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CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES

Environment

The study of African cities offers valuable insights into how we can foster sustainable interactions with our environment and mitigate the effects of climate change. These urban centers are often grappling with rapid population growth, resource constraints, and environmental challenges which serve as living laboratories for understanding resilience and adaptation strategies.

By examining how communities in African cities innovate to address water scarcity, waste management, and energy efficiency, we can uncover practical solutions applicable globally. Furthermore, insights into traditional building techniques, indigenous knowledge systems, and community-driven initiatives highlight the importance of local engagement and empowerment in sustainability efforts. By leveraging these lessons, policymakers and urban planners worldwide can develop holistic approaches that prioritize environmental stewardship, social equity, and economic development, fostering resilient and sustainable cities for generations to come.

Book Reviews

By Dr. Sabrine Hakam

Postdoctoral at CAS / UM6P

New Urban Worlds by Edgar Pieterse and AbdouMaliq Simone offers a groundbreaking perspective on urbanization in the ‘global south,’ particularly African cities. The book argues that conventional urban theory, often rooted in Western models, fails to capture the complexity and fluidity of African urban life. The authors emphasize how African cities are marked by dissonance, informality, and improvisation, challenging simplistic narratives of order or chaos. Through a series of case studies, Pieterse and Simone highlight how African urban dwellers navigate precariousness, finding creative solutions in fragmented and unstable environments.
The book is crucial for scholars of African urbanization as it reframes urban spaces as dynamic and evolving, rather than static or developmental failures. It stresses the importance of embracing African cities’ contradictions, where formal and informal structures coexist. This work also urges urban theorists to rethink traditional concepts of governance, infrastructure, and community by integrating the realities of the Global South, making it a valuable resource for anyone studying urbanization outside Euro-American frameworks.

Writing the World from the African Metropolis by Achille Mbembe and Sarah Nuttall offers a profound rethinking of how African cities can be understood within global urban discourses. The authors challenge the marginalization of African cities in urban studies, arguing that African metropolises are not merely sites of crisis or underdevelopment but are central to imagining new forms of urban life. Mbembe and Nuttall explore how African cities, with a particular focus on Johannesburg, function as spaces of innovation, creativity, and resilience, despite their historical and structural challenges.
This book is significant for African urban studies because it positions African metropolises as critical sites for producing new knowledge about urbanization, modernity, and globalization. It disrupts Eurocentric narratives by focusing on how African urban spaces generate their own forms of sociability, economy, and culture. The authors’ interdisciplinary approach, blending philosophy, history, and cultural studies, makes the work invaluable for scholars seeking to understand the complexities and potentials of African cities in global contexts.

Michael Hanchard’s article, “Afro-Modernity: Temporality, Politics, and the African Diaspora,” was published in the journal Public Culture, Volume 11, Issue 1, in January 1999.
Afro-Modernity: Temporality, Politics, and the African Diaspora is a profound exploration of how temporality shapes the political and cultural experiences of African diasporic communities. The article challenges dominant narratives of modernity that often marginalize or exclude African perspectives, positioning Afro-modernity as a lens to reimagine the interplay of history, power, and identity.
The article explores the tensions between a universalist understanding of modernity and the specificity of African diasporic temporalities. By critiquing the linear, progress-driven conceptions of time, the author challenges the cyclical, layered, and often contested temporal frameworks, examining how they are articluted in the lived experiences of African diasporic subjects. This is not merely a critique of Eurocentrism; it is a call to reframe the foundations of how we understand temporality itself.
The article resonates deeply with ongoing conversations in postcolonial and decolonial thought, particularly its insistence on centering subaltern perspectives as active agents in the construction of modernity. Yet, it goes further by emphasizing the dynamism and adaptability of Afro-modernity. The diasporic condition is not portrayed as one of static suffering but as a fertile site of resistance, innovation, and redefinition. By disrupting the hegemonic narratives of time that underpin colonialism, capitalism, and globalization, the author underscores how African diasporic communities reassert control over their histories and futures.
Afro-Modernity is a compelling contribution to the fields of African studies and a thorough critique of the hegemonic understanding of ‘modernity.’ It challenges us to reconsider not only what modernity is but whose experiences and temporalities define it.

Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz was first published in 2002 by W.W. Norton & Company.
Joseph Stiglitz’s Globalization and Its Discontents is a scathing critique of the neoliberal economic order and its champions, particularly the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Written from the standpoint of an economist who has been at the heart of the system, Stiglitz offers both an insider’s perspective and a dissenter’s voice, unpacking the ways globalization, as it is practiced, often exacerbates inequality and marginalization.
Stiglitz begins by dismantling the myth that globalization as a neutral or inevitable force. Instead, he highlights the deeply political nature of economic policies that prioritize liberalization, privatization, and austerity at the expense of social welfare. He draws on firsthand accounts of economic crises in countries like Indonesia, South Korea, and Russia, illustrating how the IMF’s one-size-fits-all approach to economic policy often led to catastrophic results.
The book frames the problems of globalization, not as abstract failures of policy, but as lived experiences of communities forced to bear the brunt of decisions made by hegemonic narratives of modernisation. His critique is as much about the arrogance of institutions like the IMF as it is about their inability—or unwillingness—to account for local contexts and the human costs of their policies. His arguments align with broader critiques of how the global south is often treated as a testing ground for policies designed without its involvement or participation. The book underscores the importance of reframing global economic governance to center the voices and agency of those most affected by its outcomes.
Stiglitz’s book is an essential read for anyone interested in understanding the fault lines of globalization. It is a reminder that the policies shaping our world are not immutable; they are crafted by individuals and institutions, and they can and should be challenged. As we grapple with ongoing crises in global governance, this book serves as both a critique of past failures and a call to imagine a more equitable future.

Robert J.C. Young’s Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction was first published in 2003 by Oxford University Press.
Robert J.C. Young’s book is an engaging and accessible entry point into the dynamic and complex field of postcolonial studies. With clarity and precision, Young demystifies the often-intimidating theoretical debates within the field, weaving together historical context, key concepts, and the voices of influential thinkers such as Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, and Homi Bhabha.
The strength of the book lies in its ability to make intricate ideas approachable without diluting their significance. Young guides readers through the tangled legacies of colonialism, tracing their impact on contemporary global issues such as migration, inequality, and cultural identity. His analysis highlights postcolonialism not merely as a critique of the past but as a framework for understanding the present. He masterfully connects the dots between colonial histories and modern political, economic, and social phenomena, showing how colonial power structures continue to shape the world in profound ways.
One of the book’s most compelling aspects is its willingness to embrace the inherent messiness of postcolonialism. Young presents the field as both a critique of colonial domination and a condition that defines our globalized world. This duality is explored with care, acknowledging the tensions and contradictions that make postcolonial thought so vital and challenging. For example, he examines how postcolonialism operates as a tool for deconstructing Eurocentrism while also grappling with the reality of living in a world where colonial legacies are deeply entrenched.
Young’s work is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking an introduction to postcolonial thought or a refresher on its foundational principles. It serves as both a primer and a reminder of the field’s intellectual and practical significance in addressing contemporary challenges. By making postcolonialism both intellectually stimulating and profoundly relevant, Young ensures that the book resonates with readers across disciplines and levels of familiarity.

The Routledge Handbook on Cities of the Global South is edited by Susan Parnell and Sophie Oldfield and was published in 2014 by Routledge.
The Routledge Handbook on Cities of the Global South is an ambitious and expansive collection that interrogates the complexities of urbanization in the global south. Edited by Susan Parnell and Sophie Oldfield, the volume positions itself as corrective mechanism in a field long dominated by Eurocentric narratives and methodologies. It offers a compelling array of perspectives that challenge the hegemony of northern urban theories while advocating for a more nuanced and inclusive approach to understanding the dynamics of southern cities.
At its core, the handbook reframes the global south not as a peripheral geography of underdevelopment but as a vital site of innovation, resistance, and reimagined urban futures. Contributors bring a diversity of disciplinary backgrounds, from geography and sociology to anthropology and urban planning, to explore themes such as informality, governance, infrastructure, and social justice. This multidisciplinary approach reflects the inherent complexity of southern urbanism and resists the reductive frameworks that have historically marginalized the voices and experiences of these cities.
A standout chapter, Vanessa Watson’s Learning Planning from the South: Ideas from the New Urban Frontiers, exemplifies the handbook’s commitment to deconstructing northern paradigms. Watson critiques the dominance of technocratic and universalist planning practices exported to the south, which often fail to account for local contexts and the lived realities of urban residents. Instead, she advocates for a grounded and context-sensitive approach that foregrounds the ingenuity and adaptability of southern urban actors. Her work resonates deeply with ongoing calls to decolonize knowledge production and to rethink the role of cities in global urban theory.
The Routledge Handbook on Cities of the Global South is an essential resource for anyone seeking to engage critically with the urban dynamics of the global south. It is a bold and necessary challenge to the dominance of northern-centric urban theory, offering a platform for voices and perspectives that are too often sidelined. For researchers, practitioners, and students alike, the handbook serves as both a critical reference and an invitation to rethink how we conceptualize and engage with cities in an increasingly interconnected world.

“Science & Civilisation” TV Program on Al Oula

Thematic : Environnement and Agriculture

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