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June 6th, 2016

Reading List: Ten blog posts to revisit on the fifth anniversary of the launch of the Africa at LSE blog

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Blog Editor

June 6th, 2016

Reading List: Ten blog posts to revisit on the fifth anniversary of the launch of the Africa at LSE blog

1 comment

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

June 6 2016 marks five years since the Africa at LSE blog was launched. To commemorate the occasion, we have produced of a reading list of 10 blog posts you may like to read again. It is an eclectic mix of articles that have been very popular with our readers.

  1. Africa’s urban transition: challenges, misconceptions and opportunities – Sean Fox, then a doctoral researcher at LSE, produced this article arguing that some basic misunderstandings about the nature and causes of  Africa’s urban transition have resulted in decades of misguided development policies in the region.
  2. Remembering sub-Saharan Africa’s first military coup d’état fifty years on – Surprisingly little is known about the first successful military overthrow in the African continent which was also the first time a country’s leader was assassinated during a coup d’état. While researching this article, I also discovered the leader in question, Togo’s Sylvanus Olympio was an alumnus of LSE.
  3. South Africa’s wealth still resting in hands of a few – Jason Hickel, a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in LSE’s Department of Anthropology is one of the blog’s most popular contributors. This is an early article from him.
  4. Reducing tax avoidance must be a key priority for the Uganda government – LSE alumna, Prajakta Kharkar Nigam, then posted to Uganda as an Economist on the Overseas Development Institute (UK) Fellowship, examines the challenges and possible solutions to tax avoidance in Uganda.
  5. Are the criticisms of the #Kony2012 campaign justified? – Kony 2012 was a short documentary produced by US-based charity Invisible Children. The purpose of the film was to increase international public awareness of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Leader Joseph Kony in a bid to have him arrested by the end of 2012. The video went viral and spawned a huge volume of analysis on multiple outlets including this blog. This article by LSE Assistant Professor Omar McDoom was the best-read article of our coverage.
  6. Penalty shootouts in football can be made fairer – Believe it or not, this article is based on research conducted by LSE Professor Ignacio Palacios-Huerta. Given the hand-wringing that accompanies penalty shootouts, Fifa could use the advice in this article. Someone please get me Gianni Infantino’s number…
  7. “For my generation, the death of #Mandela marks the end of Africa’s liberation struggle” – Thandika Mkandawire – LSE’s Professor of African Development Thandika Mkandawire is an inspiring figure for many here at LSE. In this article following the death of Nelson Mandela, Mkandawire describes how the South African revolutionary and statesman inspired him as a young activist in Malawi.
  8. A nova divisão entre política e religião em Angola do pós-guerra – Yes, I have just included an article written in a foreign language. You can also read it in English. However, this article looking at the evolution of the relationship between Church and State in post-war Angola was far better read in Portuguese than in English.
  9. Thatcher, the Commonwealth and apartheid South Africa – Margaret Thatcher is the longest serving Prime Minister of Great Britain and a the only woman to have held the post. This article explores the role she may have played in the dismantling of the apartheid regime in South Africa.
  10. Mahatma Gandhi and South Africa Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most important figures in India in the struggle against British colonial rule. But did you know he received his political awakening in South Africa?

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