![Who taught you to hate your [dark] skin?](https://thisisafrica.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Ajuma-Nasenyana-760-x-500-760x456.jpg)
Skin-lightening/bleaching is a problem, but it’s only a sign of much deeper inter-related issues: self-hatred, a race-based identity crisis, and the internalisation of Western-created cultural ideas that are inimical to the mental health of black people.
Arts and Culture
Arts and Culture The quiet explosion of contemporary African art in the global art market
Modern contemporary art from Africa has not gained significant popularity in the West until now. Now there’s a quiet explosion. There’s a growing inclination within Africa amongst the wealthy to collect art made by artists from within their culture, and there’s an increasing realisation in Europe and America that African modern art can offer quality and diversity
Arts and Culture Writing Invisibility: Conversations on the Hidden City – Why sex workers should be recognised as feminists, and other thought-provoking essays
A TIA must-read
Arts and Culture The quiet rise of heavy metal in South Africa
Away from the eyes of the world, the sub-culture of heavy metal has been healthily bubbling under in South Africa, the result of a generation of musicians and fans growing comfortably with the country’s post-apartheid identity. South Africans have been enjoying rock and metal music for years, yet with a tincture of coverage outside the continent
Arts and Culture Mental freedom and the omission of African achievement from history
We hang our hopes on economic development playing a large role in allowing us to reclaim our history from the West, but which comes first, understanding of our own history or economic development? Is real economic development even feasible without a grasp of history?
Arts and Culture The real roots of Kwaito and South African house music
Whenever western publications have written about Kwaito and South African House, the story has almost always been told in terms of a unidirectional migration of House music from the United States to Africa
Arts and Culture Tribal Marks – the ‘African tattoo’
A Nigerian friend, with whom I went to university in the UK, had tribal marks on his cheeks. I never felt comfortable enough to ask him about them but eventually the subject came up. He wasn’t proud of his traditional Yoruba markings and was tired of explaining to foreigners that they were not accidental scars.
Arts and Culture The worst music with the best intentions
Why do good intentions lead to some of the worst songs ever committed to tape? And good intentions aimed at Africa, in particular, seem to inspire in artists the very opposite of the sort of creativity they bring to their regular work