Most cited papers in African Studies and Geopolitics

African Studies and Geopolitics

What are the most cited papers in African Studies and Geopolitics?

The most cited paper in African Studies and Geopolitics is "Climate-Controlled Holocene Occupation in the Sahara: Motor of Africa's Evolution" (Rudolph Kuper, Stefan Kröpelin, 2006), with 920 citations. Next come "Ancient watercourses and biogeography of the Sahara explain the peopling of the desert" (533) and "The Impact of Rainfall on the First Out-Migration: A Multi-level Event-History Analysis in Burkina Faso" (430).

Published TypeAccessCitations

Showing 50 of 99 papers. Every paper with more than 84 citations is listed.

Most cited papers, sortable by citations and release date
#	Paper
1	Climate-Controlled Holocene Occupation in the Sahara: Motor of Africa's Evolution Rudolph Kuper, Stefan Kröpelin · Science	21 Jul 2006	920
2	Ancient watercourses and biogeography of the Sahara explain the peopling of the desert Nick Drake, Roger M. Blench, Simon James Armitage et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open access	27 Dec 2010	533
3	The Impact of Rainfall on the First Out-Migration: A Multi-level Event-History Analysis in Burkina Faso Sabine J. F. Henry, Bruno D. Schoumaker, Cris Beauchemin · Population and Environment Open access	May 2004	430
4	The past of a future syntaxis across the Zagros Christopher J. Talbot, Mehdi Alavi · Geological Society London Special Publications	1996	398
5	In‐Between Places: Trans‐Saharan Transit Migrants in Morocco and the Fragmented Journey to Europe Michael Collyer · Antipode Open access	Sep 2007	348
6	Pan-African displaced terranes in the Tuareg shield (central Sahara) Richard Black, Louis Latouche, Jean-Paul Liégeois et al. · Geology Open access	1994	321
7	Stranded Migrants and the Fragmented Journey Michael Collyer · Journal of Refugee Studies Open access	5 Aug 2010	273
8	Road Mythographies: Space, Mobility, and the Historical Imagination in Postcolonial Niger Adeline Masquelier · American Ethnologist	Nov 2002	263
9	Lakeside Cemeteries in the Sahara: 5000 Years of Holocene Population and Environmental Change Paul C. Sereno, Elena A. A. Garcea, Hélène Jousse et al. · PLoS ONE Open access	14 Aug 2008	257
10	Islam and the Prayer Economy: History and Authority in a Malian Town Benjamin F. Soares	26 Jul 2005	248
11	From ‘savages’ to ‘unlawful combatants’: a postcolonial look at international humanitarian law's ‘other’ Frédéric Megret · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter	2 Nov 2006	236
12	Why do pastoralists in Mali join jihadist groups? A political ecological explanation Tor A. Benjaminsen, Boubacar Ba · The Journal of Peasant Studies Open access	2 Jun 2018	224
13	Somali women and their pregnancy outcomes postmigration: data from six receiving countries Rhonda E Small, Alain Gagnon, Mika Gissler et al. · BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology Open access	13 Nov 2008	209
14	To hide or not to hide? Refuge use in a fluctuating environment Andrew Sih · Trends in Ecology & Evolution	Oct 1997	208
15	The creation and matintenance of national boundaries in Africa Jeffrey Herbst · International Organization	1989	205
16	Wadi Howar: Paleoclimatic Evidence from an Extinct River System in the Southeastern Sahara Hans‐Joachim Pachur, Stefan Kröpelin · Science	17 Jul 1987	201
17	The Pan-African Belt Dominique Gasquet, Nasser Ennih, Jean-Paul Liégeois et al. · Lecture notes in earth sciences Book chapter	2008	199
18	Manufacturing Smugglers: From Irregular to Clandestine Mobility in the Sahara Julien Brachet · The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science	21 Feb 2018	189
19	The Structure of Political Conflict in the New States of Tropical Africa Aristide R. Zolberg · American Political Science Review	Mar 1968	189
20	WINNING COALITIONS AND ETHNO-REGIONAL POLITICS: THE FAILURE OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE 1990 AND 1995 ELECTIONS IN COTE D'IVOIRE Richard Charles Crook · African Affairs	Apr 1997	187
21	Territory's Continuing Allure Alexander B. Murphy · Annals of the Association of American Geographers	19 Jul 2012	171
22	Reef Patterns and Environmental Influences in the Cambrian and Earliest Ordovician Stephen Rowland, Russell S. Shapiro · SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) eBooks Book chapter	2002	170
23	Migrations entre les deux rives du Sahara Sylvie Brédeloup, Olivier Pliez · Autrepart Open access	Nov 2005	167
24	One hippopotamus and eight blind analysts: a multivocal analysis of the 2012 political crisis in the divided Republic of Mali Baz Lecocq, Gregory Mann, Bruce Whitehouse et al. · Review of African Political Economy Open access	10 Jun 2013	167
25	The Oxford handbook of African archaeology Ann Brower Stahl · Azania Archaeological Research in Africa	25 Apr 2014	155
26	Pathways to complexity: an African perspective Susan Keech McIntosh · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter	10 Jun 1999	155
27	Earliest fire in Africa: towards the convergence of archaeological evidence and the cooking hypothesis John A. J. Gowlett, Richard W. Wrangham · Azania Archaeological Research in Africa	Mar 2013	153
28	The Sahara and the Nile: Quaternary Environments and Prehistoric Occupation in Northern Africa Thurstan Shaw · Journal of Arid Environments	Dec 1980	149
29	The formation of an ‘Islamic sphere’ in French Colonial West Africa Robert Launay, Benjamin F. Soares · Economy and Society Open access	Nov 1999	148
30	Social Distance and the Veil1 Robert F. Murphy · American Anthropologist	Dec 1964	138
31	Borders That Divide: Education and Religion in Ghana and Togo Since Colonial Times Denis Cogneau, Alexander Moradi · The Journal of Economic History Open access	29 Aug 2014	137
32	Freshwater to marine-like environments from Holocene lakes in northern Sahara J.Ch. Fontes, F. Gasse, Yann Callot et al. · Nature	Oct 1985	135
33	The civilian target in Sierra Leone and Liberia: Political power, military strategy, and humanitarian intervention Daniël J. Hoffman · African Affairs	Apr 2004	134
34	On the problem of the Proto-Mande homeland Valentin Vydrin · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)	Jul 2009	133
35	Refugees as Gamblers: Eritreans Seeking to Migrate Through Italy Milena Belloni · Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies	2 Jan 2016	133
36	The volatility of a half-cooked bouillabaisse: Rebel-military integration and conflict dynamics in the eastern DRC Maria Eriksson Baaz, Judith Verweijen · African Affairs Open access	26 Sep 2013	131
37	Dhar Néma: from early agriculture to metallurgy in southeastern Mauritania Kevin C. MacDonald, Robert Vernet, Marcos Martinón‐Torres et al. · Azania Archaeological Research in Africa	Apr 2009	131
38	The emergence of pottery in Africa during the tenth millennium cal BC: new evidence from Ounjougou (Mali) E. Huysecom, M. Rasse, Laurent Lespez et al. · Antiquity Open access	Dec 2009	131
39	Disintegration of the continental margin of northwestern Gondwana: Late Devonian of the eastern Anti-Atlas (Morocco) Jobst Wendt · Geology	1985	128
40	Promises of (im)mediate salvation: Islam, broadcast media, and the remaking of religious experience in Mali Dorothea E. Schulz · American Ethnologist	22 Apr 2006	126
41	Christianity and Local Culture in Late Roman Africa Peter Brown · The Journal of Roman Studies	Nov 1968	125
42	Navigating ethnicity and electoral politics in northern Kenya: the case of the 2013 election Neil Carrier, Hassan H. Kochore · Journal of Eastern African Studies	2 Jan 2014	122
43	Jihad in West Africa: early phases and inter-relations in Mauritania and Senegal Philip D. Curtin · The Journal of African History	1971	120
44	Dismantling Dung: Delayed Use of Food Resources among Early Holocene Foragers of the Libyan Sahara Savino di Lernia · Journal of Anthropological Archaeology	Dec 2001	119
45	Constitutional reforms in Morocco: between consensus and subaltern politics Driss Maghraoui · The Journal of North African Studies	Dec 2011	119
46	A Desert Named Peace: The Violence of France's Empire in the Algerian Sahara, 1844-1902 Claire Eldridge · French History	25 Jul 2012	118
47	The resurrection of the house amongst the Zafimaniry of Madagascar Maurice E. F. Bloch · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter	4 May 1995	115
48	The Organic Ethnologist of Algerian Migration Pierre Bourdıeu, Loic J. D. Wacquant · Ethnography	Dec 2000	115
49	Saharan trade in the Roman period: short-, medium- and long-distance trade networks Andrew I. Wilson · Azania Archaeological Research in Africa	13 Nov 2012	115
50	Initial Encounters: Seeking traces of ancient trade connections between West Africa and the wider world Sonja Magnavita · Afriques Open access	2013	114

Citations are OpenAlex's own counts, from its 2026-09-23 snapshot, so the ranking can differ from Google Scholar or Web of Science. A paper is listed for a field when OpenAlex files it under one of the field's topics; retracted papers and papers whose citation count cannot be traced to citing works are left out, and a preprint and the article it became are shown once. Release dates are OpenAlex's: where a source gave only a month or a year, that is what is shown. How the lists are chosen.