A life in struggle
From the Nigerian Civil War to decades of Marxist organizing and scholarship, Biodun Jeyifo’s life traced a tradition of commitment — one that now passes to a new generation.
Academy
Who owns Ghana’s mission schools?
A constitutional challenge over religious practice reveals the unresolved colonial and postcolonial politics of Ghana’s mission-founded secondary schools.
Pints and powerpoints
From IMF history to astrophysics, Nairobi’s Drunken Lectures turn casual drinkers into an engaged public.
From Cornell to conscience
Hounded out of the United States for his pro-Palestine activism, Momodou Taal insists that the struggle is global, drawing strength from Malcolm X, faith, and solidarity across borders.
We have the right to political anger
As students face repression for protesting genocide, universities must decide: will they defend freedom or enforce silence?
African contradictions in the world of science
African contributions to the globalized world cannot be celebrated while the place occupied by African peoples remains on the periphery.
Contradições africanas no mundo das ciências
A contribuição africana no mundo globalizado não pode ser celebrada enquanto o lugar ocupado pelos povos africanos for o da periferia.
From Cairo to Cornell
The Malcolm X effect of Gambian-British activist Momodou Taal.
The aesthetics of nostalgia
Looking back at 20 years of research-based practice in Ghana, Jesse Weaver Shipley’s latest exhibition blurs the distinction between political rebels and artists.
What are academic boycotts for?
Far from democratic institutions, a study of Israeli universities reveals that they are, in fact, directly and actively complicit in Israeli apartheid and racial rule.
Filling in the gaps in the study of African sports
To celebrate 20 years of research on sports in Africa, the SportsAfrica network will publish a series of monthly articles on Africa Is a Country drawing on their members’ research.
Preenchendo as lacunas no estudo do esporte africano
Para celebrar 20 anos de pesquisa sobre esportes na África, a rede SportsAfrica irá publicar uma série de artigos mensais no Africa Is a Country, baseando-se nas pesquisas de seus membros.
Being young and African in elite America
A new film follows the lives of four African students at MIT, where youthful idealism gets tested by the realities of American racism and inequality.
The life and work of Edward Webster
The life of Edward Webster, one of South Africa’s most distinguished sociologists, can be compared to a windmill — taking in the winds of change and turning them into a prodigious intellectual engagement.
It’s not over
Burna Boy’s ‘Monsters You Made’ takes the debate about the need for material decolonization outside the ivory tower and into the public sphere.
The deafening silence of South African universities
South Africans have to demand an academic boycott of Israel, in the same way much of the Global South boycotted apartheid South Africa’s universities.
Gaza and my political conscience
American universities are trying to silence anyone who speaks up against Israel’s occupation and bombardment of Gaza.
On safari
On our annual publishing break, we’ll be pondering what the responsibility of the African intellectual is today.
Reading List: Luke Sinwell
Once associated with socialism, the language of participation has been co-opted. How was this radical idea depoliticized?
The future of Angolan knowledge
Academics in Angola’s public universities are on strike. But instead of only being concerned with the decay of higher education, they are connecting with the struggles of Angola’s working class.