Customer Reviews (1)

good simple book to get to know sierra leone
I really liked this book; it is perfect for people who want to know more about sierra leone. It does not go into details but gives younice information and has great pictures (I lived there and I found the pictures being quite representative). recommended. ... Read more

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What's Behind The Islamic Popular Culture In Africe: Sierra Leone 1967-2000. Re: Muslims of Sierra Leone in West Africa. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Critical Arts, published by Critical Arts Projects on July 1, 2002. The length of the article is 8193 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Youth culture and rebellion: understanding Sierra Leone's wasted decade.
Author: Ibrahim Abdullah
Publication: Critical Arts (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 2002
Publisher: Critical Arts Projects
Volume: 16Issue: 2Page: 19(19)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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Chapters: Ethnic Groups in Sierra Leone, Languages of Sierra Leone, National Symbols of Sierra Leone, Religion in Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone Clothing, Sierra Leonean Cuisine, Sierra Leonean Films, Sierra Leonean Media, Sierra Leonean Music, Sport in Sierra Leone, Lion, Fula People, Flag of Sierra Leone, English Language, Temne People, Mende People, Mandinka People, Media of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone Creole People, Mandingo People of Sierra Leone, Nicholas G.j. Ballanta, Krio Language, Atunda Ayenda, Susu People, Kono People, Lebanese People in Sierra Leone, Yalunka People, Sherbro People, Limba People, Kissi People, Kuranko People, Fula People of Sierra Leone, Music of Sierra Leone, Vai, Loko People, High We Exalt Thee, Realm of the Free, Sweet Salone, Temne Language, Maninka, Dead Men Don't Smoke Marijuana, Aku People, Mende Language, Djolé, List of Newspapers in Sierra Leone, Coat of Arms of Sierra Leone, Abc Television-Africa, Hinduism in Sierra Leone, Kono Language, Sherbro Language, Cry Freetown, Yalunka Language, Klao Language, Bullom Languages, Loko Language. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 278. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg (550 lb) in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger. Wild lions currently exist in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia with a critically endangered remnant population in Gir Forest National Park in India, having disappeared from North Africa and Southwest Asia in historic times. Until the late Pleistocene, about 10,000 years ago, the lion was the most widespread large land mammal after humans. They were found in most of Africa, much of Eurasia from western Europe to India, and in the Americas f...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=36896 ... Read more

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In this erudite and gracefully written ethnography, Mariane Ferme explores the links between a violent historical and political legacy, and the production of secrecy in everyday material culture. The focus is on Mende-speaking southeastern Sierra Leone and the surrounding region. Since 1990, this area has been ravaged by a civil war that produced population displacements and regional instability. The Underneath of Things documents the rural impact of the progressive collapse of the Sierra Leonean state in the past several decades, and seeks to understand how an even earlier history is reinscribed in the present. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

beautiful well written ethnography
I purchased this book as a resouce for my senior thesis and am not disappointed at all. Ferme writes honestly and openly about the issues surrounding Sierra Leone and how the people have worked through political take-overs, colonization and a violent history while keeping their cultural values in tact.

Very "interpretive"
..or involving some "navel-gazing" as one of my professors once put it.Ferme is working within post-structuralist and practice-theory paradigms, which borrow heavily from literary criticism, so you will run into some rather abstract ideas/terms.That's not to say that the book isn't enjoyable--just make sure you have Wikipedia pulled up so that you can quickly review the ideas she is referencing.

Ferme's central argument is that Sierra Leone's violent history of subjugation by the West as well as its more recent civil conflicts have necessitated secrecy and produced a system of social meaning in which objects and practices, which on the surface appear mundane and everyday, are laden with hidden symbolism and meaning (the "underneath" of things).

Ferme's analysis is sensitive and seems to be well-informed but (at times) can tread close to speculation as it is largely based on observational data.Her conclusion really brings the work together, however.Ferme states that Mende cultural logic, which allows for ambiguity, fluidity and mediation, demonstrates the agency and creativity Mende women and man have employed in dealing with the instability and contestation of power associated with Sierra Leone's violent history.

All in all, a great ethnography!

Underneath the meaning of words....
I am using this book to gather data for my M.A. thesis on Mende women. Considering the fact that I have not traveled to Mendeland, I cannot gauge the accuracy of Ferme's interpretations and meanings. However, like the other reviewers, this book is very academic and it doesn't seem like Ferme can decide whether she is writing for the academy or for people who actually want to learn about Mende culture.

I appreciated how Ferme examined the way objects are gendered and the roles objects play in everyday Mende life. However, be prepared to struggle through terms like "semiotic" or "transmogrifying"... :0

Nevertheless, a very important contribution to your library on West African culture and useful insights on practices such as hair braiding, fishing and masquerades.

The Underneath of things. Marian Ferme
This is a deeply researched piece on Mende beliefs and customs by a Social Anthropologist. It claims to be on Violence,History, and the Everyday in Sierra Leone. This it does not accomplish. It is rather a study of a certain tribe and limited to a defined geographic location within Sierra Leone.For someone interested in Mende culture it makes good reading,familiarizes one with unusual cultural practices. On the whole it gives you a better understanding of common phehomena which the casual by-stander would count as nought. It however requires concentrated reading, and for those who have travelled in Mendeland much reflection on incidents and practices that were once observed. I recommend this book for any student of African Philosophy, travellers, and also the casual curious types.
Ked E. James, M.D.
Petal, MS.

Academic indeed......
Honestly, I couldn't make heads or tails of this book - and I am an entirely over-educated offspring of academics, a native speaker of English, and a voracious reader.I just didn't understand the words!I purchased this book before moving to Sierra Leone to manage an aid program, hoping to gain insight into the people I would be living and working with.This book, however, was more about anthropological theory than the Mende people; it served to illustrate academic points rather than the cultural world they inhabit.Entire chapters were devoted to such esoterica as the meaning of "twins" and the supreme symbolic significance of placement of hammocks vs. stools within the household.Meanwhile, the prose is peppered with endless usage of such words as "homologous" and "hermeutic" along with liberal sprinklings of Mende words - which are defined the first time they are used, but as there is no glossary to subsequently refer to by the end of the book the reader is lost inlinguistic gobbledy-gook.

I am sure that this book has contributed to academic inquiry -- but from my perspective, I have never read an entire book about a people and place and learned so little about them. ... Read more

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The international community created the Special Court for Sierra Leone to prosecute those who bore the greatest responsibility for crimes committed during the country's devastating civil war. Tim Kelsall examines some of the challenges posed by the fact that the Court operated in a largely unfamiliar culture, in which the way local people thought about rights, agency and truth-telling sometimes differed radically from the way international lawyers think about these things. By applying an anthro-political perspective to the trials, he unveils a variety of ethical, epistemological, jurisprudential and procedural problems, arguing that although touted as a promising hybrid, the Court failed in crucial ways to adapt to the local culture concerned. Culture matters, and international justice requires a more dialogical, multicultural approach. ... Read more

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A contribution to the debate over the impact of capitalism and colonial rule on the women of Africa
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This digital document is an article from Countries and Their Cultures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2350 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the broad range of popular religious culture of the United States at the close of the twentieth century. Beliefs, practices, symbols, traditions, movements, organizations, and leaders from the many traditions in the pluralistic American community are represented. Also includes cults and phenomena that drew followers, such as Heaven's Gale and UFOs. ... Read more

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Sierra Leone's Corridors of Power paints an incisive picture of the brand of politics that have engulfed the African continent since the end of the Cold War. Taking the discussion beyond political theories, this is an investigation of the politics of Sierra Leone and the entire African continent.After the 1991 civil war, the vaulting ambitions of a dynamic young British Prime Minister and how they intersected with Sierra Leone's own political rattlesnake, President Kassan-and countless opportunities were missed. Sierra Leone's Corridors of Power explores and satirises what could have been and what was, and offers up the lessons to be learned.Author Bio:Author and lecturer Michael Nicolas Wundah lives in Southwark, London. He was raised in Sierra Leone and was at the epicentre of politics in Sierra Leone prior to the 2007 elections. As a harsh critic of political corruption in his homeland, Michael Wundah's writing seeks to shed light on institutions that are deliberately structured to bring about agony, distress and tragedy. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Granville Sharp (10 November 1735 ? 6 July 1813) was one of the first British campaigners for the abolition of the slave trade. He also involved himself in trying to correct other social injustices. Sharp formulated the plan to settle blacks in Sierra Leone, and founded the St. George's Bay Company, a forerunner of the Sierra Leone Company. His efforts led to both the founding of the Province of Freedom, and later on Freetown, Sierra Leone, and so he is considered one of the founding fathers of Sierra Leone. He was also a biblical scholar and classicist, and a talented musician. ... Read more

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In dialogues on development and community regeneration in post-conflict Sierra Leone, the crucial issues of gender disparities have re-emerged. Questions about women's autonomy and access to resources, education, reproductive health, representations and perceptions of women in public and private spaces, and gender main streaming into policy-making on development have dominated these conversations on development in Sierra Leone. This book adds an innovative edge to ongoing debates by considering all of these normal staples of development discourse and also proposing that we consider the implications of the interstice between gender-norming (which entrenches patriarchal disparities) and development. ... Read more

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String Figures are designs woven on the hands with a loop of string. The designs portray a variety of subjects, both concrete and abstract, and often require a high degree of dexterity to make.Prior to Westernization, nearly all pre-literate societies were familiar with string figures, including those of Oceania, Southeast Asia, Australia, Japan, Africa, the Arctic, and North and South America. The extent of their distribution suggests that string figures are ancient--perhaps even relics of the stone age.The international String Figure Association was founded in 1978 by Dr. Hiroshi Noguchi, a Japanese mathematician, and Rev. Philip Noble, an Anglican missionary stationed in Papua New Guinea. The primary goal of our organization is to gather and distribute string figure knowledge, so that future generations will continue to enjoy this ancient pastime. We also encourage the invention of new figures and enjoy sharing them with one another. ... Read more

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This book is unique. It is a seminal work on critical social-development and change issues in Sierra Leone (Africa), with a clear, reasoned argument for the use of participatory communication to facilitate social change/development. Analyses are supported by collected information from primary and secondary sources, and by critical and theoretical arguments of social-development issues communicated by the UN and implemented in Sierra Leone. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Says Much about Historical Memory
Osagie's book fills a lacunae in the Amsitad historiographic record, but not only for providing details of the Amistad survivors' African return. She provided us with some insights into historical recollections and how they really only exist for present day agendas. She describes the appropriation of the Amistad story by Sierra Leoneans today in order to provide some morale for a society that has lurched from colonial exploitation to home grown exploitation and finally vicious civil war. Quite correctly she has departed from the American-centric purview and focused on the ramifications for African Americans and especially Africans.

The Amistad Revolt
i would like to tell u that this is one of the best books ever wrotei wanted to thank you for this strong experence for me so i decide to write a poem i will get back to u on it because i have to get it copyrighted first thanks again

A critical approach to African and American history
Osagie's book covers all the things that have been glossed over in the traditional telling of the Amistad story: the stories of the Amistad Africans once they returned home, the generalized context of revolt and resistance to slavery at the time, and what the story has meant in Sierra Leone.She also has excellent critiques of plays, novels, and monuments about the Amistad incident, including Steven Spielberg's movie.It is a timely look at a popular story that takes the point of view of the Africans and Africans-American involved with it, instead of focussing on the white abolitionists and the court batttles. I very much enjoyed reading it. ... Read more

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Broadcasting in Sierra Leone provides a historical and contemporary overview of the first African nation to introduce television and radio broadcasting. Patricia A. Holmes presents a well researched history on broadcasting in the Sierra Leone that breaks new ground in the social, ethnic, economic, and political climate in the context of broadcasting development, utilizing many never before used documents, including some from British Broadcasting Corporation Written Archives Center which date back to the first broadcast in 1934. She documents the beginnings of colonial and government-owned media to current movements toward privatization, with Sierra Leone being one of the few African nations to open up the airwaves to the private sector. Holmes also explores the potential effects of the present civil unrest on the broadcasting industry in Sierra Leone. ... Read more