Africa Is a Country

T.I.A.* (Jersey Shore Edition)

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

T.I.A.* (Jersey Shore Edition)

By
Sean Jacobs

You’d never thought you’d see Ronnie and Pauli D from the MTV reality TV show “Jersey Shore” on This is Africa.*

One of my students, Thenera Bailey, (she blogs at New School Thoughts on Africa) forwarded me this picture she took of two of the characters from “Jersey Shore” fresh from watching the musical “The Lion King” on Broadway.   Thenera and two other students (Youssef Benlamlih and Hillary Lawton) were shooting a short video profile of a group of African immigrant artists making careers on Broadway when they spotted the ‘Shore characters .The wide eyed ‘Shore fans are Nomsa Mazwai, a singer and younger sister of Thandisa Mazwai (of South African-Zimbabwean group Bongo Maffin), and another South African, Ron Kunene, dialogue coach for The Lion King. Mazwai and Kunene are both subjects of the short video profile.  You can watch their short video here.

Further Reading

Africa and the AI race

At summits and in speeches, African leaders promise to harness AI for development. But without investment in power, connectivity, and people, the continent risks replaying old failures in new code.

After the uprising

Years into Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict, the rebellion faces internal fractures, waning support, and military pressure—raising the question of what future, if any, lies ahead for Ambazonian aspirations.

In search of Saadia

Who was Saadia, and why has she been forgotten? A search for one woman’s story opens up bigger questions about race, migration, belonging, and the gaps history leaves behind.

Binti, revisited

More than two decades after its release, Lady Jaydee’s debut album still resonates—offering a window into Tanzanian pop, gender politics, and the sound of a generation coming into its own.

The bones beneath our feet

A powerful new documentary follows Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi’s personal and political journey to recover her father’s remains—and to reckon with Kenya’s unfinished struggle for land, justice, and historical memory.

What comes after liberation?

In this wide-ranging conversation, the freedom fighter and former Constitutional Court justice Albie Sachs reflects on law, liberation, and the unfinished work of building a just South Africa.

The cost of care

In Africa’s migration economy, women’s labor fuels households abroad while their own needs are sidelined at home. What does freedom look like when care itself becomes a form of exile?

The memory keepers

A new documentary follows two women’s mission to decolonize Nairobi’s libraries, revealing how good intentions collide with bureaucracy, donor politics, and the ghosts of colonialism.

Making films against amnesia

The director of the Oscar-nominated film ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’ reflects on imperial violence, corporate warfare, and how cinema can disrupt the official record—and help us remember differently.