Africa Is a Country

Culture

6.19.2026

Abdullah Ibrahim was difficult, suspicious, and brilliant. And beneath all of it, he was searching for home.

6.18.2026

Nighttime view of UFC Freedom 250 on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., with the White House illuminated in the background as spectators surround an outdoor octagonal cage.

Bloodsports and empire

Karim Zidan

The UFC White House event looked like the final triumph of the UFC-Trump alliance. But it was actually something more consequential: the first act in a darker chapter of American politics.

6.17.2026

A pack of elite marathon runners races through a Cape Town city street during the 2026 Cape Town Marathon, accompanied by motorcycle escorts.

The distance between

Mattie C. Webb

6.16.2026

Match officials and team staff pose on a football field before a local match in Somalia, with referees in yellow kits standing around a ball at midfield.

The meaning of Omar Artan

Faisal Ali

6.15.2026

A colorful fishing boat resting on the coastline in Maio, Cape Verde.

No stress

Alasdair Howorth

Politics

6.14.2026

A person wearing a shirt reading “No Illegal Immigration” stands with their back to the camera facing a crowd of demonstrators carrying South African flags during a March and March protest in Bellville, Cape Town.

Kicking out migrants won’t create jobs

Khwezi Mabasa

The meaning of Omar Artan

Faisal Ali

6.16.2026

No stress

Alasdair Howorth

6.15.2026

Olympic medallists Tommie Smith, Peter Norman, and John Carlos stand on the podium after the 200 metres at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Smith and Carlos bow their heads and raise black-gloved fists in protest against racial discrimination.

Continuities in exclusion

Dawson McCall

6.14.2026

Fans of Senegal’s national football team cheer in the stands at the Africa Cup of Nations, with several supporters spelling out “SENEGAL” using body paint.

The World Cup Senegal can’t attend

Momar Dieng

6.13.2026

Culture

6.01.2026

Who's afraid of Michael Jackson?

Sherry L. Zane

The new Michael Jackson biopic turns a politically conscious Black artist into a raceless fantasy figure, erasing the civil rights struggles, global solidarities, and histories that shaped him.

Culture

5.28.2026

A young Black man in a suit sits alone on a chair in the foreground of a faded, sepia-toned class or group photograph. The larger group behind him—men, women, and children posed outside a building with a basketball hoop—is rendered in a halftone, archival style, while the seated figure appears sharper and more contemporary. The collage-like image is framed with rough paper edges and taped corners, creating the feel of a pasted historical document.

Walking through the ruins of French Cameroon

Zahra Moloo

Culture

5.25.2026

A teenager lies down in front of a punching bag in a boxing gym.

Against the ropes

Olaoluwa Olowu

Culture

5.22.2026

Arsenal is an African club

Sean Henry Jacobs

Culture

5.20.2026

Illustration of East Indian immigrants gathered outdoors on a cacao estate in Trinidad, with musicians, dancers, and seated families beneath trees in a rural landscape.

How to read postcolonial writing

Lina Abushouk

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Politics

5.27.2026

A motorcyclist drives through open, dry grassland in Tilembeya, Mopti, Mali.

Anticolonialism in the age of fragmentation

Djiguikôrô

The violence unfolding in Mali reflects a deeper political impasse: how to sustain popular aspirations for emancipation without collapsing into military authoritarianism.