Download full text
(external source)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397211003591
Exports for your reference manager
Rethinking African Futures after COVID-19
Afrikanische Zukünfte nach COVID-19
[journal article]
Abstract This article focuses on the impact of COVID-19 in Africa, describes its effects for ongoing research, and asks how it may impact African studies. In Africa, as elsewhere in the world, the pandemic is changing the way people think about the future. The crisis gives rise to a feeling of uncertainty, w... view more
This article focuses on the impact of COVID-19 in Africa, describes its effects for ongoing research, and asks how it may impact African studies. In Africa, as elsewhere in the world, the pandemic is changing the way people think about the future. The crisis gives rise to a feeling of uncertainty, while casting doubt on future orientations based on forecasts and planning. This scepticism does not concern the African continent alone, but it is here that the call to open a fresh perspective on the future is expressed most emphatically. COVID-19 reinvigorates the question of how African futures are imagined and shaped in relation to the world at large. Against this backdrop, this article suggests three areas where future-oriented African studies should be revised in response to the current crisis - namely, how to incorporate uncertainty, how to decolonise understandings of African futures, and how to translate these considerations into research practice.... view less
Classification
International Relations, International Politics, Foreign Affairs, Development Policy
Free Keywords
COVID-19; Coronavirus pandemic; Africa; uncertainty; futuring; anticipatory governance; African studies
Document language
English
Publication Year
2021
Page/Pages
p. 216-227
Journal
Africa Spectrum, 56 (2021) 2
ISSN
1868-6869
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed