No shortcuts
The Conference of the Left was not a solution to the crisis of the South African left, but an opening. What follows must be built differently from what came before.
Blog
The globalization of African football
Can a continent dominate global football while losing control of its own game?
What Mbappé, Olise and Yamal can’t fix
Football’s three mixed Maghrebi and Black African stars are not emissaries of a new pan-Africanism. And the continent doesn’t need them to be.
The indelible African superfan
Part performer, part cultural ambassador, and increasingly, a political flashpoint.
Football won’t rescue the nation
As club football becomes increasingly placeless and commercialized, international football begins to feel strangely real again.
The politics of the football terrace
In Algeria, football stadiums have long been sites of protest, expression, and resistance. As public space shrinks and surveillance rises, their political future hangs in the balance.
Celebrating from a divided country
Bafana Bafana’s World Cup exploits has South Africans chanting “No DNA, just RSA!” But against a rising tide of xenophobia, what South Africa are we actually rooting for?
The king of soccer
In 1957, three months after Ghanaian independence, the world’s most celebrated footballer came to Accra to teach. What Stanley Matthews left behind changed Ghanaian football forever.
How Morocco’s diaspora is remaking the nation
When Ayyoub Bouaddi chose Morocco over France, he wasn’t just making a football decision, he was enacting a theory of citizenship that has been in the making since 1880.
Refusing non-existence
Despite renewed efforts to criminalize and erase queerness, LGBTQ Africans continue to challenge the myth that their lives and identities are somehow un-African.
Caught offside
Some African football fans have been hate-watching Bafana Bafana at the World Cup because of South Africa’s anti-migrant politics. The team’s apolitical stance has left them without a defense.
Rebranding French imperialism
Although the Africa Forward Summit in Kenya was framed as a partnership, it was actually France desperately looking for a new door into a continent that wants to throw it out.