Our man of the people
Binyavanga Wainaina was a writer who not only produced seminal work, but also contributed to and shaped the African literary tradition into what it is today.
Binyavanga Wainaina was a writer who not only produced seminal work, but also contributed to and shaped the African literary tradition into what it is today.
Remembering Joe Miller, a historian of eastern Angola and central Africa, who died at 79 on 12 March 2019.
Med Hondo (1936-2019) was Morgan Freeman and Eddie Murphy in French. His first film premiered at Cannes in 1970. And in 1979 he wrote a manifesto: “What is the cinema for us?”
Bisi Silva's constant movement was a form of unlearning; in her awareness of artists and cultural production on the African continent.
Samir Amin's life resembled that of Karl Marx: a man without a homeland, but one whose home was a chosen commitment to a historical project.
Eddison Zvobgo was both implicated in and a critic of Mugabe's rule. He paid for it. His niece remembers him.
The Egyptian Marxist Samir Amin's contributions to historical social science—and revolutionary theory—span an almost mind-boggling breadth.
Former US Congressman and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, who passed away recently, played a leading role in the global fight against South African Apartheid in the 1980s.
Burkinabe filmmaker Idrissa Ouédraogo was a singular talent in African cinema. His films championed marginalized people and cultures.
Professor Sampie Terreblanche, who passed away at 84 on February 17, 2018, was one of South Africa's foremost political economists.
Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, who died at 92 on 9 June 2017, was one of the founders of Namibia's modern liberation movement that led the fight for political independence.
Ranjith Kally (1925-2017), a legendary photographer, documented South African Indian life in famed magazine Drum.
On 25 November 2016, Fidel Castro passed away. To many Africans Fidel was a hero, playing a central role in their liberation from colonialism.
Muhammad Ali's political life was like his boxing career: as frustrating and contradictory as it was principled and selfless.
The author, also named Muhammad, on what having a black hero meant during his childhood in Apartheid South Africa.
Amy Sall (Sunu Journal), Candace Keller (Michigan State), Drew Thompson (Bard), curator Thato Mogotsi and Cherif Keita, reflect on Malick Sidibé's impact.
The author, also a photographer, writes about receiving the sad news that Malick Sidibé, the Malian master photographer, has died, at the age of 80.
Martin Legassick (1940-2016) was key to revisionist tradition among South African historians that made connections between apartheid and post-war capitalism.
Rose Chilambo was a prominent leader in the fight against British colonialism and the first woman cabinet minister in independent Malawi.
The feminist Bella Matabanadzho remembers Zimbabwean academic and activist Sam Moyo carrying his "intellectual smarts with so much ease."