LGBTIQ+ Angolans share their stories in an oral history project: (from left) David Kanga, Roquiana Gunza, Ema Domingos.
Courtesy Mwana Pwo/GALA Queer Archive
LGBTIQ+ life in Angola can be traced to before colonialism, though it has not been well documented. A recent project brings these stories to life.
The Sidi Bou Makhlouf mosque in El Kef.
DeAgostini/Getty Images
Tunisia has failed to capitalise on the heritage tourism potential of the ancient city and its natural surroundings.
Henri Lopes wrote about the complexity of mixed race identity.
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Driven by social justice, he showed that all people are capable of both good and evil.
Protesters in Lagos during Nigeria’s 60th Independence Day anniversary on 1 October 2020.
Olukayode Jaiyeola/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Colonialism set Nigeria up for failure as a united country. But successive governments since independence have a lot to answer for too.
Zimbabwean author of We Need New Names, Noviolet Bulawayo.
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Variations of English names reveal the enduring effects of British rule - but there’s also a return to tradition.
Ama Ata Aidoo passed away at the age of 81.
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A commanding presence on the global literary stage, Ama Ata Aidoo was a powerful feminist voice with a prolific output.
Moffat Takadiwa, left, and curator Fadzai Muchemwa in front of the work Bhiro ne Bepa on his solo show Vestiges of Colonialism.
Images courtesy Lifang Zhang
Using found materials from dump sites, the large scale works examine the residues of colonialism.
Toyin Falola has turned 70.
Image courtesy Olusegun Olopade
With over 200 publications to his name, his three most recent books give a sense of why he is so famous as a historian.
Church Wedding in the Eastern Cape, 1920.
Image courtesy Monica and Godfrey Wilson Collection BC880/African Studies Library/University of Cape Town
Before colonialism black South Africans viewed sex and morality very differently than today.
Chief Aùtshumao! Francisco MacKenzie (front) protests the Amazon headquarters development in Cape Town.
Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images
The British empire brought the practice of commons enclosure to Africa to claim land. Its effects continue today at sites like the Liesbeek River in Cape Town.
Image by da-kuk/Getty Images
Online rage towards white communities and privileged classes can be read as fatigue with the postcolonial state.
David Wolff-Patrick/WireImage/Getty Images
Idir’s songs gave Kabyles a sense that their culture counted: that their customs and traditions could form a part of a modern Algerian nation.
Robert Mugabe during his swearing-in ceremony in Harare, 2008. The former Zimbabwean president has died aged 95.
EPA-EFE
Where should we place Mugabe among the pantheon of African nationalists who led their countries to independence?
Daniel Günther, prime minister of Schleswig-Holstein, at the Swakopmund monument to colonial concentration camp victims.
Facebook/Germany Embassy, Windhoek
Germany praises itself for having declared a ‘special responsibility’ for Namibia since independence. But the relationship is viewed differently from Windhoek.
Conservative lawmakers in dozens of U.S. states have raised fears that Islamic fundamentalists want to impose Sharia on Americans.
Reuters/David Ryder
There is no inherent tension between Islam and democratic values. Like any use of religion in politics, the application of Sharia as law depends on who is using it – and why.
South Africa has been dubbed “the rape capital of the world”.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
South Africa has tended to prioritise race relations over gender relations since formal apartheid ended.
Africa’s massive variety of languages should be celebrated and used in tertiary education.
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Africa needs a new strategy for mother-tongue based bilingual education, from primary through to tertiary level.
Ron Eland, at far left, in Great Britain’s 1948 Olympic team. The stories of Eland and other black athletes must be told.
Pic taken from Haliday, J. (1950). Olympic Weight-lifting with Body Building for all. London: Pullum & Sons
Writing and rewriting black sporting history is a means of redressing exclusion.
Data should be open, shareable - but not at the expense of African researchers and communities.
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A focus on collaboration among African universities and research institutions is crucial in developing national policies that meet the principles of open data while keeping it safe from exploitation.
There are many different ways to approach the thorny issue of decolonising knowledge.
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Critical decolonisation means accepting risk of error. It means considering whether indigenous knowledge systems might contain truths that western science hasn’t accessed.