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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eBook ISBN: 9782382340226

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