Artists help us leap into the unknown
When the usual rules no longer hold, like in a pandemic, we might find inspiration in the collectivities and working principles of artists.
Culture
Art and the politicization of African bodies
The painter Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi speaks to Drew Thompson about the evolution of her practice and how she locates herself in contemporary African art.
The roots album that never got made
The “World Music” record industry has a lot to do with what kinds of reggae music we get to hear and consume.
Representing northern Ghana
A hierarchy exists against indigenous film industries in the Ghanaian film industry.
Reading List: Cara Moyer-Duncan
Media scholar Cara Moyer-Duncan wrote a book about postapartheid South Africa. Here she gives her book picks for our #ReadingList series.
The other Afropolitans
What it means to be a man and a feminist.
The brutal beauty of Morocco’s Soccer Ultras
Raja Casablanca's fan clubs are well organized, politically active and occasionally violent.
Saturday mornings
Recreational soccer in New York City offers significant social, cultural, and sometimes economic support for the city's working class African immigrants.
The afterghosts of protest
Jumoke Verissimo’s first novel, A Small Silence, explores the psychic afterlives of protest in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic.
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.”
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.