Over a century of deeply racist Western literature continues to influence notions of ‘blackness’ and what it means to be an African When I wrote my master’s paper at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia in the...
Africa in Fact Issue 39
Creole rising
Pidgin and creole emerged to serve trade, but what of their longer-term use and acceptance? I lived in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, my house had a collection of books on the shelves on one wall. There were copies...
Between a rock and a hard place
Childhood links to the motherland seem to require a certain patriotism, yet Swaziland is troubled by a self-serving ruler From a young age I came to admire the notions of “for God and country” and, of course, “Don’t...
Re-education for reconciliation: participant observations on Rwanda’s ingando
A Canadian academic is ordered to pay attention, keep quiet and learn the country’s official history In the midst of my doctoral fieldwork, the Rwandan government ordered me to undergo “re-education”. I was just over...
How inclusive is Rwanda’s reconciliation project?
The RPF government’s version of history is a tool of power rather than a story shared by all 1994 a new government came to power in Rwanda after the country had seen a genocide that claimed the lives of about three...
Righting wrongs
The five-year-old constitution seeks to restore the language, culture and traditions of a marginalised group Morocco largely avoided the turmoil seen in other North African countries during the Arab Spring protests...
READ THE LATEST ISSUE
