Mauritania’s past doesn’t want to go away
The so-called “peaceful transition” in Mauritania from colonialism to political independence isn’t unanimously understood as such inside the country and reflect older rivalries.
Lungu’s Livingstone
Where does the idea that Zambia is a Christian nation come from?
Fanon’s mission
The works of Frantz Fanon can be read as architectural renderings of rights, futures, and generations toward a “very different Afro-futurism.”
History time
The historical novel is in vogue across the continent, challenging how we conceive of the nation, and how we write its histories.
The politics of Thanksgiving in Ethiopia
Irreecha, an annual ritual celebrated at the end of Ethiopia’s rainy season, offers a window into contemporary socio-political issues.
Culture
Out of the pigeonholes
A Nigerian play and its leading man confront western misrepresentations.
A cinema for (some of) the people
South African film production house kykNET’s dominance skews storytelling on the country’s screens.
The virtual reality of Walter Sisulu
While Sisulu’s political career was less celebrated than Nelson Mandela, his wasn’t much less remarkable.
Decolonization can’t just be a metaphor
Decolonizing museums requires more than knowledge exchange and lending back stolen artifacts.
A worthy ancestor
The world is out of joint and Immanuel Wallerstein, one of its great public intellectuals, has left us—albeit with tools to battle the dying kicks of capitalism.
Football is a Country
Football and neoliberal repression go together in Egypt.
Politics
The (Im)possibilities of Ugandan patriotism
To say we are “allies” would be to delude ourselves into thinking that some of us are safe. We are not safe.
Tunisia’s surveillance state
Mass monitoring poses a threat to democratic freedoms as the case of Tunisia shows.
Jennifer Davis: Fearless and visionary
Davis, who died at 84 on October 15th, was a prominent leader of the anti-apartheid movement in the US and an analytical thinker and visionary.
The Kenyan Hunger Games
Philanthropy and celebrities are not enough to remedy the inequalities that persist in Kenya.
What’s the point of opposition politics in Southern Africa?
Opposition parties, inequality, and the politics of failure in the Southern African region.