National Identity and Democracy in Africa

This collaborative series, entitled Identity? Theory, History, Politics, consists of three companion volumes and emanates from the partnership between the French Institute (IFAS), the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD, formerly FGD) and the HSRC. Volume I, based on the 1997 conference held in Pretoria, is almost exclusively on South Africa shortly after that country's transition to democracy while Volume II, entitled Shifting African Identities was based on the 1998 Cape Town conference, and provided comparative analyses from Africanist scholars. This is the third companion volume in the series and focuses primarily on identity and nation building. National Identity and Democracy in Africa, edited by Mai Palmberg, offers the reader a global comparative analysis and significantly extends the thematic range of the previous two texts to include cultural landscapes, power and conflict, literary critiques and discourses on the politics of nation building. These books are essential reading for anyone interested in grappling with the politics of identity and its implications for the African Renaissance discourse. Policy-makers, academics, postgraduate students and scholars interested in international relations, philosophy, political science, psychology, history, sociology, cultural anthropology, gender issues, development and African studies will find the accounts novel and insightful and are invited to engage with the intentional participatory and interactive style.

Professor Jo Lorentzen is a chief research specialist in the Education, Science, and Skills Development Research Programme. He holds a Masters degree from the American University in Washington, and a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence and has taught at universities in Eastern Europe, Italy, France, and the United States.

Before joining the HSRC, he was Associate Professor of International Business at Copenhagen Business School and spent the 2003/04 academic year on sabbatical at the School of Development Studies at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, where he is now an honorary research fellow.