Empire’s middlemen
From Portuguese Goa to colonial Kampala, Mahmood Mamdani’s latest book shows how India became an instrument of empire, and a scapegoat in its aftermath.
Mahmood Mamdani
How to think about colonialism
Contemporary approaches to the legacy of colonialism tend to narrowly emphasize political agency as the solution to Africa’s problems. But agency is configured through historically particular relations of which we are not sole authors.
When the war is over
In his new book, the Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani argues that breaking cycles of violence requires collective action. He finds hope in the unfinished project of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle.
The making and unmaking of permanent minorities
Mahmood Mamdani’s new book asks how communities that have been enemies can heal. But does it succeed?
African story time
George Clooney and John Prendergast's simple story about African conflict breeds ineffective solutions.
Grasping the specificity of the political in Africa
Revisiting the Ugandan political scientist Mahmood Mamdani’s seminal book, "Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism."
Ronald Reagan’s Africa
Reagan is celebrated as a world statesman and champion of democracy, but this not how many outside the US experienced his time in office.
The most influential African thinker
If we could ask our readers (and critics, and everyone else) to pick Africa's most insightful intellectual, who would they pick?
