Section 2, 'Africa in the Contemporary World', coordinated by Tayeb Chenntouf, comprises 29 contributions arranged in three rubrics. The first rubric features the permanence of the Global Africa project weaved through a broad range of topics, from political initiatives to the performing arts. The Global Africa project can be said to have started with the very deportation of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean. Music, technology, cuisine and religions were key elements of the survival kits of those who landed in the Americas and the Caribbean. The concept of pan-Africanism was coined and nurtured by intellectuals of the diaspora mostly in the nineteenth century. It expanded through a series of meetings in the early part of the twentieth century and became a mobilizing force in the movements for the liberation of the continent from colonial domination. The Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the African Union (AU) are, so far, the clearest political materialization of panAfricanist ideas on the continent. The second rubric focuses on the challenges of current globalization and the new world geopolitics. What can be the role of Africa in this emerging new geopolitical world characterized by increasing connectivity through the Internet and faster air transportation? Africa, with its marginal $2 \%$ contribution to world trade, tends to witness a regression in its economic development. With very few exceptions, the continent is confined to the exportation of raw materials and unprocessed agricultural products. The influx of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has destabilizing consequences on the operation of local governments. Political and military interference from former colonial powers and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as well as peace-maintenance operations in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali preclude any pragmatic preparation of a future united, peaceful and prosperous Africa. The third rubric, exploring the role of culture and intellectuals, asks the programmatic question: 'What should be done?'.