Precolonial population distribution has remained remarkably stable. Map via Africa Visual Data
- Statebuilding in the news: Alex de Waal argues that bankrupting kleptocratic governments like that of South Sudan won’t lead to peace. This was an interesting article about traditional authorities, porous borders, and the perpetuation of the central state in Chad. Séverine Autesserre writes about the maintenance of a literal island of peace between Rwanda and the DR Congo.
- Decreases in the price of solar panels are making renewable energy increasingly affordable for Africa. This hasn’t solved Ghana’s power shortages, however, as this interactive Al Jazeera article attests. Better regulation of the electricity sector in Africa may be part of the solution.
- Cross-border markets in everything: a powerful, unregulated opioid drug produced in India is causing a public health crisis in Cameroon. The first online Kiswahili-Mandarin dictionary has just been released. This was a very interesting article mapping regional trade networks in west Africa.
- Achille Mbembe thinks that the age of low cost, public higher education in southern Africa is coming to an end. In Uganda, the Marcus Garvey Pan Afrikan University is trying to create a new model of decolonized education. There’s a clear need to address the racist origins of the European and American study of international relations.
- Paralegals play an outsize role in many African legal systems because of a severe shortage of lawyers. The underfunded Nigerian justice system means that 80% of the people currently in prison there are in pre-trial detention. In Kenya, older women are learning karate to protect themselves from men who believe that raping an older woman after commiting a crime will absolve them.
- A new South African comic book series captures the adventures of everyday heroes. Perhaps they’ll write about Zamzam Dahir Mohamoud, the first woman elected to the upper house of Somalia’s Parliament. They’re living up to this advice from Octavia Butler, shared on Twitter by Niti Bhan.
