Time for the world to learn from Africa

Written by Ruth Finnegan

Narrated by Graham Mack

It is a common notion that Africa has, and indeed ought to have, learned much from the west. This is not wrong; all cultures rightly learn from each other. But less is said of what there is to learn from Africa: from her stories, myths, music, proverbs, insights - and more. Here an acclaimed African scholar steps into the gap with a prize winning account that uncovers something of the great legacy of African thought and practice in ways that will astonish many. Written with verve and authority and directed above all to students and sixth formers, this book will also delight and often surprise those who know something of Africa as well as those hitherto ignorant.

 Ruth Finnegan OBE FBA is Emeritus Professor The Open University, Foreign Associate of the Finnish Literature Bureau, and International Fellow of the American Folklore Society. An anthropologist and multi-award author, she has published extensively, chiefly on Africa, musical practice, and English urban life. Recent books include How is Language?, Fiji's Music: Where Did It Come From?, her edited Entrancement: The Consciousness of Dreaming, Music and The World, and several prize-winning Africa-influenced novels, including The Black Inked Pearl and Voyage of Pearl of the Seas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BalestierPress
• Release date: Nov 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822661585

Ruth Finnegan

Ruth Finnegan is a visiting research professor and emeritus professor in the faculty of social sciences at the Open University in the U.K. Finnegan's work Finnegan's work touches on controversial issues about the nature of popular culture, the anthropology and sociology of music, and the quality of people's pathways in modern urban life. Her books include, The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town, Communicating: The Multiple Modes of Human Interconnection, Tales of the City: A Study of Narrative and Urban Life, South Pacific Oral Traditions (edited with Margaret Orbell); and Oral Poetry: Its Nature, Significance, and Social Context.