Colonialism shaped modern universities in Africa – how they can become truly African

Colonialism profoundly shaped modern universities in Africa. It implanted institutions on African soil that were largely replicas of European universities rather than organically African.

For historian and political theorist Achille Mbembe, one problem of universities in Africa “is that they are ‘Westernised”. He describes them as “local institutions of a dominant academic model based on a Eurocentric epistemic canon that attributes truth only to the Western way of knowledge production”. This model, he says, “disregards other epistemic traditions”. Read more by clicking here!

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Sand mining: the global environmental crisis you’ve probably never heard of

From Cambodia to California, industrial-scale sand mining is causing wildlife to die, local trade to wither and bridges to collapse. And booming urbanisation means the demand for this increasingly valuable resource is unlikely to let up. Read more using the following articles: Article 1 Article 2 Revision notes available here

Essay Techniques – Aiming for Top Marks

We often talk in lessons about how to master the art of evaluation and assessment in our essay questions. Read this article here which explores in some detail what this looks like.

Japan’s Volcanic Disaster Mitigation Initiatives: Activities of the Commission on Mitigation of Volcanic Disasters, the Volcanological Society of Japan

The Commission on Mitigation of Volcanic Disasters was organized by the Volcanological Society of Japan (VSJ). This commission was set up as a public forum for members and other stakeholders to exchange ideas and views on wide-ranging topics relating to the mitigation of volcanic disasters, to explore possible solutions to various issues pertaining to volcanic disasters and their mitigation, and to put forward recommendations for the benefit of society. In this paper, we present a broad overview of the objectives of this commission, highlighting some of the activities and achievements of the commission to date. The paper also provides an overview of disaster mitigation topics that have been taken up for consideration by the commission. Read the full article here!

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