Miniature Metamorphoses
by André Naffis-Sahely. In his dotage, Henry Kissinger has come to resemble Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars; after five decades of insidious influence on US foreign policy, stretching from Nixon all the way to Obama, his face has scrunched into a ripple of wrinkles, but his eyes retain their wily lustre. When he enters a room, […]
POLITRICKS IN THE STADIUM
Melanie Boehi discusses how, for politicians, sports tournaments such as the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup in 2010 serve as magical image-production machines and informal meeting space, where work is disguised as play and play disguised as work. Hosni Mubarak was among the first to congratulate Egypt’s national team upon its […]
Yahoo Boy No Laptop
[hr] Dami Ajayi celebrates the eclectic sound and success of Olamide, arguably Nigeria’s most popular rapper, who has flipped the script that dictates the lingua franca of the genre. Kicking the “despotic reign” of American-style lyrics and sound to the curb, Olamide cut a clear path for rap that is reflective of what it means […]
KÀDDU- THE ECHO OF DISSONANT DISCOURSE
Ibrahima Wane Translated by David Leye When it was published by Présence Africaine in 1954, Cheikh Anta Diop’s Nations nègres et culture acted as a trigger for many black intellectuals, particularly young African students in France. Recognizing their own significance, leaders of the Federation of Black African Students in France (FEANF) distributed Diop’s research on […]
NATIONAL HEROES ACRE II & III
National Heroes Acre II Photographs by Jekesai Njikizanava [hr] National Heroes Acre II by Brian Chikwa Sometimes you take off because you don’t want to still be around when people come back to their senses. Knock-kneed, I was never built for running, but I knew that you run faster when racing other people than when […]