Nelson Mandela’s Humanity was a Political Education
The author, remembering Mandela, writes how South Africa galvanized progressive energies in the US in the 1980s.
Blog
When Nelson Mandela had an Ethiopian Passport
In April 1962, Mandela traveled on an Ethiopian passport in the name of David Motsomayi. He visited Morocco, Algeria, and Mali.
Mandela and Hip-Hop
Two years ago, South African rapper and former frontman of The Volume, Tumi Molekane (stagename: Tumi) released ‘POWA’, a song which was as much a rally against women abuse as it was speculative banter in which the rapper imagined a post-Mandela South African dystopia. “When Mandela dies, who gon’ really care about us?”, he mused. That refrain […]
Three Myths about Mandela Worth Busting
The Nelson Mandela encountered by former antiapartheid activist Tony Karon in American media is so unrecognizable.
Tata Mandela
The Mandela Capture Memorial in Howick, Kwazulu Natal speaks eloquently to the essential truth: that in South Africa, some families mattered more than other.
Madiba: I Remember
The writer, originally from Cape Town, remembers Nelson Mandela's impact on his life.
10 excuses Dutch people make for blackface
The Dutch can't hide how racist the "tradition" of the blackface character, Zwarte Piet, is. Here we parody their rationalizations.
The Book of North African Literature
Pierre Joris and Habib Tengou edit a book about the multiple beginnings, traditions and genealogies in the literatures of the many languages of the region, and the region's diasporas.
Is the Central African Republic on the Verge of Genocide?
Over the last few weeks, the usually unrelenting stream of baby pictures and lose-weight ads in my Facebook feed has increasingly been interrupted by news from the Central African Republic (CAR). “Unspeakable Horrors in a Country on the Verge of Genocide,” blared one particularly oft-shared headline. As someone who has studied the place for a […]
King of Soukous
An Adieu to Tabu Ley Rochereau, the master rumba singer-songwriter from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
How much is an African body worth?
An African refugee in Britain seeks assistance. He is thrown behind bars, often shackled. He fasts in protest. He is shackled and shipped out on the next charter flight.
Antiblack racism in Korea
Racist representations of Africans are common in South Korea. Where does it come from? Why do South Koreans behave this way?