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Editor's note
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Eight months after becoming US president, Donald Trump’s policy on Africa remains unclear. But, as John. J Stremlau argues, statements made by some senior officials in his administration provide useful hints at what its Africa policy might look like.
A new book by South African broadcaster Redi Tlhabi on the 2006 rape trial of President Jacob Zuma has become a publishing sensation in South Africa. Shireen Hassim explains that while the book is not the first account of the life story of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo, who was known only as “Khwezi” during the court case, it comes into a different climate in South Africa where Zuma is politically much more vulnerable.
World-renowned clergy Archbishop Desmond Tutu celebrates his 86th birthday on Saturday. Philosopher Thaddeus Metz says the occasion is an ideal opportunity to reflect on the anti-apartheid cleric’s contribution to South African society and global thought.
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Top Stories
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John J Stremlau, University of the Witwatersrand
US President Donald Trump hasn't proposed new initiatives for Africa but didn't end those launched by his predecessors either.
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Shireen Hassim, University of the Witwatersrand
South Africa has changed since Jacob Zuma's 2006 rape trial. In recent years, a new and assertive feminist movement has emerged and attacks on the president have become common cause.
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Thaddeus Metz, University of Johannesburg
Archbishop Bishop Desmond Tutu is well known for having invoked an ubuntu ethic to evaluate South African society, and he can take substantial credit for having made the term familiar.
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Arts + Culture
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Vanessa Wijngaarden, University of Johannesburg
Colourful glass beads and red blankets play an important role in Maasai culture. But their origins are surprising, and provide an interesting insight into cultural exchanges between Europe and Africa.
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Alice Aterianus-Owanga, University of Lausanne
Rap has become instrumental in constructing identity and radically reshaping relations to politics in Gabon and other African states.
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Politics + Society
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John de Gruchy, University of Cape Town
Archbishop Desmond Tutu is first and foremost, a spiritual leader, a man of deep prayer. This motivated his participation in supporting South Africa's liberation struggle.
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Luke Messac, University of Pennsylvania
Botswana’s late president Ketumile Masire was original and daring. He should be remembered for his courage and prudence.
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Kim Wallmach, Stellenbosch University
Raising the status of the African languages to that of official languages in South Africa post-1994 led to an explosion of translation and interpreting work in local and foreign languages.
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Edward Webster, University of the Witwatersrand
The National Question cannot be resolved solely through South Africa's constitution. There's potential for a far more radical transformative project than traditional liberalism.
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Stephen Chan, SOAS, University of London
African democracies are embracing electronic voting far more confidently than the West.
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Kristin Mmari, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Do boys and girls from diverse cultural settings experience their transitions into adolescence? Their cultural differences don't make a difference, but their genders do.
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Health + Medicine
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Carrie Waterman, University of California, Davis
Every part of the Moringa tree can be consumed: leaves and its pods) can be eaten and the seeds, bark, flowers and roots can be used as medicine.
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Science + Technology
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Dorothy Ngila, Stellenbosch University; Nelius Boshoff, Stellenbosch University
Academies simply don't know how they're doing when it comes to the representation of women compared to their counterparts within the science-policy environment.
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Business + Economy
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Steven Friedman, University of Johannesburg
South Africa's five-year-old National Development Plan suffers from gross misinterpretation by different parties.
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Roger Southall, University of the Witwatersrand
Britain's Labour under Corbyn is smelling power, and the making of a new social revolution. In contrast, in South Africa's governing ANC is in disarray, with no moral compass or credible leadership.
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Education
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Fiona Horne, University of the Witwatersrand
French is no longer taught as a European language representative of "French" culture in South Africa. New modes of teaching, learning and research speak to an inclusive Africanist agenda.
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Environment + Energy
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Peter Atkins, Durham University
The distinction between food insecurity and famine is artificial and unhelpful. Hungry people are suffering however their situation falls below the radar.
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Hakim Abdi, Lund University
It's wrong to blame climate change for famine and conflict. These can either be prevented, or the impact minimised, if institutions and mechanisms of good governance are in place.
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Robert Scholes, University of the Witwatersrand
South Africa's Karoo region potentially holds shale gas that could transform the energy economy of the country. But given the uncertainties around exploration what's the next logical step?
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Adegboyega Adeniran, Australian National University; Katherine Daniell, Australian National University
The transnational project conceived 30 years ago to replenish the drying waters of Lake Chad finally seems poised to take off. But first, internal politics within member states must be overcome.
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