Collective guilt
The disfunction with American voluntourism and Christian outreach in Africa, that in some cases have led to abuse.
6443 Article(s) by:
Ladan Osman
Ladan Osman is the author of Exiles of Eden (2019) and The Kitchen-Dweller’s Testimony (2015). She lives in Brooklyn.
Winnie Mandela and the historians
Historians have surprisingly said little about Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, before or since her April 2018 passing.
Even love does not fear death
Sierra Leoneans take center stage as storytellers and active witnesses in a new documentary about the Ebola outbreak.
The World Cup and international relations
Who gets to host future editions of the men’s soccer World Cup is not just big business, but also a bargaining chip in international relations.
The outflow of the colonial past
What will it take to get Germany to own up fully to the atrocities it committed during the Genocide in Namibia?
Pentecostal republic
Christian Pentecostalism has crept to the center of public life in Nigeria.
Kinshasa headache
The harsh realities of resistance for a new generation in Joseph Kabila’s Congo.
Pay me what you owe me
Brooklyn, Biggie Smalls and Hari Kunzru’s White Tears.
The ethics of political art
A critical review of Swiss theatre director Milo Rau’s multi-media project, “Congo Tribunal,” about the violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Mutual Entanglements
The complex, and at times strained, relations between African-Americans and African immigrants in the United States.
Rwanda’s £30 million Arsenal sleeve
The Arsenal ‘Visit Rwanda’ sponsorship deal is government image management 101.
Cobalt isn’t a conflict mineral
Policymakers need to properly assess the risks to ordinary Congolese people from expanding the “conflict minerals” category.
The post Trump fortunes of South Africa’s white nationalists
South Africa’s white nationalists are finally in the spotlight, thanks to Donald Trump. Nobody likes what they see.
Public funds for private gain
The planned global Education Outcomes Fund—the UN seems onboard—would create markets for “non-state” providers while guaranteeing profits for private investors that purchase “impact bonds.”
Italian fascists quoting Samora Machel and Sankara
The use of Marxist-inspired arguments, often distorted, to support racist or nationalist political positions, is known as “rossobrunismo” (red-brownism) in Italy.
I am German when we win
Mezut Ozil called out racism in Germany. So what happened to the conversation about dual heritage, racism and immigration there?
The President’s Footballers
Star players in Cameroon’s national soccer team have always doubled as PR pawns for the protracted rule of the country’s aging and hard-line head of state.
‘Why should we speak with you?’
An interview with Ruben Andersson on his book Illegality Inc, an ethnographic account of Europe’s efforts to halt irregular migration along Spain’s borders with Africa.
Kwame Nkrumah’s development state
Nkrumah’s government was driven by large scale state development projects. They have a mixed legacy. Can Ghanaians “redeem” the fruits of his development visions?
Pentecostal penance provides dubious prosperity
Prosperity preachers in Africa have been the subject of much media coverage, but may not be as popular as it would seem.