Occasional Papers

This section lists papers commissioned by AfricAvenir or authored by AfricAvenir members and its affiliates and friends. Some of the papers listed here may have previously appeared in other AfricAvenir publications, e.g. if they were published in the framework of a specific project or book. A complete listing of all papers can be found in the |+| Download Section

The Mask: Remembering Slavery, Understanding Trauma

This essay by Grada Kilomba was presented to the Bicentenary of the Abolishment of the Atlantic Slave Trade, at the National Maritime Museum, in London. The mask, she writes, symbolizes colonialism. It represents the white sadistic politics of conquest and... |+| read article

Linguistic diversity in South Africa and the challenges of the African Renaissance

Paper presented by Dr. Neville Alexander at the South African Embassy in Berlin on the 20th November 2007. One of the main points of his presentation was: How do we assist in the decolonisation of the mind of the billions of people who are held in thrall by... |+| read article

Africans in the Academia: Diversity in Adversity

By Grada Kilomba. The following article was presented by the author in the framework of the AfricAvenir Dialogforum on 09 May 2007 at the Heinrich-Böll- Foundation in Berlin. Africans in the Academia: Diversity in Adversity
By Grada... |+| read article

Review: Kum’a Ndumbe III and German Neocolonialism

Sara Lennox examines Prince Kum’ a Ndumbe III analysis of the relationship of formerly colonizing powers to post-independence Africa. She first sketches the outline of his scholarly approach to that topic in his 1992 Habilitationsschrift, Was will Bonn in... |+| read article

Language, liberation and development

Is there a connection between language and the enslavement or liberty of a people and their capacity for development? In this article, Prince Kum’a Ndumbe III elucidates this question and describes the approaches of the AfricAvenir Foundation to raise... |+| read article