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Sep 9, 2024 | 
geeska.com | Ibrahim Osman |Alex White
Somali music needs to find a balance between those aspects that nourish our minds and those that are intended for our bodies. A long standing tension between mind and body has permeated modern Somali music since its early days. Rooted in the meaning-oriented disposition of the Somali psyche, xikmad (wisdom)—in this context referring to the depth and sobriety of a song’s content—has traditionally been the most valued aspect of music by the majority of Somalis.
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Aug 31, 2024 | 
geeska.com | Alex White
In 1957, a controversial Egyptian diplomat was murdered in Mogadishu. The police investigation that followed stoked dangerous tensions within the Somali nationalist movement, but it also exposed the weakness of the colonial state. On April 16 1957, at around 12:45pm, Kamal Al Din Salah crossed a quiet courtyard in central Mogadishu.
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Aug 26, 2024 | 
geeska.com | Faisal Ali |Alex White
In a newly published paper, a group of researchers argue that checkpoints in Somalia provide us with an opportunity to explore and think about how clans make claims to land and why, in a new analysis that has important implications for how we think about Somali state-building. In early August, Jethro Norman published a working paper along with two colleagues, Abdirahman Edle Ali and Peer Schouten (Mr Roadblock), exploring the operations of checkpoints in Somalia.
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Aug 5, 2024 | 
geeska.com | Suhaib Mahmoud |Alex White
African leaders must devise strategies to ensure their populations benefit from the continent's mineral wealth as the global transition to green energy heightens the demand for these resources.
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Jul 28, 2024 | 
geeska.com | Abukar Arman |Faisal Mohammed Ali |Alex White |Kari Mugo
Somalia’s attempt to revive the Shilling might help address the economy’s dollarisation, but the terms of its revival with IMF and World Bank support come with their own risks. Since the collapse of the central government in 1991 and the subsequent loss of confidence in the local currency, the Shilling, which is now printed by companies and individuals in arbitrary denominations, the phenomenon of dollarisation has prevailed in Somalia.
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Jul 19, 2024 | 
newlinesmag.com | Alex White
In 1964, the Black nationalist organizer toured Africa and the Middle East on a journey that would both transform his outlook and reveal the limits of transnational solidarity After the assassination of Malcolm X in February 1965, the Ghanaian Times declared that the world had suffered “a most grievous loss.” He was, it suggested, one of the few Black American leaders who truly understood “that the black man’s struggle in America was inextricably linked with the African revolution.
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Jul 17, 2024 | 
africasacountry.com | Alex White |Sarah Miles
Who founded the Black Star Line? Which country did Kamuzu Banda rule? Which nationalist movement was targeted by Le Main Rouge? And what does uhuru truly mean? Together, these questions make up part of the first edition of Afra-Crosstic—an designed for the September 1965 edition of The African Review. To solve the puzzle, readers are instructed to answer 21 trivia questions about the history, politics, and culture of the continent.
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Jul 8, 2024 | 
geeska.com | Faisal Ali |Alex White
Siddharth Kara’s Cobalt Red unveils the hidden violence that sustains the mining sector in the DRC and highlights its role in the modern world from our phones and tablets to electric cars. Have you ever wondered where the raw materials for your phone battery and other rechargeable devices come from? They’re called lithium-ion batteries, and despite the name, only about 7% of the materials used in these batteries are lithium.
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Apr 6, 2024 | 
thewire.in | Alex White
In her memoirs, Angelou claims to have kept her head down to “avoid the flaming tongues” – but she also wrote an article in the Ghanaian Times denouncing African American moderates as “Uncle Toms” and “slave sellers” who failed to recognise their own bondage. Maya Angelou. Photo: York College ISLGP/cc-by-2.0 On August 28 1963, a group of activists gathered opposite the US Embassy in the Ghanaian capital of Accra.
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Apr 6, 2024 | 
scroll.in | Alex White
On August 28 1963, a group of activists gathered opposite the US Embassy in the Ghanaian capital of Accra. Inspired by the March in Washington unfolding 5,000 miles away, the protesters carried placards urging the US government to “wipe out racism” and claiming that the US now faced a choice between “civil liberties and civil war”. In the front row of the demonstration was a face that would later become famous – the American author and poet Maya Angelou.
