Facebook and Apartheid
This piece on nostalgia for the old South Africa among some whites–including among young people born after legal Apartheid ended in 1994–on social network site, Facebook, is genius. It is in Afrikaans.
Further Reading
The politics of elegance
German historian Daniel Tödt wrote a history of the Congolese évolués. In this interview, he talks about the historiographical interventions of his book and the role of Patrice Lumumba in the history of évolués.
Turning the camera back home
The women filmmakers in the Ethiopian diaspora who have taken the risk of dedicating their lives to documenting their homeland.
There is no fight without the women
During Guinea-Bissau’s war of liberation, women filled key positions on the frontline. That is often forgotten in the mythology of the struggle for independence.
From Kampala to Soviet Kyiv—and back
The Ugandan architect, Stephen Mukiibi, reflects on his studies in Soviet Ukraine and the lessons he learned on equality, environment, race, and friendship.
Uganda’s most controversial and disruptive politician
A new book revisits the career of Uganda’s first elected prime minister, Benedicto Kiwanuka, his followers, and political ideas.
Tweeting apartheid sport
What if the social media conditions of 2021 existed in 1981? A group of New Zealand writers tweeted the damned 1981 Springbok rugby tour as if it was happening now.
Corruption is a class project
Different factions of South Africa’s ruling elite are implicated in looting and profiting from the state. South Africans should take an attitude of a plague on both their houses.
Swallowed by the archive
53 years after it was first made in 1968, the Ghanaian filmmaker King Ampaw’s short film ‘Black Is Black’ celebrates its inconspicuous premiere.
Abdulrazak Gurnah and the afterlives of German colonialism in East Africa
Gurnah’s Nobel Prize invites us to ponder Germany’s colonial past between the Scramble for Africa and the First World War in what is now Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda.
What does China want in Africa?
On this week’s AIAC Talk: China’s engagement with Africa is much debated. What exactly does it want on the continent?
The ultimate end of decolonization
Islamic scholarship in Africa and the meaning and end of decolonization in the work of religious studies scholar, Ousmane Kane.
Bring Patrice Lumumba home
The return of Patrice Lumumba’s remains must not be an occasion for Belgium to congratulate itself, but for a full accounting of the colonial violence that led to the assassination and coverup.
Back from Safari
If you hadn’t noticed, we were on our annual break from just before Christmas 2021 until now. We are back, including with some inspiration.
AFCON is decolonization
On this week’s AIAC Talk, Will Shoki and Sean Jacobs discuss the history and politics of the African Cup of Nations football tournament.
South Africa’s morbid symptoms
In South Africa, the old endures and the new is nowhere to be seen. What is to be done? Public intellectual Steven Friedman helps us make sense.
Ignorance, denial and insurgency in Mozambique
A new and different state is necessary to manage the complex problems in the region, but is it possible under the current regime that has fed the conflict?
Against a willing amnesia
Two books, by art historian Bénédicte Savoy and journalist Barnaby Phillips respectively, detail how we got to this point in the restitution of African heritage.
A dedicated teacher of the working class
Oupa Lehulere, revolutionary teacher and mentor, died on November 29. His approach to theoretical study and struggle was the same: there are no shortcuts.
The war on Téra
The death of two protesters last month in Niger, could bring pressure for a meaningful Truth and Reconciliation for French colonialism in Africa.
Not much to see here
Don’t get to excited by the local election results in South Africa. The party system is fragmenting, but old apartheid divides persist.