Brett Bailey, The Barbican and Black Britons
If "Exhibit B" truly offered the profound critique of slavery and colonialism its creators claimed, why the outrage? Why object to confronting silenced, gazing human “tableaux”?
Culture
Transgender in Botswana
For a number of reasons, the LGBTQ community in Botswana experiences less severe social and institutional backlash than elsewhere in Africa.
The Fingo Revolution
How an an annual, independently-run series of events founded in 2011 in the Eastern Cape have propelled the genre in that South African province.
It’s just like Africa!
What if the author, a Dutch blogger, had the chance to edit an "Africa"-edition of a prominent European magazine.
Bam bam riddim
Hipster's Don't Dance's 'Top 5 World Carnival Tunes' for September 2014.
The People’s Girls
Egypt has a sexual harassment problem. Two young women decided to make a film about it.
Hip Hop Religion
While hip-hop can still connect us to our higher selves, its mainstream adaptations reveal that it is inherently human and not free from flaws.
The Italian Joseph Conrad
Alessandro Spina produced one of the greatest indictments against colonialism and jingoism, as well as a tribute to the Mediterranean’s cosmopolitanism.
The Afropeans are Coming
We asked the participants at a symposium in Austria on European Africans to reflect on what an Afropean is. We edited it into a short video.
The Contemporary Mark of Assata Shakur
The Black American activist's relevance for today's generation following the killing of Mike Brown by police, and the suppression of protests in Ferguson, Missouri.
Unlike Anything I’ve Seen Before
The Sudanese film, "Beats of the Antonov," explores the connections between the bombs of oppression and the resilience of culture.
What Binyavanga thinks of the Caine Prize
The inaugural winner of the Caine Prize for short fiction opines on the useless rivalry between Kenyans and Nigerians about who has won more Caine Prizes.
What would Mandela do
The South African struggle suggests that sports boycotts are effective at forcing change. For white South Africans (and their apologists), sporting isolation was a bitter pill to swallow.
Prayer in the time of Ebola
in places like Lagos where the healthcare system is inadequate and health workers constantly on strike, people rely on prayer.
The Redemption Trope in South African Cinema
The politics of three prominent South African films: the classics 'Come Back Africa,' late-1980s 'Mapantsula' and Oscar winner 'Tsotsi.'
The promise of revelation
James Matthews has the distinction of being one of the first Black Consciousness poets and publishers in South Africa. He is the subject of a documentary by director Shelley Barry.
It’s time to drop the “world music” label
The progressive rock of The Brother Moves On is a great case study for why the category of "world music" is at best dated, and at worst problematic.