Africa Is a Country

'America as … point of reference'

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

'America as … point of reference'

By
Sean Jacobs

The artist Dawn Okoro (take the link to her blog) on her most recent work:

I’ve just completed a set of drawings [colored pencil, ink, and watercolor on paper; the one above is ‘Woman in Igbo Print Dress’] … This drawing is called “Woman in Igbo Print Dress.” The pattern on the dress is inspired by Ukara cloth. This kind of cloth incorporates symbols that are designed to give it meaning and power … Although I have roots in Nigeria, I have never been there and I want to explore that side of my ancestry. However, I feel that I am learning about Nigeria while naturally using America as my point of reference.

Further Reading

Kagame’s hidden war

Rwanda’s military deployments in Mozambique and its shadowy ties to M23 rebels in eastern Congo are not isolated interventions, rather part of a broader geopolitical strategy to expand its regional influence.

After the coups

Without institutional foundations or credible partners, the Alliance of Sahelian States risks becoming the latest failed experiment in regional integration.

Whose game is remembered?

The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations opens in Morocco amid growing calls to preserve the stories, players, and legacy of the women who built the game—before they’re lost to erasure and algorithm alike.

Sovereignty or supremacy?

As far-right politics gain traction across the globe, some South Africans are embracing Trumpism not out of policy conviction but out of a deeper, more troubling identification.

From Cape To Cairo

When two Africans—one from the south, the other from the north—set out to cross the continent, they raised the question: how easy is it for an African to move in their own land?

The road to Rafah

The ‘Sumud’ convoy from Tunis to Gaza is reviving the radical promise of pan-African solidarity and reclaiming an anticolonial tactic lost to history.