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Climate Change Communication in Africa

Tendai Chari, Allen Munoriyarwa (eds.)

Oxford: Routledge (2026), xxv, 328 pp.

"From legacy media’s framing of climate narratives to the mobilising potential of digital media, the volume examines the multi-faceted ways in which climate change is mediated through different communication channels and how different media can be harnessed to amplify African voices on climate cha ... more

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Media Accountability and Corruption in Africa: Contestations and Controversies

Ufuoma Akpojivi, Ufuoma Akpojivi, Tendai Chari, Tendai Chari

London: Bloomsbury Publishing (2026), 288 pp.

"Gathering scholarly voices and case studies from 10 sub-Saharan African countries, Media Accountability and Corruption in Africa is an open access look at how media influences governance, accountability, and public perceptions of corruption on the continent. The book offers an outline of the media' ... more

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Perpetrators in Documentaries on Genocide

Julian Koch

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2026), 268 pp.

"Perpetrators in Documentaries on Genocide is a wide-ranging comparative study that analyses how numerous genocides and their perpetrators have been presented in documentary film. Spanning seven 20th-century genocides across three continents and combining interviews with filmmakers, distant reading, ... more

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Oral Histories of Genocide in Bosnia, Indonesia, and Rwanda: Symbolic Violence and Social Death

Erin Jessee, Annie Pohlman

Oxford: Oxford University Press (2026), x, 408 pp.

"Grounded in extensive oral historical, archival, and ethnographic research in the aftermaths of the Bosnian (1992-95), Indonesian (1965-66), and Rwandan (1994) genocides, this book investigates the symbolic meanings associated with spectacular forms of torture, murder, and mutilation that perpetrat ... more

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How civil society coalition-building affects information integrity during elections: evidence from four African countries

Dani Madrid-Morales, Herman Wasserman, Nicola Davies-Laubscher, Fatoumata Sow

Information, Communication & Society (2026), 18 pp.

"This article examines how civil society actors promote information integrity during elections through coalition-building, drawing on evidence from four African countries (the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa) that held elections between 2022 and 2024. In these countrie ... more

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The Routledge International Handbook of Trauma-Responsive Peacebuilding
Deep Insights

Sara Clarke-Habibi, Cordula Reimann (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2026), xxxii, 541 pp.

"This comprehensive handbook offers a multidisciplinary exploration of research and practice at the intersection of trauma and peacebuilding. Highlighting case studies from diverse conflict contexts around the globe, the book offers conceptual reflections and practical illustrations of trauma-sensit ... more

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Elgar Companion to Building Durable Peace

Paul R. Williams, Ryan Jane Westlake (eds.)

Edward Elgar Publishing (2026), 472 pp.

"This timely Companion explores how peace is negotiated, implemented and sustained in the world’s most challenging conflict zones. Experts who have helped shape negotiations, post-conflict institutions and accountability mechanisms in peace processes across the globe, provide insights through firs ... more

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The politics of silence: Narrating return to Burundi

Nina Soudan

Journal of Eastern African Studies (2026), 20 pp.

"Despite growing refugee return movements, the post-return experiences of returnees remain comparatively underexplored, particularly in highly politicised contexts where speech itself carries risk. This article examines how returnees in Burundi narrate their experiences of return, and the role silen ... more

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Bioweapons, Big Pharma and Simple Remedies: The Playbook of Health Disinformation and the Ebola Outbreak in the DRC and Uganda

Christopher Nehring, Hendrik Sittig

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), Media Programme Sub-Sahara Africa (2026), 10 pp.

"The current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda has been accompanied by targeted health disinformation just hours after the WHO emergency declaration. Our report analyses the narratives, actors and dynamics of this information manipulation – from bioweapons claims an ... more

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Critiquing Generative AI in Africa's Media Ecosystems

Lungile A. Tshuma, Trust Matsilele

London; New York: Routledge (2026), 215 pp.

"The book argues that as technology is a social construct reflecting existing power dynamics, those in the Global South, and in Africa in particular, are bound to be marginalised and have their knowledge, systems overlooked as the Global North dominates technological developments. The birth of AI ha ... more

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The African Book Industry: Trends, Challenges & Opportunities for Growth
Deep Insights

Paris: UNESCO (2025), 249 pp.

"Thanks to its outstanding literary talent and growing number of success stories, Africa’s book industry holds immense potential. Although the continent as a whole still relies heavily on imports and foreign publishing houses, it accounted for 5.4% of the global publishing market in 2023, generati ... more

Mapping Information Environments for Marginalised Communities in Central and Eastern Africa

Minority Rights Group

Canal France International (CFI); Advancing Global Innovation and Learning Effectively to Build Resilience in Independent Media (AGILE) (2025), 50 pp.

"1. In rural areas, word of mouth is often the only information system that works: In the DRC, over 80% of media outlets are clustered in the capital Kinshasa, leaving vast rural areas effectively without coverage. Ethnic minority groups such as the Batwa and Bambuti rated the relevance of the infor ... mation they receive at 0.5 out of 3, considering it to be "never relevant”. In these communities, access to information depends less on digital innovation than on trusted local networks: local leaders, women’s groups, grassroots organisations. These systems re resilient, but they are not infallible - information shared informally can be incomplete, delayed, or distorted before it reaches its intended audience. AGILE will support more accessible and inclusive information by working with trusted local intermediaries, community networks, and communication channels that already form the backbone of information access for marginalised communities. 2. Radio is still the backbone of information access – and it is under threat: In Uganda, 87% of respondents reported having a working radio at home. In Zambia, around 60% of the population listens to radio daily. In the DRC, more than 4,000 radio stations serve communities across the country. In a region where digital access remains unequal, radio is not a legacy medium - it is the primary information lifeline for millions. But this ecosystem is now under severe pressure. Following the cut to US foreign aid in 2025, community radio stations, that relied primarily on this funding source, face an uncertain future. Where community radio disappears, so does the locally rooted, trusted voice that keeps misinformation in check and civic life alive. AGILE will work with community radios, local organisations, and trusted community networks to help information reach people in more accessible and relevant ways. 3. Language is the most underestimated barrier, and communities have a clear ask: When asked what would most improve the information they receive, communities across all four countries gave a consistent answer: Translate it into our languages, and simplify it. Language is the decisive and most consistently underestimated barrier to information access. Official communications, media broadcasts, and humanitarian messages are routinely produced in dominant administrative languages that large parts of the population do not fully understand. Even where people speak the dominant language, technical jargon and bureaucratic phrasing can produce near-total incomprehension. On average, marginalised community members report understanding the language used in information only “sometimes”. In the DRC, ethnic minorities rate their comprehension between “rarely” and “sometimes”. In Tanzania, Hadzabe and Akie communities whose languages are oral and rarely represented in any media, rate their comprehension at the bottom of the scale. In contrast, Zambia is the only country where ethnic minorities rated their language comprehension as "often" adequate, a direct result of community radio broadcasting in multiple local languages. Respondents described asking their school-going children to explain official broadcasts, or depending on religious leaders or NGO staff to interpret messages. As information passes through multiple intermediaries, it can be delayed, simplified, or distorted - sometimes significantly - before reaching the people who need it. AGILE will prioritise multilingual, audio-first, and simplified content production across all activities co-designed with community radios, women's groups, and disability organisations to ensure that the needs of different communities are better reflected. 4. When information doesn't reflect communities' realities, they stop trusting it - or stop receiving it altogether: Accuracy is necessary but not sufficient. Communities are more likely to engage with - and trust - information when it reflects their realities and responds to their everyday concerns. When it doesn't, they disengage. Women across all four countries described a consistent pattern: stories about gender issues may be factually correct, but they "fail to reflect women's lived realities, rendering them irrelevant”. In the DRC, women's comprehension of information is rated as “rarely” adequate - not because they cannot understand the language, but because the content does not speak to their lives. The pattern is even sharper for some ethnic minorities. Maasai respondents described appearing in the media “rarely on their own terms” - their way of life consistently framed as a problem to be solved, rather than a legitimate system with its own logic and history. Several communities reported being exposed to derogatory language and hate speech in the way they are described in media. For people with disabilities, the exclusion takes a different form: the near-total absence of accessible formats. Across all four countries, sign language, braille, and audio-adapted content remain the exception rather than the rule. Information that cannot be accessed cannot be trusted - or used. AGILE will work more closely with marginalised communities to ensure their perspectives, experiences, and ways of understanding information are reflected in media and communication efforts. 5. Inclusive reporting already exists but journalists still face major barriers: Across all four countries, many journalists and media professionals recognise the importance of more inclusive, community-focused reporting. The mapping found this awareness to be widespread - the gap is not one of knowledge or intent, but of resources and conditions. Putting inclusive reporting into practice remains difficult. Covering remote communities takes time and money that most newsrooms do not have. Editorial priorities favour urban, mainstream audiences. In Zambia, several journalists described stories about marginalised communities as regularly sidelined because they are considered “unprofitable”. In the DRC and Tanzania, political and legal pressures further narrow the space for sensitive reporting. The result is a gap between what journalists know needs to happen, and what the system allows them to do. AGILE will support media professionals, community radios, and local organisations to strengthen inclusive reporting practices, improve community engagement, and produce information that is more accessible, relevant, and responsive to the needs of marginalised communities." (https://cfi.fr/en/news/5-things-we-learned-about-access-information-underserved-communities-central-and-eastern-africa) more

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Fractured pasts in Lake Kivu's borderlands: Conflicts, connections, and mobility in Central Africa

Gillian Mathys

Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press (2025), xviii, 378 pp.

"The Lake Kivu region, which borders Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has often been defined by scholars in terms of conflict, violence, and separation. In contrast, this innovative study explores histories of continuities and connections across the borderland. Gillian Mathys utilise ... more

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Unpacking the African media typology: Perspectives from journalists in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda

Meghan Sobel Cohen

International Communication Gazette, volume 87, issue 7 (2025), pp. 633-656

"The uniqueness of journalism cultures across African nations often highlights the inapplicability of normative, Western-centric theories. The newly proposed African media typology suggests that media systems in Africa would be best understood by thinking about them within the context of the type of ... more

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Tackling Disinformation, Information Manipulation and Interference in Four African Elections
Deep Insights

Dani Madrid-Morales, Herman Wasserman, Nicola Davies-Laubscher, Fatoumata Sow

Mapping Electoral Disinformation inAfrica (MEDiA); Centre for Information Integrity in Africa (CIIA); Stellenbosch University (2025), 58 pp.

"In recent years, electoral disinformation has followed several recurring patterns globally, many of which were observed in the case studies analysed in this report. One prominent tactic is attacks on electoral integrity, where political actors spread false claims about voter registration, election ... rigging, or external interference to delegitimise outcomes. As we show in this report, in the DRC, for example, rumours circulated that biometric voter registration was designed to expose individuals’ HIV status, discouraging participation. In South Africa, disinformation networks falsely claimed that the Electoral Commission (IEC) was manipulating results to favour the ruling party, fueling distrust in the electoral process. Another trend is the weaponisation of ethnic and gendered disinformation. In Kenya, misleading narratives framed certain candidates as “foreign-sponsored outsiders” to undermine their legitimacy, while in Senegal, false claims about morality were used to discredit opposition figures. Meanwhile, gendered disinformation—targeting women candidates with sexist tropes and false accusations—was a recurring feature in all four countries, reflecting a broader global pattern in which women in politics are disproportionately subjected to online abuse and misinformation. Social media platforms have been central to the spread of electoral disinformation. Across Africa, as in much of the world, platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter) have served as primary vehicles for the rapid dissemination of falsehoods, often facilitated by coordinated inauthentic behaviour. Data that we present in the report shows that, in South Africa, paid “nano-influencers”—individuals with small but loyal online followings—were mobilised to amplify misleading narratives in favour of specific political actors, demonstrating how disinformation strategies are evolving in response to changing digital landscapes. [...] In response to these findings, the report makes several key recommendations. First, it calls for greater cross-platform coordination among CSOs, fact-checking groups, and election monitors to ensure realtime responses to emerging disinformation threats. Second, it highlights the importance of media and digital literacy programmes among all age groups, including young voters, some of whom are often the most active on social media but may lack the skills to critically assess the credibility of information they encounter. Third, it urges greater transparency and accountability from technology platforms, which remain the primary distribution channels for electoral disinformation but have done little to curb its spread in African electoral contexts. Ultimately, electoral disinformation is not simply a digital challenge—it is a fundamental governance issue that shapes public perceptions of legitimacy and democratic participation. Evidence from the four elections in Africa that we examine in this report demonstrates that countering disinformation requires a multi-stakeholder approach that includes journalists, civil society actors, election commissions, and policymakers working collaboratively to strengthen information integrity and electoral transparency. The findings in this report offer both a diagnosis of the current disinformation landscape and a framework for more effective, evidence-based responses that can help safeguard future elections from manipulation." (Pages 9-10) more

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Ruanda 1994 bis heute: Vom Vorhof der Hölle zum Modell für Afrika - Wahrheit und Schein in Ruanda

Gerd Hankel

Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb), Sonderausg. (2025), 170 pp.

"1994 kam es in Ruanda zu einem Völkermord, bei dem radikale Angehörige der Bevölkerungsgruppe der Hutus innerhalb von drei Monaten Hundertausende Menschen aus der Tutsi-Minderheit wie auch viele gemäßigte Hutus umbrachten. Gut 30 Jahre später gilt Ruanda vor allem in Europa und den USA als Vo ... more

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Artificial Intelligence's Impact on Persons with Disabilites in Africa
Deep Insights

Jerry John Kponyo, Bernard Chiira, Christopher Harrison, Hanyurwimfura Damien (eds.)

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST); Assistive Technologies for Disability Trust (AT4D); Next Step Foundation; Tangaza University College; Kenya National Commission for Science, Technology, and Innovation (NACOSTI) (2025), ix, 169 pp.

"Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve the daily lives of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in Africa in practical, cumulative ways—transcribing, translating, summarizing, personalizing, and predicting to reduce routine frictions in school, work, health, mobility, and access to publi ... c services. The study surveys this emerging landscape across Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, and comparator contexts, mapping how AI augments assistive technologies (AT) and mainstream services while clarifying the policy, data, and delivery conditions that determine real-world impact. Across sectors, we find promising AI use cases beyond traditional AT. In education, adaptive tutors, captioning, and sign-language tools can widen access, though localized content and language coverage remain thin. In employment, AI can support job matching, accessible applications, task breakdown, and on-the-job accommodations, especially when paired with employer guidance and incentives. In mental health, chatbots can extend scarce services and offer stigma-free entry points to care; caregiver tools use voice, translation, and simple workflows to ease coordination and stress. Mobility and independent living benefit from computer vision, speech interfaces, and early robotics, with African innovators piloting sign-language avatars, personalized speech recognition, and lower-cost bionics. The potential of these advances is real but uneven—most remain pilots, and scale requires fit-for-purpose data, infrastructure, and financing. One binding constraint is data. Disability is systematically under-counted in official statistics and under-represented or misrepresented in AI training sets, creating a “disability data desert” that limits accuracy for African contexts (from atypical speech and local sign languages to recognition of mobility aids). Without deliberate collection, curation, and governance that center PWDs, models will continue to miss or misread disabled users, with downstream harms in inclusion, safety, and opportunity. Building representative, ethical datasets—especially for African languages and disabilities—emerges as a first-order priority alongside affordable computing and connectivity. Policy momentum is encouraging but incomplete. The African Union’s Continental AI Strategy (2025–2030) explicitly names disability inclusion, calling for accessible datasets, skills, and governance. Ghana’s and Kenya’s AI strategies also advance infrastructure, data sharing, and public-sector adoption, although explicit disability provisions are still maturing. Convergence around rights-based, inclusive AI is visible; however, its delivery depends on procurement standards, budgeting for accessibility, and participation by Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) in the design and oversight process. The study’s central conclusion is pragmatic: AI’s near-term value for disability inclusion is unlocked where three conditions meet. First, inclusion by design—co-creation with PWDs and OPDs, localized languages, and multi-modal accessibility baked into products and datasets. Second, enabling rules and rails—national strategies that mandate accessibility in digital services, robust disability-relevant data, and align incentives for inclusive procurement. Third, sustainable delivery—hybrid human-AI service models, community channels, and financing that lower costs for users and caregivers while supporting innovators to move from pilots to scale. Where these conditions hold, AI can measurably widen access to learning, work, and care; where they do not, tools plateau as proofs-of-concept and risks of bias and exclusion grow. Overall, the path to disability-inclusive AI in Africa is clear: invest in representative data and affordable infrastructure; mandate accessibility and accountability; and deliver through locally grounded, human-centered services. Done together, these steps turn today’s pilots into equitable, reliable systems that expand agency and opportunity for millions of Africans with disabilities." (Executive summary) more

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L' économie numérique au Tchad: état des lieux, opportunités et défis

Michel Boukar

Paris: L'Harmattan (2025), 149 pp.

"L’originalité de ce livre est d’aborder l’écosystème africain du numérique dans sa réalité complexe. Le cas spécifique du Tchad met en lumière tous les ressorts de l’inscription du numérique dans ce pays sahélien, pour valoriser le potentiel et porter les défis face aux contraint ... more

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Intelligence artificielle et robotique autonome: Enjeux et défis contemporains dans l’espace francophone

Etienne Damome, Moustapha Ben Ismïila Diaby (eds.)

Paris: L'Harmattan (2025), 358 pp.

"Cet ouvrage propose une analyse nuancée des transformations induites par l'IA et la robotique autonome dans l'espace francophone. Il insiste sur son potentiel à façonner durablement les sociétés contemporaines. S'appuyant sur des exemples concrets et des études de cas, l'ouvrage fournit un ca ... more

The Routledge International Handbook of Trauma-Responsive Peacebuilding Deep Insights

The African Book Industry: Trends, Challenges & Opportunities for Growth Deep Insights

Tackling Disinformation, Information Manipulation and Interference in Four African Elections Deep Insights

Artificial Intelligence's Impact on Persons with Disabilites in Africa Deep Insights

The Routledge International Handbook of Trauma-Responsive Peacebuilding
Deep Insights

The African Book Industry: Trends, Challenges & Opportunities for Growth
Deep Insights

Tackling Disinformation, Information Manipulation and Interference in Four African Elections
Deep Insights

Artificial Intelligence's Impact on Persons with Disabilites in Africa
Deep Insights