ABOUT the database
The Elite Africa Database is a curated collection of resources for researchers interested in African elites and the forms of power they generate, navigate, and contest. Developed as part of the Elite Africa Project, the database supports a more nuanced and analytically grounded understanding of power on the African continent from 1960 to the present.
The database is not a catalogue or ranking of African elites. Rather, it brings together high-quality scholarly literature, expert contacts, organizations, and media materials that examine how elites operate across different domains of power. It is designed to help users orient their research, identify key debates and institutions, and prepare for deeper study or fieldwork.
Materials are selected for their relevance, rigour, and insight, not for promoting a single viewpoint. As a result, the database includes critical, supportive, and under-examined perspectives alike, reflecting the diversity and complexity of elite power in African contexts. Across all domains, the database also foregrounds the role of gender—attending to how power is shaped by, contested through, and experienced across gendered structures, identities, and inequalities in African contexts.
All entries are organized around six domains of power that structure the project and highlight distinct arenas in which elite expertise, authority, and influence have flourished.
Materials are selected for their relevance, rigour, and insight, not for promoting a single viewpoint. As a result, the database includes critical, supportive, and under-examined perspectives alike, reflecting the diversity and complexity of elite power in African contexts. Across all domains, the database also foregrounds the role of gender—attending to how power is shaped by, contested through, and experienced across gendered structures, identities, and inequalities in African contexts.
All entries are organized around six domains of power that structure the project and highlight distinct arenas in which elite expertise, authority, and influence have flourished.
Domains of Elite Power
The mechanics of how power—the essential condition of elite status—is meaningfully generated and exercised
Aesthetic Power
This domain features scholarship and public-facing work related to art, literature, music, fashion, architecture, and media. Entries include publications as well as prominent cultural figures—both academic and non-academic—and organizations shaping aesthetic influence.
Religious and Spiritual Power / Power of Ideas
This domain captures religious and spiritual leaders, movements, and belief systems, alongside intellectuals and scholars whose ideas have shaped social, political, and moral life across the continent.
Economic Power
Entries in this domain focus on economists, business leaders, and other influential economic actors, as well as research examining the role of elites in African economies and development trajectories.
Coercive Power
This section documents research, organizations, and individuals connected to military institutions, security agencies, and the exercise of coercive authority in African contexts.
Status Power
This domain brings together scholarship on African royalty, nobles, and other forms of recognized or inherited authority, along with organizations working in this arena and studies of their evolving roles in society and governance.
How to Use the Database
Use the Elite Africa Database to explore how power operates across different domains in African contexts. Search by keyword to locate relevant publications, experts, organizations, and media, and refine your results using filters such as power domain, entry format, date, and geographic focus. The database is best used as a starting point—for mapping existing research, identifying key debates and contacts, and preparing for deeper analysis or fieldwork—rather than as a comprehensive list of elites.
This domain features scholarship and public-facing work related to art, literature, music, fashion, architecture, and media. Entries include publications as well as prominent cultural figures—both academic and non-academic—and organizations shaping aesthetic influence.
Religious and Spiritual Power / Power of Ideas
This domain captures religious and spiritual leaders, movements, and belief systems, alongside intellectuals and scholars whose ideas have shaped social, political, and moral life across the continent.
Economic Power
Entries in this domain focus on economists, business leaders, and other influential economic actors, as well as research examining the role of elites in African economies and development trajectories.
Coercive Power
This section documents research, organizations, and individuals connected to military institutions, security agencies, and the exercise of coercive authority in African contexts.
Status Power
This domain brings together scholarship on African royalty, nobles, and other forms of recognized or inherited authority, along with organizations working in this arena and studies of their evolving roles in society and governance.
How to Use the Database
Use the Elite Africa Database to explore how power operates across different domains in African contexts. Search by keyword to locate relevant publications, experts, organizations, and media, and refine your results using filters such as power domain, entry format, date, and geographic focus. The database is best used as a starting point—for mapping existing research, identifying key debates and contacts, and preparing for deeper analysis or fieldwork—rather than as a comprehensive list of elites.
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