Music Break / Fatoumata Diawara
Easy listening. ‘Bassa’ is a song by the Côte d’Ivoire-born, Mali-raised and now France-based artist Fatoumate Diawara. We could use a translation — because maybe it’s no easy listening at all. Anyone?
Further Reading
No one should be surprised we exist
The documentary film, ‘Rolé—Histórias dos Rolezinhos’ by Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Vladimir Seixas uses sharp commentary to expose social, political, and cultural inequalities within Brazilian society.
More than meets the eye
The personal archives of Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman, a Nigerian pro-democracy activist, suggests that same-faith presidential tickets are not necessarily about religious domination.
Reading List: Barbara Boswell
While editing a collection of the writings of South African feminist Lauretta Ngcobo, Barbara Boswell found inspiration in texts that reflected Ngcobo’s sense that writing is an exercise of freedom.
The politics of maandamano
Kenya’s cost of living demonstrations have as much to do with popular discontent as they do with the opposition capitalizing on frustrations.
Demystifying austerity
Government’s around the world are talking about tightening their belts. Austerity is a common economic policy, but what is it actually? On the podcast, we discuss.
Making sense of Sudan’s unrest
For democracy to succeed in Sudan, the process towards civilian rule must itself be democratized, rather than largely driven by top-down efforts.
Kenya’s stalemate
A fundamental contest between two orders is taking place in Kenya. Will its progressives seize the moment to catalyze a vision for social, economic, and political change?
Why Thabo Bester’s grift worked
South African con-artists Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana are not good people. They’re also an outcome of a system that predisposes individuals to avarice, selfishness and deceit.
How to fight for democracy
The events of May Day 1998 in Nigeria and lessons from Ola Oni on fighting for democracy in multi-ethnic societies.
An annual awakening
In the 1980s, the South African arts collective Vakalisa Art Associates reclaimed time as a tool of social control through their subversive calendars.
More than a building
The film ‘No Place But Here’ uses VR or 360 media to immerse a viewer inside a housing occupation in Cape Town. In the process, it wants to challenge gentrification and the capitalist logic of home ownership.
A worldly Nubian energy
The music and art of Lauryn Hill and Chiwoniso Maraire combined sexiness with political consciousness, offering Black women a way out of rigid categorization.
Buharism is dead, long live Buharism
Buharism, the social and economic outlook of Nigeria’s outgoing president, did not seek an alternative to neoliberal globalization, but sought to consolidate Nigeria’s place in it.
The impossibility of actual politics
After the Arab Spring, the African left was left demoralized and disorganized. However, a recent book argues that the revolution continues in quotidian life.
The new Zimbabwe soundtrack
Zimbabwe is not Mugabe, Nkomo, Mnangagwa or Chamisa. A new Afro-electronic music duo is giving the country’s complexity a soundtrack.
In defense of precolonial Africa
How are we to discuss and deal with colonization in Africa without using language that acknowledges that we were something before colonization?
Defund the police
Policing in postcolonial Kenya is at an impasse. What is needed is disinvestment from this system of repression and reinvestment in communities.
Ms. Harris goes to Africa
For all the coverage about Kamala Harris’ Afrobeats Spotify playlist, or her search for her grandfather’s house in Lusaka, her African trip is about shoring up US positions.
The valley is getting wider and deeper
Artificial Intelligence is here to stay. The question is whether we align AI to promote human rights or to defend private property and exploitation.
Reading List: Joel Marie Cabrita
Instead of listing the books that help her write ‘Written Out: The Silencing of Regina Gelana Twala,’ the author notes five books that shaped Regina Gelana Twala.