Johannesburg, July 25, 2009 – The South African Institute of International Affairs (Wits University) and the Nelson Mandela-initiated Institute for Global Dialogue have co-published a new book entitled Somaliland: an African struggle for nationhood and international recognition.

Authored by Unisa’s Prof Iqbal Jhazbhay of the College of Human Sciences, this book has received a number of accolades.

Internationally-acclaimed father of African studies, Prof Ali Mazrui, in his foreword to the book, describes this newly-published book as "a major scholarly success". Founding President of the Somali Studies International Association, Prof Hussein Adam, refers to this inter-disciplinary study as "the first substantial study covering both the domestic and international dimensions of Somaliland’s quest for nationhood and recognition … a timely and brilliant analysis."

This new published manuscript stands out as the first South African authored study of the Somali predicament. Prof Jhazbhay "contributes significantly to our understanding of the Horn of Africa in the context of wider international forces. It also contributes to a number of different theoretical concerns --- ranging from the role of culture in nation-building to the emerging forces of radical Islam, and from the nature of post-war reconstruction to the dilemmas between self-determination and regional integration."

Unisa’s Department of Religious Studies and Arabic is the only South African academic department which offers a graduate module and advanced research on Islam and politics in the Horn of Africa.

Source: Unisa

Click here to download the foreword to this book.

Click here for more information on the book.

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