AfricaIs aCountry

People's Culture

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

People's Culture

By
Sean Jacobs

[vodpod id=Video.3322857&w=450&h=370&fv=]

Priceless footage of 1980s Community Arts Project in Durban, which, according to one of the founders, artist Bruno Brincat, was “… an idealistic arts project that was ahead of its time and got nixed by the apartheid authorities.”

“… During the making of this video the CAW was in its fourth year and beginning to take shape. Apart from hosting a variety of functions, it offered 20 classes and had 400 members. It had initiated classes to train teachers with a view of setting up satellite township projects. The video was made to help raise funds (primarily from America). Ironically, when the Durban City Council saw the video they withdrew the building and the project collapsed. We had already relocated three times in as many years and were unable to find another suitable location. The video was made with the assistance of the University of Natal and in particular Costa Criticos.”

[Thanks to Bruno Brincat; h/t Duke Bantu X ]

Further Reading

Atayese

Honored in Yorubaland as “one who repairs the world,” Jesse Jackson’s life bridged civil rights, pan-Africanism, empire, and contradiction—leaving behind a legacy as expansive as it was imperfect.

Bread or Messi?

Angola’s golden jubilee culminated in a multimillion-dollar match against Argentina. The price tag—and the secrecy around it—divided a nation already grappling with inequality.

Visiting Ngara

A redevelopment project in Nairobi’s Ngara district promises revival—but raises deeper questions about capital, memory, and who has the right to shape the city.

Gen Z’s electoral dilemma

Long dismissed as apathetic, Kenya’s youth forced a rupture in 2024. As the 2027 election approaches, their challenge is turning digital rebellion and street protest into political power.

A world reimagined in Black

By placing Kwame Nkrumah at the center of a global Black political network, Howard W. French reveals how the promise of pan-African emancipation was narrowed—and what its failure still costs Africa and the diaspora.

Securing Nigeria

Nigeria’s insecurity cannot be solved by foreign airstrikes or a failing state, but by rebuilding democratic, community-rooted systems of collective self-defense.

Empire’s middlemen

From Portuguese Goa to colonial Kampala, Mahmood Mamdani’s latest book shows how India became an instrument of empire, and a scapegoat in its aftermath.