Development in Modern Africa: Past and Present Perspectives contributes to our understanding of Africa's experiences with the development process. It does so by adopting a historical and contemporary analysis of this experience. The book is set within the context of critiques on development in Africa that have yielded two general categories of analysis: skepticism and pessimism.

1. Introduction 2. The Priority Argument, Politics, and Development in Africa 3. Female Chastity, Peace and Security in the Precolonial Yorubaland: Implications for National Development 4. Handicraft (ise owo): A Tool for Sustainable Development among Women in Akokoland, 1900-1960 5. Gender and Development in Africa: The Revolving Influence of Urban Centers on the Traditional Obligation of Umuada in Igboland, Nigeria 6. Railways and Economic Development: The Nigerian Experience in the Global Context 7. Community Development in the Light of Ecclesiastical sensitivity to Climate Change in Ilorin, Nigeria 8. Conflict, Insecurity, and Sustainable Development in Africa: The Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria 9. The Creation of Contestation and the Conditions of Encroachment: Land Grabs, Squatting, and the Legacy of Land Reform in Tanzania and Nepal 10. South Africa's policy vision for black businesses - the role of entrepreneurship in development 11. Hypomobility - An Epidemiological Analogue for Viewing Urban Transport Conditions in Africa and other Developing Countries 12. Development Planning Under Stress in West Africa: Exploring Options to Forge Ahead