About
September 6, 2013I write about African affairs for a living and I do so quite well if I may say so myself. My special interests are security, resource politics and the politics of democratization. 54 Countries is my attempt to gain more control over the stories I research, write and report. Not because the publications that commission my pieces are bad or because I can't stand having my pieces edited by a competent editor. On the contrary. But writing for a publication by definition limits the kind of stories I can tackle and the form and tone in which I can express myself. In this regard, I want more freedom and I want to be accountable only to you, the reader.
To that end, Africa Dispatches offers you a variety of content:
- A weekly newsletter, featuring my take on some of the stories dominating African affairs, as well as links to the excellent works of other writers
- Daily blog posts, links and comments at 54Countries.com on articles elsewhere on the internet
- A fortnightly podcast on African Affairs in cooperation with African Arguments
- Eventually, exclusive longform articles based on original field research and reported as immersive multi-media stories
- In the distant future, in-depth reports on specific policy issues, based on field research and desk analysis
Simply said, 54 Countries aims to be your go-to source for discovering interesting and insightful coverage of African affairs. If you like the project and want to enable me to spend more time on it, please contribute to my Patreon campaign. Simply said, Patreon allows you to make a monthly donation to 54 Countries of any amount you like. Every little helps, but for larger monthly contributions I have prepared a few rewards that might strike your fancy.