Books in the African Perspectives series

Examines social change in the Copperbelt region of Zambia following the re-privatization of the large state mining conglomerate. Based on three years of ethnographic research, the book examines life for those living in difficult economic circumstances, and considers the tension between the life they live and the nature of an 'extractive area'.

Examines the ways that accountability offers an effective interpretive lens to the social, cultural, and institutional struggles of both the elites and ordinary citizens in Africa. Each chapter investigates questions of power, its public deliberation, and its negotiation in Africa by studying elites through the framework of accountability.

The Nigerian and West African practice of aso ebi fashion invokes notions of wealth and group dynamics in social gatherings. This book investigates the practice in the cosmopolitan urban setting of Lagos, and argues that the visual and consumerist hype typical of the late capitalist system feeds this unique fashion practice.