LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

Sep

27

2023

African Literature in the Digital Age: new book traces the role of the internet, queers and class

LITERATURE

THE first book-length study of digital literature in Africa has attracted a lot of academic attention. African Literature in the Digital Age: Class and Sexual Politics in New Writing from Kenya and Nigeria considers the role of the Internet and new media in finding and shaping new audiences for literature. We asked its author, former journalist, literature scholar, publishing editor of The New Black Magazine and associate professor of African studies, Shola Adenekan, about the book. SHOLA ADENEKAN, Associate Professor of African Literature, Ghent University What prompted you to write this? The book came out of my own experience of…

Sep

27

2023

By The African Mirror

Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀’s new novel is a modern Nigerian tragedy about the rich and the poor

LITERATURE

NIGERIAN writer Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀` took the literary world by storm with her debut novel Stay With Me in 2017. Six years later, she has followed up with an equally brilliant second novel, A Spell of Good Things, which has been longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023. SAKIRU ADEBAYO, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia Just as with her first novel, A Spell of Good Things delves masterfully into the complexities of polygamy and problems with patriarchy while also exploring the corrosive effects of Nigeria’s political corruption on ordinary and, especially, poor Nigerians. As someone who studies Nigerian literature, I hold…

Sep

27

2023

By The African Mirror

Kole Omotoso, the Nigerian writer, scholar and actor who inspired a continent

LITERATURE

BANKOLE Ajibabi Omotoso, better known as Kole Omotoso, the Nigerian novelist, playwright, journalist, scholar and actor, died on 19 July 2023. His son Akin Omotoso, a filmmaker, announced the death of the writer on Instagram. It came at a time when Nigeria was celebrating the 89th birthday of Wole Soyinka, Africa’s first Nobel laureate in literature and Omotoso’s colleague at the then-University of Ife. Both were so prominent nationwide that everyone wanted to go to Ife and study at their feet, especially those aspiring to a career in the arts or humanities. OLAYINKA OYEGBILE, Journalist and Communications scholar, Trinity University,…

Sep

23

2023

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwean names are still haunted by the ghosts of colonialism

CULTURE

IN African cultures, the names given to children play an important role because they are often laden with meanings. As a team of professors of literature, linguistics and onomastics (the scientific study of names and naming practices) we have shown in our research that the names parents give their children at birth can help us make sense of many things, including a family’s heritage and events in history. TENDAI MANGENA, Professor of African Studies, University of Leeds Our most recent research paper analyses naming practices in Zimbabwe. It shows that Zimbabweans in the former British colony in southern Africa still…

Sep

22

2023

By The African Mirror

Somalia’s voice of hope: a tribute to Axmed Naaji, legendary singer and trailblazing composer

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

SOMALIS are natural-born critics, yet for over six decades, Axmed Naaji Sacad (Ahmed Naji Sa'ad) was almost unanimously revered. A household name in urban Somalia, the popular singer and poet has passed away at the age of 84 in London. Venerated as an elder of the country’s cultural life, Axmed Naaji Sacad Cali Naasir was not merely a singer, composer and musician who played guitar, lute, mandolin, piano and violin, he was also a radio host, playwright and a poet. MOHAMED HAJI INGIRIIS, Fellow, King's College London First known for his love songs like Garan Waaye (I Couldn’t Know), he…

Sep

22

2023

By CONRAD ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Domestic Travel Boom: African airlines prepare for traffic surge

TRAVEL

OVER the next two decades, Africa’s jet fleet is projected to more than double to 1,550 aircraft - when Africa’s population is forecast to hit 2.17 billion, surpassing those of America, India and China combined, according to data from the International Air Transport Association. The growth will come on the back of significant growth in airline passenger numbers. IATA shows major airline markets in Africa had already outperformed their 2019 levels in terms of origin-destination (O-D) air passenger traffic by Q2 of 2023, thanks largely to domestic market recovery and outperformance. Nigeria recorded the highest growth in passenger numbers, adding…

Jul

13

2023

By The African Mirror

Sindiwe Magona’s new book of essays tackles issues South Africans aren’t talking about

LITERATURE

SINDIWE Magona – who turns 80 this year – is a celebrated South African writer, storyteller, speaker and activist. In 2022 Magona, once a domestic worker, received her PhD in creative writing. Best known for her novels, autobiographies, short stories, poems and children’s books, she’s also a writer of essays. Now a new collection, I Write the Yawning Void, has been published. The essays in the book mostly deal with becoming and being a writer in a country like South Africa with a violent past that lives on in painful social and economic inequality. We asked her about the book.…

Jul

12

2023

By The African Mirror

How an African collection of art in Canada is celebrated with care and community

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

A significant collection of traditional African art has had a home in Canada for almost a hundred years. At Agnes Etherington Art Centre, we are working on new, more hospitable practices of care for this collection. This means that we are attentive to the unmet needs of the collection and are taking responsibility for responding to these in ways that encourage community access and inclusion. QANITA LILLA, Associate Curator Arts of Africa, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Ontario We are located at Queen’s University, in Kingston, Ont., on the territories of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat, in a city…

Jul

12

2023

By NGOUDA DIONE and JOEL KOUAM

Senegal’s lone developer fights to revive photography with film

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

FROM a concrete jetty on Dakar's sun-baked coastline, Senegalese photographer Amy Saar clicked the shutter of her vintage Pentax camera, capturing the light of the horizon on colour film purchased from the country's only developer. "Dakar looks great with certain coloured films because they really bring out the warm, vibrant colours," Saar said, loading a fresh roll into the camera. "Film can be really great in Africa because in general, it’s sunny (and) very colourful.” Saar is part of a growing resurgence of analogue photography enthusiasts in Senegal, nurtured by Le Sel studio in the capital’s Ouakam neighbourhood. Founded two…

Jul

11

2023

By The African Mirror

The fascinating Cameroonian art of spider divination is on display at London exhibition

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

TOMÁS Saraceno In Collaboration: Web(s) of Life, which opened at London’s Serpentine South Gallery in June, explores how humans relate to spiders. It features installations of spider webs displayed and lit to be viewed as sculptures. There are also films: one made about Saraceno’s work with groups battling lithium mining in Argentina and another about spider diviners from Somié village in Cameroon. DAVID ZEITLYN, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Oxford That’s where I came in. ?gam dù (the Mambila term for spider divination) is one of many types of oracle or divination used by Mambila people in Cameroon. It…