The “Caribbeanization” of Afrobeat in Colombia
In Colombia, doing straightforward political music carries many risks, including confronting state repression, political armed rebellions, and organized crime.
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Karen Chalamilla
Karen Chalamilla is a culture writer and researcher based in Dar es Salaam.
The rise and fall of an African novelist
By questioning black masculinity in post-apartheid South Africa, Thando Mgqolozana became one of the most impactful writers of his time. But then he got accused of the same thing he opposed.
Enduring grief in Enugu
Chika Unigwe’s novel, ‘The Middle Daughter,’ reimagines a Greek myth within a contemporary Nigerian context and develops it into a gripping family saga.
Follow the money
The city of Gqeberha in South Africa is an example of how water is increasingly becoming a commodified resource, benefiting the powerful and depriving everyone else.
Shifting the guilt
Even though Israeli novelist Agur Schiff’s latest book is meant to be a satirical reflection on the legacy of slavery and stereotypes about Africa, it ends up reinforcing them.
Banana Republics
Western leftists are arguing among themselves about whether there will be bananas under socialism. In Africa, however, bananas do not necessarily represent the vagaries of capitalism.
The next episode
We announce some major changes at Africa Is a Country. A director of operations and a new editor.
On safari
On our annual publishing break, we’ll be pondering what the responsibility of the African intellectual is today.
Who is hustling who?
In Kenya, political elites across the spectrum are trying to sell off the country for themselves—capitulation is inevitable.
The struggle has come to land
Two miles from the White House, ‘Black Land News’ forwarded a bold vision of political, economic, and cultural autonomy inspired by African decolonization struggles.
The specter of homophobia
How does it feel to be gay in an environment where homophobia is mundane and rampant, and where gays are silenced, ridiculed, and assaulted in everyday life?
Wielding scissors
Asher Gamedze on his new single ‘Wynter Time,’ and the struggle of oppressed peoples against dispossession, exploitation and alienation.
Sudan’s lying witches
Since 2019, two separate political processes developed simultaneously in Sudan: one at the state level and the other at the grassroots. Today’s war originates in the predominance of the former over the latter.
Reading List: Luke Sinwell
Once associated with socialism, the language of participation has been co-opted. How was this radical idea depoliticized?
The historical archive of HIV
Kayo Chingonyi’s latest poetry collection is a powerful meditation on the cycle of infection, death, and mourning wrought by HIV.
A tale of two reviews
In the 1960s, two African nationalist magazines shared a name—but declassified files reveal that they were on opposite sides of a literary Cold War.