Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Africa

The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Africa presents a comparative analysis of sociological thinking in Africa. Focusing on examples from Africa, this diverse collection presents to a broad readership an accessible, comprehensive, up to date, and topical analysis of sociological thinking in Africa. Sociological discourse about African societies has been challenging and difficult, due to a lack of both comprehensive analyses and holistic sociological evidence that covers Africa from past to present. This Handbook locates African sociological thinking in historical context and takes a critical look at its current manifestations across the continent.

List of contents

• I. THE SOCIOLOGY OF AFRICA:


• THE CONTEXT AND PERSPECTIVES


• 1. The Sociology of Africa: A Thematic Contextualization of the Discourse


• R. SOORYAMOORTHY AND NENE ERNEST KHALEMA


• 2. The Epistemology of African Sociological Knowledge Practices


• ANSELM K. JIMOH, MOSES M. AKPOUGHUL-ABUNYA AND PEACE O. JEMIBOR


• 3. Decolonizing Sociology in Africa: Insights from Zimbabwe and South Africa


• SIMBARASHE GUKURUME


• II. RACE, ETHNICITY and RELIGION


• 4. Race and its Sociological Inquiry in Africa: Problematic Suppositions and Contemporary Predicaments


• NENE ERNEST KHALEMA


• 5. Ethnicity, Politics of Power Sharing and Nation Building in Africa


• INYOKWE SUNDAY OTINCHE


• 6. Religious Life in African Societies


• NICOLETTE D. MANGLOS-WEBER


• 7. Advent, Development and Impact of Christianity in Africa


• ISAAC DEJI AYEGBOYIN AND MICHAEL ADELEKE OGUNEWU


• III. GENDER, SEXUALITY AND INTERSECTIONALITY


• 8. Women's and Gender Studies in Africa


• NAKANYIKE B. MUSISI


• 9. Intersectionality of Gender and Sexuality in African Cultures


• GABISILE MKHIZE


• 10. Prevalence and Consequences of Gender-Based Violence on Families in Africa


• SITAWA R. KIMUNA AND PACIFICAH F. OKEMWA


• IV. MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY


• 11. Medical Sociology in Africa: Understanding Health, Illness, and Healing


• TOLÁ OLÚ PEARCE


• 12. African Sociology of Health and Well-being


• JIMOH AMZAT, OLIVER RAZUM AND AISHA A. ADARANIJO


• 13. Social Determinants of Health in Africa


• JIMOH AMZAT, KAFAYAT AMINU AND BRENDA MUCHABVEYO


• 14. Infectious Diseases in Africa: Emergence, Social Contexts, Political and Media Discourses


• N'KOUÉ EMMANUEL SAMBIENI AND DAVID HOUÉTO


• V. POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT


• 15. The Sociological Implications of Africa's Political Economy


• MANU LEKUNZE


• 16. Pan-Africanism and Development in Africa: Trajectories and Prognoses


• ERNEST TOOCHI ANICHE, IKENNA MIKE ALUMONA, AND VICTOR H. MLAMBO


• 17. The Sociology of Science in Africa


• NELIUS BOSHOFF, JOHANN MOUTON AND SIMILO NGWENYA


• 18. Sociological Processes of Urbanization: The African Experience since the Twentieth Century


• DONALD CHIUBA OKEKE AND MAXWELL UMUNNA NWACHUKWU


• 19. Africa's Nature: A Continental Treasure, a Global Heritage and the Real Wealth of the Present and Future Generations


• NOEL CHELLAN


• 20. Climate Governance and Justice: Power Pull and Unequal Exchanges with Peripheral Africa


• AYODELE ADEKUNLE FAIYETOLE AND GODWIN CHINEDUM IHEMEJE


• 21. Civil Society, NGOs and Human Rights in Africa


• MOHAMED EL HACHIMI AND RACHID TOUHTOU


• VI. CRIME AND VIOLENCE


• 22. Criminology in Africa


• BIKO AGOZINO AND NONTYATYAMBO DASTILE


• 23. African Criminologies: Decolonization, Relativism and Resistance


• IAN WARREN AND EMMA RYAN


• 24. Elusive Peace: Extraction and Violent Conflict in Africa


• DAVID MATSINHE


• 25. Insurgency and Organized Violence in Africa: A Cross-National Approach


• OBASESAM OKOI AND TEMITOPE B. ORIOLA


• VII. THE FAMILY AND EDUCATION


• 26. Familial Roles, Responsibilities, and Solidarity in Diverse African Societies


• RUTH EVANS, ROSALIE ADUAYI DIOP AND FATOU KÉBÉ


• 27. Managing Uncertainty, Creating Stability: The Enduring Value of Kinship for Family Formation


• SANGEETHA MADHAVAN, KIRSTEN STOEBENAU AND SEUNG WAN KIM


• 28. Challenges to Higher Education in Africa and the decolonized "Academia We Want"


• CHRISTINE SCHERER

About the author

R. Sooryamoorthy is Professor of Sociology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. He was the Acting Dean and Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (2017-2019) and is a Research Fellow at the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in STI Policy, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He has taught at institutions in India, Canada and Sweden. He serves on the editorial boards of journals such as Current Sociology and International Sociology Reviews. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen titles.

Nene Ernest Khalema is Associate Professor and currently Dean and Head of School of Built Environment & Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in South Africa. Before joining UKZN he was a professor in various Canadian universities. He served as Chief Research Scientist at the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa where his demographic work on urban livelihoods, social epidemiology, and human

migration/mobilities, as well as critical sociological work on black/African Diaspora and Indigenous studies received national and international recognition.

Summary

The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Africa presents to a broad readership an accessible, comprehensive, up to date, and topical comparative analysis of sociological thinking in Africa. Sociological discourse about African societies has been challenging and difficult, due to a lack of both comprehensive analyses and holistic sociological evidence that covers Africa from past to present times. This Handbook brings together latest analyses of sociological phenomena from the best scholars working on numerous thematic areas. It provides contributions that locates African sociological thinking in historical context and takes a critical look at its current manifestations across the continent. This collection builds upon an existing body of literature which has demonstrated that while the analysis of African societies has long been an item on the agenda of sociologists worldwide, advances of the decolonial critique made notably by African scholars in Africa enhances the scholarship of the sociology of Africa. Thus, the collection is premised upon the understanding that in order to understand the sociology of Africa as significant intervention, the participation and representation of African ways of knowing and doing is a critical starting point. This Handbook comprises a series of scholarly and interdisciplinary perspectives on current debates over how best to unpack sociological imaginations in African context. The scholarly contributions, therefore, are based on both perspectives illustrating the importance of specificity in sociological phenomenon.

The Handbook is arranged in seven parts: Context and Perspectives; Race, Ethnicity, and Religion; Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality; Medical Sociology: Political Economy and Development; Crime and Violence; and The Family and Education. Premised on the importance of African ways of knowing and doing, these chapters offer sociologists, researchers, and students an invaluable starting point for a fuller understanding of African sociology.

Additional text

Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.

Product details

• Authors: R. (Professor of Sociology Sooryamoorthy
• Assisted by: Nene Ernest Khalema (Editor), Khalema Nene Ernest (Editor), R. Sooryamoorthy (Editor), Sooryamoorthy R. (Editor)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 21.09.2023
• EAN: 9780197608494
• ISBN: 978-0-19-760849-4
• No. of pages: 584
• Series: Oxford Handbooks; Oxford Handbooks Series
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Social Theory, Africa, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Social Theory