We try to keep a positive vibe going here at This Is Africa, but every so often you come across something that just paints your mood black. Some of you may already be aware of this, but if like us you’re hearing about this for the first time your jaw will drop. And it’ll probably raise the same BIG questions in your mind that it did in ours.
African identities How African elders stopped talking to the youth about sex
Today, many young people of African descent – both at home and abroad – lament their parents’ prudish attitudes towards sex. Most of us grew up around parents who never displayed their affection for each other in front of us, parents who never talked to us about sex except to warn us to abstain before marriage
African identities Black Pete: race, power and identity
White people in blackface celebrated as part of a “tradition”? The Dutch are one of the most progressive people in Europe, but the controversial character known as Zwarte Piet reveals a blind spot on the subject of race. Are the Dutch not fully aware of their history?
Politics and Society Reconnecting with our African ancestry: feminism in Yorubaland
My interest in African history – along with my need to learn as much as possible about women in African history – has resulted in my different view of what life was like for women in the past. African history remains truly diverse and complex
Sport, 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
Politics and Society African parents punish creatively
In a previous post about African versus European craziness, “Crazy oddity #4: ‘dealing’ with your kids” brought up fond memories of the corporal punishment inflicted on some of our readers. We thought we’d explore this side of the discipline issue a bit more.
Sport, 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.
Politics and Society ‘Debt is a cleverly managed reconquest of Africa’ – Thomas Sankara
A week before he died, Sankara said, “revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, but you cannot kill ideas”. And so, for us today, the final challenge rests not in finding more Sankaras, but in becoming them – in bringing these ideas to life
Politics and Society Self-esteem and race in Nigeria
Why do some Nigerians put white people on a pedestal, while others criticise the idea that having paler skin makes you more intelligent, beautiful and successful?