God don kam
Rapper Jovi has inducted himself into a club of Cameroonian artists who have embraced their own truths in the face of adversity.
6420 Article(s) by:
Nathan Chiume
Nathan Chiume is an Africa analyst and consultant.
The Limpopo School
The popular myth holds that most South African major resistance leaders come from its coastal regions. That’s not been the case since the mid-1970s.
Sudan’s national salvation
Omar al Bashir has fallen in Khartoum. Beyond regime change—managed by the military—there’s a deeper economic crisis.
What if postcolonial regimes use stories of your past to justify their rule?
The post-independence fates of Zimbabwean student activists who fought the Rhodesian regime.
The crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front
Judi Rever’s account of the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath challenges the official narrative.
The marginalization of African runners
The international body governing track and field announced that the longest distance race to be held will be the 3000 meters. We know who will benefit least from this change.
Lumumba Lives
Patrice Lumumba became a martyr of African independence. But what are Lumumba’s “political afterlives” nearly sixty years later?
Back to class
The emphasis on identity and difference act to temper the radical potential of South Africa’s youth. They need an education on class politics.
Why I’m no longer talking to Nigerians about race.
On writers, empathy and (black) solidarity politics.
How to film a revolution
The films of Robert Van Lierop and Margaret Dickson chronicled anti-imperial struggles in Mozambique.
Instant Films
The late Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambety once said his films are not based on premeditation or planning.
Algeria, Sudan, and the Arab Spring
The mass of people in North Africa are still a force to be reckoned with and the region is still far away from a return to authoritarian stagnation.
Sex, lies and Lagos
Everyday Lagos and Lagosians fill the pages of Leye Adenle’s thrillers, but fail to fill some holes in the plots.
The new South African stoner comedy
The new comedy ‘Matwetwe’ hits all the right chords to tell a story about the current place and time of South African youth.
Two people ‘cured’ of HIV. But we don’t have a cure for HIV.
News of a potential cure for HIV shouldn’t lead us to complacency. There are 37m people in the world with HIV, nearly half who can’t access treatment.
Senegal’s fear of outspoken women
Religious authorities in Senegal are organizing protests against a popular TV series. The outrage could be related to the challenges the series provokes of the “proper” place of women in society.
A meditation on home
A new memoir by South African-American Stephanie Urdang offers a remarkable and feminist view of love, longing and revolutionary struggle.
The great Somali apologia
Every time you project terror onto Somalis, remember to ask how we live in Mogadishu.
Cyclone Idai and climate justice
Beyond immediate disaster relief, sustainable global responses to climate change require greater and more predictable funding to strengthen the resilience of the planet’s most vulnerable regions.
Samir Amin and beyond
The authors of an upcoming edited book to revisit Samr Amir’s legacy in economics, write about what they wanted to achieve.