The Legacy of Nat Nakasa
Nat Nakasa was an ambitious journalist who had the cold fortune of being born black in 20th century South Africa.
Culture
The Reincarnation of Rockland Palace
A part of Harlem's ballroom scene gets a makeover and a much needed funding injection and international exposure.
Nha morna, nha Terra
The songs that savor the writer Olufemi Terry's travels through the islands of Cape Verde.
The Photographs of Mary Beth Meehan
Mary Beth Meehan, an American photographer in the U.S. northeast photographs marginal people: immigrants and poor people, both black and white.
Friday Bonus Music Break, N°15
Fofo-born Shokanti released a video this week in celebration of Cape Verdean Independence (slipping in those famous words by Amílcar Cabral at the very end). Above. You’ve noticed our blogging went into holiday mode but there’s always time for music. So 9 more below. Brazilian Kamau’s 21/12 finally gets a video; not surprisingly it’s another […]
My delicious ‘Afrigasm’
White Euro-Americans are drawn to Sub Saharan Africa by an urge to explore, do good or by a more existential desire for an encounter with radical difference.
Salafists and art in Tunisia
Artists wanted to comment on the political struggles and religious undercurrents roughing up Tunisian society. Religious zealots, backed by the state, shut them down.
Her Zimbabwe
As the number of active female bloggers has increased, so too has the level of discourse around the dynamism and contradictions of life as a Zimbabwean woman.
Friday Bonus Music Break, N°14
Quite the mixed bag this week. ‘Disco Malapaa’ by Arusha’s Jambo Squad above; nine more below.
A Room Adrift in London
Here in London we have been having a lot of trouble with pageants. After the riots last August, the state is hoping that summer plans – the Olympics, the Hackney festival – will be distraction from the impoverishment of life and extensive violence done by the conservative government to the Welfare State. Last month the […]
The Very Best Politics
What's the story with The Very Best's video for the single "Kondaine," where they teamed up with an American NGO and shot it in very rural Kenya.
Africa is a Science Fiction Superpower
A film series in London explores what it would mean imbuing Africa with extra-terrestrial powers. We speak to the curators, Al Cameron and Nav Haq.
The rising bitterness of South Africa’s black majority
'Dear Mandela' questions whether the history of South Africa's ruling party obscures its corruption and immoralities. And what kinds of movements it would take to challenge the ANC's power head on.
The United States of Africa
Yannick Létourneau talks about the genesis of his film about the Senegelese rapper, Awadi. Also, why so many political musicians come from West Africa.
Binyavanga’s writing out of depression
Writing on depression in Africa is a rarity, so Binyavanga Wainaina's book, "One Day I Will Write About This Place," seems singular.
Struggles over memory in South Africa
Revisionism pervades popular culture in South Africa now, coloring our perception of the past.
Friday Bonus Music Break, N°13
Tchobari duo shot the video for ‘Quem Mandou? (Me Nascer)’ in Catambor, Luanda “to show a different side of our city”.
Mutua Matheka and the Cityscapes of Nairobi
Matheka, through his photographs, aims to instil in Kenyans, and eventually all Africans, pride in their cities and pride in their place within them.
Sodade
Meaning is elusive in Cape Verde, but it does result in an existential limbo conducive to creeping, fretful madness.
The Safe Location
Denzel Washington's new thriller, "Safe House," plays out in Cape Town, South Africa. You mostly can't tell. That's deliberate.