Why is so much coverage of the Mali crisis so bad?
We mean the kind of bad that comes from being caught in a Beckettian loop of either saying nothing at all or having nothing to say.
Blog
The Swedish Golliwog Cake
It’s a brilliant staging of structural racism and post-colonial existence by the artist Makode Linde.
The Swarm of Insects Destroying the City
Interview with South African writer Henrietta Rose-Innes's about her novel, "Nineveh."
19th New York African Film Festival: Shorts!
Short films sometimes get a bad rap — they’re considered a “learning exercise” for film school students, or worse, they’re made synonymous with boring, pretentious art house… stuff. This year’s matinee trio at NYAFF had some fun with these stereotypes. Osvalde Lewat’s ‘Sderot, Last Exit’ is an experimental documentary that follows student filmmakers as they […]
The civilizing mission of the white man
The recent controversy around Günter Grass’s criticisms of Germany's arms trade with Israel is an interesting post-script to the Namibian genocide controversy.
The War in Mali’s North–To What Effect?
The rebels--that is, the MNLA and their disavowed and dangerous allies--hold Mali hostage.
Exploring rootlessness and confusion
The director, Frances Bodomo, originally from Ghana, talks about her film "Boneshaker" and African globalization.
The elderly, the blind and people with albinism
In which category would the South African photographer Pieter Hugo place himself? What do they stand for or what his photographs can and cannot tell.
The good Senegalese woman
Madame Faye Sall is the first woman of Senegalese birth and ancestry to become First Lady of Senegal. Some women in Senegal hope it will affect the debate about women and power there.
Film Review: “The Education of Auma Obama”
Republican party propaganda wants to paint President Barack Obama’s Kenyan family as alien to America. In this propaganda, Barack Hussein Obama Snr and the old man’s supposed “anti-colonial” and left-wing biases. In this propaganda Kenyans are reduced to anti-American zealots. Yet the strongest impression one gets from the Obama family in Branwen Okpako’s beautiful, and substantive documentary of Obama’s half sister, Auma Obama, is how familiar and American (i.e. the values Republicans proffer of hard work and guile) the Obamas are.
Coup d’Etat is the New Black
Military takeovers are happening so quickly and so fast in Africa, and instapundits need back facts. We are here to help. Here are some basic facts about Guinea-Bissau, site of the latest coup d'etat.
The 19th New York African Film Festival: “Relentless”
“Relentless” is fundamentally a film about Lagos. About how director Andy Okoarafor sees it. In Okoarafor’s rendering, Lagos is a hard, inhospitable city, where people look stressed out, always hustling. They’re always on the move. But Okoarafor also has loves this city.