History
Nelson Mandela’s Humanity was a Political Education
The author, remembering Mandela, writes how South Africa galvanized progressive energies in the US in the 1980s.
Three Myths about Mandela Worth Busting
The Nelson Mandela encountered by former antiapartheid activist Tony Karon in American media is so unrecognizable.
Tata Mandela
The Mandela Capture Memorial in Howick, Kwazulu Natal speaks eloquently to the essential truth: that in South Africa, some families mattered more than other.
Madiba: I Remember
The writer, originally from Cape Town, remembers Nelson Mandela's impact on his life.
The Book of North African Literature
Pierre Joris and Habib Tengou edit a book about the multiple beginnings, traditions and genealogies in the literatures of the many languages of the region, and the region's diasporas.
King of Soukous
An Adieu to Tabu Ley Rochereau, the master rumba singer-songwriter from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The loser mentality of white South Africans
On the rather extraordinary claim that white South Africans have been politically and economically marginalized since the inception of majority rule in 1994.
Before They Resurrect the Noble Savage
Jimmy Nelson's photographs are deliberately constructed to capitalize on his own vision of these groups.
Revisiting Sweden’s colonial past
The image of a benevolent, preternaturally anti-racist “good old Sweden,” spreading its perfect democracy around the world, is fiction.
My New York Times column about Cape Town
The author wrote a column about racial and class inequalities in the city where he lived. The usual backlash by those in power followed.
Africa and the Future
An interview with Achille Mbembe, including on the consequences of global capitalism on the continent.
Nkrumah’s team is going to the World Cup
A short history of football, nation building and the consolidation of pan-African solidarity in 1960s Ghana.
Who gets the last laugh, again?
There is something out there that we can identify as “really” European or “really” African, is essentially what the ancestry testing industry is selling.
Against the Gospel of “Africa Rising”
The World Bank and IMF have waged a sustained assault on African public services over several decades, and have never been called to account for the profound and lasting damage they have done.
The first rules of Halloween
As a public service, we will, every year around Halloween, share this guide on how not to embarrass yourself or offend anyone.
How serious is Renamo’s pro-war rhetoric?
One mitigating factor: The Mozambican opposition movement is weak — in terms of political impact, financial resources, popular support, and military resources.
How we tell stories about cities
We must not forget the everyday lived realities and struggles in vanished neighborhoods.