The Slave Ship: A Human History, by Marcus Rediker. 2008 Reviewed by by jayspencergreen Interview with Marcus Rediker The cover of my edition of Marcus Rediker’s The Slave Ship features a quotation from the Sunday Telegraph describing it as “A truly magnificent book.” Such is my prejudice that I imagine Telegraph readers coming to Rediker’s work not to be educated about the shaping… Read More The Slave Ship
Maya Jasanoff places Conrad as a pioneer of understanding the forces that shape the modern world ‘Konrad was supposed to stay in Congo for three years, but after just one trip up and down the river between Kinshasa and Kisangani he quit. He saw in Congo a European regime of appalling greed, violence, and hypocrisy,… Read More The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World
The surging export of hides created domestic tensions – and shows how globalisation plays out in unexpected ways What can help to protect women’s health, boost the incomes of impoverished families and thus allow girls to avoid early marriage? What – when it disappears – can set back children’s education, damage mental wellbeing, drive conflict within communities… Read More China, Africa and disappearing donkeys: an unexpected crisis offers a clue to perils ahead
Residents of two Nigerian communities who are taking legal action against Shell over oil pollution are set to take their cases to trial at the high court in 2027. Members of the Bille and Ogale communities in the Niger delta, which have a combined population of about 50,000, are suing Shell and a Nigerian-based subsidiary… Read More Nigerian communities to take Shell to high court over oil pollution
academic thought has shifted to see southern African rock art as more often reflecting spiritually and culturally significant images and motifs, according to the British Museum. Some images have been understood to reflect visions seen by shamans when they entered trance-like states to perform communal tasks like healing the sick. “When they painted, they were not just… Read More This artist is painstakingly recreating mysterious ancient rock art
Internal displacement and return in Mozambique Núria López Torres and Agus Morales he tropical paradise of Cabo Delgado, in northern Mozambique, is the scene of a conflict that has forced nearly a million people from their homes. The region has attracted attention for its natural resources: gold, rubies, graphite, and natural gas. Since 2017, Islamic… Read More A Crisis in Paradise. Photo Essay
Historians on both sides of the Atlantic are currently engaged in a controversy about the allegedly genocidal nature of western colonialism and its connections with the mass violence unleashed by Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1945. The debate touches upon some of the most “sensitive” issues of twentieth-century history: the violent “dark side” of modern… Read More Hannah Arendt’s ghosts: Reflections on the disputable path from Windhoek to Auschwitz
RYAN TRUSCOTT In July 2023, botanist Andrea Bianchi was driving in the Nguru Mountains of eastern Tanzania when the broad pods on a tree growing in a maize field near the road caught his eye. He pulled over and found not one but two Millettia sacleuxii trees, a species scientists had feared was extinct. Thousands of their… Read More ‘Extinct’ trees found in Tanzania sparks hope for ecosystem recovery
Baobabs can live for more than 1,000 years, acting as the keystone species in dry forest environments in Madagascar, a swathe of continental Africa, and northwest Australia. Known as “mother of the forest” and “the tree of life,” nearly every part of the tree can be used by humans and animals, meaning they’re of enormous… Read More An answer to a mystery surrounding these 1,000-year-old trees
When viewers are introduced to Abdiwahab Ali, the main character in the short documentary Neighbour Abdi, his charisma radiates from the screen as he showcases his creative metalwork and spins a series of lively potential titles for a film about his life. But viewers soon learn that his easygoing attitude is hard-earned as he recounts his… Read More The unique life philosophy of Abdi, born in Somalia, living in the Netherlands
After the truth-shower 