The second life of ‘Daughters of the Dust’
The classic film, first premiered in 1991, is making a comeback. Not least: Beyoncé’s visual album 'Lemonade' borrows liberally from Julie Dash's film. Why is the film so influential?
Culture
How to cover Eritrea
Eritrea has expelled all international correspondents and banned local private newspapers since 2001. One consequence is
The uncompromising Zoë Wicomb
Zoë Wicomb's fellow South African, JM Coetzee once wrote: "For years we have been waiting to see what the literature of post-apartheid South Africa will look like. Now Zoe Wicomb delivers the goods."
How do we talk about rebel groups?
Seeking to interrogate unhelpful media (and official) narratives that permeate everyday discourse and obscure the truth about these terrorist organizations is important.
A sympathetic critique of Thomas Sankara
The judgment that Sankara was a hero rests in part on what was politically possible in Burkina Faso in the early 1980s.
Art in dark times
Interview with historian Dan Magaziner about his new book, The Art of Life in South Africa, about one of the few art schools training black art teachers under Apartheid.
Africa’s First Lady
Winnie was everything Africans - and African women in particular - were not supposed to be.
Cape Town’s art fair
Art players and enthusiasts from around the world and down the street will coalesce at the
International Criminal Court politricks
Reigniting an important debate on the entanglements between the production of justice and the fragility of continental legal mechanisms.
Pan-Africanism was Peter Abrahams’ Country
Peter Abrahams lived pan-Africanism (in South Africa, Britain and Jamaica) and remained brave enough to challenge those within it.
Weekend Music Break No.105 – Songs from banned countries: Somalia edition
For this weekend’s music break, we’ll have a second edition of “Songs from banned countries.” This
By the light of the arrivals gate
Guinea's electricity crisis is a metaphor for the country's postcolonial maladies
Weekend Music Break No.104 – Songs from banned countries: Sudan edition
We’re returning to the older format of Weekend Music Break (a series of embeds rather than
Crime in South Africa
Two books tell complex and illuminating stories of how crime and corruption play out at the street level in the country's cities.
Power against Power in Ghana
Art – especially music – occupies a double-edged place in Ghanaian history in its relation to power.
The Delasi Edition
This selection of smooth Afropop illustrates Delasi's transnational vision for contemporary African art and music.
Nigeria’s ‘brain drain’
The tensions between young Nigerians eager to flee their country for a better life in the United States and those already exposed to US culture.
Winter In America Edition
Music Break Number 102 goes out to our American family, set to face four years of struggle against a new set of rulers.
Opening Angola’s past to public debate
The stories of those who fought on the frontlines, were imprisoned, or wanted to establish real democracy after independence in Angola.
MLK was a Pan-African
On the third Monday of January each year, Americans mark MLK's birthday with a public holiday. Africans should too.