The Beautiful Load, a poem to honor the African head tie
I grew up watching my mother tie huge pieces of fabric on her head. We’d stand facing the mirror as she dressed up for parties and church. I wrote this […]
Category Archives: Gender
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 […]
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 […]
Nigerian State Raises Tabs To Curb Divorce
If you live in the northern Nigerian state of Kano, it will cost you $300 to divorce your wife. The new law has been introduced to curb the rocketing divorce […]
African Men Don’t Do Feminists
Ask an African man what he thinks about feminists. Go ahead, and record their answers so you can email it to me later. I like a good laugh to start […]
Why Brown Girls Need Brown Dolls
There have long been debates regarding Disney’s lack of diversity and further, the lack of diversity in dolls for children of color. While reading an article on this subject matter, […]
The Gaze On Black Bodies
For her exhibition “Archival Impulse & Poverty Pornography”, Ayana V Jackson turns to the archives to touch on the representation of black bodies. The flyers pasted around the cobbled streets […]
Tanzania’s Booty Dance
I don’t like to call it that, “a booty” dance, but it got your attention. I’m presently in Tanzania as part of a reporting fellowship and I was talking to […]
Heaven On Earth? Maidens Made In Tanga Tanzania
Tanzanian freelance journalist, Erick Kabendera, writes about the traditions and customs in Tanzania’s Tanga region related to women and sexuality. Tanga women pass down ideas to girls on how a […]
It Happened To Me
I got a job in New York City a few years ago. I was new to the American North; I still reeked of the South. Pillsbury biscuits, Georgian peaches and […]
Facing Child Marriage In Nigeria
The Nigerian Senate is reeling in the backlash of a sweeping outpouring of public protests. Activists and protesters are rallying on streets, tweeting and hashtagging #ChildNotBride, sharing editorials in the […]
Section 29 and the Personhood of the Nigerian Womanhood
Nigerian lawmakers have lobbed a curveball, and the citizens have responded by swinging in anger. Sen. Yerima, in a coup at the Senate during a routine vote on renunciation of […]
Release Her Power
She brings you into this world in a flush of blood. Divining with the gods with each forceful thrust, shrieking into the hands of the invisibles. Burdened to dim her […]
‘Wifeism’ In Nigeria
Last week, I overheard a woman pray for a baby girl and she concluded her deluge of prayers with ‘You will be great. You will be the wife of a president’. It […]
Hair Your Way: The Politics of Negro Gals’ Hair
“Spiritual” is what he said my hair makes me look. Then, he said “Chika,” Nigerians would “be a little afraid of you.” Chimamanda Adichie was right. Discussing her latest novel, […]
The Feminization Of African Men
If you have read some parts of this article before, take your anger out on Chika Oduah. Her seminal work, “Where the Vagina Counts” http://www.bellanaija.com/2013/03/06/chika-oduah-where-the-vagina-counts/ made me revisit the feminization […]
Where The Vagina Counts
Mothers lay their daughters on mattresses, spread their legs as wide as “Vs,” push their fingers inside their daughters’ vaginas and measure the depth of entry into the soft mounds […]
