In the 1950s, the African yam was exploited by drugs firm Boots to produce cortisone. But South Africans fought back against the plundering of a plant that they used for traditional healing.
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Sedatives contributed to a pharmaceutical revolution in South Africa in the divided 1950s, especially among white users.
There are two histories of dagga in South Africa - the one of criminalising it and the other of the state trying to make money off it.
No South African photographer leaves a more substantial legacy than Santu Mofokeng. He was adept at mapping interior worlds through haunting images of black life and, above all, his landscapes.
The state of emergency ultimately led to substantial legal changes that should better protect women and girls. But what really happened?
Opium played a fascinating role in southern African colonial politics, conflict and social change - from the poppy fields of Mozambique to the early days of Johannesburg city.
From colonial poppy fields to pharmatrash, southern Africa offers a fascinating history of drug regimes – one that helps us make sense of drug policies and legislation today.
Ghana understands the leisure needs of people with disabilities but is struggling to meet those needs.
As early as 1500 the Bokoni people created stone-walled settlements that demonstrate their mastery of farming. But today these sites are under threat.
Interviewing dozens of South African cricketers across all levels of the sport finds a perception that transformation has, in fact, slowed since the early 1990s.
The charred remains of root vegetables found at Border Cave help us understand how early humans survived and thrived.
Displaced by a landslide, Ugandan survivors could not speak the language of the region where they were relocated - but music allowed them a voice.
Religious counsellors form one of several avenues where people seek help for problems that they encounter in life.
Gender stereotyping might be funny, but it’s no joke. A public health professor explains why she took action against everyday sexism when she heard it in a radio advert.
What role do foreign actors play in African elections? Cambridge Analytica’s case sheds some light.
A survey of San ostrich eggshell beads - a common find at archaeological sites - paints a bigger picture of hunter-gatherers, herders and shifting cultural tradition.
A retrospective exhibition displays the key works from the life and times of activist and artist Judy Seidman. She has used political posters as a galvanising force in the fight against injustice.
Immigration authorities cast doubt on the motives of marriages between African nationals and Europeans, violating these couples’ right to family life
The Origin Centre has added a new wing that’s perfect for a holiday visit, the Rock Engraving Archive.
For migrants, prejudice can be a life and death matter. Research in India and South Africa shows life is considerably harder if migrants have a darker skin and come from a poorer country.
Bobi Wine in Uganda does it; so do the Economic Freedom Fighters in South Africa. The red beret is worn to signify the revolutionary. Its power lies in a symbolism that combines art and politics.
Photographs give unprecedented insight into the lives and humanity of those involved in the Ugandan rebel movement.
An archive project is restoring the secret history of Namibia’s resistance music culture from the 1950s to the late 1980s – suppressed and censored during apartheid but now touring the world.
A new history book shows how entanglements of race, gender, class and sexuality in South Africa flow from the moral contradictions of the settler colonial state.
It is important not to take the issue of ‘torture houses’ as only peculiar to Qur’anic schools.