A couple of months ago, I celebrated Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in my hometown of Harare for the first time in the six years since I had left for college. Thousands of people, not just members of the Indian community, attended the celebrations held at the local community sports club. In recent years, … Continue reading
By Martha Unity Flynn, University of Leeds graduate in Politics and International Studies July 4th of this year marked the twentieth anniversary of the end of one hundred days of systematic and state-endorsed massacres that we know today as the Rwandan genocide. Twenty years on, this date not only commemorates the Rwandan Patriotic Forces’ (RPF) … Continue reading
Ethiopian popular singer Teddy Afro released his fourth and most recent studio album Tikur Sew (Black Man) in 2012. The title track was a tribute to the late nineteenth-century Emperor Menilik II and the victory of a united Ethiopian front against an aggressive Italian invasion at the world-famous Battle of Adwa in 1896. This was an event of global historical significance, which continues to feature prominently in the historical memory of many Ethiopians and Africans throughout the world. However, my sanguine interpretation of the song as an effort to remind Ethiopia of the importance of unity was not how it was received in Ethiopia. In many ways, the controversy over Tikur Sew has more to do with contemporary ethnic politics—and the role that ethnicity plays in present-day Ethiopian society—than it does with the actual content of Teddy Afro’s song or the historical event it commemorates. Continue reading
The Africa Collective 