The problem with generalizations
Despite the media's wish for a neat story, the African continent's response to COVID-19 is all over the map.
Politics
The legacy of violence in the struggle for South Africa
An excerpt of an essay, titled “Nongoloza’s Ghost,” in Lapham’s Quarterly. It's published in partnership with Africa Is a Country.
Renewable energy’s dark side
As countries expand investment in decentralized renewable energy, its worth keeping an eye on who's profiting.
We will learn for free and by force
Members of the Capitalism In My City project reflect on the commodification of education in Kenya.
Soft targets
What was behind the assassinations in the 1980s of two key anti-apartheid figures: Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme, and senior ANC official, Dulcie September?
Murder as order
The Ugandan government quells public unrest with violence. What won't it do in the name of "security"?
Unfinished liberatory agendas
How Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere’s approaches to gender politics, help reshape feminist visions for reclaiming a developmental state.
The strange case of Portugal’s returnees
White settler returnees to Portugal in 1975, and the history of decolonization, can help us understand the complicated category of refugee.
A slaughter in Kumba
What will it take for the decades-old regime of Cameroon’s President Paul Biya to address the root cause of the country’s senseless conflict?
Deep and comprehensive dependency
A new report from the Transnational Institute suggests free trade does nothing but drain Tunisia’s wealth.
All that glitters
One corporation's tax tussle with Tanzania holds many lessons for African countries that continue to struggle with the inequitable share of proceeds from their extractive sectors.
Traditional wars
With Kenya in the grip of a global pandemic and grappling with an ailing economy, is constitutional reform really a priority?
Small changes
Cooperatives provide a convenient lens through which to examine the political present and future of Uganda, if not the greater region.
Mozambique’s borders
The dynamics of refuge-seeking in southern Mozambique between 1895 and the 1980s.
The regulatory chill
The shadowy world of bilateral investment treaties urgently needs African alternatives, especially if we want to combat climate change.
How to think about Ethiopian politics today
Social science and the ghosts of “the nationalities question” in Ethiopia today.
Congo’s white ‘refugees’
After the fall of colonial rule, some whites fled from their African countries of residence and sought refuge in apartheid South Africa.
The price of contamination
Legal cases against foreign multinationals in the Central African Copperbelt seek justice for decades of pollution. But activists should also investigate the historical legacies of colonial mining companies.
Ethiopia’s war of narratives
The current political conflict, now a civil war, in Ethiopia partly has its roots in disagreement among elites on how to narrativize Ethiopian history.