Genocide has become a part of the contemporary global expression of political violence. After all, every continent has had its genocide, but genocide in Africa and the African diaspora is distinctly different from those in Europe or the West. This text approaches genocide from within the context of Africa and the African diaspora to examine political and philosophical after-effects of global colonialism. As genocidal state violence has become prominent through colonialism, its appearance in Europe and the West have developed sharply against how it appears in colonized spaces within the African diaspora. This text argues that such a difference in orientation is needed to develop new concepts, critical approaches, and perspectives on the intersections between colonialism, political violence, and anti-black politics as a way of critically understanding global genocide and the presence of continual genocidal violence.
Alfred Frankowski is associate professor of philosophy and director of graduate studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Jeanine Ntihirageza is professor and director, Center for Genocide and Human Rights and Research in Africa and the Diaspora at Northeastern Illinois University. Chielozona Eze is the Bernard J. Brommel Distinguished Research Professor of African and African American Literature and Cultural Studies, Northeastern Illinois University and Extraordinary Professor, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
Editor's Introduction Ch. 1: Remembering for Better Healing: A Survivor's Account of the 1972 Burundi Genocide Jeanine Ntihirageza Ch. 2: Burundi 1972: Remembering a Forgotten Genocide Rene Lemarchand Ch. 3: Anti-Imperialist Rhetoric and Patterns of Genocide Denial in Zimbabwe Chielozona Eze Ch. 4: American Slavery, The New Jim Crow, and Genocide Lissa Skitolsky Ch. 5: The 'Post-Conflict State' in Africa: Challenging the Continued Normalization of Genocidal Violence Patricia Daley Ch. 6: Rwandan Commemoration Discourse and Post-Genocidal Violence Alfred Frankowski Ch. 7: Environmental Racism as Genocide: A Case Study of Shell Bluff, Georgia Milanika S. Turner List of Contributors Index
Critical Perspectives on African Genocide ~ a suspenseful, one-of-a-kind collection of compelling testimonies by a team of brave African and pro-Africa scholars who fearlessly dare to expose the partiality of the western-dominated International Community, which adamantly refuses to assign the "genocide" label to acts of barbaric violence perpetrated against African people in Africa and black diasporas, thus endorsing the ugly and racist notion that Black lives do not matter. -- Immaculee Harushimana, Lehman College Critical Perspectives on African Genocide is a powerful and groundbreaking work that is certain to shift the paradigm currently informing scholarship on genocide. Its power lies not only in the innovative and nuanced approach to genocide throughout the chapters, but also in its framing, which brings into conversation genocidal processes in Africa and in the African Diaspora, including, importantly, in the United States. It offers a long-overdue analysis of the intersections between colonialism, slavery, anti-black racism, and genocide that is a welcome corrective to discourses that have marginalized and exiled black experiences from the canon. It is a must read for anyone concerned with better understanding and responding to the crime. -- Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Endowed Chair, Department of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College A brilliant gift for desperate times, Critical Perspectives on African Genocide develops critical language and analyzes communities and societies reeling under the legacies of genocide, slavery, and (neo)colonialism. This essential reading builds upon and beyond the 1951 We Charge Genocide petition to the world which defined and challenged the US as a genocidal, imperial state. We need Critical Perspectives to better comprehend, and change, the world we have inherited. -- Joy James, Ebenezer Fitch professor of the humanities, Williams College, and author of 'The Womb of Western Theory'
