978-3-89645-216-0
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Living with the Lake
ISBN 978-3-89645-216-0
Living with the Lake
Perspectives on History, Culture and Economy of Lake Chad
Edited by Matthias Krings, Editha Platte. With contributions by Heinrich Thiemeyer, Peter Breunig, Carlos Magnavita et al.
Series: Studien zur Kulturkunde Volume 121
2004
293 pp., 17 maps, 5 drawings, numerous tables and charts, size: 240 x 170 mm
€ 39.80
As a water reservoir between desert and savannah, Lake Chad has attracted many immigrating groups and individuals from times immemorial until present. The annual fluctuation of the water level and the flood accompanying that cyclical change gave space for cultivation, fishery and hunting but also room for hide-outs and refuge. The political dynamics of the area is of similar importance. Lake Chad served as crossroads for ruling dynasties and commoners, as a region where new political formations developed but also as a natural barrier which diverted trade and interaction.
Despite its important role in the development of the wider region's cultural history, the social sciences - unlike the natural sciences - discovered Lake Chad as a rich and promising field of study only comparatively late. The present volume attempts to address this shortcoming in drawing together essays from the academic fields of anthropology, archaeology, geography and history. Most contributions to this volume originated within the context of the Joint Research Project "Cultural Development and History of Languages in the West-African Savannah" by the Universities of Frankfurt/Main (Germany) and Maiduguri (Nigeria) between 1989 and 2002. The contributors draw on their rich experiences in the field and present both new findings on historical and recent social and cultural transformations, and previously published data in re-interpretation.
CONTENTS:
Matthias Krings and Editha Platte
Living with the Lake. An Introduction
Heinrich Thiemeyer
Environmental and Climatic History of Lake Chad during the Holocene
Peter Breunig
Environmental Instability and Cultural Change in the Later Prehistory of the Chad Basin
Carlos Magnavita
Zilum. Towards the Emergence of Socio-Political Complexity in the Lake Chad Region
Karsten Brunk and Detlef Gronenborn
Floods, Droughts, and Migrations. The Effects of Late Holocene Lake Level Oscillations and Climate Fluctuations on the Settlement and Political History in the Chad Basin
Gisela Seidensticker-Brikay
Lake Chad. Arabic and European Imagination and Reality
Ulrich Braukämper
Towards a Chronology of Arabic Settlement in the Chad Basin
Nikolaus Schareika
Bush for Beasts. Lake Chad from the Nomadic Wodaabe Point of View
Mohammed Adam
The Chad Basin Development Project. Rise and Fall of a Giant Irrigation Project in West Africa
Matthias Krings
Fishing for Naira. Some Social Trends in Lake Chad Fishery. An Overview
Bärbel Freyer
The Pains of Temporary Sojourning. Igbo Migrants at Lake Chad
Editha Platte
Sex, Drugs and goge. The Amusement Quarter of Jibrillarum
Matthias Krings
Farming the Frontier. Hausa Migrants and the Politics of Belonging on the Former Lake Floor of Lake Chad (Nigeria)
Reviews
Au total, voici donc un livre extrêmement intéressant, qui nous offre un tableau riche et précis des phénomènes socio-culturels provoqués par les variations du lac Tchad et surtout par son assèchement actuel. Sur l'afflux de migrants et la société nouvelle qui prend forme, dans cet espace pionnier, il apporte des informations d'autant plus précieuses qu'elles faisaient défaut jusqu'alors.
Catherine Baroin in Méga Tchad 2004 pp. 92-93
"Living with the Lake" offers a new, plural and functional perspective on the uses of the lake since ancient times. This multidisciplinary work is easy to read, well targeted and shows an excellent knowledge of the field.
Saïbou Issa in Sociologus 2007/1 pp. 137
