• 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.

  • Waning Strength of Government: Essays on Nigerian Governance

    In Waning Strength of Government, Obaze draws on twenty-three of his various speeches, policy briefs, lectures and op-eds, to render exploratory essays that dissect some common patterns and trajectories that point anthetically to factors and conducts, which ought to constitute the strength of government, but don’t.  In so doing, he unmasks the prevailing weaknesses and waning strength of government – the attendant consequences, and their prevalence and implications for Nigeria.

    Such developments, with the attendant reversals, some nondescript and some dramatic, but replete with absence of resilience, leads the author to assert that democracy, “once characterized as probably the greatest expansion of freedom,” has come under assault from within its ranks, as shifts in geopolitics combine with ascendancy of non-state actors to undercut democracy.  Cognizant of the suggestion that the democratic system as conceptualized, has not just worked as expected, but is rather dysfunctional, the author asserts that nowhere is this consideration more evident and concrete than in Africa, Nigeria included.

    Waning Strength of Government piggybacks on the assertion that Nigeria’s “democracy is in reverse gear” and “the story is that of regrets and missteps.” Obaze employs an inquiry and excursion model using the flipside of McGeorge Bundy’s 1968 seminal book, The Strength of Government, to analyze leadership, political and governance challenges that continue to dog Nigeria’s nascent democracy.  The essays in this volume, which are clustered into four groupings; democratic imperatives; domestic development challenges; foreign policy dimensions and leadership and governance, explore some Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT), as well as general challenges and uncertain aspects of Nigeria’s affected democracy.

    In this very important work on Nigerian contemporary politics, leadership and dilemmas confronting the nation, the point is made severally, and vehemently too, that the strength of government is not about military capacity or use of force; but about the upholding the rule of law, consolidating democratic institutions and entrenching the social contract between the government and the governed.

  • A Guide to Autopsy Practice in Ghana (Hardcover)

    This book is meant to guide the Ghanaian resident doctor, district and regional medical officers, medical students, non-medical personnel such as police detectives and traffic officers and lawyers through the rudiments of autopsy practice. It sheds light on the benefits of the autopsy, autopsy practice and the laws that govern autopsy practice and general academic dissections. It also discusses religion and the autopsy and is thus useful to religious leaders and curious general readers who may not belong to any of the above stated professions.

    In addition it discusses the rudiments of death certification with relevant examples and will be useful to nosologists and other health officials responsible for collecting and coding data related to cause of death certificates. It entrenches the role of the clinical pathologists who is a part of the clinical team by introducing the perspectives and relationship of various clinicians to autopsy practice.

  • Medical Microbiology Simplified (2nd Edition)

    The first edition of this title was published in 2012 with two main sections covering Bacteriology and Mycology. It provided students with a quick, updated, concise and an easy to understand text on medical microbiology. Each chapter discussed a set of closely related pathogens by focusing on their epidemiology, pathogenesis, laboratory diagnosis, treatment, prevention and control. These discussions were made against the backdrop of relevant historical contexts and current trends in molecular biology, bioinformatics and contemporary global health perspectives. The book was well received by both students and faculty and this has largely motivated a second edition.

    The current edition is a revision of the first with additional content covering organisms not captured earlier. The present edition now includes sections on Parasitology and Virology to provide the full range of Microbiology disciplines. The sole author of the first edition (Dr. Mrs. Dorcas Obiri-Yeboah) invited other experts to contribute to the second edition. These experts were drawn from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology of the School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast and included Prof. E. E. Brako and Dr. Victor Nuvor who contributed to the virology section; Mr. Daniel Amoako-Sakyi, Mrs. Faustina Pappoe and Mr. Kwabena Dankwa contributed the parasitology section.

    This edition still aims to provide a concise, updated and easy to understand text for all range of students of Medical Microbiology. It is unique in its ability to teach complex concepts in an easy to grasp manner. Illustrations are included to aid comprehension of the subject where necessary. The text also takes time to succinctly describe and explain the virulence factors of viral, bacterial and fungal pathogens. It also explains the complex life cycles of parasites and how they have co-evolved to be checked up with their human host.

    It is hoped that this second edition help readers to gain understanding of the subject and further develop their love for the great field of Medical Microbiology.

  • 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.

  • Towards Safe and Effective Treatment of Disease in Ghana: Contributions from Clinical Pharmacology

    The WHO technical report series (1970) states that the primary obligation of clinical pharmacology is the promotion of safe and effective use of drugs to improve patient care.
    A review of the history and development of clinical pharmacology, with emphasis on factors that influenced the development of the subject as an established medical discipline, and a chronicle of key events that led to the established medical discipline, and a chronicle of key events that led to the establishment of the CTCPT begins this series.

  • Agriculture Economics and Contemporary Issues in Ghana

    A collection of review and empirical articles on agricultural economics by the Department of Agricultural Economics. It provides a good illustration of the key themes, concepts and methodologies of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Agricultural Administration and demonstrates the basic concerns of the discipline.

  • Perspectives from the World of Nutrition and Food Science

    The University of Ghana Readers volume from the Department of Nutrition and Food Science provides standpoints that are backed with research into processing technologies of Ghanaian traditional foods and some nutrition situations across the life stages of humans. This Reader volume is an important resource for researchers, students, health workers, social work professionals and the general population to get a better understanding of Food Science and Nutrition issues that are pertinent to general well being and health.

  • 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.

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