Brazil’s Cold Welcome
How accusations that a visiting African-American professor was denied entry to a high end hotel, present an opportunity to address racism in Brazil.
6450 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.
We watch movies (and trailers) for you
This is the first edition of a new weekly series of posts/listicles we'll be doing to
The emperor gets a new wardrobe
African political elites will continue to use the spoils of “development” and aid to serve their personal interests.
Fueling rightwing populism
Xenophobia after the #ParisAttacks isn’t limited to boneheads like Rupert Murdoch.
Waiting to be local
The writer, in graduate school in Britain, writes about the various roadblocks in the way of Africans, in his case Ugandans, to travel to Europe.
Bedtime reading for George Clooney
How can international advocacy movements be self-reflective and accountable to the people on whose behalf they speak?
The “refugees welcome” culture
For all the good press, the majority of German society are uncomfortable with people who frame their demands from a postcolonial perspective.
Asking for a friend
The big questions that animated our friend this week: Facebook, thanks for the 'Paris Safety Check.'
A History in Fragments
The recent explosions in the Stade de France was one of the most surreal things to ever take place in a stadium built nearly two decades ago specifically to house history.
Sex, beer, and ndombolo
A Congolese writer whose work oscillates between gripping dystopia and humanist celebration.
The land grabs in Africa you don’t hear about
There’s little doubt that Chinese and Arab interests are procuring land in Africa, but a careful review of the evidence suggests also point to local buyers.
Catching up with Noura Mint Seymali
A smallish woman from Mauritania, she rules the stage with a fiery intensity that only the most powerful divas can maintain.
A short history of helping far-off peoples
Humanitarian images have obscured the causes and political complexities of disasters, and undermined the agency of their victims—both symbolically and practically.
South Africa, Post-Trauma
To what extent has South Africa and South Africans failed to address the aftermath of Apartheid, the resonances of which can be felt to this day? To what extent are we living in a post-traumatic space?
We will send an insult to your mum
The Mathare Social Justice Center’s activists work to shake off the menacing insults of forced evictions, tenure insecurity, police violence and increasing precarity.
The impasse in Zanzibar
After a tough election in Tanzania, won by the ruling party, a constitutional crisis looms in Zanzibar.
The Hooligans
A black coated Nylophor fence transverses the Union Building lawns the day #FeesMustFall marched to the
Asking for a friend
This week's 20 questions from our friend: Can Idris Elba's acting save the Netflix movie 'Beasts of
What do they know of cricket
White South African cricket writers should stop commenting on cricket as if the game is apolitical or the national team is still as all-white as when the country was first allowed back into international cricket.
The failure in understanding the Congo
The new documentary film, “We Will Win Peace,” skillfully debunks many myths behind conflict minerals in the Congo.