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Books & arts
RSS FeedJamaican Vibrations: Rocking Steady to Reggae
Adalbert Tucker
2011-08-10, Issue 544
On the occasion of the 49th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence, Caribbean Political Economy as reproduced Bert Tucker’s lyrical account of Jamaica’s political climate and cultural ferment in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Mr. Tucker, now Ambassador for Foreign Trade and Head of International Cooperation in the Government of Belize, was a student on the Mona Campus of the UWI at the time. As Caribbean Political Economy notes, the reflection was written on the occasion of Jamaica's 38th Anniversary of Independence on 6 August 2000, but has the same freshness and resonance now as it did then.
The diversity of diasporic lives
Paul Tiyambe Zeleza’s ‘In Search of African Diasporas: Testimonies and Encounters’
Carolina Academic Press
2011-08-11, Issue 544
An ‘ambitious and brilliant book by one of Africa’s leading diaspora intellectuals’, Paul Tiyambe Zeleza’s ‘In Search of African Diasporas’ is ‘filled with analytical insights, captivating stories, and intriguing observations on the complex histories and experiences of African diasporas, their triumphs and tragedies, perils and possibilities, and their enduring struggles for belonging, for their humanity.’
A library in Asaba
Chuma Nwokolo
2011-08-04, Issue 543
Chuma Nwokolo revisits a childhood library and is shocked at its deterioration. 'It is great to have a completed central bank project and a new airport, but how about a time frame for a public library?'
China: ‘All-weather friend’ or ‘new colonialist’?
Review of ‘The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)’
Stephen Marks
2011-07-28, Issue 542
‘The ongoing narrative wars over China’s African involvement between (mostly) Western Sinophobes and those they deride as “panda-huggers” have become as predictable as the opening moves in a game of chess.’ But Ian Taylor ‘well-informed and independent-minded account’ both challenges these orthodoxies, and brings out and questions ‘the assumptions they share,’ finds Stephen Marks.
Telling it as it is
Review of Rasna Warah's 'Red Soil and Roasted Maize: Selected Essays and Articles on Contemporary Kenya'
Oby Obyerodhyambo
2011-07-27, Issue 542
In a review of Rasna Warah’s 'Red Soil and Roasted Maize: Selected Essays and Articles on Contemporary Kenya', Oby Obyerodhyambo praises a hard-hitting collection of commentaries from the Daily Nation columnist.
Somalia: Developing robust and principled policy
Review of Afyare Abdi Elmi’s ‘Understanding the Somalia Conflagration: Identity, Political Islam and Peacebuilding’
Farah Abdulsamed
2011-07-20, Issue 540
In a review of Afyare Abdi Elmi’s ‘Understanding the Somalia Conflagration’, Farah Abdulsamed praises ‘a book which is well-written, inventive and amazingly readable’.
The trouble with the Caine Prize
Saratu Abiola
2011-07-14, Issue 539
‘One of the most depressing things about being from an African country, and I suspect it is the same for being from any post-colonial society, is the need to seek validation abroad or by Western standards. You can be the best writer ever, but if a bunch of white guys in academies don't see it, you're not.’
Verbal vendetta: Cameroon’s contradictions
Review of ‘Paradise of Idiots’ by Peter Wuteh Vakunta
David T. Scheler
2011-07-13, Issue 539
The book-length poem ‘Paradise of Idiots’ by Peter Wuteh Vakunta is a powerful wake-up call for the Cameroonian people, writes David T. Scheler, ‘in an exceptionally scintillating version of the political/poetic art form’.
The fiasco of political machinations
Review of Christopher Mlalazi's ‘Cell 4072’
Ndumiso Mnkandla
2011-07-13, Issue 539
Christopher Mlalazi’s work is a ‘reflection of the long suffering and the struggles’ of Zimbabwean people ‘living in a disintegrating society’, writes Ndumiso Mnkandla. ‘In the spirit of Ubuntu let the fight for social justice and human rights through creative writing begin.’
Art, literature and ‘the whole Africa thing’
Sokari Ekine
2011-07-06, Issue 538
Newly discovered Nigerian-Ghanaian writer Taiye Selasi, Kenya’s Binyavanga Wainaina and Congolese filmmaker Léandre-Alain Baker are among the artists whose work is discussed in this week’s review of African blogs, compiled by Sokari Ekine.
The Militant Intellection Complex...
A conversation with Pius Adesanmi
Pius Adesanmi
2011-07-07, Issue 538
In this interview with African Writing, Pius Adesanmi speaks about the role of academia, politics, aid, football and his new book, ‘You are Not a Country, Africa’, the inaugural winner of the Penguin Prize for African Writing.
The burden of being black
Review of Ojo-Ade’s 'Aimé Césaire’s African Theater: Of Poets, Prophets and Politicians'
Peter Wuteh Vakunta
2011-07-06, Issue 538
Femi Ojo-Ade’s study of Césaire’s four plays is ‘a celebration of black consciousness’, writes Peter Wuteh Vakunta in a review of Ojo-Ade’s 'Aimé Césaire’s African Theater: Of Poets, Prophets and Politicians'.
Recounting Migration
Political Narratives of Congolese Young People in Uganda
Christina R. Clark-Kazak
2011-07-07, Issue 538
Former international aid worker Christina Clark-Kazak uses extensive interviews done in Kampala and Kyaka II refugee settlement, Uganda, to present the narratives of 10 young people living as refugees. Their accounts reveal both political awareness and individual agency in everyday and extraordinary circumstances.
Truly ‘A Season of Visions’
The 14th Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF)
Kari Dahlgren
2011-06-30, Issue 537
There was an ‘undeniable optimism’ and sense of hope at this year’s ZIFF, writes Kari Dahlgren, as the creativity and dialogue the film festival sparked provide a source of ‘unity and strength to both imagine and bring forth global social and economic justice.’
Bringing Nkrumah to the people
Review Of ‘The Mind of Kwame Nkrumah: Manual for the Study of Consciencism’
Centre for Consciencist Studies and Analyses
2011-06-23, Issue 536
A new book by Lang T.K.A. Nubuor will help to make the ideas in Kwame Nkrumah’s ‘Consciencism’ more accessible to readers, says the Centre for Consciencist Studies and Analyses.
2011 Caine Prize: Ikhide’s complaint
Emmanuel Iduma
2011-06-23, Issue 536
Nigerian born writer Ikhide R. Ikheloa made it a point to ‘diss’ the shortlisted stories for the 2011 Caine Prize, says Emmanuel Iduma, but ‘there are deeper concerns than the sweeping conclusions he makes in his short essays’, for example, whose story are we supposed to write, how real can we be about Africa, and does the story of the real Africa belong to only one person?
Conflict resolution: New and evolving discipline
Review of 'The SAGE Handbook of Conflict Resolution'
Lucy Shule
2011-06-15, Issue 535
While stressing the need for greater engagement with the theme of gender, Lucy Shule commends the ‘historical depth and topical breadth’ of ‘The SAGE Handbook of Conflict Resolution’.
Germany's genocide of the Herero
Jeremy Sarkin
2011-05-29, Issue 532
Germany’s colonial genocide at the beginning of the twentieth century against the Herero of then German South West Africa, today Namibia, ranks among the most egregious human right catastrophes. An extermination order (Vernichtungsbefehl) was issued ...
Nigeria: Jalaa writers' collective
2011-05-29, Issue 532
Jalaa Writers’ Collective was created in 2009 by ten Nigeria-based writers who came together in an effort to tackle the book production and distribution challenges of the local publishing industry. The business model of Jalaa is based on the premise ...
‘Our South Africa moment has finally arrived’
Review of 'Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions' by Omar Barghouti
Estelle Cooch
2011-05-25, Issue 531
In a review of Omar Barghouti’s 'Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions', Estelle Cooch praises the author’s profiling of the BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement, mixing of the analytical with the anecdotal and emphasis on Palestinian agency.
When the devil plays human what do you expect?
Ebrahim Hussein’s ‘Mashetani’
Anthony Muchoki
2011-05-19, Issue 530
Tanzanian playwright Ebrahim Hussein’s ‘Mashetani’ woke Kenyans up to the Moi regime’s repressive ways, becoming ‘a bible of a kind for the Mwakenya movement’. But the themes in the book are being replayed today as coalition politicians grapple for power, writes Anthony Muchoki.
Dreams for a better world for humanity
Review of ‘Cheche: Reminiscences of a Radical Magazine’
Yash Tandon
2011-05-12, Issue 529
‘Cheche: Reminiscences of a Radical Magazine’ should ‘be read by the younger generation of pan-Africanists from Cape to Cairo, so that they may dream, and also so that they may learn,’ writes Yash Tandon.
View from Somewhere
Amira Kheir
2011-05-12, Issue 529
‘View from Somewhere’, the new album from singer/songwriter Amira Kheir is now available through her website. Originally from Sudan but having lived in Italy for many years and now residing in the UK, Amira 'draws from her own multicultural background to create music that explores themes of home, belonging and transcendental spirituality.' If you are lucky enough to be in London this weekend, catch her performance at the Green Note in Camden on Sunday 15 May.
Accessing justice: Representation and outcomes
Review of ‘Marginalized Communities and Access to Justice’
Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua
2011-05-10, Issue 528
Edited by Yash Pal Ghai and Jill Cottrell, ‘Marginalized Communities and Access to Justice’ is ‘a useful tool for human rights actors’, writes Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua.
Culture in political activism and resistance
Martina Keilbach
2011-05-05, Issue 527
‘What are the conditions under which cultural expressions, used as a means for resistance, can become accessible to an international community?’ Martina Keilbach reflects on the work of Kenyan poet and political activist Abdilatif Abdalla.
Analysing Somalia: Past and present
Review of ‘Milk and Peace, Drought and War’
Nilani Ljunggren De Silva
2011-05-03, Issue 527
In a review of ‘Milk and Peace, Drought and War: Somali Culture, Society and Politics’, edited by Markus Hoehne and Virginia Luling, Nilani Ljunggren De Silva highlights an ‘important work for all who wish to understand Somalia and its beleaguered and courageous people’.
Will the Eagle soar?: A Nigerian television classic?
Okello Oculi
2011-04-12, Issue 525
Okello Oculi writes about a Nigerian documentary series featuring inspiring stories from African women.
‘How are you doing today sister?'
Review of ‘The Black Woman’s Agenda'
Norah Owaraga
2011-04-06, Issue 524
Full of ‘useful pieces of advice’, LeTava Mabilijengo’s book is a refreshing change from the usual portrayal of black women as ‘perpetual victims’, writes Norah Owaraga.
Playing by Their Rules
Coastal teenage girls in Kenya on life, love and football
2011-04-06, Issue 524
'At times shocking, sometimes heart-warming', a new collection of stories compiled by author Sarah Forde, takes us into the worlds of nine teenage girls in Kenya's Kilifi district as they face the challenges of adolescence.
'Oil and Insurgency in the Niger Delta: Managing the Complex Politics of Petroviolence'
Review of Cyril Obi and Siri Aas Rustad's edited book
Nicholas Jackson
2011-04-07, Issue 524
A new book on the Niger Delta is 'an invaluable resource for understanding the complex and interrelated dynamics of violence, exploitation, resistance and social change' in the region.
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