Things fall apart
Paranoia is my friend since, as Achille Mbembe says, “the pandemic democratizes the power to kill; now we all have the power to kill.”
Culture
Transnational African feminisms
What roles have francophone African women played in movements for pan-African liberation, historically and now?
Hip hop futures in Kenya
Rapper Khaligraph Jones (government name: Brian Ouko Robert) chronicles the challenges faced by young people in Nairobi, Kenya.
Dear David Chang
A plea for foodie celebrities like Chang, the host of a popular Netflix show, to take African cuisine seriously.
Beyond the Western gaze
The "Africa needs help" vs. "No! Africa can teach you lessons!" is tiring. Other than benefiting a few pundits, are we deriving any value from it?
Dog day afternoon
The basic lesson from Halima Ouardiri’s short film, “Clebs,” about over 750 stray dogs living in a Moroccan sanctuary: We behave just like dogs.
A time for farewell, and a return
Africans rarely re-evaluate ourselves, the basis of our knowledge and our traditions on our own terms, argues Sierra Leonean writer Ishmael Beah.
Ivan Vladislavic and Muhammad Ali
How do white South African writers confront the country's as well as their own pasts?
An ode to Somali girlhood
A new film set in Djibouti City presents a searing class critique of Somali girlhood.
The bedroom adventures of African women
Talking to other African women about sexual experiences, desires, and fantasies without feeling judged.
A brief history of anti-black violence in China
The recent news of evictions and mistreatment of African students in China during the COVID-19 pandemic is rooted in a history of violence and discrimination.
Confronting the weapon of photography
The imperial legacy of the camera and the narrative power of words and images.
Eric Garner in Palestine
Activists in the occupied territories reinvent the Freedom Rides of 1960s America and in the process link US and Palestinian struggles for liberation.
The complex history of skin lighteners
The intersecting dynamics of class and gender, changing beauty ideals, and the expansion of consumer capitalism in Africa.
Invitation diplomacy
Onejoon Che's film about North Korea’s relationship to African countries suggests a unique transcontinental relationship that resists easy classification.
Feminist organizing on digital platforms
The coverage of African women in the mainstream media continues to be lacking and often times problematic. The website, African Feminism, wants to change that.
The picture is a beginning
There’s a certain humanity in the work of late South African photographer Santu Mofokeng in how he approached his subjects and the politics of representation.
This is my country
The Liberian academic and writer talks about citizenship, belonging, and what unites her fragmented nation.
How to steal a country
Rehad Desai's film celebrates the investigative journalists who expose the corruption of Zuma's regime in South Africa, comes with a depressing note: To date, no one has gone to jail.
Mandela and the Others
What can we learn from the 256 hours of audio recordings of the 1964 Rivonia Trial's proceedings?