Decolonizing the museum
How should Belgium's Africa Museum address its colonial past?
Culture
There are no bees in Dakar
Dedicated to the memory of the writer’s friend: the rebel and genius, Binyavanga Wainaina.
Our man of the people
Binyavanga Wainaina was a writer who not only produced seminal work, but also contributed to and shaped the African literary tradition into what it is today.
The falsification of history
The charge that Mohandas Gandhi was a racist is doing the rounds again. His stay in colonial South Africa fuels those claims.
South African homophobia goes to parliament
Are postapartheid norms against open homophobia in party politics eroding in South Africa?
The resilience of culture
The film 'The Sound of Masks' explores dance, memory and the meaning of life, ancestry, culture and political struggle in postcolonial Mozambique.
Morning yet on another day of indaba
A response to Panashe Chigumadzi’s essay, “Why I’m No Longer Talking To Nigerians About Race."
Nollywood Tackles #MeToo
Director Dare Olaitan’s Knock Out Blessing (2018), is nothing less than a meditation on rape culture.
Singing truth to power
When Ugandan police imprisoned Bobi Wine in his own home, the singer-turned-lawmaker used the internet, music and multiple languages to craft a call for solidarity between civilians and security forces.
When Achieng met Ellen
Ellen DeGeneres wanted an African story. Achieng Agutu obliged. Don’t hate the player, though, hate the game.
Arabic literature and the African other
Racist, anti-black stereotypes persist in Arabic literature. It reveals a racial anxiety and othering of Africa among celebrated Arab authors.
The ruins of a mining economy
The physical and psychic ruins of colonial mining practice in a small town in Liberia.
The energy that never dies
On the eve of Baaba Maal's first New York City concert in 8 years, Oumar Ba interviews him, asking about protest movements, the music business and Senegal.
Renovating the AfricaMuseum
An overview of some of the problems and opportunities that the reopening of Belgium's infamous AfricaMuseum brings.
Why I’ll keep talking to South Africans about race
While Nigeria's class divide is not between rich whites and poor blacks, it still has a lot in common with postapartheid South Africa.
The revolution in four-part harmony
A good time to bring back this piece—first written in 2002—on the power of song to fuel political struggle.
Why are South African children struggling to read properly?
Poor reading scores among South African children highlights the need for decolonization in book publishing, teaching and policy implementation.
Another rhino report
Media coverage of rhino poaching in Southern Africa not only fails to address white control over conservation, but also reinforces it.
The Nigerian electricity story
The erratic electricity supply in Nigeria is a metaphor for life there.
Who gets to speak for black French people?
There is a long history of white artists representing black people in France, reproducing stereotypes and failing to capture the people they claim to represent.