The Weekend Conversation

Editor's note

Historic and contentious: the recent poll in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been both. Historic because the elections are the first to bring about a change in leadership through the ballet box since independence from Belgium in 1960. Contentious because of holdups, setbacks and questions about the veracity of the results which saw Felix Tshisekedi announced as the president-elect. Reuben Loffman explains why the road ahead won’t be easy for Tshisekedi as the man who finally upstaged Kabila’s coterie.

Netflix and Nollywood. A match made in heaven? Netflix has tapped into Nigeria’s film industry with the comedy Lionheart. Alessandro Jedlowski looks at the likely impact.

Will 2019 be a good one for South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC)? As the party celebrates its 107th birthday, and gears up for a general election by midyear, Steven Friedman argues that there’s a great deal it should be worried about.

And we’re delighted to be bringing our own brand of smart journalism to a new audio format. In the first of what will be a weekly podcast titled Pasha – “to inform” in Swahili – Haneen Khreis explores how car-free days may be a solution to Nairobi’s huge air pollution and traffic congestion.

Julie Masiga

Peace + Security Editor

Politics + Society

How foreign backing is keeping Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir in power

Martin Plaut, School of Advanced Study

Given the range of support for President Omar al-Bashir it isn't surprising that he's managed to resist pressure to step down.

Why Sierra Leonean women don’t feel protected by domestic violence laws

Luisa T. Schneider, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology

Very few women, especially those married, feel protected by the domestic violence laws in Sierra Leone.

Science + Technology

Curious Kids: do cats and dogs understand us when we miaow or bark?

Quixi Sonntag, University of Pretoria

When it comes to their own "voices", studies show that cats and dogs use different vocal signals to communicate different messages.

Virtual images reveal secrets of an ancient fossil’s brain and inner ear

Amélie Beaudet, University of the Witwatersrand

Thanks to hundreds of fossil remains found in Africa studies can explore new scenarios about how our ancestors lived and evolved.

Arts + Culture

The University of Cape Town’s recent history matters as much as its past

Carla Lever, University of Cape Town

Sarah Baartman’s name can be elevated to the highest point of the University of Cape Town’s campus, but if her legacy isn’t built into each classroom and interaction the honour is hollow.

Language and identity: lessons from a unique Afrikaans community in Patagonia

Ryan Szpiech, University of Michigan; Andries W. Coetzee, University of Michigan; Lorenzo García-Amaya, University of Michigan; Nicholas Henriksen, University of Michigan; Paulina L. Alberto, University of Michigan; Victoria Langland, University of Michigan

A small community of Afrikaners has been living in Argentina since the early 1900s. Linguistic research has found they're like a time capsule, reflecting pronunciation and syntax from an earlier era.

Environment + Energy

Why microbeads are such a threat and why they’re so hard to handle

Henk Bouwman, North-West University

A plastic bag has an average usage time of 20 minutes, while it can take up to 1000 years to break down in the environment.

Managed bees versus wild bees? It’s not that simple in South Africa

Tlou Masehela, South African National Biodiversity Institute

Research shows that managed honey bees may pose a threat to free roaming honey bee populations.

Health + Medicine

Nigeria isn’t doing enough to reduce tobacco use. Here’s why

Catherine O. Egbe, PhD, South African Medical Research Council; Stanton Glantz, University of California, San Francisco; Stella A. Bialous, University of California, San Francisco

The National Tobacco Control Act gives the tobacco industry inside access to the decision making process.