In this piece, Nishant Upadhyay asserts that developments in Burkina Faso have facilitated a repoliticisation of political economy, including everyday life, through mass mobilisation. roape.net/2026/08/05/b...
Review of African Political Economy
@roapejournal.bsky.social
Since 1974 the Review of African Political Economy has provided radical analysis of trends, issues and social processes in Africa, adopting a broadly materialist interpretation of change. Check out our longer bio at https://roape.net/about-roape/
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Review of African Political Economy @roapejournal.bsky.social · 5d agoMalick Doucouré argues that the recent anti-LGBT crackdowns in pro-Pan-African governments are about elites manufacturing unity against a fake external threat to absolve their failure to fix the economy. He argues it's time to reclaim the Pan-Africanism of Nkrumah & Sankara. buff.ly/hOFlOzV
Malick Doucouré argues that the recent anti-LGBT crackdowns in pro-Pan-African governments are about elites manufacturing unity against a fake external threat to absolve their failure to fix the economy. He argues it's time to reclaim the Pan-Africanism of Nkrumah & Sankara. buff.ly/hOFlOzV
The homophobia of Pan-African regimes | ROAPE
West Africa has experienced a series of significant geopolitical developments in recent years, with the potential to reshape both its political landscape and economic trajectory. These are, in many…
roape.net
Regarding the informal economy, this book talks about actions and efforts of informal traders and artisans in Nairobi in particular from their own points of view. It looks at how they organize and get by in order to consider approaches for integrating into global economy.
Citizen.Coping@propcazhpm.bsky.social · 2y ago"African Markets and the Utu-buntu Business Model" by Mary Njeri Kinyanjui "The Utu-buntu Business Model sheds light on the ethics and values that underpin the work of traders and artisans in Nairobi.. their resilience and positive impact.." #OpenAccess library.oapen.org/handle/20.50...
In this new blog for roape.net, Shevonne Henry & Erick Mwale argue Africa’s informal sector, not the traditional industrial working class, is emerging as the continent’s most important revolutionary force. roape.net/2026/07/29/b...
Beyond Marx | ROAPE
The winter-beaten streets of the Johannesburg Central Business District are lined with informal traders this morning and they’re selling everything you can imagine – fruit, vegetables, cuts of meat, d...
roape.net
This question of who holds symbolic power in conservation is one we sit with daily. In Etanga we start by asking who owns the herd and whose knowledge names the land, before anyone draws a plan. Community first, or it is not conservation.
In this editorial, ROAPE's Ray Bush introduces Issue 188. Bush argues that US warmongering is intimately connected to events on the African continent, driving up energy costs, worsening Africa’s debt & hunger crises, & reinforcing its structural dependence. roape.net/2026/07/22/w...
War | ROAPE
The imperialist war waged by the USA and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the continued genocide in Gaza and the attempt to dismember Lebanon have far-reaching consequences for Africa. The...
roape.net
Offering his reflections on the first chapter of ‘The Big Conservation Lie’, James Mulei raises questions of symbolic power in the domain of wildlife conservation. roape.net/2026/07/16/o...
Of heroes and hero worship? Some musings on the first chapter of 'The Big Conservation Lie' by John Mbaria and Mordecai Ogada | ROAPE
As I read the opening chapter of The big conservation lie, I found myself less interested in the catalogue of failures it presents than in the conditions that make those failures persist without…
roape.net
🚨New journal issue alert! Volume 53 Issue 188 June 2026 War Pages: 129-279 Issue Editor: Ray Bush All articles, briefings and debates available to access, read and download for free from anywhere in the world 👇🏿 mailchi.mp/3d77c8c31fc4...
ROAPE, Volume 53 Issue 188
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"At each stage of Guinea-Bissau’s economic history, women’s unacknowledged labour in cashew cultivation & processing provided the floor that kept households alive and the system functional. When the formal economy contracted, that floor held. When the state withdrew, that floor held." #WomensLabor
Cashew capitalism - part two | ROAPE
The dominant cashew economy had established patterns that outlasted independence in 1974. By then, Amílcar Cabral was already dead, assassinated by Portuguese agents in Conakry the previous year. He n...
roape.net
"Amílcar Cabral’s insight was that colonial underdvlpmt was a system [that couldn't] be dismantled by replacing personnel & leaving structures intact. The cashew monoculture.. has outlasted everything except the dispossession it was designed to produce. That dispossession has always been gendered."
Review of African Political Economy @roapejournal.bsky.social · 3w agoIn the final instalment on cashew capitalism, Klas Lundström Martínez argues that Guinea-Bissau’s colonial cashew monoculture created a permanent system of economic dependency, with women’s invisible labour holding the entire economy together. roape.net/2026/07/13/c...
In the final instalment on cashew capitalism, Klas Lundström Martínez argues that Guinea-Bissau’s colonial cashew monoculture created a permanent system of economic dependency, with women’s invisible labour holding the entire economy together. roape.net/2026/07/13/c...
Cashew capitalism - part two | ROAPE
The dominant cashew economy had established patterns that outlasted independence in 1974. By then, Amílcar Cabral was already dead, assassinated by Portuguese agents in Conakry the previous year. He n...
roape.net
Peter Cole traces how Soweto’s Black students ignited a nationwide revolt against apartheid in June 1976, reshaping South Africa’s political future. roape.net/2026/07/08/s...
Soweto students rise up against apartheid | ROAPE
Soweto was a Black “township,” the South African term for an all-Black (or Indian or “Coloured”) suburb whose residents’ primary purpose was to serve the needs of the nearby white population, in this ...
roape.net
I used to loved cashew but I saw a news segments where the hands of the African* people who harvested and processed them were ruined while they were being economically exploited. Hard to enjoy after that.. *I don't recall the country, it was years ago.
Review of African Political Economy @roapejournal.bsky.social · last mo.In the 1st of a 2-part instalment, Klas Lundström Martínez argues Guinea-Bissau’s ongoing crisis is shaped by circumstances rooted in the colonial era & the country’s failed attempts to break with its historical role as a cheap commodity producer for the Western world. roape.net/2026/07/06/c...
In the 1st of a 2-part instalment, Klas Lundström Martínez argues Guinea-Bissau’s ongoing crisis is shaped by circumstances rooted in the colonial era & the country’s failed attempts to break with its historical role as a cheap commodity producer for the Western world. roape.net/2026/07/06/c...
Cashew capitalism - part one | ROAPE
An independent Guinea-Bissau was supposed to become an egalitarian society that rejected colonial structures. Instead, its economy rests on a ‘cashew capitalism’ whose foundations lie in colonialism’s...
roape.net
Review of African Political Economy @roapejournal.bsky.social · last mo.60 years since Osendé Afana (1930-1966) was assassinated fighting Cameroon's neo-colonial state. Loic Gapin's blog revisits his 1966 book on how imperialism stifled African development — and why the problem hasn't gone away. buff.ly/XGyYjRK
60 years since Osendé Afana (1930-1966) was assassinated fighting Cameroon's neo-colonial state. Loic Gapin's blog revisits his 1966 book on how imperialism stifled African development — and why the problem hasn't gone away. buff.ly/XGyYjRK
The visionary political economy of Osendé Afana (1930-1966) | ROAPE
This year is the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Osendé Afana (1930-1966), the Cameroonian Marxist economist and national liberation leader who died fighting a guerrilla insurgency against…
roape.net
This year, the Ruth Prize is awarded to Dr. Antonater Tafadzwa Choto for her 2025 article, "Zimbabwe 1995–2000: Rereading Gramsci’s organic intellectual in contemporary working-class struggles". alt-text: Dr. Antonater Tafadzwa Choto wearing red academic robes while speaking at a podium
ROAPE Ruth First Prize 2026 | ROAPE
This year, the prize is awarded to Antonater Tafadzwa Choto for her 2025 article ‘Zimbabwe 1995–2000: rereading Gramsci’s organic intellectual in contemporary working-class struggles’. It was publishe...
roape.net
n this piece, ROAPE announces the 2026 winner of the Ruth Prize, Zimbabwean scholar and activist Antonater Tafadzwa Choto roape.net/2026/06/29/r...
Love it! #Ubuntu #abolition
Review of African Political Economy @roapejournal.bsky.social · last mo.Writing for roape.net, Onwubiko Agozino argues for penal abolitionism through a return to the original Ubuntu African philosophy of forgiveness that appears to be reserved for the rich and powerful today. roape.net/2026/06/24/c...
Writing for roape.net, Onwubiko Agozino argues for penal abolitionism through a return to the original Ubuntu African philosophy of forgiveness that appears to be reserved for the rich and powerful today. roape.net/2026/06/24/c...
Corruption and penal abolitionism | ROAPE
Corruption studies tend to focus on developing countries even though corruption is a global system. Marx concluded that corruption, violence, slavery – in short, force – is the primitive or primary fo...
roape.net
In this book review published in ROAPE’s journal issue No.187, Pascal Bianchini provides a glimpse into Fanny Pigeaud and Ndongo Samba Sylla’s volume titled De la démocratie en Françafrique – Une histoire de l’impérialisme electoral.
French neocolonialism in Africa: a history of electoral imperialism (De la démocratie en Françafrique - Une histoire de l’impérialisme electoral) ROAPE
This well-written and well-argued volume revisits French political history, especially its colonial (and neocolonial) aspects, which are a blind spot for many historians and political scientists. The…
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In this blog, Jeffrie Quarsie invites us not to dismiss the claim that France is sustaining the Jihadist terrorist insurgency in the Sahel, which it once promised and failed to suppress. He points to France’s self-interested and treacherous role in the region. buff.ly/RHAPeFy
Is France funding terrorism in the Sahel? ROAPE |
In this blog, Jeffrie Quarsie invites us not to dismiss the claim that France is sustaining the Jihadist terrorist insurgency in the Sahel, which it once promised and failed to suppress. He points to…
roape.net
Introducing an open access special issue on reparations & global health, Lebohang Liepollo Pheko argues that if the 19th century was the era of abolition & the 20th century of decolonisation (however incomplete), then the 21st century must be the era of repair. roape.net/2026/06/10/t...
The body keeps the score | ROAPE
Before there was a Commission, there were generations who died too young – not because of bad genes, but because of stolen land, unpaid labour, and a minority world that extracted everything it could ...
roape.net
A reminder that ROAPE is looking for two affiliates to join the journal’s Editorial Working Group for a year starting from September 2026. Please apply by 9 June - all details are in the post! roape.net/2026/05/12/r...
In this obituary, Jabu Nala-Hartley remembers leading South African labour militant, trade unionist and socialist David Hemson. ROAPE's Peter Dwyer interviewed David in 2024 - the link to those videos is also available in the post. roape.net/2026/06/03/h...
Honouring a fallen warrior | ROAPE
When someone recently asked me if I was alright, I almost gave the familiar answer: “Yes, I’m fine.” But the truth is, I was not. Because how can any of us be fine when our movement has lost David Hem...
roape.net
To mark the 100th anniversary of the South African Communist Party (SACP), Peter Lawrence and Janet Cherry introduce ROAPE’s special issue 187, which focuses on the role of the SACP in the post-liberation government led by the African National Congress. buff.ly/YNyljjj
🚨ROAPE Journal, Volume 53 Issue 187 is out now! The South African Communist Party: liberation, socialism and state power in South Africa Issue Editors: Janet Cherry and Peter Lawrence 🇿🇦 mailchi.mp/913887ebf450...
Writing for roape.net, Espérant Mwishamali Lukobo and Sara Geenen argue narratives that portray artisanal Congolese cobalt miners as violent criminals or illegal invaders make things worse, reinforcing the marginalisation & insecurity that mining communities already face. roape.net/2026/05/27/t...
In our latest blog, Heike Becker introduces a new edited volume for Voices of Liberation by HSRCPress, which covers the militant life and legacy of Namibian liberation leader Andimba Toivo ya Toivo (1924-2017).
Andimba Toivo ya Toivo – A Namibian Struggle Icon ROAPE |
When Andimba Toivo ya Toivo died at the age of 92 in June 2017, Namibia saw an unprecedented outpouring of grief for the country’s much loved liberation stalwart. Thousands attended memorial services…
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