Africa

I am making a list of small wonders, and it is five months long. In my work as Publisher and Managing Editor of an electronic literary magazine based in Nigeria, I have learned to listen closely for the sound of things to come. It is evident and without doubt that the emergent writer is as talented as any established writer. The difference is not merely skill – opportunity plays an equally important role.

The Second Congo War, which gripped the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the turn of the new millennium (1998-2003), is sometimes also called the Great African War or Africa's World War.  The reason is simple, at the height of the hostilities, the armies of no less than eight nations were directly involved in combat, along with two dozen foreign-backed militias, ranging from independence-minded ethnic movements to the nihilistic death cult, the Lord's Resistance Army.  As one would expect from such a multi-faceted conflict, the reasons behind the war are both numerous and complex, but for some of the belligerents, the Great War of Africa allowed f

MASERU, Lesotho – I’ve written before about my struggles to learn the language of countries where I’ve lived, be it my horrid Hungarian, survival Slovak or café Cantonese.

MASERU, Lesotho – There’s so much to say, I don’t know where to start. So how about with a Sesotho-language greeting: Dumela!

Known for his distinct style of creating humungous life size murals of animals, Belgian street artist ROA recently took his talents to Gambia this summer, where he wowed villagers and children with his work. 

Below is a video of ROA's inspirations and the process behind his animalistic selection of subjects.

Via Unurth

Follow Anthony on Twitter @CultureGy

To start with, I do not disagree that there is so much writing coming out of Africa. But I make the claim that we only see this abundance in terms of creative expression, because there has never been a time, like now, where we have had this amount of visibility. Of course, visibility is an important consideration – just as it is important to have an ear if the radio is to become useful, it is important to have the capability to be seen if African literature is to be considered meaningful.

With control of his nation reduced to a handful of loyalist redoubts, there is a palpable sense of joy in Western capitals - and an equal sense of relief at NATO headquarters in Brussels that the seemingly moribund alliance was actually able to achieve something - over the impending end of the Moammar Gadhafi era in Libya. Countries around the world have been quick to recognize the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC) as the “legitimate” government of Libya. Countries around the world, that is, except for the continent of Africa, where leaders have been far less willing to embrace the rebels or to toss aside Gadhafi.

What is a book? Once we could proffer answers with the clearest certainty. Today, it is difficult to do so. In this vein, I am keen to explore what can be termed the “fragility of meaning,” under which heading I can rightly argue that a book is now without precise definition, and has formed the subject of a contested terrain. It is a fashionable contest, which in this decade will probably remain unending. Already there are numerous examples of how interesting this ongoing dialogue is, but as I am keenly interested in what definition the book has assumed for today’s Africa, I will shelve the less urgent appeal of what the global book is, and ask pointed questions.

On September 20, I attended a lecture by former UK Prime Minster Gordon Brown at The New School University. As he paced the stage, Brown outlined the themes of his new book, Beyond the Crash: Overcoming the First Crisis of Globalization.

Quite a title! I am sure we could come up with a globalization crisis that precedes the contemporary one he speaks of, but that's not the point of this post.