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About AfricaFocus
This website features high-quality analysis and progressive advocacy on African issues,
with particular attention to priority issues affecting the entire continent.
The heart of the website is the AfricaFocus Bulletin produced and
distributed one to three times a week to over 3,000 subscribers, including
individuals, organizations, and listservs. Current issues are featured on the homepage;
a full archive is also available on the site.
In addition to approximately 10,000 readers who receive each bulletin by e-mail,
the website receives both regular visitors and many who find useful information through
search engines. From January through March 2008, the AfricaFocus website received
38,221 visits and 61,536 page views, an average of 1.61 pages per visit. The top ten
countries among visits to the website during this period were United States (44%),
United Kingdom (10%), South Africa (9%), Canada (7%), Germany (2%), Kenya (2%), Australia (2%),
Nigeria, India, and Italy (each 1%). For more details, see statistics gathered by Google
analytics at http://www.africafocus.org/stats/sum2008.php
Other features also include regularly updated news feeds
from the BBC's Africa service and AllAfrica.com, and a set of country pages
with extensive background and links on each African country. The site is fully searchable,
and also provides access to a custom search of selected other high-quality Africa-focused sites.
Bulletins can also be accessed through topic pages, featuring coverage of
politics & human rights,
peace & security, health, and
economy & development.
Note: Not connected but also recommended is the the audiovisual site
Africa Focus: Sights and Sounds of a Continent, produced by the University of
Wisconsin-Madison Libraries and African Studies Program.
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The AfricaFocus Bulletin and website are not subsidized by
any government, foundation, or organization. Subscription payments are not
required. Sustaining and expanding these free services, however, depends on
support from readers like you.
If you are a subscriber to AfricaFocus Bulletin or a regular visitor to this site,
please help these services continua and expand. Go to the
support page to make a payment through Google Checkout, Paypal, or by sending in a check or money order.
The minimum payment requested from individual subscribers
is only $15/year. Organizations and others who are able to do so are requested
to pay larger amounts.
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Subscribers |
Supporting
Subscribers |
Friends of
AfricaFocus |
| Individuals |
$15/year |
$30/year |
$60 or more/year |
| Organizations |
$30/year |
$60/year |
$100 or more/year |
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About AfricaFocus Bulletin
AfricaFocus Bulletin, launched in November 2003, is an independent publication edited and produced
by William Minter.
Subscribers receive one to three bulletins a week with timely material relevant
to current African issues, with a particular focus on topics of continent-wide concern with
implications for international and U.S. policy.
As of March 31, 2008, there are 3,153 addresses subscribed to the list, with an estimated average
readership of over 10,000 (some addresses are listservs, and many readers also forward bulletins to
other lists). Estimating from the e-mail domains for which countries can be identified, with generic domains such as yahoo.com, gmail.com,
etc. excluded, approximately 58% of subscribers are in the United States, 18% in Africa, 16% in Europe,
and 7% in other countries. The ten countries most represented among subscribers' addresses, with
estimated totals, are United States (1835), South Africa (261), UK (108) from the UK,
Netherlands (95), Canada (90), Sweden (68), Germany (61), Mozambique (59), Zimbabwe (45), and Kenya (36).
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change the e-mail address at which you receive
the Bulletin, please write to africafocus@igc.org. Any additional questions or
comments should be directed to the editor at the same address.
AfricaFocus Bulletin continues Minter's previous work as editor and producer
of the Africa Policy E-Journal, which was published by Africa Action.
Minter served as editor and producer of the E-Journal from the publication's beginning
under the auspices of the Africa Policy Information Center in 1995.
An archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, from 1995 through mid-October 2003,
is available through
http://www.africaaction.org/resources/ejournal.php.
Frequency and Length
AfricaFocus Bulletin averages about 9 issues a month, at irregular intervals. Each posting is from
15K to 20K in length (approximately six to eight printed pages).
Purpose and Audience
AfricaFocus Bulletin is designed to highlight particularly important policy statements
and background information on policy issues. It is not a news service, and is not intended
to substitute for news coverage on specific topics or countries.
The Bulletin does not include copyrighted material, whether news or otherwise, except by
explicit permission of the originator. All issues may be freely redistributed as long as
both AfricaFocus Bulletin and the original source are credited.
The Bulletin's objective is to provide accessible information and analysis in order to promote
international policies toward Africa that advance economic, political and social justice and the
full spectrum of human rights. The Bulletin is based in Washington, and there is a particular
emphasis on material relevant to U.S. policy.
The Bulletin does not publish original articles, but only material that has previously been
published, in electronic or print format, and that is available for reposting. Our goal is to select
material which is generally understandable to readers with limited background knowledge but
still useful as updates to those with more extensive background.
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AfricaFocus Editor and Website Developer
The AfricaFocus website and AfricaFocus Bulletin are edited and produced by
William Minter. Minter has been a writer, researcher, and activist since the mid-1960s,
focusing particularly on southern Africa and international issues. He studied at the University
of Ibadan in Nigeria in 1961-62 and taught in Tanzania and Mozambique at the
secondary school of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) in 1966-68
and 1974-76. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology and a certificate in African studies
from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Minter worked as a writer, editor, and researcher at Africa News Service
(now allafrica.com) in Durham, N.C. in 1973
and 1976-82. Based in Washington since 1982, he has combined personal
research and writing with contract work for a number of organizations,
including policy analysis, writing, and development of computer-mediated
communication tools. This has included work for
Africa Action and its predecessor organization, the Africa Policy Information
Center (APIC), from 1992 through fall 2003, and for the affiliated Washington Office on Africa (WOA),
from 1992 to 1997.
Minter's most recent book is No Easy Victories: African Liberation and American
Activists over a Half Century, 1950-2000, co-edited by Gail Hovey and Charles Cobb, Jr.
For more information and to order the book at a discount, visit
http://www.noeasyvictories.org.
Minter's other works include five books:
King Solomon's Mines Revisited was a runner-up for the Herskovits prize awarded by
the African Studies Association. Minter has also written numerous articles and research reports
on Africa for a wide variety of U.S. and international publications.
Among the most recent publications, a few are available on this website:
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April, 2008 - Migration and Global Justice, pamphlet written for American Friends
Service Committee
html | pdf (379K)
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December, 2007 - "The Armored Bubble: Military Memoirs from Apartheid's
Warriors," book review in African Studies Review
html | pdf (70K)
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Jan 31, 2007 - Oped in Providence Journal
"Don't replay Iraq in Horn of Africa"
Earlier articles have appeared, among other places, in the Foreign Policy Association's
Great Decisions 2002 and 2003,
The Nation, and Foreign Policy in Focus.
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Guidelines for Submission
Freelance writers should note that while we welcome receiving original articles as background
information, we do not have the necessary staff to consider and publish such articles. If your
article has already been published elsewhere on the web, and is freely available for reposting
without copyright restrictions, please let us know, and we will consider it for reference or
inclusion in a possible future issue.
The Bulletin welcomes receiving material suitable for reposting, by plain-text e-mail or
by reference to a web link. PLEASE DO NOT SEND DOCUMENTS AS ATTACHMENTS,
since this greatly increases the chances they will not be read promptly.
A document for inclusion in the Bulletin should be one that:
(1) has already been published or distributed in print or electronically;
(2) is in the public domain, or authorized for redistribution by the author/originating organization
(copyrighted news articles, for example, do not fit the guidelines);
(3) is from a reputable source, for which contact information is available;
(4) is relatively short (a text file less than 20K, or less than 2,500 words) and readable;
(5) is timely (normally not older than 3 months);
(6) is preferably of continent-wide or regional interest (country-specific documents are most likely
to be included when they clearly relate to such a broader topical theme).
News Feeds
The news feeds on the right hand side of the homepage are supplied by the
BBC and by
allafrica.com. They are available freely to any website with the technical
capacity to use RSS news feeds.
As adapted for AfricaFocus, these feeds include the most recent BBC Africa news
at the top right. The middle two boxes contain the latest AllAfrica news on debt, AIDS, or conflict, and on five
African regions. The featured topic changes every 20 minutes, while the featured region
changes every 12 minutes. If you have cookies enabled in your browser, you can customize the
final box on the right to provide the latest allafrica news from a country or region you select.
Searching
This site has several search options, for you to adjust the focus of your
search more or less widely. The "site search" at the upper right of each page
provides a search of the AfricaFocus site, and can be adapted to search
only AfricaFocus Bulletins or the entire site. Just below it is a custom search
provided by Google that searches AfricaFocus and selected partner sites with
high-quality information on African issues Currently this includes 8 sites:
Africa Action, AfricaFiles, AfricaFocus, AllAfrica, Association of Concerned Africa Scholars,
Human Rights Watch, IRIN News, Pambazuka News..
Exchange Links
The AfricaFocus website includes a small number of links to selected sites that
(1) regularly feature a prominent link to AfricaFocus or make frequent use of the AfricaFocus
Bulletin, and (2) are likely to be of broad interest to AfricaFocus readers.
If you maintain a website and wish to have such a reciprocal link considered, just write to
africafocus@igc.org. Then put a text link such as
the following at a prominent place on your site:
<a href="http://www.africafocus.org">AfricaFocus: News, Analysis, Advocacy</a>
If you prefer, you may also use the AfricaFocus logo, available at
http://www.africafocus.org/images/aflogo.gif, to make the link.
For a listing of current exchange links, click
here. Selected links also appear in
rotation at the right-hand top of the AfricaFocus home page.
Policies
Privacy Policy
AfricaFocus is committed to respecting and protecting the privacy of site visitors
and subscribers. Any personal information received is used to improve our services
and to supply you with news, analysis, and advocacy information that is useful to
you. Neither your e-mail address nor other information you supply is shared with third parties
except when explicitly authorized by you.
Data collected automatically through web logging, cookies used for customizing
your use of the site, or other similar software does not include data identifying individuals.
This information, as well as information you may provide through voluntary surveys, is
analyzed to improve our services. It is also used to produce statistical reports on site use,
which do not identify individuals.
Copyright
Original content on this site, including editor's notes, design, placement, and other creative elements,
is protected by U.S. copyright and international treaties. Reposted content on this site consists of
public domain and other material intended by the originators for wide public distribution. Occasional
copyrighted material reposted with permission is identified as such. Original sources, with contact information,
are given for all reposted material.
Terms of Use
All content material from AfricaFocus Bulletin may be freely redistributed for non-commercial purposes,
provided acknowledgement is included both to AfricaFocus Bulletin and to the original source.
This may be by inclusion of the appropriate header and footer from AfricaFocus Bulletin, or by a shorter notice such
as "([original source], as distributed by AfricaFocus Bulletin)".
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