An editorial comment on the book review section
Mechthild Nagel, Editor-in-Chief
Over a decade, the editorial team of the journal Wagadu has provided a publishing venue for academics to promote the exchange of scholarly debate on a wide range of feminist and postcolonial topics. We adhere to high professional standards, common to academic journals, including anonymous peer review process, etc.
For every publication, Book Review Editor Dr. Susan Dewey (University of Wyoming) works closely with the Special Issue Editor in order to select thematically appropriate books for review. In the current issue, we decided to pursue a unique opportunity—asking two scholars on Rwanda to review each other’s work. To our delight, both scholars Dr. Jennie Burnet (George State University) and Dr. Rirhandu Mageza-Barthel (Goethe University, Frankfurt) agreed to review each other’s book. They have never met each other and thus don’t know each other professionally. Care was taken that they also would not become aware of each other’s review till the publication of the issue. And not surprisingly, their reviews of each other’s work turned out to be quite critical. Pairing these two books on Rwanda’s political economy may encourage further research on the topic and also provides an opportunity for our journal to “weigh in” on a timely matter such as the country’s upcoming elections.
We trust you will find these reviews and all other articles and reviews in this issue insightful and providing further opportunity for rigorous academic inquiry.