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There are five African teams playing in the 2018 World Cup in Russia - two from West Africa and the other three from the north of the continent. This is a treat for football fans, of course - but there’s more to the tournament than just football. It’s a chance to reflect more broadly on identity. For instance, asks Mahfoud Amara, is there a shared African identity from the north to the south of the Sahara desert?
Ulwaluko is the secretive set of rituals boys from the amaXhosa nation must undergo on their journeys to manhood. It’s a process from which women are almost entirely excluded. But, writes Mmampho KB Gogela, women in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province believe they have a right to become more involved in discussing and even making decisions about this rite of passage.
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Morocco’s World Cup squad training in St.Petersburg, Russia.
Anatoly Maltsev/EPA
Mahfoud Amara, Qatar University
The football world cup offers a useful chance to consider the apparent division between North and sub-Saharan Africa.
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Politics + Society
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Mmampho KB Gogela, Walter Sisulu University
Women don't want to be reduced to ceremonial roles; they believe they can add value in making decisions.
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Environment + Energy
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William G. Moseley, Macalester College
Foraging and gathering food can play a huge role in feeding people.
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Science + Technology
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Neal Robert Haddaway, University of Johannesburg
Researchers should try to make their literature reviews as reliable as possible and adhere to strict standards.
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From our international editions
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Luke Moffett, Queen's University Belfast
Decades after the end of a civil war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, the survivors' search for justice goes on.
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Kim Toffoletti, Deakin University
Women now make up a sizeable share of football audiences, but unless decked out in short shorts and cropped jerseys, they are barely visible in the media.
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Bharat Ranganathan, University of Notre Dame
Sessions ignored the many gospel teaching about love, and used a passagethat has been used historically to justify all manner of immoral behavior, including imperialism, slavery, Nazism and apartheid.
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