The winners and losers of the platinum strike in South Africa
Will the trade union that organized the strike will unify and rally workers outside of the ruling alliance.
South Africa
White Schools in postapartheid South Africa
"Former" white schools propose color blindness to tackle racism against its new black students, invariably leading to alienation and discomfort on the part of the latter.
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.
Umlilo is young, black and queer in South Africa
The artist Umlilo documents their metamorphosis from a tortured outsider to a fully realized divine being.
Oscar Pistorius’ anxiety spectacle
Biased media reporting won’t advance popular and professional understandings on how psychiatric conditions interact social and economic sources of stress.
Obituary: Nadine Gordimer
My first introduction to Comrade Nadine was through her writing during my student activist days in
The small businessman who took on the bread cartel
The struggle over the price of bread in South Africa is the struggle for adequate nourishment, and securing the right of the poor to flourish.
Relegating good intentions to the dustbin
The last third or so of Director Phil Harrison’s film about Irish multinationals in South Africa suffers from needless flattening.
Buckingham Palace
District Six was the start of a really vibrant, none racial South African and that’s why it had to die.
Brenda Fassie’s revolution without harmony
Brenda Fassie was a woman who stepped out of line, talked out of turn, wore the pants, pulled up her skirt and loved women and men.
Probing Subliminal Violence
The artist Mohau Modisakeng mines the contours of colonial and post-colonial history.
Scenario Planning for White South Africa
Scenario planning is something of a cottage industry in South Africa and was particularly popular during
Adam Sandler’s “Africa”
It's unfunny and borderline offensive. But Late night TV talk shows can't get enough of it.
In Front of Our Very Own Eyes
"Miners Shot Down," by director Rehad Desai, is a haunting and emotional documentary of the Marikana massacre in August 2012.
The story of a South African tribe
White South Africans come together to vote as a bloc for only two political parties: the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front Plus.
The Fader goes to Cape Town
A short profile of the music scene in Cape Town is dominated by white shows – with a lot of electrocentric music and flashy strobe lights.
Don’t believe the hype
South Africa's media, already lacking any serious labor reporting, have no interest in fairly reporting the strike by mine workers.
The perfect wall to paint
The illustrators Fuzzy Slipperz and Skubalisto and the photographer Mooki Mooks on being an artist in present-day South Africa.
How much has really changed on South Africa’s wine farms?
Workers in the Western Cape's wine district describe a place where bosses engage in a reign of force and aggression, and where workers are “afraid to die too soon.”
Why Is No One Else Talking About These Musicians?
I got the chance to be part of the Redbull Basscamp in Johannesburg during October 2013.