Madonna vs President Joyce Banda
Madonna’s attempt to save face after her scolding by Malawi’s president to rehash the stereotype of the corrupt African leader rings hollow, and a bit desperate. Malawi’s President wasn’t having it.
48 Article(s) by:
Elliot Ross
Elliot Ross was a member of the editorial board of Africa is a Country.
Can African Heads of State speak
Why when African leaders meet Barack Obama, they are received in groups (unlike all other heads of state) and rarely get to speak?
Big Weekend for Jason Russell
There is nothing heroic about running a cushy, big-spending non-profit like Invisible Children that works hand-in-glove with the CIA and the US military.
Nigeria’s National Anthem
Did Goodluck Jonathan allegedly take US $1m from an anti-poverty fund to allegedly bring Beyonce and Jay-Z to Nigeria in 2006?
Wayne Rooney and a rhinoceros
The ultimate preview of the 2013 Afcon Final: Will it be Stephen Keshi’s time or can the Burkinabé shock the world in Soweto?
Burkina Faso is this year’s Zambia
A footballing minnow has shocked the great names of African football with a series of audacious, spirited displays, making it all the way to the 2013 Afcon final.
Without too many hairy moments
What we learned from the third day, still deep in the first round, of the 2013 African Cup of Nations.
They say a great player can play anywhere
What we learned from Day Two of the 2013 African Cup of Nations being hosted by South Africa.
Futbol Is a Country
We want to present a more global, postcolonial (for want for a better word) take on world football.
Not an African Christmas
If the image of the starving black child has been deemed obsolete, then so has the Western “we” that claimed so much power for itself in the late 1980s.
The Next James Bond
The Bond franchise has a white casting problem, but at least it has made peace with Britain and its institutions’ marginal position within world affairs.
The Danger of a Single TED Talk
Africa isn’t a brand and we find the clamor for “positive news” from Africa inane and condescending.
Malawian Twitter is not a gentle place
By far the best place to follow Malawian news and politics is social media app, Twitter. It can be relied upon to be the very first place where Malawi’s breaking news gets to the rest of us.
Mozambique versus Spain
African fans retain a surprising affection for old colonizers when it comes to international tournaments. Mozambique is no exception.
Christine Lagarde cares for Niger
Journalists rarely ask the IMF chief technocrat to consider whether or not she gives any kind of a shit about the people who are getting screwed by her “austerity” agenda.
African Men
The video, “African Men. Hollywood Stereotypes,” made by an American NGO, is part of the “Brand Africa” discourse that’s all the rage now.
In Praise of Jeffrey Gettleman’s Pulitzer
Pulitzer awarded Gettleman $10,000 for “his vivid reports, often at personal peril, on famine and conflict in East Africa.”
The best sports films have no play in them
Tunde Kelani’s “Maami,” a tale about a former professional footballer, is bold and stylish film-making, and it deserves a wide audience.
The Invisible Christians
A big part of the story that is being missed about Invisible Children is that they’re firmly rooted in Evangelical Christianity.
A miserable fraud
The power to choose on social media who is to be the next target of America’s moral manhunt, all with the benediction of a panel of biddable celebrities.