Geopolitics of Dreams and God

The field of geopolitics refers to the study of political events and processes as they relate to the factors of geography, or, more loosely, to the context of place. The idea seems quite intuitive: the context of place influences political events and processes in ways sufficient to say that the same political factors may render very different outcomes when they interact in different spacial/geographical contexts. … More

Islam: An African Religion

The history of Islam in Africa is rich, substantial, and full of contradictions. While some would agree that Islam has a large positive heritage in Africa, others would disagree. In either case, it cannot be denied that Islam is now entrenched in many African cultures – almost inseparably – but also has a history of influencing many negative trends and forms of oppression, such as slavery, racism, and sexism. … More

Culture, Religion, and Colonization in Africa

From my personal experience, I interacted with many informed African sisters and brothers – from the motherland and from the diaspora – who really seem to be very conscious and educated of history and social forces, but can’t get beyond the brittle and one-directional view of history when it comes to Africa.

They usually pause the dilemma as such: either Africa had its own history, its own systems of governance, its own culture and spirituality, or we should simply submit to the alienating argument that Africans learned everything through interacting with outside groups.… More

Wealthy, Literate, Religious Fanatics: More than you hoped

A common, empathetic argument that claims to make sense of why a good number of seemingly benign, literate young minds from middle and upper-middle class households, from different parts of the world, end up sympathizing with fanatic violent Islamic groups, such as ‘the Islamic Khalifate State’ (also called Daesh) and Al-Qaeda, and sometimes becoming recruits for them. The argument can be summarized like this: look to the causes of socioeconomic dispossession and political oppression that these young minds were exposed to, first-hand or second-hand (i.e.… More