Afrasia

Ali A. Mazrui is Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities at the State University of New York in Binghamton, New York. He has been officially received by the heads of state of India and China and has served as chancellor of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Dr. Mazrui has also served as president of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists of North America. His research interests include the soft power of culture and religion in the Middle East and South Asia and the years of ideological power in Mao’s China.Seifudein Adem is associate professor of political science at the State University of New York in Binghamton, New York. He has taught at universities in Ethiopia, Japan, and the United States. Dr. Adem has published widely on the political economy of Africa-China relations and Africa-Japan relations.

• Preface and AcknowledgementsIntroduction: Toward Afro-Asian Strategies for Containing GlobalizationALI A. MAZRUISECTION IHISTORICAL OVERVIEW1 Africa and Asia in the Postcolonial EraALI A. MAZRUI2 The Baganda and the JapaneseALI A. MAZRUI3 The Lion of Judah and the DragonSEIFUDEIN ADEMSECTION IIRACE, RELIGION AND DIPLOMACY4 The Yellow Man’s Burden: Race and Revolution in Sino-African RelationsALI A. MAZRUI5 Changing the Guards from Hindus to MuslimsALI A. MAZRUI6 Africa in Japanese Diplomatic ThoughtSEIFUDEIN ADEM7 Diplomacy and Economics of Sino-Optimism in EthiopiaSEIFUDEIN ADEMSECTION IIINATIONALISM, DECOLONIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT8 John Locke and Mahatma Gandhi in African ResistanceALI A. MAZRUI9 Gandhi, Marx and the Warrior Tradition: Towards Androgynous Liberation ALI A. MAZRUI10 Comparative Culture and Development: The Case of JapanSEIFUDEIN ADEMSECTION IVBETWEEN WAR AND PEACE11 Islam at War and Communism in Retreat: What is the Connection?ALI A. MAZRUI12 Japan and the Iraq WarSEIFUDEIN ADEM13 Conflict Resolution in JapanSEIFUDEIN ADEMSECTION VMIGRATION AND DIASPORIZATION14 Africa and India as Mothers of DiasporasALI A. MAZRUI15 Comparative Diasporas in Japan and the United StatesSEIFUDEIN ADEM16 Afro-Optimism from Mahatma Gandhi to Barack ObamaALI A. MAZRUISECTION VIROLE MODELS IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION17 Africa between Meiji Restoration and Legacy of AtatürkALI A. MAZRUI18 Is Japan’s Cultural Experience Relevant for Africa’s Development?SEIFUDEIN ADEM19 Japan in AfricaSEIFUDEIN ADEM20 The Arab Spring and Female EmpowermentALI A. MAZRUI21 Conclusion: Toward Sociology of Discourse on Sino-African RelationsSEIFUDEIN ADEMSECTION VIIAPPENDICESAppendix One. God’s Omnipotence and Human Genius: From the Afro-Asian Tsunami to Shakespeare’s TempestALI A. MAZRUIAppendix Two. From Osagyefo Nkrumah to Nana Obama: Between the Post-Colonial and the Post-RacialALI A. MAZRUI

This is not, strictly speaking, a ‘Tale of Two Continents’ so much as a number of eclectic offerings about parts of Africa and parts of Asia, crossing time, space, races, and cultures. Indeed, it is rewarding precisely for this reason, and for trying to move scholarship forward in ways that, building on broad historical foundations, endeavour to be fresh, critical, and self-reflexive.The book offers a colourfully presented and decidedly mixed, wide-ranging menu, rather than a sustained argument. . . .Afrasia: A Tale of Two Continents will likely benefit those with some familiarity with its subject areas more than those new to, or starting to engage, its core themes. Overall, it offers an enlivening and unconventional contribution, with the potential to catalyse further work in positive ways. Its critical invocation of the need for a discourse about discourse on Africa’s relations with China, Japan, or India points the way to promising scholarly directions, including, as Ngugi wa Thiong’o would like to see, ways that go beyond the age of European empires and post-colonial influence. This can only be a good thing, especially if it catalyses further such insightful works by leading African scholars that properly enrich and advance these avenues of enquiry.