An Irish-American woman, who had lived in Niger, returns after seventeen years to visit her daughter Zara, who works in a village clinic treating children who are suffering from starvation.

The Peoples of the Middle Niger This book provides the first comprehensive history of the peoples of the Middle Niger written by an English-speaking scholar. ‘The Island of Gold’ was the medieval Muslim and later European name for a fabled source of gold and other tropical riches. Although the floodplain of the Niger river lies far from the goldfields, the mosaic of peoples along the Middle Niger created a wealth of grain, fish, and livestock that supported some of Africa’s oldest cities, including Timbuktu. These ancient cities of the region that came to be known as Western Sudan were founded without outside stimulation and their inhabitants long resisted the coercive, centralized state that characterized the origins of earliest towns elsewhere. In this book, Roderick James McIntosh uses the latest archaeological and anthropological research to provide a bold overview of the distant origins of life for the inhabitants of the Middle Niger, and an explanation for their social evolution. He shows, for instance, the difficulties the peoples faced in adapting to an unpredictable climate, and how their particular social organization determined the unusual nature of their responses to that change. Throughout the book oral traditions are integrated into the story, providing vivid insights into the inhabitants' complex culture and belief systems.

Niger most often comes into the public eye as an example of deprivation and insecurity. Urban centers have become concentrated areas of unemployment filled with young men trying, against all odds, to find jobs and fill their time with meaningful occupations. At the heart of Adeline Masquelier’s groundbreaking book is the fada—a space where men gather to escape boredom by talking, playing cards, listening to music, and drinking tea. As a place in which new forms of sociability and belonging are forged outside the unattainable arena of work, the fada has become an integral part of Niger’s urban landscape. By considering the fada as a site of experimentation, Masquelier offers a nuanced depiction of how young men in urban Niger engage in the quest for recognition and reinvent their own masculinity in the absence of conventional avenues to self-realization. In an era when fledgling and advanced economies alike are struggling to support meaningful forms of employment, this book offers a timely glimpse into how to create spaces of stability, respect, and creativity in the face of diminished opportunities and precarity.

Rhymes from the Niger This is a collection of poems written as rhymes to help children in their nursery and early primary classes gather knowledge about Nigeria. Using common national symbols and the nation's aesthetics, the author helps the child to not only grasp the early concept of reading but also create a sense of patriotism to their nation and continent. Whether as a class textbook or an evening read after dinner, children will find the book to be fun and educational.

Fiction. Folklore. African and African American Studies. Young Adult Fiction. Translated by Amanda Cushion. ZARMA FOLKTALES OF NIGER presents for the first time in English the folklore of the Zarma, a lesser-known tribe of West Africa. These tales run the gamut from teaching ethical and moral lessons to portraying tricksters to naming animals to farting contests to having fun. Humor and an emphasis on living justly bind the stories together. So far there have been few mentions of the Zarma people in Western texts, and no sign of their folklore, until now. While many English translations of African folklore exist already, they are mainly restricted to better-known cultures. ZARMA FOLKTALES OF NIGER captures the reality of the culture that created the tales, preserving what might otherwise have been lost from the oral tradition. Unlike similar collections of African folklore, ZARMA FOLKTALES OF NIGER provides the cultural and historical context necessary to truly appreciate and understand these tales. The introduction outlines Niger's history and describes the relationships of the Zarma to neighboring tribes, and the glossary explains common terms and expressions found in the stories. These tales will be of interest to children, general readers of folklore, and those interested in African culture, as well as to cultural anthropologists and ethnographers.