Contact : info@webguine.site
webGuinée, Camp Boiro Memorial, webAfriqa © 1997-2015 Afriq Access & Tierno S. Bah. All rights reserved.
Fulbright Scholar. Rockefeller Foundation Fellow. Internet Society Pioneer. Smithsonian Research Associate.
World Bibliographical Series. Vol. 191. CLIO Press.
Santa Barbara, Calif. 1996. 89 p. 1 map.
Guinea, situated on Africa's west coast, is potentially one of the richest countries on the continent in terms of natural resources, yet the Guinean people remain among the poorest in the world. Despite possessing large reserves of bauxite as well as diamonds, iron ore and gold, industry remains undeveloped. Similarly, although the climatic and soil conditions are suitable for a wide range of agriculture, food production has not kept pace with population growth.
The estimated seven and a half million people comprise several ethnic groups including the Soussou, the Fula, the Malinké, and several smaller groups such as the Kissi, Toma, and Kuranko. In addition, the country is host to hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia. Conakry, the capital, lies on the coast and was developed by the French who colonized Guinea at the end of the 19th century. The relationship with France was abruptly severed in 1958, when Guinea, the only French African colony to reject membership of a prposed French African Community, was granted independence. Ahmed Sékou Touré, leader of the PDG became president, but his policy of socialist revolution and ruthless suppression of any opposition caused a period of ecnomic decline and international isolation. After Sékou Touré's sudden death in 1984, General Lansana Conté seized power as leader of military committee, which was later replaced by civilian rule. General Conte embarked on a period of economic liberalization and administrative restructuring and lifted the ban on politcal activity, resulting in the establishment of over forty political organizations. Conté, supported by the Parti de l'Unité et du Progrès (PUP), won the presidential elections held in December 1993 and in the legislative elections held in June 1995, which were denounced as a sham by the opposition parties, the PUP also won the majority of seats. The country is now only making a slow recovery from the economic mismanagement of Touré's regime, and indicators such life expectancy, infant mortality and literacy rates still compare unfavourably with other sub-Saharan countries.
This is the first annotated bibliography on Guinea to be published. Although most of the writings on the country are in French, wherever possible English-language material has been included on all aspects of the country's history, economy, population, arts and literature. Researchers, students, librarians and general readers alike will find this an indispensable reference tool.
About the author
M. Binns is a trained librarian who has worked in the libraries of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. With her husband, Tony Binns, she co-authored the volume on Sierra Leone (1992) in the World Bibliographical Series. She currently works as a freelance editor and indexer.
Contact : info@webguine.site
webGuinée, Camp Boiro Memorial, webAfriqa © 1997-2015 Afriq Access & Tierno S. Bah. All rights reserved.
Fulbright Scholar. Rockefeller Foundation Fellow. Internet Society Pioneer. Smithsonian Research Associate.