“Three generations of white South African men were bound together at that table. Vermuelen was the first generation. He defined Africa, made it safe for Basson to defile. I was the last generation, the last to grow up in segregated neighborhoods. Between us was the silent photograph of Wouter Basson. Like a distant father, Basson was absent at the dining table.” – Henk Rossouw (Hole in the White ‘Hood). Also Mahmood Mamdani on Bantu Education at UCT, Gael Reagon on sisterhood, Binyavanga Wainaina on dis-covering Kenya, Gaston Zossou on African intellectuals and more…
Cover:
Strange Fruit by Lewis Allen
The Sahara in Not a Boundary – a special Arabic edition of the Chronic.
In the minds of many, the Sahara exists as a boundary between the Maghreb and “Black Africa”. History and our lived experience tell a different story. This issue of the Chronic, bears testimony to this.
Designed in collaboration with Studio Safar in Beirut, and published in its entirety in Arabic as Muzmin, this special edition of the Chronic argues that the Sahara has never been a boundary, real or imagined. Trade caravans, intellectuals, literatures, human resources and political ideas have long circulated from Timbuktu to Marrakesh, from Khartoum to Tunis and Cairo and beyond.
Contributors in this issue include Helmi Sharawy, Akin Adesokan, Wendell Hassan MarshJamal Mahjoub, Rayanne Tabet, Nisreen Kaj, Rasheed Araeen, Mongo Beti and more.