First published in 1993, this is a new edition of the classic text in which Clenora Hudson-Weems sets out a paradigm for women of African descent. Examining the status, struggles and experiences of the Africana woman forced into exile in Europe, Latin America, the United States or at Home in Africa, the theory outlines the experience of Africana women as unique and separate from that of some other women of color, and, of course, from white women. Differentiating itself from the problematic theories of Western feminisms, Africana Womanism allows an establishment of cultural identity and relationship directly to ancestry and land. This new edition includes five new chapters as well as an evolution of the classic Africana womanist paradigm, to that of Africana-Melanated Womanism. It shows how race, class and gender must be prioritized in the fight against every day racial dominance. Africana Womanism: Reclaiming Ourselves offers a new term and paradigm for women of African descent. A family-centered concept, prioritizing race, class and gender, it offers eighteen features of the Africana womanist (self-namer, self-definer, family-centered, genuine in sisterhood, strong, in concert with male in the liberation struggle, whole, authentic, flexible role player, respected, recognized, spiritual, male compatible, respectful of elders, adaptable, ambitious, mothering, nurturing), applying them to characters in novels by Hurston, Bâ, Marshall, Morrison and McMillan. It evolves from Africana Womanism to Africana-Melanated Womanism. This is an important work and essential reading for researchers and students in women and gender studies, Africana studies, African-American studies, literary studies and cultural studies, particularly with the emergence of family centrality (community and collective engagement), the very cornerstone of Africana Womanism since its inception.

This volume continues IAP’s dedication to the diverse field of international adult learning in the tradition of those books related to the We Learn and AAHE conferences. It is an edited and refereed collection and part of the larger body of scholarly publications associated with professional organizations such as AAACE, MAACE, We Learn, Women Studies Association, African Studies Association, Gender Studies Association and Global Studies network. Literacy as gendered discourse is important because it fills a unique niche in the canon of studies that investigate the challenges and prevailing norms associated with women and literacy studies, adult learning and development. It also offers a current volume for scholars and practitioners based on both research and practice-based research. This collection is appropriate for a wide variety of professors, researchers, practitioners, and students in the field of adult literacy studies, women/gender and development studies. In order to create this valuable contribution to the literacy and women’s studies literature, international scholars have contributed their research in which they study and explore the lives of women in various countries. Their work establishes findings that help to illuminate and analyze the different manifestations of women’s global experiences through the unique lens of local respondents or through their own lens as academic researchers. In these ways the results provide powerful insight and useful lessons applicable to the fields of gender study, women’s studies, adult literacy, development studies, international studies, etc..

Global interest in African studies has been rapidly growing as researchers realize the importance of understanding the impact African communities can have on the economy, development, education, and more. As the use, acceptance, and popularity of African knowledge increases, it is crucial to explore how this community-based knowledge provides deeper insights, understanding, and influence on such things as decision making and problem solving. African Studies: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice examines the politics, culture, language, history, socio-economic development, methodologies, and contemporary experiences of African peoples from around the world. Highlighting a range of topics such as indigenous knowledge, developing countries, and public administration, this publication is an ideal reference source for sociologists, policymakers, anthropologists, government officials, economists, instructors, researchers, academicians, and graduate-level students in a variety of fields.

Music narrates personal, communal and national experiences. It is a rich repository of a people’s deepest fears, hopes, and achievements, especially as it communicates spirituality, economic, and political realities. This volume examines the multiple roles of music in Zimbabwe, showing how Zimbabwean music has addressed the socio-economic, political and spiritual crisis that the country has endured in the last one and a half decades. While concentrating on the tumultuous 2000–2013 period, the themes that are addressed here are enduring. Thus, the book explores the interplay between music and gender, music and politics, and music and identity construction in Zimbabwe, and it interacts with most of the dominant genres in Zimbabwean music, including Sungura, ZORA, Chimurenga, Gospel and the Urban Grooves. This volume will interest specialists in the study of ethnomusicology, in addition to scholars of literature, religious studies, philosophy, theatre arts, political science, and history.

This book offers fresh academic insights, reflections, questions, issues, and approaches to development ethics, taking into account, African values and ethics. Development ethics is an area of applied ethics that examines the moral issues involved in global, social, and economic transformation. While it is a relatively new discipline, there have been numerous scholarly publications on it from Western perspectives. However, only a few studies that focused on development ethics from the African perspective. To address this gap, the book seeks to answer critical questions such as "What does development mean to Africans?", "How can we measure development?", "Who gets to decide?", and "What constitutes just development in Africa?" With contributions from African scholars from diverse backgrounds, the book covers various development themes such as Theories and approaches to development ethics in Africa, Environmental Ethics and African Development, Ethics, Politics and African Development, Migration and African development, Gender, Ethics and Socio-economic Development in Africa, Education, Ethics and African development. It is an essential resource for researchers, lecturers, and students interested in political philosophy and African culture studies.

The Art of Survival: Depictions of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwean in Crisis offers a fresh, interdisciplinary examination of a period against which development in Zimbabwe is often measured, one epitomized by the severe shortages and runaway inflation of 2008. While journalistic stories of the 1998–2008 era often privilege the reductive stories of woe, defeat and crushed hopes, this volume explores how survival was still possible in those circumstances. The book offers insights into how ordinary Zimbabweans battled the odds by making startling innovations in language use to legitimize new survival strategies, how they weaved new songs and reinterpreted old ones to fight for survival, how social institutions such as churches reinterpreted popular gospel, and how authors, playwrights and dramatists crafted works that acknowledge the unprecedented difficulties and yet find humour, laughter and love in unusual places. This work will appeal to both scholars, who will appreciate the depth of the analysis, and the general reader.