African Cities Reader Three is Out Now
The African Cities Reader is a biennial publication that brings together contributors from across Africa and the world to challenge the prevailing depiction of urban life on the continent and redefine cityness, Africa-style. It is a joint creation of Chimurenga Magazine and the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. The third […]
Dispossessed Vigils
Mourning and Regeneration in Inner-City Johannesburg[1] By Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon “Only the conscious horror of destruction creates the correct relationship with the dead: unity with them because we, like them, are the victims of the same condition and the same disappointed hope.” – Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno “Home is an appropriated space. It does not exist […]
Body Paths
The city, for many African immigrants, offers a horizon of hope, but also the fear of a death ‘out of place’. To die away from ‘home’, ungrieved and without proper burial, is for many to risk metaphysical itinerancy. But the return home for burial is uncertain and often impossible. In Johannesburg this gives rise to […]