Logan Cochrane

A Radical History of Development Studies

In 2005 Uma Kothari published an edited book, “A Radical History of Development Studies: Individuals, Institutions and Ideologies”. The ten chapters of the book are clustered in two broad areas (individuals and ideas as well as ideas and ideologies). That two decades have past is quite evident in this text, what was pushing the edge […]

Lomathinda

In 2023 I reviewed a series of short books by Ohio University Press. Looking to expand beyond the well known biographies, I came across “Lomathinda: Rose Chibambo Speaks” (2019), by Timwa Lipenga, which is an interview-style book. The text chronologically outlines the personal and political struggles of one of Malawi’s leaders. A few notes: “That’s how politics of women started. […]

Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat

In search of a book about Egyptian political leaders, I came across very little. An earlier post covered a book by the spouse of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Amazon put me on to the book “Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat: The Presidents Who Shaped Modern Egypt” (2014) by Charles River Editors. Disappointing. Partly brief biography […]

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Best-seller Yuval Noah Harari seemed to be riding the wave of his book selling popularity with his “21 Lessons for the 21st Century” (2018), as this book largely pulls together previously published material for the book market. Granted I am picking this book up in 2023 and much has changed in the years since publication, […]

The Perfect Nine

I have posted about a number of Ngugi wa Thiongo’s academic books (Decolonizing the Mind, Theory and Politics of Knowing, Something Torn and New, Moving the Centre, Secure the Base). For those who know him, Ngugi did not start as an academic and most of his work is non-academic – he has authored much more in the […]

Wax & Gold

Levine’s Wax & Gold (1965) is one the ‘classics’ of Ethiopian studies in the socio-anthropological realm. Much ink has been spilled about his work (including the author himself added a Preface to the 1972 to explain his change of views), much work has also been inspired that draws on the wax and gold concept that Levine describes […]

Tags: #Culture #Ethiopia #Tradition #Wax & Gold #Wax and gold

Necropolitics

Achille Mbembe is not as well-known as he should be. One reason is that much of his work is written in French (although more translations are becoming available). I suspect this Cameroonian philosopher and critical scholar will become increasingly well-known in the years to come. This is essential reading (as is his Critique of Black […]

Tags: #Achille Mbembe #Colonization #Democratic values #Necropolitics #Racism

Ethio Djibouti Railways

Ethiopia is a landlocked nation (following the independence of Eritrea in 1993). It is also home to Africa’s second largest population, around 108 million (following Nigeria). It has also been one of Africa’s fastest growing countries economically, for over a decade, often putting up growth numbers on par with China (although starting from a much […]

Tags: #Djibouti Train #Ethiopia Train #Ethiopia Train Schedule #Lebu Station

New Publication: Participatory Mapping

Cochrane, L. and Corbett, J. (2018) Participatory Mapping. In Handbook of Communication for Development and Social Change, edited by J. Servaes. Springer. Abstract: Springer MRW: [AU:0, IDX:0] Participatory and community mapping has emerged as a key tool for identifying and communicating development needs and been further recognized as a means to support social change. Drawing upon […]

New Publication: Large-Scale Transdisciplinary Collaboration for Adaptation Research

Cundill, G., Harvey, B., Tebboth, M., Cochrane, L., Currie-Alder, B., Vincent, K., Lawn, J., Nicolls, R. J., Scodanibbio, L., Prakash, A., New, M., Wester, P., Leone, M., Morchain, D., Ludi, E., DeMaria-Kinney, J., Khan, A. S. and Landry, M. (2018) Large-Scale Transdisciplinary Collaboration for Adaptation Research: Challenges and Insights. Global Challenges doi: 10.1002/gch2.201700132. Abstract: An increasing […]

Tags: #Adaptation #Climate change #Collaboration #Transdisciplinarity #Transdisciplinary