3 comments about 1001 African Names: First and Last Names from the African Continent.

1. african names of boys and girl



2. This is a great book to have handy. As a complement to this guide and a realistic approach to the genealogy issue I recommend the "Ancestry DNA Toolbox" available at .... Many studies with the human Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA have made it possible to trace back our ancestry. In many cases names and DNA markers can be coupled to study our genealogy. It is not an easy task but worth investigating.



3. I'm interested in naming my children with unique names with an African decent. Unlike others, the book truely reflect what I was looking for in a book of African names. Since African names are hard to pronounce, I was impressed how they took the time to input how to pronounce the names into the book.

No comments about The Trail of the Huguenots: In Europe, the United States, South Africa and Canada Addenda and Corrigenda by Milton Rubincam.

No comments about Domesticating the World: African Consumerism and the Genealogies of Globalization (California World History Library).

5 comments about Roots Recovered!: The How to Guide for Tracing African-American and West Indian Roots Back to Africa and Going There for Free or on a Shoestring Budget.

1. This book is very different. It is a travel book yet it touches upon history and brainwashing of African Americans and how travel to Africa can change the brainwashing. I love Africa so this book did not directly concern me but people who have a bad image of Africa should buy this book. This book is not what I expected but it was a pleasant surprise. This book will make a Black person not be afraid to go to Africa to see it because it informs you of all the misrepresentions.



2. I really like this book. The resources and references are fantastic and the author proves that he knows what he is talking about. His experiences were exciting, genuwine and informative. In addition there are individual chapters on various West African countries and what you might expect during your visits, plus great information on embassy offices, cheap air seats and safety. A must have for the traveler.



3. This book opened my eyes. I was brainwashed about Africa and did not know it. It was if the book was speaking directly to me. This is a great book easy to read but alot of information



4. Roots Recovered is not only a practical travel guide, but also a valuable guide for tracing African-American ancestry! The resources and references in this book are extensive and the writers have traveled to these places--making it a treasure trove of information. The traveler can trace one's roots to specific African tribes. The book contains bits of history and is informative, as well as educational and helps Blacks with the misrepresentations about Africa. As a bonus, the reader learns how to travel for free or on a budget. I especially enjoyed these sections: useful phrases, watch you back, women travelers, photography etiquette and places of interest (not your ordinary ones). This book is a must read for anyone planning to travel to Africa.



5. Thank you for this book. It was exactly what I was looking for. My husband and I will travel to Senegal and Ghana early 2008 and we will be touring those places associated with the slave trade. I am also researching our family trees and am looking forward to returning to the Motherland.
   The part of the book that gives a snapshot of each country on the west coast of Africa, things to take with you and proper behavior in each country was helpful. We would not want to do anything to offend our African brothers and sisters.
   Continue doing what you are doing.
   
   Sincerely yours,
   Hazhin

2 comments about African Names And Naming.

1. "Africa is a continent with thousands of cultures, traditions and languages. Names are part and parcel of the enrichedAfrican heritage. African personal names run into thousands, if not millions.... What this book has done is to compile a listing of about 2,500 names from key central, eastern and southern African countries such as Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Central african Republic, the two Congos, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.... Not only does this book explain the meaning of the name, but it does so in a concise and straightforward comprehensible manner that the general public would understand. In addition, unlike most other books on the matter, this one spells out the actual and correct pronunciation of each name. In addition, unlike most earlier works, this book goes out of its way to list the Western as well as the traditional spelling of the word. For example, "Nalubale" is the Western phonological way of spelling this name, while "Nnalubale" is its traditional and authentic equivalent. What makes this book most appealing is the authors' personal and cultural connection to Africa and hence, their intimate knowledge of the names and their meaning. In addition, the book is written in a concise and clear-cut language that is devoid of unnecessary jargon. ...Jonathan Musere and Shirley C. yakutaga are highly commended for ingeniously having compiled a very well written and illustrated...book about key African names as well as their basic significance, culturally. This book is highly rcommended for people of the African Diaspora, who for historical and/or cultural reasons may want to adoptsome African names. The book will also be invaluable to Africanists, instructors, and teachers of African Linguistics, Literature, History, and Politics, as well as being a basic introductory dictionary to the extremely rich African heritage. The book will also prove to be handy to business people, expatriates, tourists and journey persons who are interested in or have chosen Africa as their destination of travel and/or work." (Stephen Balyanango Isabirye in "The Griot" Vol. 18, No. 2, Fall 1999).



2. A medium sized book in which thousands of African names, their ethnic group and country origins, and their pronunciations are treated to detail. Through the introduction, and the name interpretations, it is shown that names and naming practices in Africa are intimately linked to items like family issues, disappointment, anger, happiness, religion, birth order, demeanor of mother or child, clan group, occupation of the parents, proverbs, etc. The book serves those interested in African names, culture, and proverbs; very good for the general reader and one who is into research on African culture. The book is carefully crafted and heavily referenced. The authors must have devoted a lot of time to putting together literary as well as oral information. Many books on African names are rather simplistic. Some of the names found in this book: Thembi (trust), Sibusiso (blessing), Sepsi (mercy), Simomo (patience), Tayari (ready), Tankiso/ Tebogo(gratitude), Musango (accusation), Lugo (leopard), Lerato (love), Azimio (political declaration), Mayinja (stones), Uhuru (freedom), Umot (a first born), Muguzi (buyer), Mukama (Lord).

2 comments about Genealogists Guide to Discovering Your African-American Ancestors: How to Find and Record Your Unique Heritage (Genealogists Guide to Discovering Your African American Ancestors).

1. The volumes in Betterway's "Genealogist's Guide" series have been genrally excellent in leading researchers through the special problems, situations, and resources connected with non-Anglo-European-male ancestors. Anyone, even an otherwise experienced family historian, who has attempted to develop a black lineage more than three or four generations back in the United States knows the historical and social problems involved often are considerable - but they aren't insurmountable, as the authors show. Smith, a Houston librarian with legal training, learned early of the reluctance of his elderly relatives to discuss the "slave days" and of the tendency of black genealogists to end their quest with the 1870 census. He begins with the basics, the stuff we all learned (or should have) in the first year of research, but slants it toward the necessities of African-American history, including the need to deal with frequent name-changes, "consulting the elders," and evaluating family stories (both of which are especially important here). Likewise, in reading the federal census schedules, one must understand what was meant, both officially and locally, by "colored" and "mulatto," the definitions of which changed over time. Military service records, an important resource in most white pedigrees, are more problematic for black lineages before World War II. Church records are proportionately more important. Smith gives considerable space to the use of white (i.e., slaveholding) family records in tracing black families, and to the proper use of the federal census slave schedules -- subjects few of us have much experience with. Finally, he relates all this through three extended cases drawn from his own family research which exemplify the techniques and adjusted mind-sets he explained earlier. They're well written, carefully worked out, and inspirational as well as informative, and are worth the price of admission by themselves.



2. This book is so informative that I have also given it as a gift. The case studies were great. I was able to conduct more systematic research after reading this book.

1 comments about The Book of African Names.

1. This book classifies and lists the African names by general region, other than by the specific African ethnic groups that use the names. Asante refers to this as as a 'Pan-Africanist' approach and an 'Afrocentric orientation' in classifying the names. The book does not go into detail, and does not address pronunciation of the names. The book would thus be welcomed by the general other than the sophisticated or inquisitive reader on Africa. The meanings that are alloted to the names are mainly brief, using only one or a couple more words. The names number about 1200. Asante admits that he has avoided listing names that have negative connotations. However, a thorough comprehension of African names requires the treatment of names of all kinds. African names that have negative connotations are, for the most part, intended for the good of children born under adverse circumstances. The African logic is that giving a 'bad' name to say a very sick child, will lure away the attention of the evil forces of death.

No comments about African Names.

1 comments about African Names: Names from the African Continent for Children and Adults.

1. i liked this very much...it helped me ou

5 comments about My Traitor's Heart: A South African Exile Returns to Face His Country, His Tribe, and His Conscience.

1. I really enjoyed this book, although I do have some problems with it. First and foremost I will recommend it because I think it offers amazing insight into the psychology of Afrikaners and should be read-by any serious student of South African History. It is a valid historical document in that sense, because it is an honest and well-written, and sometimes deeply moving, biographical account of a "liberal" Afrikaner who has to struggle with his progressive ideals and his residual prejudices.
   
   Rian Malan is a fascinating individual who fully accepts the humanity of all his fellow men and loves people of all colors-but in a way he has also rather unapologetically bought into the idea of some deep and maybe unsurpassable "cultural differences" between "us and them". This involves repeating a traditional refrain about how outsiders "don't understand" how "they" really are. While I agree that outside observers tended to see things in only one dimension, I also think that Malan is somewhat won over to the colonial discourse of "Darkest Africa", that place where savagery reigns.
   
   What about white savagery? Although Malan talks about some white atrocities and even explicitly says they are savage-e.g., a white man forces a black man to castrate himself at gunpoint and then flicks the testicles away with a stick-and although he suggests the Afrikaner is also "savage", he never seems to make this part of "white" South African character. It is always that the whites are acting from fear, because they are "swamped". But clearly the countless cases of white human rights atrocities cannot be attributed to fear. Somehow the violence of "natives" becomes assimilated to their "culture" in his mind-some ancient "African" culture outside observers can't understand, but white inhumanity, no matter how many instances of it there are, and there are countless, is not portrayed the same way, as an offshoot of "culture" that is somehow independent of environment. Whites are always granted a context for their actions; Zulus are simply doing things the way Zulus "always have".
   
   Still, I do think it's a beautiful book in a number of ways, despite these serious flaws, and if you want to know how some Afrikaners think, I think this is a book to look at. I recently talked to a white South African and found his discourse to be similar to Malan's-talk of fear, talk of "strange cultural rites", talk of profound differences that are unbridgeable, upsetting things I generally disagree with, but this discourse is part of the white South African self-understanding. And although poverty and crime are very real in South Africa, I still believe that white South Africans often have a self-justifying ideology that simply refuses to look at what they've done to bring about the problems of modern South Africa and prefers to look at the problems they are faced with, as if they emerged from a vacuum. (Obviously, I'm not excusing anyone's violence of any kind here, just making a point).
   
   This is only human that people prefer to avoid examining their own consciences, and Malan has more humanity, kindness, compassion and insight than most people do anywhere, but you will see what I mean about his essentializing of difference if you read the book, and you should. He loves these "native" men and women, he jokes with them, he finds some brilliant, and at the end of the book he accepts that he has to let go of his fear if he wants to move forward. But he has somewhat convinced me prior to these last pages that he isn't really ready to make that leap, and that his faith in building a new nation could be easily shattered, as of course it will be, if you think in terms of black and white.



2. Before a recent visit to S. Africa, this book was recommended as an introduction to the political climate in S. Africa, especially after Apartheid. This very personal account told by Rian Malan, whose ancestors were directly responsible for the formation of the Apartheid society, traces his teenage rebellion against Apartheid, his career as a liberal newspaper reporter and his ultimate rejection of the violence that the new government has spawned. Be prepared for graphic descriptions of violence committed by both whites and blacks.
   
   A good introduction to the complicated history of S. Africa and leaves the reader with questions regarding the future of that sad country.



3. White liberal draft-dodger hard at work. He's a good writer and the book's a painful look into the heart of a white liberal. My admiration goes rather to those who fought to defend their country.... but it's an insight into the tortured soul of a typical liberal wooftah. Why people put themselves thru all this inner torment I have no idea - have a beer and get over it, bloke! If you'd just done your time in the armed forces like pretty much every other south african had to do instead of taking the chicken run, you wouldn;t be going thru all this turmoil.



4. When I read this book ten plus years ago it blew me away, both as political and narrative non-fiction, and as excellent writing. Malan's voice and humanity perfectly tell an important story. The second reading was as good, if not better.



5. How does one explain the intricacies of Apartheid-era South Africa, from the political turmoil to the constant tribal warring? Primitive thought? Anger spurred by poverty and hunger? Ancient beliefs conflicting with modernity? Racism? There is no one simple answer, and this book does an incredible job of elucidating this. It is harrowing, horrific, and incredibly sad, but it is all real and should be read by all. The story of an incredibly violent and hopeless place told through the eyes of Rian Malan, a descendant of one of the first founders of Apartheid thought, as he retells his life story and searches his soul for an answer, travelling from white affluence to the slums, from America to the soul-crushing gold mines, from the base of a dwindling black political movement to the outermost reaches of the arid rural kwaZulu, meeting whites consumed by intense racial hate and those who tried to love so hard that it destroyed their lives, and telling their life stories along with his, to create an incredibly rich and horrifying mosaic.