Certain Amount of Madness

Amber Murrey is Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology at The American University in Cairo, Egypt. Her award-winning research considers contemporary Pan-Africanism, resistance to neo-colonial violence, resource extraction and decolonisation. She has been published in a variety of academic journals, including Third World Quarterly, Political Geography, The Journal of Black Studies, The Postcolonialist and Capital and Class. She is the editor of A Certain Amount of Madness (Pluto, 2018).

'The legendary Thomas Sankara - hero, revolutionary leader, anti-imperialist - receives deserving analytical treatment from the most prominent radical voices here assembled for one the greatest sons of Africa. The book enhances our understanding of the pragmatism of politics, the rhetoric of revolutionary actions, and the resurgence of reactionary forces. A must read'

• Foreword by Horace G. Campbell AcknowledgementsIntroduction by Amber MurreyPart I: Life and Revolution1. Military Coup, Popular Revolution or Militarised Revolution?: Contextualising the Revolutionary Ideological Courses of Thomas Sankara and the National Council of the Revolution - De-Valera N.Y.M. Botchway and Moussa Traore2. The Perils of Non-Alignment: Thomas Sankara and the Cold War - Brian Peterson 3. Thomas Sankara and the Elusive Revolution - Leo Zeilig4. When Visions Collide: Thomas Sankara, Trade Unions and the Revolution in Burkina Faso, 1983-1987 - Craig Phelan5. Africa’s Sankara: On Pan-African Leadership - Amber Murrey6. Who Killed Thomas Sankara? - Bruno Jaffré7. ‘Incentivized’ Self-Adjustment: Reclaiming Sankara’s Revolutionary Austerity from Corporate Geographies of Neoliberal Erasure - Nicholas A. JacksonPart II: Political Philosophies 8. Madmen, Thomas Sankara and Decoloniality in Africa - Ama Biney9. With the People: Sankara’s Humanist Marxism - Ernest Harsch 10. Thomas Sankara & Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem: The Untimely Deaths of Two New Generation African Visionaries - Patricia Daley11. Women's Freedoms are the Heartbeat of Africa's Future: A Sankarian Imperative - Patricia McFadden12. Re-Reading Sankara’s Philosophy for a Praxeology of Debt in Contemporary Times - Sakue-C. Yimovie13. Sankara’s Political Ideas and Pan-African Solidarity: A Perspective for Africa’s Development? - Felix Kumah-Abiwu and Olusoji Alani Odeyemi14. ‘Revolution and Women’s Liberation Go Together’: Thomas Sankara, Gender and the Burkina Faso Revolution - Namakula E. MayanjaPart III: Legacies15. Balai Citoyen: A New Praxis of Citizen Fight with Sankarist Inspirations - Zakaria Soré16. La Santé Avant Tout: Health Before Everything - T. D. Harper-Shipman17. Social Movement Struggles and Political Transition in Burkina Faso - Bettina Engles18. To Decolonize the World: Thomas Sankara and the ‘Last Colony’ in Africa - Patrick Delices19. ‘Daring to Invent the Future’: Sankara’s Legacy and Contemporary Activism in South Africa - Levi Kabwato and Sarah ChiumbuPart IV: Contestations and Homages 20. The Academy as Contested Space: Disappearing Sankara from the ‘Acceptable Avant-Garde’ - Nicholas A. Jackson21. Art and the Construction of a ‘Sankara Myth’: A Hero Trend in Contemporary Burkinabè Urban & Revolutionary Propaganda Art - Sophie Bodénès Cohen22. Slanted Photography: Reflections on Sankara and My Peace Corps Experience in Burkina Faso - Celestina Agyekum23. ‘We Are the Children of Sankara’: Memories as Weapons during the Burkinabe Uprisings of 2014 and 2015 - Fiona DragstraAfterword by Aziz Salmone FallNotes on Contributors Index