I, Surya
The story of Surya Bonaly, and her unwillingness to yield to racist demands and expectations in the sport of figure skating.
6428 Article(s) by:
Paul Milchick
Paul Milchik is a pseudonym for the author of this piece. His name has been changed due to his status as an international student in the US during the second Trump administration, in a context where foreign students have been targeted for detention and deportation as a result of expressing pro-Palestinian views.
African homophobia and the colonial roots of African conservatism
Turn any homophobic corner in Africa and you’re guaranteed to run into a delirious celebration of “African culture,” but there’s nothing African about homophobia.
Invisible voices in the production of knowledge
In the Bukavu Series, researchers from two Congolese and two European universities explore how they interrogate violence in the DRC.
After the scramble
It’s time to return Africa’s vinyl records.
A poem about the president gets you jailed in Uganda
The charge is “misusing a computer.” Dr. Stella Nyanzi remains incarcerated to this day in Luzira Women’s Prison.
A remarkable celebration of African cinema
At this year’s New York African Film Festival, we saw films united by key thematic concerns, some of them quite unexpected.
Hollywood’s 419 Scam
Africa is apparently hot in Hollywood, but can Hollywood be trusted with African stories?
Blind to the matatus
The future of Kenya’s matatus (commuter buses) and their inherent place in the capital Nairobi’s culture and society, is all but absent in the government’s neoliberal vision for urban planning.
Running is work
What a documentary film on running can tell us about Ethiopia’s development trajectory.
We are all Haitians
In memory of J. Michael Dash, the Caribbean thinker and literature scholar.
The crisis of Ghana’s fisheries
Ghana is facing widespread illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in its coastal waters causing economic hardship in fishing communities.
Pan-African aspirations by neoliberal means
As the African Union embarks on its most ambitious project—creating the largest free-trade area in the world—we have some questions.
Scenes from a Dry City
A film about Cape Town’s water crisis raises profound questions about the character and stability of South Africa’s post-apartheid trajectory.
Are the Russians forging an ’empire’ in Africa?
In contrast to renewed fears in the west over Russian expansionism in Africa, Russia’s increased presence on the continent is mostly about pursuing lucrative business opportunities.
Religion and conflict in Cameroon
Traditional, Islamic and Christian leaders are all being caught up in the conflict over secession in the Southern Cameroons.
Climate, conflict and capitalism fuel xenophobia
We need to understand how climate change impacts the current and future flow of refugees and displaced persons, and ask why the protection needs of climate refugees are not being met.
The radical afterlives of Frantz Fanon
A documentary film takes Fanon’s ideas out of the past and tracks the ways in which his ideas are resonating with today’s young across the planet.
Judgement Day
A commentary on how Egyptian society treats the abandoned, disabled, or those suffering from ailments and thus deemed a risk.
When the ‘President of the rich’ met the ‘Black President’
What does Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Fela Kuti’s New Afrika Shrine say about what happened to Fela Kuti’s legacy in Nigeria.
Decolonizing the museum
How should Belgium’s Africa Museum address its colonial past?