“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
How to Spell Conflict by Natasha Sadr Haqeian, in Arabic (Kayfa ta, 2018)
James R. Murphy is a teacher from LaGuardia, New York. Murphy considers mathematics to be the most powerful, abstract, and malleable language available to humanity. To introduce his students who don't "like" math to abstract and systematic thinking, he placed a thread between their hands and taught them how to make shapes with it. "How to Spell Conflict" traces a thread that has been running through our fingers for centuries. This thread has evolved from the tangible shapes our hands made in childhood to the more elusive computational algorithms that occupy our fingers today as they constantly interact with digital devices. By tracing this thread through its various twists and turns, the study evokes a discussion of the meaning of collective agency, aiming to rethink current models of perception, education, and power.