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New metric of democratization
From Rysazrd Kapuscinski in The Shadow of the Sun, a collection of his travel writing on Africa: Even if you are far from the capital and, moreover, have not been listening to the radio…the behavior of...
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African urbanisation
A couple of quick hits around African urbanisation: Via Matt Jones of Moved 2 Monrovia, I found this graph from October’s Economist on GDP and urbanisation in Africa. Does Liberia reflect the impact...
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Recently acquired books
Along the lines of Adam Elkus’ shared reading lists, here’s what I’ve picked up recently, along with their Amazon summaries: Catherine Boone, Political Topographies of the African State. “Examines...
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What interests you about development?
If you’re feeling confused about how to navigate the thicket of development organizations I mentioned in my last post, don’t worry overmuch. The first step is to begin identifying the topics and...
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Coercion and violence in Rwanda
Danny Hirschel-Burns had a great post earlier this month on whether people are violent by nature over at The Widening Lens. He reviews a number of seminal works on this issue (Stanley Milgram,...
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Property and political order in Africa
I recently finished Cathy Boone’s excellent new book, Property and Political Order in Africa: Land Rights and the Structure of Politics. She’s motivated by the observation that, while disagremeents...
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What explains peace?
In case you missed it, Jon Temin had a great article at Foreign Policy last month asking a critically important question: “Why don’t the policymakers and practitioners looking to end the world’s...
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Book recommendations: war and the state in Africa
I’m in the midst of preparing for my first comprehensive exam in African studies, which has been a wonderful opportunity to delve into all the unread Africana on my bookshelves. Three books in...
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More books on development for the interested generalist
I’ve read quite a few fine books on on international development since I last wrote about books on development for the interested generalist. I still stand by books 1 -4 and 6 on that list. I suspect...
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On beginning dissertation research in a new country
I’ve had a fantastic time doing preliminary research for my dissertation in Accra this summer. I actually didn’t end up traveling around west Africa as much as I’d planned, but I have been able to...
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The persistence of extreme poverty in the US
Vox had a thought-provoking article last week on people in the US who live on less than $2 per person per day. It’s adapted from the book of the same title by Kathryn Edin & Luke Schaefer. They...
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Somali piracy as non-state governance
Chris Blattman links to a fascinating new article by Anja Shortland and Federico Varese on the governance structures of Somali pirates. Key points: This article argues that gangs, clans, mafias and...
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Links I liked
Ainehi Edoro’s Brittle Paper is my new favorite blog on African literature Aliza Luft discusses her new research on the complexities and contradictions of ethnic violence in Rwanda “Behind the wave of...
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Links I liked
Your first choice for impulsive decisions that leave your bank account in shambles the next day (via Mpasho News) This week in protests: Kenyans took to the streets to ask the government to...
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African events + food in the Bay Area
If you’re in the Bay Area this Saturday, be sure to stop by the Umoja Festival in Oakland! The daylong festival features music, fashion, and food from the wide range of African immigrant groups...
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Decolonizing African studies
(Source) The team at Democracy in Africa has done a major public service by putting together a very long reading list of articles on African issues by African scholars. I’m reproducing it here. If...
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Links I liked
Thinking of this beautiful view in Durban on a rainy day here in Berkeley The security situation in Burundi seems to be getting worse. The government has recently banned the country’s leading human...
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Cartographic literacy and the rise of Uber in Africa
Yinka Adegoke set off an interesting thread on Twitter yesterday with the above observation about Uber. People chimed in to agree that this was common in Accra, Nairobi, Abuja, Bangalore and Beijing...
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Making x-centric less eccentric
Lant Pritchett’s latest post about the limits of randomized controlled trials in development economics has been making the rounds of the small universe of people who care deeply about randomized...
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Links I liked
Lately I’ve been sending out link-roundups via my monthly Africa Update newsletter. I thought I’d have a go at cross-posting them here as well. Here’s what I found interesting in July. West Africa:...
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