The Republic, a magazine and platform of socio-economic and political support, has received $300,000 in grant funding from the Mellon Foundation. Mr. Wale Lawal, the founder of the Republic noted this in a public announcement.
His words, “The Republic is proud to announce that we’ve received $300,000 in grant funding from the Mellon Foundation Today, Africa continues to grapple with the legacies of colonial modes of knowledge production, which have historically seen the bulk of critical Africa-focused scholarship produced and led by institutions located in the West.
Wale noted that Africa’s post-colonial experience has been one of staggered growth amid exposure to a rapidly globalizing world (in which Africa plays a crucial role) along with local economic and political uncertainty. The outcome of these trends is a deeply complex region increasingly looking to reconfigure its relationship with the world beyond the unequal and exploitative terms that have victimized Africa in the past.
According to The Republic’s founder, Wale Lawal, ‘Presently, Africa is often referred to as the “next frontier”: it has the world’s highest concentration of young people as well as some of the youngest democracies; incomes are rising, social progress is slow but underway; high rates of technology adoption mean a region plugged more than ever before into the global public sphere, with these connections sustained by an expanding diaspora. Local knowledge production, however, lags behind and remains secondary to output from Western institutions.’
Meanwhile, since 2018, The Republic has been on a mission to change this narrative. Now, The Republic aims to establish itself as a regional, leading hub/platform for Black and Africa-focused ideas and critical perspectives; and to further connect Africa and the African diaspora on critical issues. We intend to achieve this by expanding our coverage beyond web and into audio, video, print and additional multimedia, as well as in-person formats.
He stressed that “Mellon Foundation has granted us two years of funding to support this mission, with the Heritage Management Organization, a US-, Greece- and Gambia-based cultural heritage capacity-building organization, coming on board as our fiscal sponsor.
A major next step for The Republic is to identify and work with creative and intellectual communities in several African cities. Our goal is to deepen our coverage of these cities, led by underrepresented voices. To start with, we will be collaborating with editors from each city, who can deepen our knowledge and coverage—and will share more information about this soon.
