Sign-In
Cart
The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis
Paperback
Series: W.E.B. Du Bois Institute
Biographies GeneralAfrican HistoryGeneral World History
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN10: 0195119215
ISBN13: 9780195119213
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: Aug 7 1997
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.50
Height: 0.40 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
ISBN13: 9780195119213
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: Aug 7 1997
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.50
Height: 0.40 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
On November 10, 1995, the Nigerian military government under General Sani Abacha executed dissident writer Ken Saro-Wiwa along with eight other activists, and the international community reacted with outrage. From the Geneva based International Commission of Jurists (who called the executions a criminal act of state murder) to governments around the world (including the United States) who recalled their ambassadors, to the Commonwealth of Former British Colonies, who suspended Nigeria from the group, the response was quick, decisive, and nearly unanimous: Nigeria is an outcast in the global village. The events that led up to Saro-Wiwa's execution mark Nigeria's decline from a post-colonial success story to its current military dictatorship, and few writers have been more outspoken in decrying and lamenting this decline than Nobel Prize laureate and Nigerian exile Wole Soyinka.
In The Open Sore of a Continent, Soyinka, whose own Nigerian passport was confiscated by General Abacha in 1994, explores the history and future of Nigeria in a compelling jeremiad that is as intense as it is provocative, learned, and wide-ranging. He deftly explains the shifting dramatis personae of Nigerian history and politics to westerners unfamiliar with the players and the process, tracing the growth of Nigeria as a player in the world economy, through the corrupt regime of Babangida, the civil war occasioned by the secession of Biafra under the leadership of Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, the lameduck reign of Ernest Sonekan, and the coup led by General Sani Abacha, arguing that a glance at the mildewed tapestry of the stubbornly unfinished nation edifice is necessary to explain where Nigeria can go next. And, in the process of elucidating the Nigerian crisis, Soyinka opens readers to the broader questions of nationhood, identity, and the general state of African culture and politics at the end of the twentieth century. Here are a range of issues that investigate the interaction of peoples who have been shaped by the clash of cultures: nationalism, power, corruption, violence, and the enduring legacy of colonialism. In a world tormented by devastation from Bosnia to Rwanda, how do we define a nation: is it simply a condition of the collective mind, a passive, unquestioned habit of cohabitation? Or is what we think of as a nation a rigorous conclusion that derives from history? Is it geography, or is it a bond that transcends accidents of mountain, river, and valley? How do these varying definitions of nationhood impact the people who live under them? Soyinka concludes with a resounding call for international attention to this question: the global community must address the issue of nationhood to prevent further religious mandates and calls for ethnic purity of the sort that have turned Algeria, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Sri Lanka into killing fields.
Soyinka brings a lifetime of study and experience to bear on his writing, combining the skills of a poet and playwright with the astute political observations of a seasoned activist. An important and timely volume, The Open Sore of a Continent will be required reading for anyone who cares about Africa, human rights, and the future of the global village.
Soyinka brings a lifetime of study and experience to bear on his writing, combining the skills of a poet and playwright with the astute political observations of a seasoned activist. An important and timely volume, The Open Sore of a Continent will be required reading for anyone who cares about Africa, human rights, and the future of the global village.
Also in
African History
Days of Miracle and Wonder: Paul Simon and the Trials and Triumphs of Graceland
Kahn, Ashley
Hardcover
$27.00
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
Hochschild, Adam
Paperback
$19.95
We Are Heirs of the World's Revolutions: Speeches from the Burkina Faso Revolution 1983-87
Sankara, Thomas
Paperback
$9.50
Slow Poison: IDI Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State
Mamdani, Mahmood
Hardcover
$30.88
Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
French, Howard W.
Paperback
$20.89
The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide
French, Howard W.
Hardcover
$37.99
Sufferings in Africa: The Astonishing Account of a New England Sea Captain Enslaved by North African Arabs
Riley, James
Paperback
$14.95
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World
Lagnado, Lucette
Paperback
$16.14
A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Woman Confronts the Legacy of Apartheid
Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla
Paperback
$15.19
River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
Millard, Candice
Paperback
$18.05
Seeking Sexual Freedom: African Rites, Rituals, and Sankofa in the Bedroom
Sekyiamah, Nana Darkoa
Hardcover
$27.55
Mirror to the Church: Resurrecting Faith After Genocide in Rwanda
Wilson-Hartgrove, Jonathan
Katongole, Emmanuel M.
Paperback
$18.99
Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill
Millard, Candice
Paperback
$18.05
When The World Was Black, Part One: The Untold History of the World's First Civilizations Prehistoric Culture
Understanding, Supreme
Hardcover
$43.69
Jews Under Moroccan Skies: Two Thousand Years of Jewish Life
Elmaleh, Rapha'el
Ricketts, George
Paperback
$19.95
The Golden Trade of the Moors: West African Kingdoms in the Fourteenth Century
Bovill, E. W.
Bovill, Edward W.
Paperback
$31.19
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
Gourevitch, Philip
Paperback
From $11.99
Mdw Dtr: Divine Speech: A Historiographical Reflection of African Deep Thought from the Time of the Pharaohs to the Present Paperback
Carruthers, Jacob H.
Paperback
$20.85
Ancient African Empires: An Enthralling Guide to the Major Kingdoms and Civilizations of Africa
Wellman, Billy
Hardcover
$24.69
The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination
Reid, Stuart A.
Paperback
$19.00
Cuba and the Independence War in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde: The Fall of the Last Colonial Empire in Africa
Dreke, Victor
Paperback
$11.40
Another Man's War: The True Story of One Man's Battle to Save Children in the Sudan
Childers, Sam
Paperback
$19.99
Politically Unconscious: The Psychic Aftermath of the Sudanese Revolution
Khougali, Mohamed
Paperback
$12.35
Nuer: A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People
Evans-Pritchard, E. E.
Hardcover
$28.73
Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youths Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa
Mathabane, Mark
Paperback
From $10.99
Hidden Treasures of the Ethiopian Bible in English Complete: Uncovering the Secrets of the Deuterocanonical Apocrypha, Enoch, and Lost Writings
Thornfield, Alexander J.
Paperback
$21.59
Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
French, Howard W.
Hardcover
$33.25
Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa
Krog, Antjie
Paperback
$19.00
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
Stearns, Jason K.
Paperback
$20.89
Pan-Africanism and Communism: The Communist International, Africa, and the Diaspora, 1919-1939
Adi, Hakim
Paperback
$25.60
Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers
Witton, Edward
Paperback
$9.94
Three Sips of Gin: Dominating the Battlespace with Rhodesia's Famed Selous Scouts
Bax, Timothy
Paperback
$56.95
In the Company of Heroes: The Personal Story Behind Black Hawk Down
Durant, Michael J.
Hartov, Steven
Paperback
$27.00
Algiers, Third World Capital: Freedom Fighters, Revolutionaries, Black Panthers
Mokhtefi, Elaine
Paperback
$29.95
A School for My Village: A Promise to the Orphans of Nyaka
Linville, Susan Urbanek
Kaguri, Twesigye Jackson
Paperback
$22.00
World History: A Visual Journey From The Dawn Of Civilization To The 21st Century
Alive, History Brought
Paperback
$75.99
By Flesh and Toil: How Sex, Race, and Labor Shaped the Early French Empire
Lamotte, Mélanie
Hardcover
$59.94
When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda
Mamdani, Mahmood
Paperback
$37.44
African Saints Saints, Martyrs, and Holy People from the Continent of Africa
Quinn, Frederick
Paperback
$29.94
They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan
Deng, Benson
Ajak, Benjamin
Deng, Alephonsion
Paperback
$18.99
World History, Volume 2: from 1400 (paperback, b&w)
Nelson, Brooke
Kordas, Ann
Lynch, Ryan J.
Paperback
$49.99
African History: Explore The Amazing Timeline of The World's Richest Continent - The History, Culture, Folklore, Mythology & More of Africa
Brought Alive, History
Paperback
$18.99
When The World Was Black, Part One: The Untold History of the World's First Civilizations Prehistoric Culture
Understanding, Supreme
Paperback
$31.19
This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President
Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson
Paperback
$19.99
Operation Legacy and Other Stories: Graphic Histories from Africa
Diptée, Audra A.
Getz, Trevor R.
Paperback
$23.70
Mythology: Captivating Greek, Egyptian, Norse Celtic and Roman Myths of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monsters
Clayton, Matt
Hardcover
$37.99
When the World was Black Part Two: The Untold History of the World's First Civilizations Ancient Civilizations
Understanding, Supreme
Paperback
$31.19
The Kebra Nagast: King Solomon, The Queen of Sheba & Her Only Son Menyelek - Ethiopian Legends and Bible Folklore
Budge, E. a. Wallis
Paperback
$17.48
People in Motion: Flexible States and Porous Boundaries in the History of Coastal West Africa
Barnes, Sandra T.
Hardcover
$134.93
Ripples from the Zambezi: Passion, Entrepreneurship, and the Rebirth of Local Economies
Sirolli, Ernesto
Paperback
$18.95
The Heretic of Cacheu: Crispina Peres and the Struggle Over Life in Seventeenth-Century West Africa
Green, Toby
Hardcover
$33.25
The Kingdom of God in Africa: A History of African Christianity
Shaw, Mark
Gitau, Wanjiru M.
Paperback
$30.39
Republicans on the Throne: A Personal Account of Ethiopia's Modernization and Painful Quest for Democracy
Gedamu, Tekalign
Paperback
$41.94
Nineveh and Its Remains: With an account of a visit to the Chaldæan Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or devil-worshippers; and an enqu
Layard, Austen Henry
Paperback
$17.48
When the World Was Black Part Two: The Untold History of the World's First Civilizations - Ancient Civilizations
Understanding, Supreme
Hardcover
$43.69
Lessons From the Rhodesian Bush War: A Study in Survival, Rural Defense, and Collapse
Shift, Don
Paperback
$25.19
Red Rubber: King Leopold II's Regime; the Belgian Slave Trade in the Congo over Twenty Years, 1890-1910
Morel, Edmund Dene
Paperback
$17.48
THE END OF NORMAL - A Witness to the Unravelling of White Power in South Africa
Du Preez, Max
Paperback
$25.20