• From Dar es Salaam to Bongoland: Urban Mutations in Tanzania

    The name Dar es Salaam comes from the Arabic phrase meaning house of peace. A popular but erroneous translation is ‘haven of peace’ resulting from a mix-up of the Arabic words “dar” (house) and “bandar” (harbour). Named in 1867 by the Sultan of Zanzibar, the town has for a long time benefitted from a reputation of being a place of tranquility. The tropical drowsiness is a comfort to the socialist poverty and under-equipment that causes an unending anxiety to reign over the town. Today, for the Tanzanian, the town has become Bongoland, that is, a place where survival is a matter of cunning and intelligence (bongo means ‘brain’ in Kiswahili). Far from being an anecdote, this slide into toponomy records the mutations that affect the links that Tanzanians maintain with their principal city and the manner in which it represents them.

    This book takes into account the changes by departing from the hypothesis that they reveal a process of territorialisation. What are the processes – envisaged as spatial investments – which, by producing exclusivity, demarcations and exclusions, fragment the urban space and its social fabric? Do the practices and discussions of the urban dwellers construct limited spaces, appropriated, identified and managed by communities (in other words, territories)? Dar es Salaam is often described as a diversified, relatively homogenous and integrating place. However, is it not more appropriate to describe it as fragmented?

    As territorialisation can only occur through frequenting, management and localised investment, it is therefore through certain places – first shelter and residential area, then the school, daladala station, the fire hydrant and the quays – that the town is observed. This led to broach the question in the geographical sense of urban policy carried out since German colonisation to date. At the same time, the analysis of these developments allows for an evaluation of the role of the urban crisis and the responses it brings.

    In sum, the aim of this approach is to measure the impact of the uniqueness of the place on the current changes. On one hand, this is linked to its long-term insertion in the Swahili civilisation, and on the other, to its colonisation by Germany and later Britain and finally, to the singularity of the post-colonial path. This latter is marked by an alternation of Ujamaa with Structural Adjustment Plans applied since 1987. How does this remarkable political culture take part in the emerging city today?

    This book is a translation of De Dar es Salaam à Bongoland: Mutations urbaines en Tanzanie, published by Karthala, Paris in 2006.

  • For Freedom or Bondage?: A Critique of African Pastoral Practices

    In Ghana today, many people who suffer from a variety of human ills wander from one pastor to another in search of a spiritual cure. Because of the way cultural beliefs about the spiritual world have interwoven with their Christian faith, many Ghanaian Christians live in bondage to their fears of evil spiritual powers, seeing Jesus as a superior power to use against these malevolent spiritual forces.

    In For Freedom or Bondage? Esther Acolatse argues that Christian pastoral practices in many African churches include too much influence from African traditional religions. She examines Ghana Independent Charismatic churches as a case study, offering theological and psychological analysis of current pastoral care practices through the lenses of Barth and Jung. Facilitating a three-strand conversation between African traditional religion, Barthian theology, and Jungian analytical psychology, Acolatse interrogates problematic cultural narratives and offers a more nuanced approach to pastoral care.

  • Powers, Principalities, and the Spirit: Biblical Realism in Africa and the West

    Among the many factors that separate churches in the West from those of the global South, there may be no greater difference than their respective attitudes toward supernatural “powers and principalities.”

    In this follow-up to her book For Freedom or Bondage? African theologian Esther Acolatse bridges the enormous hermeneutical gap not only between the West and global Christianity but also between the West and its own biblical-theological heritage.

  • OCR: Victory History for Primary Schools Learner’s Book 5

    History is an important subject that helps people to learn about their past. This helps to understand the factors that have shaped our lives. History helps people to know their past, their culture and the values that society needs for development.

    The general aim of the History Curriculum is to help learners become literate and very good problem solvers. This will help them to think creatively and be able to grow and contribute to the development of the nation.

    This textbook has been designed to help learners develop the right skills and attitudes to lead Ghana into a developed nation.

    The textbook is based on the new History curriculum issued by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) of Ministry of Education, 2019.

    It covers the following areas:

    STRAND 1: History as a Subject

    STRAND 2: My Country Ghana

    STRAND 3: Europeans in Ghana

    STRAND 6: Independent Ghana

     

    The textbook uses a lot of pictures, illustrations and activities that make learning interesting and easy.

    It is our hope that both learners and teachers will find this book useful in teaching and learning the subject.

  • OCR: Victory History for Primary Schools Learner’s Book 4

    History is an important subject that helps people to learn about their past. This helps to understand the factors that have shaped our lives. History helps people to know their past, their culture and the values that society needs for development.

    The general aim of the History Curriculum is to help learners become literate and very good problem solvers. This will help them to think creatively and be able to grow and contribute to the development of the nation.

    This textbook has been designed to help learners develop the right skills and attitudes to lead Ghana into a developed nation.

    The textbook is based on the new History curriculum issued by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) of Ministry of Education, 2019.

    It covers the following areas:

    STRAND 1: History as a Subject

    STRAND 2: My Country Ghana

    STRAND 3: Europeans in Ghana

    STRAND 6: Independent Ghana

     

    The textbook uses a lot of pictures, illustrations and activities that make learning interesting and easy.

    It is our hope that both learners and teachers will find this book useful in teaching and learning the subject.

  • OCR: Victory History for Primary Schools Learner’s Book 3

    History is an important subject that helps people to learn about their past. This helps to understand the factors that have shaped our lives. History helps people to know their past, their culture and the values that society needs for development.

    The general aim of the History Curriculum is to help learners become literate and very good problem solvers. This will help them to think creatively and be able to grow and contribute to the development of the nation.

    This textbook has been designed to help learners develop the right skills and attitudes to lead Ghana into a developed nation.

    The textbook is based on the new History curriculum issued by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) of Ministry of Education, 2019.

    It covers the following areas:

    STRAND 1: History as a Subject

    STRAND 2: My Country Ghana

    STRAND 3: Europeans in Ghana

    STRAND 6: Independent Ghana

     

    The textbook uses a lot of pictures, illustrations and activities that make learning interesting and easy.

    It is our hope that both learners and teachers will find this book useful in teaching and learning the subject.

  • OCR: Victory History for Primary Schools Learner’s Book 2

    History is an important subject that helps people to learn about their past. This helps to understand the factors that have shaped our lives. History helps people to know their past, their culture and the values that society needs for development.

    The general aim of the History Curriculum is to help learners become literate and very good problem solvers. This will help them to think creatively and be able to grow and contribute to the development of the nation.

    This textbook has been designed to help learners develop the right skills and attitudes to lead Ghana into a developed nation.

    The textbook is based on the new History curriculum issued by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) of Ministry of Education, 2019.

    It covers the following areas:

    STRAND 1: History as a Subject

    STRAND 2: My Country Ghana

    STRAND 3: Europeans in Ghana

    STRAND 6: Independent Ghana

     

    The textbook uses a lot of pictures, illustrations and activities that make learning interesting and easy.

    It is our hope that both learners and teachers will find this book useful in teaching and learning the subject.

  • OCR: Victory History for Primary Schools Learner’s Book 1

    History is an important subject that helps people to learn about their past. This helps to understand the factors that have shaped our lives. History helps people to know their past, their culture and the values that society needs for development.

    The general aim of the History Curriculum is to help learners become literate and very good problem solvers. This will help them to think creatively and be able to grow and contribute to the development of the nation.

    This textbook has been designed to help learners develop the right skills and attitudes to lead Ghana into a developed nation.

    The textbook is based on the new History curriculum issued by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) of Ministry of Education, 2019.

    It covers the following areas:

    STRAND 1: History as a Subject

    STRAND 2: My Country Ghana

    STRAND 3: Europeans in Ghana

    STRAND 6: Independent Ghana

     

    The textbook uses a lot of pictures, illustrations and activities that make learning interesting and easy.

    It is our hope that both learners and teachers will find this book useful in teaching and learning the subject.

  • The Christian Life in a Postmodernist World (Hardcover)

    In times of postmodernism and the rise of secular humanism that tend to taint and mask the Christian faith; there is an urgent need to unveil and clarify the faith of Christians. This book exposes the content of the Christian faith in today’s context from Christian traditional heritage and history in a trinitarian manner and as taught by the scriptures. It is a timely resource for Church and the Christian’s empowerment.

  • An Ethnographic Study of Northern Ghanaian Conflicts: Towards a Sustainable Peace

    Conflict in Northern Ghana appears to be increasing in amplitude and frequency and its effects are getting more devastating. It is the view of this book that The Government of Ghana and civil society organisations involved in aspects of conflict management have approached peace issues in the region with an inadequate understanding of the local issues that divide and unite the people, or using sufficient resources to preempt conflict.

    In 2003 The Mole V summit was held in Damongo to discuss strategic directions for comprehensive development and poverty reduction in Northern Ghana as a mechanism for supporting conflict management.

    It is the aim of this publication to contribute to the proposed plan by suggesting past and current conflict management resources and mechanisms which could be employed. The suggestions are informed by surveys, which are outlined in the book, of particular conflicts in the three northern Regions of Ghana between 2006 and 2008 – their histories, causes and efforts and their resolution.

  • Tears Fears Sweat & Blood

    The violent death of former Libya’s leader Gaddafi triggered collective brutalities against black African migrants who were often accused of supporting the late ruler. This is the unbelievable story of two innocent migrants who were wrongly accused of being mercenaries and barely lived to tell their stories.

  • Love Is Power, or Something Like That: Stories

    When it comes to love, things are not always what they seem. In contemporary Lagos, a young boy may pose as a woman online, and a maid may be suspected of sleeping with her employer and yet still become a young wife’s confidante. Men and women can be objects of fantasy, the subject of beery soliloquies. They can be trophies or status symbols. Or they can be overwhelming in their need.
    In the wide-ranging stories in Love Is Power, or Something Like That, A. Igoni Barrett roams the streets with people from all stations of life. A man with acute halitosis navigates the chaos of the Lagos bus system. A minor policeman, full of the authority and corruption of his uniform, beats his wife. A family’s fortunes fall from love and wealth to infidelity and poverty as poor choices unfurl over three generations. With humor and tenderness, Barrett introduces us to an utterly modern Nigeria, where desire is a means to an end, and love is a power as real as money.
  • Women Do More Work than Men: Birifor Women as Change Agents in the Mission and Expansion of the Church in West Africa (Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and Ghana)

    Foreword by Mercy Amba Oduyoye
    The author was the first woman in Burkina to receive her Ph.D. in Theology, with research on the contributions of Birifor women to the growth of the Church in West Africa. Her work, which includes fascinating in-depth ethnographic research, has recently been published as Women Do More Work Than Men: Birifor Women as Change Agents in the Mission and Expansion of the Church in West Africa (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana)

    In the book’s Foreword, Ghanaian feminist theologian Mercy Amba Oduyoye shares these thoughts: “If you have not heard of Birifor women, this is your opportunity to read about them. You are not alone, for before I read the thesis that preceded this book, I had no idea there was a people in West Africa called the Birifor. It is a fact that even among Africans, the neighbour is hardly known. The continent is so vast. This book is therefore a special treat as it is a lens into the lives of a minority among minorities. The marginalised of this minority are women.”

    Addressing this marginalisation further, Oduyoye notes that Dorcas’ book “demonstrates the two-edged sword that westernisation has been, especially in women’s lives. Specifically, Western education led families to privilege boys and thereby aggravated the inferior position of women among the Birifor, who are formally matrilineal but in practice extremely patriarchal and androcentric.”

    “Dorcas’ book is important for several reasons. Firstly, as Oduyoye notes, it sheds light on a people group many of us have never heard of, and within that context, draws attention to the important but very overlooked roles that women play. As Dorcas boldly states, ‘women do more work than men!’ Yet they more often receive ridicule, or face added obstacles, rather than respect, for such contributions. Dorcas’ work is also important for scholars of religion in Africa, with large sections of history and ethnographic research providing a comprehensive picture of the religious cosmology of the Birifor. Her treatment of funeral rites is fascinating!” — Dr. Sara Fretheim, Postdoctoral Researcher in World Christianity and African Christianity

  • Seeing New Facets of the Diamond: Christianity as a Universal Faith – Essays in Honor of Kwame Bediako

    In the five years since Kwame Bediako passed away there has been a growing desire among colleagues and friends to put together a book that would honour his memory.

    The title has been chosen to reflect the range of interests and concerns that motivated Bediako’s scholarly work, including his founding and nurturing of ACI, originally named Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Centre for Mission Research and Applied Theology (ACMC), located at Akropong-Akuapem in Ghana. His vision was for the renewal of Christianity as a universal faith, not just in Africa, but also in the non-Western world generally, and with a long-term view to a renewal of the faith in the West. The image of facets of the diamond was his way of describing his vision of the unity-in-diversity that is the biblical mandate for the world church.

    Thus, Bediako’s interpretation of the African Christian story, to which he devoted so much of his time and energy – ‘the surprise story of the modern missionary movement’ – was always in relation to the wider Christian story, whether of earlier periods or of other contemporary settings around the world.

    This collection of essays has sought to achieve a good representation of mentors, colleagues and disciples from around the world. The contributions come from a variety of countries, theological disciplines and perspectives, and represent either a direct outworking of his vision and initiatives or a connection with them. Taken together, they demonstrate Bediako’s conviction that the theological creativity emerging in Africa is also for the benefit of the mission of the world church. All the essays key into the general theme from contributors’ own particular perspectives and areas of specialisation and capture something of the vision that inspired Kwame Bediako, which he shared, and the legacy he has bequeathed.

    In addition, they make a contribution to a deeper understanding of world Christianity in our time and provide pointers to the ongoing scholarly task in the service of the church in mission. For it is vital that we continue to see new facets of the diamond that is the universality of the Gospel, as lived and proclaimed through the world church.

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