The challenge of African potentials : conviviality, informality and futurity / edited by Yaw Ofosu-Kusi & Motoji Matsuda.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Matsuda, Motoji, editor.

Ofosu-Kusi, Yaw, editor.

Series:

African potentials

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political development.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 254 pages.)

Place of Publication:

Mankon, Bamenda ; Japan : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG : The Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University Press, [2020]

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

This collection of articles is based on presentations and discussions at the 2018 African Potentials Forum, held in Accra, Ghana. This forum was a part of the African Potentials Project, which aims to clarify the latent problem-solving abilities, ways of thinking, and institutions that have been created, accumulated, unified, and deployed in the everyday experiences of Africans. The notion of Africa's latent power/potential is not related to romanticisation of the traditional knowledge of African society and its institutions as fixed, essentialised 'magic wands'. This notion also raises objections against political dogmas that seek to smoke out and eliminate thought and values originating in Western modernity. The keyword of the Accra Forum was futurity. Africa's future is laden with possibilities, latent power, and potential. It is bright and hopeful but, simultaneously, bleak and thought-provoking. For nascent democracies and economically challenged communities, the value of this potential lies not in its static qualities but in how these qualities can be harnessed and translated into beneficial practical outcomes. As a concept, 'potential' connotes a time to come; a futurity that is full of known and unknown possibilities, challenges, and opportunities.

Contents:

Introduction : the contemporary world and African potentials / Yaw Ofosu-Kusi and Motoji Matsuda

The future African society : informality as a potential for development and progress / Yaw Ofosu-Kusi

Itaru Ohta : the palaver sauce and juju of the African potentials network / Francis B. Nyamnjoh

Collecting money through play : celebration parties as an economic process in southern Ghana / Akinori Hamada

The potential of debts that cannot be paid / Yatuka Sakuma

In search of place and life in indigenous urban communities : an exploration of Abese indigenous quarter of La Dadekotopon, Accra / Michihiro Kita, Seth Asare Okyere, Mira Sugita & Stephen Kofi Diko

Integrated soil fertility management as a potential for Ghana's development : the geospatial approach / Mary Antwi

Political satire and laughter in Africa / Takuo Iwata

Place of African languages in the continent's potentials / Ibrahim Yahaya

Traditional apprenticeship as an educational and life experience : life stories of young auto repair apprentices in Kumasi, Ghana / Shoko Yamada

The unending 'tug-of-war' between the state and traditional healers in Ghana / Kojo Sena

Conclusion : creativity, collectivity and conviviality : towards African potentials / Motoji Matsuda.

Notes:

"In collaboration with the Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University, Japan."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9789956551750

9956551759

OCLC:

1155070133