Against the musty stereotypes and prejudices that still consider Africa a dark continent full of nameless, Third World nations always striving but never managing to catch up with the West, Authentic/Ex-Centric positions Africa as the source of many of the ideas associated with European modernism. From Cubism's radical abstraction to 70s performance art and its use of ritual, shamanism, and magic, the influence of African art has long been underap-preciated. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name held to critical acclaim on the fringes of the 2001 Venice Biennale, Authentic/Ex-centric offers a glimpse of the ways in which African and African and African Diaspora artists have interpreted and translated the aesthetic and social experiences of post-colonial Africa into new idioms of artistic expression, and argues for their proper location in the broad narrative of global conceptualism. Including work by such artists as Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Willem Boshoff, Godfried Donkor, Rachid Koraichi, Berni Searle, and Yinka Shonibare.

This book provides the most comprehensive, balanced, and nuanced account yet published of the Darfur conflict's roots and the contemporary realities that shape the experiences of those living in the region.

Ibrahim El-Salahi is one of the most influential figures in Sudanese modern art. Including an interview with, and a special text by, the artist this book accompanies a major exhibition at Tate Modern.

Culture plays a central role in the well-being of any society. This is especially true in postcolonial Africa, where rich traditional cultures collide with complex modern realities. Cultural development and the integration of culture into contemporary society is of primary importance not only for African prosperity, but also for the strengthening of civil society and of societal integration. This book focuses on the role of culture in the process of development as well as on strategies for ensuring the growth of indigenous African culture and the strengthening of cultural industries in the African context. The prospects for filmmaking, the performing arts, publishing, radio, museums, art, and traditional storytelling in Africa are creatively examined and explored by some of Africa's most creative cultural figures. This book combines thoughtful analysis of problems and a "state of the art" assessment of key cultural industries with practical suggestions for improvement and progress.

Salah M. Hassan schlägt in seinem Text eine Neubetrachtung des afrikanischen Marxismus vor, mit der er gleichzeitig eine Befreiung Marx', eines für das 20. Jahrhundert einflussreichsten politischen Denkers, vom Eurozentrismus bezweckt. Während der Entkolonisierung und der Befreiungsbewegung in Afrika und anderen Teilen der Dritten Welt in der Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts, die mit den Anfängen der documenta zusammenfielen, wurde die Ideologie des Marxismus zur intellektuellen Leitkultur. Als Beispiele für die Innovationskraft und Kreativität des afrikanischen/schwarzen Marxismus, die in der gegenwärtigen Forschung nur wenig berücksichtigt werden, führt Hassan Texte zweier Schlüsselfiguren zusammen: die politische Verteidigungsrede By Virtue of Marxism, Your Honor (1956) von Abdel Khaliq Mahgoub (1927–1971), dem Gründer der Sudanesischen Kommunistischen Partei, der 1971 zusammen mit anderen führenden Mitgliedern der Partei hingerichtet wurde, sowie den Brief an Maurice Thorez (1956) von Aimé Césaire (1913–2008), dem martiniquinischen Philosophen, Dichter und Kritiker, in dem er die Gründe für seinen späteren Austritt aus der Kommunistischen Partei Frankreichs darlegt. Salah M. Hassan ist Goldwin Smith Professor, Direktor des Institute for Comparative Modernities sowie Professor der African and African Diaspora Art History an der Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; er ist Mitglied des Honorary Advisory Committee der dOCUMENTA (13).

A collection of work by six prominent artists accompanied by critical essays which place the work in the context of the artists' socio-cultural backgrounds. All six artists are of African origin but work in the West: Ethiopian painter Elisabeth T Atnafu; US fibre and mixed-media artist Xenobia Bailey; Jamaican photographer Renee Cox; Cameroon photographer Angele Essamba; painter Houria Niati from Algeria; and Ethiopian sculptor Etiye Dimma Poulsen.

"A presentation and analysis of the work of three of the most exciting African diaspora artists of our time - David Hammons, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, and Pamela Z. A series of essays by scholars and critics examine three site-specific installation and performances originally concieved by these artists for Dak'Art 2004, the Biennale of Contemporary African Art in Dakar, Senegal."--BOOK JACKET.