Culture
Nigerians in Space
In Deji Olukotun’s novel, a Nigerian NASA scientist — on behalf of all colonized people — wants to return moon rocks that Neil Armstrong brought back to earth.
Know your Dutch history
It is important that the Netherlands' history of slavery gets anchored in Dutch history curriculums in the same way that the Second World War is.
The Congolization Movement
Creating spaces where artists related to the Congolese diaspora can freely tell their side of the story.
The realism and violence in ’12 Years a Slave’
In a non-sensationalist manner, without super-heroes and special effects, director Steve McQueen allows the viewer not just be horrified, but to empathize too.
Homophobia in Senegal
While there is no Wolof word for “lesbian,” there are multiple words for the practice of a woman having sex with a woman, or a man having sex with a man.
What it means to be Winnie Mandela
Since she has never really spoken about her feelings on the breakdown of her marriage to Nelson Mandela, except to very close friends, we are obliged to speculate.
Political Theater
Robert Mugabe and how how quickly style and showmanship can sweep away an audience, even when the underlying message promotes violence and jingoistic triumphalism.
Elisofon’s Africa
The photographer, Elliot Elisofon's 'choice' of what to see and how was embedded in a visual colonial archive. It was never a unique choice.
The most important public intellectual of the last 50 years
In gratitude to Stuart Hall, a socialist intellectual who taught us to confront the political with a smile.
British-Nigerian Me?
The issues faced by people of dual heritage who are torn between two different cultures and are confused about their identity.
The first Kenyan mockumentary about NGO’s
"The Samaritans" explores the absurdities of the NGO world. The main characters work for "Aid for Aid," a fictitious NGO that “does nothing.”
Just don’t do it
Saying that blackface is an American thing (everyone now uses this excuse) and therefore not a problem anywhere else, makes you look dumb.
John Akomfrah, Stuart Hall and the Film Essay
Akomfrah's films gives voice to the legacy of the African diaspora in Europe, and his experimental approach to narrative and structure helped pave the way for the re-emergence of the "essay film" today.
The Question of International Aid
How a documentary about a radio station provides a window into aid policy in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).