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Special number of the Cadernos de Estudos Africanos, journal of the Centro de Estudos Africanos (ISCTE-IUL) In recent decades, research on sport and leisure in Africa experienced an extraordinary development, making it an area of independent research. Social researchers from different backgrounds have explored these issues, focusing on both the colonial reality as well as the post-colonial context. The increase in consumption of and in sport practices in Africa reflects both the logic of social organization imposed by the colonial system, and the modes of political and social organization in the post-independence period. In the colonial past, sports were involved in political or cultural resistance, especially from the associative movement. Sports associations, sometimes the only accessible to the colonized peoples, thus also became centers of social networks and relationships where racial tensions conflicted with sport cooperation. By analyzing sport in the colonial period, a set of axes for comparison between cases representing different colonial experiences can be established.        Sport in African countries deserves the same attention among academics that had been devoted to other contexts. Mainstay of a nationalist discourse and base of identity-building, sport in Africa is currently one of the main axes of projection of the continent and African countries in the world. This ideological function sport coexists with the tensions, which, somehow, are one symptom of the level of organization and social cohesion in many of these countries. The success of many African athletes for instance hides exploitative labor practices that continue to characterize the relationship between Africa and the centers of world sport. Moreover, both attempts of social inclusion projects based on the appeal of the sport, as well as the organization and practice sports require the mobilization of resources and opportunities, leading to cooperation and disputes between political and social actors.This special number of the Cadernos de Estudos Africanos aims to gather a number of research works that will stimulate critical reflexions and debates on the suject of sport and leisure in Africa.Papers and book reviews may be written in Portuguese, English, French or Spanish and should follow the journal&#8217;s publishing guidelines, available at http://cea.iscte.pt/cadernos/assets/06DEZVINormas_editoriais_CEA.pdf. After an initial screening, two referees will examine submitted papers and book reviews Manuscripts should be submitted by 15 November 2012. &#160;Please email documents as Word files to ana.benard.costa@iscte.pt, nuno.domingos@ics.ul.pt, anascimento2000@yahoo.com&#160;and joao.carlos.dias@iscte.pt&#160;A separate file should be included containing the following information:a) identification of the author;b) institutional affiliation;c) current position;d) institutional address;e) email;f) telephone and fax numbers. &#160;Articles should be accompanied by a declaration indicating CEA&#8217;s exclusive right to publication and ownership of the copyright. All authors (including co-authors) need to sign this document: PDFCadernos de Estudos Africanos can be found at:SciELO | http://cea.revues.org/ | Reposit&#243;rio ISCTE-IUL | Index Copernicus InternacionalSusmiss&#227;o de artigosNas  &#250;ltimas d&#233;cadas, as investiga&#231;&#245;es sobre desporto e o lazer em &#193;frica  registaram um desenvolvimento extraordin&#225;rio, tornando-a uma &#225;rea de  pesquisa independente. Investigadores de diversas disciplinas sociais  t&#234;m explorado essas tem&#225;ticas, focando tanto a realidade colonial como o  contexto p&#243;s-colonial. O incremento das pr&#225;ticas e dos consumos  desportivos em &#193;frica reflecte quer as l&#243;gicas de organiza&#231;&#227;o social  impostas pelo sistema colonial, quer as formas de organiza&#231;&#227;o pol&#237;tica e  social no p&#243;s-independ&#234;ncias. No passado colonial, os desportos foram  envolvidos em comportamentos de resist&#234;ncia, de natureza pol&#237;tica ou  cultural, nomeadamente a partir do movimento associativo. Assim, as  associa&#231;&#245;es desportivas, nalguns casos as &#250;nicas permitidas aos  colonizados, transformaram-se tamb&#233;m em centros de sociabilidade e de  redes de rela&#231;&#245;es, a&#237; se exprimindo, ou n&#227;o, tens&#245;es raciais em oposi&#231;&#227;o  &#224; coopera&#231;&#227;o desportiva. Sendo o desporto um&#160; objecto poliss&#233;mico, a  sua an&#225;lise no per&#237;odo colonial permite estabelecer um conjunto de eixos  comparativos entre casos representativos de diversas experi&#234;ncias  coloniais.Comparativamente, o mesmo interesse se dirige para o desporto ap&#243;s as  independ&#234;ncias africanas. Sustent&#225;culo de um discurso nacionalista, base  de uma forma&#231;&#227;o identit&#225;ria, o desporto em &#193;frica &#233; hoje um dos  elementos de maior projec&#231;&#227;o do continente e dos pa&#237;ses africanos do  mundo. Esta fun&#231;&#227;o emblem&#225;tica do desporto coexiste com as tens&#245;es  polarizadas nesse fen&#243;meno, as quais, de alguma forma, constituem  &#237;ndices da organiza&#231;&#227;o e coes&#227;o sociais em v&#225;rios desses pa&#237;ses. Por  exemplo, o sucesso de muitos atletas africanos oculta pr&#225;ticas de  explora&#231;&#227;o laboral que continuam a caracterizar as rela&#231;&#245;es entre &#193;frica  e os centros do desporto mundial. Al&#233;m desta dimens&#227;o, tanto existem  tentativas de projectos de inclus&#227;o social com base no apelo do  desporto, como tamb&#233;m a organiza&#231;&#227;o e a pr&#225;tica desportivas demandam a  mobiliza&#231;&#227;o de recursos e oportunidades, implicando, a um tempo,  coopera&#231;&#227;o e disputas entre actores pol&#237;ticos e sociais.Neste sentido, a presente edi&#231;&#227;o tem&#225;tica dos Cadernos de Estudos  Africanos pretende reunir um conjunto de contributos que estimulem a  reflex&#227;o cr&#237;tica e o debate em torno do desporto e lazer no continente  africano.Os artigos (em portugu&#234;s, ingl&#234;s, franc&#234;s ou espanhol) devem ser escritos de acordo com as normas editoriais dispon&#237;veis em:http://cea.iscte.pt/cadernos/assets/Normas_editoriais.pdf (em portugu&#234;s)http://cea.iscte.pt/cadernos/assets/06DEZVINormas_editoriais_CEA.pdf (em ingl&#234;s)O prazo de entrega dos manuscritos, que ser&#227;o submetidos a arbitragem cient&#237;fica, &#233; 15 de Novembro de 2012.Dever&#227;o ser enviados&#160; para ana.benard.costa@iscte.pt,  nuno.domingos@ics.ul.pt, anascimento2000@yahoo.com e  joao.carlos.dias@iscte.ptEm ficheiro separado, devem ser enviados os seguintes elementos:- nome- filia&#231;&#227;o institucional- cargo- endere&#231;o institucional- email- telefone