Against the Gospel of “Africa Rising”
Almost ten years ago, Binyavanga Wainana mocked the relentless bashing of Africa for what it is:
Binyavanga Wainaina
On New African Writing
The latest issue of the Journal of Postcolonial and Commonwealth Studies, which I guest edited with
Weekend Special N°1002
Here’s a couple of links we’ve bookmarked for reading and watching this week. Chadian director Mahamat
Chinua Achebe: A Poet of Global Encounters
Chinua’s legacy is not fixed but rather about responding to change with energy and wit.
Afrique 3.0, Version 2.0
Flying back from Dakar and Bamako to my home near “Little Senegal,” I snatched up Courrier
The Indelible Mark of the Mbira
The thumb piano has made somewhat of a resurgence in contemporary pop music partly because of the international stardom of groups like Konono N˚1.
Party Business
With the help of Bunce Booking and Africa is a Country, Dutty Artz presents the 2nd
The Farafina Creative Writing Workshop
Guest Post by Yewande Omotoso If someone told me when I was five or fifteen that
Binyavanga Wainaina’s writing out of depression
The wobbly giraffes doing the splits next to my bed reveal my recent bedtime narrative. Subconsciously
Djimon Hounsou’s Africa
A couple of years ago, the Beninoise actor Djimon Hounsou collaborated with Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina
'The greatest issues in Africa'
If you are to ask me what are the greatest issues in Africa, I would say
Typecasting Binyavanga Wainaina
By Caitlin Chandler How do you write about a place that occupies a mythic place in
'A Roaming African Biennial'
The New Museum Friday, March 25, 7 p.m and Saturday, March 26, Gabi Ngcobo’s Proposition imagines
'One Day I Will Write About This Place'
Whether it’s the closely observed ecology of married life or the violent acts of criminals operating
The secession of the middle classes to outer space
Specific nuances and cultural references aside, this analysis by Indian writer Arundhati Roy of middle class ‘victim’
Is This Africa?
Surely photographs are presented to convey a message, and if there’s anything I remember from my
Introducing: Pilgrimages
In honor of the 2010 World Cup, the Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers, based at
Video: Africa's World Cup
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRGU13hRvW8&w=500&h=307&rel=0] I have been threatening to post the video of a panel discussion about the 2010
Wangechi Mutu on her art
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqCH8uFdCG8&w=500&h=307] 8-minute video interview with Kenyan-born, Brooklyn-based artist Wangechi Mutu, whose work focus on themes of
World Cup University
So earlier this week we did have the 2010 World Cup panel, the one I organized