TRANSITION 51: Table of Contents
POSITIONS____________________
Beyond the Berlin Wall
If Africa can't rid itself of a corrupt and opportunistic leadership, religious zealots stand ready to pick up where ideological zealots left off. The clock is ticking for those who haven't read the writing on the wall. Wole Soyinka
The End of Ideologies?
Rumors of the Left's demise may be exaggerated. With Reaganomics teetering on the precipice and the Kremlin out of the picture, Fuentes argues that a truly progressive politics is needed now more than ever. Carlos Fuentes
On Seeing England for the First Time
In a personal meditation on the experience of cultural erasure, Kincaid recalls that as a child growing up in Antigua, three words ran through her life: Made in England. Jamaica Kincaid
Mandela, Messianism, and the Media
While Mandela has nimbly avoided the Messianic mantle, glamour politics is a dangerous temptation for his followers. Mandelamania may suit the short-term needs of the media more than the long-term needs of national liberation. Rob Nixon
The African Scholar
Is an “African perspective” at odds with the scholarly idea of objectivity? A leading African intellectual considers the impact Africa could make on the knowledge industry. Abiola Irele
Vile Bodies, Vile Places: Travelling with Granta
It's the perfect read for the armchair colonialist. Sugnet takes a look at some lovely prose about nasty places and wonders—what century is this anyway? Charles Sugnet
AIDS, Africa, and Cultural Theory
Both the continent and the disease hold a morbid fascination for the Western imagination: what happens when you put them together? A year of international conferences and press reports shows that statistical knowledge travels well; cultural knowledge does not. Paula Treichler
“No Longer in a Future Heaven”: Women and Nationalism in South Africa
From “Botha's Babes” to “Ma Africa,” women have had a totemic role in South Africa's nationalist movements. But is feminism really just a distraction from the serious business at hand? Anne McClintock ponders the politics of wait-your-turn.
Visions of Excess: African Development in an Age of Marketplace Idolatry
After ten years of strong medicine from the free-market theologians, most African economies are as sickly as ever. Maybe it's time to put away the World Bank's leeches and cups—and get a second opinion. Michael Watts
UNDER REVIEW____________________
Mandela at the Crossroads
Dennis Brutus reviews the challenges facing Mandela as well as the organization he represents—and ventures nine bleak predictions.
Philadelphia Fire
Kathleen Cleaver revisits the MOVE crisis with the new pundits of “conflict resolution” and asks why nobody is asking the right questions.
The Logic of Racial Preferences
Stephen J. Carter says what he thinks Shelby Steele and Thomas Sowell get right, what they get wrong, and why both their friends and foes are overreacting.
Looking for Trouble
Kobena Mercer takes a second look at Robert Mapplethorpe's controversial nudes, and discovers whose national endowments Senator Jesse Helms is really worried about.
Whither Rushdie?
For those who insist on burning books, Sara Suleri surveys recent works on the Rushdie affair and comes up with at least one that deserves a singeing.
If You Can't Join 'Em, Beat 'Em
From underground bestseller Shahrazad Ali to curmudgeonly critic Stanley Crouch, Michele Wallace finds reason to speculate about the new climate of cultural and sexual conservatism.
IN FOCUS____________________
What Makes Michael Run? Wesley Kerr talks with Jamaica's prime minister about his chameleonic career and weighs the research of his biographer, too.
Now I Know My ABC's Ernest Gellner pages through the first encyclopaedia of nationalism and reassesses the A-B-C paradox.
Monsieur Negritude Christopher L. Miller on a new biography of Senegal's master of masks, Leopold Sedar Senghor.
Minding South Africa Lewis Nkosi on recent histories of South Africa by Allister Sparks and Leonard Thompson.
Sand Trap David Rieff on a Middle-East travelogue that mistakes whinging for wit.
So This Is What It's Like R. Neville Choonoo on Allbie Sach's memoir of dismemberment and recovery.