A year of coups
In what amounts to another pointless exercise, the Washington Post repeated its 2013 map of countries most likely to have a coup. Of course, African countries are at the top of the list.
6393 Article(s) by:
Fatima B. Derby
Fatima B. Derby is a Ghanaian feminist writer and queer activist.
The Art of Mimi Cherono Ng’ok
After years in South Africa, Ng’ok’s work now explores her own relation to places, people and spaces of her native Nairobi.
Nelson Mandela’s environmentalism
The first African head of Greenpeace International, Kumi Naidoo, on how the world could best do justice to Mandela.
When Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie met Sweden
Sweden is a country living under the illusion of a special kind of exceptionalism, including that it is “less affected by postcolonial relations than other nations.”
Causing mischief and scaring children
We send our Tokoloshe to battle with those trying to make us forget the atrocities of Marikana.
Stories that will Remain in Darkness
The shortcomings of the film “Shado’man,” a documentary about Freetown, Sierra Leone’s handicapped ‘street boys.’
What’s in a name
What we don’t talk about when we spend time learning about Lupita Nyong’o’s family and getting her name right.
The social history of a “moral panic”
There is no evidence that Nigeria is under attack from gays and lesbians or the nation’s “culture” being eroded from within by “waves of sexual marauders.”
Born Free Films
Amazwi Wethu in Cape Town, South Africa, teaches its high student members how to advocate for themselves through film and photography.
The “Apartheid-era Robin Hood”
I wrote a long piece on Zola Mahobe, a Soweto businessman who died last December (two
How to say Lupita Nyong’o
Please do your research, stretch your tongue, and practice saying Lupita’s name. The Kenyan actress, born in Mexico, plans be around at the top for a while.
A Visitor’s Guide to India
The key question: Are you black? Worry. It is almost always your fault.
Little Steven’s South African Adventure
The making of Paul Simon’s “Graceland” album was controversial. But it seems we didn’t know the half of it if Steven Van Zandt is to be believed.
Low Country Screens
A ton of new films by African filmmakers or with African themes are screening at the 2014 edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
How The Atlantic Can Do Better, Starting with Malawi
“Confronting a Sexual Rite of Passage in Malawi”, published by The Atlantic last Monday, is misleading and continues a long tradition of ethnocentric, sensationalist reporting on Africa. The article tells the tale of a 14-year-old girl, Grace Mwase, of Chiradzulu District in Malawi, saying that she defied a tradition of sleeping with an older man after she went through an initiation ceremony at the age of 10. I am not an expert on culture and customs in Malawi and one doesn’t have to be to get the story straight on customs and their impact on a community.
Don’t tell anyone
New music videos from Tanzania, Senegal, South Africa, Cameroon, Mali, Congo, and Ghana, make up Weekend Music Break Number 66.
How to Come Out as an African
When Binyavanga Wainaina, came out as gay recently, he wanted that news to appear in African-owned media and not be misrepresented in Euro-American media.
Fokn Bois in a Dutch village
It is not clear what Ghanaian duo Fokn Bois, on tour in the Netherlands, was doing visiting a boring Dutch town, Liesbeth. But it turned out to be fun.
Why I’m not an Afropolitan
The problem with Afropolitism is that the insights on race, modernity and identity appear to be increasingly sidelined in sacrifice to consumerism above all else.
The Year of Blackface in the Netherlands
Interview with Verene Shepherd, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on People of African Descent.