Kwame Nkrumah wrote a number of books and pamphlets. Here are a few notes from his “Class Struggle in Africa” (1970): “Many members of the African bourgeoisie are employed by foreign firms and have, therefore, a direct financial stake in the continuance of the foreign economic exploitation of Africa. Others, notably in the civil service, […]
Tags: #Class Struggle in Africa #Kwame Nkrumah #Liberation #Neocolonialism #Power Politics
Ngugi wa Thiong’o is one of the most influential and read postcolonial literary critics. His Decolonizing the Mind (1986) is essential reading. He has also penned many works of fiction and theatre, as well as other non-fiction works. The following are some notes from his 2012 Globalectics: Theory and the Politics of Knowing (which is […]
Tags: #Alienation #Globalectics #Ngugi wa Thiongo #Poor Theory #Recentering knowledge
One of the great leaders and thinkers of the liberation struggle across Africa was Kwame Nkrumah, who would become President of Ghana. He has penned several works, one of which is “Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare” (1968). Reading this book makes clear why writings such as this are not as commonly on reading lists as are […]
Tags: #Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare #Kwame Nkrumah #Liberation #Revolution #Sham Independence
Darfur has received food aid for one of the longest running periods anywhere. Decades has passed and the crisis of insecurity and malnutrition continue. Long-time humanitarian practitioner, turned academic, Susanne Jaspars, authored “Food Aid in Sudan: A History of Power, Politics and Profit” in 2018 to distill the complex story. The book is readable and […]
Notes from Baldwin’s 1962 two essays in The Fire Next Time, the first a letter to his nephew and the second a longer piece that reflects on engagements with faith and identity: “Do I really want to be integrated into a burning house?” (p. 94) “Let me spell out precisely what I mean by that, […]
Tags: #Baldwin #Justice #Racism #The Fire Next Time #The Impossible
In a letter to his son, Kanafani wrote: “Do not believe that man grows. No; he is born suddenly – a word, in a moment, penetrates his heart to a new throb. Once scene can hurl him down from the ceiling of childhood on to the ruggedness of the road.” (p. 11) Coverage from Al […]
Tags: #Ghassan Kanafani #Men in the Sun #Palestine #Revolution #Struggle