The myth of the apolitical commission
In response to the Johannesburg fire disaster, the South African government has announced a ‘politically free’ commission of inquiry. But there is no such thing.
Global Migration
A tragic kind of hope
Nigerian and South Sudanese filmmakers give voice to the search for identity, stability, and belonging through the lens of youth and migration.
A double standard
The pathologization of ‘migrants’ in Tunisia and France shows how race and poverty shape our understanding of belonging.
Sierra Leone decides
What’s at stake in Sierra Leone’s elections on June 24? We discuss on this episode of the Africa Is a Country podcast.
Where are North Africa’s Jews?
A fascinating new graphic novel sets out to describe the effects of Nazi and collaborationist policies on the inhabitants of French-controlled colonies and protectorates of World War Two North Africa.
The Africanness of North Africa
As xenophobic attacks and anti-black rhetoric ramp up in North Africa, it is useful to highlight (or remember) the fluid, intertwined histories of the Saharan region.
Proof that our society works
You know who Gary Lineker is, and perhaps the Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan. But do you know who Abiden Jafari is?
Cut out of society
African women en route to Europe often land up stuck in Morocco, taking on precarious work as hairdressers and beauticians.
The dust, towers and false promises of modern Ethiopia
Successive Ethiopian governments have continued a 'modernizing' project that not only offers people false dreams, but actively dislocates them from the things that gave them purpose in the past.
“Black African” may be oxymoronic
For many African immigrants in the United States, being seen as Black doesn’t necessarily equate to seeing oneself as Black.
The colonial wounds of Senegal’s girlchild
In ‘Black Girl’ (1966) and ‘Cuties’ (2020), M'Bissine T. Diop is a cautionary figure who warns of colonialism's wounds and afterlives for Black girl belonging in the present day.
Who is benefiting here?
The UKs deportation pact with Rwanda is being likened to a "human trafficking deal." It reflects the state of Rwandan politics.
Those who make homes in dark buildings
In his new book ‘The Blinded City,’ Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon takes readers into inner city Johannesburg not as it was or could be, but as it is.
Taper salam
For African women passing through Morocco en route to Europe, begging on the streets becomes a way to support themselves, but also reinforces humiliation and shame.
Belonging is not a sport
The reality of any society, any nation, and of our world, is much messier than picking a soccer team.
The haunting draw of the West
To be African means at some point to desire to leave. African cinema can provide solace for our tortured relationship to the West and our own continent.
Between East Africa and the Gulf
Political encounters between the Arab Gulf and Africa span centuries. Mahmud Traouri's novel 'Maymuna' demonstrates the significant role of a woman’s journey from East Africa to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The journey of a thousand steps
How might refugee as well as forced migration studies benefit from the movement to decolonize all aspects of African Studies?
En route to the unknown
African women exercise their right to migrate, but also face dilemmas on their way to the unknown. We need policies that protect them.
At the border, on the margins
African migrant women are exposed to intersectional systems of violence but are not simply victims.