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Countering the focus on crisis and irregularity that frames dominant representations of African migration to Europe, this article explores Gambian migrant women's journeys of return. It is argued that Gambian women returnees' financial resources, levels of education, kinship relations and social networks have positioned them in such a way that they can benefit from the opportunities and possibilities in The Gambia, thereby influencing their decisions to return. Significantly, their positions have helped them to negotiate and, in some instances, challenge gendered expectations and relations in their experiences on return. Further, the exchange of knowledge and their transnational networks and connections place the global South and the global North as co-constitutive elements in the development of their work and their gendered subjectivities. As such, I focus on the analytical purchase that the concept of return affords, as well as its political possibilities. The article contributes to existing scholarship on migration by highlighting the importance of returnees' multiple subjectivities in both their decisions to return and their experiences on return. In addition, I foreground the contributions that returnees make to the places to which they have migrated, thereby challenging representations of African migrants as deficient and of Africa as a place of absence. En replique a l'attention portee sur la crise et a l'irregularite qui definit le cadre des representations dominantes de la migration africaine vers l'Europe, cet article explore le voyage de retour effectue par des migrantes gambiennes. Il soutient que les ressources financieres, le niveau d'education, les relations de parente et les reseaux sociaux des migrantes gambiennes de retour les ont mises en position de pouvoir beneficier des opportunites et des possibilites presentes en Gambie, et ont par la-meme influence leur decision de rentrer au pays. De facon significative, leur position les a aidees a negocier et, dans certains cas, a remettre en cause les attentes et les relations genrees dans leurs experiences du retour. De plus, l'echange de connaissances, ainsi que les reseaux et les liens transnationaux, font du Sud global et du Nord global des elements co-constitutifs du developpement de leur travail et de leur subjectivite et de genre. De ce fait, l'auteur s'interesse a la prise analytique qu'offre le concept du retour, ainsi qu'a ses possibilites politiques. Cet article contribue a la recherche existante sur la migration en soulignant l'importance des multiples subjectivites des migrantes de retour, tant dans leur decision de retourner que dans leurs experiences du retour. De plus, l'auteur met en avant les contributions des migrantes de retour aux lieux vers lesquels elles ont emigre, remettant en cause par la-meme les representations des migrants africains comme deficients et de l'Afrique comme lieu d'absence. Contrariando o enfoque na crise e na irregularidade que enquadra as representacoes dominantes da migracao africana para a Europa, este artigo explora os percursos de regresso das mulheres migrantes da Gambia. Argumenta-se que os recursos financeiros, niveis de educacao, as relacoes de parentesco e redes sociais das mulheres gambianas retornadas as posicionaram de forma a poderem beneficiar das oportunidades e possibilidades na Gambia, influenciando assim as suas decisoes de regresso. Significativamente, as suas posicoes ajudaram-nas a negociar e, em alguns casos, a desafiar as expectativas e relacoes de genero nas suas experiencias de regresso. Alem disso, a troca de conhecimentos e as suas redes e ligacoes transnacionais colocam o Sul global e o Norte global como elementos coconstitutivos no desenvolvimento do seu trabalho e das suas subjetividades de genero. Como tal, concentro-me na aquisicao analitica que o conceito de retorno proporciona, bem como nas suas possibilidades politicas. O artigo contribui para os estudos existentes sobre migracao ao realcar a importancia das multiplas subjectividades dos retornados, tanto nas suas decisoes de regressar como nas suas experiencias de regresso. Alem disso, coloco em primeiro plano as contribuicoes que os retornados dao aos locais para onde migraram, desafiando assim as representacoes dos migrantes africanos como sendo incapazes e da Africa como um lugar de ausencia., The unending reverse migrations between multiple geographic locations is a fascinating Atlantic Diaspora story, but it has been obscured by the existing single-dimensional paradigm and literature that places these multiple [...]

Extensively ignored by the literature on the subject, recent interest in the fate of academic freedom in Africa is linked with shared concerns about the exploding nature of its societal crises. The collapse of political integration and social cohesion; the decline of the civil society and the implosion of conflicts; the rise of authoritarian, non-developmental populist regimes amid extreme poverty; and the worsening material conditions of the populations are major indications of such crises. Nowhere are these crises worse illustrated than in the universities where constrained funding, infrastructural collapse, massive brain drains and strained relations with the state inhibit the production of knowledge. This article reflects on the trajectory of the universities in postcolonial Africa. It draws on the national public universities in Nigeria and accounts for the changes and continuities underlying their performance against the backdrop of hostile material conditions and uncongenial political control, which not only remain disruptive but continue to undermine institutional autonomy and the integrity of scholarship in the universities across Africa. Largement ignore par la litterature sur ce sujet, l'interet recent porte au sort de la liberte academique en Afrique est lie aux inquietudes partagees concernant la nature explosive des crises societales. L'effondrement de l'integration politique et de la cohesion sociale, le declin de la societe civile et l'implosion des conflits, la montee des regimes populistes non developpementaux autoritaires sur fond d'extreme pauvrete, et la deterioration des conditions materielles sont tous des indicateurs majeurs de ces crises. Ces dernieres sont le plus clairement illustrees dans les universites oU les contraintes financieres, l'effondrement de l'infrastructure, la fuite massive des cerveaux et les relations tendues avec l'Etat sont autant de freins a la production des savoirs. Cet article s'interesse a la trajectoire des universites en Afrique postcoloniale. Centre sur les universites publiques nationales du Nigeria, il explique les changements et les continuites qui soulignent leur efficacite dans un contexte de conditions materielles defavorables et de controle politique hostile, qui non seulement demeurent destabilisants, mais aussi continuent a fragiliser l'autonomie institutionnelle et l'integrite de la recherche dans les universites africaines. Extensivamente ignorado pela literatura sobre o assunto, o recente interesse no destino da liberdade academica em Africa esta ligado a preocupacoes comuns sobre a natureza explosiva das crises sociais. O colapso da integracao politica e da coesao social; o declinio da sociedade civil e a implosao dos conflitos; a ascensao de regimes populistas autoritarios e naodesenvolvimentistas em meios de pobreza extrema; e o agravamento das condicoes materiais das populacoes--tudo isto sao indicios importantes dessas crises. Em nenhum outro lugar estas crises sao mais claramente ilustradas do que nas universidades, onde o financiamento limitado, o colapso das infraestruturas, a fuga macica de cerebros e as relacoes tensas com o Estado inibem a producao de conhecimento. Este artigo reflete sobre a trajetoria das universidades na Africa pos-colonial. Baseia-se nas universidades publicas nacionais da Nigeria e explica as mudancas e as continuidades subjacentes ao seu desempenho num contexto de condicoes materiais hostis e de um controlo politico desconfortavel, que nao so continuam a ser destabilizadores como continuam a minar a autonomia institucional e a integridade dos estudos nas universidades de toda a Africa., The problem This article discusses the failed role of the state in Africa in the ongoing collapse and crisis of higher education and the public universities across the continent. Its [...]

This article argues that, despite techno-utopian narratives of digital self-directed learning (through content freely available on the internet) and its proposed opportunities for upward social mobility, digital learning is and remains a highly contextual practice, rooted in local realities and aspirational trajectories. Through learning with a community-based organization (CBO) that offers tech training to youth from low-income neighbourhoods in Kibera, Nairobi, I argue that digital learning does not replace formal education but rather is strategically incorporated into already existing learning practices. Although Nairobi has been extensively studied as a frontrunner in technology uptake and development in Africa, it is crucial to also look at technology practices and uptake away from elite design and use, to extend and deepen our knowledge of how the digital realm plays out in the lives of the majority of urban residents. Cet article soutient qu'en depit des discours techno-utopiques d'apprentissage autodirige facilite par le numerique (avec un contenu disponible gratuitement sur Internet) et des opportunites d'ascension sociale qu'il propose, l'apprentissage numerique est et reste une pratique hautement contextuelle ancree dans les realites locales et les trajectoires aspirationnelles. En apprenant avec un organisme communautaire qui offre des formations techniques aux jeunes des quartiers defavorises de Kibera, a Nairobi, l'auteur soutient que l'apprentissage numerique ne remplace pas l'education formelle, mais plutot qu'il s'integre de maniere strategique dans des pratiques d'apprentissage deja existantes. Nairobi a ete largement etudiee comme ville championne de l'utilisation et du developpement de la technologie en Afrique, mais il est crucial d'examiner egalement les pratiques technologiques et l'utilisation de la technologie au-dela de sa pertinence et utilisation par les elites, pour mieux comprendre comment la sphere numerique s'inscrit dans la vie de la majorite des residents urbains. Este artigo argumenta que, apesar das narrativas tecno-utopicas da aprendizagem digital autodirigida (atraves de conteudos disponiveis gratuitamente na Internet) e das oportunidades propostas para uma mobilidade social ascendente, a aprendizagem digital e e continua a ser uma pratica altamente contextual, enraizada nas realidades locais e em trajectorias aspiracionais. Atraves da aprendizagem com uma organizacao de base comunitaria (OBC) que oferece formacao tecnologica a jovens de bairros de baixo rendimento em Kibera, Nairobi, defendo que a aprendizagem digital nao substitui a educacao formal, mas e antes estrategicamente incorporada em praticas de aprendizagem ja existentes. Embora Nairobi tenha sido amplamente estudada como pioneira na adocao e desenvolvimento de tecnologias em Africa, e crucial analisar tambem as praticas e a adocao de tecnologias fora do ambito da concecao e utilizacao de elite, para alargar e aprofundar o nosso conhecimento sobre a forma como o dominio digital se desenrola na vida da maioria dos residentes urbanos., Introduction (1) 'Haven't we all been in that spot,' Naima pitched, with a trembling voice that had lost some of its initial confidence, 'where we were punished for not doing [...]

Following a severe drought in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the invasive shrub Prosopis, a kind of mesquite native to South America, was introduced by international organizations to locations across Kenya's drylands, including the Turkana region in the far north. Prosopis, known as etirae in Turkana, was envisaged as a solution to a range of problems, including deforestation, fuelwood shortages and general environmental deterioration. While exacerbated by drought, these problems were perceived to reflect a much more fundamental crisis, with prevalent views at the time envisaging pastoralism as unsustainable, destructive and in need of overhaul--a narrative dating to colonial times that has since been discredited. Since its introduction, etirae has spread relentlessly, invading riparian land, encroaching on cultivation plots and growing to new heights and thicknesses. Investigating its entanglements with Turkana livelihoods and economic relationships is also a process of understanding how it has braided its way through contested processes of social change, and how it has come to be intertwined with conceptions of cascading crisis quite distinct from the narratives that led to its initial introduction. Implications emerge regarding both the complicated biological residues of past development interventions and the totalizing crisis-oriented narratives that shape drylands development in the current era of climate change. Apres une periode de grave secheresse a la fin des annees 1970 et au debut des annees 1980, des organisations internationales ont introduit le Prosopis, un arbuste envahissant de type mesquite, natif d'Amerique du Sud, dans des regions arides du Kenya comme le Turkana, dans l'extreme nord du pays. Le Prosopis, connu sous le nom d'etirae au Turkana, se voulait comme une solution a de nombreux problemes comme la deforestation, le manque de bois de feu et la degradation generale de l'environnement. Bien qu'exacerbes par la secheresse, ces problemes etaient percus comme le reflet d'une crise bien plus fondamentale, les opinions repandues a l'epoque jugeant le pastoralisme non viable, destructeur et a reformer, un discours datant de la periode coloniale et desormais discredite. Depuis son introduction, l'etirae n'a cesse de se propager, envahissant les terres riveraines, empietant sur les terrains cultives et gagnant en hauteur et en epaisseur. L'etude de ses imbrications avec les moyens de subsistance et les relations economiques dans le Turkana permet egalement de comprendre comment il s'est tresse dans des processus contestes de changement social, et comment il en est venu a s'entremeler avec des conceptions de crise en cascade nettement distinctes des discours qui ont mene a son introduction initiale. Des implications emergent concernant les residus biologiques compliques d'anciennes interventions de developpement et les discours totalisants orientes sur la crise qui faconnent le developpement des regions arides a l'ere du changement climatique. Apos uma grave seca no final da decada de 1970 e inicio da decada de 1980, o arbusto invasor Prosopis, uma especie de mesquite nativa da America do Sul, foi introduzido por organizacoes internacionais em locais das terras secas do Quenia, incluindo a regiao de Turkana, no extremo norte. A Prosopis, conhecida como etirae em Turkana, foi encarada como uma solucao para uma serie de problemas, incluindo a desflorestacao, a escassez de lenha e a deterioracao geral do ambiente. Embora exacerbados pela seca, estes problemas eram vistos como reflexo de uma crise muito mais fundamental, com as opinioes prevalecentes na altura a considerarem a pastoricia como insustentavel, destrutiva e a necessitar de uma revisao--uma narrativa que remonta aos tempos coloniais e que, desde entao, tem sido desacreditada. Desde a sua introducao, a etirae espalhou-se implacavelmente, invadindo terras ribeirinhas, invadindo parcelas de cultivo e crescendo a novas alturas e espessuras. Investigar os seus envolvimentos com os meios de subsistencia e as relacoes economicas da Turkana e tambem um processo de compreensao da forma como a etirae se entrelacou com processos contestados de mudanca social e como se entrelacou com concepcoes de crise em cascata bastante distintas das narrativas que levaram a sua introducao inicial. Surgem implicacoes relativas tanto aos complicados residuos biologicos de intervencoes de desenvolvimento passadas como as narrativas totalizantes orientadas para a crise que moldam o desenvolvimento das terras secas na atual era das alteracoes climaticas., Introduction: tangled crises In the late 1970s and early 1980s, drylands across Africa, from the Sahel to the Horn, experienced an acute environmental crisis. Severe and protracted drought provoked large-scale [...]

Most existing literature on the causes of party switching both in Africa and around the world is built on tenuous empirical foundations. The question of why members of parliament (MPs) switch parties has hardly been asked directly either to the MPs themselves or to everyday voters. While MPs could lie or give more favourable accounts that suit their interests, putting this question to them could uncover other crucial factors that have fallen through the cracks in previous theorizations. This article takes a triangulation approach by drawing from the viewpoints of researchers, voters and MPs themselves to give a more holistic picture of the drivers of party defection. Through a combination of a nationwide representative survey and elite and key informant interviews, I situate the trend of party switching in Nigeria within broader comparative literature on the subject, showing how Nigeria conforms and deviates from existing conceptualizations of party switching around the world. I find evidence of interactions between formal and personal drivers of party switching in Nigeria. I also discover that while a majority of Nigerian voters are suspicious of defectors, defectors point accusing fingers at the lack of internal democracy within political parties, thereby exposing an issue not adequately addressed in existing literature. L'essentiel de la litterature existante sur les causes du transfuge politique en Afrique et dans le reste du monde repose sur des fondements empiriques tenus. La question de pourquoi des membres de parlement (MP) changent de parti a rarement ete posee directement aux MP eux-memes ou aux electeurs ordinaires. Les MP pourraient certes mentir ou invoquer des motifs favorables a leurs interets, mais le fait de leur poser cette question pourrait reveler d'autres facteurs determinants qui ont jusqu'a present echappe a la theorisation. Cet article presente une approche de triangulation en s'appuyant sur les points de vue de chercheurs, d'electeurs et de MP eux-memes pour dresser un tableau plus holistique des determinants du transfuge politique. A partir d'une enquete representative a l'echelle nationale et d'entretiens aupres d'elites et d'informateurs cles, l'auteur situe la tendance de transfuge politique au Nigeria dans la litterature comparative plus large sur ce sujet, en montrant en quoi le Nigeria se conforme aux conceptualisations existantes du transfuge politique a travers le monde, et en quoi il s'en eloigne. L'auteur met en evidence des interactions entre les determinants formels et personnels du transfuge politique au Nigeria. Il decouvre egalement que, tandis qu'une majorite des electeurs nigerians se mefient des transfuges, ces derniers pointent un doigt accusateur vers le manque de democratie interne au sein des partis politiques, exposant ainsi une question que la litterature existante n'aborde pas suffisamment. A maior parte da literatura existente sobre as causas da mudanca de partido, tanto em Africa como em todo o mundo, assenta em bases empiricas tenues. A questao de saber o porque de deputados mudarem de partido e raramente colocada diretamente aos proprios deputados ou aos eleitores comuns. Apesar dos deputados poderem mentir ou dar relatos mais favoraveis que sirvam os seus interesses, colocar-lhes esta questao poderia revelar outros factores cruciais que passaram despercebidos na teorizacao anterior. Este artigo adopta uma abordagem de triangulacao, recorrendo aos pontos de vista de investigadores, eleitores e dos proprios deputados para dar uma imagem mais holistica dos factores de desercao partidaria. Atraves de uma combinacao de um inquerito representativo a nivel nacional e de entrevistas a elites e a informadores-chave, situo a tendencia de mudanca de partido na Nigeria no ambito de uma literatura comparativa mais vasta sobre o assunto, mostrando como a Nigeria se conforma e se desvia das conceptualizacoes existentes sobre a mudanca de partido em todo o mundo. Encontro indicios de interaccoes entre factores formais e pessoais da mudanca de partido na Nigeria. Tambem descubro que, embora a maioria dos eleitores nigerianos desconfie dos desertores, estes apontam o dedo acusador a falta de democracia interna nos partidos politicos, expondo assim uma questao que nao e adequadamente abordada na literatura existente., The expression 'waka waka' in Nigerian Pidgin English coincidentally has similar meanings in New Zealand. In the former, it is used to describe a restless person who perambulates from one [...]

Archie Mafeje, The Theory and Ethnography of African Social Formations: The Case of the Interlacustrine Kingdoms. London: CODESRIA (pb US$13--978 1 8707 8408 5). 1991, v + 149 pp. Olufemi [...]

Abstract Africa's regional archives offer crucial records to explore the continent's postcolonial past. Although these archives are often difficult to locate and access and are exposed to several challenges that [...]

Abstract Savings groups are an important feature of life in rural Uganda and elsewhere. They have been celebrated as an 'alternative', community-based approach to economic development with a particular focus [...]

Abstract This article traces bricolage in the city of Lome, Togo, as it is given meaning, practised and resisted by the 'makers' involved in the city's makerspaces. While the Levi-Straussian [...]

Anthony Butler, Cyril Ramaphosa: the road to presidential power. Woodbridge: James Currey (hb 45 [pound sterling]-978 1 84701 229 6). 2019, xvi + 496 pp. Steven Friedman, Prisoners of the [...]

Abstract Exploring the 'hollow' character of middle-class status in contemporary Kenya, this article shows how upwardly mobile young Kenyans struggle to cope with the expectations for distribution that their displays [...]

Abstract In this article I explore changing state-citizen relationships in Mauritius. To do so, 1 outline and provide analysis of the system through which this Indian Ocean island has historically [...]

Abstract Against the background of post-Cold War trade and media liberalization, this article examines how young women living in Yaounde, Cameroon, share digital images of their crafted styles via WhatsApp. [...]

Abstract The history of the human-technology relation points to binary (positive and negative) evaluations of technology's role. One reason for this binary is the limited view of technology in terms [...]

Abstract In central Uganda, even a casual observer would notice the widespread presentation of often identical commercial services and goods fruit vendors, street food or motorcycle taxis, for instance in [...]

Abstract This article studies how anti-Christian, 'traditionally African' organizations, locally known as Eglises des Noirs, navigate religious competition in the Congolese capital through sonic and linguistic strategies. It focuses on [...]

Abstract This article draws from funeral rituals and performative festivals to reflect on how and why burials, reburials and performances of Eyo and Nzem Berom festivals provide excellent examples of [...]

Ohiniko M. Toffa, Christliche Moral und koloniale Herrschaft in Togo:Die Missionskonzeption Franz Michael Zahns (1862-1900). Bielefeld: transcript (pb 50[euro]--978 3 8376 6537 6). 2023, 346 pp. A lot has been [...]

Chris Brown, David Moore and Blair Rutherford (eds), New Leaders, New Dawns? South Africa and Zimbabwe under Cyril Ramaphosa and Emmerson Mnangagwa. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press (hb CA$140-978 0 22801 [...]

Bronwen Manby, Citizenship in Africa The Law of Belonging. Oxford: Hart Publishing (hb 110[pounds sterling]--978 1 509 92077 8; pb 44.99[pounds sterling]--978 1 509 94400 2). 2018/2021, v + 399 [...]

Lesley Nicole Braun, Congo's Dancers: Women and Work in Kinshasa. Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press (hb US$79.95--978 0 299 34030 8). 2023, 201 pp. Braun claims a space for [...]

Victoria Bernal, Katrien Pype and Daivi Rodima-Taylor (eds), Cryptopolitics: Exposure, Concealment, and Digital Media. New York NY: Berghahn Books (hb US$135/99 [pound sterling]-978 1 80539 029 9). 2023, vii + [...]

Khalid Mustafa Medani, Black Markets and Militants: Informal Networks in the Middle East and Africa, 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (pb 22 [pound sterling].99-978 1 009 25772 5; open [...]

Theodore Trefon, Bushmeat: Culture, Economy and Conservation in Central Africa. London: C. Hurst for the International African Institute (pb 20[pound sterling]-978 1 78738 814 7). 2023, 256 pp. This is [...]

Abstract Since the 1980s, hundreds of predominantly working-class African-American Muslims have travelled or relocated to the rural yet renowned city of Medina Baye, Senegal. They were invited there by Shaykh [...]

Abstract This article analyses the racial framing of the humanitarian encounter between Turkish and African Muslims as a trope of first contact. Intensifying humanitarian relations with Africa south of the [...]

Abstract Muslim aid organizations are relatively new actors in the Western aid industry. Based on multi-sited ethnographic research with the UK-based NGO Islamic Relief, I explore the organization's engagement with [...]

This part issue aims to re-centre the African continent in debates on the intersectionality of race and religion. Africa became a colonial laboratory for racializing religious difference in the ethnological [...]

Abstract In studies of Southern Africa, ancestors and possessing spirits have received far greater attention than ghosts. It is only in recent years that fragmentary references to ghosts have begun [...]

Absract It has become a well-rehearsed truism that the growth of sub-Saharan African cities is the result of an amassing of persons, things and knowledge that takes place in the [...]

Abstract This article considers the materiality and substance of the built environment in Nairobi in light of concerns about surface, depth and the power of the unseen. Taking Nairobi's highrise [...]

Abstract In Nakuru, a secondary city in Kenya, the city's future is explored multi-sensorially. In this article, I argue that Nakuru residents explore urban futures through the taste of different [...]

Abstract Kiamaiko in Nairobi hosts one of the largest goat markets in East Africa. The goats come from across Kenya and the region, as do many of the people there, [...]

Abstract This article deploys sand as a potential way of engaging with contemporary livelihoods in the Ghanaian city of Accra--one of many metropolitan nodes in an urbanizing region of West [...]

Abstract In West Africa, concrete is increasingly taking hold of physical landscapes, popular consciousness, and everyday conversations. Ubiquitous and pervasive, concrete is now an integral part of West African urban [...]

What kind of stuff makes cities? What sorts of relations between humans, materials, infrastructures, animals, plans, substances, climates, machines, imaginaries, labours, foodstuffs--things--are mobilized to produce the dense, vibrant, provisional assemblage [...]

Abstract Changing practices of motorized mobility in Kikwit, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have given rise to what residents call the 'accidente': a victim of a traffic accident, often involving [...]

Cheikh Anta Babou, The Muridiyya on the Move: Islam, Migration, and Place Making. Athens OH: Ohio University Press (hb US$80 - 978 0 8214 2437 7; pb US$36.95 978 0 [...]

Saheed Aderinto, Animality and Colonial Subjecthood in Africa: The Human and Nonhuman Creatures of Nigeria. Athens OH: Ohio University Press (hb US$80 - 978 0 8214 2469 8; pb US$36.95 [...]

Ignatius Chukwumah (ed.), Sexual Humour in Africa: Gender, Jokes, and Societal Change. Abingdon: Routledge (hb 130 [pounds sterling] - 978 0 3677 7624 4). 2022, 310 pp. Some books have [...]

Peer Schouten, Roadblock Politics: The Origins of Violence in Central Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (hb 64.99 [pounds sterling] - 978 1 108 49401 4; pb 22.99 [pounds sterling] - [...]

Amy Niang, The Postcolonial African State in Transition: Stateness and Modes of Sovereignty. London: Rowman and Littlefield (hb US$138/106 [pounds sterling] - 978 1 78660 652 5; pb US$47/36 [pounds [...]

Sheila D. Collins, Ubuntu: George M. Houser and the Struggle for Peace and Freedom on Two Continents. Athens OH: Ohio University Press (hb US$50-978 0 8214 2424 7; pb US$34.95-978 [...]

Abstract 'Yan hakika are a Sufi group that has come to prominence in the second decade of the twenty-first century in northern Nigeria, with a significant following in Kano. Although [...]

Abstract This article brings new perspectives on state-citizen relations in African petro-states by analysing the role of Nigerian trade unions in the recurring fuel subsidy protests. Nigerian trade unions have [...]

Abstract Why are Nigeria's universities launching a growing number of open access journals while simultaneously expecting their academic staff to publish 'internationally'? And what impact do these expectations have on [...]

Abstract This article examines two northern Nigerian Muslim intellectuals--Aminu Sagagi and Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (enthroned as Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II of Kano, 2014-20)--whose approaches, in different ways, exemplify a self-consciously [...]

Abstract In 1932, as Nyasaland (present-day Malawi) was heading to indirect rule, a small vocal community in the north of the country resisted the colonial government's attempts to assign them [...]

Abstract This article explores recent inter- and intra-religious entanglements and contestations between Sufi Muslims, members of the Izala and Christianity, which have emerged as a result of a new way [...]

Abstract Nigeria is often portrayed as having a 'Muslim north' and a 'Christian south'. Such representations oversimplify the complicated interrelationships between the two religious communities and their geographic locations. Similarly, [...]