Prince Blackwater of China
This is big: Blackwater has set up a new Africa-focused military contractor, partnering with one of China's largest state-owned conglomerates.
Politics
The Komla Dumor I knew
A friend who knew I was once a broadcast journalist with Joy FM recently asked me whether I had any pictures with Komla Dumor (KD). My response was “unfortunately not, and I am not going to Photoshop one either,” as I do not want to be called a Fast Pretender – a term reserved for friends of Shabba Ranks and Maxi Priest on House Call. This is to say I did not get the chance to bond with KD like say Akwasi Sarpong or Stan Dogbe, mostly because Komla Dumor was “always leaving when I was coming.” What I am trying to say is that I did know the man, but not intimately. However, at the least, he was my friend on Facebook–I hope that counts.
A year of coups
In what amounts to another pointless exercise, the Washington Post repeated its 2013 map of countries most likely to have a coup. Of course, African countries are at the top of the list.
Nelson Mandela’s environmentalism
The first African head of Greenpeace International, Kumi Naidoo, on how the world could best do justice to Mandela.
The social history of a “moral panic”
There is no evidence that Nigeria is under attack from gays and lesbians or the nation's "culture" being eroded from within by "waves of sexual marauders."
Born Free Films
Amazwi Wethu in Cape Town, South Africa, teaches its high student members how to advocate for themselves through film and photography.
The “Apartheid-era Robin Hood”
I wrote a long piece on Zola Mahobe, a Soweto businessman who died last December (two weeks after Nelson Mandela) and who is credited with transforming Mamelodi Sundowns. The team is currently one of the “big three” South African football clubs and is owned by Patrice Motsepe, the best example of a postapartheid oligarch: he […]
The Year of Blackface in the Netherlands
Interview with Verene Shepherd, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on People of African Descent.
How a coup d’état drove a scholar to social media
Call me a curmudgeon, but I had never really understood the value of social media. I didn’t see the point of mundane tweets and posts on the lives of the glitterati, or the need to share personal views in a public medium. A coup d’état in Mali in March of 2012 rocked this perception and […]
Boss Player
The BBC news presenter Komla Dumor, who passed away this weekend from cardiac arrest, was an exceptional broadcaster; read Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie’s obit here. Everyone loved him. He was probably the most stylish newscaster also, and was well on his way to becoming the first globally recognized superstar news presenter originating from the continent. Dumor took journalism seriously. Just […]
The Prisoner and his Pin-up Girl
Apartheid's prisons tolerated 'National Geographic; For Nelson Mandela, who knew better, it was porn.
Nigeria’s Gay Problems
Nigeria's governing class declares its disdain for any form or likeness of homosexuality or the rights of gay people.
Nelson Mandela and how we talk about the state in Africa
It may be better to ask what Nelson Mandela's leadership means for how we assess the state in Africa.
Ghanaians Like Catchphrases
From the entertaining, mundane and sometimes depressing events and revelations, five of the most important lessons we learned from this year.
In the middle of the desert
African refugees walk to Jerusalem in mass protest against indefinite detention by the Israeli state.
Black Brazilian
“Brazilian” is not a race and life in Brazil is still black and white. Black people hardly benefit from Brazilian-ness.
The DRC: A country only imagined without agency
Can European film producers narrate African pasts without reducing these to just European historical developments?
Shake My Head Mandela “Moments”
We collected a ton of odd (including flat out racist and objectionable) media that circulated on social media and by journalists in the last few days about Mandela's passing.
To Come Back from Qunu
Herman Wasserman, at the site of the funeral of postapartheid South Africa's founder, Nelson Mandela, contemplates Mandela's legacy for his children.
Nelson Mandela and the Dutch
The mainstream view is that the Netherlands was a staunch supporter of South Africa's liberation movement? The story is a bit more complicated.