The lightheartedly named African Time is a lovely new web series produced by the Waave + Dada artist collective. Each short episode consists of a different individual discussing their individual experiences as Africans living in the United States. There are no frills to speak of, with subjects speaking directly to the camera, usually in front […]
Post By Jimmy Kainja* It seemed strange when in the run-up to Afcon 2013, Nigeria’s coach Stephen Keshi forcefully criticised African football associations for their preference for white coaches. That when Zambia, until this week the great success story of African football, had Hervé Renard to thank for masterminding their unlikely triumph last year in […]
Referees are known to ruin games waving red cards. An early red card in the game between Ghana and Mali may have made this a classic. Instead the match competed with the empty rafters for attention. Both teams played nervous, uninspiring football. Futbologists may describe this as “Democratic Republic of Congo effect” or “Dieumerci dizziness.” […]
No goals on Day 1, but they were flying in on Day 2! Great goals they were too: Agyemang-Badu’s box-busting team goal, Kwadwo Asamoah’s crafty back-post header (he’s only 5’8”), graceful Eto’o-like precision from Tresor Mputu, and the colossal Seydou Keita’s dramatic last gasp winner for Mali.
This edition of the Africa Cup of Nations promises fans of Ghana’s Black Stars potential thrills but also raises the specters of recent failures. The Black Stars (they play the Democratic Republic of Congo today in their opening match of Afcon 2013) must be seen as one of the favored teams and are under a […]
By Amílcar Tavares* Almost one fifth of Cape Verde’s population would fit in the stands of The Calabash, the 95,000-capacity stadium where the Blue Sharks will today play their first ever Africa Cup of Nations match. Being recognised as one of the 16 best African national teams is a milestone in the country’s sports history, and […]
Jemima Pierre, professor of anthropology at Vanderbilt University, has written an ambitious book in The Predicament of Blackness: Postcolonial Ghana and the Politics of Race (University of Chicago Press 2012). She engages Ghanaian and African diasporan constructions, perceptions, and performances of Blackness and Whiteness in contemporary Ghana. By doing so, she brings anthropology into an […]
Ghana held its sixth consecutive elections since its democratic transition in 1992 this past weekend and once again has earned its reputation as a stable and thriving democracy, in spite of predictable cries of fraud by the losers, the New Patriotic Party (NPP). As I predicted here before the elections, Ghanaians elected the incumbent president John Dramani […]
“Trade not aid” – if you’ve been paying attention to the discourse on how to improve living standards for the world’s poor, it’s a familiar phrase. Over the past decade especially, armchair development experts (and, you know, “actual development experts”) have criticized aid for its failure to bring fundamental change. Meanwhile, virtually anywhere you turn, […]
Results of today’s parliamentary and presidential elections in Ghana are expected at the earliest by Sunday. (BTW, in areas where “the biometric verification machines did not work” voting has been extended till tomorrow.) Once you’ve checked out our elections preview (yes, our Dennis Laumann predicts incumbent President John Dramini Dramani Mahama will win a tight election), keep up […]
