AFRICAN STUDIES - ZED BOOKS

Love Falls On Us

A Story of American Ideas and African LGBT Lives Robbie Corey-Boulet In 2009 Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill became a top global news story and still today there is little consensus on how to advance LGBT rights beyond the U.S. and Europe. In this faithful and moving investigation, award winning journalist Robbie Corey-Boulet shows that LGBT liberation does not look the same in Africa as it does in the United States or Europe. At a time when there is a groundswell of interest in LGBT life in Africa and attempts at reversing LGBT rights across much of the ‘developed’ world Corey-Boulet lays bare past failures. To the extent that there exists a right way to engage on LGBT issues in Africa—and, indeed, worldwide—Love Falls on Us is for those looking to learn what it is.

UK March 2021 • US March 2021 • 336 pages PB 9781786995179 • £8.99 / $11.95 Previously published in HB 9781786997081 ePub 9781786995193 • £17.09 / $22.16 ePdf 9781786995186 • £17.09 / $22.16 Zed Books

Malawi

Economy, Society and Political Affairs Edited by Matthias Rompel, Giessen University, Germany & Reimer Gronemeyer, Giessen University, Germany Subsistence agriculture remains at the very heart of Malawi's social fabric, and also lies at the root of its tremendous poverty. Yet while it is among the worst performers in terms of per capita income and infant mortality, it is also a surprising leader in other areas (such as freedom of the press), has enjoyed over fifty years of relative stability since independence, and still holds great potential for economic development. Bringing together some of the leading experts on the country, this collection offers a comprehensive introduction to contemporary Malawi, encompassing its economy, culture, and politics.

UK October 2020 • US June 2020 • 256 pages PB 9781786995872 • £19.99 / $29.95 • HB 9781786995865 • £70.00 / $95.00 ePub 9781786995896 • £17.99 / $22.16 ePdf 9781786995889 • £17.99 / $22.16 Series: Politics and Development in Contemporary Africa • Zed Books

Politics and Society in Urban Africa State of Slum

Precarity and Informal Governance at the Margins in Accra Paul Stacey, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Home to eighty thousand people, Accra’s Old Fadama neighbourhood is the largest illegal slum in Ghana. Though almost all its inhabitants are Ghanaian born, their status as illegal ‘squatters’ means that they live a precarious existence, marginalised within Ghanaian society and denied many of the rights to which they are entitled as citizens. Drawing on rich, ethnographic fieldwork, the book takes as its point of departure the narratives that emerge from the everyday lives and struggles of these people, using the perspective offered by Old Fadama as a means of identifying wider trends and dynamics across African slums.

Invisibility in African Displacements

From Marginalization to Strategies of Avoidance Edited by Jesper Bjarnesen, Nordic Africa Institute, Sweden & Simon Turner, University of Copenhagen, Denmark This book offers a series of case studies that explore the dynamics of the demonisation and marginalisation of African migrants in public discourse. What tends to be either ignored or demonised in public debates on African migration are the deliberate strategies of avoidance or assimilation that migrants make use of to gain access to the destinations or opportunities they seek, or to remain below the radar of restrictive governance regimes. This collection offers a fine-grained analysis of the ways in which African migrants negotiate structural and strategic invisibilities, adding innovative approaches to our understanding of both migrant vulnerabilities and resilience.

UK October 2020 • US October 2020 • 312 pages PB 9781786999207 • £24.99 / $29.95 • HB 9781786999191 • £70.00 / $95.00 ePub 9781786999160 • £22.49 / $28.32 ePdf 9781786999184 • £22.49 / $28.32 Series: Africa Now • Zed Books

Undoing Coups

The African Union and Post-coup Intervention in Madagascar Antonia Witt, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), Germany Since the beginnings of independence, many African nations have been plagued by repeated coup d'états. Within the African Union (AU), there has been an effort to break this cycle via the adoption of an ‘anti-coup norm’, by which the AU is mandated to suspend a member state and restore constitutional order following a coup. This book looks at the legacy of the AU’s intervention in Madagascar following the 2009 ‘Malagasy crisis’. It looks at the ways in which non-Western international intervention reconfigured the political order in Madagascar, how it facilitated the power struggle within the Madagascan elite and prevented more profound political change.

UK September 2020 • US August 2020 • 304 pages HB 9781786996831 • £65.00 / $95.00 ePub 9781786996855 • £58.50 / $72.68 ePdf 9781786996862 • £58.50 / $72.68

Series: Politics and Development in Contemporary Africa • Zed Books

UK February 2021 • US October 2020 • 240 pages • Halftones, black and white 9 ; Maps 1 PB 9781786992031 • £28.99 / $29.95 Previously published in HB 9781786992048 ePub 9781786992062 • £58.50 / $72.68 ePdf 9781786992055 • £58.50 / $72.68 Series: Politics and Society in Urban Africa • Zed Books

Tanzania's Informal Economy

The Micro-politics of Street Vending Alexis Malefakis, University of Zurich, Switzerland An in-depth study of street trading in Dar es Salaam, revealing the hidden dimensions of the city’s thriving informal economy. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and extensive interviews with vendors living and working in Dar es Salaam, Malefakis’s book offers a nuanced portrait of those trying to carve out a livelihood in a major African city, one in which ties of kinship and ethnicity are often viewed as a barrier, rather than an aid, to success. Malefakis provides new perspective on the way in which co-operation, or lack thereof, functions in an informal economy, as well as insight into the experiences of those who depend on such economies.

UK December 2020 • US October 2020 • 192 pages PB 9781786994516 • £28.99 / $29.95 Previously published in HB 9781786994509 ePub 9781786994530 • £58.50 / $72.68 ePdf 9781786994523 • £58.50 / $72.68 Series: Politics and Society in Urban Africa • Zed Books

Gendered Institutions and Women’s Political Representation in Africa

From Participation to Transformation Edited by Diana Højlund Madsen, Nordic Africa Institute, Sweden Over the past three decades, efforts of democratisation and institutional reforms have characterised the African continent, including demands for gender equality and women’s political representation. Some countries have introduced affirmative action measures, either in the aftermath of conflicts or as part of broader constitutional reforms, whereas others are falling behind this fast track to women’s political representation. Utilising case studies spanning both the successful and the less successful cases from across Africa, this work examines the continent's uneven developments.

Contesting Africa’s New Green Revolution

Biotechnology and Philanthrocapitalist Development in Ghana Jacqueline Ignatova, Appalachian State University, USA An in-depth exploration of the impact of GM crops in Ghana, and what the ‘new Green Revolution’ means for development in Africa and beyond. Through interviews with farmers, policymakers and agricultural scientists, Ignatova’s work illustrates how the impact of GM technology in Ghana raises wider questions about development in the global South: who should guide it and why, and whether success should be defined by integration into the global economy. Series: Politics and Development in Contemporary Africa • Zed Books

The Politics of Fear in South Sudan

Generating Chaos, Creating Conflict Daniel Akech Thiong South Sudanese analyst Akech Thiong explores the origins of South Sudan’s politics of fear. Weaving together social, economic and cultural factors into a comprehensive framework, he reveals how the country’s elites have exploited ethnic divisions as a means of mobilising support and securing their grip on power, in the process triggering violent conflict. He also considers the ways in which this politics of fear takes root among the wider populace, exploring the role of corruption, social media, and state coercion in spreading hatred and fostering mass violence. Akech Thiong’s book offers novel insight into a growing phenomenon with implications far beyond South Sudan.

UK December 2020 • US December 2020 • 256 pages PB 9781913441210 • £22.99 / $30.95 • HB 9781913441203 • £70.00 / $95.00 ePub 9781913441173 • £24.99 / $30.79 ePdf 9781913441197 • £20.69 / $25.86 Series: Africa Now • Zed Books

The Agonistic City?

State-society Strife in Johannesburg Li Pernegger An exploration of Johannesburg’s post-apartheid's city administration's governance of conflict from 1996 to the current day, in the case of service delivery protests and shifts in city policy. Li Pernegger focuses in-depth on the water wars in Orange Farm, insurgent informal traders in the inner city, and the billing battle fought by the middle class. This book provides deep insights into facets of protests: from the local state's qualification of the conflicts; its portrayals of protestors; its agonistic and antagonistic responses to protestors' claims; to power dynamics and the forms of agreement reached. Pernegger considers what the practical prospects of agonism might be for the local government to regard city strife in its practices of governance as a constructive – rather than destructive – force for change, and the realisation of democratic ideals for its ordinary citizens.

UK November 2020 • US November 2020 • 240 pages HB 9781786999092 • £65.00 / $95.00 ePub 9781786999054 • £58.50 / $72.68 ePdf 9781786999085 • £58.50 / $72.68

Politics and Development in Contemporary Africa

UK June 2021 • US June 2021 • 216 pages HB 9781786996558 • £85.00 / $115.00 ePub 9781786996589 • £76.50 / $94.85 ePdf 9781786996572 • £76.50 / $94.85 Series: Politics and Society in Urban Africa • Zed Books

Entrepreneurs and SMEs in Rwanda

Conspicuous by their Absence David L. Poole, SOAS, University of London, UK This book exposes current policy myths around entrepreneurs and development in Africa, demonstrating how to foster genuinely successful Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in low-income countries. It deconstructs the myths around SMEs, and reveals how neoliberal approaches towards microcredit and related programmes have failed to address the real obstacles to SMEs in countries like Rwanda, effectively setting up these enterprises to fail. Drawing on dozens of case studies from Rwanda, Poole outlines the real factors that have determined the failure or success of SMEs, and offers key policy recommendations for fostering successful, sustainable SMEs.

UK January 2021 • US January 2021 • 256 pages HB 9781786996251 • £85.00 / $115.00 ePub 9781786996282 • £91.80 / $113.33 ePdf 9781786996275 • £91.80 / $113.33

Series: Politics and Development in Contemporary Africa • Zed Books

UK May 2021 • US May 2021 • 240 pages HB 9781786996787 • £85.00 / £115.00 ePub 9781786996817 • £76.50 / $94.85 ePdf 9781786996800 • £76.50 / $94.85 Series: Politics and Development in Contemporary Africa • Zed Books

BRICS and Resistance in Africa

Contention, Assimilation and Co-optation Edited by Justin van der Merwe, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, Patrick Bond, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa & Nicole Dodd, Stellenbosch University, South Africa This book explores the varied forms of African resistance developing in response to the growing influence of the BRICS. Its case studies cover such instances as the opposition to China’s One Belt One Road initiative in East Africa; resistance to the BRICS’ oil activities in the Niger Delta; and the role of the BRICS in Zimbabwe’s political transition. It exposes the contradictions between the group’s rhetoric and its real impact, as well as the complicity of local elites in serving as proxies for the BRICS nations.

UK April 2021 • US April 2021 • 288 pages PB 9781786996312 • £19.99 / $26.95 Previously published in HB 9781786996305 ePub 9781786996336 • £58.50 / $72.68 ePdf 9781786996329 • £58.50 / $72.68 Series: Politics and Development in Contemporary Africa • Zed Books