The existing order of things
As the South African ruling class wages a protracted war against the poor and working class, it grows comfortable with the idea that people have more or less accepted the status quo.
6442 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.
A deafening salvo
With a new book, Chimurenga resurrects Festac, the blackest and largest ever gathering of artists from Africa and its diaspora in 1977 in Lagos, Nigeria.
The Niger Delta, oil, and Trump’s America
Lessons for Americans in the age of Black Lives Matter, from the Niger Delta’s long struggle for environmental justice.
Independence Day
The labor and political organizing of Somali immigrants in the US Midwest should inspire more Americans to join the broader movement for worker rights and racial equality.
Feminism, religion and culture in Senegal
Islam is interpreted to establish the dominance of men, and this male supremacy is at the root of all our problems.
The battle within
Uhuru Kenyatta’s political war against his deputy president and supposed ally, William Ruto.
Buddha in Africa
A new documentary about China’s colonization of Malawi reveals how one colonial hand opens the door for another.
Lumumba’s iconography in the arts
On anniversary of the birthday of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of an independent Congo, we ask, “What iconography arose around him, and why is that iconography so diverse?”
An ambivalent sense of belonging
Janet McIntosh’s fascinating book, Unsettled: Denial and Belonging Among White Kenyans, forces an interrogation of the past.
Six LGBTQ+ figures from African history
In honor of Pride month, we revisit the past which shows that many Africans were unapologetic about their sexuality and gender non-conformity.
The Two Sudans
During the Cold War, Khartoum was very successful at frustrating solidarity by other Africans for South Sudan’s independence struggle.
What does it mean to be African in a post-apartheid academy?
The Nigerian scholar and poet, Harry Garuba, who died in February 2020, was a key figure in African Studies and teaching literature in South Africa.
‘We have no Harlem in Sudan’
The current global discourse on Black Lives Matter does not yet adequately include anti-black racism beyond how the West experiences it.
Exclusionary city
The destruction of Tarkwa Bay in Lagos and the battle over what makes a city and who belongs in it.
Reading List: Xavier Livermon
Livermon’s new book explores how South African kwaito artists, Lebo Mathosa and Mandoza, pushed against the boundaries of gender and performance in their music.
This artist doesn’t want to sing for the Kenyan government
Government money, artistic freedom, and integrity in Kenya in the time of COVID-19.
Teaching as grassroots feminist militantism
Teacher, journalist, and photographer, Ndeye Seck, talks about feminism and her teaching practice, the Senegalese education system and her passion for football.
The blankest spot on Trump’s world map
In his new book of his time in the Trump White House, former US National Security Adviser John Bolton shares Trump’s very few thoughts on Africa.
What’s “local” labor in Burkina Faso’s mining sector?
In Burkina Faso’s mines, the differences between local and foreign workers are significant, especially what they get paid.
‘Bogus companies’ in the DR Congo
Can safety policies in the transnational mining sector in DR Congo break with the past?