Tag: Africa
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Understanding Afropolitanism
Written by Megan Sickmueller. The term ‘Afropolitan’ can be traced back to a 2005 article by Taiye Tuakli-Wosornu. But what does it mean today? And how has it helped broaden the idea of what it means to be African?
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Binyavanga Wainaina’s ‘How To Write About Africa’ and the Dangers of the Single Story
Written by Megan Sickmueller. How do colonial and orientalist ideas of Africa linger in the Western imagination? And what enduring problems do such false images maintain? Megan Sickmueller examines Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina’s ‘scathingly satirical’ piece on this complex topic.
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Africa’s Haven of Peace? Elections, Politics and Violence in Post-colonial East Africa
As I write, it is the 28 October 2015, and three days have passed since Tanzania went to the polls for the fifth time since the return of multi-party elections in 1995. Elections in Africa are always moments of high tension, and this election is no different. Today, the BBC News Africa page leads with…
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Zimbabwe: An English-Indian Summer in the Southern African Winter
Zimbabwe, May 2015. Winter in Southern Africa. You might think it an odd subject for a magazine that focuses on the past, but this very much suggests the present. Does it not? Let me come directly to my point: Zimbabwe is a relic. Zimbabwe is history. This sounds blunt, brutalist even. A condemnation. I don’t see…
Retrospect Journal 