[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FC_6PDuJRXs#!&w=500&h=307&rel=0] I am looking out for the documentary film, “An African Election” by the director Jarreth Merz. The film covers the dramatic events surrounding Ghana’s 2008 presidential elections. The election was only the second time–since Ghana ended military rule in 1992–that power would change hands through an election. Following a run-off, the two top candidates–the ruling party’s […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGiLEEX5OuQ&feature=player_embedded&w=500&h=307&rel=] Rakesh Rajani, the head of Tanzanian “citizen-centered initiative”, Twaweza, on the “five key networks that need to be considered and collaborated with in development efforts.” According to the World Bank Blog Rajani’s insights are based on “years of experience working in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.” H/T: Zein Rahemtulla

Novelist (and New School professor) Siddhartha Deb in an interview with Jeffrey Errington for The Quarterly Conversation:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yl5LaocojO4&w=500&h=307&rel=0] The music video for “Die Heuwels Fantasies” by South African (Afrikaans) band, Noorderlig. I am more into the video than I’m into the music–Sean Jacobs.

Football fan, writer and broadcaster David Goldblatt goes in search of football rivalries in Accra, Cairo, Milan and Newcastle for the BBC. A fan in Ghana tells Goldblatt, “I started liking Hearts of Oak in my mother’s womb,” while a Zamalek fan claims “… the government wants Al Ahly to win.” Listen to the entire […]

Carl LeVan Guest Blogger An academic article I wrote in the current issue of the journal Africa Today offers a new explanation for negative African reactions to the US Military Command in Africa (AFRICOM). Using an original dataset of over 500 references in African print and radio media outlets from 28 countries, my study–entitled “The […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3LOKfQ3y2Q&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Shot in Dakar, Senegal. Via Faith 47 Blog (H/T Chinnaya Nwosu) * Part of our meme, ‘This is Africa.’

Political economist Hein Marais’ 1998 book, “South Africa Limits to Change: The Political Economy of Transition,” is a classic of the late 1990s. I have described Marais before, on this blog, as “… one of the trenchant critics of South Africa’s [political and economic] transition,” and the book “a masterpiece.” This past week Marais’ follow-up […]

The writer Teju Cole (remember him from the Africa’s World Cup panel at The New School and his excellent, short novella about Lagos, “Every Day for the Thief“) was recently featured in The New York Times’ T Magazine in a short feature on new “first time novelists.” Teju Cole, 35 ‘‘Open City’’ (Random House, $25) […]

Photograph by Mimi Mollica; from the book “Street Photography Now” (2010) by Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren. “… 240 pages, 52 photographers, 4 essays, over 300 beautiful, surprising and unique images of everyday life across the globe.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtQfB3V-vd4&feature=player_embedded&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Disney goes on safari on the “Dark Continent” in 1945. No comment. Via New School Thoughts on Africa.

Look out for a a special issue of African Journalism Studies on “The Fifa World Cup 2010 in the News.” I guest edited.  While you’re contemplating whether you’d pay to read the opinions of academics on the greatest sporting event in the world, here’s the relevant parts from my introduction to the special issue: It is […]