Challenges for Anthropology in the African Renaissance: A Southern African Contribution

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Anthropology, having progressed from being a colonial exercise to a post-colonial tool for intellectual rebirth, and with its central concern with culture and its fieldwork-based approach, must be central to the dialogue about Africa’s future. This volume proceeds from a conference of the Association for Anthropology in Southern Africa to assess the state, status and future of anthropology in Southern Africa. It is inspired by the concept of the African Renaissance coined by Thabo Mbeki, and his implied intellectual call to arms to face problems within the African continent by using African ideals, institutions and intelligentsia; and in its diverse responses it is an effort to strengthen the movement. The essays are grouped into sections on: rethinking anthropology; the reinvention of culture and tradition; perspectives on gender and youth; the place of anthropology in development; and land, space and landscapes. Particular weight is given to medical anthropology, and anthropology with applications for development.