Identity Re-creation in Global African Encounters

John Ayotunde Isola Bewaji is professor of philosophy at the University of the West Indies.Adedoyin Aguoru is professor of English at the University of Ibadan.

The 17 chapters in this volume edited by Bewaji (Univ. of West Indies, Jamaica) and Aguoru (Univ. of Ibadan, Nigeria) converge around the outcomes of Africans’ encounters with and exposures to the Western world. The contributing authors capture the complexities inherent in the persistent existence of “racism, prejudice, discrimination, and stereotype” directed toward Africans by providing creative and divergent interpretations of these encounters. The book takes a three-pronged approach in its aim. First, it spotlights the challenges of race and the effects of hurt generated by racism. Next, it zooms in on ways of rejuvenating the richness of African societies through traditional arts and artists, faith tourism, ethnic values and culture, alternative health remedies, indigenous technologies, new approaches to postcolonial governance, and the protection of women from predators, human traffickers, and obstacles to their inheritance. Finally, the essays share a common thread in proposing that a genuine human society, its dignity and collective progress, could best be achieved if the divergent global communities and their plurality of ideas are harnessed for the sake of creating a truly plural society on a global scale.Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals.

• Chapter One: Race and Ethnicity: Irreducible Categories in Black People’s Encounters Chapter Two: The Concept of Common Origin and the Question of Racism Chapter Three: Apartheid and Beyond: An Exploration of South African DramaChapter Four: British Southern Cameroons’ Restoration of Statehood & Sovereignty Internal Affair or Decolonization Conflict?Chapter Five: Eurocentrism, ‘African Art’ and the ‘Egypt’ Factor Chapter Six: Aesthetics of Indigenous Faith Tourism in Africa and the DiasporaChapter Seven: Racialized Beauty: the Case of Skin Bleaching as an Identity Crisis for Non-WhitesChapter Eight: Towards Utilizing the Social Media in Sustaining African Culture and IdentityChapter Nine: Social Media Transcending Longstanding Stereotypes? Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah and Belkacem Meghzouchene's Sophia in the White City as a Case in Point Chapter Ten: Universal Adaptability of the Affective Essence of Ifa Lore in the Stage Presentation of Ola Rotimi’s The Gods are not to blameChapter Eleven: Colonialism and Home-grown Businesses in Africa Chapter Twelve: Post-colonialism and the Emergent Political Culture in Africa: A Literary Study of Ngugi WaThiong’O's Fictional WorkChapter Thirteen: The Body in Personal Identity DevelopmentChapter Fourteen: Sexual Predators or Preys: The White Male in Jude Dibia’s Novels Chapter Fifteen: Human Trafficking in Ifeanyi Ajaegbo’s Sarah House Chapter Sixteen: Representation of Human Trafficking in Ifeoma Chinwuba’s Merchants of FleshChapter Seventeen: Cultural Crisis of Widowhood Inheritance and Maltreatment in African Society