The Radical Historian
Martin Legassick (1940-2016) was key to revisionist tradition among South African historians that made connections between apartheid and post-war capitalism.
Ancestors
In honor of Rose Lomathinda Chibambo
Rose Chilambo was a prominent leader in the fight against British colonialism and the first woman cabinet minister in independent Malawi.
An ode in memory of Chimusoro Sam Moyo
The feminist Bella Matabanadzho remembers Zimbabwean academic and activist Sam Moyo carrying his "intellectual smarts with so much ease."
The Permanent Exile
The Pan-Africanist intellectual and journalist Bennie Bunsee (79) passed away on October 10th in Cape Town, the city where he lived and worked since he returned from exile after South Africa’s first democratic elections. I was part of his Cape Town family. This ‘family’ was not related in the strictest sense, but gathered every now […]
George Houser: US ally of African liberation struggles
An ally of a who’s who of revolutionaries like Patrice Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral, Oliver Tambo, and Kenneth Kaunda.
A homage to historian Terence Ranger
In Terence Ranger, politics and history, nationalism and scholarship, intersected in ways rarely seen. Zimbabwe and Africa, will forever be in his debt.
The Latin American Idol
How a Mexican show helped to construct a patchy and ill-defined “Latin American” identity.
Ali Mazrui and Me
A fateful meeting with Mazrui, the famed Kenyan historian and broadcaster.
The Historic Legacy of Ivor Wilks
A historian of Ghana, Ivor Wilks was crucial to the founding of African history as an academic discipline in the late 1950s and to its development over subsequent decades.
Obituary: Nadine Gordimer
My first introduction to Comrade Nadine was through her writing during my student activist days in the mid-1970s and later when I was serving five years on Robben Island as a political prisoner from 1979 to 1984. Her writing struck me so powerfully as it spoke of the lived experiences of people like me fighting […]
When Maya Angelou lived in Egypt and Ghana
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a group of African Americans artists and intellectuals moved to Ghana as part of attempts to redefine their relationship to citizenship in the U.S. as well as their African identities.
The Komla Dumor I knew
A friend who knew I was once a broadcast journalist with Joy FM recently asked me whether I had any pictures with Komla Dumor (KD). My response was “unfortunately not, and I am not going to Photoshop one either,” as I do not want to be called a Fast Pretender – a term reserved for friends of Shabba Ranks and Maxi Priest on House Call. This is to say I did not get the chance to bond with KD like say Akwasi Sarpong or Stan Dogbe, mostly because Komla Dumor was “always leaving when I was coming.” What I am trying to say is that I did know the man, but not intimately. However, at the least, he was my friend on Facebook–I hope that counts.
Boss Player
The BBC news presenter Komla Dumor, who passed away this weekend from cardiac arrest, was an exceptional broadcaster; read Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie’s obit here. Everyone loved him. He was probably the most stylish newscaster also, and was well on his way to becoming the first globally recognized superstar news presenter originating from the continent. Dumor took journalism seriously. Just […]
Contro'Versy
Tonight, the Afrikaaps crew, the South African musical about the history of the Afrikaans language, dedicated their last show in Holland to slain rapper Mr Devious; Michael Miranda, Shaun Magmoed and Jonathan Claasen, the three youngsters who died this day 26 years ago during the Trojan Horse Massacre; and to rapper Contro’Versy, who passed away yesterday. […]
Zim Ngqawana
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWjlPiJlihE&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Zim Ngqawana (b. 1959), a key member of the second generation of South African jazz musicians, a student of Darius Brubeck, Yusuf Lateef, Max Roach and Archie Shepp and a major influence on the next generation of artists like Kyle Shepherd, passed Monday. Ngqawana, a Muslim, was to be buried today in Johannesburg. Obituaries […]
Duke Ngcukana
In the last year fans of South African jazz had to contend with the passing of musicians Robbie Jansen, Ezra Ngcukana (in August 2010), Vincent Kolbe (in September 2010) and Hotep Idris Galeta. This weekend Duke Ngcukana, brother of Ezra and himself a musician and jazz educator of note, passed away. Read a news story about […]
Billy Bang
Bang, was a free jazz violinist and composer, whose music reflected on his involvement as an American conscript in the Vietnam War.
Against the Values of the Market
Johnny Issel, who has died at age 68, was a prominent activist for leftist social movements in 1980s South Africa.