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Commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1 have been held in dozens of countries over the past week as stories have been retold and memories rekindled. One aspect of what became known as the Great War that’s got less attention has been the role played by people from Africa.
South African artist William Kentridge tackles this head-on in a production that focuses on the impact the war had on the African colonies of the principal countries. Michael Godby analyses Kentridge’s work, arguing that it brings to attention events that were largely written out of history. Martin Plaut applies a different lens, looking at how the war affected South Africans in various ways. While
Afrikaners found the decision about who to back a difficult one, black South Africans welcomed the opportunity to show their loyalty to the British Crown. The sacrifices they made were, however, never rewarded.
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Top stories
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Michael Godby, University of Cape Town
For William Kentridge, searching and erasure serves as a model for understanding our place in the world.
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Martin Plaut, School of Advanced Study
For black South Africans, the hard lesson was the same as it had been during the Boer war: support for Britain would bring few rewards.
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US mid-term results
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Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham
The Democrats took the House of Representatives, but uncertainty remains and Trump is still standing. All eyes are now on Robert Mueller.
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Mary Alice Haddad, Wesleyan University
Big city mayors with serious commitments to limiting greenhouse gases did well at the polls on Tuesday.
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In other news
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Julius A. Amin, University of Dayton
Cameroon's Anglophone crisis must be addressed by the president within the first hundred days.
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Yohannes Gedamu, Georgia Gwinnett College
Women in Ethiopia are shaking the foundations of the country's political framework by taking on powerful positions.
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Roger Southall, University of the Witwatersrand
Polls indicate that South Africans are unlikely to totally abandon the African National Congress.
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Salam Abdulqadir Abdulrahman, University of Human Development, Iraq
The threat to use force to defend Egypt's right to water from the Nile has been a common theme through successive governments.
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