Schedules from the Central African Broadcasting Station

The Lusaka wireless station under M. Kittermaster and H. Franklinhas been functioning for some months as a centre for CentralAfrican broadcasting in the Bantu languages. There have beencomplaints about the quality of the broadcasts in the languagesof Southern Rhodesia, Chishona and Sindebele; but a Europeanorganiser has now been appointed to obtain suitable material.In any case the fullness and detail of the station schedulesmay serve as comparision with similar programmes in Nairobiand Accra (and, one might perhaps add, Leopoldville).     

Atomic Thunder. The Maralinga Story

Atomic Thunder. The Maralinga Story. By Elizabeth Tynan (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2016), pp.xv + 373, AU$34.99 (pb).     

自由:一个尚未结束的美国故事--读埃里克·方纳的《美国自由的故事》

自从独立时期帕特里克·亨利呼出"不自由,毋宁死"的口号,"自由"就成了美国的灵魂.纵观美国历史上的国会辩论、总统演说、法院判例、外交文件、各种社会运动和改革的主张、乃至当今反政府的白人民兵组织的网页,"自由"一词无处不在.即便在日常生活中,"自由"也与美国人形影不离:中小学生每日必宣誓效忠"自由",体育比赛前观众必高唱国歌赞颂"自由之疆",大小美元硬币上均刻有"自由"(liberty),以"自由"为名的地名遍布全国.①至少从表面上来看,美国人对"自由"的钟爱已经达到了一种近似于偏执的程度.然而,当"自由"一词无所不能、无所不为、无人不用的时候,它也就失去了公认的定义,变成了一个令人困惑的概念.在众多的自由语言中,到底什么是真正的美国自由,也因而成为一个极负挑战意味的问题.正因为如此,埃里克·方纳(Eric Foner)的近作《美国自由的故事》(以下简称《自由故事》)便具有了格外重要的意义.     

The Development of African Agriculture

This article was delivered as a lecture at a joint meeting withthe Royal Empire Society on the 29th October, Col. C E. Ponsonbybeing in the chair. The speaker, who should be well known toreaders as a reviewer, is a member of the department of agriculturein the University of Oxford, where he went after many years'service in Uganda.     

The history of African history

Historians and Africanist History: A Critique — Post‐Colonial Historiography Examined by Arnold Temu and Bonaventure Swai Zed Press, London, 1981. xiv plus 187 pp. including bibliography and index. R20, 75 paperback.     

The Royal African Society

The following revised rules are published for information. Theyare to be considered at the Annual General Meeting on the 29thApril.     

The Southern African unipolarity

Despite the tectonic changes that have taken place in Southern Africa since the demise of apartheid, South Africa is still widely considered a hegemonic regional power by scholars, practitioners and pundits. This article challenges this interpretation, asserting that both Pretoria’s foreign policy and that of its neighbours fit the concept of regional unipolarity with more precision. Since the early 1990s, South Africa has pursued leadership within binding regional institutions and invested resources in order to reinforce the sovereignty of second-tier states such as Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, which have in turn disputed its diplomatic and military primacy, achieving impressive results. This behaviour is characteristic of unipoles rather than hegemons. In this article I revisit the evolution of South African relations with its more proximate neighbours in a transition from hegemony (1961–1990) to unipolarity. I start by defining both concepts and clarifying the behaviours that regional powers and small states are expected to have under hegemonic and unipolar settings. Then, I examine inter-state relations in the region, showing that the concept of unipolarity best describes power distribution and best predicts foreign policy in Southern Africa since the 1990s. Finally, I show that this exercise in concept rectification illuminates comparisons with other regional unipoles, and provides a useful framework to forecast the consequences of an eventual Southern African bipolarity, if Angola continues to catch up.     

Fluid Loyalties in a Regional Crisis: Chadian 'Ex-Liberators' in the Central African Republic

This article examines a neglected pattern of the regional crisisin Darfur, Chad, and the Central African Republic: the cross-borderactivities of combatants with fluid loyalties. The trajectoriesof Chadian ‘ex-liberators’ in CAR, which have beenlittle documented, are used to illustrate the regional movementsof armed men. The article explains how unemployed Chadian soldierswere recruited to fight with François Bozizé inCAR and why many of them joined other armed groups after Bozizé'stakeover. The reconversions of armed combatants, who may easilyshift allegiance and cross borders to carry on with their ‘politico-militarycareers’, is thus a structural characteristic of the currentconflict, which has major implications both at the local andtransnational levels. The article concludes that freelance militaryentrepreneurs’ trajectories are crucial in understandingthe unfolding of this regional crisis.     

The Social Role of African Music

The well-known South African collector of indigenous music visitedBritain last autumn to collect funds for an international Africanmusic library to be organised by the African Music Society ofJohannesburg. In the course of this mission, which was successful,Mr. Tracey gave a lecture demonstration to members of the InternationalAfrican Institute, Royal Empire Society and Royal African Society.We reproduce the remarks he then made, with an indication ofthe music he played.     

The East African Groundnuts Scheme

The Managing Director of the United Africa Company was responsiblefor the original idea of this vast new public project. He deliveredthis lecture at the Royal Empire Society on the 26th March underthe chairmanship of the Rt. Hon. John Strachey, M.P., Ministerof Food.