The Blitzboks in America
What the recent World Rugby Sevens Series global championship reveals about national rugby cultures, particularly South Africa’s.
6452 Article(s) by:
Marjorie Ruganda
Marjorie Namara Rugunda is a writer, researcher, and PhD student at the University of British Columbia.
The untold story of the making of South Africa
The quest to understand the real cost of gold in our lives and the fate of those trapped in the mining economy’s cage.
The ‘abnormality’ of Cape Town’s traditional carnival
Breaking with the usual media conversation about the carnival that recalls Cape Town’s slave past.
When things fall apart
The demise of Alassane Ouattara’s presidency in Cote d’Ivoire.
Cameroon in conflict with itself
The use of a singular narrative to explain the divisions within Cameroon belies the reality that both anglophones and francophones are complicit in the conflict.
Democracy needs dissent
In a ruling party-dominated Tanzania, opposition parties are flawed but remain critically important.
Afro football fever
Football historian and broadcaster David Goldblatt’s new, encyclopedic book of football opens with a chapter on Africa. Here we republish an excerpt.
The “China virus”
The coronavirus COVID-19, just like Ebola, reminds us what happens when crisis ignite deep-rooted stereotypes. Yet viruses, or any disease for that matter, do not see color. Nor do they recognize states borders and ethnic enclaves.
Young South Africans are set up for failure
With 7.9 million young South Africans out of work or with very little education or training opportunities, who looks out for their aspirations?
We wear the masks
The TV series “Watchmen” deserves credit for how it put unsung elements of black history into mainstream culture.
Zimbabwe’s forgotten football history
Zimbabwe’s national football was under black control decades before independence—but the colonial legacy of racial segregation still haunts.
Impounded sandwiches
One major historical function of the police in South Africa remains: to manage the poor.
The legend of flying Africans
The film Uncut Gems, Black American identity politics, and the narrative appeal of Ethiopian beginnings.
Family politics and the supernatural
A new documentary film tells a tale of everyday class, religious, and educational contestations around land in Kenya.
Point of order
How Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters drive political conversations in South Africa.
Decolonization’s borders
Recent restrictions on refugees—and the limited protests against them—reflect the degree to which many South Africans see “xenophobia” as legitimate hate.
Au nom du roi, des roitelets et de la divine providence
Rémanences autoritaire, oligarchique et mâlecentrée de l’espace politique camerounais.
In the name of the king
Authoritarianism, oligarchy, and patriarchy governs the Cameroonian political landscape.
A ditch to climb
In South Africa, the political class use foreign nationals as scapegoats to obfuscate their role in reproducing inequality. But immigrants are part of the excluded.
A people cannot bid farewell to their history
Remembering Marcelino dos Santos, founder of Frelimo and the former Vice President of the People’s Republic of Mozambique.