The South African artist Brett Bailey’s installation, “Exhibit B”, was supposed to open on Tuesday, September 23, at The Vaults, a multi-disciplinary space located in underground sections of London’s Waterloo station. The Barbican had hired out the space for Exhibit B. As guests arrived for the opening of Bailey’s show, which featured black actors chained […]
For a number of reasons, the LGBTQ community in Botswana experiences less severe social and institutional backlash than elsewhere in Africa.
“You’ve got a car? It’s less than two hours from here” says a Rasta woman I’ve known for a total of ten minutes. In that time, she’s managed to convince me to travel with her to a town nearby (or was it me trying to convince her?) on a hunt for medicinal herbs. The ganja in […]
What if the author, a Dutch blogger, had the chance to edit an "Africa"-edition of a prominent European magazine.
Hipster's Don't Dance's 'Top 5 World Carnival Tunes' for September 2014.
Egypt has a sexual harassment problem. Two young women decided to make a film about it.
Off the whim, I asked Kwanele Sosibo if he’d be interested in contributing to the series. He swung me this fascinating, unpublished piece about hip-hop and religion within a South African hip-hop context. Sosibo writes for the Mail and Guardian, and is one of the founding members of The Con–Tseliso Monaheng “You are dealing with heaven, while […]
Alessandro Spina produced one of the greatest indictments against colonialism and jingoism, as well as a tribute to the Mediterranean’s cosmopolitanism.
Over the next three days, a group of artists, writers, filmmakers and cultural commentators will meet at Afropea Now!, a a symposium of film screenings, concerts, a workshop and an exhibition taking place at the cultural institution Stadtwerkstatt in Linz, Austria. I am the curator. Last week Africa is a Country asked me to get some of […]
Taghreed Elsanhouri directed the first Sudanese film to be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, “All about Darfur,” in 2005. That same year the film also won the Chairperson’s Prize at the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF). Her other credits include ‘Sudanna al Habib’ (2012) and ‘Mother Unknown‘ (2009). This interview is the second […]
This past July, icon of Black American activism Assata Shakur’s autobiography was re-pressed by Zed Books in London. At times thought to be dormant, black American activism has seen a resurgence in recent weeks across the United States after the killing of Mike Brown by police, and the suppression of protests in Ferguson, Missouri. In a timely guest post, Kwesi Shaddai reflects on Shakur’s […]
New video for ‘Hope,’ by Ghanaian rapper Abladzo Kwame, off his EP ‘This Ewe Boy.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEO2zhHys2I&feature=youtu.be
The Sudanese film, "Beats of the Antonov," explores the connections between the bombs of oppression and the resilience of culture.
The inaugural winner of the Caine Prize for short fiction opines on the useless rivalry between Kenyans and Nigerians about who has won more Caine Prizes.
“This is Simply a Personal Statement from Me to You” On August 18th I attended the memorial service for Nat Nakasa at the Broadway Presbyterian Church in Harlem. What began as a somber event quickly turned joyous as we celebrated the South African writer and editor’s long overdue trip home. With isiZulu songs echoing off […]
The South African struggle suggests that sports boycotts are effective at forcing change. For white South Africans (and their apologists), sporting isolation was a bitter pill to swallow.
in places like Lagos where the healthcare system is inadequate and health workers constantly on strike, people rely on prayer.
The politics of three prominent South African films: the classics 'Come Back Africa,' late-1980s 'Mapantsula' and Oscar winner 'Tsotsi.'
James Matthews has the distinction of being one of the first Black Consciousness poets and publishers in South Africa. He is the subject of a documentary by director Shelley Barry.
The progressive rock of The Brother Moves On is a great case study for why the category of "world music" is at best dated, and at worst problematic.