Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture (Encyclopedias of Contemporary Culture)

Book Description

This A-Z Companion is the first in-depth reference to Black British cultural production from 1970 to the present. Coverage encompasses writing, music, visual and plastic arts, performance works, film and cinema, fashion and design, and intellectual life.
With entries on distinguished practitioners, key intellectuals, seminal organizations and concepts, popular cultural forms and local activities, the Companion outlines some of the highly charged debates concerning the politics of identity and representation within the black British cultural arena.
Entries include: Asian Dub Foundation * Buddha of Suburbia * Cornershop * Goldie * Goodness Gracious Me * LTJ Bukem * Massive Attack * Mel B * Rifat Ozbek * Finlay Quaye * The Booker Prize * Tricky * Youth Culture * A Guy Called Gerald * Black Londoners * Black Arts Movement * Black British * Naomi Campbell * Caribbean Artists Movement * Neneh Cherry * Children's Publishing * Collapsed Lung * Credit to the Nation * Eternal * Jazzie B * Multicultural TV * Publishing * Soul II Soul * and many more.

Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture (Encyclopedias of Contemporary Culture (Routledge))

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Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture (Encyclopedias of Contemporary Culture (Routledge))
Peter Childs
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0415147263

Book Description

In over 970 alphabetically arranged entries, this single-volume encyclopedia examines both high and popular culture in the UK, and encompasses everything British--from architecture to pubs to film to internet to the monarchy. This unique encyclopedia casts its net over the whole range of British contemporary life. Entries range from short biographical synopses of the careers of key individuals to longer overview articles exploring the main issues within contemporary cultural debates. Bringing together subjects rarely found in one volume, the Encyclopedia defines "culture" in its broadest sense, with entries including:

Asian Press; BBC; Black Theatre; Michael Caine; Carnaby Street; Channel 4; Jasper Conran; Daniel Day-Lewis; Drink in Britain; FA Cup; Fantasy Football; Fashion (90s); Food; Football; Gay and Lesbian Culture; Glenda Jackson; Stanley Kubrick; Labour Party; Lucian Freud; Monarchy; Musicals; Notting Hill Carnival; Nick Park; Pop Art; Dennis Potter; Raves; The Rushdie Affair; andmuch more. The comprehensive system of cross-referencing and thematic contents list help readers to identify entries from particular fields. Students, travelers, journalists and general readers will find this an invaluable reference source on contemporary British life.

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Naipaul's glance at post-Colonial Africa.......2005-08-27

Shiva Naipaul's _North of South: An African Journey_ is the most cynical book I've ever read. It is a travelogue of the author's visit to three postcolonial African countries in the 1970s: Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. Naipaul is a Hindu, born in Trinidad, and he pays attention to the role (and plight) of South Asians (Hindus, Pakistanis, Sikhs, Parsees, etc) in East Africa. He also focuses on the black-white relations in Africa as well. Naipaul gives Africa and everyone involved in its affairs (whites, blacks and Asians) no credit whatsoever. Declining European colonial powers gave their African colonies political independence in the 1960s and a variety of demagogues like and Julius Nyerre in Tanzania who took power spouting third world varieties of socialism and Marxism. Despite claims of social and economic progress, Africa remains as backward as ever. Naipaul freely writes of his disgust with the countries and its deceived leadership from the first page of the book until the last. This book, like another reviewer noted below, certainly is not going to make it into a black studies program anytime soon. It is a relief from portraits of Africa that classify it as a tropical paradise, a land of innocents exploited by evil Europeans, or conversely an AIDS infested human disaster. Naipaul's cynicism shows Africa the way it really is-struggling, corrupt, deceived, but at the same time Afroca is chugging along optimistically in some areas, with idealism and occasional realism, and attempting to do as well as it can to develop itself. No dry textbook prose here; the book is short, easy to read, engaging and very well written.

Sadly neglected and misunderstood masterpiece.......2005-02-12

This is a wonderfully written book; Naipaul's proses flows effortlessly across the page, the connexion between thought and word is seemless. The comparatively small body of work Naipaul produced before his tragic early death has been neglected in favour of that of his less talented, but longer lived, brother (a Nobel Prizewinner). However in this one work, Naipaul's prosody surpasses anything produced either by his brother, or by other twentieth century travel writers like Thoreau. That said, some of the other reviews here are ludicrously jaundiced and do a disservice to the book itself. This is no crude work of 'anti-pc' nonsense (an American political term that the archly European Naipaul would have shuddered at). The prose is not illiberal (in the American sense of the term) but rather aristocratic, in the best tradition of Evelyn Waugh (the writer Naipaul most resembles). Like Waugh, Naipaul's caustic observations rip into the heart of human weakness and frailty, exposing the hypocrisy and cant from all sides. The pretensions of ghastly businessmen disgust him as much as the crudity of the black 'socialists'. Those who seek to defend either Marxism or any form of business enterprise system face Naipaul's perfectly expressed derision. I personally found Naipaul's lack of human feeling at the extent of Africa's poverty a little shocking but it is a rapturous pleasure to be so shocked.

Tragic, funny account of the Way We Were ...........2004-12-23

North of South describes Shiva Naipaul's journey through Eastern Africa as it emerged from colonialism several decades ago. Optimism and energy prevailed alongside a blind faith in imported philosophies which pundits failed to translate meaningfully to the impoverished, illiterate masses around them.

Naipaul is a witty, bold writer with a gift for sharp imagery and an uncanny radar for subtle undercurrents in human interaction - the hypocrisy of the black elite, the jittery desperation of the settlers, the paranoid clannishness of the Asians. He also vividly portrays the deepening poverty and decaying infrastructure that underscored the failure of well-intentioned socialism in Tanzania.

While some racists may use it to justify their beliefs, the book is more a compassionate, humorous look at pre-industrial populations trying to forge national identities from scratch.

While today's poor countries may not have to follow the painstaking, centuries-long process that western countries did, this is still a reminder that there is no shortcut to institutional development.

For Africans, this nostalgic book shows how far we have come, but is also a challenge to craft a fresh vision for the long distance still left to travel.

African Travelogue.......2002-02-16

I'm trying very hard to figure out how I can review this book without coming across as an ignorant, bubble-headed liberal or a rabid racist. Hmmm... I don't think it's going to happen. North of South, by the late Shiva Naipaul, is essentially a travelogue of a trip to parts of Africa in the 1970's, specifically Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. Welded to the descriptions of people and scenery are sharp observations on class, racism, government and colonialism. Naipaul's eye misses nothing during his travel, and his anecdotes are both humorous and sad. It was interesting to see that this guy is the brother of V.S. Naipaul, who recently won a Nobel Prize for Literature. Anyway, this book is not going to be found on the syllabus of any black studies classes anytime soon.

North of South reveals Africa in all of its glory: degenerate, corrupt and lazy. What really stands out is how Africans have taken Western ideas and applied them to their own situations, often with laughable results. Take the case of Tanzanian Socialism. Naipaul can barely contain a chuckle at the absurdity of this situation. Almost everyone he meets praises the administration, but almost no one has any true sense of what it's all about (to be fair, the same could be said for most nations). The corruption is truly astonishing. Bribery abounds everywhere, especially at border crossings, where tourists are routinely harassed and threatened with imprisonment if their papers aren't in order. A story in which Naipaul is conned when he gets a shoeshine is a good example. Not only does the guy ruin his shoes, he tries to overcharge him in the process. Naipaul constantly has to shell out the bucks to get even the most basic services, if he gets them at all. Hotels are run down traps, prostitution is epidemic, and beggars and the unemployed are everywhere. The few situations where something actually works are attributed to the presence of white expatriates, and even here there is the danger that the black government will step in at any minute and expel the whites.

Probably the most bothersome aspect of this book, and one that costs Naipaul a star in my review, is the bias Naipaul shows in regards to the "Asian" population in Africa. The "Asians" are actually of Indian descent, as is Naipaul. Naipaul reveals that Africans are prejudiced against these Indians and he seems to take it personally (what a surprise! Blacks can actually be racists!). Much time is spent on this problem and it opens Naipaul up to charges of retaliatory prejudice. Naipaul is much more effective when he shows how both blacks and whites have their racist attitudes, and how both races have been brought down together through the process of colonialism.

This is an obscure book that probably will never get much attention in the politically correct atmosphere of America. If you want to make a liberal's head explode, buy this book and tuck it into their stocking next Christmas. If you need a break from the multicultural crowd, this is the book for you.

Wonderful.......1999-06-25

The book's humor will make you laugh a little uneasily, like the best of satire. A wonderfully detailed vision of Africa.

Minority Protection in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Human Rights, Minority Rights, and Self-Determination (Perspectives on the Twentieth Century)

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Minority Protection in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Human Rights, Minority Rights, and Self-Determination (Perspectives on the Twentieth Century)
Kristin Henrard
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0275973530

Book Description

Accommodation of population diversity is a vital issue for any multinational society. The legacy of Apartheid in South Africa complicates this effort considerably. Henrard introduces a theoretical framework regarding how to accommodate minority protection in the most appropriate way and analyzes the respective contributions of individual rights, minority rights, and the right to self-determination. Subsequent chapters examine the case study of post-apartheid South Africa and attempt to investigate its constitutional development. Henrard finds that provisions within the 1996 Constitution do acknowledge an interrelation between these three important factors; however, implementation of minority protection policy is often quite a different matter. In seeking appropriate means of minority protection, this study stresses inclusionism, integration, and the essential right to identity and real equality. While Henrard reviews and discusses the entire democratic transformation process in South Africa, she cautions that, because current developments are characterized by their unsettled nature, major transformation and flux, analysis of the implementation phase can be only indicative. The apartheid history does not in itself inhibit progressive stances on this important issue. Still, despite the promising nature of the 1996 Constitution, the picture that emerges in terms of policy development aimed at minority protection is ambivalent.

The Politics of Race, Class and Nationalism in Twentieth-Century South Africa

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The Politics of Race, Class and Nationalism in Twentieth-Century South Africa
Shula Marks
Manufacturer: Longman Group United Kingdom
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0582644909

The End of Apartheid in South Africa: (Greenwood Press Guides to Historic Events of the Twentieth Century)

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The End of Apartheid in South Africa: (Greenwood Press Guides to Historic Events of the Twentieth Century)
Lindsay Michie Eades
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0313299382

Book Description

The complex history and politics of South Africa form the backdrop of this insightful study of the factors that contributed to both the end of apartheid and the movement from government by racial division toward government through national unity. This study and resource examines the history, people, and politics of South Africa in the age of apartheid. Topical essays examine the divisions within South African society that led to the historic apartheid legislation initiated in 1948; each group that was defined and separated by apartheid--whites, coloreds, Indians, and Africans; how this separation put increasing pressure on the system that gave rise to organized domestic resistance that eventually led to the collapse of apartheid; the economic sanctions imposed by other nations on South Africa in retaliation for apartheid; and the new government and the challenges of a new democracy. The analysis of how all these factors culminated in the collapse of apartheid is enhanced by lengthy biographical profiles of sixteen key personalities, including Stephen Biko, Willem deKlerk, Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu. A selection of thirteen primary documents, including a letter from Nelson Mandela in exile and his speech after being released from prison, illustrates the rise and fall of apartheid and will be valuable for student research. A glossary of key terms and a timeline of important events add reference value.

The Story of an African Famine: Gender and Famine in Twentieth-Century Malawi

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The Story of an African Famine: Gender and Famine in Twentieth-Century Malawi
Megan Vaughan
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521035511

Book Description

This account of the 1949 famine in colonial Malawi employs a wide variety of historical sources, ranging from Colonial Office documentation to the songs of women who lived through the tragedy. The analysis of the causes and development of the famine takes the reader through a detailed agricultural and social history of Southern Malwai in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, focusing in particular on the nature of social and economic stratification, changes in kinship systems and the position of women and placing all this within the wider context of the impact of colonial rule.

Rethinking the Rise and Fall of Apartheid: South Africa and World Politics (Rethinking the Twentieth Century)

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Rethinking the Rise and Fall of Apartheid: South Africa and World Politics (Rethinking the Twentieth Century)
Adrian Guelke
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid (Seminar Studies in History Series)

ASIN: 0333981235
Release Date: 2005-01-13

Book Description

A major new text by a leading authority reassesses the nature, endurance and significance of apartheid in South Africa as well as the reasons for its dramatic collapse. Paying particular attention to the international dimension as well as the domestic, the author assesses the impact of anti-apartheid protest, of changing attitudes of Western governments to the apartheid regime and the evolution of South African government policies to the outside world.

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Twentieth-Century South Africa (OPUS)
William Beinart
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0192893181

Book Description

An innovative examination of the forces - both destructive and dynamic - which have shaped twentieth-century South Africa. This book provides a stimulating introduction to the history of South Africa in the twentieth century. It draws on the rich and lively tradition of radical history writing on that country and, to a greater extent than previous accounts, weaves economic and cultural history into the political narrative. Apartheid and industrialization, especially mining, are central theme, as is the rise of nationalism in the Afrikaner and African communities. But the author also emphasizes the neglected significance of rural experiences and local identities in shaping political consciousness. The roles played by such key figure as Smuts, Verwoerd, de Klerk, Plaatje, and Mandela are explored, while recent historiographical trends are reflected in analyses of rural protest, white cultural politics, the vitality of black urban life, and environmental decay. The book assesses the analysis of black reactions to apartheid, the rise of the ANC. The concluding chapter brings this seminal history up-to-date, tackling the issues and events from 1994-1999 - in particular the success of Mandela and the ANC in seeing through the end of apartheid rule. It also looks at the chances of a stable future for the new-found democracy in South Africa.

African Apocalypse: The Story of Nontetha Nkwenkwe, a Twentieth-Century South African Prophet (Ohio RIS Africa Series)

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African Apocalypse: The Story of Nontetha Nkwenkwe, a Twentieth-Century South African Prophet (Ohio RIS Africa Series)
Robert R. Edgar
Manufacturer: Ohio University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0896802086

The ambiguities of dependence in South Africa: Class, nationalism, and the state in twentieth-century Natal

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The ambiguities of dependence in South Africa: Class, nationalism, and the state in twentieth-century Natal
Shula Marks
Manufacturer: Ravan Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0869752820

Forgotten times: Cape Town in the early twentieth century (Publications of the Friends of the South African Library)

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Forgotten times: Cape Town in the early twentieth century (Publications of the Friends of the South African Library)
William Andrew Kerkham
Manufacturer: Friends of the South African Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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