On Safari (July 2016)

By: Sean Jacobs

Image by limeabeans via Flickr.com

While we would like to go full steam year round, the fact that we have day jobs (for example, I work as a professor), mean we take a break from the site every summer. Officially we went on break Friday, July 16th (we set up you up with a Sierra Leone-connected mix). However, in honor of one of our patron saints, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (not the Hollywood version, but the more radical, contradictory Mandela) whose birthday it is today (he would have been 98 years old), we’re making the break official. Don’t worry, we’ll cook up some stuff for the fall and we’ll be back on September 1. In the meantime, you can go potter around the website and catch up on our archive. If you have really bad withdrawal symptoms, check in occasionally at our social media media (Facebook here, here and here, Instagram and Twitter here, here and here). See you in the Fall.

Who was the woman behind Lumumba?

Annette Joseph-Gabriel

The life of Lumumba advisor, Andree Blouin, offers lessons about the historically racialized and sexualized representations of women of color in politics.

Culture

Jan 17

The pitfalls of symbolic decolonization

Mukoma wa Ngugi

Mukoma wa Ngugi’s opening remarks at the launch (today) of the 2020 Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival in The Hague.

Politics

Jan 16

Finding a way through the deluge in Zimbabwe

Brian Raftopoulos

The ongoing socio-political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe requires an unprecedented national dialogue for transition—a “coming together” that appears to be as challenging as the country’s history of struggle is long.

Politics

Jan 15

On conspiracy theories

William Shoki

A resurgent conspiracy theory that Nelson Mandela died in 1985 reveals the growing hopelessness in South Africa that rampant inequality is irreversible.

Culture

Jan 14

When bad reporting mirrors the thing it wants to criticize

Kristof Titeca

A new film about Kony 2012 is a lesson in how not to fight simplification with more simplification.

Politics

Jan 13

‘Crazy Rich Nigerians’

Sakiru Adebayo

Nigerians’ anger and frustration are deservedly directed to their government. But few point to the special breed of Nigerians: the “Crazy Rich Nigerians.”

Politics

Dec 23

On Safari

Sean Jacobs

We are not just marking the end of 2019, but also the end of a momentous, if frustrating decade for building a more humane, caring future for Africans.

Culture

Dec 21

The black son shines

Sean Jacobs

Masauko Chipembere’s first solo album is a remarkable achievement and a timely musical reminder of the circular nature of pan-Africanist consciousness.

Politics

Dec 20

Skewing sexuality

Kwame Edwin Otu

The use of Evangelical Christianity to oppose progressive policies on sexuality education in schools is another example of Ghana’s march to the right.

Politics

Dec 20

I only have eyes for Bobi Wine

Sam Broadway

Is western media’s mostly individualized focus on the Ugandan opposition figure Bobi Wine helpful to his movement?

Culture

Dec 19

Time travelin’

Heran Abate

The Chimurenga arts collective explores the relevance of FESTAC, a near forgotten, epic black arts festival held in Nigeria in the mid-1970s, for our age.

Politics

Dec 19

On meeting Pastor Evan

Sarah Ladipo Manyika

Evan Mawarire became a leader against Mugabe and ZANU-PF’s oppression in Zimbabwe, but at what personal cost?

Politics

Dec 18

The fight for the future of food

Joeva Rock

Centering African voices in a discussion so often dominated by non-African observers.

Ancestors

Dec 18

Reenchanting Teju Olaniyan

Matthew H. Brown

Among the many legacies of Teju Olaniyan’s teaching and writing would be a project to not only speak in the ideological name of Africa, but to redistribute the power of speaking in that name.

Politics

Dec 17

Zimbabwe’s food security in crisis—but not for reasons you might think

Anna Brazier

A response to the latest United Nations report on Zimbabwe’s food emergency.

Politics

Dec 16

Between democracy and despotism

William Shoki

South Africa introduces a new law which allows traditional leaders along with third parties to decide for communities, without their consent.

Ancestors

Dec 13

Ben Turok’s commitment to liberation, non-racialism and equality

Turok, who died at 92, was committed to fighting for the ideals of the left in South Africa. It is worth reviewing what his contribution to these ideals were in the final chapter of his life.

Culture

Dec 12

Detritus of revolution

Christopher J. Lee

Nthikeng Mohlele’s novel Small Things (2013) provides a rejoinder to J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace (1999), depicting a black man’s perspective on the failures of South Africa’s transition.

Culture

Dec 11

Lagos in its filthy glory

Daniel Okechukwu

Filmmaker Akin Omotoso shows the Lagos that pushes the sane to insanity, the meek to thuggery and the lawful to anarchy.

Culture

Dec 10

At the edge of sight

Phindi Mnyaka

A review of one of the few books to come out of the continent about photography and the majority of contributors are African.

Africa is a Country