Directions and Provocations in
African Studies 2024

Refreshed for 2024, this article and book chapter collection explores key areas of interest and relevance in African Studies. From 30 years of democracy in South Africa, to visual archives in times of war in Sudan, youth and protest in the Gambia, and social and political genealogies of Moroccan hip hop, the highlighted articles and book chapters traverse disciplines and themes. Browse these contributions to investigate new perspectives on Africa: its cultures, economies, politics, challenges, and opportunities.

View our full portfolio of African Studies journals and filter to find the specific topics and articles that fit your interests. Looking for textbooks, handbooks, or monographs? Browse our comprehensive collection of African Studies books and book series.

The articles below are free to access via this page only until 31st January 2025.

Expand each section below to access the articles and book chapters.

ArticleAuthor(s) NameTitleVolume Year
Elites and economic policy in South Africa’s transition and beyondFiroz Khan & Seeraj MohamedInternational Review of Applied EconomicsLatest articles
Laundering racial capitalism in post-apartheid South AfricaMandisi MajavuPolitikon2023
The effect of crime on South Africans’ voting behaviourRobert Nyenhuis & Thomas IsbellCommonwealth & Comparative Politics 2023
Populism and parliamentary opposition parties: the Economic Freedom Fighters party behaviour in the South African parliamentAinara ManceboThe Journal of Legislative Studies 2023
Party Politics and Local Democracy: The ANC in South Africa’s Cape WinelandsLuvuyo ZantsiInternational Journal of African Renaissance Studies2023
Book TitleChapter Author(s)Chapter
The Contested Idea of South AfricaKgabo Morifi, Malaika MahlatsiNegotiating meaningful citizenship in the zone of exclusion: The impact of racism on belonging in the new South Africa

Article TitleAuthor(s) NameJournal TitleVolume Year
The Dream Factory: Chinese Presence on a Nigerian University CampusOlayinka Solomon ElusojiJournal of African Cultural Studies2023
Is Africa China’s neo-dependency in the making?Seifudein Adem & Adamu Waziri BabaganaThird World Quarterly2023
Chinese-manufactured commodities and African agency in the democratization of consumption: the example of electronic devices in CameroonUte RöschenthalerCritical African Studies2023
Renarrating China-Africa relations: perspectives from new Chinese immigrants in ZimbabweNing AnSouth African Geographical JournalLatest articles
African agency, COVID-19 and debt renegotiations with ChinaMandira Bagwandeen, Christopher Edyegu & Oscar M. OteleSouth African Journal of International Affairs 2023
Book TitleChapter Author(s)Chapter
African Constructions of China: Insights from Ghana and KenyaKwaku Opoku DankwahIntroduction

ArticleAuthor(s) NameJournal(s) TitleVolume Year
On the empirics of microfinance institutions and local economic development in AfricaNixon S. ChekenyaDevelopment Southern Africa2023
The African Continental Free Trade Area and informal cross border trade: implications on socio-economic development in AfricaInocent MoyoJournal of Contemporary African Studies2023
‘Satanbic Stop Stealing Our Money’: Zambia Mine Workers’ Struggles against FinanceJames MusondaJournal of Southern African Studies2023
Reconfiguring African Studies, reconfiguring economics: centring intersectionality and social stratificationStefan Ouma et al.Critical African Studies2023
On the contradictions of Africa’s fintech boom: evidence from GhanaIsaac Abotebuno AkolgoReview of International Political Economy 2023
Book TitleChapter Author(s)Chapter
Regional Development Poles and the Transformation of African EconomiesBenaiah Yongo-BureCapital goods and economic transformation

ArticleAuthor(s) NameJournal(s) TitleVolume Year
Soundtracks of citizenship: social and political genealogies of Moroccan hip hopZakia SalimeThe Journal of North African Studies2024
Writing the polyphonic African queer future: reflections on Akwaeke Emezi’s FreshwaterOluwadunni O. TalabiJournal of the African Literature Association2023
‘Yo Dumbfucks!’: Problematising “Transgressive” White Humour and the Use of Blackface in the Artworks of South African Visual Artist Anton KannemeyerSharlene KhanEastern African Literary and Cultural Studies 2023
The Boda Boda (R)age: Economies of Affection in the Motorbike Taxis of KenyaJoyce NyairoEnglish Studies in Africa 2023
Seeing Sudan: visual archives in a time of warKylie ThomasSafundi2023
The Insta-Gaze: investigating the endurance of stereotypes of AfricaHilary Hungerford, Angela G. Subulwa & Debjani ChakravartySocial & Cultural Geography 2023
Book TitleChapter Author(s)Chapter
Digital Dissidence and Social Media Censorship in AfricaEbtesam M. El ShokrofySocial Media, Censorship and Counter-Censorship of Female Performances in Morocco and Egypt

ArticleAuthor(s) NameJournal TitleVolume Year
African Thought and Western (European) Misconception: An Afrocentric Paradigm
Mogomme Alpheus Masoga & Allucia Lulu Shokane
International Journal of African Renaissance Studies2023
The African novel and the question of communalism in African philosophyZeyad El NabolsySafundi2023
Non-binary gender in African personhood?Julia Huysamer & Louise du ToitSouth African Journal of Philosophy 2023
The cultural distortion of the African world view and the subordination of women in ‘postcolonial’ African societiesEbbah DubeSouth African Journal of Philosophy2023
Book TitleChapter Author(s)Chapter
African Epistemology: Essays on Being and KnowledgePeter Aloysius IkhaneAfrican Epistemology: Knowledge Ontologised

Book TitleChapter Author(s)Chapter
Sustainable Urban Tourism in Sub-Saharan Africa: Risk and ResilienceLlewellyn Leonard, Regis Musavengane, and Pius SiakwahUrban risk and tourism in Africa: An overview

ArticlesAuthor(s) NameJournal(s) Title Volume Year
ChatGPT use in universities in South Africa through a socio-technical lensKudzayi Savious TarisayiCogent Education2024
Beyond authoritarianism and liberal democracy: understanding China’s artificial intelligence impact in AfricaBibo LinInformation, Communication & Society Latest Articles
The potential of artificial intelligence (AI) for decolonising education in South Africa through the development of indigenous languagesBurgert Senekal & Susan BrokenshaSouth African Journal of African Languages 2023
Harnessing AI for business development: a review of drivers and challenges in AfricaJoseph Amankwah-Amoah & Yingfa LuProduction Planning & Control2023
Book Title Chapter Author(s)Chapter
AI in and for Africa: A Humanistic PerspectiveSusan Brokensha, Eduan Kotzé, Burgert A. Senekal(Mis)perceptions of AI in Africa: Metaphors, myths, and realities

ArticlesAuthor(s) NameJournal(s) TitleVolume Year
Unintended consequences of climate change adaptation: African case studies and typologies on pitfalls and windfallsVerena Helen van Zyl-Bulitta et al.Development Southern Africa2024
Gender and climate change ‘through other eyes’: Grassroots women’s responses to changing environments in southern AfricaDorah Marema & Coleen VogelAgenda2023
Elite summits amplify Africa’s climate catastrophesPatrick BondThe Journal of Peasant StudiesLatest articles
Tourism and climate change in Africa: informing sector responsesK. Dube et al.Journal of Sustainable Tourism2023
Impact of climate change on output and inflation in Africa’s largest economiesJamilu Iliyasu, Suleiman O. Mamman & Umar Abdullahi AhmedClimate and Development2023
Book TitleChapter Author(s)Chapter
Climate Action in Southern Africa: Implications for Climate Justice and Just TransitionPhilani Moyo, Thabo Ndlovu, Thokozani P. Moyo, Treda Mukuhlani, Elinah Nciizah, Tendai Nciizah, Adornis D. Nciizah, Thapelo Ramalefane, Stanley O. Ehiane, France Maphosa, Gracsious Maviza, Sipho F. MambaClimate Action Policies, Strategies and Programming in Southern Africa: Missed Opportunities for Climate Justice

ArticlesAuthor(s) NameJournal(s) TitleVolume
Year
Good for Elections but not for Government: Zongos and the Politics of Exclusion in GhanaIsaac Owusu-Mensah & Frank Bitafir IjonAfrican Studies2023
Locus of Struggle: The African Campus and Contemporary Protest FormsKrystal Strong & Jimil Ataman Journal of African Cultural Studies2023
African Agency in Democracy Promotion: The African Union and Election Observation in MalawiAnna Kapambwe MwabaJournal of Southern African Studies2023
Violent protests’ in South Africa: understanding service delivery protestsKenny ChiwarawaraPolitikon2023
The shifting landscape of Sudan’s political parties: determinants and implicationsMohammed SharfiThe Journal of North African StudiesLatest articles
Youth and protest: how “#Gambia” ended decades of autocratic ruleLamin KeitaCanadian Journal of African Studies2023
Uganda’s ruling coalition and the 2021 elections: change, continuity and contestationMoses KhisaJournal of Eastern African Studies2023
Strategic protest and the negotiation of legibility in Cape Town: a case study of Reclaim the CityMatthew Michael WingfieldSocial Dynamics2023
Book TitleChapter Author(s)Chapter
Digital Technologies, Elections and Campaigns in AfricaDanford Zirugo and Admire MareAssessing Twitter’s Revolutionary Potential in an Authoritarian Regime: The Case of the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter

ArticlesAuthor(s) NameJournal(s) Title Volume Year
Entrenched Coloniality? Colonial-Born Black Women, Hair and Identity in Post-Apartheid South AfricaJanell Le Roux &Toks Dele OyedemiAfrican Studies2023
‘What is gender to you?’: An Africana Womanist take on perceptions of gender reality on women’s agency among a rural Malawian CommunityMtisunge Isabel Kamlongera & Alinane Kamlongera Katenga-KaundaGender and Education 2023
Talking back: linguistic exploration of female artistes’ ‘responses’ to patriarchy and stereotypes in Nigerian hip-hopPaul Ayodele Onanuga & Ayobami Olajumoke OnanugaJournal of Contemporary African StudiesLatest articles
Global rise in gender-based violence against women and girls during COVID-19 lockdown: An insight from AfricaLinus Oluchukwu Akudolu et al.Cogent Arts & Humanities 2023
Mobile phones and rural women in South Asia and Africa: a systematic reviewTanusree Paul & Sudeshna DuttaGender, Technology and Development 2023
Book TitleChapter Author(s)Chapter
Gender-Responsive Governance in Sierra Leone: The Transitions and Logic of InequalityJohn Idriss LahaiPolitics, Electoral Violence, and Gender Inequality

ArticleAuthor(s) NameJournal(s) TitleVolume Year
Between Samir Amin and Claude Ake: towards a roadmap for Africa’s developmentElias Chukwuemeka Ngwu & Vincent Chidi Onah PolitikonLatest articles
Regenerative economy: A pathway to a future-ready, sustainable AfricaJudith L. Walls & Leo Luca VogelAfrica Journal of Management2023
Multi-generational workforce job retention: Coping strategy influences among South African engineersSamantha Samuel & Nadia FerreiraJournal of Psychology in Africa 2023
Do younger generations care more about environmental issues? A comparison of perceptions between Gen Z and Gen X in Jo-hannesburg, South AfricaThapelo Josias Kgomo & Lee-Ann Sade ModleySouth African Geographical Journal2023
The afterlife of apartheid: a triadic temporality of traumaPumla Gobodo-MadikizelaSocial Dynamics2023
Intergenerational Kinship Networks of Support Within Transnational Families in the era of COVID-19 in the South Africa–Zimbabwe Migration CorridorGracsious Maviza & Divane NzimaSouth African Review of Sociology2022
Book TitleChapter Author(s)Chapter
The Routledge Handbook of African DemographyMark A. Aviisah, Hinke H. Haisma, Tobias C. VogtIntergenerational Family Support and the Health and Well-Being of Older Adults in Sub-Saharan Africa

Book TitleChapter Author(s)Chapter
Conflict Management and Resolution in South SudanLoice Alusala and Nelson AlusalaThe Missing Link in Negotiating an End to The South Sudan Conflict

ArticlesAuthor(s) NameJournal(s) TitleVolume Year
Young people’s agency in Zimbabwe’s precarious informal sectorTom TomJournal of Youth Studies2023
Digital media, popular culture and social activism amongst urban youth in NigeriaChizoba ImokaCritical African Studies2023
Youth in West and Central Africa: quests for inclusion and the future of governanceJaimie Bleck,Trevor Lwere & Boukary SangaréCanadian Journal of African Studies2023
Complexities of men’s engagement in early childhood care and development in AfricaHasina Banu EbrahimEuropean Early Childhood Education Research Journal2023
Book TitleChapter Author(s)Chapter
Young People in the Global South: Voice, Agency and CitizenshipNicola Jones, Kate Pincock, Workneh YadeteYouth movements and political protest: Opportunities and limitations of Ethiopia’s Qeerroo movement in affecting transformative change

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