AfricaIs aCountry

Shameless Self Promotion

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Shameless Self Promotion

By
Sean Jacobs


Since Herman is too modest, I’ll do it: A new book he edited on media politics in Africa, and to which I contributed a chapter, just came out from Routledge in London. Popular Media, Democracy and Development in Africa has contributions from some of the continent’s best media scholars (and I am smart not to include myself among that set). The book “… asks critical questions about the potential of popular media to contribute to democratic culture, provide sites of resistance, or, conversely, act as agents for the spread of Americanized entertainment culture.” It is part of a book series on “Internationalizing Media Studies” edited by UK media academic Daya Thussu for Routledge.

Buy it here.

Further Reading

Atayese

Honored in Yorubaland as “one who repairs the world,” Jesse Jackson’s life bridged civil rights, pan-Africanism, empire, and contradiction—leaving behind a legacy as expansive as it was imperfect.

Bread or Messi?

Angola’s golden jubilee culminated in a multimillion-dollar match against Argentina. The price tag—and the secrecy around it—divided a nation already grappling with inequality.

Visiting Ngara

A redevelopment project in Nairobi’s Ngara district promises revival—but raises deeper questions about capital, memory, and who has the right to shape the city.

Gen Z’s electoral dilemma

Long dismissed as apathetic, Kenya’s youth forced a rupture in 2024. As the 2027 election approaches, their challenge is turning digital rebellion and street protest into political power.

A world reimagined in Black

By placing Kwame Nkrumah at the center of a global Black political network, Howard W. French reveals how the promise of pan-African emancipation was narrowed—and what its failure still costs Africa and the diaspora.

Securing Nigeria

Nigeria’s insecurity cannot be solved by foreign airstrikes or a failing state, but by rebuilding democratic, community-rooted systems of collective self-defense.