Lupita Nyong’o and the Mexicans
The actress Lupita Nyong'o was born in Mexico, who wanted to claim her Oscar win. But why should she owe the Oscar to Mexico, a country with such high levels of racism?
Kenya
What’s it like to be Somali in Kenya
Kenyans employ all kinds of crude and unconscionable fascist statements towards anything Somali.
The first Kenyan mockumentary about NGO’s
"The Samaritans" explores the absurdities of the NGO world. The main characters work for "Aid for Aid," a fictitious NGO that “does nothing.”
The Art of Mimi Cherono Ng’ok
After years in South Africa, Ng'ok's work now explores her own relation to places, people and spaces of her native Nairobi.
How to say Lupita Nyong’o
At the moment, everyone seems to be obsessed with the stunning Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o. And for good reason. Her heart-wrenching performance in the film 12 Years a Slave has won her critical acclaim, while her humility and beauty have won countless hearts. She’s been on most major talk shows and is lighting up every magazine cover possible. Yet for all the attention, many people just can’t say her name properly. Quite a few don’t even seem to care enough to try. With the Oscars just weeks away, please do your research, stretch your tongue and practice saying Lupita’s name. After all the butcherings of her name, Lupita posted a video on instagram of herself to guide you with the pronunciation, even saying it an American accent. Look out for that soft “g”.
Breaking: African artists use the Internets
Mainstream Western media outlets are only now learning to recognize and value diverse and creative African phenomena that have thrived for years.
The donkey that carried the cloud on its back
A Kenyan film asks in order to evolve, what part of ourselves do we keep and what part do we leave behind.
Wangechi Mutu in conversation with Trevor Schoonmaker
Schoonmaker: When did you start to see work by African artists that you did respond to? Was that in New York? Mutu: In New York, ironically, you know, in the early ’90s. Richard Onyango, one of Kenya’s big painters, was one of the first shows I saw.
Morbid nostalgia
What's wrong with the 'Africa' journalism of Aidan Hartley, a staple in rightwing UK media like 'The Spectator' and 'The Daily Mail."
The Westgate Mall photographs
The photographs of the terror attack at Nairobi's Westgate Mall depict an ordinary day for people at the mall gone terribly wrong.
A Tribute to Kofi Awoonor: The Story of Sankofa
Alas! a snake has bitten me My right arm is broken, And the tree on which I lean is fallen. (from Songs of Sorrow, by Kofi Awoonor) When Kofi Awoonor started out as a writer, after his first book of poems, Rediscovery, had been published, he went to sit at the feet of traditional Ewe […]
The Politics of Spectacular Violence
The reactions to the Westgate Mall attacks in Nairobi makes clear the differentiation between human lives that are worthy of grief, and those that are not.
“This is not only Ghana’s loss”
Ato Quayson remembers the celebrated Ghanaian poet and intellectual, Kofi Awoonor (1935-2013), who died this week.
The Black Atlantis
The negative effects of tourism, globalization, and commercialization in Zanzibar.
Two responses to Mindy Budgor, “Maasai warrior princess”
Yesterday we reluctantly posted on Mindy Budgor, memoirist and professional attention-seeker who’s telling anyone who’ll listen that she’s the first female Maasai warrior. Really we wanted to hear from readers. Here are two of the responses we received: First off, @aerofloatbo writes: I am a Maasai woman (from Kenya) and we have seen these (white) […]
Tuleka Prah’s African Food Map
The genesis of the idea was simple and uncomplicated. I was looking for a recipe online and was generally disappointed with what I found. Many links were unnecessarily verbose, cluttered in structure or layout and displayed alarmingly poor imagery. At the end of the day, I could not remember what I was searching for and […]
Our colonial torturers
Even after the Mau Mau case the British will never stop kidding themselves about the crimes of empire.
Kenyan Neorealism
Nairobi Half Life is a smart, take-no-prisoners action movie that makes us to wrestle with the neoliberal city.
Weekend Music Break, N°35
We hardly ever feature Brazilian music, and even less their take on Afrobeat. The above tune by the Abayomy Afrobeat Orchestra dates from last year, but the video’s new. Hope to see more from them. We’ve got 9 more videos lined up for you this week. Ugandan duo Radio & Weasel came up with this:
The monster under the house
Elections provide opportunities for national self-examination and renewal, maybe not in Kenya.