OPINION
LIFESTYLE
How practices, and meaning, of genital cutting are changing in Tanzania
Efforts to discourage girls from being cut in Tanzania have changed the cultural meaning and practices around the ceremonial rite of passage.
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It's not far-fetched to suspect that the common understanding of the idea of "mother tongues" in South Africa is coloured by outside influences.
Travelling helps to broaden horizons and change ingrained perceptions which makes it a necessary endeavour for the liberated African youth. Jessica Nabongo is showing the world what African tourism and digital nomad-ism looks like. She is "on a mission to become the first black woman to travel to all of the countries in the world".
Egypt and Ethiopia are at odds over the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam, a US$4 billion hydroelectric project that may reduce the Nile water that feeds into Egyptian fields and reservoirs from Ethiopia’s highlands and via Sudan.
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The recently concluded week-long AfrikaBurn festival, an annual event for the past decade, has been described as one of Africa's most unique, unusual and mind-blowing festivals – even when it lacks African influence and black participation
Violence and stigma aimed at people with albinism is widespread. South African doll makers are creating dolls that resemble girls living with albinism to give them representation and help dispel stereotypes.
In an interview with the American cable-television network CNN’s Christine Amanpour, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta has firmly reiterated that he will continue to uphold Kenyan laws criminalising same-sex relationships. "[T]hose laws are 100% supported by 99% of the Kenyan people, regardless of where they come from,” Kenyatta said.
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Increasingly, people opt for non-traditional relationships, but is there space for multiple lovers to have their polyamorous relationship legally recognised and protected in South Africa?
Of the 72 countries that still criminalise gay sex today, at least 38 of them were once subject to British colonialism.
In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa men who have sex with men encounter stigma and prejudice when accessing health services.
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For the first time ever, the Sexual Rights Centre was successful in gaining a platform for commercial sex workers at an annual trade fair in Zimbabwe.
Think twice before posting the story of your love online, says Tiffany Mugo
Whenever people talk about what a never-colonised Africa would look like, I think of what Women who Sleep with Women (WSWs) relationships would look like without gender normativity.
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Survey shows Zimbabwean policy makers need not fear a public backlash if they choose to abolition of the death penalty.
The medicinal plants that chimpanzees feed on in the wild could hold the key in dealing with common diseases. Africa has its own store of medicinal plants, such as those used in Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Scientists are finding new ways to exploit these plants for medicinal purposes.
As Addis Ababa develops into a modern city, beggars are increasingly being treated like public nuisances and criminals.
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When the great or the famous are exposed as secretly awful, our impulse should not be to sweep it under the carpet, says Kagure Mugo.
If the referendum goes President Pierre Nkrunziza's way, it will also be a further blow to ordinary Burundians, who live in a state of hardship and adversity.
Are the new International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF's) “Female Classification” regulations targeting Africans specifically? asks Enock Muchinjo
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Fatou Kandé Senghor is a Senegalese artist and filmmaker. She talks about the pan-African icons of her youth, the icons of Senegalese society, and the difficulties of passing on their lessons to her daughters in the digitalised and globalised 21st century.
Mũkoma wa Ngũgi explores a redefinition of what ‘icon’ means in the African context, the unearthing of names that are all too often forgotten, the invisibility of female icons in our historical narratives, and the nature and role of the diaspora in our cultural, political and economic production
UN Resident Coordinator Siddharth Chatterjee has one of those CVs that will blow you away. Sneak a peek at his Twitter bio and you will see what we are talking about. Ex Indian Special Forces. Ex Red Cross. Princeton alumnus. And a presiding don of the opinion pages at Huffington Post and Reuters. We’re sure you see what we are talking about. He’s a man worth paying attention to. We’re glad he recently spared a few minutes to sit down for an interview with Dr Diana Wangari who brings us the scoop.
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Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún interviews A. Igoni Barrett on the Graywolf Press Africa Prize and the role of literary prizes
Good career advice is hard to come by. Fortunately for all of us, Dr Jacqueline M. Applegate, the subject of a new interview on This Is Africa has it in spades. “In order to excel in your career, my advice is to be 100% committed to figuring out how to make your dreams a reality. Take the cards you’ve been dealt, play your hand well, and enjoy the journey!”
In this exclusive excerpt from an interview with Valentine Iwenwanne, Femi talks about his life, music, Fela and, of course, political and social issues.
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Mohamed Mbougar Sarr is a young Senegalese writer who is making huge strides in the francophone literary world. Earlier this year he was awarded the French Voices Awards for his debut novel Terre Ceinte (Earth Girdle). He has been awarded the 2018 World Literature Prize for his book Silence of the Heart, becoming the prize's youngest winner.
Many dictators on the continent have left their countries in utter poverty and despair. In a bid to clear some of its debts, The Gambia is selling the properties of its former President Yahya Jammeh who is accused of looting over $100 million.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has secured the release of 1 000 Ethiopian prisoners held in Gulf State prisons for various offences. So far, about 690 of them have been flown back to Addis Ababa.
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Christian Aid, the official relief and development agency of 41 British and Irish churches, has appointed Amanda Mukwashi, a woman of Zambian descent, as its new chief executive.
May, 19 marks the birthday of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz widely known as Malcolm X, born in 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. Malcolm X is regarded as one of the most preeminent and influential leaders of the black rights movement in America. We remember Malcolm X with his 10 quotes selected from speeches, debates and interviews.
Authorities in Tanzania recently arrested five pregnant schoolgirls and their parents on the directives of a local district commissioner, reinforcing the President's schoolgirl pregnancy ban. In Sierra Leone a U.S. based organisation, Equality Now (EN), and its partners are challenging a government ban on pregnant schoolgirls returning to the classroom after delivery.
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