ISBN 9782869789975
Pages 388
Dimensions 234 x 156mm
Published 2021
Publisher CODESRIA, Senegal
Format Paperback

Africa and the Disruptions of the Twenty-first Century

by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza

This collection of essays interrogates the repositioning of Africa and its diasporas in the unfolding disruptive transformations of the early twenty-first century. It is divided into five parts focusing on America's racial dysfunctions, navigating global turbulence, Africa's political dramas, the continent's persistent mythologisation and disruptions in higher education. It closes with tributes to two towering African public intellectuals, Ali Mazrui and Thandika Mkandawire, who have since joined the ancestors.

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Reviews

"In this important and timely volume, Paul Tiyambe Zeleza brilliantly investigates the 'various disruptions and dysfunctions of the early twenty-first century for Africa' through the lens of both the African continent and the diaspora. This collection of wide-ranging essays powerfully and persuasively challenges the reader to relect upon the way in which a crisis, including the current pandemic, 'holds a giant mirror to society' in order to expose underlying social, economic and racial injustices."

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University

"In an era marked by global structural disruptions, we are fortunate to have this wide- ranging collection of essays from Paul Tiyambe Zeleza to help make sense of it all. From his distinctive Pan-African vantage, Zeleza offers incisive analysis of the interlocking issues of geopolitics, racism and higher education. A history of the present that is as devastating as it is erudite, this hard-hitting, brilliant book is a must-read."

Alondra Nelson, President, Social Science Research Council

"Africa and the disruptions of the 21st century is a global public intellectual's relection of Africa's place in a rapidly changing world. Compellingly, he sees Africa's place as far from marginal. Through the prism of his direct observation of events in the US and Africa, he skillfully weaves together his personal relections and well-researched accounts. There is much insight to draw on and much to ponder. The rich relections of this global African point to the dire need for such works among African academics."

Funmi Olonisakin, Vice President & Vice Principal International, Professor of Security

"Paul Tiyambe Zeleza has written a tour de force that is as intellectually robust as it is engaged, historically grounded and critically illuminating. In the complicated challenges of the 21st century he shines an incisive spotlight on multiple overlapping crises that aflict Africa but have global resonance and interconnections. His admirable intellectual effort and energy calls for a regeneration, re-thinking and re-imagining of Africa and the world in ways that ground the sustainability of humanity and nature."

Tawana Kupe, Vice Chancellor and Principal, University of Pretoria, South Africa Leadership & Development, King's College London

About the Author

Paul Tiyambe Zeleza

Paul Tiyambe Zeleza is widely recognized as one the leading authorities on African economic history. His book, A Modern Economic History of Africa, won the 1994 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, the continent's most prestigious book award. In 1998 he recieved Special Commendation of the Noma Award for Manufacturing African Studies and Crises. He is also the recipient of Choice Outstanding Academic Title.

He is currently Vice Chancellor and Professor of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the United States International University-Africa, a position he assumed in January 2016. Prior to that, for twenty-five years he held senior administrative and academic positions at six universities in Canada and the United States. A renowned public intellectual, he has authored hundreds of essays and more than two dozen books, including works of fiction. He is a member of numerous editorial boards and the governing boards of several university associations, and is a much sought-after international speaker.

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