The Open Society Foundations founded by billionaire and philanthropist George Soros has pledged $15 million over four years to initiatives aimed at repatriating looted cultural objects to African countries.
African identities
African identities South Africa’s Khoisan community to finally benefit from commercialised rooibos
The South African government and representatives of indigenous people and farming groups have signed a benefit-sharing agreement to ensure that members of the indigenous Khoisan community receive a percentage of the value for the growth and processing of rooibos as traditional knowledge holders.
Arts and Culture “Floating, Flying”: The Second Artists Xchange Series highlights the Ateker region
The second project from The Artists Xchange, ‘Floating and Flying’ features a collaboration among Kenyan artists Margy Modo from Karamoja, Elizabeth Korikel from Turkana and Chebet Mutai from Nairobi. The project focuses and highlights the historically marginalised Ateker region.
Arts and Culture South Africans prefer their children to be taught in English
South African parents want their children be taught in English despite the fact that research shows that academic progress is hindered if a child is taught in a language they aren’t proficient in.
Lifestyle The history of black surfers and Africa’s big surf destinations
Surfing may seem a mainstay of the west or for white people but that’s in fact a falsehood. There’s been a cultural history of black surfing in South Africa dating back to the 1940s. Currently Africa is home to some of the world’s best surf destinations.
Arts and Culture I went on a Voodoo pilgrimage in Haiti
A scholar went on a Voodoo pilgrimage in Haiti and learned how an oppressive slave past has shaped its religious present.
Arts and Culture The living’s mission to save the ancestors
It is about 30 years since Mark Dery coined the term ‘Afro futurism’, a loose literary and cultural movement that connects science fiction, fantasy, history, science and the destiny of Afro-Americans and Africans. Percy Zvomuya has just finished reading Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred and wonders if there is something that Afro-American science fiction shares with Shona spirituality.
Arts and Culture Zimbabwe to adopt indigenous languages as media of instruction in primary schools
The education minister Lazarus Dokora says pupils ‘will be instructed in the languages that have been accepted in our Constitution’
African identities Bi-racial Africans: “diluted” Africans?
One’s nationality can be determined by where you were born, where your parents are from, where you hold citizenship – politics, geography, circumstance and even choice. There is nothing complicated about where I am from, until I’m challenged to prove it.