Identity politics loom large at the African Union (AU). As some of our writers show in this edition of Africa in Fact, many Africans still do not know what the AU actually is or does, other than that it is housed in a...
Richard Jurgens
Who takes the top seat?
Five strong candidates are vying to be the African Union Commission’s new chairperson As the African continent continues its struggle for improved governance and security, with some of its poorer nations...
Over a century of deeply racist Western literature continues to influence notions of ‘blackness’ and what it means to be an African When I wrote my master’s paper at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia in the...
Creole rising
Pidgin and creole emerged to serve trade, but what of their longer-term use and acceptance? I lived in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, my house had a collection of books on the shelves on one wall. There were copies...
Between a rock and a hard place
Childhood links to the motherland seem to require a certain patriotism, yet Swaziland is troubled by a self-serving ruler From a young age I came to admire the notions of “for God and country” and, of course, “Don’t...
Re-education for reconciliation: participant observations on Rwanda’s ingando
A Canadian academic is ordered to pay attention, keep quiet and learn the country’s official history In the midst of my doctoral fieldwork, the Rwandan government ordered me to undergo “re-education”. I was just over...
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