Book Evaluation
Book Citation
Sall, A., Mbeki, T., & Janneh, A. (2003). Africa 2025 : What possible futures for Sub-Saharan Africa? University of South Africa: Unisa Press.
Strategy for Finding the Book
I started my search by asking a UNC reference librarian where I can find books on economic development problems in sub-Saharan Africa, and was sent to the 5th floor in Davis. After finding some of the books referred by the librarian, and not finding a book I was contempt with, I searched the UNC library catalog for "Africa, Sub-Saharan -- Economic conditions" and found this book around the same area I was referred to.
Rationale for Selecting the Book
I thought this book was going to be useful because it was one of the first results from my search, which was constructed from my points of interest. Besides this point, I was not 100% sure this book was going to be useful because the previous books I found were not.
General Evaluation of the Book
Africa 2025 was develop within the frameworks of the United Nations Development Programme's African Futures Project, and was published from an academic publishing company, so I deemed the books authority fairly high. The book covers many different topics and does not go into great detail about any one topic, but it was sufficient enough for my research project. I believe it is intended for academics or anyone interested in possible future African development scenarios. I also rated the books currency fairly high since it was published in 2003 and many, if not all, of the topics coved still pertains to sub-Saharan Africa. Information accuracy was another strong point of this book, backing up many of its statement with facts, graphs, and diagrams. Further research on the topics verified the books information, and upon further researching the book I found it had outside observer to ensure it final form, all which made me feel pretty confident about its content.
Strategies used for Searching within the Book
Most the information found in the book was found using its table on contents, since this book did not feature an index. I found the lack of an index to be weaknesses of this book because it made it harder to find a specific topic since the table of contents is vague. My concerns lead me to search under the "Demographics" and "The Economy" chapters. I also browsed through the book a few times and found interesting information that way as well.
Brief Summary
"Africa 2025 does not claim to know what Africa will be like tomorrow. The objective is to explore possible futures for sub-Saharan Africa. More than a thousand Africans, in 46 countries, women and men, anglophone and francophone, and from very different backgrounds, were involved in this exploration. They first determined the status quo in Africa at the dawn of the twenty-first century, and then they constructed four scenarios for the next 25 years. These scenarios were given metaphorical names: the lions are trapped, the lions are hungry, the lions come out of their den, and the lions mark their territory. In each case, there is a consideration of the conditions that must be in place for these scenarios to become reality." -Unisa online
In the process of mapping out possible scenarios for Africa's future, they discuss some of its problems and effects on the economy within the first few chapters.
Revised Draft Question
I found this book useful in cooperating with my website and as a result I decided to stick with my revised question once again.
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