Africa South of the Sahara(Europa Publications) and The Middle East and North AfricaNumerous reference books contain information arranged in country-by-country order. See, for example:
- New African Yearbook 1995-96 (Rake 1995-96). The tenth edition of this guide presents information on the political history, economy, and politics of 53 African nations. Statistical data and a country map are included in each profile. Each profi
le is written by one or more Africa specialists. Material in the New African Yearbook 1995-1996 is clearly presented and will serve the information needs of students and specialists equally well.
- The organization of country profile information in part 2 of Black Africa: A Comparative Handbook (Morrison et al. 1989) ensures that comparisons are easy to make between social, political, and economic data for forty-one individual African nat
ions.
- The two volumes in the Culturgrams: The Nations around Us (Skabelund 1995) developed by the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, Brigham Young University, place an emphasis on the daily customs and lifestyles of populations in the
countries they profile. Four-page "culturgrams" of more than 30 African nations are presented (intermixed with profiles of the nations of Asia and Oceania) in volume 2.
- Africa South of the Sahara(Europa Publications) and The Middle East and North Africa(Europa Publications). These two long-standing annual publications contain a section of commissioned essays on a variety of topics, an introduction to ke
y organizations related to the region (e.g., Permanent Missions to the United Nations), and alphabetically arranged country surveys that cover the physical and social geography, history, and economy of each nation. Each country survey concludes with a sta
tistical survey, a directory of organizations, and a bibliography of relevant readings.
- The two-volume Europa World Year Book, also published annually by Europa Publications, provides a condensed version of the information in the first part of the Africa country surveys (i.e., history, economy, etc.). The information in the second
part--the statistical survey, directory of organizations, and bibliography--is essentially the same as in the regional volumes described above.
- Volume 2 in the five-volume Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations Gale Research 1995) contains 55 country chapters covering African nations from Algeria to Zimbabwe and, as well, the African dependencies of France and the United Kingdom. Inform
ation in the Worldmark Encyclopedia is presented in a style that is more accessible to the lay reader than the rather dense prose and detailed data tables of the Europa publications.
- Country profiles of African nations, among others, are also a feature of The Political Handbook of the World (Muller), an authoritative reference guide that has been published for more than 65 years. The profiles provide basic facts and data; a
guide to top government officials; a concise overview of the country's history, political background, constitutional structure, and foreign relations; informed commentary on "current issues"; and a description of major political parties.
- The Facts on File Handbooks to the Modern World: Africa (Moroney 1989) combines country profiles (volume 1) with articles by many of the world's leading Africa specialists on political, economic, and social affairs in Africa (volume 2). The 32
articles in volume 2 cover subjects such as South Africa's wars on its neighbors (Joseph Hanlon), the Organization of African Unity (Colin Legum), Africa's response to International Monetary Fund/World Bank structural adjustment programs (Bade Onimode), b
anking institutions (Ann Seidman), women (Efua Graham and Wendy Davies), Africa's environmental crisis (Jimoh Omo-Fadaka), labor issues and trade unionism (Nicholas Van Hear and Taffy Adler), and religion and social forces in Africa (Ali Mazrui).
- African nations north of the Sahara are profiled along with the nations of the Middle East in part 2 of Arab World Notebook: Secondary School Level (Shabbas and Al-Qazzaz 1989).
- The United Nations is publishing individual volumes of information on nations in Africa and elsewhere in which the United Nations has had significant involvement. Africa-related volumes in the UN's Blue Book Series include The United Nations and Mo
zambique, 1992-1995; The United Nations and Somalia, 1992-1996; and The United Nations and Rwanda, 1993-1996. See also, The United Nations and Apartheid, 1948-1994. Information on the Blue Books series is available from the UN Department
of Public Information, United Nations, New York, NY 10017 USA.
Finally, for detailed statistical and other data on African nations consult the various annual guides and reference handbooks compiled and published by the United Nations and its agencies. See, for instance, the Demographic Handbook for Africa/Guide
Demographique de l'Afrique (United Nations 1992), African Development Indicators (United Nations Development Programme and World Bank 1996), and Human Development Report 1994 (United Nations Development Programme 1994).
Publishers series
Various publishing houses have undertaken the regular production of books on individual countries in Africa. See the highly recommended Country Profile series from Oxfam Publications (Oxford), the Historical Dictionary series from Scarecrow Press (Lanham,
Md.), the Marxist Regimes series from Pinter Publishers (London and New York), and the Profiles/Nations of Contemporary Africa series from Westview Press (Boulder, Colo.). Publishers of educational materials provide country-specific elementary school tex
tbooks on various African countries. These are often of varying quality and it is good to check with a source such as Africa Access (Silver Spring, Md.) or with the staff at an African studies center at a nearby college or university for help in id
entifying textbooks that are accurate and fair. Representative elementary school materials with a focus on African nations are the Where We Live series from Steck-Vaughn Library (Austin, Texas), the World Focus series from Heinemann (Oxford), and t
wo series from Childrens Press (Chicago): Enchantment of the World and A New True Book.
Curricula with a National Orientation
- Benin: Source Pack for Key Stage 2.
Text written and sources selected by Andrew Forson. Illustrations by Rosemary Forson. Cover design by Julia Forson. Wellingborough: Northamptonshire Black History Group, 1992. ISBN 1-873886-04-7.
- Hanging by a Thread: Trade, Debt and Cotton in Tanzania.
Designed and illustrated by Juliet MacDonald. Leeds: Leeds Development Education Centre, 1992. ISBN 1-871268-35-4.
- Eritrea: Africa's Newest Country.
Written by Ruth Lewis, with assistance from Claire Booker. London: Christian Aid, 1993. ISBN 0-904379-17-5.
- An Introduction to Zambia.
Written and designed by Heather Jarvis. London: UNICEF-UK, 1992.
- Kapsokwony, Rural Kenya: A Locality in an Economically Developing Country.
Written by Steve Brace. Photographs by Joseph Louw. Illustrations by Harald Smykla. Somerset: ACTIONAID, 1991.
- New Journeys: Teaching about Other Places. Learning from Kenya and Tanzania.
Written by Sukhvinder Kaur Barhey et al. Edited by Catherine McFarlane and Audrey Osler. Birmingham: Development Education Centre, 1991. ISBN 0-948838-17-5.
- Our Country, Our Future: A Teaching Pack about South Africa.
Mbali Ngcobo, Sindisiwe Sabela, and Mduduzi Sishi. Edited by Gillian Symons. London: Research on Education in Southern Africa, Institute of Education, 1994. ISBN 0-85473-401-5.
- Kenya: The Final Frontier?
Written by Bernard Dady. Produced by Leeds Development Education Centre, Matrix Multimedia, and the Educational and Multimedia Association. Bradford: Matrix Multimedia, 1996. CD-ROM.
- Triumph of Hope: Eritrea's Struggle for Development. An Activity Pack for Sixth Forms and Campaigning Groups.
Written by Lyn Routledge, Graham Harrison, and Nigel West. Leeds: Leeds Development Education Centre, 1994. ISBN 1-871268-65-6.
- Where Camels Are Better Than Cars: A Locality Study in Mali, West Africa.
Written by John and Sarah Snyder with Catherine McFarland. Co-published by Development Education Centre and Save the Children, UK. Birmingham: Development Education Centre, 1992. ISBN 0-948838-25-6.
Africa's 53 Nations
