Nigeria’s Queen of Golf
I met Nigeria’s most successful professional female golfer, Uloma Mbuko. She’s even been hailed as Africa’s Queen of Gold. Girlfriend has won more than 200 trophies in her class […]
Category Archives: Gender
Black Women Tackle Dangerous Stereotypes
The pop culture landscape is littered with lazy images of black women ― the nurturer, the hussy, the angry bitch. Hovering around the all-encompassing myth of the “strong black […]
Zin’naariyâ! (‘The Wedding Ring’)
It’s a beautiful new film by the Nigerien journalist and film director, Rahmatou KEÏTA, which explores the themes of longing, love and travel. The film is called Zin’naariyâ, which means the […]
Africa needs a new feminism
Africa needs a new feminism. A feminism that rises from the throats of ungovernable women, rolls down the backs of intellectually curious young men, and trickles down from every corner […]
Nigeria’s Woman Problem
In my city, Abuja, an NGO called the Society against Prostitution and Child Labour has been collaborating with the city’s Environmental Protection Board to round up any woman found on […]
After the Genocide, Rwanda’s Widows Aging Alone
In a country with no tradition of institutional care for the elderly, Rwanda’s widows and survivors of the 1994 mass killings seek dignity at the end of their lives. […]
International Blackness vs. Homegrown Negroes: Lupita, Chimamanda, Thandie and me
Debate about skin tone is often cyclical and absolute — light skinned equals privilege, dark equals rejected. “She is very white!” Revered Swedish film critic Jannike Ahlund watches a clip […]
Senegal’s Secret Shame
But behind the smiles and occasional loud laughter lies a troubling nightmare that Ndiaye has to live with. It’s not the worry of living with a terminal illness or threat […]
African Homosexual Demon
This is not an essay. A few days ago, Kenyan novelist, Wainaina Binyavanga, tweeted a set of remarks he called “a brief scientific history of demons.” Aaron Bady of New Inquiry compiled and edited them into […]
Nigeria Beyond the Headlines
Nigeria Beyond the Headlines: Population, Health, Natural Resources, and Governance “Nigeria is a country of marginalized people. Every group you talk to, from the Ijaws to the Hausas, will tell you they are […]
