CONTRIBUTORS

‘Unsurprisingly there is no simple answer to the question: what is Africa?’ says Nick Redmayne ( page 46). ‘Perhaps the nearest, most honest, response is: it’s complicated. Few states more readily manifest this complexity than Somalia. In Mogadishu a young population is attempting to build a new future on uncertain foundations riven by clan loyalties and the fractures of a colonial legacy.’ ‘Reporting on Kalmykia made us aware of how much the decisions of any government weigh on the lives of ordinary people,’ says Pietro Romeo and Rocco Volante ( page 32). ‘We also experienced how strong the willingness to share can be among those living in difficult conditions, with few available resources. Perhaps the deterioration of our “community spirit” is all due to the opulence of Western society.’ ‘Seeing new land being created in front of your eyes is extraordinary. All the processes that we know so well from textbooks were suddenly there before me,’ says geographer Benjamin Hennig of his visits to the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland ( page 40). ‘Despite all our knowledge, it is amazing how little we are able to fully predict these forces that are so fundamental in shaping our planet.’