Africa Update Vol. 42

Welcome to the latest edition of Africa Update! We’ve got the floating villages of Benin, Rolex the watchmaker taking on rolex the Ugandan street food, advances for sign language in South Africa, and more.

Also, a bit of housekeeping: with Twitter looking increasingly shaky, you can also find me at Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. Please do say hi if you’re on any of those sites, as I’m keen to find more people to follow with an interest in Africa!

Caroline Wanjiku Kihato’s research on immigration to Johannesburg was recently presented at the Venice Biennale through the medium of wax-print fabric

West Africa: This is an insightful long read about the contested politics of the Portuguese language in Guinea-Bissau. Ghana has been steadily creating new regions in recent years, despite concerns that this may worsen local conflict by traditional leaders whose ethnic groups get split by new regional borders. Rising rental prices are leading to housing insecurity in Accra. Senegal’s Macky Sall has decided not to stand for a third term as president in 2024 despite constitutional arguments that he was eligible to do so.

Central Africa: This is a great piece about Loango ivory carvings as historical primary sources for mid-1500s politics in what’s today the Republic of Congo. Don’t miss this interview with Congolese photographer Sammy Baloji about how extractive mining practices in the DRC have shaped his art. The watchmaker Rolex has applied for stronger protection of intellectual property rights in Uganda, lest anyone confuse a luxury watch with the delicious egg-based street food.

As flooding grows more common due to climate change, the floating village of Ganvie on Lake Nokoué in Benin offers some architectural solutions to consider

East Africa: Alex de Waal looks at the deep roots of Sudan’s current conflict. Tanzania technically offers discounted bus transport to students, but many bus drivers pass them by because the fares are too low to cover their costs. In Kenya, informal waste pickers are the backbone of recycling systems. Ethiopia has one of the largest public housing programs in Africa, but its lottery-based assignment remains unpopular with communities.

Southern Africa: Zimbabwe’s government health insurer is on the brink of collapse due to macroeconomic mismanagement. South Africa is making sign language its official 12th language after decades of advocacy by the Deaf community. I recently saw the stunning film “This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection,” about one widow’s struggle to protect her ancestral land from the construction of a new dam in Lesotho, and would highly recommend it.

In a year which has seen a lot of bad news about LGBTQ+ rights in Africa, I appreciated this map from Debunk Media noting that queer rights do still have legal protections (or at least are not criminalized) in 22 countries in the region

Politics + economics: Algeria is on the frontlines of the EU’s externalized migration management, as it sends tens of thousands of potential immigrants back to Niger each year. In Ghana and other LMICs, European development agencies are providing funding for agricultural projects using pesticides which are banned inside the EU. Ken Opalo on African development: “While weak states still dot the region … it is also true that the typical African state is a lot more consolidated today than it was in 1980.”

Art + culture: I’m excited for The Republic’s new podcast on Nigerian history to drop in October! Learn more about the anti-colonial children’s books written by female authors in East Africa during the independence era. For some more contemporary literature, check out this great list of recommendations of books by African authors by Hena Bryan, and pick some up at the African Book Fair in Nairobi from 1-5 August!

Cheers,

Rachel