This Week in Africa
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Uppsala is celebrating 400 years of political science this weekend. Apply for the Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, with full funding for scholars based in Africa. Here is the week in Africa:
Quote of the week
“The human race just got faster. 2:01:09.” Nike on Eliud Kipchoge
Peter Obi’s rise in Nigeria
Third party candidate Peter Obi is making a move in Nigeria’s presidential election. A new poll shows that he is leading the pack, in a surprising result. He is campaigning across the country, and has new ideas for the economy.
Governing South Africa
Murders and kidnappings pose an existential threat to South Africa. Graft opens the door to organized crime. These are five xenophobic myths about immigrants in South Africa. Pressure groups could help strengthen democracy in the country.
Ethiopia’s civil war
Did Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel Peace laureate, stoke a civil war? Has he lost the world? This is why international peacekeeping failed in the country.
Struggle for rights and freedom
Zambia’s new president is still in his honeymoon phase. Mahmood Mamdani writes about the expulsion from Uganda. Miriam Frost explains the pitfalls of increased quota representation for women. Thousands of people protested in Angola’s capital alleging voter fraud. The presidential poll in Somaliland is postponed. This is a good thread on Nigeria’s media. You can read the Supreme Court judgment on Kenya’s presidential petition here. Gambia’s transition to democracy is not out of the woods yet. There are lots of men in Ruto’s cabinet. Hemeti is trying to reach out to Sudan’s pro-democracy movement. This is what Ethiopia can teach the US about abortion rights. Learn more about the failing response to violent extremism in Africa. Henrik Maihack examines a new mission for Mali.
It is the 20th anniversary of a deadly ferry drowning in Senegal. Watch a documentary on the disaster here.
Africa’s international relations
Biden’s appeal to African countries on Ukraine at the UN falls short. This is why African countries should support Ukraine. The Global South deserves visa reciprocity. A Kenyan lawyer on trial at the International Criminal Court is found dead. Rwanda Genocide suspect’s trial begins at the Hague. What if Europe is not every migrant’s dream? Who makes up the Cameroonian Ambazonian movement and diaspora? Does UN peacekeeping work?
Africa’s rapid urbanization
Can community-led planning lead to housing justice? These are cool: Mapping urban growth over time and Million Neighborhoods Map. This article maps the spatial and temporal growth of Ghana’s northern secondary cities. This one rethinks urban governance paradigms. Work and crime on Ghana’s tro tros. Boda bodas in Kampala. A reflection on water in the city. Visit Kampala’s mayor’s parlor. This article examines Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway as spectacle and ruination. Fragments of the city. Against the Commons: A Radical History of Urban Planning looks great. Rethinking public space. Nairobi’s Marabou stork invasion!
Envisaging the future of cities. And jacaranda season is different this year in Nairobi.
Research corner
Local content is politics. Maria Ketzmerick explains the complexities of the Anglophone crisis. Gerardo Munck is on Twitter, and bringing back the classics: taking on modernization theory, explaining state capacity, and reading Adam Przeworski. Frederick Cooper writes on the end of empire in time and space. This article explains the failure of internationally-supported defense and security reforms in the Sahelian states. Paige Bollen finds that frequent encounters on the streets of Accra and Cape Town breed familiarity. This is cool: “Corruption in Customs.”
Modernist Art in Ethiopia looks great. Check out Decolonising State & Society in Uganda: The Politics of Knowledge & Public Life. Locating Nature: Making and Unmaking International Law is out. Read Joeva Rock’s We are Not Starving: The Struggle for Food Sovereignty in Ghana. The Dynamics of Dust looks awesome. In the Name of the People: How Populism is Reshaping the World is out. Simon Kolawole is clear: Fellow Nigerians, It’s All Politics. And definitely make way for Ellen Lust’s Everyday Choices: The Role of Competing Authorities and Social Institutions in Politics and Development.
Celebrating the life and thought of Thandika Mkandawire.
The week in development
Esther Duflo on dignity. This paper discusses social protection in the developing world. Uber struggles as it expands across Kenya. Uganda is amidst an Ebola outbreak, but won’t go into lockdown. More than 700 children have died from a measles outbreak in Zimbabwe. This is why Uhuru Kenyatta failed to turn Kenya into an international power. Farm like the Gates Foundation wants you to. This is a nice discussion of effective altruism and friendship. Iddrisu Mohammed Kambala explains that Ghana’s north is underdeveloped due to underinvestment during colonial rule, not geography. Is west Africa ready for a single currency?
This is a great project on informal employment, social security, and trust in Africa.
Ghana’s economic challenges
Fitch downgraded Ghana this week. The IMF is in the country. Finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta said the IMF agreement will be fast-tracked. Ghana’s COCOBOD will sign a $1.3 billion loan agreement, and planned the first lithium mine for exploration.
Africa and the environment
Water and population density in the Sahel. This is a cool map of the lakes of Africa. Floods devastate west Africa. Protests over water shut down South African highway. Air pollution can amplify negative effects of climate change. Hunger crisis in Horn of Africa grows as drought persists. Four countries showcased their ambitious climate action during climate week. Methane might be a bigger problem than we thought. This is how China targets the global fish supply. Three chimpanzees are kidnapped from a Congo sanctuary. This South African mining town turned to sludge.
Protesting the East Africa Oil Pipeline.
The Woman King
Karen Attiah explains that the Dahomey in The Woman King is no feminist utopia. Isaac Samuel assesses The Woman King. Leonard Wantchekon provides some context. Rosalyn Morris argues that we should not forget the role of Africa in the slave trade.
Daily life
The ancient remains of Great Zimbabwe. Global Citizens in Accra! Shark attacks! African food! Wow, Kipchoge.
Rufai Zakari’s art shows the beautiful potential of recycled materials. The dance of Naar fisherfolk. African Global Citizens Patrons urge world to consider continent’s giving power. Meet Nigeria’s Biyi Bandele, a storyteller to his bones. Visit Ghana (and read the responses). Did Akufo-Addo steal the music? Uganda’s cyclist aims for the Tour de France. Doula, the beautiful. Will Egypt host the 2036 Olympics?
The birds of Kakum.
All the best,
Jeff and Phil