Nothing good comes of France
France is not a new problem for Africa. Since the 19th century, its stood in the way of the continent’s self-determination.
France
The myth of French republicanism
In France, Black and Arab minorities are excluded from the country’s liberal values—and then treated as threats to them.
The inexpiable crime
The reaction to Nahel Merzouk’s murder by the French state showcases its tactic of depoliticizing the suburban uprising and diverting attention away from state violence.
The lost promise of childhood
The state-sanctioned violence committed against children such as Nahel M forces us to revisit the very question of childhood, its privileges, and its roots in the French imperialization of Africa.
With respect
A new film by French-Senegalese director Alain Gomis uncovers how American jazz giant, Thelonious Monk, was disrespected by French media at the end of his European tour in 1969.
Demystifying austerity
Government’s around the world are talking about tightening their belts. Austerity is a common economic policy, but what is it actually? On the podcast, we discuss.
The people have spoken
In its first few years, the magazine 'Révolution Africaine' opened possibilities for Franco-Algerian cooperation. It was then co-opted by the state.
Western media is missing the point
The excessive reporting of the interplay between non-African powers in the Sahel—however crucial it may be to understand regional dynamics—betrays a Western-centric bias in international news coverage.
The colonial wounds of Senegal’s girlchild
In ‘Black Girl’ (1966) and ‘Cuties’ (2020), M'Bissine T. Diop is a cautionary figure who warns of colonialism's wounds and afterlives for Black girl belonging in the present day.
The art of virtue signaling
For French President, Emmanuel Macron, recruiting various African intellectuals turned out to be a key asset in trying to shift the Françafrique narrative, while simultaneously protecting French interests on the continent.
Italy and the colonialism of others
What foot does Italy’s neo-Fascist prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, stand on to lecture France on its monetary colonialism in Africa?
Memories are to be shared
It will have to be the Algerian diaspora inside France who will eventually have to mainstream the truth of France's colonial legacy.
An uncompromising criticism of the CFA franc
The CFA franc, pegged to a strong Euro, penalizes African economies as well as regional trade and facilitates the development of Western multinationals.
This is appropriation that’s acceptable
The French Ethio-groove group Akalé Wubé has dissolved. For over a decade they have shown how cultural outsiders can considerately engage in music that is not theirs.
The legacy of French colonial psychiatry
French psychiatry in West Africa saw Black bodies as “alien” to white ones. It hasn't changed much.
History and the politicians
The historically fraught relationship of metropole and colony persists between France and Algeria, as a recent “symbolic” gesture reveals.
The specter of neocolonialism
Francophonie has served to obscure the harms caused by neocolonial projects in Africa, projects that are themselves a reflection of the racism within France’s borders.
The mark of the former colonizer
What explains this reluctance to discuss the permanence of symbols honoring slave traders and colonialists in the public spaces in both France and its former colonies?
Law and disorder
France’s history of violence policing left a legacy of law and disorder, targeting dissidents, in its former colonies.
Transnational African feminisms
What roles have francophone African women played in movements for pan-African liberation, historically and now?