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Bad Samaritans

Ha-Joon Chang has written many excellent books, on this blog I have covered Kicking Away the Ladder and 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism. With the encouragement of Oxfam’s Duncan Green, in 2007 Chang published “Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism”. The book aims for a […]

Thought Provokers

We Have Never Been Modern

That was 1993, via Latour: “On page four of my daily newspaper, I learn that the measurements taken above the Antarctic are not good this year: the hole in the ozone layer is growing ominously larger. Reading on, I turn from upper-atmosphere chemists to Chief Executive Officers of Atochem and Monsanto, companies that are modifying […]

Thought Provokers

Arab Development Denied

I have covered many critical assessments of development on this blog. However, comparatively few have covered the Middle East and North Africa region. Was pleased to come across “Arab Development Denied: Dynamics of Accumulation by Wars of Encroachment” by Ali Kadri (2015). The region has had diverse historical and contemporary experiences and I found several […]

Thought Provokers

Samora Machel

Ohio University Press has a series of “Short Histories of Africa”. I recently decided to pick up most of the collection for potential use as reading materials for classes. This post covers “Mozambique’s Samora Machel: A Life Cut Short” (2020), by Allen Isaacman and Barbara Isaacman. Like the books on Nkrumah and Cabral, this one […]

Thought Provokers

Amilcar Cabral

Ohio University Press has a series of “Short Histories of Africa”. I recently decided to pick up most of the collection for potential use as reading materials for classes. This post covers “Amilcar Cabral: Nationalist and Pan-Africanist Revolutionary” (2019), by Peter Karibe Mendy. This book in relatively longer in this series, like the Nkrumah book, […]

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Kwame Nkrumah

Ohio University Press has a series of “Short Histories of Africa”. I recently decided to pick up most of the collection for potential use as reading materials for classes. This post covers “Kwame Nkrumah: Visions of Liberation” (2021), by Jeffrey S. Ahlman. The book is contextualized beyond biographical detail, with details of the events occurring […]

Thought Provokers

Julius Nyerere

Ohio University Press has a series of “Short Histories of Africa”. I recently decided to pick up most of the collection for potential use as reading materials for classes. This post covers “Julius Nyerere” (2017), by Paul Bjerk. A few notes: “Upon returning he was told he no longer had a job at St. Francis […]

Thought Provokers

The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Gulf

In reading books on Qatar (see this section for the list), many of the criticisms I have made of contemporary scholarship is a continuation of colonial attitudes and perspectives. On that note, I was glad to come across the gem of a book, “The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Gulf” (1986), by Sultan Muhammad […]

Thought Provokers

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Ohio University Press has a series of “Short Histories of Africa”. I recently decided to pick up most of the collection for potential use as reading materials for classes. This post covers “Ellen Johnson Sirleaf” (2016), by Pamela Scully. One of the rants that often appear in my classes and in assignment feedback comments relate […]

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Poverty Alleviation (Fiqh of Zakah)

In humanitarian and development activity, in the last two decades more organizations are distributing direct financial transfers. The expansion of mobile banking and cell phone coverage have enabled this to expand in reach and scale. There is a large literature on this subject, looking at efficiency, agency and impact (and relatively less discussion about universal […]

Thought Provokers