Great African Reads discussion

For the 3rd quarter of 2021, our nonfiction project will tackle the question of foreign or external actors in Africa.

What book should we read? Please share you ideas and feel free to list other resources too! If someone posts something that peeks your interest, please reply to "second" that, as it helps us narrow down if we get a lot of options.

Here are a few books on military intervention to get us started, but I note that this topic could be interpreted broadly. I'm curious what other avenues of external actors we could look at.

- France's Wars in Chad: Military Intervention and Decolonization in Africa
- Tomorrow's Battlefield : U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa
- The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding, on peacekeeping operations. Other options by the same author include Peaceland: Conflict Resolution and the Everyday Politics of International Intervention, which I read and loved, or her new book (not sure how Africa-focused) The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World

I've been looking forward to reading Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics: How the Internet Era is Transforming Kenya, which dives into foreign election interference by Cambridge Analytica-- but I don't know how much of the book focused on external influences vs internal ones, so I'm not sure how well it fits the subject. Anyone already read this?

Hi Mark! Thank you for the suggestion. Per the group rules stated on the homepage I have deleted your post, but if you would like to promote your book, you can do so in this folder: Advertisement and Self-Promotion.

Hi Tinea, thanks a lot for these suggestions.

I would love to read a book on Chad, especially now that the country is in crisis and a lot seems to be happening. So I'd like to second your suggestion. Another book on Françafrique that is on my TBR list since several years is La guerre du Cameroun. L’invention de la Françafrique.

I love Severine Autesserre's work and her new book The frontlines of peace is on my TBR, but as you mention, it probably is not just about Africa.

Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics: How the Internet Era is Transforming Kenya is a great book. I enjoyed it. But as I can recall, it is more on Kenyan politics and society than on external influence (see my review here).

I would like to read more about China in Africa. I have read La Chinafrique: Quand la Chine fait main basse sur le continent noir more than a decade ago, and would be open for newer suggestions...

I second
La guerre du Cameroun. L’invention de la Françafrique

I am also very interested in African Chinese relations so I would also like to put these in the running.China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa


Alas this one looks good as well although Im not sure if it fit the external part.
The History of Liberia & West Africa: The Pepper Coast

A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa

The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa
China in Africa

Ohhh yeah-- I would also love to read about Chinese-African dynamics. Of those you listed, Calla, I think China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa looks very interesting.

I read La Guerre du Cameroun last year after multiple trips to Anglophone Cameroon. The book was very good. The same authors also have a longer history on this dirty war, Kamerun ! Une guerre cachée aux origines de la Françafrique, 1948-1971, and an article-length version in English. When I read this book, it was one of my first forays into French history in French. Much of the details were totally new to me (shocking even though I've read enough awful colonial history to avoid most shock). I'd be curious to hear the take of someone who's more familiar with French-language histories, to see if the authors were breaking new ground or how this book fits in the larger narrative(s).

Any last thoughts? I'll put up the poll this weekend.

Poll is up! Vote! Vote! Vote!

And we have a winner! We'll be reading China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa by Howard W. French starting in July.

Though it's too late for the book selection, a friend just recommended Africa's Last Colonial Currency: The CFA Franc Story, which fits into the discussion about books on la Françafrique above. La Françafrique qould make a good future topic for this group!