The troubled border of the colonial and postcolonial
Jean-Marie Teno’s film, ‘Une Feuille dans le Vent’ (A Leaf in the Wind), lays bare the affective costs of public silence in Cameroon.
6393 Article(s) by:
Fatima B. Derby
Fatima B. Derby is a Ghanaian feminist writer and queer activist.
How a coup d’état drove a scholar to social media
Call me a curmudgeon, but I had never really understood the value of social media. I
Boss Player
The Newscaster Komla Dumor loved sports, basketball (he had skills), and, above all, the beautiful game. He especially loved his Ghana’s Black Stars.
I am a homosexual, mum
A lost chapter from Binyavanga Wainaina’s memoir, “One Day I Will Write About This Place,” dated 11 July, 2000, the day his mother passed away.
Weekend Music Break 65
There's plenty to choose from what musicians have been releasing during the holidays. So here's a
Breaking: African artists use the Internets
Mainstream Western media outlets are only now learning to recognize and value diverse and creative African phenomena that have thrived for years.
The Prisoner and his Pin-up Girl
Apartheid’s prisons tolerated ‘National Geographic; For Nelson Mandela, who knew better, it was porn.
Somalis on Ice
“Unlikely Sports Heroes” partially serves to reinforce the image of inferiority. They never actually win anything.
Africa is not a country
We must stop thinking that ‘Africa’ must either progress together or stagnate. Each country has its own story, its own sovereignty.
Nigeria’s Gay Problems
Nigeria’s governing class declares its disdain for any form or likeness of homosexuality or the rights of gay people.
The Black Manager
Can you name at least ten at least 10 black football managers who are in charge of club teams in the top leagues; and by top, we mean Europe.
How not to write about Duke Ellington
Everything that is wrong with Adam Gopnik’s New Yorker essay on Ellington (and the Beatles).
Nelson Mandela and how we talk about the state in Africa
It may be better to ask what Nelson Mandela’s leadership means for how we assess the state in Africa.
File Under: Mahmood Mamdani on South Africa’s much vaunted Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Because the (South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission) focused on perpetrators and overlooked the beneficiaries of mass violations of rights abuses – such as the pass laws and forced expulsions – it allowed the vast majority of white South Africans to go away thinking that they had little to do with these atrocities. Indeed, most did learn nothing new. The alternative would have been for the TRC to show white South Africans that no matter what their political views – whether they were for, against or indifferent to apartheid – they were all its beneficiaries, whether it was a matter of the residential areas where they lived, the jobs they held, the schools they went to, the taxes they did or did not pay, or the cheap labour they employed.
The Black Panther
Before Eusebio, it was unthinkable for a European national team to be dominated by or build around players of African origin.
Top Music Videos of 2013
Ah, 2013 was good for the beautiful creature that is the music video. From big budget
Ja Nee: South Africa in 2013
My favorite South Africanism is an Afrikaans expression: “Ja Nee”. The expression – “Yes/No” in English
The Last Rehearsal
A very subjective list of the top ten films of 2013.
Our Favorite Album of 2013
I’ve had Shane Cooper's "Oscillations" in my possession for the past four months. From the onset, it
Ghanaians Like Catchphrases
From the entertaining, mundane and sometimes depressing events and revelations, five of the most important lessons we learned from this year.