Francis Nyamnjoh: April 2006

About Francis Nyamnjoh

Francis B. Nyamnjoh is Professor of anthropology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa
Department of Social Anthropology University of Cape Town
5.23 Arts Building
Private Bag X3
Rondebosch 7701
Cape Town
South Africa
Tel: +27 21 650 3681
Fax: +27 21 650 2307
EMAIL
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AFRICAphonie
AFRICAphonie is a Pan African Association which operates on the premise that AFRICA can only be what AFRICANS and their friends want AFRICA to be.
Bakwerirama
Spotlight on Bakweri Society and Culture. The Bakweri are an indigenous African nation.
Bate Besong
Bate Besong, award-winning firebrand poet and playwright.
Bernard Fonlon
Dr Bernard Fonlon was an extraordinary figure who left a large footprint in Cameroonian intellectual, social and political life.
Fonlon-Nichols Award
Website of the Literary Award established to honor the memory of BERNARD FONLON, the great Cameroonian teacher, writer, poet, and philosopher, who passionately defended human rights in an often oppressive political atmosphere.
France Watcher
Purpose of this advocacy site: To aggregate all available information about French terror, exploitation and manipulation of Africa
George Ngwane: Public Intellectual
George Ngwane is a prominent author, activist and intellectual.
Jacob Nguni
Virtuoso guitarist, writer and humorist. Former lead guitarist of Rocafil, led by Prince Nico Mbarga.
Martin Jumbam
The refreshingly, unique, incisive and generally hilarous writings about the foibles of African society and politics by former Cameroon Life Magazine columnist Martin Jumbam.
Nowa Omoigui
Professor of Medicine and interventional cardiologist, Nowa Omoigui is also one of the foremost experts and scholars on the history of the Nigerian Military and the Nigerian Civil War. This site contains many of his writings and comments on military subjects and history.
Postwatch Magazine
A UMI (United Media Incorporated) publication. Specializing in well researched investigative reports, it focuses on the Cameroonian scene, particular issues of interest to the former British Southern Cameroons.
Simon Mol
Cameroonian poet, writer, journalist and Human Rights activist living in Warsaw, Poland
Victor Mbarika ICT Weblog
Victor Wacham Agwe Mbarika is one of Africa's foremost experts on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Dr. Mbarika's research interests are in the areas of information infrastructure diffusion in developing countries and multimedia learning.
Tunduzi
A West African in Arusha at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on the angst, contradictions and rewards of that process.
Dr Godfrey Tangwa (Gobata)
Renaissance man, philosophy professor, actor and newspaper columnist, Godfrey Tangwa aka Rotcod Gobata touches a wide array of subjects. Always entertaining and eminently readable. Visit for frequent updates.
Francis Nyamnjoh
Prolific writer, social and political commentator, he was a professor at University of Buea and University of Botswana. Currently he is Head of Publications and Dissemination at CODESRIA in Dakar, Senegal. His writings are socially relevant and engaging even to the non specialist.
Ilongo Sphere: Writer and Poet
Novelist and poet Ilongo Fritz Ngalle, long concealed his artist's wings behind the firm exterior of a University administrator and guidance counsellor. No longer. Enjoy his unique poems and glimpses of upcoming novels and short stories.
Scribbles from the Den
The award-winning blog of Dibussi Tande, Cameroon's leading blogger.
Enanga's POV
Rosemary Ekosso, a Cameroonian novelist and blogger who lives and works in Cambodia.
GEF's Outlook
Blog of George Esunge Fominyen, former CRTV journalist and currently Coordinator of the Multi-Media Editorial Unit of the PANOS Institute West Africa (PIWA) in Dakar, Senegal.
The Chia Report
The incisive commentary of Chicago-based former CRTV journalist Chia Innocent
Voice Of The Oppressed
Stephen Neba-Fuh is a political and social critic, human rights activist and poet who lives in Norway.
Bate Besong
Bate Besong, award-winning firebrand poet and playwright.
Up Station Mountain Club
A no holds barred group blog for all things Cameroonian. "Man no run!"
Bakwerirama
Spotlight on the Bakweri Society and Culture. The Bakweri are an indigenous African nation.
Fonlon-Nichols Award
Website of the Literary Award established to honor the memory of BERNARD FONLON, the great Cameroonian teacher, writer, poet, and philosopher, who passionately defended human rights in an often oppressive political atmosphere.
Bernard Fonlon
Dr Bernard Fonlon was an extraordinary figure who left a large footprint in Cameroonian intellectual, social and political life.
AFRICAphonie
AFRICAphonie is a Pan African Association which operates on the premise that AFRICA can only be what AFRICANS and their friends want AFRICA to be.
Canute - Chronicles from the Heartland
Professional translator, freelance writer and a regular contributor to THE POST newspaper. Lives in Douala, Cameroon

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April 2006

Book Review: The Number by Jonny Steinberg

Reviewed by Francis Nyamnjoh (Originally published in Pambazuka #250)

Jonny Steinberg. The Number. Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2004. ISBN: 1868422054

The Number very broadly articulates the democratization of South African society since the end of apartheid in 1994, and the impact of this transition on prison communities structured on the principles of apartheid and the discipline and punish logic of prisons everywhere. In the words of the author, the book demonstrates “why generations of young black men lived violent lives under apartheid, and why generations more will live violently under democracy” (p.11). Using the life of William Steenkamp/Magadien Wentzel, Steinberg demonstrates the proximity of the history of crime to the central fault lines that have shaped and continue to shape South African society.

Continue reading "Book Review: The Number by Jonny Steinberg" »

April 14, 2006 in Book Reviews | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Africa, Book Review, Democracy, Democratization, Politics, South Africa

Book Review: Africa's Media: Democracy and the Politics of Belonging

Reviewed by Sam Nuvala Fonkem

Francis B Nyamnjoh. Africa's Media: Democracy And The Politics Of Belonging. London, ZED BOOKS; Pretoria, UNISA PRESS, 2005. 308 pages.

Nyamnjoh's work is a critical and painstaking examination of the role the media have played in promoting democracy and empowering civil society since Africa waged what the author aptly labels as Africa's second liberation struggle in the 1990s. Africa's first liberation struggle no doubt was the one waged in the 1950s against colonialism and apartheid in the 1960s and 70s. The struggle under review is more sociological and psychological in nature, and mainly confined within the geographical space of African nation-states.