Civil Society and the Political Imagination in Africa by John... - 9780226114149

Civil Society and the Political Imagination in AfricaCritical Perspectives\nAuthor(s): John L. Comaroff, Jean Comaroff\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: The University of Chicago Press, United States\nImprint: University of Chicago Press\nISBN-13: 9780226114149, 978-0226114149\nSynopsis\nThe essays in this collection explore the diverse, unexpected and controversial ways in which the idea of civil society has recently entered into populist politics and public debate throughout Africa. In the introduction, anthropologists Jean and John Comaroff offer a critical theoretical analysis of the nature and deployment of the concept - and the debates surrounding it. Building on this framework, the contributors investigate the \""problem\"" of civil society across their regions of expertise, which cover the continent. Drawing on one another's work, they examine the impact of colonial ideology, postcoloniality and development practice on discourses of civility, the workings of everyday politics, the.