Top Law Schools in Africa

Among the natural aspects of Africa, the climate and vegetation stand out, which receive a great influence of the latitude variations.

The African continent is recognized for its vast territorial area, in addition to a geographical position that makes this continent the only one to be located in all terrestrial hemispheres. The Equator, the main parallel of the Earth, passes through Africa practically in its center, bringing profound natural differences with regard to its climate and vegetation.

Africa’s Climate

The climatic diversity of the African continent is greatly influenced by differences in latitude and, to a lesser extent, by maritimity and continentality, in addition to, in some points, the altitude also determining some climatic types, such as Frio de Montanha. In the following map, we have a generic classification of African climates.

Many authors state that the African climate is apparently “mirrored”, that is, with a repetition of a good part of the climatic bands to the north and south of Ecuador, although there are differences, such as the lower proportion of occupation of the desert climate, in addition to a lower performance in the semiarid region. The Sahara Desert, to the north, occupies a wide area, characterizing the climate of the so-called North Africa, while the Kalahari Desert occupies a smaller area in the far south.

Although the Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world and brings a wide influence to the continental atmosphere, most of the African continent is occupied by the tropical climate (similar to what occurs in Brazil), with a dry and cold climate in winter and hot and rainy in the summer. This climate range is interrupted in some parts of the equatorial climate, which is warmer and more humid due to the presence of the Congo forest in central Africa.

The Vegetation of Africa

If we look at the map below, where there is a generic indication of the main African biomes, we can see that there is a balance between Africa’s climate and vegetation, with the large desert strips already mentioned, in addition to the presence of steppes in most of the semi-arid regions.

The Savannas , a type of vegetation very similar to the Brazilian Cerrado and which occupies most of the continent, are found almost entirely in the bands of tropical climate. The equatorial forest, responsible for the continent’s largest humidities, is found in low latitude zones and remains surrounded by a humid tropical forest, while in the northern and southern ends it inhabits the Mediterranean vegetation.

It is important to note, however, that the boundaries between one natural type and another are not completely clear and well defined, with areas of transition between one type and another. An example is the steppe vegetation, which becomes thinner, with areas of field, as its geographical position approaches the desert areas.

If you consider pursing a law degree and decide to study in Africa, then you’ve come to the right place. Here, we provide rankings for all law schools in Africa based on alumni reviews, graduate employment rate, faculty and student ratio, admissions acceptance rates, etc. In addition to the African rankings, you can also see where each school is ranked world wide.

The top-ranked law universities are University of Cape Town, Cairo University, Stellenbosch University, University of Pretoria, and University of Witwatersrand.

According to Countryaah, South Africa is a country located in the southern part of Africa.

Postcolonial literature, the literary institutions and the audience

African literature after 1960 is often referred to as postcolonial. However, the colonial rule in Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and Angola lasted until 1975 and in Zimbabwe until 1980; in South Africa, colonialism in the form of apartheid lived on into the 1990’s. The independent African nations retain varying degrees of alliance with their former colonial powers, and the rift between colonial and postcolonial literature appears more or less sharply in the individual societies.

In terms of publishing, British publishers established branches in the 1950’s that, even after independence, dominated the education market, which is often crucial to an author’s publishing opportunity. Much African literature continues to be published in London and Paris and may be more widespread in the West than in Africa. Conversely, literary forms of great local importance often do not reach outside Africa, such as the Nigerian Onitsha market literature and the East African thriller literature. The international character of parts of African literature, together with censorship and high book prices, can reduce the influence of fiction on the public debate, an influence that is significant for less institutionalized literary forms such as folk theater, which thrives in a number of countries.

Genres and themes after 1960

Important genres in African literature are the historical novel, often themed in the resistance struggle against the colonial powers; tales of cultural clashes between Western and African, modernity and tradition or city and country; the socially critical novel or short story depicting abuse of power and disappointment over the results of independence; the psychological-existentialist narrative themed in the individual’s experience of division and oppression; magically realistic prose inspired by traditional cosmology and international modernism.

In the field of poetry, narrative poems with historical, didactic or satirical aim are prominent, but also shorter texts with psychological or political themes, the form of which mixes the image density of the oratorio with Western role models. New types of poetry have evolved as lyrics to modern popular music. In drama, new genres have emerged alongside established ritual-inspired forms: political theater that can serve both propagandistic and satirical purposes, enlightenment-oriented development theater, musical drama that combines different genre elements, and more institutionalized art theater.

The development and role of literature in West Africa after 1960

In French-speaking West and Central Africa, independence around 1960 led to extensive literary activity. Prose and poetry focused on the moral problems that independence brought with it. The folklore was brought to life in Birago Diop’s releases as Contes et lavanes (1963) and provided inspiration for Frances Bebey. Criticism of power became central in Mongo Beti’s Main basse sur le Cameroun (1972) and in Emmanuel Dongala, Henri Lopes and Sony Labou Tansi in Congo. The romanticization of the African past was criticized by Yambo Olouloguem of Mali in Le devoir de la violence (1968, then The Duty of Violence, 1970) and byAhmadou Kourouma from the Ivory Coast in Les soleils des indépendences (1970, then The Sun of Independence, 1989). In Senegal, Mariama Bâ created responsiveness around the conditions of African women with the novel Une si longue lettre (1979), while Sembène Ousmane was increasingly preoccupied with film to reach a larger audience.

In the former British West Africa, Nigeria occupies a special place with its large population, its many literary genres, more than 20 universities and a Nobel laureate in literature, Wole Soyinka, who has modernized the Yoruba drama tradition’s interplay between human and spirit world in e.g. A Dance of the Forests; Soyinka unfolds in complex poems and novels and has a more accessible disciple in Ben Okri with The Famished Road (1991, da. Sultens vej, 1993). The horrors of the Biafra war have been described several times in novels by Festus Iyayi, Cyprian Ekwensi, Buchi mecheta and Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie, who withHalf a Yellow Sun (2006, da. A Half Yellow Sun, 2007) made an international breakthrough. Flora Nwapa is one of several popular female writers who focus on everyday life, and Chinua Achebe has with publications such as Anthills of the Savannah (1987, then. As the Wind Blows, 1988) been a central personality who has also had a major influence on publishing policy.. In Ghana, Kofi Awoonor continued the dense and obscure style of Nigerian Christopher Okigbo, while Ayi Kwei Armah’s novels inspired by Frantz Fanon describe the entanglement of psychology and politics, and Ama Ata Aidoo in poems, plays and prose skin braids the rulers and the new rich.