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vol. 9, no. 3

An African Manual for Debugging Empire

Our latest issue, An African Manual for Debugging Empire, confronts the erasure of Africans in global tech debates and highlights the ways the continent is actively shaping, contesting and redefining the futures of AI.

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Every year, The Republic publishes the most ambitious writing focused on Africa, from news and analysis to long-form features.
Support our award-winning coverage by subscribing today. 
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Highest Score: 0

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vol. 9, no. 3

An African Manual for Debugging Empire

Our latest issue, An African Manual for Debugging Empire, confronts the erasure of Africans in global tech debates and highlights the ways the continent is actively shaping, contesting and redefining the futures of AI.

Purchase an annual print + digital subscription, and get unlimited access to The Republic. We ship worldwide.

This Week’s Essentials


Our top analyses, debates, ideas and stories of the week.

Bandung

HEADLINE STORY / THE MINISTRY OF WORLD AFFAIRS

After Bandung

Exactly 70 years ago, African and Asian states gathered to imagine a world beyond empire. Their dream of solidarity—its failures and achievements—still haunts global politics.

The Republic

HEADLINE STORY / THE MINISTRY OF WORLD AFFAIRS

As domestic unrest in Kenya grows, President William Ruto’s carefully crafted global image is unravelling. Internal discontent is eroding Ruto’s international standing, which can potentially damage Kenya’s position as a regional sanctuary.

Necessary Fiction

THE MINISTRY OF ARTS / BOOKS DEPT.

Diaspora

THE BLACK ATLANTIC

Diaspora’s Struggle to Belong Home and Away

If the media plays an important role in the extreme portrayal of the West as a haven in the mind of the African, we might also assume that the same media largely has a role to play in the making of the self-perception of Africans.

Nigeria

THE MINISTRY OF BUSINESS X THE ECONOMY

The Vanishing Dream of Nigeria’s Middle Class

Rice costs more, the naira buys less, and the middle class is checking out. From golden-age dreams post-independence to present japa-fuelled exits, this essay traces how Nigeria’s middle class rose, unravelled, and now fights to survive.

Climate

THE MINISTRY OF CLIMATE CHANGE X THE ENVIRONMENT

Languages

THE MINISTRY OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS

A Eulogy for Dead Languages

‘At 16 every Zambian gets a green National Registration Card (NRC). On my NRC, much of that information is either a lie, a slight fabrication, or, as with many things in life, a well-intentioned truth turned false.’

First Draft

THE MINISTRY OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS / FIRST DRAFT INTERVIEWS

Muslim

THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS

​​​The Body, the Veil and the Muslim Woman

Halimatu Iddrisu paints Muslim women and their voices. She entrusts their faceless bodies with self-expression and the freedom to engage viewers in a dialogue about dressing choices and the hijab—veiling in Islam—that transcends language.

Ukungwi

THE MINISTRY OF GENDER X SEXUALITY

The Women Turning a Private Ritual Into a Public Business

The guardians of ukungwi—a practice that educates girls and women on sex, homemaking and marriage—are reimagining their approach to this East African tradition. Today, they face a dilemma: the risk of losing the cultural essence of ukungwi while seeking to monetize it for sustainability.

Azikiwe

THE MINISTRY OF MEMORIES

Wi-Fi

THE MINISTRY OF POLITICAL AFFAIRS / DISPATCH FROM SOUTH SUDAN

Wi-Fi Warriors and Homeland Dreams

In a country failed by peace agreements, connection didn’t disappear—it went online. South Sudan’s digital diaspora challenges the glossy myths of Silicon Valley and insists that innovation thrives not only in wealth and infrastructure, but in resilience, memory, and connection across borders.

Nanjala Nyabola

THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE X TECHNOLOGY / THE REPUBLIC INTERVIEWS

‘Who Do We Imagine AI Is Built By and Built For?’

With AI proponents promising to ‘save’ Africa, Nanjala Nyabola asks an urgent question: what happens when a continent’s future is outsourced to someone else’s imagination? We discuss the politics of technology, the myth of the ‘cloud’, and why the next digital revolution must begin with African women.

Security

THE MINISTRY OF SECURITY

Traoré

THE MINISTRY OF WORLD AFFAIRS

Books

THE REPUBLIC RECOMMENDS

7 Books to Read if You Didn’t Study Nigerian History in School

In 1977, historian Obaro Ikime delivered a lecture, ‘History and the Changing Cultures of Nigeria’, responding to Alhaji Shetima Ali Munguno’s disapproval of what he saw at the University of Calabar. Ikime argued that one of Nigeria’s greatest problems is our ‘inadequate knowledge of history and the ways of life of the various groups that make up Nigeria.’ As Nigeria turns 65, it is important to return to that history.

Necessary Fiction

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

The Republic

ANNOUNCEMENT DESK

Meet The Republic’s Founding Advertisers

Earlier this year, we opened our platform to advertisers, to brands that could tell meaningful stories that share our values of progress, clarity and independent thought. Meet our founding advertisers.

Design

ANNOUNCEMENT DESK

Trump
#TRUMPIANAGE
Bandung

After Bandung

Exactly 70 years ago, African and Asian states gathered to imagine a world beyond empire. Their dream of solidarity—its failures and achievements—still haunts global politics.

Languages

A Eulogy for Dead Languages

‘At 16 every Zambian gets a green National Registration Card (NRC). On my NRC, much of that information is either a lie, a slight fabrication, or, as with many things...

THE LATEST IN PRINT
VOL. 9, NO. 3
An African Manual for Debugging Empire

Now Available: Our May – July 2025 Print Issue

Featuring: 
Republic editor, Wale Lawal, in conversation with Kenyan writer Nanjala Nyabola; Dawn Chinagorom-Abalakam on African and artificial intelligence; Otobong Inieke on the geopolitics of digital technology in Africa; Oyindamola Depo-Oyedokun on the revolutionary rise of Piggyvest. This issue also includes writing by Boluwatife Oyediran on the debates about the acceptability of generative AI in art; Rui Verde on Angola’s inorganic techno-democracy; art, comics, quizzes and much more!

THE LATEST IN PRINT
VOL. 9, NO. 3
An African Manual for Debugging Empire

Now Available: Our August – October 2025 Print Issue

Featuring: 
 Republic editor, Wale Lawal, in conversation with Kenyan writer Nanjala Nyabola; Dawn Chinagorom-Abalakam on African and artificial intelligence; Otobong Inieke on the geopolitics of digital technology in Africa; Oyindamola Depo-Oyedokun on the revolutionary rise of Piggyvest. This issue also includes writing by Boluwatife Oyediran on the debates about the acceptability of generative AI in art; Rui Verde on Angola’s inorganic techno-democracy; art, comics, quizzes and much more!

African Feminist Manifesto

vol.8 no.1 / EDITOR'S FOREWORD

‘An African Feminist Manifesto’

For whom is the transformative potential of feminism new? Our latest issue, An African Feminist Manifesto, considers the imperatives for Black African feminism(s) in our uniquely uncertain times, plus more.

Nationalism

COVER ESSAY

Frida Orupabo

THE MINISTRY OF ARTs / PHOTO DEPT.

Abrahamic Tradition

THE MINISTRY OF MEMORIES

A Womanist Reading of African Women in Abrahamic Tradition

Though the presence of Abrahamic tradition within global Black consciousness often finds expression through male-dominated narratives, a closer examination uncovers Black women at the very centres of the most path-altering moments in the tradition, offering analogues with which Black women have interpreted, reimagined and reclaimed their past, present, and future.

Second Class Citizen

THE MINISTRY OF ARTs / BOOKS DEPT.

50 Years of Buchi Emecheta’s Second-Class Citizen

In 1974, Buchi Emecheta’s novel, Second-Class Citizen, was published. While this novel has inspired a generation of African writers, the themes Emecheta explored—such as Black immigrant life in the UK and the ills of a patriarchal society—remain as relevant today as ever.

Technology

An African Manual for Debugging Empire

Our latest issue, An African Manual for Debugging Empire, confronts the erasure of Africans in global tech debates and highlights the ways the continent is actively shaping, contesting and redefining the futures of AI.

continue reading


We get it. Sometimes the headline stories are just not enough.

ARTS & CULTURE

Languages

A Eulogy for Dead Languages

‘At 16 every Zambian gets a green National Registration Card (NRC). On my NRC, much of that information is either a lie, a slight fabrication, or, as with many things...

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BUSINESS & THE ECONOMY

Tariff

How America Determines Nigerian Fuel Prices

President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy and push to recalibrate the dollar has affected global capital flows, especially economies tethered to the dollar system. In Nigeria’s fuel sector, this manifests as...

HISTORY

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POLITICS

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi Warriors and Homeland Dreams

In a country failed by peace agreements, connection didn’t disappear—it went online. South Sudan’s digital diaspora challenges the glossy myths of Silicon Valley and insists that innovation thrives not only...

Angola

Angola’s ‘Inorganic’ Techno-Democracy

In Angola, the intersection of technology and governance is forging an unconventional democratic landscape—one that emerges spontaneously and outside traditional political structures. While the regime has long maintained control through...

RADIO REPUBLIC

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Technology

An African Manual for Debugging Empire

Our latest issue, An African Manual for Debugging Empire, confronts the erasure of Africans in global tech debates and highlights the ways the continent is actively shaping, contesting and redefining...

WORLD AFFAIRS

Bandung

After Bandung

Exactly 70 years ago, African and Asian states gathered to imagine a world beyond empire. Their dream of solidarity—its failures and achievements—still haunts global politics.

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