Contemporary African history in unusual times

Initially, we envisaged that this editorial essay would focus on history-writing in the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution. In particular, we hoped to examine how that self-proclaimed moment of technological evangelism raises questions about the future of society and whether, paradoxically, the study of the past might provide a beacon, a pilot light, to navigate these unknown places. Tapping into the 1923 debates between biochemist John Burdon Sanderson Haldane and philosopher Bertrand Russell about technology and moral progress, we wanted to ask what work needs to be done to develop a novel ethic to match our technological ingenuity – and the role of history, the history of Africa, in developing this.1 This undertaking seemed particularly germane, given how history and other critical disciplines were by-passed and disregarded by boosters of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the progressive New World that some believed it heralded. Since the time that we began sketching the outlines for that editorial, coronavirus has arrived. Much of the world is in some form of lockdown. Professional scholars everywhere are under stress as they adjust to new work arrangements, expectations of “customer service” from many students, (inevitably) reduced budgets, and existential challenges about the labour which they undertake. For historians, these might include asking whether history-writing is an appropriate activity in times like these, unprecedented in