Category: Analysis

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Gibson Ncube, Senior Lecturer, Stellenbosch University

Queer African creatives have been making their mark around the world through a range of forms – books, films, fashion, art, music. Their work wins awards, sets trends and is studied by scholars. Most research on African queerness, however, comes from outside the continent.

So, we put together a special journal issue to celebrate some of these works that have appeared over the past decade or so. And also to create a space for African and Africa-based scholars to reflect on what’s happening on the continent.

The contributors don’t only examine what these creative works reveal. They also consider how these artists are experimenting with style, voice, genre and imagery to express queer lived experiences.

Here we highlight seven works of art discussed in papers in the special issue – from stories of childhood sexual experiences to bold fashion shows, musical films to maverick lesbian novels. They show the complex ways queer people shape their identities and express desire in very different African settings.

1. Tell Me Your Politik by Nakhane

Nakhane is a South African singer, writer, and actor whose work examines the meeting place of queerness and blackness. The song Tell Me Your Politik (from the 2023 album Bastard Jargon), presents Black men in a hypermasculine, military-style training environment. But two of them are quietly and tenderly beginning to express desire for each other. This moment of intimacy is interrupted by aggressive military drills led by a white commanding officer. The song’s lyrics insist on the need for ideological alignment (“tell me your politik”) before intimacy. This raises questions about love, politics, and consent.

In his article, Gibson Ncube argues that the music video for the song uses touch to explore queerness as a form of resistance. Gentle and intimate gestures between Black men challenge dominant ideas of Black masculinity. The contrast between caring and violent touch reveals how queerness disrupts systems of domination. Touch becomes political, offering new ways of being and imagining queer futures.

2. Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

Under the Udala Trees is a 2015 novel by Nigerian writer Chinelo Okparanta. It follows Ijeoma, a Nigerian girl discovering her same-sex attraction during the time of the Biafran War.

Forced into Bible lessons by her mother to “cure” her queerness, Ijeoma grapples with shame, rejection, and a coerced heterosexual marriage. The novel critiques religious and political oppression. It imagines resilience and queer love in a hostile environment.

In his article, Wisani Mushwana shows that Under the Udala Trees exposes how Nigerian religious and political leaders weaponise biblical shame to enforce a heteronormative society, inflicting religious trauma in the process.

Ijeoma’s bold questioning of the Bible challenges traditional Christian teachings and the use of scripture to shame or judge others. The novel highlights the lack of spaces where queer identity can be affirmed. At the same time, it uses the power of storytelling to reclaim agency and reimagine queer liberation.

3. The Quiet Violence of Dreams by K. Sello Duiker

The Quiet Violence of Dreams by the late South African novelist K. Sello Duiker was published in 2001. Tshepo is a queer Black man in post-apartheid South Africa. He navigates trauma, identity, and survival. After being raped and robbed, Tshepo finds temporary refuge in a Cape Town male brothel where he explores same-sex intimacy and community.

Ntokozo Wandile Mbokazi and Lucy Valerie Graham think about the novel alongside the controversial South African film Inxeba/The Wound. They argue that the book and film challenge traditional ideas of Africanness. Tshepo’s story is a postcolonial coming-of-age tale which is shaped by disillusionment as the protagonist tries to fit into society.

Racial and class tensions weaken the solidarity of queer people. This shows the limits of freedom in post-apartheid South Africa and how enforcing traditional masculinity often involves violence.

4. Lagos Space Programme by Adeju Thompson

Lagos Space Programme is a Nigerian fashion label created by designer Adeju Thompson. The brand combines west African fabrics and non-binary gender expression to challenge traditional ideas of masculinity. Through fashion, it connects Yoruba beliefs, queer politics, and bold design to celebrate the fluidity of gender.

Khaya Mchunu and Isaiah Negedu show how the label uses clothing to question to imagine freer, more inclusive futures. Rather than looking for acceptance by fitting in, Lagos Space Programme insists on visibility and creative self-expression. It reclaims African traditions while disrupting fixed social norms.

5. Nine Pieces of Desire by Idza Luhumyo

The past decade has seen the publication of several important anthologies of queer African short stories.

Two stories in particular are given attention in the special issue. Kenyan writer Idza Luhumyo’s 2017 story Nine Pieces of Desire is about 10-year-old Mariam, who lives in a Kenyan Muslim community. It explores her silent rebellion against patriarchal and religious norms after a fleeting same-sex encounter with her friend Grace.

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Read more:
Being queer in Africa: the state of LGBTIQ+ rights across the continent

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6. Plums by Kharys Laue

South African writer and editor Kharys Laue’s 2018 short story Plums recounts Chris’s childhood memory of a tender moment with her friend Gloria on a South African farm. This is contrasted with her adult struggles in a heteronormative and racist society.

Leila Hall argues that these two stories disrupt the harmful binary of “innocent children/perverse homosexuals” by portraying childhood same-sex desire as natural and consensual, outside of adult coercion. They push back against the false idea that being queer means being dangerous. The young narrators help us see how systems of oppression work in everyday life.

7. Kanarie by Christiaan Olwagen

Kanarie is a 2018 South African film by Christiaan Olwagen. It follows Johan Niemand, a young gay man conscripted into the apartheid-era army in the 1980s. Under the racist system, white men were conscripted to help maintain the government’s power. Selected for a military choir, “the Canaries”, Johan deals with his sexual identity within a hypermasculine space. The film blends musical elements and melodrama to explore his inner conflict, his love for pop culture, and a tentative romance with another recruit. All in the face of conservative Christian nationalism.

Andy Carolin argues Kanarie is more than a coming out story. It uses melodrama to imagine a queer way of being. By merging fantasy with realism, it shatters ideas of good versus evil or right versus wrong.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. 7 queer African works of art: new directions in books, films and fashion – https://theconversation.com/7-queer-african-works-of-art-new-directions-in-books-films-and-fashion-256252

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Claire Ricard, Research Fellow at CERDI, Université Clermont Auvergne (UCA)

In recent years, the term “eldest daughter syndrome” has gained traction on social media, as many firstborn daughters share how they had to grow up faster. They often took on caregiving and supportive roles in their families.

In high-income countries, research shows that these responsibilities often bring long-term benefits. Firstborn daughters – and sons – tend to have higher educational attainment and stronger cognitive skills. They also enjoy better job prospects and salaries.

Some studies in low- and middle-income countries have found similar positive effects of being the eldest. But others have found the opposite.

In low-income contexts, economic constraints, cultural practices – such as the involvement of extended families in child-rearing – and inheritance norms may produce very different effects.

Our research brings new insights by examining these dynamics in Madagascar. It is one of the world’s poorest countries. Birth order there strongly shapes the transition to adulthood, especially for firstborn children.

Progress in understanding birth order effects in low-income countries is held back by the lack of detailed, sibling-level data. Our study used a dataset that followed individuals from the ages of 10 to 22, capturing their transition from adolescence to adulthood. It collected detailed information on education, work, health, marriage, and migration. The dataset also captured key demographic and educational details for all living full siblings of each respondent.

We found that firstborns in Madagascar transition into adulthood earlier than their younger siblings. They are more likely to leave school early. They enter the workforce sooner and marry at younger ages. For example, fourth-born children are 1.5 percentage points less likely than firstborns to have never attended school, and 1.1 percentage points more likely to complete post-secondary education.
Or, third-borns are 23% less likely to marry at age 19 than firstborns.

Our findings suggest that later-born children benefit from greater parental investment in education. This leads to better schooling outcomes and delayed entry into the labour market.

Birth order and the transition to adulthood

In Madagascar, early marriage can be a way for families to ease financial pressure. This is especially true since daughters typically join their husband’s household.

When it comes to marriage, we find that later-born children are less likely to marry early than their firstborn siblings – especially after age 17. This trend holds for both boys and girls. The difference appears earlier for girls, which aligns with their younger average age at marriage.

Interestingly, second-born girls are not significantly less likely to marry than their older sisters. This suggests that the eldest daughter does not always bear the full brunt of early marriage risk.
Firstborn daughters often take on caregiving and household roles. These responsibilities may delay their marriage slightly, as families rely on them for day-to-day support.

What explains these birth order effects?

We did not observe significant differences in cognitive skills (like reasoning) or non-cognitive traits (like personality) between firstborns and their younger siblings. Cognitive abilities were assessed through oral and written math and French tests administered at home. These findings contrast with evidence from wealthier countries, where firstborns often outperform their siblings in both cognitive and non-cognitive domains. This may result from greater early parental investment.

In Madagascar, child development may rely less on direct parental input and more on interactions within the extended family. This is consistent with the concept of fihavanana, a cultural principle that emphasises solidarity and mutual support within the extended family.
Rather than benefiting mostly from parental quality time, children – especially later-borns – may develop their cognitive and non-cognitive skills through broader social networks. These include relatives and older siblings.

We also explored whether gender preferences might help explain the differences in outcomes. For instance, if later-born children were disproportionately boys, it could suggest that parents continued having children in hopes of having a son. This could lead to more resources being allocated to that later-born boy. However, our data show an even distribution of boys and girls among later-born children. This suggests that gender-based stopping rules are unlikely to explain the patterns we observe.

Instead, our findings point to economic constraints as the main driver for firstborns transitioning into adulthood earlier than their younger siblings.

In poorer households, particularly in rural areas, firstborn children are often asked to help out financially. This often comes at the cost of their own education. Later-born children, by contrast, receive more investment in their schooling. This may compensate for their limited access to other resources, such as land.

We find no birth order advantage in wealthier households or among families where parents have some education. This again highlights poverty as a key factor shaping these patterns.

The double burden of being firstborn

To sum up, our research shows that, in Madagascar, both male and female firstborns face an earlier transition into adulthood. They leave school and enter the labour market sooner. They marry earlier, although firstborn girls may be at slightly lower risk of early marriage than their younger sisters.

This suggests that, in poor countries, the eldest daughter syndrome is not just about emotional and care-giving responsibilities. It may also come with fewer educational opportunities, greater economic pressure, and an earlier end to childhood. A true double burden for disadvantaged girls. Economic constraints within households largely explain this pattern.

But the story is not only one of constraint. The absence of differences in cognitive and non-cognitive skills suggests that broader community ties, rooted in fihavanana and extended kinship networks, help cushion the impact of early responsibility. These collective structures may not erase inequality, but they offer a vital source of resilience.

As policymakers and practitioners look for ways to promote educational equity, it’s worth remembering that some of the most overlooked trade-offs happen within households. Reducing the weight of those trade-offs – through financial support, community-based programmes, or school retention efforts – could help ensure that the future of one child doesn’t come at the expense of another.

Claire’s work was supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche of the French government through the program “France 2030” ANR-16-IDEX-0001

Francesca’s work was supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche of the French government through the program “France 2030” ANR-16-IDEX-0001.

– ref. Eldest daughters often carry the heaviest burdens – insights from Madagascar – https://theconversation.com/eldest-daughters-often-carry-the-heaviest-burdens-insights-from-madagascar-255785

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Wycliffe W. Njororai Simiyu, Professor and Chair of Kinesiology and Health Science, Stephen F. Austin State University

Relations between China and Africa are increasingly important in understanding the dynamics that shape our world. But until now, the role of sport was overlooked.

A new book, Global China and the Global Game in Africa, explores the role of football in relations between China and Africa – culturally, politically and economically.

Wycliffe W. Njororai Simiyu chatted to us about his chapter in the book. It’s a study of African football migration, how players fare in the popular China Super League, and what their experiences of the country are.

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What’s the history of African players working in China?

A growing number of African male football players moved abroad to play professionally after the Bosman ruling in 1995. This European Court of Justice decision related to freedom of movement for workers. It triggered sports migration around the globe, and African players were major beneficiaries.

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Read more:
The fighting spirit of young African footballers who migrate overseas

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Historically, aspiring African professional footballers mostly looked for opportunities in Europe. Leagues in France, England, Belgium, Germany, Spain and Portugal were popular because of their colonial ties to Africa. They offered established footballing structures and higher wages. The Middle East, the US and south-east Asia also became options.

However, China’s sustained economic growth over the last three decades has contributed to an intense and multifaceted global engagement that includes the game of football. The Chinese Super League (CSL) began to invest heavily in attracting international talent. It became a viable and often lucrative alternative for African players. This coincided with China’s growing economic influence in Africa.

African players are sought after for their athleticism and speed. And often they make lower transfer fee and wage demands than players from Europe or South America.

How have the African players performed?

Between 2006 and 2023, over 141 African players played in the Chinese Super League. They came from west Africa (59.57%), central Africa (19.5 %), southern Africa (10.64%), north Africa (8.51%) and east Africa (2.13%). Research shows that these players have generally performed well, often making significant contributions to their teams. Match statistics indicate that many African strikers and attacking midfielders have been key playmakers. Many have emerged as top scorers in the league.

Their physical attributes often give African footballers an edge, and many have quickly adapted to the playing style in China. Chinese players, often lacking international exposure, and constrained athletically, tend to rely on technical finesse. Migrant players bring athleticism, cosmopolitan technical-tactical awareness, and levels of intensity that make the league more exciting.

African players are enriching the Chinese game significantly, just as they have done to the European game. They’ve increased the number of tactical choices and game plans for Chinese teams and, in the process, upped the quality of the league.

Of course, performance can vary greatly depending on individual players, team tactics, and the overall level of competition in the league at different periods.

What are players’ common experiences of China?

Players’ experiences in the CSL vary. Many report positive experiences when it comes to the financial rewards and the opportunity to play professional football at a high level. But cultural and linguistic barriers can present challenges. African players must adapt to Chinese food and social customs. Language and communication within the team can take time and effort.

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Read more:
How African diaspora footballers juggle the identity question

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Some players have also reported issues of racism or feeling isolated because of these cultural differences and the transient nature of their contracts. Some feel lonely. Research on African football migration generally highlights that the social and cultural integration process is crucial for the overall well-being and success of African players abroad.

How does football fit into labour migration trends?

Sport, particularly football with its global appeal and professional structures, is a significant avenue for transnational movement. Fifa, as the global governing body of football, facilitates this movement through regulations and transfer systems.

It’s the mission of Fifa to establish and grow the game of football into a truly global sport. This, however, continues to be undermined by the enduring global inequalities and disparities that shape the world.

For many African men, professional football represents a pathway to economic advancement and social mobility. These opportunities are often limited in their home countries due to economic constraints or lack of well-developed professional leagues. So, migration to leagues like the Chinese Super League is driven by both push factors (limited opportunities at home) and pull factors (better financial rewards and professional experiences abroad).

What does all this do for China’s image in Africa?

The presence and performance of African players in the Chinese Super League can contribute to China’s soft power and image in Africa. Seeing African athletes succeed in China can foster a sense of connection and goodwill between the two regions.

It showcases China as a global player in the world of football and can be interpreted as a sign of growing ties and mutual engagement beyond economic and political spheres. Apart from being players, African footballers act as cultural ambassadors for their respective countries and the African continent.

At the level of people-to-people exchange, African players interact with their Chinese teammates, fans and communities. This enhances and sustains cultural exchange and understanding.

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Read more:
China-Africa relations: new priorities have driven major shifts over the last 24 years – 5 essential reads

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However, it’s my considered opinion that, unlike the western countries where many former players settle and raise families, many Africans in China seem not to see it as being a friendly place to settle down.

Even so, the presence of African players in China is helping to develop a greater familiarity and affinity between the people of China and Africa, with the promise of lasting influence socially, economically and culturally.

Wycliffe W. Njororai Simiyu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. African footballers in China: what’s behind the sport migration trend – https://theconversation.com/african-footballers-in-china-whats-behind-the-sport-migration-trend-256520

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie, Research Fellow, Center for Cultural and African Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)

African fashion has flourished in terms of creativity and innovation in recent years, and is attracting global attention.

Designers and labels are churning out garments that reflect African cities and how they interact with global trends. Think Nigeria’s Ejiro Amos Tafiri and Mai Atafo, Ghana’s Christie Brown and Larry Jay, Kenya’s Ikojn or South Africa’s Boyde.

Cities like Lagos, Accra, Marrakesh, Nairobi and Johannesburg have become global fashion capitals. They’re fashion production hubs that are creating styles that mirror their cosmopolitanism; their vibrant mix of nationalities.

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Read more:
West Africa’s fashion designers are world leaders when it comes to producing sustainable clothes

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In a recent study I focus on how fashion in Lagos mirrors the bustling Nigerian city’s cosmopolitanism. It reflects a meeting point between global and local influences.

Drawing on interviews with designers, I discuss how cosmopolitanism is produced through clothing – and the gender dynamics that underpin it. African fashion production is drawing from local roots but also responding to global social and cultural developments.

Cosmopolitan Africa

Cosmopolitanism is a global community that transcends national borders. Many cultures inform a big city’s fashions, like they do its cuisines.

But while the conversation on cosmopolitanism has centred mostly on western countries, Africa also has a long history of connection to other parts of the world through trade, migration and the exchange of ideas.

African American philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah argues that the western idea of cosmopolitanism often assumes a complete embrace of foreign cultures and ideals. But among Africans, cosmopolitanism integrates the local with the global. He calls this rooted cosmopolitanism. It’s seen in various forms in African societies, such as urbanisation or fashion in this case.

Lagos

Lagos is Africa’s most populous city and is home to many migrants. It’s a mix of foreigners and indigenous people with different cultural backgrounds who find meaning in living as Lagosians.

I chose Lagos for my study because of its vibrant creative industries. Even a decade ago, Lagos was judged by one magazine as the world’s fourth-largest fashion city. I interviewed 18 fashion designers living and working there.

Local fabric, western designs for women

I found that fashion in Lagos can be separated into two major trends: fabric and design – the materials clothes are made with and the styles in vogue.

Local fabrics and appropriated fabrics (foreign-produced cloths that have been assimilated into Nigerian cultures) are in vogue today for female fashion.

Local fabrics are hand-woven or dyed cloths and stem from various ethnic groups, like Aso oke or Akwete.

Popular appropriated fabrics are Ankara (wax prints, originally from Indonesia), lace (a delicate, openwork fabric popular on traditional Nigerian attire) and George (a type of Madras cloth popular among Nigeria’s Igbos).

Before the 2000s, the use of these fabrics was at two ends of a spectrum. Indigenous cloth, lace and George were for social and cultural events. Ankara was for everyday functional clothes, iro (a wrap skirt) and buba (a three-piece traditional design for women, mostly the married or elderly), especially among low-income people.

The popularity of local fabrics in today’s fashion didn’t emerge from a vacuum. It was a choice by designers, a social process of acceptance, and government initiative.

Today’s designers are consciously using local fabrics as a way of endorsing their roots and normalising their use. Many faced rejection at first. Zena, a participant in my study, sold only two pieces of her clothing during her first year of business. She spent time convincing people “this is good”:

And, funny enough, they are easy to wear and not expensive. But it took a while for them to appreciate it.

Since the early 1990s the Nigerian government has been committed to promoting local fabrics and locally produced clothes. In 2017, it approved a Monday and Wednesday “Made-in-Nigeria Dress Days” policy.

While local fabrics are today the fabric trend in women’s clothing, the design trend is western. Designers use local fabrics in styles that have global appeal.

Still, they are conscious of maintaining authenticity through either the fabric, a silhouette or a design concept that resonates with their culture.

According to Eji, her western designs still have the African woman in mind:

The African woman is not only situated in Africa, but they are also all over the world. I believe the world is more cosmopolitan now, we have interracial marriages, we can borrow culture from everywhere, we can inter-weave stuff.

Women’s fashion mirrors Lagos society’s complexity and its openness to global trends, as it seeks to globalise its local elements.

It’s the opposite for men

Cosmopolitan men’s fashion in Lagos is the opposite of women’s. The fabric trend is western; the design trend is local.

In Lagos, most men wear the two or three-piece “native”. The buba and sokoto, for example, is for regular wear. (A traditional two-piece top and trouser, normally from the same fabric.) The agbada is for special events. (Trousers, a top and a loose-fitting, wide-sleeved robe over.)

Participants in my study explained that the ethnic background of the president, at any point in time, influences men’s fashion trends. Former president Muhammadu Buhari, for example, hails from the northern part of the country and popularised the wearing of the baba riga (a top, trousers and a big, embroidered over-cover) of the Hausa people.

Current president Bola Ahmed Tinubu extends the dominance of agbada fashion as he is Yoruba. Men’s fashion portrays a unified cultural front, emanating from the ruling president’s ethnic culture and adopted by most men irrespective of their ethnicity. This can allow for the inclusion of groups excluded from dominant national cultures.

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Read more:
Kofi Ansah left Ghana to become a world famous fashion designer – how his return home boosted the industry

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This study shows Nigerian fashion’s openness to modernity, consciously implementing styles from different parts of the world. But this isn’t detached from the local. As forms of culture disappear (through cultural exchange) new forms are created, and they are created locally. This is ultimately a celebration of the cosmopolitan in Lagos fashion and society.

Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie receives funding from Oumou Dilly Foundation, Basel, Switzerland.

– ref. Lagos fashion: how designers make global trends uniquely Nigerian – https://theconversation.com/lagos-fashion-how-designers-make-global-trends-uniquely-nigerian-254227

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Ralph Hamann, Professor, University of Cape Town

Societies around the world are confronted with complex problems that defy resolution by any single actor, even well-resourced governments or corporations. Problems like food security, climate change, or biodiversity loss involve a lot of elements and dynamics. A variety of stakeholders need to be involved in creating effective responses to such problems.

The difficulty is not only in creating coordinated responses. There is often also a need to develop a shared understanding of what the problem and its underlying causes actually are.

To foster a shared understanding and coordinated, innovative action, it can help to convene key players in multi-stakeholder dialogue processes.

A first step is to identify and enrol the actors that are either influential in – or directly affected by – the focal problem. These people are then invited to engage in dialogue with each other in a carefully designed, structured process.

Processes can take a variety of forms. But a common feature is that participants have enough time and support to look at the problem from different angles, to interact in ways that break down stereotypes, and to think afresh about new ways of acting.

Fifteen years ago, we were involved in establishing a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue with a focus on the problem of hunger and food insecurity. It is called the Southern Africa Food Lab. Recently, we analysed the numerous dialogue processes hosted by this initiative over the years to better understand when and how they can make a positive difference.

We found that even though some dialogue processes don’t seem to be obviously successful, they can play an important role in enabling subsequent dialogues to have far-reaching impacts. And for dialogue to have an impact, it needs to involve a “deeper” kind of participant interaction, beyond formal roles, polite facades, and adversarial debate.

What does success look like, and when is it achieved?

Participants and funders are unlikely to remain committed to a dialogue process if they feel it is little more than a series of “talk-shops”. We wanted to achieve tangible changes in government policies and corporate strategies, or collaborative actions that combine resources from different organisations.

Because we had hosted numerous dialogue initiatives over the 15-year lifespan of the Food Lab, in our analysis we were able to compare different processes in terms of their impacts.

We found that some of the dialogue processes – especially the early ones – had relatively limited impacts. Though the participants said they’d gained new insights and formed new relationships, there were few changes in organisational policies or practices.

For example, early on in the initiative, we hosted a dialogue on supporting smallholder farmers. Participants emphasised that they learnt important lessons during this process. During field trips in different parts of the country, they came to appreciate the diverse difficulties encountered by smallholder farmers. And government officials appreciated academics’ analysis of the different kinds of smallholder farmers and corresponding support needs. But these insights and experiences did not yet result in changes in organisational behaviours or strategies.

Other initiatives were more obviously successful in creating new and influential responses to the hunger problem. For example, we convened a second dialogue focused on smallholder farmers 18 months after the first one. It included some of the same participants as the first process, as well as others. This process resulted in more far-reaching changes.

For instance, retail companies agreed to revise their supplier standards so that smallholder farmers’ diverse needs and challenges were better accounted for. Government officials used the dialogue to redesign their agricultural extension services. A farmer training programme was established with links to a more context-sensitive and supportive certification system.

In our analysis, we considered many different explanations for why some dialogue processes were more successful than others. We discovered a pattern: our early dialogue processes were less likely to have impact than subsequent, follow-up dialogues.

The early dialogues played a crucial role, however, in preparing the ground for the subsequent dialogues to be more effective. They helped participants develop the insights and relationships that enabled the deeper engagement necessary to create real changes.

What kind of dialogue is needed?

To create meaningful change, a dialogue needs to move from what we call “shallow” to “deep” dialogue. Shallow dialogue is the more common kind. It is what happens when different people are invited to a workshop and their interactions are shaped by their established views of themselves, the problem at hand, and other actors. Often they hide behind polite facades or blame each other.

Deep dialogue, in contrast, has a distinct flavour and temperament. Participants gain a more multi-faceted understanding of each other. Thabo is not just a government official but also passionate about nature-based farming. John is not just a corporate manager but also volunteers for animal rights.

Participants’ focus shifts from defending their personal views or organisational interests to a more expansive, genuine interest in learning from each other, and to exploring new ways to understand the focal problem and possible responses.

How can this kind of dialogue be achieved?

First, the potential for multi-stakeholder dialogue needs to be carefully assessed and motivated. Participants and funders need to agree that the problem is complex and in need of fresh responses. This rationale needs to be continuously reviewed and communicated to maintain commitment and engagement.

Second, it is important to get the “right people” to participate in the process. This includes actors with influence, such as government officials or leaders. But it also includes people who are most directly affected by the focal problem, not least because they have unique knowledge about it.

Third, convening and facilitating dialogue requires a range of commitments, resources and skills. For a start, as university-based researchers we had some degree of convening power. Participants perceived us to have at least some degree of neutrality. We needed to maintain this perception as much as possible, for example by being careful about what funding to accept. This was important given the controversies in the food security field.

We also had to make sure we had the necessary facilitation competencies. Especially in the early years, we benefited from facilitators who had a lot of experience in this kind of thing. A facilitator needs to be able to make participants feel comfortable but, when necessary, challenge them to move beyond their “comfort zone”.

Finally, it is helpful to recognise the cyclical and longer-term nature of dialogue – earlier processes create the “groundwork” for subsequent ones. This means that, as conveners, we needed to find ways of keeping the initiative alive in the periods in between dialogue processes, even if there was no funding available. In our case, it helped that we were university researchers who did not rely on consulting fees. More generally, conveners and funders should budget for “bridging” resources to enable the longer-term unfolding of dialogue’s true impact.

Rebecca Freeth is a co-author of this article. She is a senior consultant with Reos Partners (Africa office).

Ralph Hamann’s work with the Southern Africa Food Lab has benefited from funding from the African Climate and Development Institute, the University of Cape Town, and the National Research Foundation. The Food Lab’s funders are listed on its website.

Scott Drimie co-directs the Southern Africa Food Lab.

Warren Nilsson is affiliated with the University of Vermont and the Institute for Collective Wellbeing.

– ref. Not just talk: how dialogue can help address complex problems – https://theconversation.com/not-just-talk-how-dialogue-can-help-address-complex-problems-256825

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Amani Karisa, Associate Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research Center

Kenya has long recognised the rights of persons with disabilities in law. The 2010 constitution guarantees access, dignity and inclusion for people living with disabilities.

Two years earlier in 2008, Kenya ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. And Kenya’s 2003 Persons with Disabilities Act formed the legal foundation for promoting the rights and welfare of persons with disabilities.

But these legal promises remain largely aspirational. Their provisions are rarely translated into everyday realities. Many Kenyans with disabilities still face stigma, inaccessible environments, unequal education opportunities and limited access to employment.

Many schools remain exclusionary due to inaccessible physical infrastructure. This includes classrooms and latrines that lack ramps or hinder mobility for children with disabilities.

Public transport is often unusable for wheelchair users.

Employers continue to overlook applicants with disabilities. Between 2019 and 2023, for instance, persons with disabilities faced higher unemployment rates at around 10.4% against a national average of 5.2%.

The fact that there are disputes over the number of Kenyans with disabilities is also telling. The 2019 census recorded 2.2% of the population – fewer than 1 million people – as having disabilities. This is far below the World Report on Disability’s estimates of an average of around 15%. This undercount reflects both cultural stigma and systemic gaps in how disability is understood and reported.

As someone who has spent more than a decade researching disability in Kenya, I have seen how the promise of rights is often undercut by structural and social barriers. This has come through in my own research and that of others.

The persistent failure to translate rights into tangible outcomes for persons with disabilities created urgency for change.

The Kenyan government has finally acted. In May 2025, the country’s parliament passed the Persons with Disabilities Act 2025.

The new law expands the definition of disability to encompass a broader range of impairments. This ensures more individuals are recognised and protected under the law. The law also mandates accessibility across sectors such as education, employment, healthcare and public services, requiring reasonable accommodations and prohibiting discrimination.

In my view, the new law reflects a broader move from symbolic recognition to legal obligation. But passing a law is just the beginning. Implementation will be the real test.

What’s been missing

In my research, and that of others, the question of why the 2003 law did little to shift everyday exclusion has been addressed. A few things were apparent.

First, employment quotas were suggested but never enforced. Discrimination in hiring and promotions was prohibited in theory, but was common in practice.

Second, there has been little support for caregivers.

Third, there was minimal access to assistive technologies (which are tools designed to help persons with disabilities perform tasks and improve their quality of life, such as mobility aids, communication devices and adaptive software).

Fourth, children with disabilities in Kenya have faced significant barriers to education. Their enrolment and completion rates are consistently lower than those of their non-disabled peers.

Rather than disability being the problem, it is the lack of accommodation, inclusive policies and public understanding that creates exclusion. This is a core insight of the social model of disability, which views disability as arising from the interaction between individuals and an unaccommodating society. This perspective explains that people are disabled not by their bodies but by barriers in society – like stairs without ramps or employers who won’t adapt.

What the new law promises

Some key changes in the new law stand out:

• Workplace inclusion: public bodies must now ensure that at least 5% of jobs are held by persons with disabilities. This provision, although previously suggested, now comes with clearer oversight requirements. Private employers are both mandated and incentivised to create inclusive workplaces. Reasonable accommodations, such as accessible workstations or flexible hours, can be counted as deductible expenses.

• Access to public services and spaces: the law requires that buildings, roads and services be made accessible. Hospitals must have trained sign language interpreters. Schools must adapt their admission criteria, curricula and facilities to include learners with disabilities. These requirements signal a move away from treating accessibility as optional or charitable.

• Tax relief and registration reforms: caregivers can now qualify for tax exemptions. Additionally, persons with long-term disabilities now receive permanent registration, ending the need for repeated reassessments – a process many found tedious, involving hospital visits, missing forms, long delays and limited assessment centres.

• Stronger institutional framework: the National Council for Persons with Disabilities has been given more robust powers, including enforcement, monitoring and management of disability-related funding. The law also recommends the use of affirming and respectful language in public communication – a subtle but essential step in reducing stigma.

The law incorporates disability considerations into sector-specific practices. For example, the law requires justice sector actors to consider disability when arresting, detaining or trying someone.

What needs to happen now

The government must act swiftly to implement supporting regulations. Funding is needed to retrofit public buildings, hire staff to support individuals with disabilities, and subsidise assistive devices. Without proper budgeting, the law risks becoming another unfulfilled promise.

Employers and institutions must do more than comply: they must transform their attitudes. Disability inclusion should be built into human resources practices, school policies and service design. Training will be key.

Public awareness must improve. Many Kenyans still see disability through a medical or charitable lens. There need to be national campaigns on radio, TV and social media that shift public understanding toward inclusion and equality.

Finally, persons with disabilities must be central to the law’s implementation. Inclusion must be driven by those who live the reality of exclusion. Their insights are essential to making services responsive and respectful.

The 2025 Act is an important step. But if it is not backed by funding, political will and public education, its potential will remain unrealised.

The real question is not whether the law is good enough, but whether Kenya’s institutions, communities and leaders are prepared to make it work for those it was designed to serve.

Amani Karisa works for the African Population and Health Research Center. He receives funding from Gates Foundation and Echidna Giving.

– ref. Kenya has a bold new disability law: now to make it work – https://theconversation.com/kenya-has-a-bold-new-disability-law-now-to-make-it-work-256646

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By David William Hedding, Professor in Geography, University of South Africa

A media storm blew up in mid-March 2025 when a researcher at South Africa’s isolated Sanae IV base in Antarctica accused one of its nine team members of becoming violent.

The Conversation Africa asked geomorphologist David William Hedding, who has previously carried out research from the frozen continent, about the work researchers do in Antarctica, what conditions are like and why it matters.

What do researchers focus on when they’re working in Antarctica?

Currently, the main focus of research in the Antarctic revolves around climate change because the White Continent is a good barometer for changes in global cycles. It has a unique and fragile environment. It’s an extreme climate which makes it highly sensitive to any changes in global climate and atmospheric conditions. Importantly, the Antarctic remains relatively untouched by humans, so we are able to study processes and responses of natural systems.

Also, the geographic location of Antarctic enables science that is less suitable elsewhere on the planet. An example of this is the work on space weather (primarily disturbances to the Earth’s magnetic field caused by solar activity). Studying space weather is significant because the magnetic field of the Earth can impact communication platforms, technology, infrastructure and even human health.

How many countries have teams working there? Where does South Africa fit in?

Currently, about 30 countries have research stations in the Antarctic but these bases serve a far wider community of researchers. Collaboration is a key component of research in the Antarctic because many study sites are isolated, logistics are a challenge and resources are typically limited.

The South African base in Antarctica, named SANAE IV usually has between 10 and 12 researchers and base personnel. This research station is situated on a nunatak (a mountain piercing through the ice) in Western Dronning Maud Land. It is an extremely remote location approximately 220km inland from the ice-shelf.

The researchers and base personnel remain in Antarctica for approximately 15 months working through the cold and dark winter months.

What have been some of the biggest ‘finds’?

The biggest research finding from the Antarctic was the discovery of the ozone hole in 1985 by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey. This discovery led to the creation and implementation of the Montreal Protocol, a treaty to phase out chlorofluorocarbons (synthetic chemical compounds composed of chlorine, fluorine, and carbon) which destroy ozone. This was a major breakthrough in terms of slowly healing the ozone layer.

The second most significant piece of research to come from the Antarctic has been the use of ice cores to reconstruct past climates. Ice cores preserve air bubbles which provide a wealth of information about the conditions of the atmosphere over time. Importantly, ice cores provide an uninterrupted and detailed window into the past 1.2 million years. This is important because only by understanding past climates and the earth’s responses to those changes are we able to predict future responses. This is significant because of the imminent threats resulting from anthropogenic (human-induced) climate change.

What conditions do scientists work under?

Conducting research in the Antarctic is extremely difficult for three primary reasons: remoteness, the cold and daylight.

The remoteness of many study sites makes it difficult to reach. Distances are vast from the limited number of bases in the Antarctic. Thus, logistics for science in the Antarctic is a major challenge and requires collaboration and planning. For example, the geologists from the University of Johannesburg, who work from the SANAE IV base in Antarctica, often spend weeks in the field collecting samples. They travel significant distances via snow mobile and remain self-sufficient while conducting science in tough conditions.

These tough conditions relate specifically to the cold. Most science only occurs in the austral summer months when temperatures become marginally bearable. Also, the summer season only provides a short window in which to operate because access to Antarctic by sea is limited by extent and thickness of the sea ice.

Lastly, during summer there is 24 hours of daylight which lengthens the working day but these conditions are also short-lived.

Why it is important to do scientific work in the area?

The Antarctic is intricately linked to global systems and plays a major role in influencing these systems.

For example, climate change will cause significant melting of land-based ice in Antarctica which when added to the oceans will cause sea-level rise and disruptions to global oceanic currents. Therefore, it is critical that we obtain a better understanding of how responses of terrestrial systems, such as the Antarctic, will impact oceanic systems because ultimately changes in ocean currents will impact the oceanic food web.

In the context of climate change, sea-level rise is a major concern as it will have global impacts for society, so it is critical that the impacts are investigated to enable society to build resilience and adapt.

David William Hedding receives funding from the National Research Foundation.

– ref. Scientists in Antarctica: why they’re there and what they’ve found – https://theconversation.com/scientists-in-antarctica-why-theyre-there-and-what-theyve-found-252752

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Jackson K. Njau, Associate professor, Indiana University

The ancestors of humans started making tools about 3.3 million years ago. First they made them out of stone, then they switched to bone as a raw material. Until recently, the earliest clear evidence of bone tool making was from sites in Europe, dated to 400,000 years ago. But archaeologists have now found and dated bone tools in Tanzania that are a million years older.

The tools are made from the bones of large animals like hippos and elephants, and have been deliberately shaped to make them useful for butchering large carcasses.

The discovery of bone implements that are the oldest ever found, by far, casts light on human evolution. It shows that our hominin ancestors were able to think about and make this technology a lot earlier than anyone realised.

I am a scientist who co-directs a multidisciplinary research project team at the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, focusing on hominin evolution. Our project’s main goal has been to investigate the changes in hominin technology and behaviour that happened between 1.66 million and 1.4 million years ago.

We’re interested in this time period because it marks a pivotal change in human technology, from the rudimentary stone knives and cores of the Oldowan culture to the more advanced crafted stone handaxes of the Acheulean culture.

We found the Olduvai bone tools in 2018 and recently described them in the journal Nature. They show that by 1.5 million years ago, our ancestors (Homo erectus) had already developed the cognitive abilities required to transfer skills from making stone tools to making bone tools.

This leap in human history was a game-changer because it allowed early hominins to overcome survival challenges in landscapes where suitable stone materials were scarce.

Tools at Olduvai

Olduvai Gorge is a Unesco World Heritage site. It became well known in 1959 through the pioneering work of palaeontologists Louis and Mary Leakey, whose discoveries of early human remains reshaped our understanding of human evolution. The site offers an unparalleled window into human history, spanning nearly 2 million years.

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Read more:
Finds in Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge reveal how ancient humans adapted to change

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Aside from fossilised bones, it has yielded the most detailed record of stone tool cultures in the world. It has documented the evolution from the simple chopping tools and stone knives of the Oldowan industry (about 2 million years ago) to the more advanced Acheulean tools (1.7 million years ago), such as handaxes, cleavers, picks and spheroids and then on – through arrowheads, points and blades (about 200,000 years ago) to the micro-blades of the Later Stone Age (about 17,000 years ago).

All these tools provide a glimpse into the ingenuity and cultural advancements of our early ancestors.

And now the picture has new detail.

Our team uncovered 27 ancient bone tools during excavations at the T69 Complex, FLK West site at Olduvai. We know how old they are because we found them securely embedded underground where they had been left 1.5 million years ago, along with thousands of stone artefacts and fossilised bones. We dated them using geochronological techniques.

Unlike stone, bone shafts crack and break in a way that allows the systematic production of elongated, well-shaped artifacts. Flaking them by hitting them with another object – a process called knapping – results in pointed tools that would be ideal for butchering, chopping and other tasks.

The knapped tools we found were made from large shaft fragments that came from the limb bones of elephants and hippos, and were found at hippo butchery sites. Hominins likely brought elephant bones to the site on a regular basis, and obtained limb bones from butchered hippos at the site itself.

What Homo erectus knew

The find shows that 1.5 million years ago, Homo erectus could apply knapping skills to bone. Homo erectus, regarded as the evolutionary successor to the smaller-brained Homo habilis, left a lasting imprint on history. Its fossils, found at Olduvai, offer a glimpse into a span of about a million years, stretching from 1.5 million to roughly 500,000 years ago.

Now we know that these hominins not only understood the physical properties of bones but also knew about skeletal anatomy. They could identify and select bones suitable for flaking. And they knew which animals had skeletons large enough to craft reliable tools after the animals’ death.

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Read more:
Large mammals shaped the evolution of humans: here’s why it happened in Africa

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We don’t know exactly why they chose bones as a raw material. It may have been that suitable stone material was scarce, or they recognised that bones provided a better grip and were more durable.

Why haven’t such old bone tools been found before? The answer is likely that they are destroyed by weathering, abrasion from water transport, trampling and scavenger activity. Organic materials don’t always get time to fossilise. Also, analysts were not used to looking for bone tools among fossils.

This discovery will likely encourage researchers to pay closer attention to the subtle signs of bone knapping in fossil assemblages. This way we will learn more about the evolution of human technology and behaviour.

Jackson K. Njau does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. 1.5 million-year-old bone tools discovered in Tanzania rewrite the history of human evolution – https://theconversation.com/1-5-million-year-old-bone-tools-discovered-in-tanzania-rewrite-the-history-of-human-evolution-251826

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Charles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University

“The art of tracking may well be the origin of science.” This is the departure point for a 2013 book by Louis Liebenberg, co-founder of an organisation devoted to environmental monitoring.

The connection between tracking in nature, as people have done since prehistory, and “western” science is of special interest to us as ichnologists. (Ichnology is the study of tracks and traces.) We learned our skills relatively late in life. But imagine if we had learned as children and if, as adults, we tracked as if our lives depended on it? What additional visual and cognitive talents would we bring to our field work as scientists?

Our mission is to find and document the fossilised tracks and traces of creatures that existed during part of the Pleistocene Epoch, between 35,000 and 400,000 years ago, on the Cape coast of South Africa. Since 2008, through the Cape South Coast Ichnology project, based in the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience at Nelson Mandela University, more than 370 vertebrate tracksites have been identified. They have substantially complemented the traditional record of body fossils. Examples include trackways of giant tortoises and giraffe.

Given the challenges inherent in identifying such tracks, we wondered how hunters who’ve been tracking all their lives would view our work, and how age-old indigenous expertise might align with our approach.

Fortunately we could call on experts with these skills in southern Africa. The Ju/’hoansi (pronounced “Juun-kwasi”) San people of north-eastern Namibia are perhaps the last of southern Africa’s indigenous inhabitants who retain the full suite of their ancient environmental skills. The Nyae Nyae conservancy in which they live gives them access to at least some of their historical land with its remaining wildlife. They still engage in subsistence hunting with bow and poisoned arrow and gather food that’s growing wild.

A handful among them have been recognised as Indigenous Master Tracker, a title created by Liebenberg’s CyberTracker initiative in recognition of their top-flight hunter-gatherer status. And so, late in 2023, the Master Trackers #oma (“Komma”) Daqm and /uce (“Tchu-shey”) Nǂamce arrived in Cape Town.

We were not the first to think along these lines. Ju/’hoansi Master Trackers have assisted scientists in the interpretation of hominin tracksites in French caves, and prehistoric tracks in the rock art record in Namibia. However, we knew that our often poorly preserved tracksites in aeolianites (cemented dunes) might present a stiffer challenge.

Our purpose was to compare our own interpretations of fossil trackways with those of the Master Trackers, and possibly find some we had overlooked. As we’ve set out in a recently published paper with the Ju/’hoansi trackers and our colleague Jan De Vynck as co-authors, they did exactly this, confirming the first fossil hyena trackway ever to be found.

Swapping techniques

The Late Pleistocene is not that far distant from the present (a mere 125,000 years), and many of the species that made tracks on the Cape south coast then are still with us. Some are extinct but have recognisable tracks, like the giant long-horned buffalo and giant Cape zebra.

We knew, though, that tracking in Kalahari sand, like the Ju/’hoansi do, is not the same as tracking on Pleistocene rock surfaces. Many of our tracks are preserved on the undersides of ceilings and overhangs, or are evident in profile in cliff exposures. Our track-bearing surfaces are usually small, and present no associated signs. We can’t follow the spoor for any distance. We don’t know at what time of day the tracks were made or the role of dew, and we have never succeeded in actually tracking down our quarry. Coprolites – fossilised droppings – are seldom found conveniently beside the tracks of the depositor.

We showed our new colleagues known fossil tracksites, without providing our own interpretations. #oma and /uce discussed these between themselves and presented their conclusions about what had made the tracks and how the animal had been behaving. We then shared our insights and our 3D photogrammetry data where applicable, and reached joint conclusions.

Soon they were identifying freshly exposed tracksites without our input, and were providing fascinating, new interpretations for sites which had puzzled us. For example, they saw ostrich tracks which we had missed, beside ostrich egg remnants, and concluded that we were probably looking at a fossilised ostrich nest. On another occasion they pointed out the distinctive track pattern of a scrub hare on the hanging wall of an eroded piece of cliff.

First fossilised hyena trackway

One of the most memorable experiences involved a 400,000-year-old trackway on a rock surface at Dana Bay, identified a few years earlier by local geologists Aleck and Ilona Birch. This rock had only been transiently exposed for a few days in the past decade, usually being covered by beach sand.

Our earlier interpretation had been that the trackmaker might have been a hyena, probably the brown hyena.

We were vindicated when our master tracker colleagues independently reached the identical conclusion. Examining our digital 3D images together fortified our collective judgement.

This was a big deal: it was the first fossil hyena trackway to be confidently identified, as previous examples had involved only individual tracks or poorly preserved possible trackway segments. Hyena trackways are distinctive: the forefoot tracks are substantially larger than those of the hindfoot.

Different ways of seeing

Both of us are privileged to have university degrees and institutional affiliations. But there is another way in which acumen can be measured: the ability to use the ancient methods of discernment and pattern recognition to support and feed one’s family and community through tracking, hunting and gathering.

What we have demonstrated, we believe, is a novel confluence of old and new ways to reveal fascinating features of the past. We use geological understanding, satellite technology, paleontological databases, tracking manuals and sophisticated dating methods. But hunter-gatherers see what escapes us and our drones: obscure strokes and enigmatic configurations on time-beaten surfaces. They tap an alternative knowledge base, both culturally received and cultivated from childhood.

The follow-through challenge must be to develop this partnership for mutual discovery and reward, understanding the past to better equip us for our uncertain future.

Clive Thompson is a trustee of the Discovery Wilderness Trust, a non-profit organization that supports environmental conservation and the fostering of tracking skills.

Charles Helm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. First fossil hyena tracks found in South Africa – how expert animal trackers helped – https://theconversation.com/first-fossil-hyena-tracks-found-in-south-africa-how-expert-animal-trackers-helped-251377

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Hamza Benattia, Prehistory, Universitat de Barcelona

A new archaeological discovery at Kach Kouch in Morocco challenges the long-held belief that the Maghreb (north-west Africa) was an empty land before the arrival of the Phoenicians from the Middle East in around 800 BCE. It reveals a much richer and more complex history than previously thought.

Everything found at the site indicates that during the Bronze Age, more than 3,000 years ago, stable agricultural settlements already existed on the African coast of the Mediterranean.

This was at the same time as societies such as the Mycenaean flourished in the eastern Mediterranean.

Our discovery, led by a team of young researchers from Morocco’s National Institute of Archaeology, expands our knowledge of the recent prehistory of north Africa. It also redefines our understanding of the connections between the Maghreb and the rest of the Mediterranean in ancient times.

How the discovery was made

Kach Kouch was first identified in 1988 and first excavated in 1992. At the time, researchers believed the site had been inhabited between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE. This was based on the Phoenician pottery that was found.

Nearly 30 years later, our team carried out two new excavation seasons in 2021 and 2022. Our investigations included cutting-edge technology such as drones, differential GPS (global positioning systems) and 3D models.

A rigorous protocol was followed for collecting samples. This allowed us to detect fossilised remains of seeds and charcoal.

Subsequently, a series of analyses allowed us to reconstruct the settlement’s economy and its natural environment in prehistoric times.

What the remains revealed

The excavations, along with radiocarbon dating, revealed that the settlement underwent three phases of occupation between 2200 and 600 BCE.

The earliest documented remains (2200–2000 BCE) are scarce. They consist of three undecorated pottery sherds, a flint flake and a cow bone.

The scarcity of materials and contexts could be due to erosion or a temporary occupation of the hill during this phase.

In its second phase, after a period of abandonment, the Kach Kouch hill was permanently occupied from 1300 BCE. Its inhabitants, who probably numbered no more than a hundred, dedicated themselves to agriculture and animal husbandry.

They lived in circular dwellings built from wattle and daub, a technique that combines wooden poles, reeds and mud. They dug silos into the rock to store agricultural products.

Analysis shows that they cultivated wheat, barley and legumes, and raised cattle, sheep, goats and pigs.

They also used grinding stones for cereal processing, flint tools, and decorated pottery. In addition, the oldest known bronze object in north Africa (excluding Egypt) has been documented. It is probably a scrap metal fragment removed after casting in a mould.

Interactions with the Phoenicians

Between the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, during the so-called Mauretanian period, the inhabitants of Kach Kouch maintained the same material culture, architecture and economy as in the previous phase. However, interactions with Phoenician communities that were starting to settle in nearby sites, such as Lixus, brought new cultural practices.

For example, circular dwellings coexisted with square ones made of stone and wattle and daub, combining Phoenician and local construction techniques.

Furthermore, new crops began to be cultivated, like grapes and olives. Among the new materials, wheel-made Phoenician ceramics, such as amphorae (storage jugs) and plates, and the use of iron objects stand out.

Around 600 BCE, Kach Kouch was peacefully abandoned, perhaps due to social and economic changes. Its inhabitants likely moved to other nearby settlements.

So who were the Bronze Age inhabitants?

It’s unclear whether the Maghreb populations in the Bronze Age lived in tribes, as would later occur during the Mauretanian period. They were probably organised as families. Burials suggest there were no clear signs of hierarchy.

They may have spoken a language similar to the Amazigh, the indigenous north African language, which did not become written until the introduction of the Phoenician alphabet. The cultural continuity documented at Kach Kouch suggests that these populations are the direct ancestors of the Mauretanian peoples of north-west Africa.

Why this matters

Kach Kouch is not only the first and oldest known Bronze Age settlement in the Maghreb but also reshapes our understanding of prehistory in this region.

The new findings, along with other recent discoveries, demonstrate that north-west Africa has been connected to other regions of the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Sahara since prehistoric times.

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Read more:
Discovery of 5,000-year-old farming society in Morocco fills a major gap in history – north-west Africa was a central player in trade and culture

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Our findings challenge traditional narratives, many of which were influenced by colonial views that portrayed the Maghreb as an empty and isolated land until it was “civilized” by foreign peoples.

As a result, the Maghreb has long been absent from debates on the later prehistory of the Mediterranean. These new discoveries not only represent a breakthrough for archaeology, but also a call to reconsider dominant historical narratives. Kach Kouch offers the opportunity to rewrite north Africa’s history and give it the visibility it has always deserved.

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Read more:
Ancient DNA reveals Maghreb communities preserved their culture and genes, even in a time of human migration

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We believe this is a decisive moment for research that could forever change the way we understand not only the history of north Africa, but also its relationship with other areas of the Mediterranean.

Hamza Benattia, director of the Kach Kouch Archaeological Project, received funding from the National Institute of Archaeology and Heritage of Morocco (INSAP), the Prehistoric Society Research Fund, the Stevan B. Dana Grant of the American Society of Overseas Research, the Mediterranean Archaeological Trust Grant, the Barakat Trust Early Career Award, the Centre Jacques Berque Research Grant, the Institute of Ceutan Studies Research Fund and the University of Castilla La Mancha.

– ref. Discovery of a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age settlement in Morocco rewrites history – https://theconversation.com/discovery-of-a-4-000-year-old-bronze-age-settlement-in-morocco-rewrites-history-253172