African homophobia and the colonial roots of African conservatism
Turn any homophobic corner in Africa and you're guaranteed to run into a delirious celebration of "African culture," but there's nothing African about homophobia.
Kenya
Blind to the matatus
The future of Kenya's matatus (commuter buses) and their inherent place in the capital Nairobi's culture and society, is all but absent in the government's neoliberal vision for urban planning.
Celebrating Binyavanga Wainaina’s queerness
Binyavanga's fashion sensibility as well as his choices in his memoir, and his essays, will have a lasting impact after he is gone.
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.
When Achieng met Ellen
Ellen DeGeneres wanted an African story. Achieng Agutu obliged. Don’t hate the player, though, hate the game.
The marginalization of African runners
The international body governing track and field announced that the longest distance race to be held will be the 3000 meters. We know who will benefit least from this change.
Others made of kindness
Ed Pavlic's new novel follows two lovers trading Chicago for Mombasa.
Will Kenya’s courts let gay people live?
Director Wanuri Kahiu went to look for hopeful African love stories and made a lesbian love story, amid court sanctioned homophobia.
Voltamos a Africa
Is emigrating to Africa an option for Black Brazilians in the time of Jair Bolsonaro's toxic, racist, rightwing regime?
Looking for my religion
The power of having a god who resembles us.
The disastrous road of private prisons
Kenya's prisons are in serious need of reform. Opening the door to private interests is not the solution.
The film about nowhere
Invisible City [Kakuma], a film about Kenya's largest refugee camps, seems keen on making a point but is anchored on unsteady ground (with some shitty translation).
Collective guilt
The disfunction with American voluntourism and Christian outreach in Africa, that in some cases have led to abuse.
Public funds for private gain
The planned global Education Outcomes Fund — the UN seems onboard — would create markets for “non-state” providers while guaranteeing profits for private investors that purchase “impact bonds.”
The Story of Priya Ramrakha
Priya Ramrakha was one of the most prolific photographers of Africa’s independence movements in the 1950s and 1960s. This highlights his impact.
No Country for Yes Men
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: colonial and neocolonial rule cannot survive without the work that prisons perform.
It’s only business
How private education companies ruin education in Kenya: Private education companies have sought to cash in on the development game.
Unthinking refugee studies
What use are academic categories when they reinforce conservative concepts scholars seek to challenge?
The tale of two presidents
When rain falls on a leopard, it does not wash off his spots. The same can’t be said of Kenya’s media and the opposition after Uhuru Kenyatta’s crackdown.
To think through and beyond the nation-state
A conversation on books, borders, and belonging with Somali-American writer, Abdul Adan.