The stories narrate the tricks, deceit and greed of hyena in all his relationships. These traits come out strongly in the tales entitled: 'the cow, hyena, lion and hare share a home', 'hyena and hare go in search of food' and 'the hyena and the hare'. Hare, however, shows his ingenuity to always outsmart hyena. Cat's pilgrimage to Mecca and his self righteous attitude on his return was challenged by the eldest member of the clan of rats. He was reminded of his old ways before his transformation. Gambian folk tales carry moral lessons and even though they are not all spelt out in this collection, they are evident.

Folk Tales and Fables from the Gambia. Volume 1

Plastic bags are cheap and easy to use. But what happens when a bag breaks or is no longer needed? In Njau, Gambia, people simply dropped the bags and went on their way. One plastic bag became two. Then ten. Then a hundred.

The bags accumulated in ugly heaps alongside roads. Water pooled in them, bringing mosquitoes and disease. Some bags were burned, leaving behind a terrible smell. Some were buried, but they strangled gardens. They killed livestock that tried to eat them. Something had to change.

Isatou Ceesay was that change. She found a way to recycle the bags and transform her community. This inspirational true story shows how one person's actions really can make a difference in our world.

One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia

"Shady Practices" is a revealing analysis of the gendered political ecology brought about by conflicting local interests and changing developmental initiatives in a West African village. Between 1975 and 1985, while much of Africa suffered devastating drought conditions, Gambian women farmers succeeded in establishing hundreds of lucrative communal market gardens. In less than a decade, the women's incomes began outstripping their husbands' in many areas, until a shift in development policy away from gender equity and toward environmental concerns threatened to do away with the social and economic gains of the garden boom. Male landholders joined forestry personnel in attempts to displace the gardens and capture women's labor for the irrigation of male-controlled tree crops.

This carefully documented microhistory draws on field experience spanning more than two decades and the insights of disciplines ranging from critical human geography to development studies. Schroeder combines the "success story" of the market gardens with a cautionary tale about the aggressive pursuit of natural resource management objectives, however well intentioned. He shows that questions of power and social justice at the community level need to enter the debates of policymakers and specialists in environment and development planning.

Shady Practices: Agroforestry and Gender Politics in The Gambia

For an intelligent, ambitious girl growing up in a Gambian village, life holds few tempting prospects. Marriage and motherhood, often forced, are the paths assigned to most. Nyima, too, is subject to this fate, as well as having to endure the health-endangering ongoing practice of genital mutilation.But ours is a heroine of immense courage, able to see beyond her situation, despite the bleakness of life. She makes it through her darkest hours, and emerges stronger on the other side, though permanently scarred by her ordeals.It is in education and work that Nyima finds her salvation, and begins to rebuild her life, and indeed be reborn. The question is, though, can she ever truly love or trust again?This is a moving and emphatic tale of a young woman's struggle to come to terms with her past and culture, and above all, the possibility of having a future to look forward to, no matter what the odds.

The Sun Will Soon Shine

In 1985 Hudson visited the village of Dulaba in the Gambia to help in some field studies there. He was so intrigued by what he saw that he decided to return. The book tells of the lives of the women, devout Muslims, who are circumcised in an all-female ritual, but who sing ribald songs.

Our Grandmothers' Drums: A Portrait of Rural African Life and Culture

This book is a masterpiece. It is a non-fictional book. It contains firsthand account information of some of the alleged murders, tortures, and disappearances that had taken place under the administration of Gambia's iron fist dictator President Yahya Jammeh. The author had interviewed a wide range of sources-some of whom are still serving in Mr. Jammeh's administration, while some of the sources have parted company with the Gambian dictator. You will be missing out a great wealth of information by not buying a copy of Mr. M'Bai's book titled: "The Untold Dictator Yahya Jammeh's Story."

This book contains fascinating and horrific stories that one could ever imagined that it is taking place in an impoverished country-which received less international press coverage-largely due to its size. The Gambia is less than the size of Delaware. It has been transformed as a murder land under dictator Jammeh's watch.

Grab a copy of Mr. M'Bai's book and learn firsthand information about what it means to live under a dictatorship in Africa. This is one of the most informative books ever written so far about the Gambia, and its delusional leader Yahya Jammeh, who claims to have discovered the cure for HIV/AIDS, asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, Infertility, among other diseases. You will be amazed by the amount useful information contained in this book.

Mr. M'Bai's book is also a catalogue of murder mysteries, documented cases of gross human rights violations, endemic culture of corruption, and rule of law crisis in a third world country, called the Gambia, whose leader Yahya Jammeh came to power through a military coup as an army Lieutenant. You will also learn from this book about Gambia's looming economic and infrastructural collapse. Issues relating to poor governance, democratic deficiencies, and human resources crisis featured prominently in Mr. M'Bai's book.

Mr. M'Bai's book also featured American history, and the role Washington could play in helping to bailout countries under going dictatorship in the African region. The author talked about the growing presence of Hezbollah financiers in Africa, and its threat to the United States' national security. The author also stressed about the need for countries to help the United States government in implementing and enforcing the United States Treasury Department sanctions directed at terrorist groups and their financiers. This, Mr. M'Bai says, is crucially imperative on the global war on terror.

The Gambia: The Untold Dictator Yahya Jammeh's Story

A Political History of the Gambia: 1816-1994 is the first complete account of the political history of the former British West African dependency to be written. It makes use of much hitherto unconsulted or unavailable British and Gambian official and private documentary sources, as well as interviews with many Gambian politicians and former British colonial officials. The first part of the book charts the origins and characteristics of modern politics in colonial Bathurst (Banjul) and its expansion into the Gambian interior (Protectorate) in the two decades after World War II. By independence in 1965, older urban-based parties in the capital had been defeated by a new, rural-based political organisation, the People's Progressive Party (PPP). The second part of the book analyzes the means by which the PPP, under President Sir Dawda Jawara, succeeded in defeating both existing and new rival political parties and an attempted coup in 1981. The book closes with an explanation of the demise of the PPP at the hands of an army coup in 1994. The book not only establishes those distinctive aspects of Gambian political history, but also relates these to the wider regional and African context, during the colonial and independence periods.

A Political History of the Gambia, 1816-1994

Wright emphasizes how a steady widening of Niumi's world and its relationships with world systems over the last seven or eight centuries has affected the lives of people living there. In addition to covering the standard elements of economic, social, and political history, he has incorporated newer concerns in world and African history such as transnational and cross-cultural influences, environmental and biological issues, matters pertaining to women, and the effects of globalization on the world's poor. The first edition appeared in 1997; the second benefits from his 2003 visit to the region.

The World and a Very Small Place in Africa: A History of Globalization in Niumi, the Gambia

Islam, Power, and Dependency in the Gambia River Basin draws on new sources to offer an original approach to the study of land in African history. Documenting the impact of Islamization, the development of peanut production, and the institution of colonial rule on people living along the middle and lower Gambia River, the book shows how these waves of changes sweeping the region after 1850 altered local political and social arrangements, with important implications for the ability of elites to control land. Author Assan Sarr argues for a nuanced understanding of land and its historic value in Africa. Moving beyond a recognition of the material value of land, Sarr's analysis highlights its cultural and social worth, pointing out the spiritual associations the land generated and the ways that certain people gained privileged access to those spiritual powers. By emphasizing that the land around the Gambia River both inspired and gave form to a cosmology of ritual and belief, the book points to what might be considered an indigenous tradition of ecological preservation and protection. Assan Sarr is assistant professor of history at Ohio University.

Islam, Power, and Dependency in the Gambia River Basin: The Politics of Land Control, 1790-1940

A rich exploration of how European naturalists used wonder and wonders (oddities and marvels) to envision and explain the natural world.

Winner of the History of Science Society's Pfizer Prize. This book is about setting the limits of the natural and the limits of the known, wonders and wonder, from the High Middle Ages through the Enlightenment. A history of wonders as objects of natural inquiry is simultaneously an intellectual history of the orders of nature. A history of wonder as a passion of natural inquiry is simultaneously a history of the evolving collective sensibility of naturalists. Pursued in tandem, these interwoven histories show how the two sides of knowledge, objective order and subjective sensibility, were obverse and reverse of the same coin rather than opposed to one another.--From the Introduction

"Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750" is about the ways in which European naturalists from the High Middle Ages through the Enlightenment used wonder and wonders, the passion and its objects, to envision themselves and the natural world. Monsters, gems that shone in the dark, petrifying springs, celestial apparitions--these were the marvels that adorned romances, puzzled philosophers, lured collectors, and frightened the devout. Drawing on the histories of art, science, philosophy, and literature, Lorraine Daston and Katharine Park explore and explain how wonder and wonders fortified princely power, rewove the texture of scientific experience, and shaped the sensibility of intellectuals. This is a history of the passions of inquiry, of how wonder sometimes inflamed, sometimes dampened curiosity about nature's best-kept secrets. Refracted through the prism of wonders, the order of nature splinters into a spectrum of orders, a tour of possible worlds.

Wonders and the Order of Nature 1150-1750

This book is about the dilemma(s) of 'third-wave' 'democratization' in Africa. It teases out the general proposition that while the market is a necessary ingredient for development, it is not by itself a sufficient condition for prosperity_the state's role, policy framework, and leadership also matter. Using a counter-example, the book contends that in a poor governance environment, gross human rights violations result in poor economic performance and failure by repressive governments to provide basic needs for the poor in society. While this study is concerned primarily with The Gambia, it nonetheless has a lot to say about Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and other countries in the continent caught in the paralysis of externally driven political and economic transitions and globalization. Locating countries undergoing liberalization and democratization within the global economy_as well as their peripheral status within it_is important, as patterns of contemporary globalization are highly asymmetrical and often associated with a democratic deficit. Consequently, some groups, classes, and states enjoy numerous political and economic freedoms foreign to the vast majority of humanity, which lives in oppressive living conditions. The Paradox of Third-Wave Democratization in Africa is also a comprehensive account of the historical, political, and economic events since the onset of military and quasi-military rule in this West African mini-state of 1.5 million, once the longest surviving functioning democracy in Africa. Predictably, the book is about former President Dawda Jawara as much as it is about soldier-turned-president Yahya Jammeh, who in the last fourteen years has dominated the country's political and economic landscape. In the end, the book posits that various attempts to improve living standards of ordinary Gambians and Africans by client regimes using foisted conventional market-driven economic models alone are not likely to succeed until they are predicated on a basic-needs economic strategy and organically spawned political structures. Finally, the book highlights transnational political and economic ties Diaspora Gambians have established with The Gambia and their attempts to both shape and nudge politics in the second republic in a more democratic direction.

The Paradox of Third-Wave Democratization in Africa: The Gambia Under Afprc-Aprc Rule, 1994-2008

This title in the Culture and Customs of Africa series examines the traditions and customs of contemporary Gambia, a geographically tiny nation in the vast landscape of Africa that is home to a large number of various ethnic groups, each with its own distinctive way of life. It is a country that has been largely unknown in Western culture, with the exception of Alex Haley's book "Roots" and subsequent TV series, which highlights Gambia's historic significance in the slave trade.



This book illuminates Gambian religion and worldview; literature and media; arts and architecture/housing; gender roles, marriage, and family; social customs, traditional dress, cuisine, and lifestyle; and music and dance. The author has successfully encapsulated both long-ago history and contemporary Gambia to provide students with a complete look at life in Gambia today. Information on past traditions and historic events is discussed in the context of how they pertain to life today and their influence on the constant evolution of Gambian life and culture.

Culture and Customs of Gambia

This photographic guide to the wild flowers of Gambia is intended to be of use as a resource for those interested in the natural history of the country. It provides information on the geography, geology, climate, botanical exploration and vegetation types of Gambia, and contains colour photographs which cover a range of native and naturalized plants, with an emphasis on herbaceous species. The text is designed to be easy to understand, highlighting useful characteristics for identification, such as the general appearance of the plant, leaf shape, flower structure, flowering period and type of fruit produced. Information on typical habitat distribution and ethnobotany are also provided, and English and local names are listed.;The use of botanical terminology has been minimized, although not at the expense of accuracy, and a glossary is included.

Gambia

Folk Tales and Fables from the Gambia. Volume 1

Dembo Fanta Bojang

One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia

Miranda Paul

Shady Practices: Agroforestry and Gender Politics in The Gambia

Richard A. Schroeder

The Sun Will Soon Shine

Sally Singhateh

Our Grandmothers' Drums: A Portrait of Rural African Life and Culture

Mark Hudson

The Gambia: The Untold Dictator Yahya Jammeh's Story

Pa Nderry M'Bai

A Political History of the Gambia, 1816-1994

Arnold Hughes

The World and a Very Small Place in Africa: A History of Globalization in Niumi, the Gambia

Donald R. Wright

Islam, Power, and Dependency in the Gambia River Basin: The Politics of Land Control, 1790-1940

Assan Sarr

Wonders and the Order of Nature 1150-1750

Lorraine Daston

The Paradox of Third-Wave Democratization in Africa: The Gambia Under Afprc-Aprc Rule, 1994-2008

Abdoulaye Saine

One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia

Miranda Paul

One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia

Miranda Paul

Culture and Customs of Gambia

Abjoulaye Saine

Flowering Plants Of The Gambia

Michael Jones

The Gambia and its People: Ethnic Identities and Cultural Integration in Africa

Godfrey Mwakikagile