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Brightly dressed female dancers in gold and pink parade down a street, dancers smiling broadly.

Detty December started as a Nigerian cultural moment. Now it’s spreading across the continent – and minting money

Nnamdi O. Madichie, Nnamdi Azikiwe University; Motshedisi Mathibe, University of Pretoria, and NobuLali Dangazele, University of Pretoria

A woman looks angrily at something off camera, arms folded, a group behind her looking at her.

Netflix gives African film a platform – but the cultural price is high

Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed, Cornell University

Which African countries are flourishing? Scientists have a new way of measuring well-being

Victor Counted, Regent University

10 arms in a circle joining in the centre with 10 hands, palms faced up, forming a kind of flower.
Kwame Akoto-Bamfo: the Ghanaian artist using work about slavery to find justice and healing

Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann, Rutgers University

A group of women and girls on a dirt road, dressed in white traditional garments. They stand in rows, some raising their arms.
An African man in white cricket outfit stands between open white wooden doors holding a large silver and gold sceptre and smiling, behind him a cricket field.

South Africa’s cricket team just made history: how the ‘chokers’ became world champions

Mogammad Sharhidd Taliep, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Louis Moholo-Moholo, a lion of South African jazz who used his drums to find freedom

Gwen Ansell, University of Pretoria

An older man smiles broadly as he sits playing on a drum kit of bright red drums.
5 indie art spaces in African cities worth knowing more about

Kim Gurney, University of the Western Cape

The view from a car of a bright red painting on a wall featuring circles around a stylised human eye.
Shaka iLembe: finally, a TV series on the Zulu king that’s true to language and culture

Bongephiwe Dlamini-Myeni, University of Zululand

A muscular man stands in front of a reed and wood homestead wearing armbands and a codpiece of animal hair, beads across his chest.
Khartoum before the war: the public spaces that held the city together

Ibrahim Z. Bahreldin, University of Khartoum

People mill around several small shanties made with metal sheets
An older African man with a black scarf around his neck looks directly to camera against shocking pink background.

Ngũgi wa Thiong’o and the African literary revolution

Simon Gikandi, Princeton University

Illustrations deep-etched against a beige backdrop of a tiger, a human heart, a grasshopper, a bundle of sticks and a tombstone with an arrow on it.

5 great reads by South African writers from 30 years of real-life stories

Hedley Twidle, University of Cape Town

An old black and white photograph of an African man looking grimly at camera, dressed in warm clothes.

African prisoners made sound recordings in German camps in WW1: this is what they had to say

Anette Hoffmann, University of Cologne

Ghana’s older people feel left behind and ignored: how to care for them better

Andrew Kweku Conduah, University of Ghana

An older man sitting in a market stall, looking at a phone
Violence against women in Ghana is deeply rooted in culture and family ties – study

Eric Y Tenkorang, Memorial University of Newfoundland

A woman with her head bowed, covering her face with a hand.
Rashid Lombard: the photographer who documented both resistance and celebration in South Africa

Siona O'Connell, University of Pretoria

An elderly man in a beret looks directly to camera, his glasses reflecting the room he sits in.
3 things Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o taught me: language matters, stories are universal, Africa can thrive

Charles Cantalupo, Penn State

An older African man dressed in blue traditional attire on a stage against a blue backdrop. He holds a book in his one hand and a microphone in the other.

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Most read this week

Music

Amadou Bagayoko: the blind Malian musician whose joyful songs changed west African music

Amadou Bagayoko: the blind Malian musician whose joyful songs changed west African music

Lucy Durán, SOAS, University of London

Tunisia’s rap revolution: 5 women who are redefining hip-hop

Jyhene Kebsi, Macquarie University

A close up of a woman's face in profile, eyeing the camera. On the lower part of her face is a projection of red and gold, like blood vessels.
Michael Mosoeu Moerane was a pioneering composer in South Africa. A new book is restoring his place in history

Gwen Ansell, University of Pretoria

A black and white photo of a young African man in suit and tie, in the background a handwritten note outlining modern music scales and chords.
Brenda Fassie’s 1997 hit song Vulindlela still raises questions about South Africa as a nation

Mbali Mazibuko, University of Johannesburg

A black and white photo of a woman singinging her heart out into a microphone on stage, her braided hair in pigtails, her eyes shut. She's down on her haunches.
Senegal’s female rappers aren’t letting obstacles get in their way – who the rising voices are

Mamadou Dramé, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar

Five women on a stage, in a row, playing musical instruments and smiling, traditional cloth on their heads and flowing robes on.
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Film + TV

An elderly man looks mischievously to camera as he poses in front of a movie poster, hair grey.

Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina put African cinema on the map with his bold, political films about Algeria

Nabil Boudraa, Oregon State University

Seven Doors: sweeping Nigerian Netflix series masters the art of storytelling

Adediran Kayode Ademiju-Bepo, University of Jos

A man and woman in traditional Yoruba attire
Ernest Cole: the South African photographer at the centre of a powerful and heartbreaking film

Kylie Thomas, NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies

A black and white close-up portrait of a young African man looking earnestly at camera, a moustache and small beard and a beret on his head.
Souleymane Cissé has died. He was one of Africa’s boldest and most pioneering film-makers

David Murphy, University of Strathclyde

An elderly man with grey hair, beard and spectacles holds a hand behind his head as he looks into the distance. He is wearing a flowing white robe.
Mati Diop is a new star of African cinema – what her award-winning movies are about

David Murphy, University of Strathclyde

A woman in a denim jacket gestures with both hands, fingers splayed, as she talks into a microphone at a desk.
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Books

Read more on African writers
A white-haired woman speaking to someone who is holding a phone.

Mabel Segun: Nigerian children’s writer, poet and broadcaster

Abayomi Awelewa, University of Lagos

Waiting for Godot has been translated into Afrikaans: what took so long

Rick de Villiers, University of the Free State

Two bearded men on a stage in hats and scruffy clothes; each holds their hands to their foreheads, looking into the distance.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s new book Dream Count explores love in all its complicated messiness

Daria Tunca, Université de Liège

An African woman with an elaborate hairstyle smiles broadly as she poses near a vintage staircase, wearing a black skirt and an orange blouse with winged shoulders.
Africa’s newest book prize is named after Andreé Blouin: who was she?

Tinashe Mushakavanhu, University of Oxford

A black and white image in sepia tones of the back of a woman in an outfit made from African fabric as she speaks into a microphone on a stage to a sea of people.
What is apartheid? New book for young readers explains South Africa’s racist system

Xolisa Guzula, University of Cape Town and Athambile Masola, University of Cape Town

A sea of young Africans, some win school uniforms, marches down a road, placards, banners and fists aloft.

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Faith

A man in a white robe speaks into a microphone while seated

Reform or retreat? The Catholic church in Africa after Pope Francis

Stan Chu Ilo, DePaul University

Murder of gay South African imam Muhsin Hendricks reignites queer Muslim debate

Amanullah De Sondy, University College Cork

A man in a purple robe with long dark hair sits talking intently.
Rituals, rites and rumours: how women claim power in Zimbabwe’s informal gold mines

Jabulani Shaba, University of Groningen and Sandra Swart, Stellenbosch University

A woman in a red shirt holding a pick and a bag strides across a rocky outcrop.
Christianity is changing in South Africa as pentecostal and indigenous churches grow – what’s behind the trend

Dion Forster, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

A mass of African women standing and singing in a choir
Freemasons, homosexuals and corrupt elites in Cameroon – inside an African conspiracy theory

Peter Geschiere, University of Amsterdam and Rogers Orock, Lafayette College

From behind, men and women in white robes line up in a church with candles, a large figurative mural of a black Christ on the wall in front of them.
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History + heritage

An African woman with long braids stands in a room with art canvasses and easels, her hands held together, pensive in half profile and a long white dress.

Koyo Kouoh – tribute to a curator who fiercely promoted African art

Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti, Rice University

Initiation season in South Africa: why state regulation clashes with customary laws

Anthony Diala, University of the Western Cape

A group of five stand with blankets wrapped around themselves, faces smeared with mud are barely visible.
Woman-to-woman marriage in west Africa: a vanishing tradition of power and agency

Bright Alozie, Portland State University

A woman's silhouette
Zimbabwe’s house of stone: the gallery that showcases a famous sculpture tradition

Tinashe Mushakavanhu, University of Oxford

A stone sculpture of a sleeping human figure, legs drawn up to its chest.
Valentin-Yves Mudimbe: the philosopher who reshaped how the world thinks about Africa

Christophe Premat, Stockholm University

Head and shoulders portrait of a grey-haired man wearing spectacles
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Sport

A graphic of a human figure running with lines and dots in his body, he is reflected on a screen in motion.

AI-driven motion capture is transforming sports and exercise science

Habib Noorbhai, University of Johannesburg

Kirsty Coventry and whiteness in Zimbabwe: how sport can rewrite the political rules

Manase Kudzai Chiweshe, University of Zimbabwe

A woman smiles and waves on a stadium grandstand, flanked by African women.
Rachid Mekhloufi was more than a football star, he was a symbol of Algerian resistance

Youcef Bouandel, Qatar University

A black and white photograph of a football match in a packed stadium, in the foreground a footballer has just kicked the ball and is sliding onto one knee.
Olympics in Africa: Egypt’s ambitious bid to host the games could succeed – but will it be worth it?

Kamilla Swart, Hamad Bin Khalifa University

A man beams as he holds a red, white and black flag behind him, a gold medal around his neck.
Yoruba vs Igbo: how a 1977 football cup caused ethnic tensions to boil over in Nigeria

Chuka Onwumechili, Howard University and Unwana Akpan, University of Lagos

A crowd of spectators, a man in a traditional Nigerian shirt blows a trumpet, another sings, another looks directly at camera.
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Cities + societies

An African man in a yellow shirt applies decals of a gate sign in colourful letters. It reads "Mbare Art Space".

Mbare Art Space: a colonial beer hall in Zimbabwe has become a vibrant arts centre

Tinashe Mushakavanhu, University of Oxford

Airbnb scams: new book explores thriving criminal activity on big tech platforms

Julie Reid, University of South Africa

An illustration of a city showing light trails and circles of light.
Lagos fashion: how designers make global trends uniquely Nigerian

Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)

A man stands backstage behind curtains holding a walking stick and regally dressed in a flowing gold robe over loose-fitting gold top and trousers.
TikTok in Egypt: where rich and poor meet – and the state watches everything

Gabriele Cosentino, American University in Cairo

Two smartphone screens, each showing a young Egyptian woman talking.
Choosing to be an orphan: for some Kenyan families it’s a strategy for survival

Andreana Prichard, University of Oklahoma

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