S is for Samora Machel
We asked about a dozen Africa Is a Country contributors what their favorite books of 2012 were. Here are their picks.
Culture
My Subjective List of The Best Albums of 2012
In any case, here's 10 albums I liked this year; in no particular order. It includes Alabama Shakes, Isaac Mutant, Kendrick Lamar and Bruce Springsteen.
10 Albums You Might Have Missed in 2012
Janka Nabay, Ben Zabo, Sinkane, Jagwa Music, Kanyi, Youssoupha, Kyle Shepherd, Ebo Taylor, Karantamba and Francis Bebey.
When the moving picture merges with the sonic beat
Our very biased selection of the top 10 music videos of 2012.
Styles and Genres
The best films of 2012 with African subjects as their focus: incredibly powerful and moving activist filmmaking that has documented the shifting politics of the continent.
Kuduro’s International Wave
If Os Kuduristas is problematic, there’s no one to blame for its existence but perhaps us, the international community and the media.
Social Media in Africa’s Revolutions
How anonymous parties define, construct, and support uprisings in Africa via social media.
The Trouble with Aid with “The Trouble with Aid”
How the humanitarian movement grew in close relation to the democratization of moving image technologies.
‘Race jokes’ in South African ads
In South Africa, repackaging dated colonial fears about race and sex are used to sell beer and to win an advertising award for being "different."
Hip as Nationalist Project
Kuduru as an effort by politically connected Angolan elites to to package a fun and edgy dance born in Angola as soft power.
Redefining “Blackness”
An interview with Nigerian-American artist, Toyin Odutola.
God, too, takes the train to work
The author, also a photographer, on documenting South Africa's "train churches."
Jared Thorne’s Black Folks
A black photographer who moved to South Africa from the US, explores the transcontinental dialogue between black middle class people the world over.