Welcome to African Arguments Online
Welcome to www.africanarguments.org! Hosted by the Royal African Society and the Social Science Research Council, we promise to make African Arguments Online the site of the most vigorous debates on Africa available on the web.
Africa has long been the locus and the focus for the most impassioned and intellectually-informed debates. But for many years, specialist Africa coverage in the world’s media has been in decline, alongside the withering of many African journals and magazines that used to provide a forum for debate and opinion. African news and views have moved to the web, notably with the spectacular success of www.AllAfrica.com. But there has been no comparable Africa-wide site which provides in-depth analysis and debate of the issues and controversies that animate the continent today. With the launch of African Arguments Online we intend to fill this gap.
Three years ago we launched the book series “˜African Arguments’ with the International African Institute and Zed Books and distributed by Palgrave Macmillan in the USA. Our aim was to bring vigorous debates on the most pressing African issues to a wider audience. With eight books published and two more due shortly the series has quickly become a lively and high-quality imprint.
In launching African Arguments Online, we will bring these issues to a wider audience with the rapidity of a news magazine and the reach of the internet. We have asked a number of leading public intellectuals””writers, scholars, activists””to contribute regular columns. We are sponsoring debates on the books in the African Arguments series, engaging the authors in a conversation about their volumes and the arguments they are pursuing. And we will be convening debates on the issues of the day as they arise””beginning with what Africa should ask and expect from the new Administration of the United States of America.
This is a moderated website. We have chosen the initial columnists from our own networks but more will certainly join. Contributions to the debates are welcome and will pass the eyes of an editor before they are posted.
About the Banner
From a photograph of stained glass window, “The Total Liberation of Africa” created by internationally famous Ethiopian artist Afewerk Tekle. It was commissioned in 1960 for the entrance to Africa Hall in Addis Ababa, the location of the founding conference of the Organisation of African Unity and the headquarters of the UN Economic Commission for Africa. Photo by VBzi, reproduced here via a Creative Commons license.
Published on: Jan 20, 2009 @ 11:24
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The next title in the African Arguments series is Chocolate Nations by Orla Ryan due December 2010. We would like to ask if you would be able to feature Chocolate Nations on your African Arguments blog as a future title. Perhaps an image of the title, the blurb and brief details about the author.
If so, here are the details of the author and book – is there an appropriate email in order to send an attachment of the book cover?
Chocolate Nations: Living and Dying for Cocoa in West Africa
Orla Ryan works for the Financial Times in London. She lived in Africa for more than four years, first in Uganda, and then in Ghana, where she worked for Reuters.
FROM BEAN TO BAR – WHERE DOES YOUR CHOCOLATE COME FROM?
Chocolate – the very word conjures up a hint of the forbidden and a taste of the decadent. Yet the story behind the chocolate bar is rarely one of luxury…
From the thousands of children who work on plantations to the smallholders who harvest the beans, Chocolate Nations reveals the hard economic realities of our favorite sweet. This vivid and gripping exploration of the reasons behind farmer poverty includes the human stories of the producers and traders at the heart of the West African industry. In doing so, Orla Ryan shows how only a tiny fraction of the cash we pay for a chocolate bar actually makes it back to the farmers, and how Fairtrade makes very little difference on the ground.
Provocative and eye-opening, Chocolate Nations exposes the true story of how the treat we love makes it on to our supermarket shelves.
Regards,
James Richardson
Marketing Assistant – Zedbooks
This is an interesting and valuable case. All the arguments provided in this case is important for our site. So we would like to thank and appreciate you for this wonderful post.
Hi,
This is a very nice blog in challenging our thought on different issues about Africa. This will certainly help us gather more <a href=”http://oleafrica.com”>information about Africa</a> in our site in conjunction with current events and news.
Regards,
Vincent Okoth
I think a very interesting note and even more think that teaming with beginners aswriters, academics, activists, to cooperate with Africa items.
I’ve been a reader of AllAfrica.com for some time but I like the look of this site also. I look forward to many interesting articles and vigorous arguments on the site.