Simphiwe Dana Declares A State of Emergency
I first came across Simphiwe Dana’s music in 2011. I was living in New York at the time, Harlem to be exact. In an apartment right across from the City […]
Tag Archives: by Chika Oduah
Mandela, From Frame To Heart
Nelson Mandela smiled at me everyday when I walked by him. Softly curled lips and softly curled hair, his face beckoned me and I came to him. I’d plop myself […]
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, […]
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 […]
Nigeria’s Igbo Jews: ‘Lost tribe’ of Israel?
Abuja, Nigeria (CNN) — A Shabbat service is underway at the Ghihon Hebrew Research synagogue in the Jikwoyi suburb of Nigeria’s federal capital territory. Fourteen year-old Kadmiel Izungu Abor heads there […]
The Way You Make Me Feel: My Ode To Highlife
He came close, like danger. And nearly stole my heart, nearly snatched it out of its pulsating cavity. But he didn’t use his hands. He used the lazy groans of […]
Conquering Witches, Corruption And Armed Robbers
My brother propped his coarse-haired arms on the seat’s leather armrest and shook his head. “I don’t think you should go, Chika. But no one listens to me,” he said. […]
Mysticism In Traditional Yoruba Culture
“I’m training to be a Yoruba priestess,” she said with her face scrunched in utmost sincerity. The confession from the young African-American student alarmed the Nigerian students at the Georgia […]
Botswana Does It Again
Botswana remains the least corrupt African nation, according to Transparency International’s (TI) latest Corruption Perception Index. The diamond-producing republic came in at 30 out of the 176 countries and territories […]
Black Americans Free To Give Thanks, Even During Slavery
You’ll be hard pressed to find the face of an African-American in any artistic depiction of that all-too familiar feast of 1621-, like the one where a group of Plymouth […]
Afrocentric Confessions 