From Africa Spectrum, a special issue on 50 Years of Independence in Africa. Kennedy Ochieng' Opalo (Stanford): Ethnicity and Elite Coalitions: The Origins of "Big Man" Presidentialism in Africa. From Boston Review, Anna Clark on how to write about Africa; and Michael A. Clemens on putting solutions on trial: Impact evaluation and the Millennium Villages Experiment in Africa. From The Toronto Star, Jennifer Wells on mining the Congo and a golden opportunity (and more and more). How Africa can extract big benefits for everyone from natural resources. Charging for conservation: How a somewhat decadent and depraved off-road event is saving Kenya’s forests. Suffering from deforestation: Burkina Faso is losing 110,550 hectares of forest each year. In South Africa, swimming the Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve is one way to crank up your heart rate. In a shantytown near Johannesburg, an angry mob committed a horrifying crime that was caught on video. Helen Epstein on what the US is ignoring in Uganda. The world's biggest refugee camp: Desperation reigns amid the 380,000 refugees in Dadaab, a sprawling "tent city" in northeastern Kenya (and more). Across Africa, humanists are on the front line in the battle to protect women and children accused of witchcraft. A review of Secular Missionaries: Americans and African Development in the 1960s by Larry Grubbs. Hassan Abenay on Western Sahara's Polisario Front: what future? The Nok of Nigeria: Unlocking the secrets of West Africa’s earliest known civilization. When wealth breeds rage: African economies are growing, but so is inequality — huge disparities in wealth may take the Arab Spring south. The African Lions: Michelle Sieff on an authoritarian challenge to development theory. The rise of Africa's amusement parks: What Africa's booming middle class really wants is a roller coaster.
