Africa Is a Radio presents #INTLBLK, Episode 1

It has been awhile since our last Africa Is a Country Radio episode. More than a year in fact! Being busy is no excuse, so I’m going to say that the real reason is we’ve been holding back so that we can bring bring you bigger and better things!

I’m happy to premiere today the first show for a new season from a new location. This is the INTL BLK show from Los Angeles hosted by myself, DJ Chief Boima and INTL BLK collaborator Nora Rahimian. This episode was a preview for our INTL BLK event last Sunday at the Ace Hotel in downtown LA. It featured a guest mix and interview with Nigerian-Angelino Tomi Tribe, and a guest mix from Afro-Panamanian-Angelina Francesca Harding. Enjoy!

Further Reading

A power crisis

Andre De Ruyter, the former CEO of Eskom, has presented himself as a simple hero trying to save South Africa’s struggling power utility against corrupt forces. But this racially charged narrative is ultimately self-serving.

Cinematic universality

Fatou Cissé’s directorial debut meditates on the uncertain fate and importance of Malian cinema amidst the growing dismissiveness towards the humanities across the world.

The meanings of Heath Streak

Zimbabwean cricketing legend Heath Streak’s career mirrors many of the unresolved tensions of race and class in Zimbabwe. Yet few white Zimbabwean sporting figures are able to stir interest and conversation across the nation’s many divides.

Victorious

After winning Italy’s Serie A with Napoli, Victor Osimhen has cemented his claim to being Africa’s biggest footballing icon. But is the trend of individual stardom good for sports and politics?

The magic man

Chris Blackwell’s long-awaited autobiography shows him as a romantic rogue; a risk taker whose life compass has been an open mind and gift to hear and see slightly into the future.

How to think about colonialism

Contemporary approaches to the legacy of colonialism tend to narrowly emphasize political agency as the solution to Africa’s problems. But agency is configured through historically particular relations of which we are not sole authors.

More than just a flag

South Africa’s apartheid flag has been declared hate speech by a top court. But while courts are important and their judgments matter, racism is a long and internationally entrenched social phenomenon that cannot be undone via judicial processes.