Skip to Main Content

African Futures: Essays on Crisis, Emergence, and Possibility

Online ISBN:
9780226402413
Print ISBN:
9780226402246
Publisher:
University of Chicago Press
Book

African Futures: Essays on Crisis, Emergence, and Possibility

Brian Goldstone (ed.),
Brian Goldstone
(ed.)
Columbia University
Find on
Juan Obarrio (ed.)
Juan Obarrio
(ed.)
Johns Hopkins University
Find on
Published:
31 January 2017
Online ISBN:
9780226402413
Print ISBN:
9780226402246
Publisher:
University of Chicago Press

Abstract

Civil wars, corporate exploitation, AIDS, and Ebola—but also democracy, burgeoning cities, and unprecedented communication and mobility: the future of Africa has never been more uncertain. Indeed, that future is one of the most complex issues in contemporary anthropology, as evidenced by the incredible wealth of ideas offered in this landmark volume. A consortium comprised of some of the most important scholars of Africa today, this book surveys an intellectual landscape of opposed perspectives in order to think within the contradictions that characterize this central question: Where is Africa headed? The essays in this book address Africa’s future as it is embedded within various social and cultural forms emerging on the continent today: the reconfiguration of the urban, the efflorescence of signs and wonders and gospels of prosperity, the assorted techniques of legality and illegality, lotteries and Ponzi schemes, apocalyptic visions, a yearning for exile, and many other phenomena. Bringing together social, political, religious, and economic viewpoints, the book reveals not one but multiple prospects for the future of Africa. In doing so, it offers a pathbreaking model of pluralistic and open-ended thinking and a powerful tool for addressing the vexing uncertainties that underlie so many futures around the world.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close