Beyond the Neocolonial: Place, Political Subjectivity and the Problem of Emancipation NeocosmosM (2026) Beyond the Neocolonial: Africa and the Dialectics of Human Emancipation. Daraja Press. 408 pp. ISBN 978-1-990263-88-0.

This review reads Michael Neocosmos’ Beyond the Neocolonial as a sequel to Thinking Freedom in Africa and an implicit continuation of his debate with Mahmood Mamdani. It locates the later book’s contribution in its renewed treatment of popular culture, political contradiction, and non-party organisation, while recognising the earlier work’s concern with institutional continuity. Through Haiti, the United Democratic Front and Abahlali baseMjondolo, it examines how egalitarian political capacity might endure. Its central objection concerns the conditions of effective accountability: delegation and recall require a distribution of knowledge and resources that enables people to contest the authority exercised in their name.