Abstract
Africa Spectrum’s revitalisation continues. We have embarked on a process of building on the journal’s traditional strengths while seeking to increase its ability to publish original scholarship that informs important debates that pertain to the African continent. Early efforts led by Julia Grauvogel are already paying off. The journal’s impact factor has increased for the second year in a row, rising from 0.833 in 2018 to 0.903 in 2019. With the continued support of the GIGA Institute for African Affairs (IAA), our goal is to continue this upward trend in the coming years as we take further steps to increase the diversity of the scholars we publish, particularly women and scholars based on the continent, all while maintaining our commitment to scientific integrity and disciplinary pluralism. We are currently in the process of analysing the journal’s submission and publication track record to address these issues in a comprehensive manner. We plan to provide more details hereon in coming issues.
The most important changes now occurring at Africa Spectrum involve our editorial team. We first must thank the outgoing members who helped bring the journal to its current standing. Martin Doevenspeck successfully shepherded articles through the publication process as an associate editor for more than fifteen years. The outgoing editorial board members who provided invaluable counsel as the journal evolved over time are: Heribert Adam, Boubacar Barry, Jean Comaroff, John L. Comaroff, Leonhard Harding, Axel Harneit-Sievers, Klaus Hock, Roman Loimeier, Paul Nugent, and Theo Rauch.
Our editorial team is being renewed and expanded in ways that will allow us to engage with a broad range of exciting theoretical and empirical developments in the study of Africa. Our core team of associate editors – Susann Baller (German Historical Institute in Paris), Gordon Crawford (Coventry University), and Alena Thiel (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) – is being joined by Antje Daniel (University of Vienna), Martha Johnson (Mills College), and Ken Opalo (Georgetown University). Jeff Paller (University of San Francisco) is the journal’s new book editor, Melanie Phillips (University of California, Berkeley) is our editorial assistant, and Petra Brandt continues as our editorial manager.
We are also delighted to announce that Africa Spectrum’s editorial board is being joined by several new members. These internationally recognised experts in several fields will help guide the journal over the coming years: Gerhard Anders (University of Edinburgh), Catherine Boone (London School of Economics and Political Science), Kim Yi Dionne (University of California, Riverside), Julia Gallagher (SOAS University of London), Mamoudou Gazibo (University of Montreal), Toni Haastrup (University of Stirling), Rita Kesselring (University of Basel), Nauja Kleist (Danish Institute for International Studies), Evan Lieberman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), H. Kwasi Prempeh (Ghana Centre for Democratic Development), Lise Rakner (University of Bergen), Rachel Riedl (Cornell University), and Leonard Wantchekon (Princeton University).
This issue brings together contributions that reflect our commitment to diversity, disciplinary pluralism, and original scholarship informing key theoretical and policy debates in the study of Africa. Two articles focus on dynamics in African elections: Mi Yung Yoon uses original survey data to examine perceptions of gender differences in vote buying in Tanzania, while Lynette Mukhongo reconstructs online political contestations in the Kenyan Twittersphere by analysing four selected hashtags during the 2017 elections. Lewis Abedi Asante and Richael Odarko Mills explore the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in urban Ghana’s marketplaces. Sören Scholvin draws on interviews with industry experts to offer new insights into endogenous obstacles to African development in global value chains from the oil and gas sector.
As we engage in the process of analysing the journal’s submission and publication record, we also encourage submissions that discuss the state of African studies from a variety of perspectives. This is exactly what Matthias Basedau offers in this issue through his discussion piece “Rethinking African Studies,” which identifies four challenges in the study of Africa and makes the case for what he calls “Comparative African Studies.” We welcome similar submissions – including responses to Basedau’s piece – that compel us to think more critically about how knowledge of Africa is produced and disseminated.