Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia – Monarchy, Revolution and the Legacy of Meles Zenawi

When we think of Ethiopia we tend to think in cliches: Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the Falasha Jews, the epic reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, the Communist Revolution, famine and civil war. Among the countries of Africa it has a high profile yet is poorly known. However all cliches contain within them a kernel of truth, and occlude much more. Today’s Ethiopia (and its painfully liberated sister state of Eritrea) are largely obscured by these mythical views and a secondary literature that is partial or propagandist. Moreover there have been few attempts to offer readers a […]

L’invention du colonialisme vert – Pour en finir avec le mythe de l’Éden africain

L’histoire débute à la fin du XIXe siècle. Persuadés d’avoir retrouvé en Afrique la nature disparue en Europe, les colons créent les premiers parcs naturels du continent, du Congo jusqu’en Afrique du Sud. Puis, au lendemain des années 1960, les anciens administrateurs coloniaux se reconvertissent en experts internationaux. Il faudrait sauver l’Éden ! Mais cette Afrique n’existe pas. Il n’y a pas de vastes territoires vierges de présence humaine, et arpentés seulement par ces hordes d’animaux sauvages qui font le bonheur des safaris touristiques. Il y a des peuples, qui circulent depuis des millénaires, ont fait souche, […]

Would you have guessed it ? Among all the precious resources our civilization is depending on, sand is one of the most demanded – and most rare. Yes, yes, you have read correctly. Our monthly selection will help you to find out where you encounter it day by day and why it has become a scarce commodity, despite large areas of our planet being covered with desert sand. And some of the books will bring you closer to the lives of different people being intertwined with the desert.

Sand Stories: Surprising truths about the global sand crisis and the quest for sustainable solutions

The overuse of sand […]