Publication Series:

Perspectives

Perspectives is a publication series of the Africa offices of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung. The series provides a platform for experts from Africa to express their views about issues pertinent to the democratic and sustainable development agenda in the region.

Perspectives #03/2018: Through the Looking Glass: Images of African Futures

The Hollywood action movie Black Panther captured the imagination of audiences around the globe. In several African countries, it quickly became the highest grossing film of all time. The tale is set in Wakanda, a technologically advanced African kingdom that avoided the shackles of colonialism and slavery by isolating itself behind a guise of poverty and deprivation. Although what it presents as “African”, in terms of narrative and images, is far from uncontested, the film catapulted Afrofuturism – a discipline or aesthetic that enlists science fiction and technology to imagine black identities and futures unconstrained by past and present circumstances – from the avant-garde circles of artists and intellectuals into the mainstream.

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Perspectives #02/2018: Not Always on a Boat to Europe: Movements of Africans within and beyond the continent

The current public debate on African migration to Europe is largely fuelled by visions of boats crossing the Mediterranean Sea, filled with desperate people in search of a better life. The narrative positions Africa as a “continent on the move” whose people are surging into Europe on a seemingly endless tide. Although media images of desperate African refugees fleeing to Europe do portray the daily reality and the often-tragic consequences of the treacherous crossing, the framing conceals more than it reveals.

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Perspectives #01/2018: The Quest for Political Accountability: Change Agents, Openings and Dead Ends

Since the third wave of democratisation swept through the continent in the 1990s, the majority of African states have replaced military dictatorships and one-party-dominant systems with more democratic forms of governance. Today, 61 percent of sub-Saharan countries are “free” or “partly free” according to Freedom House’s 2018 survey – although this is down from a high of 71 percent in 2008.

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Perspectives #02/2017: Putting People Back Into Infrastructure

This edition of Perspectives contributes to the ongoing debate on infrastructure development in Africa by sharing snapshots of experience from around the continent, exploring questions about democratic participation, the role of human and environmental rights, and economic transformation.

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Perspectives #01/2017: South Africa: Emerging Power or Fading Star?

Informed by the discussions at an international conference jointly organised by the German Development Institute, the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Stanford University on “Emerging Power or Fading Star? South Africa’s Role on the Continent and Beyond”, held 12–14 July 2016 in Cape Town, the articles gathered in this edition of Perspectives shed light on some of the nuances and challenges that define South Africa’s place in the world today.

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Perspectives #03/2016: Under Pressure: Shrinking Space for Civil Society in Africa

Activists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and social movements across the world are facing verbal hostility from politicians, new laws and regulations that curtail their ability to operate, and outright violence. Africa is no exception.

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Perspectives #02/2016: Laughing Out Loud - The Politics of Satire in Africa

When you write about Africa, make sure to always include sad and starving characters, advises Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainana in his famously ironic essay “How to write about Africa”, which takes aim at Western prejudices. In the same way that everyday laughter has been excluded from all-too-familiar depictions of the continent, African humour and satire as a form of social and political engagement remains underexplored.

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Bodies, Morals and Politics - Reflections on Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Africa

Despite the formal commitment of many African states to universal human rights, the realisation of those rights remains unfulfilled for a great number of their citizens, especially women.

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Perspectives #02/2014: Greening the Continent, Reflections on Low Carbon Development Pathways

This edition of the Perspective brings with it a wealth of facts on renewable energy, green economies, climate change and reflects on the challenges different African nations and entities are faced with, in their quest for a self-sufficient and sustainable green society. It is a rich compilation of expert commentaries and contributions coming from different parts of Africa, telling African stories.

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Perspectives #01/2014: Africa Rising: Who Benefits from the Continent's Economic Growth?

With this edition of Perspectives, we give Africa-based commentators and experts from across the continent the opportunity to critically reflect on the “Africa rising” story and the sub-narratives it carries.

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Perspectives #03/2013: Women, Custom and Access to Justice

This issue of Perspectives provides insight into country-specific challenges and controversies with regards to women’s access to justice in selected sub-Saharan African states.

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Perspectives #02/2013: Women and Land Rights - Questions of Access, Ownership and Control

This issue deals with women's rights to own land in Africa and land reforms that combine gender equality.

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Perspectives #01/2013: Movers and Shakers? Youth and Political Change in Africa

What frustrations are causing the youth to turn to the streets? How do they mobilise today? Are conventional politics and parties able to attract young people or do they seek alternative ways to engage? How does their political participation manifest? Have they been successful? Are the youth a political force?

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Perspectives #03/2012: What Are Sustainable African Cities?

This edition of Perspectives asks, “What are sustainable African cities?”. In so doing, it offers a snapshot of Africa’s urban sustainability challenges, ranging from tensions between heritage and urban renewal.

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Perspectives #02/2012: Do Parliaments Matter? African Legislatures and the Advance of Democracy

The articles in this issue of Perspectives seek to reflect on the extent to which African legislatures have taken steps that mark their shift from being the “weakest link” of government to stronger, independent institutions. In essence, we ask – do African Parliaments really occupy the privileged position accorded to them in representational democracies

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Perspectives #01/2012: A Fractious Relationship - Africa and the International Criminal Court

Although there continues to be widespread popular support across the African continent for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its mandate to prosecute high-level individuals accused of perpetrating international crimes, strong anti-ICC sentiments are brewing among parts of Africa’s political elite and state actors.

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Perspectives #04/2011: No Romance: Mobilising Climate Finance for Africa

While Africa has contributed the least to historic greenhouse gas emissions globally, it stands to be the hardest hit by the effects of climate change. Africa will require substantial financial resources in order to adapt to the unavoidable consequences of climate change. At this year’s Climate Change Conference in Durban, climate finance is expected to feature prominently.

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Perspectives #03/2011: Politics, Principles and Practice: Zimbabwe's Diamonds and the Kimberley Process

Zimbabwe's Marange diamonds have been tainted by reports of violence, human rights abuses and smuggling, fuelling doubts about the credibility and effectiveness of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KP). How can the Marange impasse be resolved?

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Perspectives #02/2011: The Power to Participate: Building Feminist Influence in Africa

Over the last five decades, successive African governments have promised their citizens dignity, equality, human rights and a better life. However, progress to achieve these ideals remains hampered in various respects, of which gender inequality is undoubtedly one of the most severe.

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Perspectives #01/2011: Food Security in Africa

One of the biggest challenges predicted to affect food security in Africa is climate change. Due to the fact that 95 percent of Africa’s agriculture is rainfed, the already fragile agricultural sector is extremely vulnerable to climate change. Highertemperatures and an increased frequency of extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, eventually lead to a decline in agricultural output.

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Perspectives #04/2010: Struggle for Equality - Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Human Rights in Africa

This issue sheds light on the ongoing struggle of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people for equality in Africa.

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Perspectives #03/2010: The Challenges of Change - Improving Resource Governance in Africa

This issue of Perspectives sheds light on successes and challenges of various multi-stakeholder initiatives aimed at improving resource governance in Africa - namely the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme in Zimbabwe, the Nigerian Extractive Industries Initiative, and the Publish What You Pay Coalition in Tanzania.

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