Thought Provokers
Frantz Fanon
Ohio University Press has a series of “Short Histories of Africa”. I recently decided to pick up most of the collection for potential use as reading materials for classes. This post covers “Frantz Fanon: Toward a Revolutionary Humanism” (2015) by Christopher J. Lee. Unlike other books in this series, this book delves into quite a […]
Ken Saro-Wiwa
Ohio University Press has a series of “Short Histories of Africa”. I recently decided to pick up most of the collection for potential use as reading materials for classes. This post covers “Ken Saro-Wiwa” (2016) by Roy Doron and Toyin Falola. Unlike other books that might gloss over some of the more problematic choices made […]
Tags: #Ken Saro-Wiwa #Nigeria #Ogoni #Roy Doron #Toyin Falola
Chris Hani
Ohio University Press has a series of “Short Histories of Africa”. I recently decided to pick up most of the collection for potential use as reading materials for classes. This post covers “Chris Hani” (2014) by Hugh MacMillan. Like others in this series, this book helps provide accessible and concise materials on leading figures that […]
Tags: #ANC #Apartheid #Chris Hani #South Africa #uMkhonto we Sizwe
Steve Biko
Ohio University Press has a series of “Short Histories of Africa”. I had one book from this series previously, on Thomas Sankara, and recently decided to pick up most of the collection for potential use as reading materials for classes. This post covers “Steve Biko” by Lindy Wilson, published in 2011. I found this book useful […]
Tags: #Apartheid #Lindy Wilson #Ohio Short Histories of Africa #South Africa #Steven Biko
Loss and Recovery of Self Under Colonialism
Ashis Nandy’s “The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self Under Colonialism” (1983) is a classic postcolonial text from the Asian experience. One note I found fascinating was that this author found inspiration in the writings of African revolutionaries, finding little from what he was reading from the region he lived within. Through this we […]
Tags: #Ashis Nandy #Colonialism #Colonization #Conformity #Dissent
The Economic Weapon
Arising out of a PhD project and focusing on the modern form of sanctions, Nicholas Mulder’s “The Economic Weapon: The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War” (2022) is a fascinating historical journey. I picked up this book because I teach ethics for law and policy, and during the themes of war and […]
Tags: #Economic sanctions #Economic Weapons #Nicholas Mulder #Sanctions
Oxford Handbook of the Ethiopian Economy
Started in 2015, published in 2019, and penned by leading thinkers on the Ethiopian economy (Fantu Cheru, Christopher Cramer, Arkebe Oqubay) “The Oxford Handbook of the Ethiopian Economy” is a treasure. Standing at 955 pages, I am aware of no similar effort to cover the diversity of the country’s economy. The contributing authors are a […]
Tags: #Arkebe Oqubay #Christopher Cramer #Ethiopia #Ethiopian Economy #Fantu Cheru
The Life of a Reluctant Nationalist
Compared to other leaders of the struggle for dignity and freedom, Cabral has been covered less. I have posted about a few books: Davidson wrote a book in 1969, a 1977 book covered some of Cabral’s work, and a 2013 edited book was inspired by Cabral. Antonio Tomas presents a biography of Cabral in “The […]
Tags: #Anti-colonial struggle #Antonio Tomas #Cabral #Leadership #The Life of a Reluctant Nationalist
Know The Beginning Well
Lifelong development worker, K. Y. Amoako reflects on a career with the World Bank and United Nations in “Know the Beginning Well: An Inside Journey Through Five Decades of African Development” (2020). The book is interesting in that the author shares inside views, but lacks critical reflection and does not offer any bold or new […]
Tags: #Amoako #Development #Know the beginning well #Racism #World Bank
Decolonizing Politics
Robbie Shilliam wrote “Decolonizing Politics: An Introduction” in 2021, and it is thankfully affordable for an academic book ($18). The book takes a different road to the conversation that ones I had read, and in that regard it was interest and a great place for new insights. The level of text is well suited […]
Tags: #decolonization #Decolonizing Politics #Politics #Racism #Shilliam
About me
Logan Cochrane
Logan is a Professor at HBKU in the College of Public Policy. He is an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences and an Adjunct Professor at Hawassa University (Institute for Policy and Development Research). Over the last twenty years, he has worked in Afghanistan, Benin, Burundi, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Logan acts as a consultant for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, seeking to create bridges between research and practice.
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