November 02, 2022
Africa: South Africa's Dance Music Craze, Amapiano, Could Conquer the World - If Its Stars Step Up
There's a lot of hype around amapiano. The South African dance music genre has dominated dancefloors since 2019, spreading from South Africa to West Africa and now to the world.… Read more »
October 31, 2022
Egypt: Podcasting in Egypt - How Feminist Activism Has Emerged Through Shared Stories
After more than a decade of teaching audio production to my college students in Cairo, it finally dawned on me that podcasts themselves can serve as teaching tools that highlight… Read more »
Ghana: Ghana's National Museum - Superb Restoration but Painful Stories Remain Untold
Ghana's national museum has reopened its doors after a seven-year closure to allow for major renovations. Read more »
October 20, 2022
South Africa: Struggle Songs Against Apartheid Come From a Long Tradition of Resistance
Struggle songs, also known as protest music or liberation songs, are defined as "expressions of discontent or dissent" used by politically disenfranchised protesters to influence… Read more »
Kenya: Kenya's Samburu Warriors Still Practise a Rock Art Tradition That Tells Their Stories
The Samburu people in northern Kenya's Marsabit county are pastoralists. They migrate from place to place in search of pasture and water for their cattle, goats, sheep and camels.… Read more »
October 14, 2022
Africa: How to Win the Booker Prize - Is There a Formula for 'The Finest in Fiction'?
They say that everyone has a book in them. But how about a Booker prize? That's probably what the six shortlisted authors of the Booker prize 2022 will be wondering as they count… Read more »
October 13, 2022
Africa: 'Restitution' of Looted African Art Just Continues Colonial Policies - Much More Is At Stake
The violence of the past is far from over. But it is disguised in many ways, made invisible and normalised. What started with the Spanish, Portuguese or the Ottoman empires… Read more »
October 10, 2022
Nigeria: Simi and Bella Shmurda - Two Afrobeats Stars Reveal a Growing Tendency to Abuse Fela Kuti
There can no longer be any doubt that Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the legendary Nigerian musician, activist and father of Afrobeat music, has become an easy career booster for today's… Read more »
October 09, 2022
South Africa: What Is Cultural Appropriation and Why Is It So Harmful?
Die Antwoord is a South African band that uses hip-hop music to create a style it calls "zef". Since it first appeared in 2009, Die Antwoord has been criticised for cultural… Read more »
October 05, 2022
Benin: Woman King Is Worth Watching - but Be Aware That Its Take On History Is Problematic
The Hollywood movie The Woman King, released in mid-September, became an immediate box-office success. The triumphs of the Agoodjies, the women warriors of the ancient Kingdom of… Read more »
October 04, 2022
South Africa: Tracey Rose, Renegade South African Artist - Understanding Her 30 Years of Outrage
When an artist is welcomed into the monumental interiors of a structure such as the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa for a retrospective of their work, it suggests the… Read more »
October 03, 2022
South Africa: Trevor Noah Brought a New Perspective to TV Satire - As Well As a Whole New Audience
After seven years of hosting The Daily Show on Comedy Central, a hit comedy show produced in the US but with global reach, South African born comedian Trevor Noah has announced… Read more »
September 30, 2022
South Africa: Trevor Noah Is Leaving the Daily Show - How Did He Fare?
Africa's most famous funnyman and TV star, the South African stand-up comedian and author Trevor Noah, is leaving his job as the host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show in the US.… Read more »
September 23, 2022
Africa: Hilary Mantel Was One of the Great Voices of Historical Fiction - and So Much More
Dame Hilary Mantel was a writer of immense skill and originality, and her death represents an incalculable loss to British literature. She will be chiefly remembered for her… Read more »
September 15, 2022
Benin: The Woman King Is More Than an Action Movie - It Shines a Light On the Women Warriors of Benin
The Woman King is a big-budget Hollywood movie that has been anticipated since 2018, when US star Viola Davis was announced as the lead in the story of the "amazons" of Dahomey.… Read more »
September 07, 2022
Tunisia: My Pilgrimage to the Site of Paul Klee's Hammamet With Its Mosque
In this new series, our writers introduce us to a favourite painting. Read more »
September 09, 2022
Nigeria: The King's Horseman, Nigeria's Most Famous Play, Is Now a Netflix Movie - What Makes It a Classic
Elesin Oba, the King's Horseman is a new movie coming to Netflix. It is based on Nigeria's most famous play, Death and the King's Horseman, written in 1975 by Nobel Prize-winning… Read more »
September 02, 2022
Ghana: Modern Slavery - How a Drama Project Educates Communities Through the Stories of Survivors
An estimated 40.3 million people around the world are trapped in slavery. One in four victims are children, with women and girls affected most. Modern slavery occurs when people… Read more »
September 01, 2022
Africa: Wolf Warrior 2 - What the Blockbuster Movie Tells Us About China's Views On Africa
The Chinese film Wolf Warrior II (2017) has been a runaway success - even though it contains controversial expressions of Chinese nationalism and racist stereotypes of Africans. It… Read more »
August 30, 2022
South Africa: Corruption in South Africa - New Book Sets Out How Ruling ANC Lost the Battle
One of the greatest benefits of South Africa's democracy is freedom of speech and publication. Mpumelelo Mkhabela's book, The Enemy Within, is the latest in a cascade of… Read more »
Ethiopia: Haacaaluu Hundeesaa - Sublime Singer Who Inspired Oromo Struggle Protesters
I speak to myself whisperingOur situation has defied resolution, our misery isn't improvingWe are in despair and idling, that is why I am whispering. Read more »
August 26, 2022
Somalia: Hadraawi - the Most Famed Poet in Somalia, the Land of the Poets
Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame Said, widely known by his childhood nickname Hadraawi, was one of the greatest Somali poets of all time. He was certainly the most famed Somali poet since… Read more »
August 23, 2022
South Africa: A South African University Publisher Makes It to 100. A Rare and Important Event
In the past month, my email has served up two contrasting examples of the state of scholarly publishing in African countries. The one was an invitation to celebrate the centenary… Read more »
August 19, 2022
Nigeria: Biyi Bandele, a Serial Storyteller Who Elevated Nigerian Culture
The writer, film-maker and theatre creator Biyi Bandele has passed away at the age of 54, news that has stunned the West African arts community where he was a creative icon who… Read more »
August 18, 2022
South Africa: South African Reedman Linda Sikhakhane's New Album Is a Revelation
People were listening to (Duke Ellington and Count Basie) at home because we felt this is our music and these are our black heroes. The attraction ... was that the rhythms were… Read more »