A question of competency
A very short introduction to Peter Mutharika, Malawi’s new President.
6453 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.
Friendship Forever
China is building new football stadiums in Africa. If its “agenda” of stadium diplomacy has been concealed, it hasn’t really been hidden very far from view.
South African Hip Hop–An Outsider’s Perspective
One evening while channel surfing at home, I stumbled upon what sounded like a rap cypher*
History Class with Cheta: Who is Herbert Macaulay
Too many people have forgotten about the one Naira coin, and the chap on that coin.
Adam Sandler’s “Africa”
It’s unfunny and borderline offensive. But Late night TV talk shows can’t get enough of it.
The World Of Ridiculous Internet Videos: Who is Kwality?
I wasn’t sure of how to react when I opened the Youtube link to Kwality’s “Official Lion King.”
In Front of Our Very Own Eyes
“Miners Shot Down,” by director Rehad Desai, is a haunting and emotional documentary of the Marikana massacre in August 2012.
What’s in the future for Lamu
Culturally and geographically separated from mainland Kenya, Lamu offers a rare window into the past and the woes and wonders of modern development.
The story of a South African tribe
White South Africans come together to vote as a bloc for only two political parties: the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front Plus.
Heart of a Lion
Cape Town singer Crosby is about to release his new album “Better Place.” Since I was
When Maya Angelou lived in Africa
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a group of African Americans moved to Ghana and redefined their relationships to citizenship in the U.S. and their African identities.
The quotidian life of a neighborhood
Does the graphic novel, ‘Aya of Yop City’, retain its texture in its transformation to the screen?
The legalization of political repression in Ethiopia
In Ethiopia the façade of legalism has become an indispensable gloss on political repression.
The Fader goes to Cape Town
A short profile of the music scene in Cape Town is dominated by white shows – with a lot of electrocentric music and flashy strobe lights.
The politics of conversion in northern Nigeria
Forced conversion as a strategy exclusive is not to Islamist terrorism in northern Nigeria. Everyone’s been in on the act.
Kickin’ It With Christian Tiger School
I arrive in Braamfontein twenty minutes early, at 6pm, for a meeting with Sebastiano Zenasi (or
Wole Soyinka has opinions about social media
The novelist and Nobel Prize winner on why he avoids social media entirely, saying he doesn’t tweet, blog, or engage with what he calls today’s increasingly promiscuous digital platforms.
Heathrow Airport maps the world, and it still belongs to Britain
I was sitting in the tube recently and browsing through one of those free morning papers that
Toto’s Africa–The Disco Edition
Came across this nice little disco edit of Toto's "Africa." Since we have a running series
Afrobeat, Brazilian Style
Brazilians may have produced the first ever afrobeat.