Archive for the ‘Africa’ Category
by HSRC Press on Oct 26th, 2011
In an article for Al Jazeera, Mahmood Mamdani argues that the conditions that prompt foreign intervention in Africa are worsening. According to Mamdani, the fall of Gaddafi would not have been possible without the fire-power of Western military organisations:
“Kampala ‘mute’ as Gaddafi falls,” is how the opposition paper summed up the mood of this capital the morning after. Whether they mourn or celebrate, an unmistakable sense of trauma marks the African response to the fall of Gaddafi.
Both in the longevity of his rule and in his style of governance, Gaddafi may have been extreme. But he was not exceptional. The longer they stay in power, the more African presidents seek to personalise power. Their success erodes the institutional basis of the state. The Carribean thinker C L R James once remarked on the contrast between Nyerere and Nkrumah, analysing why the former survived until he resigned but the latter did not: “Dr Julius Nyerere in theory and practice laid the basis of an African state, which Nkrumah failed to do.”
Book details
» read article
by HSRC Press on Oct 14th, 2011
Alan Mabin, one of the contributing authors of Capital Cities in Africa, presented a talk on the social dimension of urban development at the African Urban Futures workshop.
In this video, Mabin discusses the flaws and innovations of urban development:
More about the workshop:
An interactive workshop held under the auspices of the Alliance of Global Sustainability and hosted by Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Cities, properly managed, can be transformative arenas in which natural resources are used efficiently and economically to provide a high quality of life for everyone. And by doing so, cities offer our best hope of reducing human impacts upon the environment and achieving global sustainability. It can be argued that there is no one model for urban futures because of the underlying history and cultural diversity of our urban areas. However, the challenge of urban futures is clear – we have exceeded 50% by 2030. The resultant pressure on infrastructure, services, safety and security, political stability and social services is immense.
Selected experts have been invited to present and discuss their views on African Urban Futures, thereby raising regional-level awareness and providing an important contribution to the global research agenda
Book details
» read article
by HSRC Press on Oct 6th, 2011
Alan Mabin wrote the contributing chapter “South African Capital Cities” in the book, Capital Cities in Africa: Power and Powerlessness, edited by Simon Bekker and Göran Therborn.
Recently, Mabin presented a lecture titled “Scope and Dimensions of African Suburbanism” as part of a Suburbs Talks series that took place at the City Institute at New York University. Mabin talks about the meaning of “urban” and “suburban” as applied to the African continent. Listen to the podcast of the talk:
Book details
» read article
by HSRC Press on Sep 29th, 2011
Following eight months in East Africa, Mahmood Mamdani joined Democracy Now in New York for a video interview in which he outlines what he argues are the implications of NATO’s intervention in Libya and why there is “a real sense of danger around the corner”:
Book details
» read article
by HSRC Press on Aug 24th, 2011
This September from HSRC Press: Capital Cities in Africa by Simon Bekker and Göran Therborn.
Capital cities today remain central to both nations and states. They host centres of political power, not only national, but in some cases regional and global as well, thus offering major avenues to success, wealth and privilege. For these reasons capitals simultaneously become centres of “counter-power”, locations of high-stakes struggles between the government and the opposition.
This volume focuses on capital cities in nine sub-Saharan African countries, and traces how the power vested in them has evolved through different colonial backgrounds, radically different kinds of regimes after independence, waves of popular protest, explosive population growth and in most cases stunted economic development. Starting at the point of national political emancipation, each case study explores the complicated processes of nation-state building through its manifestation in the “urban geology” of the city – its architecture, iconography, layout and political use of urban space.
Although the evolution of each of these cities is different, they share a critical demographic feature: an extraordinarily rapid process of urbanisation that is more politically than economically driven. Overwhelmed by the inevitable challenges resulting from this urban sprawl, the governments seated in most of these capital cities are in effect both powerful – wielding power over their populace – and powerless, lacking power to implement their plans and to provide for their inhabitants.
In its concentration on urban forms of multi-layered power, symbolic as well as material, Capital Cities in Africa cuts a new path in the rich field of studies related to African cities and politics. It will be of interest to scholars in a wide range of disciplines, from political history, to sociology, to geography, architecture and urban planning.
Book details
» read article
by HSRC Press on Aug 12th, 2011
The following article at Afrique Avenir highlights the need to develop and improve tertiary level education in Africa. Afrique Avenir notes that while the number of universities in Africa has grown incrementally, access to these institutions remains poor. UCT Sociologist, David Cooper, explores the role of the university in society in his latest work, The University in Development.
The number of universities on the African continent has increased dramatically over the past decade. However, the rate of access to university remains low and the demand for higher education remains important. To meet the needs, African universities are trying to find a solution to improve the quality of their programmes, but also how to promote access to higher education.
For its part, the African Union has embarked on a process of harmonization of higher education programmes across the continent. In parallel, it supports the creation of a Pan-African University that will allow to train a highly skilled workforce for the main economic sector.
Book details
» read article
by HSRC Press on Jul 18th, 2011
Mahmood Mamdani, author of Saviours and Survivors, says that Africa has much to learn from the European Union. Mamdani says the fault line in the EU is not unlike the one in East Africa in that it divides the rich from poorer member states. He also speculates about which form of common citizenship will define the East African Federation – will it be based along territorial or ethnic lines?
I became interested in the question of why the old community collapsed after I returned to Uganda from the University of Dar es Salaam in 1979. I spent months reading community files in government ministries in Kampala. I was struck that the debate on the Community unfolded as a debate between states only. I could not locate an independent discussion that cut across state lines.
If we limit the discussion on the old community to external rivalries that imploded the old community from within, then we will inevitably conclude that there is little we can do about forces we do not control. But if we can expand the discussion to look at our own failure to develop a public discourse on East African issues, then we can move a step forward. The discussion needs to involve broad sectors of East African society. By not leaving the initiative to the political class, we can contribute to exploring different options and rallying new forces.
Book details
» read article
by HSRC Press on Jul 13th, 2011
Mahmood Mamdani, author of Saviours and Survivors, was a keynote speaker at the East African Legislative Assembly Symposium, “A Decade of Service towards Political Federation”, held between 29 June and 2 July in Arusha, Tanzania. At the symposium, Mamdani’s spoke about the challenges for the future of the East African Federation:
I would like to discuss three related issues today. The first concerns the lessons of the former Community. What led to its breakup and what can we learn from that history? The second issue concerns the relationship between the supremacy of market forces and the demand for social justice. Many fear that the community will strengthen the reach of the wealthy and the mighty at the expense of the poor and the weak. Politicians fear it may strengthen one country at the expense of others. The poor fear they may lose even the little they have – land in the countryside, jobs in urban areas. Is this fear reasonable and, if so, is there a way to address it? The third issue concerns citizenship. If there is to be an East African federation, what is to be the nature of citizenship in East Africa: ethnic or territorial?
Book details
» read article
by HSRC Press on Jun 21st, 2011
Africa in Focus: Governance in the 21st Century is the first book launched in the new “Africa in Focus” series from HSRC Press. Governnance in Africa, edited by Kwandiwe Kondlo and Chinenyengozi Ejiogu, was launched on the 25th of May at the Sheraton Pretoria Hotel. The event featured a musical demonstration by Pops Mohamed and discussions with Dr Udesh Pillay, Mike Muller, Dr Laetitia Rispel and Dr Tim Murithi.
Listen to some of the podcasts from the launch below:
Musical demonstration by Pops Mohammed [2:43m]:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download
Dr Udesh Pillay on the Africa in Focus initiative [0:58m]:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download
Mike Muller on access to water [1:17m]:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download
Mike Muller on African economic independence:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download
Mike Muller on hydroelectric power [1:42m]:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download
Book details
Scribd.com book preview:
Africa in Focus: Governance in the 21st Century
» read article
by HSRC Press on Jun 17th, 2011
In an article for the London Review of Books, scholar Mahmood Mamdani says that the events at Tahrir Square have shown us a new way of doing politics, one which does not involve a “recourse to arms”. Mamdani, who is the author of Saviours and Survivors, says that this non-violent form of protest has resonated in Sub-Saharan Africa and places like Uganda, where the “walk to work” campaign has revealed the absurdity of political suppression.
Walking to work was initiated by a Ugandan activist as a form of protest which saw individuals walk, rather than drive to work, which served as a way for a large group to act in unison in public protest without forming an assembly, which requires police permit:
The events identified with Tahrir Square have resonated in sub-Saharan Africa, and suggested a new way of doing politics: politics without recourse to arms. This has bewildered officialdom and sometimes sent a chill running down its spine. Uganda is a good example: Tahrir Square has enabled us to understand a new form of protest we call ‘walk to work’. The immediate background to the walk to work campaign was the government’s refusal to allow any form of peaceful assembly in protest at any aspect of its policies. Recently, the Pan African Movement, set up under the auspices of President Museveni of Uganda and Colonel Gaddafi a couple of decades ago, has been the only organisation to receive a permit: it wanted to march in solidarity with Gaddafi and the Libyan people in opposition to the Nato bombardment. The march was to end with a rally, addressed by a senior Ugandan military figure, but the government changed its mind, as the crowds were mustering. It seems to have realised at the last minute that the event could be hijacked by opposition supporters, or for that matter anyone disgruntled with government policy, and so decided to tear gas its own demonstration.
Book details
» read article
