Matchday 1: Kenneth Kaunda
On the this week’s episode of the African Five-a-side podcast, we head to Zambia to name our final starter, an African president who actually liked football.
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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.
What does Palestine have to do with Africa?
Zionism is an extreme, but by no means exceptional, manifestation of the divisive logic of the nation-state.
Beyoncé’s Sun City moment
The release of ‘Renaissance’ in Israel has spelled the end of informed indifference when it comes to Beyoncé and other stars who choose to do business with the apartheid regime.
The story of Eskom
Load-shedding, deepening privatization, and unaffordable electricity makes it difficult to imagine a pivot away from the neoliberal approach to South Africa’s climate crisis.
When paintings are dreams
The vivid imagery of Zimbabwean artist Portia Zvavahera touches powerfully on themes such as womanhood, religion and spirituality.
Matchday 1: Ahmed Sekou Touré
In this week’s episode of the African Five-a-side podcast, we delve into how Guinea’s first president, and our midfield destroyer, said “No” to France and “Yes” to football.
Between struggle and national history
The 1959 Pidjiguiti Massacre served as an important historical marker in the curriculum of the anticolonial resistance in Guinea-Bissau.
Kissinger’s secret war in Angola
Henry Kissinger was convinced that Africans were incapable of responsible government—so he fought against the national liberation movements fighting for independence.
Poetry, nationalism, and al-Shabaab
In Somalia, poets are considered organic public intellectuals.
Colonialism is not over
A new book shows how Europe is using the energy transition to exploit and under-develop the Arab world.
Whose land is it anyway?
What contestations over land in urban Senegal tell us about political economy in the post-colony.
Understanding the African sports economy
Sports on the continent are being commercialized at a rapid rate. What’s driving it?
Henry Kissinger’s Angola
In 1975, seeing how a communist victory in Angola’s civil war would boost the morale of Vietnamese freedom fighters, Henry Kissinger wanted to plan a covert operation against the MPLA.
Henry Kissinger’s Western Sahara
Morocco is one of the United States’ oldest allies, so when it occupied Western Sahara in 1975, the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people mattered little.
Henry Kissinger’s South Africa
In the 1970s, Kissinger believed that the liberation of southern Africa from white-minority rule represented a Cold War setback.
Reading List: Daniel Hammett, Laura S. Martin and Izuu Nwankwọ
What is the relationship between humor and politics in Africa?
The politics of hosting AFCON
Africa’s biggest spectacle is happening soon. What does it take to host the African Cup of Nations?
Nairobi’s third places
In Nairobi, skateboarding provides an alternative space where consumption is not a prerequisite for entry.
Weeping for Palestine
In 1987, a band led by a group of South African Jewish brothers released a song against apartheid repression. Today, its lyrics speak to conditions in Palestine as well.
Matchday 1: Mobutu Sese Seko
The African Five-a side podcast continues to explore the stories of five African heads of state and their influence on football. This week, we introduce our striker.