africa religion

Hardcover. NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 1st US, 1935, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 337 pages, Index. Black & white photographic illustrations. Cream cloth with red & black illustration and lettering. The exciting story of the author's travels by car with Paris Benga, the famous Negro dancer, on a tour which zigzagged through the French colonies, the French and British mandates, and the Gold Coast to study the native dances in the districts most remote from civilization. This is also a study of the government and religion, the sex-life and marriage ritual, habits and customs, and the emotional and mental character of these West African Negroes. Mild stain to corners of front cover, not affecting the interior. Otherwise clean and tight copy.

Hardcover. London, Church Missionary Society, 1st, 1925, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 118 pages, gray cloth with gilt titles, frontispiece color illustration and foreword by Randall Cantuar, Archbishop of Canterbury dated March, 1925. No publication date on copyright page, crease on frontispiece, minor corner and edge wear, otherwise, very clean and tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1st, 1962, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, dark blue cloth, 242 pages. The history of a Catholic mission to Uganda and how in 1886 its native converts were executed. No dustjacket. Front fly leaf clipped otherwise very good, clean copy.

Softcover. Rio de Janeiro, Liberia Francisco Alves, 1st, 1977, Softcover in pictorial wraps, 108 pages. Scholarly book on African-Brazilian religious cults in South America and Mexico. Clean copy

Hardcover. Cambridge UK, W. Heffer & Sons, 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn and soiled dust jacket. 395 pages, b&w illustrations, charts. Alur Society became a classic for a number of reasons. Being much more than a descriptive account of an African society, it was the first intensive ethnography to adopt the ideas of Max Weber. It pioneered the idea that religion and ritual could be the basis of political action. It also showed how state systems could evolve not just on the basis of conquest but as a result of societies without kings inviting those with kings to govern them. Southall's theory of the segmentary state was adopted by many political anthropologists and political scientists, being applied not just to Africa but also to India and other parts of the world. Previous owner's signature inside front cover otherwise clean.

Softcover. Berkeley CA, University of California Press, 1st pbk., 1969, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 463 pages. This classic biography has established itself as the standard account of Saint Augustine's life and teaching. The remarkable discovery recently of a considerable number of letters and sermons by Augustine has thrown fresh light on the first and last decades of his experience as a bishop. These circumstantial texts have led Peter Brown to reconsider some of his judgments on Augustine, both as the author of the Confessions and as the elderly bishop preaching and writing in the last years of Roman rule in North Africa. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Philadelphia, Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1st, 1890, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, brown cloth stamped in black and gilt. 4 b&w plates. Covers with edge wear, gilt slightly faded. Library bookplate inside front cover, otherwise clean, no markings.

Softcover. NY, Columbia University Press, 2nd pr., 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 496 pages. During the second half of the twentieth century, the Arab intellectual and political scene polarized between a search for totalizing doctrines-nationalist, Marxist, and religious-and radical critique. Arab thinkers were reacting to the disenchanting experience of post-independence Arab states, as well as to authoritarianism, intolerance, and failed development. They were also responding to successive defeats by Israel, humiliation, and injustice. The first book to take stock of these critical responses, this volume illuminates the relationship between cultural and political critique in the work of major Arab thinkers, and it connects Arab debates on cultural malaise, identity, and authenticity to the postcolonial issues of Latin America and Africa, revealing the shared struggles of different regions and various Arab concerns. Clean copy.

Softcover. NY, Schocken Books, reprint, 1969, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 222 pages, b&w illustrations. The Falashas, who are the most isolated and most ancient Jewish community extant, have preserved their own religious writings through the centuries. No one knows for certain how Judaism reached this part of Africa. They observe the Sabbath as indicated in the Torah, eat only kosher food, pray in straw-roofed synagogues, and use only unleavened bread during the seven days of Passover. This book offers a cross section of their sacred literature, translated for the first time into English from Ethiopic sources. In addition, the translator provides a detailed description of the life and mores of the Falashas, based on his personal experience and observation during a prolonged stay in their community. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University , 1st, 1979, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 173 pages. This work is a brief look at worldwide slave revolts in the 17th through 19th centuries, emphasizing their interrelations with European power struggles, which gave rebels hope of finding weak spots in the defenses of the slave powers. The French Revolution also had an influence on slave revolts, but the canny European powers used indigenous peoples to suppress slave revolts (e.g., native Americans) and took advantage of African ethnic divisions as well. American slaves stood little chance of revolt and were under constant surveillance from Southerners, who coward in fear after the successful rebellions in the Caribbean, particularly in Hispaniola, and after Nat Turner and John Brown's efforts. Genovese also brings up religion's double-edged sword: one side used to pacify slaves and the other side to inspire them to break their chains. In short, this scholarly treatise is thought-provoking as well as informative and ends with an inspirational quote from one of Frederick Douglass's lectures. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise a clean copy.

Hardcover. Oxford UK, Clarendon Press, reprint, 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn dust jacket, 262 pages, fold-out map in rear. Three pages with light underling, otherwise clean and tight copy.

Hardcover. Grand Rapids MI, Zondervan, reprint, 1962, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, green cloth stamped in dark green, 94 pages. "The story of a Scottish lassie who went to the west coast of Africa and tamed the savage tribes ..." Color frontis., Clean copy.

Hardcover. Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1st, 1970, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jscket, 224 pages. The influence of traditional and religious groups on modern politics. The author investigates the political role of religious organizations in the West African country of Senegal. Upon independence in 1960. Senegalese politicians adopted the pattern of cooperation established by the French. Behrman, examining the present role of the brotherhoods, analyzes their inter-relationships as well as their relations with political parties, government officials, the government reform program, and modern Muslim reform groups. She reveals that Senegalese officials often defer to the opinion of the strongest marabus and that, in times of crisis or uncertainty with in the government party, the Union Progressiste Senegalaise, they turn to the marabus for support. She also shows that, although the Muslim leaders occupy such a privileged position in Senegalese society, they do not actually control the government, which issecularand modern in form and is led by Western-educated men devoted to a program of industrialization and agricultural and social reform. Name on half-title page otherwise clean.

Hardcover. New York, Alfred Knopf, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 462 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Clean, tight copy with minor wear to covers and edges. A modern classic of travel literature: "Ostensibly a quest for Mokele-mbembe, the Congo dinosaur , this story of travel through the jungles and swamp forests of the northern Congo is Tolstoyan in its depth, scope and range of characters, and as vivid as Nabokov in its image and detail. A portrait of a country, it is alive with natural history: eagles and parrots, hornbills and sunbirds, forest cobras and crocodiles, gorillas and elephants. A search for the meaning of sorcery, the purpose of religion (and a celebration of the comfort and mysteries of science), it is also an adventure told with great narrative force. Of course there is a darker side to the Congo, and that too is recorded here." Kazuo Ishiguro called this a "unique messy masterpiece."

Hardcover. Oxford UK, Clarendon Press, 1st, 1956, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in an edgeworn dust jacket, 335 pages, 15 b&w plates, 5 text illustrations. Clean copy.

Softcover. Urbana IL, University of Illinois Press, reprint, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 433 pages. From the plaintive tunes of woe sung by exiled kings and queens of Africa to the spirited worksongs and "shouts" of freedmen, enslaved people created expansive forms of music from the United States to the West Indies and South America. Dena J. Epstein's classic work traces the course of early black folk music in all its guises. Anchored by groundbreaking scholarship, it redefined the study of black music in the slavery era by presenting the little-known development of black folk music in the United States. Her findings include the use of drums, the banjo, and other instruments originating in Africa; a wealth of eyewitness accounts and illustrations; in-depth look at a wide range of topics; and a collection of musical examples. This edition offers an author's preface that looks back on the twenty-five years of changes in scholarship that followed the book's original publication. Clean copy.

Softcover. Washington DC, National Gallery of Art , 2nd pr., 203, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 334 pages illustrated with 224 color plates, 86 black & white. One of America's most innovative artists, Romare Bearden (1911-1988) made colorful and passionate images that reflected his life in a time of creative ferment. His influences ranged from the old masters to African art, as well as the world around him: popular religion and ritual, jazz clubs and brothels, the history and literature of his time, and the places he lived (the rural South, Pittsburgh and Harlem, the Caribbean island of St. Martin). The resulting images are fresh and evocative, filled with quirky details and rhythmic forms. This authoritative and beautiful book, which accompanies a major retrospective opening at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., provides a provocative and absorbing look at a beloved artist. The Art of Romare Bearden showcases compelling examples of his pioneering work: complex collages and photostats; watercolors, gouaches, and oils; little-known landscapes; his only known sculpture; costume designs; and book illustrations. Mildwear to corners otherwise very good, clean copy.

Softcover. Berkeley CA, University of California Press, 1st pbk, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, yellow wrappers, 258 pages. Examines the unique religious brotherhoods of Morocco, tracing their origins to two saints from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Sidi Ali ben Hamdush and Sidi Ahmed Dghughi. Known for their dramatic and sometimes controversial rituals, such as trance dances and acts of self-mutilation, the Hamadsha are healers who address spiritual and psychogenic ailments through symbolic and therapeutic practices. Their activities, deeply rooted in the Moroccan cult of saints, reflect a complex interplay of Islamic mysticism, local traditions, and social dynamics. Through these rituals, the Hamadsha incorporate patients into their brotherhoods, providing them with new roles and a symbolic framework to articulate and resolve personal and societal tensions. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, historical analysis, and psychoanalytic perspectives, this study explores the Hamadsha's history, their organizational structure, and their relationship with Moroccan culture and religion. It examines the saints' tombs as focal points of veneration, the social dynamics of the brotherhoods, and their therapeutic methods, including pilgrimages and trance dances. Clean copy.

Softcover. Tema Ghana, Ghana Publishing Corp. , 1st, 1971, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 83 pages, b&w illustrations. Part of a doctoral thesis accepted by the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. A study of the wooden stools and their religious meaning in the culture of the Akan people of Ghana. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Astra House, 1st, 2022, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 288 pages. In these confessional pages, women control their own bodies and desires, work toward healing their painful pasts, and learn to assert their sexual power. Weaving a rich tapestry of experiences with a sex positive outlook, The Sex Lives of African Women is an empowering, subversive book that celebrates the liberation, individuality, and joy of African women's multifaceted sexuality. From a queer community in Egypt, to polyamorous life in Senegal, and a reflection on the intersection of religion and pleasure in Cameroon, feminist author Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah explores the many layers of love and desire, its expression, and how it defines who we are.

Hardcover. Washington DC, Potomac Books, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 270 pages, b&w illustrations. As the first great Jewish player in the major leagues and the first African American to play major-league baseball during the twentieth century, respectively, Hank Greenberg and Jackie Robinson are forever linked because of the barriers they encountered, the discrimination they endured, the athletic gifts they exhibited, and especially the courage and dignity they displayed. Both suffered ridicule and abuse as they participated in the national pastime. Nevertheless, each excelled. Greenberg became one of the preeminent sluggers of the 1930s and 1940s who took a break from baseball to serve in the war. Robinson, from the mid-1940s into the following decade, helped bring back speed and a thinking man's approach to the game, both of which had largely been discarded for a generation. Two Pioneers presents these remarkable players' experiences while competing in a nation that was deeply divided on social issues such as anti-Semitism and racism. Both men earned nearly as much attention off the field as they did on it. Greenberg called into question the idea of a "master race" as Adolf Hitler rose to power and gained supporters all over the world. Likewise, Robinson contested racial notions regarding the supposed inferiority of people of African ancestry, even though segregationists proved determined to maintain social barriers separating blacks and whites. It is only fitting that when Robinson finally crossed baseball's color line, Greenberg was one of the first players to welcome him publicly. Robert Cottrell's well-researched work shows how two baseball superstars became important figures in the civil rights crusade to ensure that all Americans, no matter their religion or race, are given equal opportunity. Clean, bright copy.