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The World and a Very Small Place in Africa: A History of Globalization in Niumi, the Gambia (Sources and Studies in World History) Donald R. Wright Drawing on written and oral testimony, Donald Wright locates a tiny place in Africa's smallest country within the history of the modern world. We see how global events have affected people's lives over the past eight centuries in Niumi, a little-known territory located on the north bank of the Gambia River in West Africa. |
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Culture and Customs of Gambia (Culture and Customs of Africa) Abdoulaye Saine This title in the Culture and Customs of Africa series examines the traditions and customs of contemporary Gambia, a geographically tiny nation in the vast landscape of Africa that is home to a large number of various ethnic groups, each with its own distinctive way of life. It is a country that has been largely unknown in Western culture, with the exception of Alex Haley's book Roots and subsequent TV series, which highlights Gambia's historic significance in the slave trade. This book illuminates Gambian religion and worldview; literature and media; arts and architecture/housing; gender roles, marriage, and family; social customs, traditional dress, cuisine, and lifestyle; and music and dance. The author has successfully encapsulated both long-ago history and contemporary Gambia to provide students with a complete look at life in Gambia today. Information on past traditions and historic events is discussed in the context of how they pertain to life today and their influence on the constant evolution of Gambian life and culture. |
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Queen Elizabeth II - Presence - History - Pictures (Royal Biographies by Heinz Duthel 2010) Heinz Duthel Royal Biographies by Heinz Duthel 2010
Elizabeth II | Queens regnant | Reigning monarchs | Protestant monarchs | House of Windsor | Monarchs of the United Kingdom | Heads of state of Antigua and Barbuda | Monarchs of Australia | Monarchy in Australia | Heads of state of the Bahamas | Heads of state of Barbados | Heads of state of Belize | Heads of state of Canada | Monarchy in Canada | Monarchs of Ceylon | Heads of state of Fiji | Heads of state of the Gambia | Heads of state of Ghana | Heads of state of Grenada | Heads of state of Guyana | Heads of state of Jamaica | Heads of state of Kenya | Heads of state of Malawi | Heads of state of Malta | Heads of state of Mauritius | Heads of state of New Zealand | Monarchy in New Zealand | Heads of state of Nigeria | Heads of state of Pakistan | Heads of state of Papua New Guinea | Heads of state of Saint Kitts and Nevis | Heads of state of Saint Lucia | Heads of state of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Heads of state of Sierra Leone | Heads of state of the Solomon Islands | Monarchs of South Africa | Heads of state of Trinidad and Tobago | Heads of state of Tuvalu | Heads of state of Uganda | Heads of the Commonwealth | Auxiliary Territorial Service officers | Women in the Canadian armed services | Women in World War II | British Anglicans | British philanthropists | British Presbyterians | Canadian philanthropists | British princesses | Girlguiding UK | People illustrated on sterling banknotes | Royal Fellows of the Royal Society | The Scout Association | 1926 births | Living people | Order of the Redeemer | Knights of the Elephant | Recipients of the Order of the Falcon | Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion | Knights Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of St. Olav | Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) | Recipients of the Star of Romania Order | Knights of the Golden Fleece | Grand Collars of the Order of the Tower and Sword | Dames of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri | Recipients of the Order of the White Lion | Current national leaders
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Contingent Lives: Fertility, Time, and Aging in West Africa (Lewis Henry Morgan Lecture Series) Caroline H. Bledsoe Most women in the West use contraceptives in order to avoid having children. But in rural Gambia and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, many women use contraceptives for the opposite reason—to have as many children as possible.
Using ethnographic and demographic data from a three-year study in rural Gambia, Contingent Lives explains this seemingly counterintuitive fact by juxtaposing two very different understandings of the life course: one is a linear, Western model that equates aging and the ability to reproduce with the passage of time, the other a Gambian model that views aging as contingent on the cumulative physical, social, and spiritual hardships of personal history, especially obstetric trauma. Viewing each of these two models from the perspective of the other, Caroline Bledsoe produces fresh understandings of the classical anthropological subjects of reproduction, time, and aging as culturally shaped within women's conjugal lives. Her insights will be welcomed by scholars of anthropology and demography as well as by those working in public health, development studies, gerontology, and the history of medicine. |
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The Gambia and Its People: Ethnic Identities and Cultural Integration in Africa Godfrey Mwakikagile The author looks at The Gambia and its people and how this African country has been able to achieve cultural integration on a national level. He also provides a comprehensive picture of the country's nation identity which is a fusion of the multiple identities of the various ethno-cultural groups which collectively constitute the Gambian nation. The work is a study of ethnic cultures and identities in the Gambian context whose relevance is continental in scope. Ethnicity is the primary identity in most African countries. It transcends national identity. Understanding its role in the lives of most Africans also helps us to understand African countries with all their complexities which collectively define the continent. In spite of its ethnic and cultural diversity, The Gambia is one of the most united countries in Africa. It's also one of the most peaceful, enjoying harmonious relations among its various ethnic groups unlike many African countries where instability and civil strife caused by ethnic rivalries - fuelled by unscrupulous politicians - is the defining feature of national life. The ability of the various ethnic groups in The Gambia to interact harmoniously has led to cultural integration on a scale unheard of in most African countries. While it's true that different tribal cultures do exist in The Gambia, it's equally true that there also exists a national culture which unites the country's various ethnic groups into a cohesive whole transcending ethno-regional loyalties. As an ethnically diverse nation, The Gambia is a microcosm of Africa: a continent whose countries are characterised by ethnic and cultural diversity where rivalries along tribal and regional lines are the norm rather than the exception. But The Gambia also is a good example of what many African countries have yet to be: united, with a solid national identity that has not been fractured or fragmented by ethnic conflicts. Cultural integration on a national scale remains an elusive goal in most African countries. But if there are a few countries on the continent which have achieved cultural integration, The Gambia is one them. It has, in fact, even achieved cultural fusion in some respects as we learn from this work which focuses on Africa's smallest country and its people. The work is intended to be a general introduction and may help members of the general public learn some basic facts about The Gambia which, because of its strategic location and other attributes, has earned distinction as a gateway to West Africa. People going to The Gambia may find this work to be useful. Students in various academic fields may also benefit from the interdisciplinary approach taken by the author in his study of this African country. It's comprehensive enough as an introductory work on the people of The Gambia and their ethnic identities and cultures. |
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A Field Guide to Birds of The Gambia and Senegal Clive Barlow, Dr. Tim Wacher This comprehensive book is the first field guide to the birds of The Gambia and Senegal, an area of West Africa popular with birders for its many tropical African birds. The guide provides full accounts of over 660 bird species and depicts nearly all of these in 48 beautiful color plates.
A first-rate book that is a fine contribution to bird literature. For the birder who has everything, this makes a great gift.”Roy John, Canadian Field-Naturalist
"A beautiful, succinct and very useful guide to the region's bird life."Clay E. Corbin, Quarterly Review of Biology |
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Coup d'etat by the Gambia National Army: July 22, 1994 Lt. Samsudeen Sarr |
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Performing Africa Paulla A. Ebron The jali--a member of a hereditary group of Mandinka professional performers--is a charismatic but contradictory figure. He is at once the repository of his people's history, the voice of contemporary political authority, the inspiration for African American dreams of an African homeland, and the chief entertainment for the burgeoning transnational tourist industry. Numerous journalists, scholars, politicians, and culture aficionados have tried to pin him down. This book shows how the jali's talents at performance make him a genius at representation--the ideal figure to tell us about the "Africa" that the world imagines, which is always a thing of illusion, magic, and contradiction. Africa often enters the global imagination through news accounts of ethnic war, famine, and despotic political regimes. Those interested in countering such dystopic images--be they cultural nationalists in the African diaspora or connoisseurs of "global culture"--often found their representations of an emancipatory Africa on an enthusiasm for West African popular culture and performance arts. Based on extensive field research in The Gambia and focusing on the figure of the jali, Performing Africa interrogates these representations together with their cultural and political implications. It explores how Africa is produced, circulated, and consumed through performance and how encounters through performance create the place of Africa in the world. Innovative and discerning, Performing Africa is a provocative contribution to debates over cultural nationalism and the construction of identity and history in Africa and elsewhere. |
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Field Guide to Wildlife of the Gambia: An Introduction to Common Flowers and Animals David Penney |
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Field Guide to the Birds of the Gambia and Senegal (Yale English Monarchs Series) Tim Wacher, Clive Barlow This biography of Edward the Confessor, first published in 1970, aims to rescue the image of the King from what the author sees as myth and bogus scholarship. Disentangling fact from legend, the text recreates the final years of the Anglo-Danish monarchy and examines England before the Normans. |