ASR

African Studies Review is the principal scholarly journal of the African Studies Association (@ASANewsOnline).

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African Studies Review 67.4 is out! The latest issue features thought-provoking articles on a variety of topics, including decoloniality, wartime Biafran art, the Sudan crisis, and "science" as a keyword in African Studies. https://t.co/r8yoQKKHIp

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Drawing on Northern Sotho concepts of personhood, Edmond Madhuha examines how ritual exchanges of alcohol and tobacco among Black working-class men enhance the risk of tuberculosis transmission in South Africa. https://t.co/XGJlGgfwP0

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How do Zulu and Xhosa women create cultural power through everyday genres of song and poetry? Natasha Erlank and Liz Gunner trace women’s marriage and initiation songs that are political acts of remembering often obscured by colonial literary preferences. https://t.co/9JxeF0zX7r

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How can women cabinet ministers in five West African countries help us understand the global role of women in politics? Gretchen Bauer considers these ministers’ “paths to power” and their impact in government. https://t.co/lREYubVbTv

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In early postcolonial Eastern Nigeria, local and transnational sex workers made strategic economic decisions, investing in business and property. Chisara Agoha traces how these women navigated poverty, war, and limited job opportunities. https://t.co/Q6MlfOC5Es

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Congo-Brazzaville is haunted by the spectral force of colonial memory. Through the iconography of the Brazza Mausoleum, Moudwe Daga examines how the grievances of the colonial past give way to frustrations with the postcolonial state. https://t.co/36Cg0LBPjl

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How did Lomé transform from a colonial harbor into a global transshipment hub? Nina Sylvanus traces the relationship between corporate logistics and state sovereignty as companies rearticulated state power through private container terminals. https://t.co/AlgMUm2ICv

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How did Lomé transform from a colonial harbor into a global transshipment hub? Nina Sylvanus traces the relationship between corporate logistics and state sovereignty as private companies rearticulated state power through private container terminals. https://t.co/AlgMUm2ICv

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African Studies Review 69.3 is out! The issue features essays on sovereignty at the Port of Lomé, Zulu and Xhosa women's poetry, colonial memory in Brazzaville, sex work in Eastern Nigeria, and women cabinet ministers in West Africa. https://t.co/lw7tI38ty0

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We're thrilled to announce this year's ASR Prize Awardees and Honorable Mentions! Please join us in congratulating these talented authors, editors, and publishers. See the full press release online here: https://t.co/opcDXD3F2b

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In this In Memoriam section, Louisa Lombard, Charles Piot, Francis Nyamnjoh, Omolade Adunbi, Frederick Cooper, Matlhabeli Molaoli, & Tom Boellstorff reflect on the life and work of the late titan of social anthropology James Ferguson. Read their tributes https://t.co/g7cRTDCdeu

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Dawne Y. Curry reviews four books that together theorize apartheid's spatial, psychiatric, and racialized reach—through courtrooms, classrooms, the Black psyche, and poor White lives. https://t.co/AxtubxUZhc

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Why is sustainable urban development failing African cities? Jennifer Hart reviews four books challenging "master plans" and Western models, centering instead the minor acts, contradictions, and lived realities of African urban life. https://t.co/xQqF8qApM1

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Chinese online media hails mixed Chinese-African athletes as "hope for the nation." Flair Donglai Shi theorizes zhongfeihunxue — revealing racial nationalism, intersectional anxieties, and stereotypes beneath the positive affect. https://t.co/jO4uI88qT2

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Is Chinese scholarship on African literature "African studies without Africa"—and without China? Wang Yuan argues for a triangular, South-South framework that resists both Western epistemicide and Sinocentric substitution. https://t.co/22Mt8bEkhz

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Hangwei Li argues that Africa's first Shaolin Temple is neither soft power instrument nor diaspora project—but a partially Africanized assemblage, co-produced by Chinese monks, Zambian communities, and a self-declared Christian nation. https://t.co/pZBPBRbX2X

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Johanna von Pezold argues that counterfeit Chinese fashion in Maputo is not simply tolerated but ethically justified—grounded in everyday vocabularies of quality, care, and access that provincialize Eurocentric IP regimes. https://t.co/UPLYEXl14s

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Ying Cheng proposes "reflexivity as method" for Africa-China studies—drawing on a Chinese artist's dam installations and a Beijing classroom's encounter with Mati Diop's Dahomey to cultivate epistemic affinity across Asia and Africa. https://t.co/c7zEnxV9ac

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How does "culture" shape Africa-China relations—and why has the field refused to take it seriously? Vivian Chenxue Lu & Mingwei Huang propose "Africa-China as method": transregional, feminist, and resistant to Sinocentrism and state capture. https://t.co/Bgu6cC7oYs

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What happens when culture becomes the lens for Africa-China relations? Benedito Machava & Cajetan Iheka introduce ASR's special issue arguing that art, religion, & everyday life are constitutive of Sino-African encounter, not supplements to political econ. https://t.co/j3QMViE2On

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African Studies faces real threats—but outgoing ASR Senior Book Review Editor Chris Day, reflecting on his distinguished tenure, argues the field's future rests on three unglamorous commitments: showing up, staying organized, & educating. Read his farewell https://t.co/DbMqgZVWrd