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Archive for June, 2009

taking a break is good for you

Posted in Africa is a Country on June 25, 2009 | 10 Comments »

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I am going on vacation from Africa is a Country for a bit. It’s supposed to be summer in New York City–that’s if it can stop raining–so I am also taking a break from the site.

BTW, I changed my day job: If you read this site, you’ll know I have taught for the last four years at the University of Michigan in An Arbor. One of those years involving commuting between here in New York City and Michigan. So I applied and got hired as an assistant professor of International Affairs at the New School in Manhattan. My wife, who has been teaching at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, got a tenure track position (that’s academic jargon for full-time job) at Marymount Manhattan College.

So everybody is happy in my house.

* I am moving Africa is a Country over here and reverting to an old design here from August 1. Please adjust your bookmarks, RSS, and Links.

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luis moreno ocampo is apparently a piece of work

Posted in Not just about Africa, tagged , , , on June 24, 2009 | 2 Comments »

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That’s essentially the conclusion of a long piece by Julie Flint and Alex de Waal in the most recent issue of World Affairs Journal about the first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. They describe his controversial past in Argentina, his media-driven personality, his disastrous management of his office, how he miscalculated with his indictment of Sudanese President, Omar Al-Bashir (and fuels unhelpful perceptions of the Court in Africa), and other more controversial charges against him.

Here.

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Yinka Shonibare on film

Posted in art, tagged , , , on June 24, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Clip of Shonibare from TV series, Art 21 (William Kentridge also stars). See also this profile of Shonibare in The New York Times.

A retrospective of his work opens at the Brooklyn Museum this week.

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it takes a woman

Posted in film, tagged , , , , on June 23, 2009 | 5 Comments »

A few weeks ago (at a screening arranged by the International Documentary Foundation) I saw “Rough Aunties,” a film by director Kim Longinotto about a group of women in Durban, South Africa, who work with police to apprehend child rapists and molesters, as well as run a home for abused and molested women.  The women, a mix of white middle class and black working class women, also make up a family of sorts. The film can be intense at moments (at one point I left the theater to take a break). There’s a lot of violence in the film.

In his review of the film, David Poland of Hot Blog describes the film as “emotionally over-powering.” (He also speculates on what the Hollywood remake would look like.)

I really liked the film and hopes it gets a wider airing.

In the clips below, you can see the aunties at work.

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frederick chiluba’s shoes

Posted in You can't make this stuff up, tagged , , , on June 22, 2009 | 1 Comment »

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The former Zambian President, who was a darling of the West and the Christian right, is in court for defrauding the state while in office. Details of his extravagant lifestyle include the following, are emerging in court: “Mr. Chiluba owned more than 100 pairs of size 6 shoes, many affixed with his initials in brass. He is just a little over five feet tall, and each pair has heels close to two inches high.

More from The New York Times

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Akoya Afrobeat Ensemble

Posted in Music, tagged , , , , on June 21, 2009 | 9 Comments »

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Sample here.

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Yinka Shonibare in Brooklyn

Posted in art, tagged , , , , on June 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

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Retrospective of his art the Brooklyn Museum through September 20, 2009.

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Youssou N’Dour

Posted in Music, tagged , , , , , , on June 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Senegalese-born N’Dour talks about his career and “I Bring What I Love“, the new documentary film about his music, on Canadian TV program, Studio Q.

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the id book

Posted in photography, tagged , , , , on June 18, 2009 | 6 Comments »

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Photograph by (Canadian-Briton) Jonathan Hyams

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the culture of rape in south africa

Posted in South Africa, tagged , , , , on June 18, 2009 | 5 Comments »

The Guardian has a story on the results of a study by South Africa’s Medical Research Council.

The first few paragraphs:

One in four men in South Africa have admitted to rape and many confess to attacking more than one victim, according to a study that exposes the country’s endemic culture of sexual violence. Three out of four rapists first attacked while still in their teens, the study found. One in 20 men said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year. South Africa is notorious for having one of the highest levels of rape in the world. Only a fraction are reported, and only a fraction of those lead to a conviction. The study into rape and HIV, by the country’s Medical Research Council (MRC), asked men to tap their answers into a Palm Pilot device to guarantee anonymity. The method appears to have produced some unusually frank responses.

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