The last day on earth
The U.S. premiere of Alain Gomis' new film "Tey (Aujourd'hui)," starring Saul Williams.
Senegal
The New Black Films
There is something to be said about the sheer volume of highly-anticipated films made by black filmmakers or about communities of color.
On Sunday night, Aminata Touré was named Prime Minister of Senegal
On Sunday night, Aminata Touré was named Prime Minister of Senegal. True to Touré’s style, she announced the appointment herself. A new Prime Minister forms a new cabinet. It was thought that Touré would have the cabinet by the end of the week. She had it by Monday evening. That’s how Mimi Touré, as she […]
A Senegalese Citizen
Bousso Dramé, a young Senegalese winner of a French prize tells the organizers of a prize to shove it.
The Minister of Earth and Sky
Does the arrest of Karim Wade, the former president's son, mean “the time when one could pillage public goods is over” in Senegal?
Rocking Dakar
Takeifa's sound is a welcome alternative to the more common mbalax music that dominates Senegal's pop music scene.
Rapping Against Impunity
A campaign in Senegal wants to put public pressure on the government to follow-though on criminal investigations in order to get justice for victims of violence and torture.
“African cuisine” is a misnomer
Pierre Thiam, a Senegalese-born chef defining African restaurant food in the United States, argues that it is insulting to categorize African cuisine into one box.
Weedie Braimah and Amadou Kouyate’s Blends
Guest Post by Robert Nathan They’re not your average musicians. Sons of West African griots and court musicians brought up in Washington DC and St. Louis, Weedie Braimah and Amadou Kouyate have straddled the Atlantic all their lives. Indoors, they assiduously studied the kora and the djembe under the guidance of their fathers — master […]
Rap Comes Home
It’s quite a weekend for New York’s prodigal child. Hip-Hop, that burst of youthful energy that was put out into the universe 30 plus years ago is coming back home from several places at once. It’s arriving at a time when Rap music, in its birthplace, confusingly straddles the realms of hyper-capitalism, political activism, youth expression, marginalized’s […]
Who are you rooting for
The historian Laurent Dubois watches the African Cup of Nations in Senegal and can't help mix it up with the history of colonialism and neo-colonialism in the region.
All the immigrants’ crimes in Italy
The online work of Italian rightwing websites to establish the idea that immigrants are dangerous for the Italian society
No one ever finishes anything, we just stop
In Alain Gomis's "Tey', 'Aujourd'hui," a man lives the last day of his life.
President of France, King of Africa?
Francois Hollande want French-African relations to be transparent. Is this a new African policy or the old FrançAfrique?
The abundance of black fashion
Senegalese designer, Adama Paris, organizer of Dakar Fashion Week, gives her opinion on the representation of African designs and designers in the fashion industry.
We are not all Senegalese
Senegal's scandal: Thousands of local boys or trafficked from neighboring countries (known as talibés) are forced into begging by religious teachers.
The Other African election: France’s First Round
Both of the front-runners, incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist François Hollande, have run against FrançAfrique. Easier said than done.
The impotence of the political bourgeoisie
Ousmane Sembene's "Xala" (1974) is a powerful political narrative. At times edging toward the surreal, at others an acute depiction of the complexity of the freshly independent Senegal.
The good Senegalese woman
Madame Faye Sall is the first woman of Senegalese birth and ancestry to become First Lady of Senegal. Some women in Senegal hope it will affect the debate about women and power there.
Cheikh Amadou Bamba Day
For over two decades, West African Muslims from the Murid Sufi Brotherhood come together at the annual Cheikh Amadou Bamba Day march in Harlem, New York. Scholar Zain Abdullah calls it “a major site where they redefine the boundaries of their African identities, cope with the stigma of blackness, and counteract an anti-Muslim backlash”. Mamadou […]