Morocco. Nigeria. Somalia. South Africa. Uganda. Angola’s Wikipedia Pirates Are Exposing the Problems With Digital Colonialism. Ivory Coast bounces back. From Abidjan airport's packed arrivals hall to the hotels and plush villas mushrooming across the city, Ivory Coast is booming, a rare African bright spot as the world's biggest cocoa producer bounces back from years of turmoil and civil war. With elections due in a month, many Ivorians had expected a post-conflict growth spurt to pause for breath, but such is the confidence in a smooth vote and second term for incumbent Alassane Ouattara the expected blip has failed to materialise. A businessman makes a phone call on the grounds of Hotel Ivoire. The government is predicting growth of 9.6 percent this year, making the former French colony the stand-out performer on a continent being hammered by a slump in commodity prices, capital outflows and tumbling currencies. Nor do Abidjan's projections look fanciful. Women carry bricks at the construction site of real estate company Sipim.
The International Monetary Fund's assessment is only marginally less bullish. The stigma for descendants of African slaves – Jori Lewis. It started a few years ago, with a conversation I had with my then-boyfriend, a Senegalese agronomist, first about peanuts and then about slavery. He lived in the Sine-Saloum region of Senegal, a four-hour drive from where I lived in the capital, Dakar. I was writing about the history of peanut agriculture, Sine-Saloum’s main crop, so I was often there. In fact, we met in a peanut village, one of many where he worked with farmers to help find alternative, higher-value vegetable crops. One night I told him about how, through my research on the peanut, I was learning more about the history of slavery – a legal slavery that persisted until the turn of the 20th century here, despite its abolition in 1848 in France and its colonies, including parts of Senegal.
Like me, my boyfriend was an outsider; his family was from northern Senegal and Dakar. Of course I was intrigued. Enjoying Aeon? Visit the Aeon Ideas beta But here the slave was not simply chattel. Popular now The delineations are subtle. Who’s Afraid of African Democracy? by Helen Epstein. Poor Burundi. Landlocked, tiny, and known mainly for ethnic conflict, it was for years the subject of one of the most intense international peace-building efforts in history. By the time the Arusha Peace Agreement was finally signed in 2003, 300,000 Burundians had died in a civil war rivaling in ferocity that of its neighbor Rwanda. Huge sums had been invested in grassroots workshops, high-level meetings and summits to end the fighting. According to Burundi specialist Peter Uvin, taxi drivers in the capital Bujumbura joke that the per diems received during these protracted negotiations built the poshest neighborhood in the city.
Now, a decade after the peace process came to what seemed a successful conclusion, and despite billions of dollars in humanitarian aid, the country appears to be falling apart again. In April, President Pierre Nkurunziza, in power since 2005, announced he’d be running for a third term in elections scheduled for June. Why technology is key to Africa’s future. When talk turns to technology trends at this year’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, it should also turn to Africa – because that’s where some of the world’s cutting-edge innovation is happening right now.
Africa’s embrace of technology turns two common assumptions inside out – that tech breakthroughs happen in rich countries, and that Africa needs basic services before it can use high-tech solutions. What Africa’s start-ups are doing is using technology to build those basic services – and a whole lot more. In Africa, as nowhere else in the world, technology is improving people’s lives – especially mobile services and applications.
With minimal fixed line phone infrastructure, the continent has embraced the opportunity to leapfrog existing technologies, becoming a world leader in the delivery of such services. Take Ushahidi, for example. Ushahidi has incubated 150 tech startups and created more than 1,000 jobs. So how can Africa mobilize domestic savings? How motorcycle cabbies keep the peace in Rwanda. Anyone who has sped across the cities of the African Great Lakes region at night on the back of a motorcycle taxi, whether gliding along Kigali’s immaculate thoroughfares with their flashing disco-lit traffic islands or dodging potholes in backstreets of Kampala, will understand why this mode of transport does such a roaring trade.
Termed boda-bodas in Uganda (derived from the term “border-border,” in reference to their origin in the Kenya-Uganda borderlands) and taxi-motos in the Francophone countries, the two-wheeled public transport option offers a solution to that most common of urban nuisances: traffic gridlock. In a region of hills, valleys, and swamps, the ease and convenience of the boda/moto option is unparalleled for those who can afford the dollar or so it costs to cross the city. Despite its popularity, in the conflict-torn Great Lakes region the motorcycle-taxi business has a murky past, a politically-charged present, and an uncertain future. Perfectly Modest • Islamic headscarf 101. There are hundreds of ways... The History of French-Muslim Violence Began in the Streets of Algeria | TIME. Masr Zaman مصر زمان. Angola - This is the situation. This is the confusion. This is Angola. | Angola.
Farm workers watch as fields burn outside Saurimo A lone Baobab stands guard on the Angolan coast near Quiçama Park. "I have lived many lifetimes in this hole": Chyngandangaly, a diamond mine outside Saurimo. Refugees loiter around a supply truck. Mealtime at an orphanage in Huambo "In this sad life": Pentecostal worshipers dance on the beach south of Luanda after a funeral. One deportee, set loose in Quiçama. THE DRUNKEN soldier in the airstrip waiting room put down the AK-47 he'd been pointing at my head and picked up a pair of bricks. "Kuito! " "Moxico, Angola! Then he dropped the bricks. "Olha ai! " His head had a hole in it, a dark well descending into his cranium. It couldn't have been a bullet hole. "Olha! " Well, I'd come to see the lingering nightmare, hadn't I?
Get up, they told their drunken comrade, no more Castle beer, no more shouting at the tourists, time to move on. "Olha...Angola," he said, one more time, and walked out. Still, Angolans tell you, they can deal with the situacão. The Heavy Metal Subculture of Botswana, Africa. The heavy metal cowboy get-ups sported by Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider and Mel Gibson in Mad Max are probably considered more than a little passé in the world of men’s style, better left in the 1970s. But in Sub-Saharan Africa, the art of dressing like you’ve just stepped out of a Metallica concert is still very much alive.
South African photographer Franck Marshall found the unlikely subculture in the Republic of Botswana, taking their heavy metal style of dress very seriously. “There’s a competition between them to see who can look the most brutal,” says Marshall, who calls his subjects the renegades– ‘an underground minority rebelling against the status quo, redrawing the borders of both Heavy Metal and orthodox culture in Botswana’. In post colonial Botswana, whenever the African Deathmetal bands (they exist too) go on tour, the renegades will spend weeks preparing their leather, shining their belt buckles and boots. And the women are in on it too…! More info via the Rooke Gallery. EXHIBITIONS : ROOKE GALLERY. Renegades is a landmark exhibition by Frank Marshall, representing a decisive outcropping of a Heavy Metal subculture in Sub-Saharan Africa.
To view all works click here To download the catalogue click here Marshall's portraits offer a tentative and considered vision of this subculture in Botswana; historically adverse in reaction to the occidental genre, making Marshall's subjects somewhat of an anomaly. In this way, Marshall aptly dubs his subjects renegades, tentatively situating himself as a mediator chronicling "visions" of rebellious individuals who form part of an ulterior, emergent rootedness where traditional identities and political histories in Botswana are subverted.
Heavy Metal audiences have traditionally been Caucasian, Patriarchal, and Eurocentric, making Marshall's portraits parodies of heavy metal lore envisaging the multiple polarities of the subculture's social strata. "Dead Demon Rider" 2010 "Morgue Boss" 2010 "Death" 2010 Renegades artist book. If we want to understand African history, we need to understand the Battle of Adwa. The northern Ethiopian town of Adwa is the place my grandfather called home. It’s a small market town in the Tigray region, home to several churches where Ethiopian Christians of multiple sects congregate. My grandfather spoke of Adwa with pride and reverence, sometimes slipping into Tigrigna (one of the languages spoken in Tigray) as he recalled memories. The name “Adwa” always sounded so regal coming from his mouth, at once both strong and comforting. For much of Ethiopia and its diaspora, Adwa’s significance is every bit as political as it is personal.
In the bloodstained landscape that is Ethiopian history, Adwa is known primarily as the site at which the decisive final battle in the First Italo-Ethiopian War was fought. Long before the battle itself, both nations began to lay the groundwork for an Italo-Ethiopian conflict. By 1890, Menelik had tired of the expectation to report to Italian officials; and he formally denounced the treaty in 1893. The 1937 massacre in Addis Ababa. In the centre of Addis Ababa in the Siddist Kilo area, stands a monument known as The Yekatit “February” 12 Square Monument. The obelisk was built in memory of the 30,000 civilians massacred by Fascists on the 19th February 1937. The indiscriminate massacre that lasted three days, was in reprisal for the attempted assassination of "the Butcher of Fezzan", the Viceroy of Italian East Africa, Rodolfo Graziani.
The Italian government carried out a substantial number of war crimes in Ethiopia from 1935–1940. The most notable being the use of mustard gas and the bombing of a field hospital run by the Swedish Red Cross. However the massacre of Addis Ababa and other mass killings are to this day repudiated by the Italian government ignoring overwhelming historical evidence to the contrary. In a recent lecture held to promote his forthcoming book, Campbell pointed to the great efforts that went to conceal the historical records in Italy dealing with the 19 February 1937 massacre of Addis Ababa.
Ethiopedia or Encyclopedia for Ethiopia: Ethiopian Hair Styles. Ethiopian Hairstyles from former Provinces of Ethiopia. There are many variations of these styles from other tribes. The names of some of these hair styles are described below. Sheruba Qaray Mursi People Hairstyle Sadula Hairstyle of Tigre and Amhara Mertu Hairstyle of the Oromo People Afar People Sheruba Hairstyle Afar Sheruba Tshefrer (Afro Goferay with a twist) and dreadlock combination Afro of Afar People Sheruba of unmarried Afar Many types of hair styles exists in Ethiopia. Men usually have a hair style in the Afro fashion.
Hair styles also exists for the young. Traditional hair style of Emperess Taitu, wife of Emperor Menilik. This Subject is constantly being Updated...please be patient! Hairstyles of EthiopiaHairstyles for Children Quntcho: This hairstyle is used mostly in toddlers and the very young. Zerantch: The hair of the Quntcho that grows on the head of a child is called Zerantch. Qaray: A narrow strip of hair is allowed to grow from the mid-forehead to the back of the neck. I LOVE SOUTHERN AFRICA - Mozambique: “Two Makua women of northern... ONLINE EXHIBITION (Ancient Manuscripts from the Desert Libraries of Timbuktu, Library of Congress) Anti-Black Prejudices in Tunisia: Breaking Down Taboos.
“Blacks are our brothers and friends. They are good luck charms for me, a source of blessing,’’ said Walid Ezzaraa, a Tunisian TV presenter, on Monday’s “Bila Moujamala” program. Such a statement is perceived by some as treading the slippery slope of racial generalization, deeply ingrained in the Tunisian culture. A black is reduced to a good luck charm that blesses people when their paths cross. Among the stereotypes foisted upon Tunisian blacks are their societal roles as evil repellents and talismans as well as their sexually potent, lazy, and unmotivated personality. “I went to a neighbor’s marriage, and during the ceremony one of the white relatives of my neighbor came to me asking if I wanted to ride the horse in the feast (the horse is always present in southern traditional marriages over which they put the dowries of the bride).
“In fact, they were looking for a black to do that in order to meet their racist traditions,” he stated in regards to the incident. Green Sahara - The Big Picture. Photographer Mike Hettwer has been kind enough to share with us some of his photographs depicting what remains of the Green Sahara. About 9,000 years ago, a very wet climate prevailed in parts of the Sahara Desert called the Neolithic Subpluvial period.
Lasting several thousand years, this Green Sahara was home to many grassland and woodland animals as well as humans. While on an expedition for dinosaur fossils with paleontologist Paul Sereno in Niger in 2000, Hettwer discovered a burial area containing hundreds of skeletons from two distinct cultures, each thousands of years old - the Kiffian and Tenerian. Also found in the dry and desolate site were hunting tools, pottery, and bones of large land animals and fish. Mike Hettwer's photographs have appeared in 2,500 magazines, newspapers books and web sites - many of these photos are from his article "Lost Tribes of the Green Sahara" in the Sep. 2008 issue of National Geographic.
Lyricsja: EUROPEANS TAUGHT FOR CENTURIES that... | People of Color in European Art History. Breaking Barriers! DISTANT RELATIVES ( The University of Sankoré, or Sankore Masjid is...) Mathematics in Central Africa Before Colonization.