The balkanization of Nigeria?
For those who want Nigeria to balkanize, try being a small, ineffectual African country.
Blog
It’s Time to Stop Laughing
In neoliberal global capitalism, anything can be monetized, even the criminal exploits of a marginal schizophrenic.
Erykah Badu’s Royal Problem
Erykah Badu’s online defense of her visit to autocratic Swaziland exposed her lack of knowledge about the continent.
Whining white South Africans
For the love of Woolworths, stop pretending like you and only you know what Nelson Mandela would have wanted.
Africa Is a Country Radio: Episode #2
Just in time for the weekend, episode 2 of Africa is a Country Radio is here! (It went live first on Groovalizacion last week.) This month’s episode opens with a dedication to Suriname, and ends with an audio accompaniment to Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s blog post: “News from Nigeria.” There’s lot’s of fun stuff in between as well, check […]
The new kid on the block
Admit you didn't expect the Economic Freedom Fighters or EFF, a breakaway from the ANC, to do so well in South Africa's latest elections.
Nigeria’s baby boom
Each year more babies are born in Nigeria than in the entire continent of Europe.
Why Blogging is a Threat to the Ethiopian Government
In the past decade, more journalists have fled Ethiopia than any other country in the world.
The Politics of the Belly
The bottom line of politics in electoral democracies in 21st century capitalism: Whatever patronage politicians dispense, there’s no free lunch.
The Dangers of a Single Book Cover
The historian Simon Stephens discovers a meme in the book covers of novels set in or with African themes.
Fumana isazisi sakho. Bhalisa. Vota.*
I came across this image taken by a press photographer in May 1990 after one of the first public meetings between the last white minority government and the liberation movement (led by the ANC), to negotiate a new political order. This was the ANC delegation to that meeting in Cape Town. The people in the image […]
Hip hop and electoral politics
South Africans vote on May 2nd, 2014, the country's 5th democratic elections. Do rappers vote?