Books, Curse of the Black Gold
August 21, 2008 Leave a Comment
Photography: ‘Africa as you’ve never seen it’
August 21, 2008 Leave a Comment
The Guardian’s Sean O’Hagan interviews Cape Town photographer Pieter Hugo. For O’Hagan, Hugo’s photos present “Africa as you’ve never seen it.” Hugo has been photographing everything from poor whites in South African border towns, hyena handlers in Nigeria, famworkers in Ghana, albinos, boy scouts, and football supporters with animal masks. Though a larger group of talented young South African-based photographers have emerged recently–most notably Lolo Veleko, Ingrid Masondo, Keorapetse Mosimane, Dorothy Kreutzfeldt, and Zanele Muholi–Hugo and another young photographer Mikhael Subotsky get the bulk of the attention outside South Africa. As usual in interviews with British news media, Hugo’s identity comes up:
Doing Business in Africa
August 21, 2008 Leave a Comment
I like the World Bank site, DOING BUSINESS, which apart from its expressed purpose, is also a useful resource for a quick survey on African economies (the site also covers the other continents). A searchable database provides specific country information (see the drop down menu in the top left hand corner) or subnational data (example, Nigeria). You can ever compare economies by income per capita and population. And it comes with a blog updating new additions to the site. I know some will dismiss it as propaganda for market reform and the exploitation of African raw materials by foreign firms. Which it probably is. But you can not access such a good resource, though. Go forth and search.
