Journalism
How do we talk about rebel groups?
Seeking to interrogate unhelpful media (and official) narratives that permeate everyday discourse and obscure the truth about these terrorist organizations is important.
Beyond the usual South African reporting on “Africa”
Journalism on and about the continent tends to veer between the extremes of neglect or stereotype on the one end, and touristic exoticism on the other.
The Last Journalists in a Dictatorship
Anjan Sundaram’s Rwanda exists in an authoritarian bubble characterized by fear and repression.
The War Story We Need Right Now
The book, 'Guantanamo Diary' is an exception about America's 'War on Terror': an account of torture and terror by one its victims.
Confessions of three humanitarians
Side-eyeing the UN for abusing its privilege and wasting financial resources on business class flights, and then secretly coveting becoming part of the UN.
Thoughts on xenophobia from a South African in Mozambique
On Mozambican TV, South Africa is divided between the people of good will with their pots of rice, and the people of Goodwill with their knobkieries and pangas.
Vice News and the war against Boko Haram
It’s not really about Nigeria, and it’s not for Nigerians. Rather it’s a story, popular in America, about brave soldiers fighting terrorists.
The Mercenary Playbook
Why do Western media outlets still fantasize that Apartheid's foot soldiers will be the ones to stop Boko Haram?
Nicholas Kristof Discovers Angola
This is now our eleventh piece on Nicholas Kristof. This needs to end. He has to stop somehow.
The Western Imagination of Morocco
Why at this late hour would The New York Times want to recycle Paul Bowles’ racist fantasies of Morocco?
The hierarchy of refugee stories
In sharp contrast to the coverage of Syrian refugees, Western media barely register the escalating Eritrean refugee crisis.
The shoulders that carried Ebola’s weight
Making sure we give credit where it’s due to those on the frontline during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The Gambia Gambit
There is a long-standing Norwegian tradition of externalizing racism, so that anti-black racism is always and inevitably located elsewhere.
Purely as artifacts
Mainstream journalism must stop treating Timbuktu and Timbuktians as artifacts, focusing mainly on manuscripts.
How not to write about Africa: Use “African Spring”
The “Arab Spring” has become our reference point for revolutions in this digital age, including in Africa south of the Sahara. It's ahistorical.