In this blog, I provide answers to a few basic questions that I imagine a reader, who is not an expert in historical African linguistics, might wish to ask the author. Why this topic, what’s so interesting about it? Africa is the cradle of humankind and where human language evolved. Tens of thousands of years […]
Read MoreNo state can do without taxation. States need to pay for bureaucrats, soldiers, policemen, infrastructure, and the more ambitious ones also pay for schools, hospitals and social security programs. Fiscal capacity forms the backbone of the state, and both sovereign and colonial regimes confront the revenue imperative. But how, in the case of colonial rule, […]
Read MoreOn January 3rd this year, South Africa’s Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga announced to a cheering audience that the national school leaving (‘matric’) pass rate had risen by 3 percent. As in previous years, critics were quick to respond: the celebrations, they said, ignored how large numbers of students dropped out before completing high […]
Read MoreThe ancient Kongo kingdom in West-Central Africa has attracted much attention. Usually the study of its history starts with the arrival of Portuguese navigators at the end of the fifteenth century in the Africa’s Atlantic Coast region. But what can be said about the kingdom’s origins and early history? From 2012 to 2016, the KongoKing […]
Read MoreFollowing on last week's meditation on the emergence of African Studies as an academic field, the author of Ethnic Patriotism and the East African Revival reveals the curious effect that studying African history and culture has on the discipline itself. Catch up with Part One of Dr. Peterson's post here.
Read MoreIn this two-part post, the author of the award-winning Ethnic Patriotism and the East African Revival reflects on the emergence of the field of African studies and Cambridge University Press' role in advancing the discipline.
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