With Africa as its point of reference and departure, this volume examines why and how the two concepts – radicalisms and conservatisms – should not be taken as mere binaries around which to organize knowledge. It demonstrates that these concepts have multiple and diverse meanings as perceived and understood from different disciplinary vantage points, hence, the deliberate pluralization of the terms. The essays show what happens when one juxtaposes the two concepts and how they are easily intertwined when different peoples’ lived experiences of poverty, political and social alienation, education, intolerance, youth activism, social (in)justice, violence, etc. across the length and breadth of Africa are brought to bear on our understandings of these two particularisms.
Contributors are: Adekunle Victor Owoyomi, Adeshina Francis Akindutire, Adewale O. Owoseni, Bright Nkrumah, Clement Chipenda, Ebenezer Babajide Ishola, Edwin Etieyibo, Israel Oberedjemurho Ugoma, Jonah Uyieh, Jonathan O. Chimakonam, Madina Tlostanova, Maduka Enyimba, Muchaparara Musemwa, Odirin Omiegbe, Obvious Katsaura, Olufunke Olufunsho Adegoke, Peter Kwaja, Philip Akporduado Edema, Tafadzwa Chevo, and Temitope Owolabi.
Edwin Etieyibo, PhD (2009), University of Alberta, is Professor of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand. His most recent works include
Decolonisation, Africanisation and the Philosophy Curriculum,
Method, Substance and the Future of African Philosophy and
African Philosophy in an Intercultural Perspective.
Obvious Katsaura, PhD (2013), University of the Witwatersrand, is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand. His research interests are at the intersections of the fields of transnational urbanism, transnational religiosity, religious urbanism, urban politics and urban violence.
Muchaparara Musemwa, PhD (2003), University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, is an Associate Professor of History and Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is the author of
Water, History and Politics in Zimbabwe: Bulawayo’s Struggles with the Environment, 1894-2008 (Trenton: Africa World Press, 2014).
Preface
List of Figures, Maps and Tables
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
Muchaparara Musemwa, Obvious Katsaura and Edwin Etieyibo
PART 1: Conservatism, Radicalism and Politics
1 Beyond Conservatism and Radicalism? A Decolonial Glimpse into the Post-truth World
Madina Tlostanova 2 Moderating Conservatism and Radicalism in Post-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa: Some Objections and Clarifications through Conversational Thinking
Maduka Enyimba 3 Politics of the Countryside after Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Programme: Expectations and Demands of the Youth
Clement Chipenda 4 ‘Not Too Young to Run’ Law and Political Participation among Youths in Nigeria
Ebenezer Babajide Ishola 5 ‘Dirty-Relevance’ of Youths Culture in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic Politics: A Study of Delta and Lagos States
Jonah Uyieh 6 Political Opportunism: Populism as a New Political Tactic in South Africa
Bright Nkrumah
PART 2: Social Justice and Poverty
7 Social Justice and Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria
Edwin Etieyibo 8 Poverty and Persons Living with Disabilities in Nigeria
Odirin Omiegbe 9 Poverty and Illicit Drug Use among Youths in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria
Adekunle Victor Owoyomi 10 The Politics of Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Jonathan O. Chimakonam 11 Informality, Marginality and the State: A Case Study of Low-Income Households in Budiriro, Harare, Zimbabwe
Tafadzwa Chevo
PART 3: Marginalization, Terrorism and Intolerance
12 Intolerance: The Activities of Ethnic Militias in Nigeria
Adeshina Francis Akindutire 13 A Complementarity Reflection on Human Interest and Common Good in Africa: Examples of Nigeria’s Ghana-Must-Go and South Africa’s Xenophobia
Phillip A. Edema and Adewale O. Owoseni 14 Boko Haram Terrorism and Out-of-School Children in North East Nigeria
Temitope Owolabi
PART 4: Minorities and Education
15 Academic Abuse and Violence against Students in Delta State, Nigeria and Its Impact on Their Learning Behavior
Israel Oberedjemurho Ugoma 16 Effects of Lessons on Empathic Responding and Perception on Conflict Reduction among Secondary School Adolescents
Peter Kwaja 17 Ethical Dimensions in Research: Informed Consent and Female Gender in Nigeria
Olufunke Olufunsho Adegoke
Index
All interested in the issues around politics, social justice, intolerance, terrorism, minorities, poverty, and education in Africa as they relate to radicalisms and conservatisms.