This volume brings together the most up to date analyses of civil society in Africa from the best scholars and researchers working on the subject. Being the first of its kind, it casts a panoramic look at the African continent, drawing out persisting, if often under-communicated, variations in regional discourses. In a majority of notionally 'global' studies, Africa has received marginal attention, a marginality often highlighted by the usual token chapter. Filling a critical hiatus, the Handbook of Civil Society in Africa takes Africa, African developments, and African perspectives very seriously and worthy of academic interrogation in their own right. It offers a critical, clear-sighted perspective on civil society in Africa, and positions African discourses within the framework of important regional and global debates. It promises to be an invaluable reference work for researchers and practitioners working in the fields of civil society, nonprofit studies, development studies, volunteerism, civic service, and African studies.

Chapter 1: Introduction: Turning the Table on Gellner: Alternative Discourses of Civil Society in Africa- Ebenezer Obadare.- Section I: Core Themes.- Chapter 2: Escape from Tyranny: Civil Society and Democratic Struggles in Africa- Darren Kew and Modupe Oshikoya.- Chapter 3: Civil Society and Religion- Shobana Shankar.- Chapter 4: Theorizing media as/and civil society in Africa- Wendy Willems.- Chapter 5: 'Good' State, 'Bad' State: Loss and Longing in Postcolonial Zimbabwe- Julia Gallagher.- Chapter 6: NGO Accountability in Africa- Ronelle Burger and Dineo Seabe.- Section II: Regional Perspectives.- Chapter 7: Civil Society in North Africa- James Sater.- Chapter 8: Civil Society Organizations and the State in East Africa: From the Colonial to the Modern Era- Priscilla Wamucii.- Chapter 9: Civil Society and the Politics of Belonging in Southern Africa- Daniel Hammett.- Chapter 10: Building Civil Society in West Africa: Notes from the Field -Titilope Mamattah.- Chapter 11: Civil Societyin Zimbabwe and 'Most of the World'- Kirk Helliker.- Chapter 12: Viral Messaging, Satire, and Spaces of Resistance in Nigeria- Carole Enahoro.- Chapter 13: Civil Society and Conflict in West Africa- Niklas Hultin.- Section III: Civil Society in the Shadow of Neoliberalism.- Chapter 14: Neoliberalism and the Forms of Civil Society in Kenya and South Africa- Jacob Mati.- Chapter 15: Africa Rising? Afro-Optimism and Uncivil Society in an Era of Economic Volatility- Patrick Bond.- Chapter 16: Civil Society and Neoliberalism- Usman A. Tar.- Section IV: After Development: Gender, Sexuality, and Civic Change.- Chapter 17: Popular Organizations in South Africa: from civics to service delivery protests- Elke Zuern.- Chapter 18: "If Good Food is cooked in One Country, We Will All Eat from It:" Women and Civil Society in Africa- Hannah Britton and Taylor Price.- Chapter 19: NGOs, Civil Society and Development- Badru Bukenya and Samuel Hickey.- Chapter 20: Civil Society and Sexual Struggles in Africa- Ashley Currier and Joëlle M. Cruz.- Chapter 21: Civil Society's Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis in Africa- Richard G. Wamai.- Chapter 22: Orature as a Site for Civil Contestation: Film and the Decolonization of Space and Place in Tsitsi Dangarembga's Kare Kare Zvako (Mother's Day) 2005- Bunmi Oyinsan.- Section V: Aid, Volunteering and Philanthropy.- Chapter 23: Civil Society and Aid in Africa: A case of mistaken identity? - Alan Fowler.- Chapter 24: Volunteering, Civic Service and Civil Society in Africa- Helene Perold and Lauren Graham.- Chapter 25: Philanthropic Foundations and Civil Society in Sub-Saharan Africa- Christiana Atibil.- Chapter 26: Volunteering, Civic Agency and Citizenship in Africa- Ebenezer Obadare.