This Week in Africa
April 7, 2023
Quote of the week
“It is unapologetically and decisively a pan-African, pan-diasporic museum. I am adamant about it…we are building our own voice, our own language.” – Zeitz Mocaa museum director Koyo Kouoh
Kamala Harris’ Africa trip
Kamala Harris returns from her trip to Africa, and makes these remarks. The US government announced $7 billion in financing to private and government commitments to combat climate change on the continent. Elizabeth Schmidt explains what the trip was really about. Landry Signe explores whether the trip delivered on US commitments or countered advances by Russia and China. Gilles Yabi explains how the US can better engage with fragile and conflict-affected states. The Daily podcast suggests that America might have an Africa problem.
Governing Nigeria
Bola Tinubu takes over Nigeria and is tasked with steadying a “broken system.” Watch this video “Unmasking the real Bola Ahmed Tinubu.” Defeated candidates Obi and Atiku team up to oppose the new president. Does Amazon Prime show Gangs of Lagos have anything to teach us?
Next steps in Sudan
Protesters marked the anniversary of key dates when they ousted coup leaders in Sudan, sparking concerted military presence by security forces. Will the two generals leading the country deliver democracy or war?
Migration and displacement
Tunisia remains very influential in Europe for its role in migration policy. Migration could help people adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Struggle for rights and freedom
Scores are killed in fighting in Los Anod, a city on the border of Somaliland. Tweets by Museveni’s son sparks succession concerns in Uganda. Questions emerge after death of a police officer in Kisumu, Kenya. This piece examines prospects for peace in Central African Republic. Senegal holds first military parade in four years amid political tensions. There is a long shadow of Apartheid in South Africa.
US evangelicals help homophobia flourish in Africa. Burkina Faso expels two French reporters. Learn more about the African students who fled Ukraine. Democracy in Africa launches a series on “Internet Shutdowns and Democracy in Africa.” The first article examines what happens when the state security goes rogue. This article explores one man’s difficulties in surviving the Buni Yadi Tragedy in northern Nigeria. Did Europeans discover Africa or was it the other way around?
The logic of slavery reparations.
Africa’s rapid urbanization
This article outlines a lexicon for post-pandemic cities. Adam Auerbach and Tanu Kumar have this great new GLD Working Paper on politics on the urban periphery; the evidence from India provides insights for scholars working on urban Africa. Danielle Resnick keeps writing good stuff: Mayoral elections and partisan dynamics in Africa’s local governments. This looks like a very cool article on electricity, agency, and class in colonial Lagos. Learn about the socio-spatial dynamics of regime shifts in Addis Ababa’s urbanization. There have been lots of great IIED blog posts on the transition to an urban world. Everything is being stripped down and stolen in South Africa’s city of gold.
Is Akon City an impossible dream? Squandermania or Nigerian urban renaissance?
Research corner
I can’t wait to read the forthcoming biography of Frantz Fanon, The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon. Africa’s Global Infrastructures looks great. Check out Carceral Afterlives: Prisons, Detention, and Punishment in Postcolonial Uganda. Remittances and Financial Inclusion is out soon. Check out this new resource on The History of African Development.
This article examines the community-based responses during the 2014 Ebola epidemic in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Karen Bouwer examines axes of hope in urban Congolese literature. Make sure to check out Mai Hassan and Kathleen Klaus’ “Closing the Gap: The Politics of Property Rights in Kenya” and Joan Ricart-Huguet and Emily Sellars’ “The Politics of Decentralization Level: Local and Regional Devolution as Substitutes.”
Daniel Treisman asks: How great is the current danger to democracy? What role for aid in countries with and without a development bargain?
The week in development
Marisa Lourenco explains the state of Zambia’s economy. Tunisia stokes fears of economic collapse after it rejects deal with IMF. The world’s peak population might be smaller than expected. West African countries struggle to raise money from the regional debt market. Abu Dhabi has grand designs for coltan in the DR Congo. This article offers a new tool to predict rural poverty. A Chinese bank gains approval to finance a big railway in Nigeria. This piece outlines South Sudan’s war economy.
Africa and the environment
Nanjala Nyabola asks: In a world on fire, what do we owe each other? Check out Kenya’s new electric busses. Atlantic Lithium plans Ghana stock market listing as it plans to supply Tesla. The war in Tigray wiped out decades of environmental progress. This piece outlines climate change and security risks in West Africa.
Daily life
Good afternoon, Gaborone and Johannesburg. Good night, Cape Town. Cool to see Peace Medie’s Nightbloom on Elle’s list of books to read this summer. Koyo Kouoh wants to democratize museum-going in South Africa. Lessons from a Ugandan Jew. RIP Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou, musician and nun.
An introduction to “Afrogallonism.”
All the best,
Jeff and Phil