Fractures and Reconnections

Book excerpt: This collective volume pays tribute to the work of Africanist Piet Konings and his 30-year career (1978-2008) at the African Studies Centre Leiden. It focuses on key themes addressed in Konings' work such as labour relations, African development, social and political history, ethno-regionalism, and civil society and civic movements. Contributions: Introduction: Piet Konings' contributions to African Studies (J. Abbink); The political economy of authochthony: labour migration and citizenship in Southwest Cameroon (Peter Geschiere); 'Ganyu' in Malawi: transformation of local labour relations under famine and HIV/AIDS duress (Deborah Fahy Bryceson); Labour migration from the Gold Coast to the Dutch East Indies: recruting African troops for the Dutch colonial army in the age of indentured labour (Ineke van Kessel); Economic crisis and imaginative response: the upsurge in traditional medical practices among youths in Cameroon (Robert Mbe Akoko); Taking Africaness and African law seriously in South African law schools: some conceptual challenges (Francis B. Nyamnjoh); Football in Cameroon: its origins, politics and sorcery (Paul Nchoji Nkwi); 'Sagacity spirit' and 'ghetto ethic': 'feymania' and new African entrepreneurship (Basile Ndjio); Examining the architecture of electoral authoritarianism in Cameroon (Nantang Jua); Multipartyism and 'big man' democracy in Cameroon, 1990-2011 (Ibrahim Mouiche). [ASC Leiden abstract]