We are exploring the culture and history of the World Cup for the next month while the tournament goes on.
Senegalese pitch dreams
Football in Senegal is magic. That the team has qualified for their second World Cup, heightens the joy.
Why hasn’t an African nation won the World Cup?
Until African officials stop lining their pockets and instead identify and develop the best young talent the continent has, an African nation winning the World Cup will remain elusive.
Senegal’s jersey
The Senegalese football jersey is a powerful symbol of nationhood and independence.
France ’98 and a genuine moment of Maghrebi solidarity
Tunisia played England in France ’98. English hooligans attacked Tunisians in the streets of Marseille. Algerians came to Tunisians’ rescue.
Ghana didn’t qualify for the World Cup, so which African team do I support?
One Ghanaian football fan wrestles with which teams to support in this year’s World Cup after the Black Stars failed to qualify.
Africa No Filter
A reflection on police brutality in Nigeria on the anniversary of the death of the 'Apo Six.'
For decades, Big Men in different forms have had their day in Africa, and have forced us to celebrate it. It's time for a change.
Culture
Imagining the South African Indian
How do you tell a different story of Indians in South Africa, one that shatters long-held and reproduced stereotypes?
Game of chickens
Reliving the epic quarterfinal match between France and Brazil at Mexico ’86.
Giant Russian dolls wearing Egyptian national team jerseys
A Canadian immigrant father’s Egyptian football nationalism, and reflections on World Cup fever from Cairo.
The descent of our fathers
A remembrance for Father’s Day.
Is this Nigeria?
A group of esteemed Nigerian thinkers come together and chat about rapper Falz’s take on the viral “This Is…” video meme.
Africa is a Radio
In INTL BLK episode 5, deejays Chief Boima and Francesca Harding take a look at race and cultural difference in Latin America through the lens of trap music.
Digital Africa
How business news shapes Africa’s image
A study of Reuters suggests news media is not a simple mirror to the world: News content is a crafted, cultural product.
Where the social is political
If media claims to be a tool for deepening democracy and development in Africa, why is it necessary for protesters to resort to burning and barricading?
‘Going out’ – China in African media
China is developing a media footprint in Africa, via providing digital TV services and a global news channel.
If data is the answer, what are the African questions?
Having learnt from years of extolling “technological revolution,” isn’t it time we ask the right question(s) about data in Africa?
Politics
Who gets to define borders?
What will the renewed land debate in South Africa mean for the border woes of neighbors such as Lesotho?
Captain Kolisi
South Africa’s national rugby team, the Springboks, gets a black captain for the first time in its history–24 years after the end of Apartheid.
This is democracy, political hysteria
Why has Childish Gambino’s “This is America” video resonated with so many people around the world?
Reconsidering France’s role in the Rwandan genocide
It is worth revisiting the context for the mass killings, how historians have studied it since and casting a revisionist eye.
Cameroon on the brink
Paul Biya’s inability to address the crisis in the country’s Anglophone region is pushing the nation to the brink.