How not to report on Eastern Congo
Western media coverage of the DRC conflict is riddled with inaccuracies, oversimplifications, and racial bias—reinforcing dangerous narratives rather than informing the world.
Media
The memefication of politics
On our year-end publishing break, we reflect on how 2024’s contradictions reveal a fractured world grappling with inequality, digital activism, and the blurred lines between action and spectacle.
When you get under Antony Blinken’s skin
On the deplatforming of 'African Stream.'
Quando eu digo África
Por que as histórias sobre o sofrimento africano são tão persistentes?
Keep eyes on Sudan
The indifference towards Sudan's suffering can be traced to a disturbing pattern deeply rooted in antiblackness.
Angola’s ‘well-behaved’ media
Press freedom under President João Lourenço is in bad shape.
A comunicação social ‘bem comportada’ de Angola
A precariedade da liberdade de imprensa em Angola sob o mandato do presidente João Lourenço.
African digital culture in context
How might a longer view of African art-making affect our understanding of what counts as art, text, and authorship?
Editing pan-Africanism
Many know Frene Ginwala, the iconic anti-apartheid activist, as democratic South Africa’s first speaker of parliament. But few know of her time building pan-African media in Dar Es Salaam.
The gossip bros
The age of the podcasters as thought leaders—think #PodcastandChill and The Hustlers Corner—is upon us.
The institution of Alex Magaisa
Magaisa, who died this month, set agendas, and demanded the highest standards from the political and intellectual classes in Zimbabwe.
An ethnography for fad diets
Two tourists take a package trip to visit the Hadza people in Tanzania and are so jazzed with what they see, they make a podcast about it. What could go wrong?
Ted Lasso and the Afropolitan
The Afropolitics of one of the characters, Sam Obisanya, makes the second season of TV series "Ted Lasso" even better than the first.
On failed states and the pitfalls of Western commentary
The tendency of Western commentators to dress up African tragedies in the patronizing logic of relativism.
Decolonize this
To undo the misrepresentation of women of color in global media, we need a historically grounded solidarity.
More widespread than we think
Today's social movements rely on tech collectives to organize safely. But few know the history of other technologies used by earlier liberation movements.
What is whiteness to a cyborg?
Tracing the digital contours of the settler colony helps us understand how old inequalities will shape a future with artificial intelligence.
Women’s liberation and media in post-independence Tanzania
Fatma Alloo (of the Tanzania Media Women's Association) on how women used the media and cultural spaces to organize and challenge gender norms.
The most wanted man
The legend of Nelson Mandela was built years before his lengthy jail sentence catapulted him to global fame.