60 years after independence, African nations still find it difficult to face a number of challenges, from establishing meaningful democratic institutions to establish social structures centered on the advancement of gender equality. This volume approaches these contemporary African challenges while combating a reflexive and facile Afro-Pessimism.

Introduction: Change and Continuity in Contemporary Africa; Toyin Falola and Emmanuel M. Mbah PART I: COLONIAL AND NEOCOLONIAL LEGACIES 1. Mau Mau Inventions and Reinventions; Mickie Mwanzia Koster 2. Race and Social Islands in Kenya's Urban Spaces; Brillian Besi Muhonja 3. The Second World War and Africa's Socio-Economic Infrastructures: a Case Study of the Nigerian Railroad System; Tokunbo A. Ayoola 4. The Cold War and the Emergence of Economic Divergences: Africa and Asia Compared; S. U. Fwatshak PART II: TRANSFORMATIONAL MOMENTS IN ECONOMIES AND CULTURES 5. Africa's Debt Burden and HIPC Initiative: Cameroon, from Challenges to Opportunity; Augustine Ayuk 6. The Impact of Family Planning Programs on Poverty Alleviation in Cameroon; Consoler T. Teboh 7. Music and the Politics of Culture in a South African Zulu HIV/AIDS Experience: Implications for 'Post-Apartheid' Discourse; Austin C. Okigbo 8. A Parallel Evolution: The Southern Africa Project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law, Apartheid, and American Civil Rights; Myra Ann Houser 9. The Migration of Professionals from Africa: Assessing the Impact of 'Brain Drain' from the Continent; J K Mapulanga-Hulston Conclusion: An Africa that Works; Toyin Falola and Emmanuel M. Mbah