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While current levels of economic inequality in Africa receive ample attention from academics and policymakers, we know little about the long-run evolution of inequality in the region. Even the new and influential 'global inequality literature' that is associated with scholars like Thomas Piketty, Branko Milanovic, and Walter Scheidel has had little to say about Africa so far. This paper is a first effort to fill that void. Building on recent research in African economic history and utilizing the new theoretical frameworks of the global inequality literature, we chart the long-run patterns and drivers of inequality in Africa from the slave trades to the present. Our analysis dismantles mainstream narratives about the colonial roots of persistent high inequality in post-colonial Africa and shows that existing inequality concepts and theories need further calibration to account, among others, for the role of African slavery in the long-run emergence and vanishing of inequality regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the promises of the digital humanities, archival research in Africa continues to be a highly personalized and 'analogue' process. This is especially true for historians of the post-colonial period, who often find that state repositories contain few or no records from the years after independence. Drawing on a research project on the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), this research note discusses some of the methodological challenges for the study of the recent African past. It suggests ways that social scientists and historians can obtain and interpret documentary materials in the absence of centralized state archives. Those who study contemporary African history seldom have the luxury of working in a formal archive, state or otherwise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe was a key figure in the rise and persistence of anti-colonial ideology in Africa. Yet in his final work, Achebe made a clear statement about the positive legacies of colonialism, praising the British project of state formation and nation building in the lower Niger basin. A careful study of his writings and comments from 1958 until his death in 2013 shows that Achebe was never the simple anti-colonial figure that most assumed, and that his seeming reversal could be read as the culmination of a lifetime's meditation on African history and politics. Achebe's final views have significant paradigmatic implications for the knowledge relevant to national identity formation and state building in Africa today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bibliography of articles on Africa from non-Africanist periodicals from October-December 2012 is presented, including "Senegal: What Will Turnover Bring?," by C. L. Kelly, "1960–2010: African Independence Fifty Years On," by T. Vernon and A. Worden, and "HIV and the Moral Economy of Survival in an East City," by R. Prince.

A bibliography on African studies is presented which includes the books "Looking for Mrs. Livingstone," by Julie Davidson, "British Colonial Realism: Inalienable Objects, Contested Domains," by Deborah Shapple Spillman, and "Ethnicity in Zimbabwe: Transformations in Kalanga and Nbedele, 1860–1990," by Ennocent Msindo.

A list of articles on Africa in publications that do not specialize in African topics and that appeared during the period July-September 2008 is presented. Among the titles listed is "Ever again? The United States, genocide suppression and the crisis in Darfur," by E. Mayroz, that appeared in the "Journal of Genocide Research," "The historiographic state: how Algeria once became French," by A. Hannoum, published in the periodical "History and Anthropology," and "The end of impurity: lessons from Sierra Leone," by G. Wigglesworth that appeared in "International Affairs," magazine.

Sources cited in issues of the journal published in the period July-September 2008 are presented and include "When Things Fall Apart: State failure in late century Africa," by Robert H. Bates, "African Pentecostalism," by Ogbu Kalu and ""The French Atlantic Triangle: Literature and culture of the slave trade," by Christopher Miller.

The sources cited within this issue are presented including "The Practice of History in Africa: A history of African historiography," by Ebiegbieri Joe Alagoa, "African Theatres and Performances," by Osite Ogagbue and "The Biology of African Savannahs," by Bryan Shorrocks.

A list of reference resources related to African studies noted by the journal from January to March 2007 is presented, including "African Filmmaking: North and South of the Sahara," by Roy Barnes, "Africa's Hidden Histories: everyday literacy and making the self," by Karin Barber, and "Myth, ritual and metallurgy in ancient Greece and recent Africa," by Sandra Blakely.

A list of articles related to African history that were published in several journals is presented. The articles include "Does Food Aid Really Have Disincentive Effects? New Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa," by A. Abudlai, C. B. Barrett, and J. Hoddinott, "Modernity, Modernism and Africa's Place in the History of Our Age," by R. Araeen, "Rights and Wrongs: HIV/AIDS Research in Africa," by L. de la Gorgendie, and "How to Rebuild Africa," by S. Ellis.

A list of books about African history is presented. They include "Religion in the Context of African Migration," edited by Afe Adogame and Cordula Weisskoppel, "Africa: A Modern History," by Guy Arnold, "African Myths of Origin," by Stephen Belcher, and "Food Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa," by Fran Osseo-Asare.

Focuses on the journalistic coverage of the Rwandan genocide that occurred on May 1994. Response of the international community led by France and the United States to the mass murder; Failure of the British press to cover the political circumstances leading to the conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis; Language used in the media for covering the tribal conflict.

In 1906, Pixley kalsaka Seme, a future president of the African National Congress, delivered an oration at New York's Columbia University, entitled 'The regeneration of Africa'. This can be seen as an important contribution to discourse on the notion of an African Renaissance, the history of which discourse extends from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. Analysis of the discursive strategies Seme employed in his oration reveals certain contradictions in the structure and development of his argument. These contradictions are also discernible in current contributions to the African Renaissance debate, for example in South Africa. A historical trend therefore emerges, in which central features of African Renaissance discourse — especially with regard to models for social and economic renewal — may be shown to be persistently problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronicles the history of the Franco-African relations since 1994. Franco-African relations in the post-colonial era; Developments in French policy towards Africa; Changing international environment in the 1990s.

Examines the parallelism between environmental history and African history. Sharing of well-established Africanist moral concerns and perspectives; Corrective and anti-colonial approach emphasizing African initiative in the face of European conquest and capitalist exploitation; Extension of the range of African studies by focusing on environmental questions.

Assesses the course of African archaeology carried out within colonial contexts and within the ideological paradigm of a hegemonic West. Economic implications of Africa's archaeological and cultural heritage; Financing problems derailing the capacity building of African archaeological institutions.