Quote of the week
“We’ve tried to rap in pure French, but nobody was listening to us. So we create words from our own realities, and then they spread.” – Ivorian hip-hop artist Jean Patrick Niambé
Election in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Congolese go to the polls on December 20 to vote for president. Incumbent president Félix Tshisekedi seeks a second term against strong challengers. The Continent calls it the election in the most important country on the planet. Here is all you need to know. These are five key issues at stake. The election will take place in the context of wide distrust and disorder across the country. The world is brutally indifferent to the country’s democracy.
Struggle for rights and freedom
Wairimu Gathimba provides notes from Kenya at 60, detailing the postcolony and the Rute Hustler era. Ghanaian youth reject “rice-for-votes” and want jobs and a better life. Efosa Ojomo explains the goings-on at Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Comfort Ero and Murithi Mutiga argue that coups are a symptom and not the cause of political dysfunction in Africa. “Every woman around the world has something to learn from Cameroonian women.” Who is Ghana’s masked presidential contender?
Security and instability
This policy report explains the road to disengagement for Al-Shabaab in Somalia. This piece outlines what remains of the Juba Peace Agreement, the political economy of the peace process, and who the key actors are. DRR in Libya requires a local strategy. Elisabeth Schmidt explains Henry Kissinger’s secret war in Angola. Hafawa Rebhi argues that colonialism is not over. This is how the war in Gaza impacts African geopolitics.
Africa’s rapid urbanization
This World Bank study is important: An anatomy of urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa. This is what we know about the future of heat in cities. Sustainable construction could help millions of people living in informal settlements. Africapolis is a fun website to learn more about Africa’s urban present—and future.
Check out DIY Urbanism in Africa, edited by Stephen Marr and Patience Mususa. I look forward to reading Claims on the City: Situated Narratives of the Urban. Elizabeth Dessie’s Informality, Gender, and Alternative Citizenship dives into the lives and livelihoods of rural migrant youth in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Zachariah Mampilly provides this important study on the transformation of urban and rural protest in Africa. Patrick Cobbinah and Erica Gaisie’s volume looks great: Reimagining Urban Planning in Africa. Angela R. Pashayan’s Development in Africa’s Informal Settlements: Below the Proletariat is out.
Focusing on urban Senegal, Rama Salla Dieng asks: Whose land is it anyway?
Research corner
This is a neat article about newspaper obituaries and the colonial public sphere in Lagos, 1880-1920. It is time to rethink the political imaginaries of housing. Ethiopia’s war has contributed to a devastating situation for Tigray children who fight for survival on the streets.
This looks great: Beauty in African Thought: Critical Perspectives on the Western Idea of Development. Revolutionary Movements in Africa: An Untold Story is out. Make sure to read Toyin Falola’s A History of West Africa. I look forward to reading Shelley Liu’s Governing after War: Rebel Victories and Post-war Statebuilding.
Check out the upcoming APCG Online Colloquium with Serati Nthobatsang. And how “international” is international research collaboration?
The week in development
African countries are opening up for travel and business. Canadian miners are accused of indirectly supporting Wagner Group in Mali. Malawi’s selective secondary schools make a huge impact in educational results. Check out these books about business in Africa. These continued reforms are needed to boost economic stability in Zimbabwe. This is what happens when economists shut off your water. Results are trickling in from GiveDirectly’s major basic income experiment, and money matters a lot. TotalEnergies represses land and environmental defenders in east Africa.
Africa and the environment
Learn more about climate change, conflict, and displacement across the Sahel. Faten Aggad explains some of the major wins at COP28. Will the World Bank make good on the loss and damage fund?
Daily life
This is what Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage means to the globalized Afrobeats industry. Ghana’s Afrisocks will brighten up your feet—and your day. Nigeria’s flamboyant aso ebi clothing style is popular, but has become a financial burden.
And Africans are changing French, one joke, rap, and book at a time.
All the best,
Jeff and Phil