Journalism about Africa consists mainly of 600 words from Reuters, 800 from AFP, a minute of radio on BBC, or books written by wire journalists who want to do something more. There aren’t a lot of the 10,000 word magazine pieces or “new journalism” stories that every J-School graduate dreams of composing. This is partially beacuse there aren’t a lot of outlets for 10,000 word pieces, and those that do exist are rarely interested in Africa. And even if they are, they are usually uninterested in the costs involved in a journalist writing that kind of piece.

These are a few pieces listed here that I know of and read greedily. These pieces are in no particular order and are heavily weighted towards places and topics that interest me. But I’d love ot read more work in this vein on other places and topics if you readers would like to suggest some.

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Ten Conover, Trucking Through the AIDS Belt
New Yorker, 1993
AIDS in East Africa before ARVs or Pepfar, with some interesting observations about Rwanda right before the genocide

Adam Higginbotham, The Gangster Prince of Liberia
Details, 2007
Interesting piece on Charles Taylor’s son – his Florida and Liberia escapades documented in full with more than a little cliche but still some finesse

Helen Epstein, God and the Fight against AIDS
New York Review of Books, 2005
How religion plays a large role in Uganda’s HIV prevention and treatment strategies. Not all of the information currently holds true, but Epstein’s ground breaking research on HIV was conducted mainly in Uganda and makes this article a good read

John Ryle, Tropical Baroque, African reality and the work of Ryszard Kapuscinski
Times Literary Supplement, 2001
Love Kapuscinki? You might still love him after you read this piece on the accuracy of his work, but you’ll at least know more about what you’re reading.

Andrew Rice, A Dying Breed
New York Times Magazine, 2008
Didn’t think Ankole cattle were that interesting? Neither did I until I read this piece which is as much about some cows as it is about the development industry

Ron Rosenbaum, How to trick an online scammer into carving a computer out of wood
Atlantic, 2007
Not about Africa per say, though a good bit devoted to Nigerian scam artists and what’s really happening when people engage in scam baiting

Barry Bearak, In Destitute Swaziland, Leaders Live Like Royalty
New York Times, 2008
Not a long piece, but written like a fairy tale, very fitting for the topic

Bryan Mealer, Congo’s Daily Blood: Ruminations on a Failed State
Harpers Magazine, 2006
I don’t have a log in to Harper’s but I remember reading this piece in 2006 and thinking it was great. I also recently read Mealer’s new book so stay tuned for a review

Sam Knight, Births of a Nation
Finanical Times Magazine, 2008
Again with the log in! If my memory from March of this year is correct, this is a well done piece about how Uganda’s high birth rate is affecting average people now, and what it will mean in a few decades

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Notice that all but one of these pieces are by men? Funny becasue I did too!! Michela Wrong, author of In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz has some interesting things to say about why this might be and why men think they can speak for a coninent when women think they can’t. I love Wrong’s work, and also Alexandra Fuller’s work, but other than that, there aren’t too many women writing long-form pieces about Africa these days.

Think I’m wrong? Send me some links! I’d love to be wrong about this.