Cape Verde’s culture of recalcitrance
The island nation's celebrated political system was never a gift bestowed, but seized through sheer agency and hard-fought autonomy.
Culture
Reading John Mbiti from Uganda
The late Mbiti is praised for indigenizing Christianity. However, his veneration of "African" tradition also served as theological justification for authoritarian rule.
The voice of the Republic’s forgotten
The film BACK UP! and important conversations about state violence, racism, global imperialism, and, crucially, the internal workings of social movements.
“Converting Eviction”
A reflection—by one of the curators—on a Swiss-South African art project exploring eviction and extraction.
The reading habits of Ngugi wa Thiong’o
In the wake of yet another Ngugi wa Thiong’o snub by the Nobel Committee, we are at a loss. Perhaps a reconsideration of the author’s body of work can provide insight.
Are you safe? Please stay safe
The statistics and scenes of violence against black immigrants in South Africa are horrible. A young Cameroonian student in South Africa writes about what it is like to live under such insecurity.
A living monument of the struggle
The passing of American economist Ann Seidman has again spotlighted the impacts of committed scholarship on Africa.
The resistance music of the Ugandan people
The pop star turned Member of Parliament, Bobi Wine, is only the latest in a long line of music-as-politics in Uganda.
Multimodal memories
Exile and memory from East Africa to the United Kingdom and back again.
A particular kind of black man
The Nigerian-American writer, Tope Folarin, wrestles with blackness and black immigrant identity in his new novel.
The end of revolutionary radio in South Africa?
Bush Radio, "The Mother of Community Radio in Africa," is in financial trouble. Give them all your money.
The Cuban Atlantic
How socialist Cuba's foreign policy of solidarity with Africans, midwifed a new genre of music on the island.
Refuting that precolonial Africa lacked written traditions
Ajami is the centuries-old practice in West Africa of writing other languages using the modified Arabic script. It is also more widely dispersed than we give it credit for.
The poetic revolution will not be anthologized
Black Women’s poetry has been largely ignored or denigrated in the world of South African letters. They have to do it on their own.
Witchcraft studies
The gendered nature of witchcraft accusations, especially against women who deviate from social norms, in Ghana and across Africa.
The mysterious ways of the ‘The Black Jacobins’
As a new book shows, C.L.R. James' The Black Jacobins had an impact far beyond the Caribbean. In places like Apartheid South Africa.
Are you really Global apartheid?
The writer, a "Global" Somali traveler, reflects on borders, airports, and belonging.
Love in the time of war
Sudanese director, Hajooj Kuka's first feature film is an extremely important perspective on the contours of masculinity and the contradictions of war.
The beautyful ones
A personal reflection, by the daughter of a fighter in Zimbabwe's Second Chiumurenga, on the death of President Robert Mugabe.
Why are we only learning to cook French food in Africa?
It's easier to find African restaurants in New York City than it is in Cape Town, and culinary schools on the continent aren't helping.