Description
This is a frantic, mystical journey through Africa's biggest metropolis: Lagos. Going beyond the popular images of mad traffic or crowded slums, we learn of the incredible feats Lagosians pull off to survive their broken-down city, and the secret enabling them to cope with the chaos and precarity of Nigeria's most populous centre: spirituality.
A female street fighter in a male-dominated mafia extortion business. Two powerful chiefs locked in a deadly feud over billion-dollar real estate. An oil tycoon who gambles her fortune on televangelists' prophecies. A rubbish scavenger dreaming of a reggae career. A fisherman's son trying to save Makoko, the 'floating slum', from demolition. A priestess to a river goddess selling sand to feed Lagos's construction boom.
Belief in unseen forces unites these figures, as does their commitment to worshipping them--at shrines, in mosques and in churches. In this extraordinary city, Tim Cocks uncovers something universal about human nature in the face of danger and high uncertainty: our tendency to place faith in a realm beyond.
About the Author
Tim Cocks is a British-born journalist of South African parentage. Currently based in Johannesburg, he was formerly Reuters West & Central Africa bureau chief, based in Dakar, following four years in Lagos as Nigeria bureau chief. He holds an MA in Philosophy & Theology from the University of Oxford.
More Details
- Contributor: Tim Cocks
- Imprint: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
- ISBN13: 9781787386945
- Number of Pages: 344
- Packaged Dimensions: 138x216mm
- Format: Hardback
- Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
- Release Date: 2022-05-26
- Binding: Hardback
- Biography: Tim Cocks is a British-born journalist of South African parentage. Currently based in Johannesburg, he was formerly Reuters West & Central Africa bureau chief, based in Dakar, following four years in Lagos as Nigeria bureau chief. He holds an MA in Philosophy & Theology from the University of Oxford.
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