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Africa Update for May 2019
Here’s the latest edition of my Africa Update newsletter. We’ve got the export of Ugandan mercenaries, Kenya’s geothermal energy investments, Cameroonian refugees in Mexico, Ethiopia’s first female...
View ArticleUpcoming Nairobi events
There are lots of great events on in Nairobi soon! Check out these upcoming shows and conferences if you’re around. June 6 – 16. Nairobi Film Festival at Prestige Plaza. Buy tickets at their...
View ArticleTraffic tickets and statebuilding in Kenya
Last year I had my first experience with the Kenyan courts when I got a traffic ticket for making a left turn into a street against a “no left turn” sign, which I hadn’t seen. Paying it cost me Ksh...
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A history of identity cards in Kenya
(Photo via Wikipedia) Passports are currently a hot topic in Kenya, where citizens are lining up for hours on end to replace their old travel documents before they cease to be valid for travel on...
View ArticleInteresting academic articles for June 2019
Here are the articles I’m looking forward to reading! Also, out of consideration for the many people who don’t have access to gated academic journals, I’m switching to a policy of only sharing...
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Are M-Pesa’s poverty reduction powers overstated?
Photo via Fiona Graham / World Remit There’s been a bit of a stir on Kenyan Twitter lately about a new (and ungated) Review of African Political Economy article by Milford Bateman, Maren Duvendack,...
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A history of homebrewed alcohol in Nairobi
Houses in Mathare, via Wikipedia I’ve written previously about the challenges of accessing justice, clean water, and other basic services in Nairobi’s Mathare neighborhood. Now another insightful...
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Africa Update for July 2019
Here’s the latest edition of my Africa Update newsletter. We’ve got the CAR’s only pediatric hospital, Zambian superheroes on Netflix, new books on medieval African history, the feminists of Cameroon,...
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15 ways to steal money from public infrastructure contracts in Kenya
The Kerio River, via Wikipedia There’s recently been a spate of good investigative journalism about the Kimwarer and Arror dams scandals in Kenya. These two dams were supposed to be built in the Kerio...
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Nairobi photos
Here’s my latest batch of Nairobi photos. As always, more photos are available on Instagram and Flickr. Loved this painting from Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga in Kenya Airways’ in-flight magazine The view from...
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Africa Update for September 2019
Here’s the latest edition of my Africa Update newsletter. We’ve got the Nigerian space program, trans-African highways, online therapy in Kenya, why the Sahara is bad for infant mortality, and more. A...
View ArticleInteresting academic articles for October 2019
Ok, I’ve concluded that I’m not very good at not-blogging! There are lots of interesting articles that I wanted to share in a format beyond Twitter. So I suppose I’m off hiatus for the time being....
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Africa Science Week – Kenya 2019
Are you going to be in Nairobi this coming week, and interested in science? Then don’t miss all the great events the Mawazo Institute and the Next Einsten Forum are putting on for Africa Science Week...
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UoN lecture on qualitative knowledge production and archival practice in Kenya
Lots of great events in Nairobi this week! If you’re around tomorrow, November 7, come to the University of Nairobi Towers, Mini Lecture Room 401 from 2 – 4 pm to hear Angela Okune speak about her...
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Fall 2019 conference updates
Here are some of the interesting papers I saw at this fall’s recent conferences.Carl Müller-Crepon. “State Reach and Development in Africa, 1965-2015.“ The colonial making of African states’...
View ArticleConferences on evidence and politics in Africa for 2020
Here are all of the interesting conferences on evidence and politics taking place across the continent in 2020 which I’ve heard about. Let me know if there are any I should add! Rethinking Politics in...
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Africa Update for November 2019
Here’s the latest edition of Africa Update. We’ve got a new metro system in Abidjan, culinary imperialism in Kenya, plans to refill Lake Chad with a giant canal, how hospitals in Malawi are getting...
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Improving birth registration rates in Africa
Several interesting articles on this topic have popped up lately. This whole article from The Economist (which also provided the graph above) is worth reading. Some key points on registration...
View ArticleInteresting academic articles for December 2019
Here’s what I’m looking forward to reading this month! Portia Roelofs. 2019. “Beyond programmatic versus patrimonial politics: contested conceptions of legitimate distribution in Nigeria.” Journal of...
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The politics of death in colonial Kenya and Ghana
A fantasy coffin from Ghana I came across two interesting articles recently that noted how much colonization changed burial practices in Kenya and Ghana. At The Elephant, Patrick Gathara writes about...
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