Aridity, change and conflict in Africa

Deserts and savannas, the incarnations of aridity in Africa, have always presented humans with a challenge. This volume examines the social, political, and cultural solutions harnessed by people to use and transform these arid environments over the last 12,000 years. It comprises revised papers from an international conference hosted by the multidisciplinary Collaborative Research Centre 389 (ACACIA — Arid Climate, Adaptation and Cultural Innovation in Africa) at the Universities of Cologne and Bonn. Bringing together scholars from African Linguistics, Archaeology, Botany, Ecology, Egyptology, Geo-Sciences, History, Social Anthropology, and Zoology, the volume explores human-environment interactions across northeastern, eastern, and southern Africa, including Egypt, the Sudan, Kenya, Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa. Rather than a geographical or disciplinary order, the book is organized into four thematic sections addressing major aspects of cultural practice: from natural preconditions and prehistoric subsistence strategies to martial strife for resources and the management of crisis under state control. Marking a return of the series after previous German-language volumes, this book represents the long-awaited Volume 2 of Colloquium Africanum, capturing the spirit of interdisciplinary Africanist research.