Francis Nyamnjoh

The Gendered Nuances of Wealth in Francis B. Nyamnjoh’s “A Nose for Money”

By Ecoma Bassey Alaga

The book, “A Nose for Money” depicts the trajectory of life, particularly for Africans living in the West and Central region of the continent. The struggle from grass to grace and its concomitant travails is well demonstrated in this fictional piece on Prospere whose quest for wealth is something that is non-negotiable and a ‘must- have’. The underlying thread and currency for purchasing power, influence and recognition as the book illustrates is wealth –physical financial and material wealth. You are somebody only if you are prosperous in material terms and nobody otherwise.

Theorizing Agency In and On Africa: The Questions Are Key

Francis B. Nyamnjoh

(Published in: Mirjam de Bruijn, Rijk van Dijk and Jan-Bart Gewald (eds.), Strength beyond Structure: Social and Historical Trajectories of Agency in Africa, Leiden: Brill, 2007, pp.340-344)

When I agreed to write an epilogue for this impressive collection on the social and historical trajectories of agency in Africa, the intention was not to discuss the various contributions – a job masterfully done by the editors in their introduction – but rather to draw inspiration from them to highlight further research questions for debate and reflection, especially those from a standpoint sensitive to the African predicaments described in this book and beyond.