Sometimes apparently everyday topics of life can lead to rich rewards in terms of historical study. One example of this is (I hope she won’t mind me saying) is Kristin Mann’s study of men and women’s marrying patterns in Lagos… Read More ›
Africa
Perhaps you missed (Festive 2013 edition)
Following on from last week’s Mandela retrospective, here are some posts readers may wish to revisit – or discover for the first time from the AiW 2013 archive. If you’re a fan of the ‘best of’ lists that dominate publishing… Read More ›
Mandela, his legacy and its betrayals
Africa in Words will be taking a short break from posting new content over the Christmas period, but we will be back refreshed and raring to go in January. Meanwhile, so you can still get your Africa in Words fix,… Read More ›
‘Open Access’ images of Africa?
In Jurg Schneider’s recent post for Africa in Words he wrote of the way in which photographs make up a part of a huge although highly decentralized visual archive which is open-ended and still dynamically in the making. Jurg provided links… Read More ›
African Photography Series: African Photography has always been International
by AiW Guest Jürg Schneider Between October 26 and November 16 of 2013 the fourth edition of the international photography festival LagosPhoto opened its doors to the public. The month long festival which includes exhibitions, workshops, artistic presentations and discussions is… Read More ›
Highlights: Year 2, Africa in Words
We’ve had a busy twelve months at AiW, one full of firsts – such as our linked ‘Series’ posts featuring Guest contributors, and the beginnings of our Q&As. The blog has now been running for two years, and we’ve gained new followers… Read More ›
An archive of solidarity: The City of London Anti-Apartheid Group papers
Africa in Words Guest: Gavin Brown. When I set out to research the history of the Non-Stop Picket of the South African Embassy in London, I knew I could trace enough former participants in that protest to make the project… Read More ›
Opportunities and Deadlines for African Writers
The deadline for the Morland Writing Scholarship is 31st October 2013. Up to 3 grants of £18,000 (paid monthly over the course of a year) will be awarded to early career writers to enable them to pursue their work…. Read More ›
The Rise of the African Development Confessional?
AiW guest James Smith. Nina Munk’s The Idealist: Jeffery Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty (Random House) isn’t a book only about Jeffery Sachs. It’s a book about the world as we would like it to be, an uncomfortable… Read More ›
‘I slowly came to the realisation that the secondary sources on Asante religion and chieftaincy were incomplete’: African Classics
I’m delighted to introduce this post from Africa in Words Guest author, Louise Müller for the ‘African classics’ series. As Nara discussed last week, this series aims to give a fresh or alternative insight, giving our readers a chance to… Read More ›
Elephants and Metaphors: the Nyamnjoh debate on African anthropology
There’s been an debate going in the pages of Africa Spectrum which we thought might be of interest to some of our readers (hat tip to Stephanie Newell for bringing this to our attention). In 2012, Cape Town-based anthropologist Francis… Read More ›
Spotlight on…Akinwumi Isola
This post is the first in an occasional series of writer profiles, looking especially at those working in African languages. For readers and speakers of Yoruba, Akínwùmí Ìsòlá [pronounced Ishola] needs little introduction. A charismatic and stern-looking figure affectionately nicknamed… Read More ›
The magic of African cinema comes to Scotland
AiW Guest Justine Atkinson on the upcoming ‘Africa in Motion‘ Film Festival: Fallous is a young Tunisian boy who is always running. We follow him as he journeys through his village, down winding paths bordered with lush green forests, greeting each… Read More ›
Sharing the Black Atlantic: Afromodern@Tate and beyond
The Afromodern exhibit at Tate Liverpool was innovative, brought together work from collections and collectors around the world, and closed several years ago. I remember particularly clearly the impact of the striking work of Kara Walker. However, unlike other exhibitions,… Read More ›
The 5th European Conference on African Studies, Lisbon – review
The 5th annual European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) was held on June 26-29 this year in sunny Lisbon. A biannual affair, ECAS is the big European Africanist jamboree, organised by AEGIS (the Africa-Europe Group for Inter-disciplinary Studies) and was… Read More ›
CFP: East Africa at 50 – A Celebration of Histories and Futures (deadline 30 June)
10-12 September 2013, University of Nairobi, Kenya Call for Papers East Africa at 50 is an initiative that brings together scholars, writers, journalists, filmmakers and other knowledge producers for a reflection and celebration of the Eastern African region from the vantage… Read More ›
Bayan Layi : Blogging the Caine Prize
I just talk without direction, like the harmattan wind that just blows and blows, scattering dust. Me, I just like to say it as I remember it. And sometimes you have to explain the story. Sometimes the explanation lies… Read More ›
Marjorie Keniston McIntosh, ‘Yoruba Women, Work and Social Change’ (Indiana University Press, 2009)
Marjorie Keniston McIntosh’s new(ish) book, Yoruba Women, Work and Social Change’ has been on my shelf to read for longer than it should have been. McIntosh’s introduction promises a study ‘of adaptability and syncretism, not of simple continuity or abrupt… Read More ›
Culture, politics and intellectual practice through Gilroy’s “The Black Atlantic”
This post is part of the series Gilroy’s Black Atlantic. Click here to read the first post of the series and here to read the second. The book “The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness” written by Paul Gilroy is extremely insightful to… Read More ›
Achebe remembered: thanks for your wahala*
Wahala: OED ‘trouble, affliction, calamity’ (from the OUP Blog) The death of Achebe has seen a wide range of tributes: reprints of interviews, quotes, images but also reflections and memories from those who knew this great writer, and writers influenced… Read More ›
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