In Africa, people striving to live and survive under the complex relationship between development and subsistence have been directly or indirectly feeling influences of globalisation. As Africa's involvement in globalisation deepens, social phenomena are apparently synchronizing or becoming more similar to those in the rest of the world, but they are not homogenised with them, especially those of developed countries now or in the past. The dichotomic view distinguishing development and subsistence has already become outdated. Day after day, African people are trying to reconcile or bridge the two as capable actors. People in Africa, faced with challenges common throughout the world, live in their own ways. Africa can contribute to the world by sharing knowledge acquired through the struggles of development and subsistence, and by bridging the two.

This open access book offers unique in-depth, comprehensive, and comparative analyses of the motivations, context, and outcomes of recent land reforms in Africa. Whereas a considerable number of land reforms have been carried out by African governments since the 1990s, no systematic analysis on their meaning has so far been conducted. In the age of land reform, Africa has seen drastic rural changes. Analysing the relationship between those reforms and change, the chapters in this book reveal not only their socio-economic outcomes, such as accelerated marketisation of land, but also their political outcomes, which have often been contrasting. Countries such as Rwanda and Mozambique have utilised land reform to strengthen state control over land, but other countries, such as Ghana and Zambia, have seen the rise in power of traditional chiefs in managing the land. The comparative perspective of this book clarifies new features of African social changes, which are carefully investigated by area experts. Providing new perspectives on recent land reform, this book will have a considerable impact on scholars as well as policymakers.

In searching for the potential that lies in African societies, the chapters of this volume consider relationships between knowledge, education and social structure from multiple angles, from a macro-continental scale to national education systems, schools and local communities. The themes that cut across the chapters include education as a mode of transmitting values, the contrasting effects of school credentials and knowledge for use, politics and interactions among people surrounding a school and knowledge acquisition as a subjective process. The rich empirical analyses suggest that the subjective commitment of, and mutuality among, people will make the acquired knowledge a powerful 'tool for conviviality' to realize a stable life, even given the turmoil created by rapid institutional and environmental changes that confront African societies.

The book provides novel perspectives towards conceptualisation of African Potentials. It explores diverse and dynamic aspects of linguistic communications in Africa, ranging from convivial multilingual practices to literal and musical arts. The book reflects the diversity and ever-changing dynamism in the African sociolinguistic sphere, that is, metalinguistic discourse in East Africa, sociolinguistic dynamism in Angola, conflict reconciliation speech performed in Ethiopia, and syncretic urban linguistic code called Sheng in Kenya. The volume also explores multi-dimensional relationships between literary arts and the society by investigating such topics as traditional Swahili poetry, publication of children books in Benin, and transformation and reconstruction of Yoruba popular music. The book elucidates dynamic process of creation through mixing of traditional and foreign elements of culture.

Covering a diverse range of topics, case studies and theories, the author undertakes a critique of the principal assumptions on which the existing international human rights regime has been constructed. She argues that the decolonization of human rights, and the creation of a global community that is conducive to the well-being of all humans, will require a radical restructuring of our ways of thinking, researching and writing. In contributing to this restructuring she brings together feminist and indigenous approaches as well as postmodern and post-colonial scholarship, engaging directly with some of the prevailing orthodoxies, such as 'universality', 'the individual', 'self-determination', 'cultural relativism', 'globalization' and 'civil society'.

This is a collection of bold and visionary scholarship that reveals an insightful exposition of re-visioning African development from African perspectives. It provides educators, policy makers, social workers, non-governmental agencies, and development agencies with an interdisciplinary conceptual base that can effectively guide them in planning and implementing programs for socio-economic development in Africa. The book provides up-to-date scholarly research on continental trends on various subjects and concerns of paramount importance to globalisation and development in Africa (politics, democracy, education, gender, technology, global relationships and the role of non-governmental organisations). The authors challenge the familiar paradigms in order to show how imperfectly, if at all, assumptions about globalisation and development theories have failed in their depictions and applications to Africa. The scholars in this volume both inform and advocate for a re-visioning of perceptions on Africa and how it navigates global processes.

This book focuses on the role of subsistence entrepreneurs in creating social and sustainable business opportunities on the global marketplace. Subsistence entrepreneurs use scarce resources to create new business opportunities, often in developing or emerging economies. In addition, subsistence entrepreneurship is increasingly being used as a way to facilitate market entry for small and medium-sized business enterprises that focus on collaborative innovation. The interdisciplinary contributions gathered here will expand readers’ understanding of the nature and characteristics of subsistence entrepreneurs, as well as the challenges they face. The central connection between subsistence, sustainability and social entrepreneurship is also explored.

This book critically examines the new issues and new politics regarding migration in the era of globalisation from a majority world perspective. It examines the current shifts in the global political economy and the effects it has, for example, in relation to rural displacement. When and how does this lead to national and/or transnational migration? We need to examine the ways in which migration is cut across and impacts on the generation of racism and xenophobia in the west. The issue of remittances by migrants to the ‘developing’ nations needs careful study as does the controversial issue of ‘brain drain’ versus ‘brain gain’ through migration. The growing importance of trafficking for forced labour has now been taken up by various international bodies but is it the new normality or simply an unfortunate side effect of globalisation to be overcome through legislation? Migration is becoming increasingly gendered in its composition and flows but also in the receiving countries where men and women do very different jobs. We can predict the increasing racialization and gendering of migration but how will the state and society respond to these shifts? This book was published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.

Europe, the State and Globalisation explores the interplay between the state and state sovereignty, nationalism, European integration and globalisation. It provides essential foundations in all these areas, while using stimulating arguments to prompt discussion and provoke interest in the relationships between these processes. Throughout, Europe, the State and Globalisation addresses various issues of historical and theoretical importance, including the institutions of the European Union, integration theory, regional policy, multilevel governance and EU enlargement, International Relations theory, the nature and impact of globalisation, the challenges of transnational government and the changing nature of the state The text is ideal for undergraduate courses in European Politics.

This title was first published in 2003. Based on a blend of knowledge and perspectives from a variety of disciplines this volume examines the human-environment interaction in Africa, with a focus on the economic, social and political processes that generate environmental change and problems in this region. Currently there are controversies over and challenges to such concepts and issues as environment-human relationships, ecological resilience, decertification, sustainable development, globalization and North-South dialogue. This book draws upon past and present research findings to discuss these issues. It features: an examination of the characteristics, processes and patterns of environmental crises; an analysis of the principal issues and challenges facing policy makers and implementers; and the promotion of awareness of theoretical, empirical and comparative research. The volume not only seeks to answer some of the old questions, but also open up new ones for further discussion.