Who are the Olympics for?
Beneath the image of togetherness, the world’s biggest athletic spectacle is still beset by discrimination and exclusion.
Paris
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.
A History in Fragments
The recent explosions in the Stade de France was one of the most surreal things to ever take place in a stadium built nearly two decades ago specifically to house history.
French-Algerian sculptor Rachid Khimoune exhibits in New York City
Rachid Khimoune grew up in a small mining town in Northern France where his Algerian parents
Kehinde Wiley Goes To Paris
The American artist says he wants to tackle Françafrique; to turn it on its head. But in the process, he can't help repeat stereotypes and artificial divisions.
Interrupting Paris Fashion Week
A group of black women, from Africa and its diaspora, decide to mess with Paris Fashion Week. Was it worth it? Did anyone care?
Parisian Africa
Younger generations of artists, many immigrants of African origin, are reconfiguring the arts in France on their own terms.
The Other African election: France’s First Round
Both of the front-runners, incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist François Hollande, have run against FrançAfrique. Easier said than done.
Bamako-sur-Seine
A sense of how the Malian diaspora experiences the political tensions and instability back home.
The World of Congolese artist Pume Bylex
In the introduction to The World According to Bylex, Filip De Boeck and Koen Van Synghel
We are the remains
This is Number 11 in my occasional series of posts highlighting the music of my hometown, Paris, also a center of Europe's African diaspora.
French Tropicalism
When it comes to engaging with French language opinions and writings in English, it’s a desert out there.
Music Break. Mokobe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd6W5jjOgRA Mokobe commentates on the actions of Rihannon, Naomi Campboule, Rachida Beckham and friends over a
Paris a Continent … the Nike edition
I like the tone and aesthetic of this commercial. It makes Paris look like parts of
Black Bazar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=841i137-CYg Alain Mabanckou’s 2009 novel Black Bazar spoke successfully to and about the African diaspora in
Shoutout Banlieue
Number 8 in our series, Paris Is a Continent, showcasing the music of the French capital, is about bragging rights and one song.
The whole ‘Afrobeats’ thing
Afrobeats is broadly what most people think when they try to define black music in the UK. But it is hard to pin down.
Get Up, Stand Up
Tunisian born artist Amel Bennys, who works between Tunis and Paris, has just had her first
Fathers, men and brothers
The third in my series of musical breaks from Paris, France, features L'Algerino, Nessbeal, Corneille and La Fouine.
Music Break. YaoBobby ft. Fredy Massamba
There’s a fast growing collection of cross-over hip hop songs produced by Central and West African