Sudan is the country of the week in my African exploration project. I found a book called “The Other Nile” by Charlie Pye-Smith on our bookshelf; it was published in 1986 and is firmly in the World Traveller genre. Those tales of Western youth who go backpacking around the world and write about their experiences… [Read More]
Blog
Category: Africa
So I bought a Zimbabwean 100 trillion note on eBay
Picture to follow when it arrives. It was $5.95. If the seller were the Zimbabwean government (it’s not), I’d think that it was a revenue-raising gimmick, the way that so many small countries produce stamps for collectors.
Chad: “A Screaming Man”
Chad is a poor country, with about 11 million people who have a per-capita GDP of about $2000. It received independence from Algeria in 1960 and has suffered almost constant civil war as well as invasions (from Libya and Sudan. It’s one of those stereotypical “basket case” countries that investors think of when they write off… [Read More]
Niger: Nomads of Niger
Niger’s up for exploration this week. It has a population of 17 million people, and it skews young: the median age is 15, no surprise given that the country has the highest birthrate in the world. The per capita GDP of $800 is among the lowest in the world. This isn’t a country that is… [Read More]
Al-Jazeera’s series on French North Africa
I’ve been doing my look at Africa for a few months now, one country a week, and one thing that hits me is that it would be easier if I knew French. I’ve watched four movies with subtitles. At the UIC library, half the books that look good have to go back on the shelf… [Read More]
