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Author Guidelines

Mambo! is a series of working papers published by IFRA’s researchers and grantees. They present the results of fieldwork research and provide our readers with field materials and preliminary analyses in social sciences that relate to East Africa.
A Mambo! paper is meant to explore part of the author’s research. It gives insight into methodological issues, the use of field materials and some initial results of ongoing research that may subsequently be expanded on in an academic article.
Mambo! papers can be read online (https://mambo.hypotheses.org) free of access and paper copies may be printed and published as well.

Author Guidelines

Articles should not exceed 3,000 words.
Authors should:

  1. Provide a short bio (3 sentences max): names, university, main topics and current research.
  2. Provide a brief abstract (10 sentences) summing up their text and at least 5 keywords.
  3. Provide at least one illustration (graph, sketch, map, photo, etc.), color or black and white, and of good quality. Illustrations must be provided to the editor in JPEG if possible. All illustrations (especially graphics) must be titled, specify their source and, if necessary, captioned. Illustrations should be copyright free. In case of any doubt, we will not publish the illustration.

Articles must meet the following requirements:

  1. Use the APA Referencing System:
    https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/reference-guide.pdf
    https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/index.html
    https://library.bath.ac.uk/referencing/apa-7
    https://www.msubillings.edu/asc/pdf/APA%207th%20Edition.pdf
    https://guides.westcoastuniversity.edu/c.php?g=1056880&p=7686527
  • You will use in-text citation when referring to a book:
    ex. (Grazer and Fishman, 2015, p.12) or (Smith, 2016, p.315-316; Thoreau, 2016,
    p.177-178)
  • At the end of the article, all the references cited in the text will be listed in a reference list entry called Bibliography – please refer to the APA style for the Bibliography references formatting.

Books

Raffestin, C. (2019). Towards a Geography of Power. ENS Éditions. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.enseditions.7627

Lindell, I. (Ed.). (2010). African Informal Workers. Collective Agency and Transnational Organizing in Urban Africa . Zed Books.

Journal Articles

Beyer, E., Hagemann, A., & Misselwitz, P. (2020). Commodity Flows and Urban Spaces. An Introduction. Articulo – Journal of Urban Research , (21). https://doi.org/10.4000/articulo.4522

Gordon, I.R., & McCann, P. (2000). Industrial clusters: Complexes, agglomerations and/or social networks? Urban Studies , 37 , 513–532. https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098002096

Vicol, M., Fold, N., Hambloch, C., Narayanan, S., & Pérez Niño, H. (2022). Twenty-five years of Living Under Contract: Contract farming and agrarian change in the developing world. Journal of Agrarian Change , 22 (1), 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12471

Book chapters

Rouille-Kielo, G., Calas, B., & Racaud, S. (2024). Export-Crop Production in Kinangop (Kenya): Exploring Small-Scale Farmers’ Tactics and Strategies under Contract Farming. In G. Kuiper, E. Kioko, & M. Bollig, Agricultural Intensification, Environmental Conservation, Conflict and Co-Existence at Lake Naivasha, Kenya (pp. 227–247). Shine.
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004695429_011

Theses

Racaud, S. (1979). Ethical geography of the absolute riff [PhD Diss.]. University of Toulouse 2 le Mirail.

Electronic references

Badurdeen, F. A. (2025, March 6). Epitomizing ‘Trust’ in Violent Extremism Research [Blog post]. Mambo! https://doi.org/10.58079/13fl1

Ogada, M. (2022, October 7). Soko Mjinga: The Shamba System. The Elephant .
https://www.theelephant.info/analysis/2022/10/07/soko-mjinga-the-shamba-system/

Communication

Christopoulos, D. (2012, June 28). Leadership and political capital . 8th UKSNA Conference, Bristol.

  • Articles are divided into different sections (each with a title) and must start with an introduction and end with a conclusion.
  • Footnotes should not exceed 15. They should be used mostly for short insights, comments or further details. If you need to quote an author within a footnote, use the in-text citation system.
  • The first footnote can be used as an introductory presentation of the research context, e.g. place and duration of field work, methodology and goals, and any additional relevant information.