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Conference paper Conference paper WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:African Intellectuals: Rethinking Politics, Language, Gender and Development
Editor:Mkandawire, ThandikaISNI
Chapter(s):Present
Year:2005
Pages:248
Language:English
Series:Africa in the new millennium
City of publisher:London
Publisher:Zed Books
ISBN:1842776207; 1842776215; 2869781458
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:intellectuals
pan-Africanism
diasporas
conference papers (form)
2003
Abstract:Compared with Asia or Latin America, Africa has experienced much higher rates of emigration of its intelligentsia to North America and Europe, as well as frequent displacement from home countries to other parts of the continent. In this publication on the history, fate and possible future roles of African intellectuals both within Africa and in the African diaspora nearly half a century on from independence, some of the continent's most eminent thinkers discuss the issues at stake. Their starting point is the uniquely difficult circumstances confronting intellectuals: regimes intolerant of independent debate, economies in sharp decline, societies wrecked by violent conflict, and official languages different from people's mother tongues. The contributors explore a number of topics such as: the relationship of African intellectuals to nationalism and the Pan African project; the language question (including the non-development of higher education through indigenous African languages, and the social gulf this has caused between African intellectuals and their societies); women intellectuals, the growth of gender studies, and the limitations that still constrain their impact on mainstream society and policy; the potential roles of the hugely growing African academic diaspora, particularly in the United States. Contributors: Beban Sammy Chumbow, Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Amina Mama, Ali A. Mazrui, Thandika Mkandawire, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Hannington Ochwada, Raymond Suttner, Paul Tiyambe Zeleza. The papers were presented earlier at a conference held in Dakar in December 2003. [ASC Leiden abstract]

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