Judging by the trailer of the new Adam Sandler movie “Blended”, Hollywood is still very much in the business of stereotyping Africa and Africans. Well, two can play at that game. Moonshine is the drink of choice in America, isn’t it?
Arts and Culture
Arts and Culture Rejecting the “exoticism” of African art
The 11th Biennale of Contemporary African Art kicked off in Dakar last week, and one of the participating artists is Ezra Wube from Ethiopia. Ezra lives in America, and talks to TIA about the labels that confine African artists abroad.
Arts and Culture Photography: unexpected Tanzania
African photography is on the rise. Following decades of photographic misrepresentation by observers from outside the continent, African photographers are now showing the world what they see through their lens. TIA spotlights them in a fortnightly series.
Arts and Culture Why do so many African writers leave?
Arts and Culture Marikana film shows life is cheap in SA
As South Africans go to the polls, “Miners Shot Down”, a new film about the Marikana mine massacre (in which 112 miners were shot by police and 34 died), is screening around South Africa. The timing couldn’t be worse for the ANC.
Arts and Culture Thomas Mapfumo’s underground Cape Town show
Thomas Mapfumo, Zimbabwe’s 69-year old chimurenga music star, performed in Cape Town last Friday night, but besides a small segment of the city’s Zimbabwean diaspora hardly anybody knew about it.
Arts and Culture Will the new Miriam Makeba please stand up
Music as a form of political and social protest was common in South Africa throughout the apartheid years, but as we mark our 20th Anniversary of Freedom and Democracy, pop music seems preoccupied by everything but politics. Conventional success too distracting?
Arts and Culture Namibia’s wife swapping practice ignites debate
Wife-swapping among Namibia’s nomadic tribes has been practised for generations, but a legislator’s call to enshrine it in law has stirred debate about women’s rights and tradition in modern society
Arts and Culture Selling god to a white man – Foreign Gods Inc.
“Foreign Gods, Inc.” tells a refreshingly human and relatable story of a Nigerian immigrant desperately trying to keep his head above water. It’s a portrait of an otherwise decent, but flawed man who does the wrong thing, and there’s a bit of him in us all.