An idea first planted by Nelson Mandela has borne fruit with the appointment of a leading African scholar to a new Chair in African Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Professor Thandika Mkandawire, currently Director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, will take up the post in [...]
Archive for March, 2009
New African Development Chair at LSE
Posted in politics, tagged African Development, economics, London School of Economics and Politics, LSE, politics, Thandika Mkandawire on March 31, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Africa and Asia: ‘There’s still bad news to come’
Posted in Not just about Africa, tagged Africa-Asia Confidential, China in Africa, economic development, politics on March 30, 2009 | 2 Comments »
China’s plummeting exports are worse than many economists had expected but the country’s slowdown does not necessarily spell doom for Africa. Africa and China escaped the worst direct effects of the global slowdown last year, Africa because its banks were not integrated into international credit markets, and China because its banks were barred from investing [...]
Studio Q
Posted in Music, You can't make this stuff up, tagged Books, Hanif Kureishi, K'Naan, Music, Pakistan, Somalia on March 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Posted with vodpod I recently discovered the Youtube channel of the Canadian public radio program, Studio Q. (I was looking for an interview with British writer Hanif Kureishi after reading a feature on him in Prospect Magazine). Which is how I got to this recent interview with K’Naan, the Somali rapper based in Canada. (It [...]
Kwani on Google Books
Posted in Books, tagged African books online, Binyavanga Wainaina, Books, Kenya, Kwani, literary magazines, Nairobi on March 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The first four issues of Kenyan literary magazine, Kwani!, (the brainchild of writer Binyavanga Wainania, can now be viewed via Google Books.
The Karoo
Posted in South Africa, tagged Karoo, South Africa, travel writing on March 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
… The world was dissolving ahead of the ageing Mercedes’ long, hail-dented bonnet as we powered south through the heat-baked platteland on the Johannesburg-to-Cape Town road. Turning away from the mirage, I gazed out of my window at the puffs of clouds in layers above empty miles of grassland and across a vast sky reaching [...]
Harare North
Posted in Books, tagged Books, Brian Chikwava, exile, Harare North, London, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe on March 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
It stands for London; Harare South is Johannesburg. That’s the title of young Zimbabwean writer Brian Chikwava’s just published new novel. A good friend, who I trust on matters literary, recommended it. The advance word from the mainstream: “… the darkest of comedies, fuelled by an electric, wholly convincing voice,” “… wit and suggestiveness…” etcetera, [...]
The ‘good’ colonialist
Posted in Not just about Africa, tagged colonialism, Congo, exhibitions, Henry Stanley, history, Pietro Savorgnan di Brazza, Why isn't CNN covering this, You can't make this stuff up on March 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
A new exhibition in New York City on the Italian-born, French “explorer,” Pietro Savorgnan di Brazza as a ‘good’ colonialist in contrast to Henry Stanley, because Brazza worked for the French. In 2009. Link.
Zapiro
Posted in politics, tagged cartoonists, Jacob Zuma, Jonathan Shapiro, media, political humor, South Africa, Zapiro on March 30, 2009 | 2 Comments »
CNN profile on South African cartoonist Zapiro, real name Jonathan Shapiro (he’s the one who draws Jacob Zuma, who will probably be South Africa’s President, with a permanent shower attached to his head).
Vote for me
Posted in politics, tagged 22 April 2009 elections, African National Congress, Congress of the People, COPE, DA, Democratic Alliance, politics, South Africa on March 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
It’s all about race and class. The majority of poor people who also happen to be black will vote for the African National Congress in South Africa’s fourth democratic elections scheduled for April 22 making Jacob Zuma South Africa’s next President. Most whites (71%), who still make up the bulk of the middle and upper [...]
Mamdani’s lesson on Darfur
Posted in Books, tagged Africa and the West, Books, Darfur, Howard French, Mahmood Mamdani, politics, Save Darfur, Sudan on March 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Howard French (in The New York Times) on the point of Mahmood Mamdani’s new book on Sudan, “Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror”: Mr. Mamdani’s constant refrain is that the virtuous indignation he thinks he detects in those who shout loudest about Darfur is no substitute for greater understanding, without which [...]
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