Originally presented in a lecture series and later compiled in The Philosophy of History (Germany,…
Tag: Afropolitans
Come ride with Malitia Malimob
Africa is a Country ran a profile on Somalia-via-Seattle rap duo Malitia Malimob two years…
“An African City,” the web series about five single women in Accra, Ghana
For the last few weeks social media has been abuzz with comments about a new web series set in Accra called An African City. The series tells the story of the ‘Afropolitan Returnee’ and as one viewer aptly put it: it is “Sex and the City meets Americanah where she [the book’s protagonist] goes back to Lagos.” Though not as finely tuned.
An Afropean Journey
A few years ago, on a snowy January evening, a stranger mistook me for someone…
Why I’m Not An Afropolitan
Last summer, I was invited to take part in a discussion, ‘Fantasy or Reality? Afropolitan…
The Afropolitan Must Go
My first thought when reading Taiye Selasi’s 2005 essay ‘Bye-Bye Barbar’ (or ‘What is an Afropolitan?’) was that this is the kind of sludge that would piss off Binyavanga Wainaina. One quick google and lo and behold: “For Wainaina, Afropolitanism has become the marker of crude cultural commodification — a phenomenon increasingly ‘product driven,’ design focused, and ‘potentially funded by the West.’” My second thought when reading Taiye Selasi’s ‘What is an Afropolitan?’, gesturing wildly at my MacBook in my local coffee shop, is that this is the kind of sludge that pisses me off.
'Afropolitans'
If in London next Friday. Press Statement from the Victoria and Albert Museum: On 24…