Bottom-up hustling in Nairobi’s slums
Prevailing thoughts on slums stress their transitory character, but the complexity of everyday life in slums, including how people manage survival, is lost in the way they are understood from the outside.
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.
Mauritania’s past doesn’t want to go away
The so-called “peaceful transition” in Mauritania, from colonialism to political independence, isn’t unanimously understood as such inside the country, and it reflects older rivalries.
Lungu’s Livingstone
Where does the idea that Zambia is a Christian nation come from?
Fanon’s mission
The works of Frantz Fanon can be read as architectural renderings of rights, futures, and generations toward a “very different Afro-futurism.”
The politics of Thanksgiving in Ethiopia
Irreecha, an annual ritual celebrated at the end of Ethiopia’s rainy season, offers a window into contemporary socio-political issues.
History time
The historical novel is in vogue across the continent, challenging how we conceive of the nation, and how we write its histories.
The (Im)possibilities of Ugandan patriotism
To say we are “allies” would be to delude ourselves into thinking that some of us are safe. We are not safe.
Out of the pigeonholes
A Nigerian play and its leading man confront western misrepresentations.
What is home?
For immigrants—especially African and black immigrants to Western countries—the question of home is complex.
A cinema for (some of) the people
South African film production house kykNET’s dominance skews storytelling on the country’s screens.
Jennifer Davis: Fearless and visionary
Davis, who died at 84 on October 15th, was a prominent leader of the anti-apartheid movement in the US and an analytical thinker and visionary.
The virtual reality of Walter Sisulu
While Sisulu’s political career is less celebrated than Nelson Mandela, it was as remarkable.
Decolonization can’t just be a metaphor
Decolonizing museums requires more than knowledge exchange and lending back stolen artifacts.
Tunisia’s surveillance state
Mass monitoring poses a threat to democratic freedoms as the case of Tunisia shows.
A worthy ancestor
The world is out of joint and Immanuel Wallerstein, one of its great public intellectuals, has left us—albeit with tools to battle the dying kicks of capitalism.
The identity politics of wax print
A new film by Aiwan Obinyan explores the origins and “ownership” of a now-famous cloth.
The Kenyan Hunger Games
Philanthropy and celebrities are not enough to remedy the inequalities that persist in Kenya.
James Barnor, ever young
Riason Naidoo talks to the curator and editor of a book and traveling exhibition about the work of the legendary, 90 year-old Ghanaian photographer.
Rugby and rainbows
Reflecting on white joy, black celebration, and the meaning of the Springbok win at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Can an American TV sitcom get anything ‘right’ about Nigerians?
After having a heart attack, a white American falls in love with his Nigerian nurse in the CBS TV sitcom, Bob Hearts Abishola. It is also about Nigerian-Americans’ visibility on mainstream US television.