Africa Commons helps close the representation gap by digitizing, preserving, and disseminating African content, to bring access to libraries throughout the world.
5 collections, cross-searchable on one platform.
Created by Coherent Digital and distributed in Canada, exclusively by Trojman Corp.
Africa Commons Editorial Board
-
Buhle Mbambo-Thata
University Librarian, University of Lesotho
Read Bio -
Stephen Akintunde
Professor, University of Jos
Read Bio -
Elisha Rufaro Chiware
Library Director, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Read Bio -
Perpetua S. Dadzie
Associate Professor, University of Ghana
Read Bio -
Tandi Lwoga
Professor and Deputy Rector, College of Business Education
Read Bio -
Blessing Mawire
Senior Consultant and Director, Integra Professional Services
Read Bio
The details
African archives and collections are scattered across thousands of websites, difficult to find and search—and the content is at risk of disappearing.
African History and Culture brings unified, cross-searchable access to these materials.
Our aim is to return to Africa control over its archival riches worldwide—and to make it easy for African scholars to find and access expressions of their own heritage in Western collections.
At a glance
Primary Sources Bibliography
600,000
documents from organizations with significant materials from and about Africa.
4,300
collections selected for their significant teaching and learning content..
Subscribe or Purchase depending on your institutions needs.
The details
Spanning decades of transformation from the 1930s to the present, West African Magazines provides insight into the literary heritage of Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Senegal, and other countries during both pre-independence and post-independence eras. The magazines showcase a rich tapestry of fiction, poetry, essays, reviews, and other features, exploring African intellectual identity through literature, art, and cultural commentary.
Developed in collaboration with Sabinet, with digitization taking place in Africa
At a glance
Primary Sources Bibliography
Nigeria, 1937–1985
Okyeame, 1960–1972, Ghanaian literary magazine
La Vie Africaine, 1959–1965, politics and current affairs
Black Orpheus, 1957–1967, Nigerian literary magazine
Subscribe or Purchase depending on your institutions needs.
The details
Hilary Ng'weno became Kenya’s most accomplished journalist—and an important figure in postcolonial East African history. His standards of investigative journalism and critical analysis, along with his commitment to holding those in power accountable, garnered international respect.
100,000+ newly digitized pages and dozens of films from Ng’weno’s media company are now available for research and teaching in journalism, history, political science, Africana studies, education, and media studies.
At a glance
Primary Sources Bibliography
The Weekly Review, 1975–1999
The Nairobi Times, 1977-1983
The Rainbow Children’s Magazine, 1976-1995
The Kenyan Heritage Series, 75 short videos from 1962-2013
Subscribe or Purchase depending on your institutions needs.
The details
More than a century of Southern African history, politics, and culture in streaming video. Hundreds of films to enrich courses in Black studies, cinema, history, culture, and women’s studies.
The films are delivered on the Africa Commons platform, transcribed and keyword searchable for the first time. Search for words or a phrase, and the transcript jumps to the matching text. Click into the transcript, and the film moves to that location.
At a glance
Primary Sources Bibliography
200
films to support research across the humanities and social sciences.
Newsreels show events as they unfolded—the Rand Rebellion, the Soweto Uprising, and others documented in real time.
Major figures—Winnie Mandela, Oliver Tambo—discuss personal censorship under apartheid.
Subscribe or Purchase depending on your institutions needs.
The details
More than 50,000 pages of extremely rare, historically significant magazines, written and targeted specifically for Black African audiences—digitized and online for the first time.
Spanning four decades of turbulence and transformation, the writings in Black South African Magazines cover major events and prominent figures—including the Defiance Campaign, Winnie Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, and Steve Biko.
At a glance
Primary Sources Bibliography
1937–1973
Decades of historically important magazines rarely seen since publication.
50,000
Pages of content, digitized for the first time.
Includes DRUM, Grace, Hi Note! and Zonk!
Subscribe or Purchase depending on your institutions needs.
The details
Sabinet Complete is the largest aggregating of African journals, news, and government information.
These 560 journals—published from 1910 to the present in fifteen countries—provide an African perspective on a wide range of topics.
Approximately 1,500 new articles are added every month, within days of their publication. All the materials are accredited.
At a glance
Primary Sources
Three products integrated to form a single resource
African Journals
442,000 articles from 560 African refereed and peer-reviewed journals
Sabinet Newswire
600,000 news articles
Government, Labor, and Law
Comprehensive collection for accessing, tracking, and analyzing South African government and laws.
