The candidates are: Samir Amin, academic, activist (Senegal/Egypt), Jean and John Comaroff, academics (South Africa/United States), Chinua Achebe, writer (Nigeria), Mahmood Mamdani, academic (Uganda), Mamdouh Habashi, academic, politician (Egypt), Kwame Anthony Appiah, academic, philosopher (Ghana/United States), Achille Mbembe, academic (Cameroon/South Africa), J M Coetzee, writer (South Africa/Australia), Issa Shivji, academic (Tanzania), Nawal el Saadawi, writer and activist (Egypt), Wole Soyinka, writer, activist (Nigeria) and Virginie Toure, activist (Cote d'Ivoire).