SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS - The African Mirror

Jan

22

2025

By EVELYNE NJUGUNA; JOHN MBURU; REGINA BIRNER and THOMAS DAUM

Kenya’s farmers have lots of digital tools to help boost productivity – how they can be made more effective

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

DIGITAL agriculture is often hailed as an almost magical trigger for promoting successful farming, even among smallholder farmers in the developing world. Its proponents argue that using digital tools to, for instance, generate records and calendar schedules, can help farmers grow better crops, manage their resources more efficiently, and connect with organised markets, all while reducing post-harvest losses. But not all researchers are convinced that digital solutions are the answer to farmers’ problems. Some argue that the hype around these tools diverts attention from the real, on-the-ground challenges farmers face. One Kenyan avocado farmer, speaking to a researcher in 2021,…

Jan

22

2025

By MATTHEW DUNCOMBE

How to fix democracy? Ancient philosopher Plato may have an answer

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, EDITORS CHOICE

THE Republic, the best-known work of ancient Greek philosopher Plato, authored around 375 BCE, has shaped Western political thought. Greece is now known as the “cradle of democracy”. Not only was the first democracy in the world in Athens, but the word itself comes from the Greek demos (people) and kratos (rule). Yet Plato’s The Republic relentlessly argues against democracy. This might be surprising, given that Westerners typically think that it is very important to live in a democracy. Almost all Western countries are democratic. In the most recent election in the US, both Trump voters and Harris voters claimed…

Jan

21

2025

By CHRISTEL DOROTHEE HANSEN; CHUKWUMA MOSES ANORUO; DENIZ VURAL; EDUARDO QUEIROZ ALVES; EDUARDO QUEIROZ ALVES; MARTA MORENO IBÁÑEZ; OLUMIDE DAVID ONAFESO; ONEMA CHRISTOPHER ADOJO and VINCENT HARE

Why Africa’s young scientists should help check the quality of climate change research

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, EDITORS CHOICE

SCIENTIFIC research is essential for addressing the climate crisis. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations body, assesses the science of climate change through its regular assessment reports. These reports reflect scientific consensus on the causes and impacts of and possible solutions to climate change. The reports are not only scientific publications. They inform environmental policy at global, regional and country levels relating to anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change and the state of the environment. The reports also undergo rigorous peer review to ensure their scientific merit and credibility before they are finally published. Researchers from high-income countries…

Jan

17

2025

By TEKLEHAYMANOT G. WELDEMICHEL

Tanzania’s Maasai are being forced off their ancestral land – the tactics the government uses

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, EDITORS CHOICE

TANZANIA has a long and troubling history of evicting communities from their lands. This has happened under the guise of expanding protected conservation areas, which make up over 40% of its territory. In recent years, the Maasai of the Ngorongoro district – a region renowned for abundant wildlife and the iconic Ngorongoro Crater – have been the target of these evictions. They’ve faced threats to their nomadic lifestyle, centred on cattle herding. The government claims that the evictions are necessary to protect the environment from a large Maasai population. Currently, around 100,000 Maasai reside within the protected area. The reality,…

Jan

16

2025

By NINA WILÉN and PAUL D. WILLIAMS

Peacekeeping armies: what are they, why do African states build them and what impact do they have?

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, EDITORS CHOICE

SINCE 1948, more than two million uniformed peacekeepers have served in over 70 United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions. They have come from over 120 UN member states. But a few countries have regularly contributed a significant proportion of their troops. They have also made peacekeeping a foreign policy priority, and have adapted their own armed forces to fit UN requirements. These states have developed what we call “peacekeeping armies”. Since the end of the Cold War, the vast majority of these peacekeepers have been deployed in Africa, many of them by African countries. Today, 11 of the 20 countries that…

Jan

11

2025

By PAOLA VARGAS ARANA

Slavery, tax evasion, resistance: the story of 11 Africans in South America’s gold mines in the 1500s

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

THE transatlantic slave trade was one of the most devastating and inhumane processes in human history. It is the subject of many studies, but the individual life histories of the arrival and survival of enslaved people in foreign lands remain largely untold. A lawsuit filed against a slaver in 1589 in Antioquia (a province in today’s Colombia) allowed me to trace the paths of 11 enslaved Africans. The slaver needed to prove these Africans entered legally on ships and over land from Africa into the heart of a South American mining operation. Their lives were extraordinarily challenging. They were captured…

Jan

10

2025

By ELSA COUDERC; GEMMA WARE; PAUL RINCON and SIGNE DEAN

Brain implants, agentic AI and answers on dark matter: what to expect from science in 2025 – podcast

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

IN a special episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast to start 2025, we’ve brought together three science editors from The Conversation’s editions around the world to discuss what to look out for in the world of science and technology in the coming year. Host Gemma Ware is joined by Paul Rincon from The Conversation in the UK, Elsa Couderc from The Conversation in France and Signe Dean from The Conversation in Australia. AI As the rapid commercialisation of AI tools continues, one big growth area in the coming year is likely to be what’s known as agentic AI, where the…

Jan

07

2025

By JABULILE MZIMELA and INOCENT MOYO

Drought and farming: how women in South Africa are using Indigenous knowledge to cope

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

AFRICA’S small-scale farmers make up nearly 80% of all farms in the agriculture sector. In South Africa, there are about 2 million small-scale farmers, predominantly Black and based in the eastern summer rainfall region of the country. A small-scale farmer produces food for their family on land that is generally smaller than five hectares. Small-scale farmers sell their excess produce but have limited access to resources, technology and big markets. Africa’s small-scale farming sector is hit hard when there’s a drought because these farmers rely on rainwater. South Africa has been affected by major drought episodes over the years. However,…

Jan

06

2025

By BENSON KANYINGI

Kenya’s forgotten Mau Mau freedom fighters and the impeached deputy president that stood up for them

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, EDITORS CHOICE

KENYA’S ousted deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, who was impeached in October 2024, established his name early enough as a forceful politician unafraid to take a stand. These include his aggressive push for justice for Mau Mau ex-freedom fighters and those who survived them. Landless veterans of the guerrilla war against British colonialists were infamously left out of the post-independence stakes as the new government pledged to forgive and forget the exploitative colonial past. Benson Waiganjo Kanyingi, who has studied land grievances among the ex-freedom fighters and the silenced history of the Mbeere ex-freedom fighters in Embu county sets out the…

Dec

18

2024

By ANTHONY DIALA

Who owns the traditional ‘family home’ in South Africa? Court sets a new precedent, but the law remains murky

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, EDITORS CHOICE

A recent ruling by the Johannesburg high court in South Africa has put the definition and control of the “family house” under African customary law under the spotlight. The ruling touches on sensitive issues of cultural heritage, statutory laws of property, and South Africa’s history of racial discrimination. It highlights the tension between customary norms, which underlie the idea of a communal family house, and the common law, which restricts ownership to the individual whose name appears in a title deed. The notion of a family house is not provided for in South African law. And prior to this ruling,…