaks with everyone from theater directors and academics to soldiers and aid workers, discovering not only cultural dimensions traceable to Shakespeare's plays but also an overwhelming insistence that these works provide a key insight into the region. An astonishing work of empathy and historical vision, Shakespeare in Swahililand gets at the heart of what makes Shakespeare so universal and the role that his writings have played in thinking about what it means to be human. ISBN:9780374262075 Author:Edward Wilson Lee

Brief Summary At a riverbank in Africa's Serengeti, thousands of migrating wildebeest try desperately to cross as terrifying crocs feast on the galloping herds--which must attempt the river for a chance at survival. In the Falkland Islands, the albatross--king of migrations--journeys thousands of miles to nest despite the deadly cara cara, a predatory raptor. For countless animals species, migration is a dramatic, dangerous, and crucial undertaking...one that is portrayed in vivid color and unflinching candor in this magnificent book, companion to the 7-hour HD epic television event from National Geographic which airs beginning on Sunday, November 7th, 2010. The book follows the sequence of the film, with each section highlighting a factor that makes these epic journeys essential. "The Need for Speed" documents migration as a race against time, in which freezing temperatures or scorching heat usher in a crisis. Incredible photographs document activity along the Mississippi Flyway, which teems with long-distance travelers: red-winged blackbirds, white pelicans, tundra swans, and the birds of prey that patrol the skies. In "The Need to Feed," the annual search for greener pastures means life must go on the march as hungry predators lie in wait. Dramatic stills show as many as 40,000 walrus trying to evade 200 polar bears...and a jungle terrorized by nature's perfect killer: millions of voracious ants that work as one to overwhelm other species. "The Need to Lead" explains that migrations need generals, admirals and pioneers. How well the leaders keep their charges in line and on track will determine a species' fate. And in "The Need to Breed," the drive to renew the species forces every generation to risk it all. We experience the Falkland Islands, where aggressive, multi-ton elephant seals battle for the right to breed, and the lush rain forest canopy, where primates gather to feed and mate while smaller creatures glide from tree to tree. In every instance, both the migrating herds and the predators they sustain are faced with a new threat: global climate shift. Safe havens are vanishing, and migrating animals must stay one step ahead of a changing planet. Their struggle to survive despite mounting odds, set against the incomparable beauty of the natural world, fills this magnificently photographed book with drama, fascination, and beauty. ISBN:9781426206443 Author:K M Kostyal