Not the continent. Just the blog. I am blogging here now.

Please bookmark my new site.

– Sean

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.

HT: Masauko Chipembere

“Inja” (Dog), a short film by South African-Australian director Steve Pasvolsky, about a relationship between a dog and two men–a white farmer and a black farmhand in South Africa. (The film won the award for Best Short Film at the American Academy Award in 2003.)

Worth the 17 minutes.

This image above was part of a now-abandoned, award-winning print media campaign to promote a television channel.

The slogan ‘History is Written By the Winners” is printed in the top right-hand corner. The logo of the company is blocked out.

The inscription, which is too small to see, reads:

Iraqis killed under Saddam regime: 300,000
Iraqis killed under US regime: 1 030 000

Two more images from the campaign:

The inscription above reads:

British babies born 2007 named George: 3306
British babies born 2007 named Mohammed: 5991

The inscription reads:

Pearl Harbor deaths: 2378
Hiroshima deaths: 170 000

“… [In "Signs Taken for Wonders at the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York City, curated by Isolde Brielmaier May 28 – July 3, 2009] six artists, Kader Attia, Jn. Ulrick Désert, Julien Friedler, Jeffrey Gibson, Xaviera Simmons, and Carrie Mae Weems, use Africa as their muse as they examine representation, symbolism and the power of the image within the social, economic, political, historical and cultural spheres of the 20th and 21st centuries. Their work explores iconic figures, events and ideas that have contributed, explicitly and implicitly, to the imaging of the African continent around the world. In Signs, the artists use a range of media—painting, sculpture, photography, video, mixed media and installation—to articulate a particular person, idea, event or time period that is significant to the role that African countries, cultures and individuals occupy within global politics, popular culture and economy. In so doing, they spotlight both the acknowledged and overlooked roles that international players, African individuals and the continent as a whole, maintain on every level of the world stage.”

More information.

The latest issue of academic journal, “African Identities,” focuses on “The Black Imagination and Science Fiction.” The bulk of the essays are on African-American topics, but two essays focus on the continent itself: The first, by Taiwo Adetunji Osinubi, who teaches at the University of Montreal, is a close reading of Jean-Pierre Bekolo‘s Les Saignantes (set in 2025 Cameroon; that’s the trailer above) and Sylvestre Amoussou’s Africa Paradis (the plot revolve around impoverished Europeans migrating to wealthy Africa).

In the second article, the Chicago-based Nigerian novelist, Nnedi Okorafor, reflects on her own writing (she writes youth novels), which she calls “organic fantasy,” and her influences (Ngugi and Ben Okri). [Also check out Okorafor's blog]

Via Brooklyn Vegan.

Including dates opening for Femi Kuti at Irving Plaza on June 3rd and 4th.