The first biography of an eminent historian of South Africa Bill Freund, the late social historian and leading analyst of African history, passed away in 2020 soon after finishing his autobiography. Often described as the academy’s ‘outsider insider’, he was an eminent South African historian who published prodigiously in the areas of labour, capital and economic history. What influenced this American-educated academic to become such an astute and trusted observer of the political economy in Africa? We follow Bill’s intellectual journey from a modest Jewish home in Chicago in the 1950s to the Universities of Chicago, Yale, Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, and finally to a permanent teaching position at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. Peppered in between the commentaries on academic life are stories of his travels, poems he wrote for loved ones, and endearing anecdotes of friendships that shaped his life. As an ‘outsider’, both in the United States and abroad, he is able to offer rich insights into the world of Africanists and their scholarship on different continents. His thoughtful and balanced observations on late- and post-apartheid South Africa are especially interesting and refreshing. This posthumously published autobiography will give deeper insight into this unusual man and the world that shaped him – and which he in turn influenced through a deep commitment to rigorous scholarship. It includes a select bibliography of Bill Freund’s many publications as well as a foreword by Robert Morrell on the making of this autobiography.

This unique history highlights South Africa's complex and dynamic attempt to build a developmental state; an attempt that ultimately faltered.

This book is comprehensive both in terms of time coverage, from before the Pharaohs to the present moment and in that it tries to consider cities from the entire continent, not just Sub-Saharan Africa. Apart from factual information and rich description material culled from many sources, it looks at many issues from why urban life emerged in the first place to how present-day African cities cope in difficult times. Instead of seeing towns and cities as somehow extraneous to the real Africa, it views them as an inherent part of developing Africa, indigenous, colonial, and post-colonial and emphasizes the extent to which the future of African society and African culture will likely be played out mostly in cities. The book is written to appeal to students of history but equally to geographers, planners, sociologists and development specialists interested in urban problems.

What is really meant by 'development' in 21st-century post-apartheid South Africa? What are the challenges and complexities of real transformation in this context? The contributions in this book address the ways in which people in all sectors of South African society are confronting its development dilemmas - from the energy crisis, environmental sustainability, and environmental justice, to grassroots social movements, problems of policy implementation, land and agricultural reform, and gender inequality. Written by leading academics and activists, this book is an essential and illuminating in-depth study of the dilemmas facing post-apartheid South Africa, and the historical, political, economic, and social context out of which a new democracy is being built. Collectively, the authors suggest that there is no easy way to attain development - it is a process, not an event, and is fraught with failures and loss, as well as gains.

JAMES BEARD AWARD FINALIST • A casual and practical guide to grilling with Korean-American flavors from chef Bill Kim of Chicago's award-winning bellyQ restaurants, with 80 recipes tailored for home cooks with suitable substitutions for hard-to-find ingredients. Born in Korea but raised in the American Midwest, chef Bill Kim brings these two sensibilities together in Korean BBQ, translating Korean flavors for the American consumer in a way that is friendly and accessible. This isn't a traditional Korean cookbook but a Korean-American one, based on gatherings around the grill on weeknights and weekends. Kim teaches the fundamentals of the Korean grill through flavor profiles that can be tweaked according to the griller's preference, then gives an array of knockout recipes. Starting with seven master sauces (and three spice rubs), you’ll soon be able to whip up a whole array of recipes, including Hoisin and Yuzu Edamame, Kimchi Potato Salad, Kori-Can Pork Chops, Seoul to Buffalo Shrimp, BBQ Spiced Chicken Thighs, and Honey Soy Flank Steak. From snacks and drinks to desserts and sides, Korean BBQ has everything you need to for a fun and delicious time around the grill.

In Apartheid Israel: The Politics of an Analogy, eighteen scholars of Africa and its diaspora reflect on the similarities and differences between apartheid-era South Africa and contemporary Israel, with an eye to strengthening and broadening today’s movement for justice in Palestine.

Working as merchants, skilled tradesmen, clerks, lawyers, and journalists, Indians formed the economic and administrative middle class in colonial Kenya. In general, they were wealthier than Africans, but were denied the political and economic privileges that Europeans enjoyed. Moreover, despite their relative prosperity, Indians were precariously positioned in Kenya. Africans usually viewed them as outsiders, and Europeans largely considered them subservient. Indians demanded recognition on their own terms. Indians in Kenya chronicles the competing, often contradictory, strategies by which the South Asian diaspora sought a political voice in Kenya from the beginning of colonial rule in the late 1890s to independence in the 1960s. Indians’ intellectual, economic, and political connections with South Asia shaped their understanding of their lives in Kenya. Sana Aiyar investigates how the many strands of Indians’ diasporic identity influenced Kenya’s political leadership, from claiming partnership with Europeans in their mission to colonize and “civilize” East Africa to successful collaborations with Africans to battle for racial equality, including during the Mau Mau Rebellion. She also explores how the hierarchical structures of colonial governance, the material inequalities between Indians and Africans, and the racialized political discourses that flourished in both colonial and postcolonial Kenya limited the success of alliances across racial and class lines. Aiyar demonstrates that only by examining the ties that bound Indians to worlds on both sides of the Indian Ocean can we understand how Kenya came to terms with its South Asian minority.

The official historiography of the Ethiopian Empire as well as the majority of the publications on Ethiopian history by European authors used to view the country as a single cultural whole, and to deal only with the history of the Christian empire. The different historical experiences of the Ethiopian multiethnic society and culture used to be usually ignored. In contrast to such one-sided approach this book deals with the Macca Oromo activities, social transformation and historical experiences in the western part of Central Ethiopia, focusing on the political economy of the region. The sources for the book include: 1. written documents in Ethiopian languages (Amharic and Ge'ez), e.g. archival materials, 2. reports by European travellers and missionaries, 3. recent secondary literature, and 4. traditions and oral history collected mainly in Wallagga in 1972-73 and 1979-80. In that region the Macca states had played an important political and economical role until they were subjugated by the order of Menelik II and incorporated into the Ethiopian Empire at the end of the 19th century. Tesema Ta'a belongs to the first generation of the Ethiopian historiographers who graduated from Addis Ababa University in the seventies, and later formed the teaching staff of the History department in Addis Ababa.

A selection of papers first delivered at the conference on Africa's Urban Past, held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1996.