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 ›
Charlotte Hastings
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 ›
‘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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
Lauren Beukes and African Science Fiction
Africa in Words Guest, Professor James Smith of the University of Edinburgh, writes: Professionally I research the role science and technology play in shaping Africa’s development. Thus I naturally have an interest in the writing of Lauren Beukes given her… 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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
Genre, dystopia and the ‘African’ novel
Recent discussions on H-Net literature and History logs have (re)debated the idea of ‘African’ literature. Labeling and pigeon-holing books clearly has advantages – although I hope I am not the only one who has moved a book from crime back… Read More ›