Now is our time to tell our own stories
The celebrated Mozambican writer, Mia Cuoto, argues, among others, that it is essential that governments think in terms of the nation, not its elites.
6420 Article(s) by:
Nathan Chiume
Nathan Chiume is an Africa analyst and consultant.
The white hunter
Outrage against arrogant hunters is not enough. Wildlife conservation requires rethinking.
The making of Mugabe’s intolerance
How an autocratic strain of pan-Africanism of the early 1960s shaped Robert Mugabe.
How Africa shaped Immanuel Wallerstein
Africa and its peoples were central to the great Immanuel Wallerstein’s intellectual development and political activism.
Do we really need prisons and police?
Can policing deliver justice in South Africa? The short answer to that question has been, decidedly, no.
The problem with microcredit in Africa
The microcredit industry is not a driver of development and poverty reduction, but quite the opposite: it is an “anti-developmental” intervention.
We all the way live
Live TV broadcasts of political rallies, funerals and press conferences, may be more decisive than social media in shaping mass debate in South Africa.
The emptiness of an ending
With Mugabe’s death, might there be space for a new self-definition as a nation in Zimbabwe, as a broad family of nationals, with a shared national project?
Nativism and narrow nationalism in South African politics
The question of who belongs in South Africa, stains any project that aims to build a more equal and inclusive society.
A trap nomad finds a home
The Somali artist and DJ, Hibotep, is one of the many pushing electronic hybrid sounds from East Africa through the epicenter of the movement, Kampala.
Getting the story right
13 years after Binyavanga Wainaina’s satirical essay, many “experts” on Africa continue to fail to comprehend the need for African voices in stories about the continent.
Hendrik Witbooi’s Bible
Restitution and the responsibility of addressing Europe’s colonial legacy – in this case Namibia – via artifacts left behind.
The Coloured Gangster
In Cape Town, gangs have come to dominate social and economic life for the city’s mostly coloured working class.
Beyond White Jesus
While many African Christians can only imagine a white Jesus, others have actively promoted a vision of a brown or black Jesus, both in art and in ideology.
General Sisi’s empty seats
Football and neoliberal repression go together in Egypt.
Ghana’s Rastas and the year of return
Ghana’s government likes to advertise its “Year of Return” to welcome members of the African diaspora back to the country, but the first returnees, Ratafarians, are still fighting for their rights.
Salif Keita’s incomparable call
The famed Malian musician celebrates his 70th birthday and 50 years in the industry in 2019.
Jour des morts
Comment le vol de cadavres au Gabon reflète la politique du pays.
Day of the dead
How stealing corpses in Gabon reflects its politics: a political system that does not hesitate to draw its vital force in death, even as death and paralysis threaten the system’s leading beneficiaries.
The problem with post-race comedy
Comics have power, especially over the young, and perhaps more than we care to acknowledge.