Blogging Africa

Africa Blogging Roundup, 22nd October 2008

Sokari Ekine

2008-10-23, Issue 403

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/51394

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Afrigator

Afrigator the “social media aggregator”, launched in April 2007 is one of the most successful African start-ups along with Muti,http://muti.com the social bookmarking site. The launch was timely as it coincided with a rapid growth in the number of blogs by Africans as well as expats living on the continent. On Monday, Afrigator chose to answer the now infamous question “where are all the African women bloggers?” [http://tinyurl.com/66tqrn] by announcing the top 45 female African bloggers.

Unfortunately the term “African women bloggers” is somewhat misleading as many of the blogs, particularly the non-South African ones are actually written by non-Africans. "This is a real shame as there are so many excellent blogs written by African women from across the continent and in the Diaspora but apart from the South African bloggers, only 4 are listed in the top 45. A more efficient way of finding out who is writing a blog is simply to include a box for gender and country of origin.

“While this list is not the be all and end all it does provide some interesting insight into which female blogs you could/should be watching. It’s clear that South African female bloggers dominate the list but I am very pleased to see Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Uganda and Ethiopia make it on the list.”

It’s difficult to select 6 blogs out of 45 irrespective of their ranking especially when the list is dominated by South African blogs. So I have chosen one blog from each of the countries represented on the list though most of these are not actually written by African women which is a shame.

Mama Ethiopia

Mama Ethiopia written in Spanish and her profile states the blog is a glimpse of Ethiopia – sights, experiences, histories, people and places. Her latest blog posts comments on the recent reports of famine in the country and the decision by the British government to review aid to Ethiopia on an annual basis.

Wondering the World

Wondering the World is written by an expatriate women living in Cairo “in search of sanity”. I wouldn’t have thought Cairo was the place to seek sanity with the huge noise and traffic pollution but it is a place to seek vibrancy and colour. It is also the site of a growing activist blogging community which unfortunately is not reflected here. I will be writing a special roundup on Egyptian blogs next month.

What An African Woman Wants

What An African Woman Wants is written by a Kenyan woman who has been blogging since 2005. Her latest post reviews the book “The Faith of Barack Obama” by Stephen Mansfield. The post is written in response to a comment that Obama is a “closet Muslim” to which I would now respond quoting General Colin Powell (not someone I imagined I would quote positively) on Obama being a Christian and not a Muslim “

“Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is?”

Also from Kenya are Afromusing [www.afromusing.com] and Kenyan Pundit [www.kenyanpundit.com]

Ore’s Notes

Ore’s Notes is written by Nigerian, Ore Somolu, who is also the executive director of Women’s Technology Empowerment Center. Ore has also been blogging since 2005 mainly on technology and African / Nigerian literature. Her latest post introduces the idea of “social entrepreneurship” through a podcast on the subject.

Black Looks
My blog, BBlack Looks is also listed under Nigerian blogs.

The two blogs from Uganda are both written by expats, Uganda Scarlett Lion and
Jack Fruity Jack Fruity, who writes on conflict, development and aid.

Finally a blog by South African politician, Helen Zille. Helen Zille is the leader of the Democratic Alliance and Mayor of Cape Town. One of her latest posts calls on the SABC to give equal air time to opposition party members as given to ANC President, Jacob Zuma.

“Giving the President of the ANC a special platform without affording the opposition the same opportunity is biased, partial and unbalanced. This is particularly true in this case because Zuma used this platform to say that the DA has no policies. This point was not challenged by the interviewer, despite the DA’s recent well-publicised series of policy proposals”


* Sokari Ekine blogs at www.blacklooks.org

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

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