I heard of Basil Davidson's passing at the honourable age of 95 from a former student who forwarded an obituary to me. For years Davidson's prolific work has been on reading lists I distributed to all students (regardless of ethnic background) on my African history courses. It was when I pinned on the classroom wall an article about him with a huge photograph that students expressed their surprise that Davidson was not an African. read more »
Guest Blogger's blog
The Curator as Culture Broker: A Critique of the Curatorial Regime of Okwui Enwezor By S. Okwunodu Ogbechie
What is the meaning of Enwezor's curatorial work and how does it affect the kind of knowledge emerging in the discourse of contemporary African art? read more »
As the Fire Rages By Mukoma Wa Ngugi
"Lisbon lies in ruins, while in Paris they dance," Voltaire wrote of the 1755 Portugal earthquake. The contradiction arrests and startles.
Barely a month into 2010, Haiti lies ruins. President Wade of Senegal offers displaced Haitians land. Can an earthquake succeed where Garvey's return to Africa movement failed?
Creating a New South African Identity By William Gumede
The raging debate over what makes one South African, which currently focuses on whether a person is African enough, is simply the wrong debate.
Can we ever cobble together a common South African-ness?
A Response to Skip Gates' Slavery Absolution By Barbara Ransby
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Henry Louis Gates, Harvard-based celebrity, Cambridge-trained literary scholar, self-taught historian, and current expert and entrepreneur of Blackness, has offered the ultimate post-racial text. And a pernicious one it is. His essay, "Ending the Slavery Blame-Game" prominently featured on the New York Times editorial page on April 23, 2010 calls on the nation's first Black president to end the nation's sense of responsibility for the legacy of slavery.
