Despite their demographic size and growing political influence, African youth remain understudied in research on political participation. This article examines how two structural shifts, youth cohort size and social media use, independently and jointly shape electoral and protest behaviour across 40 African countries. Using Afrobarometer data (2016–2023) and complementary contextual datasets, we find that individual socio-economic factors remain the strongest predictors of participation, but demographic structure and digital engagement also matter. Larger youth cohorts are associated with a greater likelihood of voting. Social media use is connected with increases in protest participation while reducing the likelihood of voting, and its interaction with youth cohort size shapes both behaviours in important, non-linear ways. These findings challenge assumptions that youthful populations inherently drive unrest and show that digital mobilisation is strongly conditioned by the demographic context. Our study has significant implications for democratic legitimacy and youth inclusion in Africa’s rapidly changing political environments.

The Goliath Heron Ardea goliath is the largest heron in the world, and has a range spanning sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent. Despite its large range, its breeding distribution is poorly known, especially in isolated populations outside Africa. We assessed breeding distribution by collating records from literature, citizen science databases and other sources. We located 216 breeding records from 22 countries between 1881 and 2026, most of which came from southern Africa and, to a lesser extent, East Africa. Records from central and West Africa were scarce. We identified the first evidence of breeding in Iran in nearly 50 years, but the status of this isolated population remains uncertain. We found no breeding records in the Sundarbans of India, but repeated observations there suggest that nesting may have gone undetected in this remote wetland landscape. Our assessment identified substantial information gaps in parts of Africa and showed that the remnant populations in the Mesopotamian Marshes and Sundarbans warrant further study in the face of conservation threats.

Excavations at Early Òṣogbo, a frontier market town in south-western Nigeria occupied c. AD 1590–1725, recovered ceramics associated with the Ọ̀ṣun, Ọ̀yọ́ and Ifẹ̀ traditions. To understand how these styles converged, the authors undertook thin-section petrographic analysis of 43 ceramic samples to examine clay composition. The results, they argue, show that potters across a 150km-long region consistently used micaceous kaolinitic clays from alluvial corridors. These clays, low in porosity and resistant to thermal stress, were well-suited for production of culinary wares and smoking pipes. Their use demonstrates knowledge circulation and technological borrowing through political expansion, mobility and trade networks.

This article examines the constitutional environmental duties (CED) of legal persons (natural and artificial) in Africa. Based on a systematic analysis of the constitutions of 54 African countries, it provides empirical evidence of the substantial presence of CED of persons and sheds light on the framing of their relationship with constitutional environmental rights and the environmental duties of the state. This account of a specific category of duties of persons, from a non-Western perspective, is an important contribution to legal scholarship. It unsettles the dominant paradigm of “rights of individuals and duties of the state” by challenging the dismissal of the CED of persons as “symbolic” or “aspirational” and highlights the functional elements of these duties, which can be used to address violations of rights and / or the non-performance of duties by the state. These findings also have broader implications for constitutional, environmental and human rights law.

Despite growing recognition of the importance of mental health, postgraduate psychiatric training in Africa faces significant challenges. This brief article considers the current state of psychiatric education, its key obstacles and potential solutions to these challenges. There is a need to balance international standards with local contexts to address the tension between global psychiatric norms and Africa’s unique healthcare landscape. Ultimately, enhancing postgraduate psychiatric training is essential for cultivating competent specialists capable of addressing Africa’s mental health needs.

Previous scholarship demonstrated that anticipation of future natural resource revenues can lead to negative macro-economic, political and social effects – including societal conflicts – even before resource extraction takes place – a phenomenon labelled ‘the presource curse’. By investigating the impact of the presource curse in relation to boundary disputes between African states, this is the first study that specifically examines the impact of the presource curse on international relations. Our evidence suggests that the anticipation of future oil and gas revenues played a very important role in the evolution of international boundary disputes in Africa, particularly maritime boundary disputes. At the same time, this study points to the increased likelihood of peaceful resolutions of such disputes.

Despite a recent shift towards Global South-centred histories of development, women in and from Asia and Africa remain largely neglected in the historiography. In response, this Arenas issue examines the implications of situating the roles and experiences of women at the centre of historical analysis in this field. Bringing together scholars with diverse research expertise, the discussion reflects on the gendered meanings of development in twentieth-century colonial and post-colonial societies and emphasises the need for an expansive definition that takes in social welfare activities alongside industrial and economic projects. The forum explores some of the ways in which researching Asian and African women’s histories of development present particular challenges while at the same time offering conceptual and methodological insights that are relevant to the wider field. ‘Chronologies’ considers the question of periodisation and offers nuanced correctives to established narratives of continuity and rupture in the historiography of development.

This paper focuses on the mining networks between Angola and the Belgian Congo during European colonialism, examining the broader and enduring socio-spatial impacts of the construction of mobility routes and considering the multiple agents and agendas involved. It explores the roles played by Union Minière du Haut Katanga, Forminière, and Diamang in the planning, construction, and the use of railways and roads between the two territories. These complex connections involved the layout of the railway routes – ranging from decauville lines for local transport to the trans-imperial connections provided by the Benguela Railway between Katanga and Lobito, – the displacement and mobility of workers, the employment of new technologies and construction materials, the strong entanglements between mobility systems, and adaptation by local populations living near the lines and routes.

Despite a recent shift towards Global South-centred histories of development, women in and from Asia and Africa remain largely neglected in the historiography. In response, this Arenas issue examines the implications of situating the roles and experiences of women at the centre of historical analysis in this field. Bringing together scholars with diverse research expertise, the discussion reflects on the gendered meanings of development in twentieth-century colonial and post-colonial societies and emphasises the need for an expansive definition that takes in social welfare activities alongside industrial and economic projects. The forum explores some of the ways in which researching Asian and African women’s histories of development present particular challenges while at the same time offering conceptual and methodological insights that are relevant to the wider field. This co-authored Arena also offers a model for collaborative global history writing that is rooted in fruitful cooperation and exchange across ‘area studies’ boundaries.

Despite a recent shift towards Global South-centred histories of development, women in and from Asia and Africa remain largely neglected in the historiography. In response, this Arenas issue examines the implications of situating the roles and experiences of women at the centre of historical analysis in this field. Bringing together scholars with diverse research expertise, the discussion reflects on the gendered meanings of development in twentieth-century colonial and post-colonial societies and emphasises the need for an expansive definition that takes in social welfare activities alongside industrial and economic projects. The forum explores some of the ways in which researching Asian and African women’s histories of development present particular challenges while at the same time offering conceptual and methodological insights that are relevant to the wider field. The ‘Afterword’ draws together the above themes and poses methodological questions that histories of global development must grapple with.

Despite a recent shift towards Global South-centred histories of development, women in and from Asia and Africa remain largely neglected in the historiography. In response, this Arenas issue examines the implications of situating the roles and experiences of women at the centre of historical analysis in this field. Bringing together scholars with diverse research expertise, the discussion reflects on the gendered meanings of development in twentieth-century colonial and post-colonial societies and emphasises the need for an expansive definition that takes in social welfare activities alongside industrial and economic projects. The forum explores some of the ways in which researching Asian and African women’s histories of development present particular challenges while at the same time offering conceptual and methodological insights that are relevant to the wider field. ‘Sources’ addresses methodological, theoretical, and ethical considerations in researching women’s development histories and offers pathways for identifying and analysing marginalised perspectives in and beyond the archive.

Despite a recent shift towards Global South-centred histories of development, women in and from Asia and Africa remain largely neglected in the historiography. In response, this Arenas issue examines the implications of situating the roles and experiences of women at the centre of historical analysis in this field. Bringing together scholars with diverse research expertise, the discussion reflects on the gendered meanings of development in twentieth-century colonial and post-colonial societies and emphasises the need for an expansive definition that takes in social welfare activities alongside industrial and economic projects. The forum explores some of the ways in which researching Asian and African women’s histories of development present particular challenges while at the same time offering conceptual and methodological insights that are relevant to the wider field. ‘Scales’ grapples with the multi-scalar nature of development history and develops insights on the contextual workings of power and agency.

Entomology, the study of insects, is an integral part of modern forensic science and can also make substantial contributions in archaeology. Here, the authors report on archaeoentomological analyses conducted within the Cruz de la Esquina funerary cave (Acusa Seca, Gran Canaria, c. seventh–ninth centuries AD), offering insights into Indigenous practices. The identification of storage pests and various cadaveric species is used to interpret a change in function for the cave, transitioning from an earlier storage area to a burial site, and to suggest that bodies were deposited in the cave immediately after death, challenging previous assumptions about prolonged exposure.