Africa’s research universities can help to drive an urban agenda
Africa is becoming rapidly more urban. This has created a number of connected economic, social, political, infrastructural and environmental challenges.
But African governments have not, historically, paid significant attention to urbanisation and the problems experienced in their cities. This means they’re ill prepared to deal with their countries’ increasingly urban futures. More...
African history is a discipline on the rise – and one that raises many questions
African history has gone through many incarnations as an academic discipline.
Most recently, there’s been a global turn in African historiography. This shift has been prompted by a greater awareness of the powerful forces of globalisation and the need to provide an African historical perspective on this phenomenon. This has helped to place the continent at the centre of global – and human – history. More...
African universities must take a critical view of knowledge and how it’s made
Most universities boast “centres” or “institutes” designed to announce their strengths in a certain field. But there’s more to it than that: when a university establishes a new centre, it is making a statement of intent. It’s saying that it perceives a need for more work in that area, and that it intends to drive that work. More...