insert_link Africa What are Sabaki languages? How people formed ethnic groups along the coast of east Africa By Daren Ray, Brigham Young University A new book called Ethnicity, Identity and Conceptualizing Community in Indian Ocean East Africa tracks the history of the coastal communities of east Africa and how the Sabaki family of Bantu languages was formed, shaped in part by the sea and the arrival of visitors from other shores and within the continent. We asked historian Daren Ray to tell us […] todayFebruary 20, 2024 22
insert_link Africa Sudan Armed Forces are on a path to self-destruction – risking state collapse By Harry Verhoeven, Columbia University It is now 10 months since the outbreak of civil war in Sudan in April 2023, pitting the Sudan Armed Forces against the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary group. The war, which erupted after relations between the two wings of Sudan’s security apparatus broke down, rapidly spread beyond the capital, Khartoum. More recently, the Sudan Armed Forces have suffered numerous setbacks […] todayFebruary 20, 2024 12
insert_link Environment In Brazil’s soy belt, community seed banks offer hope for the Amazon By Ana Ionova Not too long ago, the plot of land that Maria Ivonete de Souza inherited was barren, the soil hardened by years of cattle ranching. When the family had arrived to the Amazon from southern Brazil four decades earlier, her father had swiftly cleared the dense rainforest to make way for pasture. “He razed it all by hand, with a saw and an ax,” Souza […] todayFebruary 20, 2024 11
insert_link Business / Economics Jobs in South Africa: the labour market is recovering from COVID – but unskilled and less educated people are still being left behind By Derek Yu, University of the Western Cape For more than three decades the South African economy has had very high rates of joblessness. The country’s economy has been unable to create enough jobs for its growing army of workers. This has partly been because of the stagnant economic growth rate of only 1.7% during the 2010s (it was even lower at 0.9% in 2015-2019). Another factor […] todayFebruary 20, 2024 7
insert_link Africa Nervous Conditions: on translating one of Zimbabwe’s most famous novels into Shona By Tinashe Mushakavanhu, University of Oxford The publishing journey of Zimbabwean writer and film-maker Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions wasn’t easy. Yet the novel is today considered by many as one of Africa’s 100 best books of the 20th century and is studied at universities around the world. When she submitted the manuscript to publishing houses in Zimbabwe in the early 1980s, they all turned it down. Dangarembga […] todayFebruary 20, 2024 27
insert_link South Africa Green Point “Tent City”: Homeless camp’s days are numbered People have been occupying this site in Green Point for more than five years. It sprung up during the Covid pandemic when many people lost their jobs. Text by Matthew Hirsch and photos by Ashraf Hendricks via GroundUp For weeks the homeless community in the tent camp near the tennis courts in Green Point have been holding their breath, awaiting eviction. At one time there were about a hundred people living […] todayFebruary 20, 2024 6
insert_link Health / Medical The Powerful Constraints on Medical Care in Catholic Hospitals Across America Jennifer Chin, an OB-GYN at UW Medicine in Seattle, has treated patients turned away by Catholic hospitals. “We had many instances where people would have to get in their car to drive to us while they were bleeding, or patients who had had their water bags broken for up to five days or even up to a week,” Chin says. (DAN DELONG FOR KFF HEALTH NEWS) By Rachana Pradhan and Hannah Recht via KFF […] todayFebruary 20, 2024 14
insert_link World Aid Cuts Are Not Criticized as Violence Against Women, but They Should Be By Marissa Conway Britain has cut its international aid several times since 2020 and, by the government’s own admission, the well-being of women around the world has been substantially impacted. The 2021 cut to UNFPA, the UN Population Fund, is a prime example. If the £130 million (approximately $164 million) in funding had been maintained, it would have helped prevent a quarter of a million child and maternal deaths, 14 […] todayFebruary 20, 2024 4
insert_link Africa DRC protests: expert explains why Congolese anger against the west is justified – and useful to the government By Kristof Titeca, University of Antwerp Since early February, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, has been rocked by protests directed against western embassies. Protests took place in front of the British and French embassies, and in front of United Nations buildings. Throughout the city, American and Belgian flags were burned. The protesters are denouncing what they believed to be western complicity in the war in […] todayFebruary 19, 2024 19