It is with great pleasure that we present to you the June 2010 issue (Vol. 4, No. 1) of Africana. As before, we have found that there is much scholarly ferment in Nigeria, and this is reflected in the number of contributions from Nigerian scholars to this June 2010 issue. For those interested in the highly contentious executive‐legislative problems in Nigeria of late, the first contribution could be enlightening and thought‐provoking. Dr. Joseph Yinka Fashagba is one of the few emerging scholars on legislative‐executive relations in Nigeria and we are very pleased to include his timely contribution.
Like many other African states with highly marketable resources, Nigeria has experienced a host of challenges to both environmental protection and sustainable development. The second article, sent to us by Dr. Ibaba S. Ibaba, considers these important issues in the Nigerian context. We applaud Dr. Ibaba for tackling these issues, with thoughtful references to some of the leading scholarly debates, official government statistics, oil industry reports and literature of development organizations, such as the World Bank and UNDP. Dr. Ibaba stresses the crucial significance of good governance in his conclusion. By contrast, in the third article, Aaron J. Reibel focuses on what many developmental scholars consider to be the ‘other side’ of the equation: civil society. A former resident of Mozambique, Reibel is particularly concerned with the ongoing references to the ‘Mozambican Miracle’ and how it is commonly portrayed by Africanists, development practitioners and politicians. We welcome this unique contribution on one of Africa’s important lusophone states.
The forth piece by Nigeria scholar, J. Shola Omotola, considers ‘Africa’s development paradox’ of experiencing what he terms a ‘poverty of plenty’ within the framework of globalization. In his discussion, Omotola considers the effectiveness of regional efforts, such as the AU, as well as the involvement of local ‘civil society’ amidst various forms of global support for democratization. Readers will see that Omotola is quite critical of external involvement in African affairs. “Going by the record of events,” he writes, “it is most unlikely that the developed world and its United Nations (UN) would support any African initiative that would chart a genuine course of development and autonomy for the continent.” In contrast to many outside of Africa who emphasize the importance of increasing African involvement with the rest of the world, Omotola concludes, for example, that “…what is required is to ward off damaging competition from the developed world while exploiting knowledge available elsewhere to save cost.” In a world where neoliberalism remains high on the agenda of so many, Omotola suggests that “…Africa must be more inward looking…” and focus on what is needed at home.
In a similar vein, Dr. Lere Amusman writes of the ongoing challenges to the Pan‐Africanist initiative of W.E.B. DuBois, among others. Following a review of regional efforts in southern Africa, Amusman states: “The need to open the market for international exploitation not only killed the DuBoisan model of Pan‐Africanism, it also exposed the sub‐region to what Amechi Okolo (1986) terms as ‘Dependency: the Highest Stage of Capitalist Domination.’” For those of us who have used traditional textbooks of political science, international relations, or comparative politics in the classroom, there can be no doubt that there is a striking lack of African voices on this issue. “Dependency theory” is often portrayed as a concern of Latin Americanists only and Amusman most clearly demonstrates that this is not the case. Let it be known: there are ongoing, similar concerns on the African continent! And if there is one peculiarity to the African take on the matter, it is that the objectives of Pan‐Africanists have been challenged as a result. The textbooks of the world, and the students who are assigned those texts, await more African perspectives on this and on so many other matters…
Our sixth contribution, by John Enemugwem of the University of Port Harcourt, is a re‐print due to previous errors of tabulation (June 2009). Because his piece deals with the oil industry of the Niger Delta in Nigeria, we thought it would be a good fit for this issue. Readers will get a decidedly different perspective and focus on the status of the Nigerian oil industry from the earlier piece, in this June 2010 issue, by Dr. Ibaba.
Dr. Fainos Mangena, of the University of Zimbabwe, has previously published in Africana. Here he joins Mr. Munyaradzi Madambi in contributing a seventh piece on the lack of critical thinking in post‐colonial Zimbabwean journalism. Readers will see that the authors not only complain about the issue but suggest that a solution is to be found in improved training and education of journalists. It is a very timely piece and we are pleased to include it here.
We conclude this issue of Africana with a more philosophical piece by Dr. Kelly Bryan Ovie Ejumudo on the links between democratization, social justice and cultural decay in Nigeria. For those of us who are living and/or following news on these matters in Nigeria and elsewhere on the African continent, it is hard not to be moved by the thoughtfulness and insightfulness of this article.
Beyond the contents of the June 2010 issue are two events of particular significance to our journal:
1) Africana is now affiliated with the African Studies Center (ASC) at Boston University. Accordingly, in due course, there will be a web‐page link to http://www.africanajournal.org at http://www.bu.edu/africa/. We are especially grateful to Professor Edouard Bustin of the ASC for making the necessary introductions and to Dr. Michael DiBlassi, ASC Publication Editor, and to Dr. Timothy Longman, ASC Director. The Editor‐in‐Chief, Dr. Christopher LaMonica, and Editorial Co‐ordinator, Yilma Tafere Tasew, have agreed that the primary purpose of the affiliation is to raise the awareness of our journal through the many networks of the ASC; otherwise the consensus at the ASC was that we should “continue as before.” Article reviews will remain the sole responsibility of the Editorial Board of Africana; grammatical editing and formal acceptance of contributions will remain the sole responsibility of assigned copy editors, the Editorial Co‐ ordinator, and the Editor‐in‐Chief. The views expressed in Africana are, as always, those of the contributors to the journal, as indicated in our disclaimer.
2) A warm welcome from all of us at Africana goes out to J. Shola Omotola, currently completing a PhD in political science at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, who is now a member of our Editorial Board. Details regarding his research interests and other scholarly activities can now be viewed at http://www.africanajournal.org.
That said we are compelled to, once again, comment on the tremendous rise of interest in our journal. We continue to receive many thought‐provoking and well‐researched contributions from African universities, in particular, and are, of course, thrilled about this. We encourage all readers – including, but not limited to, postgraduate students, members of university faculty and researchers – to pass‐on our ongoing Call for Papers. We would also like to remind all that we do seek out thoughtful and well‐written book reviews. In this issue, we have included a review of Anton Krueger’s book, Experiments in Freedom: Explorations of Identity in New South African Drama (2009).
A special thanks to our growing team of reviewers and copy editors. And, for this issue in particular, our special thanks to Ms. Courtney DelGiudice, for her especially thorough editorial assistance.
Christopher LaMonica, Ph.D., Managing Editor Boston, MA USA
Yilma Tafere Tasew
