The African Renaissance and the Afro-Arab Spring: A Season of Rebirth?

by Charles Villa-Vicencio (Editor), Erik Doxtader (Editor), Ebrahim Moosa (Editor), Thabo Mbeki (Foreword by), Shamil Jeppie (Contribution by)

Overview

The African Renaissance and the Afro-Arab Spring addresses the often unspoken connection between the powerful call for a political-cultural renaissance that emerged with the end of South African apartheid and the popular revolts of 2011 that dramatically remade the landscape in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. Looking between southern and northern Africa, the transcontinental line from Cape to Cairo that for so long supported colonialism, its chapters explore the deep roots of these two decisive events and demonstrate how they are linked by shared opposition to legacies of political, economic, and cultural subjugation. As they work from African, Islamic, and Western perspectives, the book’s contributors shed important light on a continent’s difficult history and undertake a critical conversation about whether and how the desire for radical change holds the possibility of a new beginning for Africa, a beginning that may well reshape the contours of global affairs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626161979
Publisher:	Georgetown University Press
Publication date:	04/22/2015
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Charles Villa-Vicencio is a visiting professor in the Conflict Resolution Program at Georgetown University and senior research fellow at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town. Erik Doxtader is a professor of rhetoric at the University of South Carolina and a senior research fellow at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town.

Ebrahim Moosa is a professor of Islamic Studies with appointments in the Department of History and the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Table of Contents

Foreword: The Arab Reawakening: An Africa Renaissance PerspectiveThabo Mbeki

Introduction: Beginning Again? The Question of a ContinentErik Doxtader, Charles Villa-Vicencio, and Ebrahim Moosa

1. From Cairo to the Cape: The Dilemmas of RevolutionShamil Jeppie2. Gathering the Pieces: The Structural, Social, and Psychological Elements of African RenewalDon Foster3. Understanding a Flawed Miracle: The History, Dynamics, and Continental Implications of South Africa’s TransitionCharles Villa-Vicencio4. Irreconcilable Truths: Gender-Based Violence and the Struggle to Build an Inclusive History Helen Scanlon5. Managing Transition: Lessons from TunisiaIbrahim Sharqieh6. Is There a Center to Hold? The Problem of Transition in Post-Qaddafi Libya Asif Majid7. The Pharaoh Returns: The “Politics of Order” and the Muslim Yearning for Freedom Ebrahim Rasool8. Political Theology in the Aftermath of the Arab Spring: Returning to the EthicalEbrahim Moosa9. The One and the Many: Religious Coexistence and Belonging in Postapartheid SocietyAbdulkader Tayob10. A Popular Revolution? Gender Inequality and Political Change in North Africa Katherine Marshall11. A “New” Pan-Africanism: Future ChallengesChris Landsberg12.The Potential of an African Assertion—Once More, in the Name of a Renaissance Erik Doxtader

AppendicesA. Colonization and Independence of African CountriesB. Select Chronology of Afro-Arab SpringC. Pan-Africanism: Select Initiatives, Organizations, and ConventionsAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsContributors

What People are Saying About This

Desmond Tutu

Anyone who wants to understand what is going on in Africa today needs to read this book. The birth of the African Renaissance and Afro-Arab Spring has injected hope and produced its disappointments. The continent’s future is uncertain. I suggest, however, that future generations will look back to this time as a crucial turning point in African and global politics. This book plumbs the depths of Africa’s quest for rebirth, often against overwhelming forces of resistance–with tentacles reaching deep into the West, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and elsewhere.

From the Publisher

"Anyone who wants to understand what is going on in Africa today needs to read this book. The birth of the African Renaissance and Afro-Arab Spring has injected hope and produced its disappointments. The continent's future is uncertain. I suggest, however, that future generations will look back to this time as a crucial turning point in African and global politics. This book plumbs the depths of Africa's quest for rebirth, often against overwhelming forces of resistance--with tentacles reaching deep into the West, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and elsewhere." -- Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus (Cape Town -- South Africa)

Editorial Reviews

Anyone who wants to understand what is going on in Africa today needs to read this book. The birth of the African Renaissance and Afro-Arab Spring has injected hope and produced its disappointments. The continent’s future is uncertain. I suggest, however, that future generations will look back to this time as a crucial turning point in African and global politics. This book plumbs the depths of Africa’s quest for rebirth, often against overwhelming forces of resistance–with tentacles reaching deep into the West, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and elsewhere.

Desmond Tutu