Pub Date : 2022-06-14DOI: 10.1177/00020397221105900
Tycho van der Hoog
The call to decolonize African Studies has a profound influence on the field, with varying degrees of success. This article addresses this topic in relation to the author’s personal experiences in the publishing industry in Namibia. By describing the attempt to publish a historical book about Namibian beer with a well-known German–Namibian publishing house, the lingering power of German–Namibian settler colonialism becomes clear. This article renders visible the power structures within the Namibian book market that perpetuates a whitewashed version of Namibian history and argues that decolonizing knowledge cannot succeed without paying attention to the (private) publishing industry.
{"title":"Brewing Tensions: The Colonial Gaze of the German–Namibian Publishing Industry","authors":"Tycho van der Hoog","doi":"10.1177/00020397221105900","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397221105900","url":null,"abstract":"The call to decolonize African Studies has a profound influence on the field, with varying degrees of success. This article addresses this topic in relation to the author’s personal experiences in the publishing industry in Namibia. By describing the attempt to publish a historical book about Namibian beer with a well-known German–Namibian publishing house, the lingering power of German–Namibian settler colonialism becomes clear. This article renders visible the power structures within the Namibian book market that perpetuates a whitewashed version of Namibian history and argues that decolonizing knowledge cannot succeed without paying attention to the (private) publishing industry.","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"57 1","pages":"264 - 281"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48957974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-12DOI: 10.1177/00020397221105292
M. Turolla, H. Swedlund, M. Schut, P. Muchunguzi
The African “youth” population is growing at a fast and steady pace, attracting attention from scholars, policymakers, and politicians. Yet, we know relatively little about this large and heterogeneous segment of the population. This paper presents data from 110 interviews and ten focus groups with youth engaged in commercial agriculture across all four regions of Uganda. Capitalising on this ethnographic data, we provide an analytical framework for studying complexity among the heterogeneous social category of youth agripreneurs. The aim of the paper is twofold: First, to reconcile anthropological studies that highlight the heterogeneity of African youth with demographic understandings of youth as a statistical category defined by an age bracket. Second, to advance an operational definition of youth that allows for more context-sensitive and tailored programmes. Our results suggest that while “youth” is an important category demographically, the opportunities and challenges faced by youths are often not related to age.
{"title":"“Stop Calling Me a Youth!”: Understanding and Analysing Heterogeneity Among Ugandan Youth Agripreneurs","authors":"M. Turolla, H. Swedlund, M. Schut, P. Muchunguzi","doi":"10.1177/00020397221105292","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397221105292","url":null,"abstract":"The African “youth” population is growing at a fast and steady pace, attracting attention from scholars, policymakers, and politicians. Yet, we know relatively little about this large and heterogeneous segment of the population. This paper presents data from 110 interviews and ten focus groups with youth engaged in commercial agriculture across all four regions of Uganda. Capitalising on this ethnographic data, we provide an analytical framework for studying complexity among the heterogeneous social category of youth agripreneurs. The aim of the paper is twofold: First, to reconcile anthropological studies that highlight the heterogeneity of African youth with demographic understandings of youth as a statistical category defined by an age bracket. Second, to advance an operational definition of youth that allows for more context-sensitive and tailored programmes. Our results suggest that while “youth” is an important category demographically, the opportunities and challenges faced by youths are often not related to age.","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"57 1","pages":"178 - 203"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42175961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-18DOI: 10.1177/00020397221101633
L. Kroeker
Since the turn of the millennium, the African continent has been extremely active in producing African futures. These are part of the multiple non-western modernities existing simultaneously; modernities of revolution, reform, or restitution. This contribution adds to the debate by analysing four recent concepts along four axes: the representation of time and space, the initiators behind those four concepts, and the concepts’ social inclusiveness. The paper first discusses the idea of the “African Renaissance,” which has been proposed as official government policy in South Africa and has given shape to Pan-African political bodies. Second, “Afrotopia” is a term coined by the Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr that emphasises identity politics. Third, “Afropolitanism” proposes an “African-style” modernity as seen in the works of Achille Mbembe and Sarah Nuttall and is also likened to John and Jean Comaroff's writings on “Afromodernity.” Finally, “Afrofuturism” emerged in relation to science fiction literature and digital visual arts and uses the virtual sphere to address an international audience.
{"title":"African Renaissance, Afrotopia, Afropolitanism, and Afrofuturism: Comparing Conceptual Properties of Four African Futures","authors":"L. Kroeker","doi":"10.1177/00020397221101633","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397221101633","url":null,"abstract":"Since the turn of the millennium, the African continent has been extremely active in producing African futures. These are part of the multiple non-western modernities existing simultaneously; modernities of revolution, reform, or restitution. This contribution adds to the debate by analysing four recent concepts along four axes: the representation of time and space, the initiators behind those four concepts, and the concepts’ social inclusiveness. The paper first discusses the idea of the “African Renaissance,” which has been proposed as official government policy in South Africa and has given shape to Pan-African political bodies. Second, “Afrotopia” is a term coined by the Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr that emphasises identity politics. Third, “Afropolitanism” proposes an “African-style” modernity as seen in the works of Achille Mbembe and Sarah Nuttall and is also likened to John and Jean Comaroff's writings on “Afromodernity.” Finally, “Afrofuturism” emerged in relation to science fiction literature and digital visual arts and uses the virtual sphere to address an international audience.","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"57 1","pages":"113 - 133"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45477841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-27DOI: 10.1177/00020397221096166
Kalaria Okali, E. Boamah, J. Sumberg
This article describes how the mass media in Ghana use quantitative information to communicate the prevalence of child labour. During the period 2000–2020, stories about child labour frequently appeared in Ghana’s mass media. Within nearly 30 per cent of the stories, at least one numerical quantification is used. Quantifications appear to be constructed primarily to dazzle readers. The large numbers and the weight of the technical jargon used would appear to significantly reduce the potential to inform. We ask why successive governments have not used the mass media tools at their disposal to more effectively address the complex policy problem of child labour.
{"title":"The Quantification of Child Labour by Ghana’s Mass Media: A Missed Opportunity?","authors":"Kalaria Okali, E. Boamah, J. Sumberg","doi":"10.1177/00020397221096166","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397221096166","url":null,"abstract":"This article describes how the mass media in Ghana use quantitative information to communicate the prevalence of child labour. During the period 2000–2020, stories about child labour frequently appeared in Ghana’s mass media. Within nearly 30 per cent of the stories, at least one numerical quantification is used. Quantifications appear to be constructed primarily to dazzle readers. The large numbers and the weight of the technical jargon used would appear to significantly reduce the potential to inform. We ask why successive governments have not used the mass media tools at their disposal to more effectively address the complex policy problem of child labour.","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"57 1","pages":"155 - 177"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47035369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-31DOI: 10.1177/00020397221089352
H. Melber
Since the early 21st century, the middle classes of the Global South became a focus of attention. However, a precarious minimum income was all it took to be considered middle class. But who exactly is middle class? As the term is applied, it should certainly not be confused with Marxist theories of class. It refers to a socio-economic status somewhere between the highest and lowest echelons of society. What constitutes middle class remains all too nebulous. This article casts doubt on the positive political and economic impact and role ascribed to the declared growth of African middle classes. It argues that middle classness is a construct, which stresses the continued vagueness and fragility of this social segment in societies and cautions of too optimistic assessments when it comes to its role.
{"title":"Africa's Middle Classes","authors":"H. Melber","doi":"10.1177/00020397221089352","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397221089352","url":null,"abstract":"Since the early 21st century, the middle classes of the Global South became a focus of attention. However, a precarious minimum income was all it took to be considered middle class. But who exactly is middle class? As the term is applied, it should certainly not be confused with Marxist theories of class. It refers to a socio-economic status somewhere between the highest and lowest echelons of society. What constitutes middle class remains all too nebulous. This article casts doubt on the positive political and economic impact and role ascribed to the declared growth of African middle classes. It argues that middle classness is a construct, which stresses the continued vagueness and fragility of this social segment in societies and cautions of too optimistic assessments when it comes to its role.","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"57 1","pages":"204 - 219"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49522865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-16DOI: 10.1177/00020397221087745
H. Melber
This is a laudable effort to deconstruct “Africa” by replacing sweeping statements on an entire continent in its diversity by a selection of themes and cases to illustrate realities on the ground in specific contexts. As the author points out in the Epilogue, it is hardly possible to “summarize a condensed version of African history and politics since decolonization” (282). His effort therefore relies on some selective topical issues, aiming at a “more nuanced, and better informed” treatment of the continent (ix). By doing so, he is aware that “any academic work condenses reality, reduces complexity, and is bound by the zeitgeist” (3). This insight is guiding his ambition to show that “African actors are not bystanders in national and international politics but shape national and international politics” (5). Each of the twelve chapters, followed by a total of 70 pages of notes/references, can “largely stand for themselves” (11). Being translated from German, originally published as Afrika seit der Dekolonisation: Geschichte und Politik eines Kontinents (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2020), one of the last empirical reference points was the prominent handling of Ebola in Eastern DRC 2019 by international media 2019 in contrast to the hundreds of thousands of people killed in armed conflicts (284). The largely ignored effects of the Covid pandemic on domestic economies, increased authoritarian policing of restrictions imposed on civil liberties mainly affecting the poorest and their daily struggles for survival, but also manifestations of so-called vaccination apartheid, are therefore falling outside of the scope. These would have been further evidence for the perpetuation of asymmetric global as well as local power relations, putting countries and citizens on the continent at the receiving end. But I digress. After all, while the insights and lessons offered by the pandemic reconfirm some of the basic features of socioeconomic and political realities in Africa and African relations with the outside world, the volume testifies sufficiently to these. The volume opens with a short summary chapter on conquest and colonization, chapter 2 then turns to decolonization and liberation. It shows “that resistance ... took many forms and was realized by various actors ... There was not one anti-colonialism but many” (42; original emphasis). Although the Cold War during the “winds of change” is mentioned (and once again a subject in chapter 4), the United Nations remain much of a blind spot, not least when dealing with the Suez crisis (45ff) and the (Belgian) Congo (29ff) – also as a forum entered by the new members from the global
这是一项值得称赞的解构“非洲”的努力，用一系列主题和案例来取代对整个非洲大陆多样性的全面阐述，以在特定背景下说明当地的现实。正如作者在后记中指出的那样，很难“总结非殖民化以来非洲历史和政治的浓缩版本”（282）。因此，他的努力依赖于一些选择性的主题问题，旨在对非洲大陆进行“更细致、更知情”的处理（ix）。通过这样做，他意识到“任何学术工作都浓缩了现实，降低了复杂性，并受到时代精神的约束”（3）。这一见解指导了他的雄心，即表明“非洲行动者不是国家和国际政治的旁观者，而是塑造国家和国际政策的旁观者”（5）。十二章中的每一章，以及总共70页的注释/参考文献，都可以“基本上代表自己”（11）。从德语翻译而来，最初出版为《非洲之声：Geschichte und Politik eines Kontinents》（斯图加特：Kohlhammer 2020），最后的经验参考点之一是国际媒体2019年对刚果民主共和国东部埃博拉病毒的突出处理，与武装冲突中数十万人死亡形成对比（284）。因此，新冠肺炎疫情对国内经济的影响在很大程度上被忽视，对主要影响最贫穷者及其日常生存斗争的公民自由的限制加强了威权监管，但也表现出所谓的疫苗接种种族隔离，这些都不在范围之内。这些将是不对称的全球和地方权力关系长期存在的进一步证据，使非洲大陆的国家和公民处于接受端。但我离题了。毕竟，尽管新冠疫情提供的见解和教训再次确认了非洲社会经济和政治现实以及非洲与外部世界关系的一些基本特征，但这本书充分证明了这一点。本卷以一个关于征服和殖民化的简短摘要章节开头，第二章转向非殖民化和解放。它表明“抵抗……有多种形式，并由各种行动者实现……反殖民主义不是一种，而是多种”（42；最初的重点）。尽管提到了“变革之风”期间的冷战（第4章再次提到了这一主题），但联合国仍然是一个盲点，尤其是在处理苏伊士运河危机（45ff）和（比利时）刚果（29ff）时——也是全球新成员进入的论坛
{"title":"Book Review: Africa Since Decolonization. The History and Politics of a Diverse Continent by Welz, Martin","authors":"H. Melber","doi":"10.1177/00020397221087745","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397221087745","url":null,"abstract":"This is a laudable effort to deconstruct “Africa” by replacing sweeping statements on an entire continent in its diversity by a selection of themes and cases to illustrate realities on the ground in specific contexts. As the author points out in the Epilogue, it is hardly possible to “summarize a condensed version of African history and politics since decolonization” (282). His effort therefore relies on some selective topical issues, aiming at a “more nuanced, and better informed” treatment of the continent (ix). By doing so, he is aware that “any academic work condenses reality, reduces complexity, and is bound by the zeitgeist” (3). This insight is guiding his ambition to show that “African actors are not bystanders in national and international politics but shape national and international politics” (5). Each of the twelve chapters, followed by a total of 70 pages of notes/references, can “largely stand for themselves” (11). Being translated from German, originally published as Afrika seit der Dekolonisation: Geschichte und Politik eines Kontinents (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2020), one of the last empirical reference points was the prominent handling of Ebola in Eastern DRC 2019 by international media 2019 in contrast to the hundreds of thousands of people killed in armed conflicts (284). The largely ignored effects of the Covid pandemic on domestic economies, increased authoritarian policing of restrictions imposed on civil liberties mainly affecting the poorest and their daily struggles for survival, but also manifestations of so-called vaccination apartheid, are therefore falling outside of the scope. These would have been further evidence for the perpetuation of asymmetric global as well as local power relations, putting countries and citizens on the continent at the receiving end. But I digress. After all, while the insights and lessons offered by the pandemic reconfirm some of the basic features of socioeconomic and political realities in Africa and African relations with the outside world, the volume testifies sufficiently to these. The volume opens with a short summary chapter on conquest and colonization, chapter 2 then turns to decolonization and liberation. It shows “that resistance ... took many forms and was realized by various actors ... There was not one anti-colonialism but many” (42; original emphasis). Although the Cold War during the “winds of change” is mentioned (and once again a subject in chapter 4), the United Nations remain much of a blind spot, not least when dealing with the Suez crisis (45ff) and the (Belgian) Congo (29ff) – also as a forum entered by the new members from the global","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"57 1","pages":"226 - 228"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48167207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-15DOI: 10.1177/00020397221087751
M. Burchardt
Since the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, scholars have debated whether it exacerbated existing social inequalities. For many African social scientists, such debates resonated with collective experiences with HIV/AIDS which have disproportionately affected the lower segments of social hierarchies. Yet whereas much has been written about these exclusionary consequences of HIV/ AIDS, we still know relatively little about how members of modern middle classes experience and confront this pandemic. Focusing on the educated urban middle class in Botswana, anthropologist Astrid Bochow’s book fills this lacuna. Based on 10 years of ethnographic research, this passionately written book takes the reader deep into the social world of Setswana urban professionals, their life projects, careers, family crises, and their ways of navigating a world of risks. The book consists of eight chapters including those that outline the main conceptual lenses – risk and body – as well as ethnographic chapters in which the author explores different themes related to HIV/AIDS. In these ethnographic chapters, Bochow describes how middle-class professionals evaluate the risk of HIV infection in relation to problems such as pregnancy and child rearing, their views of adequate healthcare, the possibilities of having a fulfilling sexual life, or the relationships to kin. Conceptually, Bochow’s book makes two interventions: first, drawing on Ulrich Beck’s theory of risk society (Beck 1986), the author suggests viewing risk as a central axis that structures contemporary Botswanan society – and as a lens through which actors evaluate political projects, kin relations and life projects. However, in contrast to the risks linked to high-tech capitalism (e.g. nuclear power), infectious diseases center on the human body. Therefore – and this is the second conceptual move – Bochow argues that we need to understand the ways the body is produced through material practices as at the same time “at risk” and risky, as an object in need of care, and a carrier of pathogens. Because of this fundamental ambivalence of the contagious body, Bochow agrees with new materialist scholars who emphasize agency beyond intentionality and who see bodies as networked within webs of heterogeneous entities including institutions, pathogens, and medical substances. This new emphasis on connections among material substances strongly resonates with earlier
{"title":"Book Review: Risiko und HIV/Aids in Botswana. Leben in der Pandemie by Astrid Bochow","authors":"M. Burchardt","doi":"10.1177/00020397221087751","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397221087751","url":null,"abstract":"Since the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, scholars have debated whether it exacerbated existing social inequalities. For many African social scientists, such debates resonated with collective experiences with HIV/AIDS which have disproportionately affected the lower segments of social hierarchies. Yet whereas much has been written about these exclusionary consequences of HIV/ AIDS, we still know relatively little about how members of modern middle classes experience and confront this pandemic. Focusing on the educated urban middle class in Botswana, anthropologist Astrid Bochow’s book fills this lacuna. Based on 10 years of ethnographic research, this passionately written book takes the reader deep into the social world of Setswana urban professionals, their life projects, careers, family crises, and their ways of navigating a world of risks. The book consists of eight chapters including those that outline the main conceptual lenses – risk and body – as well as ethnographic chapters in which the author explores different themes related to HIV/AIDS. In these ethnographic chapters, Bochow describes how middle-class professionals evaluate the risk of HIV infection in relation to problems such as pregnancy and child rearing, their views of adequate healthcare, the possibilities of having a fulfilling sexual life, or the relationships to kin. Conceptually, Bochow’s book makes two interventions: first, drawing on Ulrich Beck’s theory of risk society (Beck 1986), the author suggests viewing risk as a central axis that structures contemporary Botswanan society – and as a lens through which actors evaluate political projects, kin relations and life projects. However, in contrast to the risks linked to high-tech capitalism (e.g. nuclear power), infectious diseases center on the human body. Therefore – and this is the second conceptual move – Bochow argues that we need to understand the ways the body is produced through material practices as at the same time “at risk” and risky, as an object in need of care, and a carrier of pathogens. Because of this fundamental ambivalence of the contagious body, Bochow agrees with new materialist scholars who emphasize agency beyond intentionality and who see bodies as networked within webs of heterogeneous entities including institutions, pathogens, and medical substances. This new emphasis on connections among material substances strongly resonates with earlier","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"57 1","pages":"229 - 231"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47853241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-14DOI: 10.1177/00020397221087029
J. Grauvogel
{"title":"Change is the Only Constant in Life","authors":"J. Grauvogel","doi":"10.1177/00020397221087029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397221087029","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"57 1","pages":"3 - 4"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42626047","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-09DOI: 10.1177/00020397221085982
L. Iroulo, Juliana Tappe Ortiz
Although African critical scholars since the 19th century have challenged the culture of studying and writing about Africa, research practices on Africa are still entangled in epistemic injustices resulting from colonial structures of power. In this reflective contribution, we illustrate how such knowledge production perpetuates coloniality and outline the ways in which academic coloniality affects the quality of research and is detrimental to both research subjects and knowledge consumers. To that end, we draw on our own experiences as researchers and teachers in German institutes and universities to analyse current trends and patterns in African Political Science. We provide concrete examples to demonstrate that this coloniality in academia is detrimental to research, fieldwork and publishing practices, teaching, and academic hiring policies. To challenge and change how knowledge is produced, Africanists from the Global North need to be aware of, and sensitised towards, their role in knowledge production. This article continues the debate on decolonising research on Africa.
{"title":"Dear German Academia: What is Your Role in African Knowledge Production?","authors":"L. Iroulo, Juliana Tappe Ortiz","doi":"10.1177/00020397221085982","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397221085982","url":null,"abstract":"Although African critical scholars since the 19th century have challenged the culture of studying and writing about Africa, research practices on Africa are still entangled in epistemic injustices resulting from colonial structures of power. In this reflective contribution, we illustrate how such knowledge production perpetuates coloniality and outline the ways in which academic coloniality affects the quality of research and is detrimental to both research subjects and knowledge consumers. To that end, we draw on our own experiences as researchers and teachers in German institutes and universities to analyse current trends and patterns in African Political Science. We provide concrete examples to demonstrate that this coloniality in academia is detrimental to research, fieldwork and publishing practices, teaching, and academic hiring policies. To challenge and change how knowledge is produced, Africanists from the Global North need to be aware of, and sensitised towards, their role in knowledge production. This article continues the debate on decolonising research on Africa.","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"57 1","pages":"72 - 82"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49127829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-23DOI: 10.1177/00020397221082946
Christian B. Jensen, Michelle Kuenzi, J. Mehanna
What factors influence constitutional stability in the emerging democracies of Sub-Saharan Africa? This is an important question that has never been addressed in a systematic cross-national study of Africa's emerging democracies. Using the Comparative Constitutions Project dataset and our own original dataset for veto players and party systems, we examine the influence of veto players and party system characteristics on the frequency of constitutional amendments in the electoral periods between 1990 and 2020 in forty-one African countries. Our results provide broad support for the veto players theory. More specifically, we find that as the number of actors needed to approve of a constitutional amendment increases, the likelihood a constitution will be amended decreases. The strength of party veto players also influences whether a constitution is likely to be amended. Furthermore, our results underscore the importance of party system characteristics in influencing amendment frequency.
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