Journal of Contemporary African Studies 

About: Journal of Contemporary African Studies is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): African studies & Politics. It has an ISSN identifier of 0258-9001. Over the lifetime, 911 publications have been published receiving 14052 citations. The journal is also known as: JCAS.

The continuing salience of race: Discrimination and diversity in South Africa

Abstract: The end of apartheid has brought a resurgence of research into racial identities, attitudes and behaviour in South Africa. The legacy of systematic racial ordering and discrimination under apartheid is that South Africa remains deeply racialised, in cultural and social terms, as well as deeply unequal, in terms of the distribution of income and opportunities. South Africans continue to see themselves in the racial categories of the apartheid era, in part because these categories have become the basis for post-apartheid ‘redress’, in part because they retain cultural meaning in everyday life. South Africans continue to inhabit social worlds that are largely defined by race, and many express negative views of other racial groups. There has been little racial integration in residential areas, although schools provide an important opportunity for inter-racial interaction for middle-class children. Experimental and survey research provide little evidence of racism, however. Few people complain about r...

The legacy of the white highlands: Land rights, ethnicity and the post-2007 election violence in Kenya

Abstract: A violent conflict engulfed Kenya after a flawed and disputed presidential election result in December 2007. Before then, Kenya was considered an icon, a bastion of political stability and economic prosperity in Africa. It surprised many that this icon would go up in flames so fast. Analyses of what went wrong with Kenya tend to gloss over the land question and ethnicity as factors behind the violence. Yet ethnicity and the manner in which the land question in the former white highlands and especially in the Rift Valley region has been addressed throughout the post-colonial period played an important role in the post-2007 election violence. This contribution argues that the reforms pursued through the settlement schemes and the land purchase programme by successive governments ethnicised the land question and established a ground for political conflict. It also shows that by looking at Kenya's politics of access to the former white highlands this violence becomes predictable. The discussion concl...

China's ‘soft power’ in Africa?

Abstract: Beijing's political ‘charm offensive’ in Africa has ostensibly made China a major player on the continent. The source of this success in China's African policy is sometimes seen in China's political and economic ‘attractiveness’. It is true that China is building a positive image targeted to the audience in Africa, promoting for example the vision of ‘win-win’ mutual economic benefits from cooperation. This endeavour is close to the concept of ‘soft power’. However, soft power is about dynamic relationships between an agent and the subject of attraction. Hence, the general growth of Chinese soft power and its success depends not only on whether China can sell its image to African states, but also whether African states are willing to buy this.

Dying to win: Elections, political violence, and institutional decay in Kenya

Abstract: This paper examines the lessons learned from Kenya's 2007 post election violence and what has happened since then. It notes that the root causes of the violence still persist, have not been addressed, and easily could be reignited. Faced with a situation where institutions and the rule of law have been weakened deliberately and where diffused violence is widespread, both Kenya's transition to democracy and the fate of the nation remain vulnerable. The argument here is that the problems faced in holding and managing elections in conflict situations often are not simply technical. Instead, in Kenya and elsewhere, many difficulties are symptomatic of larger political and institutional questions related to democratic change that are more difficult to analyze in causal terms or to address.

Rape of the Congo: Understanding sexual violence in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract: Though the occurrence of rape in the conduct of war is by no means historically new, research into its causes and functions has only really begun in the past couple of decades. War rape is a difficult phenomenon about which to generalise, considering the variances in context and actors involved. This article, however, attempts to synthesise existing literature through the analysis of a case study that can enhance our understanding of rape as a weapon of war and the contextual conditions that facilitate its use. Applying this theoretical framework to the extreme war rape occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this article offers insight into understanding the function of sexual violence in the ongoing conflict in the DRC. In particular, this article argues that the use of rape as a weapon in the Congo's bloody war must be understood in relation to both social constructs of masculinity and the politics of exploitation that have shaped much of the country's history.