John O. Hunwick's Books

Great Kingdoms of Africa

By: John Parker,David Adjaye

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From the ancient Nile Valley to the savannas of medieval West Africa, the highlands of Ethiopia and on to the forests, lakes and grasslands to the south, African civilizations have given rise to some of the worlds most impressive kingdoms. Yet Africas history is often little known beyond the devastation wrought by the slave trade and European colonial rule. In this groundbreaking new book, nine leading historians of Africa take a fresh look at these great kingdoms and empires over five thousand years of recorded history. How was kingship forged in Africa and how did it operate? Was dynastic power maintained by consent or by coercion? Did kings and queens display and project that power for all to see, or did they hide it away, as beneath the fringed crowns that concealed the faces of sacred Yoruba rulers? In what ways have African peoples themselves recorded, celebrated and critiqued the deeds of their kings? Great Kingdoms of Africa explores some of the most important questions in the continents deep past. As elsewhere in the world, absolute monarchy in Africa has been on the wane in the modern era. Yet kingship continues to thrive within many present-day African nations, preserving deep-rooted ideas about culture, identity and sacred power. Presenting exciting developments in the understanding of how states and societies have interacted with each other across time, this book shows how powerful and sophisticated kingdoms have shaped the course of African history and continue to do so in the present day.

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Page Count

387

Publisher

Thames & Hudson

Published Date

ISBN 10

0500778264

ISBN 13

9780500778265

Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire

Al-Sa‘dī's Ta’rīkh Al-sūdān down to 1613 and other Contemporary Documents

By: John Hunwick

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Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire

Al-Sa‘dī's Ta’rīkh Al-sūdān down to 1613 and other Contemporary Documents

By: John Hunwick

The principal text translated in this volume is the Ta’rīkh Al-sūdān of the seventeenth-century Timbuktu scholar ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sa‘dī. Thirty chapters are included, dealing with the history of Timbuktu and Jenne, their scholars, and the political history of the Songhay empire from the reign of Sunni ‘Alī (1464-1492) through Moroccan conquest of Songhay in 1591 and down to the year 1613 when the Pashalik of Timbuktu became an autonomous ruling institution in the Middle Niger region. The year 1613 also marked the effective end of Songhay resistance. The other contemporary documents included are a new English translation of Leo Africanus's description of West Africa, some letters relating to Sa‘dīan diplomacy and conquests in the Sahara and Sahel, al-Ifrānī's account of Sa‘dīan conquest of Songhay, and an account of this expedition by an anonymous Spaniard. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

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Page Count

482

Publisher

BRILL

Published Date

ISBN 10

9004491139

ISBN 13

9789004491137

Honour in African History

By: John Iliffe

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Honour in African History

By: John Iliffe

This is the first published account of the role played by ideas of honour in African history from the fourteenth century to the present day. It argues that appreciation of these ideas is essential to an understanding of past and present African behaviour. Before European conquest, many African men cultivated heroic honour, others admired the civic virtues of the patriarchal householder, and women honoured one another for industry, endurance, and devotion to their families. These values both conflicted and blended with Islamic and Christian teachings. Colonial conquest fragmented heroic cultures, but inherited ideas of honour found new expression in regimental loyalty, respectability, professionalism, working-class masculinity, the changing gender relationships of the colonial order, and the nationalist movements which overthrew that order. Today, the same inherited notions obstruct democracy, inspire resistance to tyranny, and motivate the defence of dignity in the face of AIDS.

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Page Count

436

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521546850

ISBN 13

9780521546850

Book's by John O. Hunwick

Great Kingdoms of Africa

Great Kingdoms of Africa

Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire

Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire

Honour in African History

Honour in African History

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