Thought Leader showcases the best in opinion and insight from around the continent. To support the Mail & Guardian, subscribe here.

One clue to understanding the difference between modernism, postmodernism and poststructuralism lies in the ancient “quarrel” between Parmenides and Heraclitus. Parmenides argued that only being is, ...

People who do a lot of gardening probably know what a “rhizome” is in botanical terms. It is a kind of plant (including the prolific “wandering Jew”) that pops out of the ground over an expanding area ...

It could be argued that the conceptualisation of gender equality is subjective and perhaps even relative because of the varied perspectives from which it is understood. For this reason, the debate ...

In ‘Truth and power’ (1980), Michel Foucault elaborates on different kinds of intellectuals – the ‘universal’ and ‘specific’ intellectual, respectively – in the context of the question regarding the ...

#TshwaneUnrest. That’s the hashtag that South African twitter chose to bookmark the biggest, most sustained public violence in the 22 years since the advent of democracy. Unrest? It seems that there’s ...

If you have ever been invited by an enthusiastic family member, friend, or work colleague to attend the graduation of a seminar that “transformed” their life, but they refused to provide details about ...

I’m absolutely amazed at Mosiuoa Lekota’s recent condemnation of a lack of democracy in the ruling African National Congress, as one of the major reasons for his leading role in the formation of the ...

The spectre of South African impotence as Jacob Zuma brazenly defies an order from the highest court in the land, cheered on by an illegal mob gathered in contravention of lockdown rules the ...

Within the feminist movement, African feminism occupies a unique position that challenges disempowering constructs issuing from both Western and African paradigms. Contrary to the disinformation about ...

As citizens, we want to believe there are laws in place that will protect us. In the context of a country with a Constitution that’s been lauded the world over as one of the most progressive of its ...

With various voices emerging throughout Africa Month that has just passed, I felt obliged to add a critical issue that is slowing down the growth of our continent from “regaining its rightful place in ...