6393 Article(s) by:
Marjorie Ruganda
Marjorie Namara Rugunda is a writer, researcher, and PhD student at the University of British Columbia.

Living up to its Pan-African dimensions
Filmmakers Newton Aduaka and Haile Gerima and film critic and scholar, Mbye Cham, assess Fespaco 2013.
5 New Films to Watch, N°23

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.

“African cuisine” is a misnomer
Pierre Thiam, a Senegalese-born chef defining African restaurant food in the United States, argues that it is insulting to categorize African cuisine into one box.

When the material writes itself
The comedians Jon Stewart and Bassem Youssef and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

How to Paint Ghosts
An interview with Ivorian artist Aboudia. Jean-Michel Basquiat is often cited as an influence in his work, but local experience is a bigger muse.

A fictional portrait of a national dream
Cristina De Middel self-published book “The Afronauts,” revisits the 1960s shortlived, abandoned project by Zambia’s government to send the first African astronauts to Mars

No, Africans don’t remember Margaret Thatcher fondly
Thatcher’s energetic opposition to sanctions and support for right wing forces prolonged the state of violence across the breadth of Southern Africa.

Margaret Thatcher is dead
Margaret Thatcher put to rest the essentialist fallacy that women are inherently more moral than men.
Wogdog Blues for Burkina Faso: An Interview with Art Melody

Al Jazeera Goes French
Al Jazeera is planning a French language version of its news network. That means, government funded France 24 will be in direct competition with it for viewership in Africa and amongst the continent’s French speaking diaspora.

The Last Prostitute
Licínio Azevedo’s “Virgin Margarida” is a critical look into Mozambique’s past–its re-education camps.

Friday All Jazz Break
A bonus music break focused on jazz, including a conference on South African jazz, as well as the varied sounds of Jon Batiste, Guillermo Klein, Madeline Peyroux, Secret Society, and Moonchild,

Kenyan Neorealism
Nairobi Half Life is a smart, take-no-prisoners action movie that makes us to wrestle with the neoliberal city.

Africans in Cannes
For all its cinema glitz, Cannes is in a part of France associated with the far right and very anti-immigrant, so it is a treat to see the region is hosting an African themed film festival.

A Poet of Global Encounters
Chinua Achebe’s legacy is not fixed but rather about responding to change with energy and wit.
Tendai Maraire: “Boom is me throwing a punch at those that still disrespect Zimbabwean music”

The visibility of contemporary African women artists
Zimbabwean photographer, Nancy Mteki: “If we don’t stand up for ourselves, no one else is going to do it.”

The story of a lost white boy
The story of Happy Sindane, the lost white boy, who put a lie to South Africa’s rainbow shibboleths.