Springer African Legal Theory and Contemporary Problems: Critical Essays: 29 (Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, 29)

This collection of essays aims to position African legal theory in the context of the myriad of contemporary global challenges; from the prevalence of war to the misery of poverty and disease to the manifold crises of the environment. Review “This book makes an excellent contribution to the never-ending intellectual struggle against European assumptions and prejudice about the nature of past and contemporary Africa. … it provides an opportunity to understand the meanings of power and the epistemological assumptions that can aid a re-imagination of Africans’ future.” (Steve Ouma Akoth, African Affairs, September, 2016) From the Back Cover The book is a collection of essays, which aim to situate African legal theory in the context of the myriad of contemporary global challenges; from the prevalence of war to the misery of poverty and disease to the crises of the environment. Apart from being problems that have an indelible African mark on them, a common theme that runs throughout the essays in this book is that African legal theory has been excluded, under-explored or under-theorised in the search for solutions to such contemporary problems. The essays make a modest attempt to reverse this trend. The contributors investigate and introduce readers to the key issues, questions, concepts, impulses and problems that underpin the idea of African legal theory. They outline the potential offered by African legal theory and open up its key concepts and impulses for critical scrutiny. This is done in order to develop a better understanding of the extent to which African legal theory can contribute to discourses seeking to address some of the challenges that confront African and non-African societies alike.