South Africa: History With a Human Face and Voice - How Museum Theatre Gets Kids to Care About the Past

The facts of history are important, but try telling that to a classroom full of bored youngsters. One way to liven up the subject is to show that real people lived through… Read more »

South Africa: South African Novelist Lauretta Ngcobo Is the Subject of a Tender and Urgent New Film

Lauretta Ngcobo, who passed away in 2015, left a singular and impactful literary legacy in South Africa. Even in a life of exile and resistance to apartheid and white minority rule… Read more »

Kenya: Banning Rafiki Was Unlawful - Why New Court Ruling Is an Important Moment for African Film

The film Rafiki is a charming love story that plays out in urban Kenya. It follows two teenage girls whose close friendship slowly turns into first love. Directed by rising… Read more »

South Africa: Fossil Hunters Find a New Dinosaur Track Site On South Africa's Coast - the Youngest So Far

Southern Africa is world renowned for its fossil record of creatures that lived in the very distant past, including dinosaurs. But, about 182 million years ago, a huge eruption of… Read more »

Africa: Rafiki Unbanned On Appeal - Why It's an Important Moment for African Film

The film Rafiki is a charming love story that plays out in urban Kenya. It follows two teenage girls whose close friendship slowly turns into first love. Directed by rising… Read more »

Kenya: Two Kenyan Women Rebuild Libraries in a Quietly Powerful New Documentary

Two Kenyan women - Wanjiru Koinange and Angela Wachuka - set out in 2017 to do something both ordinary and radical: rebuild neglected libraries in Nairobi. Read more »

Ghana: Ghanaian Celebrities Are Dealing With Mental Illness Stigma Behind Closed Doors - Why Speaking Up Matters

Imagine living in a country where talking openly about depression or anxiety can cost you your job, your reputation, or even your freedom. That is still the reality in Ghana, where… Read more »

Uganda: Inside Uganda's Video Halls, 'Video Jokers' Transform Hollywood Blockbusters Into Local Entertainment

If you walk into a video hall in Uganda your attention will probably go straight to a person sitting at the front of the audience. Speaking rapidly into a microphone, they comment… Read more »

Africa: Oldest Known Cremation in Africa Poses 9,500-Year-Old Mystery About Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers

Near the equator, the Sun hurries below the horizon in a matter of minutes. Darkness seeps from the surrounding forest. Nearly 10,000 years ago, at the base of a mountain in… Read more »

Africa: Looted African Belongings Must Be Returned - Is It Repatriation or Restitution? the Words We Use Matter

Museums and universities around the world hold vast collections of cultural artefacts, artworks, objectified belongings and even ancestral remains. Many were not freely given but… Read more »

Nigeria: Revolutionary Rap - Nigerian Star Falz Has Kept Protest Music Alive

Nigerian rapper, actor and social media star Falz released his sixth studio album, The Feast, in 2025. Read more »

Africa: Family Time - How to Survive - and Even Thrive - Over the Holidays

At the end of the year, many families reunite to enjoy time together. These times can be happy, yet sometimes they reveal tensions, unsatisfied needs and difficult relationships.… Read more »

South Africa: Pops Mohamed Mixed Old and New to Reinvent South African Music

Ismail Mohamed-Jan - better known by South African jazz fans as Pops Mohamed - has passed away at the age of 75. His life in music represented a struggle against narrow, oppressive… Read more »

Benin: Ciara's Beninese Citizenship - Marketing Ploys Can't Heal the Past

African American singer Ciara received citizenship from the Republic of Benin in 2025 as a descendant of enslaved Africans. The images of her ceremony at Ouidah's slave route… Read more »

South Africa: Darker Shade of Pale - Why I Wrote a Book About My Grandfather and How It Changed My View of Him

Deborah Posel, the founding director of the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, an interdisciplinary research institute in the humanities and social sciences in South… Read more »

Egypt: Tutankhamun Was Decapitated 100 Years Ago - Why the Excavation Is a Great Shame Instead of a Triumph

November 2025 marks 100 years since archaeologists first examined Tutankhamun's mummified remains. What followed wasn't scientific triumph - it was destruction. Using hot knives… Read more »

Africa: African Poetry Is Celebrated in a Groundbreaking Publishing Project

For 10 years, Ghanaian poet Kwame Dawes and his friend the Nigerian writer Chris Abani have sifted through piles of manuscripts looking for Africa's new poetic talent. Since 2014,… Read more »

Nigeria: The Comedy Economy - Nigeria's Online Video Skits Are Making Millions

Short comedy videos circulating on social media have created a booming industry in Nigeria in the past few years. The country's comedy creators put their skits out on platforms… Read more »

South Africa: Social Media Can Cause Stress in Real Life - Our 'Digital Thermometer' Helps Track It

Social media has reached more than half (63.9%) of the world's population since it got started in 1996. Social network platforms grew from 970 million users in 2010 to 5.41 billion… Read more »

South Africa: The Jew in King Shaka's Court - How a 19th-Century Castaway Shaped a Zulu Leader's Legacy

Gales tore at the Mary's sails, and surf crashed across the brig's deck. Seventeen-year-old Nathaniel Isaacs tied himself to a railing to avoid being washed overboard. The Mary's… Read more »

South Africa: South African Writer Zoë Wicomb Embraced Humanity in All Its Complexity

Zoë Wicomb's first book, You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town (1987), is a tour through episodes in the life of a writer-character, Frieda Shenton. She's not unlike but crucially… Read more »

South Africa: Black Coffee and Enhle Ruling Sends a Clear Message - Customary and White Weddings Are Equal in South Africa

South African actress and businesswoman Enhle Mbali Mlotshwa has won a victory in the Johannesburg High Court. It ruled that her customary marriage to music star Nkosinathi "Black… Read more »

South Africa: Zoë Wicomb, the South African-Scottish Writer Who Told Powerful Stories About Belonging

Zoë Wicomb, a celebrated South African-Scottish writer and scholar, has died. Read more »

Africa: African Languages for AI - the Project That's Gathering a Huge New Dataset

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Siri or Google Assistant are developed by the global north and trained in English, Chinese or European languages. In… Read more »

South Africa: World's First Known Butt-Drag Fossil Trace Was Left By a Rock Hyrax in South Africa 126,000 Years Ago

Rock hyraxes, known in southern Africa more often as "dassies", are furry, thickset creatures with short legs and no discernible tails. They spend much of their time sunning… Read more »