The hip hop president?
Hip hop and the Black political mainstream more broadly, continues to have hope in the promises of American capitalism.
Blog
Living on
The Indian activist ES Reddy led the fight against South African apartheid at the UN. More importantly, his life reflected the best of left internationalism.
Achille Mbembe’s decolonization
Mbembe’s work serves as a guide to understand our fragmented global present and the urgent matter of charting ways out of our shared dark night.
Gambia’s truth commission
As some Gambians speak before the country's TRC, the testimonies create a space for their compatriots to express ideas about rights, dignity and social values.
Slam democracy
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has a rigid educational system, largely unchanged from the colonial era. Slam artists and activists are working to open it up to alternative spaces of expression.
Looking disenchantment in the face
The history of Africa involves navigating utopian visions and brutal realities as the recent work of Egyptian filmmaker Tamer el-Said's and before that, Ayi Kwei Armah show.
The corporatization of food in South Africa
We can only end hunger when people have control over what they eat and how that food is produced.
Hustler mentality
Kenya's Deputy President, William Ruto, wants to be president. He projects himself as a go-getter. But there is a more sinister story behind his hustler narrative.
A cycle of diminishing expectations
South Africans are learning the hard way that corruption cannot simply be solved through technical fixes and increasing “accountability” through locking the villains up.
The Jacinda Ardern model
New Zealand's Prime Minister is a very nice centrist. People in the rest of the world, including Africans, calling for her to be emulated should be careful what they wish for.
The multiple meanings of #EndSARS
The recent #EndSARS protest in Nigeria reveals how young people carve out agency in the context of Nigeria's dysfunctional and violent state.
Beyond the Nobel Peace Prize
New biographies reveal Wangari Maathai as a reflective scholar and critical thinker.