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3 weeks ago | 
afropean.com | Tola Ositelu
Background: Suzanne Packer (Annie); Centre: Shvorne Marks (Cerys). All images (c) Chuko CribbHouse slave, Annie (Suzanne Parker) considers herself fortunate and protected working on the Llanrumney estate; a sugar plantation in 18th Century Jamaica, owned by the Morgan family from Wales. She’s convinced that she’s become a ‘true confidante’ to her dissolute mistress, Elisabeth Morgan (Nia Roberts), hence securing a future miles away from the auction block.
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1 month ago | 
afropean.com | Tola Ositelu
‘…Black grief is not spoken about openly, but I know that when Black people mourn, it is not only for the passing of loved ones…[We] will also be mourning the systemic inequalities, racial prejudices and oppression that we experience on a day-to-day basis.
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2 months ago | 
afropean.com | Tola Ositelu
‘… We who have been colonised can never forget…’ (p.161, My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria by Andrée Blouin. Reissued by Verso Books, UK (2025)I consider it a matter of embarrassment – if not shame – that in my more than four decades on this planet, I only came to know of Pan-African Independence activist, Andrée Blouin within the last year. At least, if I’d heard of her, it wasn’t substantial enough to have made a lasting impression.
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2 months ago | 
afropean.com | Tola Ositelu
I first hear of Soundtrack to a Coup d’État through an Intal comrade, months after its initial release. Whilst promoting the screening through word-of-mouth and on LinkedIn, several from my network have either already seen (and loved) or are eager to see Grimonprez’ film. There will be several familiar faces amongst the crowd that Saturday afternoon.
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Jan 28, 2025 | 
afropean.com | Tola Ositelu
The MERLIT Research group (VUB, Belgium) has just published the call for papers for its first conference, Writing Meritocracy, taking place in Brussels this September 2025. Abstracts are especially welcome from scholars working on literatures in languages other than English, and across the spectrum of historical periods, although the conference language will be English. Deadline for abstracts is 15 March 2025. For more information please follow the link .
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Jan 25, 2025 | 
afropean.com | Tola Ositelu
If it seems little time has passed since the previous interview with award-winning producer, Ian Brennan about his work in Parchman Prison, you’re not wrong. Merely one year on from recording the critically-acclaimed first album, Some Mississippi Sunday Morning, Brennan returned to Parchman in early 2024 to record Another Mississippi Sunday Morning.
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Dec 27, 2024 | 
afropean.com | Tola Ositelu
Image: Bolivia InteligenteIt’s that time of year again, dear reader. Here at Afropean.com, we’re delighted to revive our newfound tradition (est. 2023) of reflecting on the songs and artists that have made our musical year and sharing these gems with our cherished readership. A different playlist from a member of the team will be posted every few days, up to and including the New Year. This time it’s the turn of Afropean.com editor, Tola to sum up her musical year.
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Dec 6, 2024 | 
afropean.com | Tola Ositelu
East Londoner, Hakeem ‘Hak’ Baker (above) went from teenage dreams of pursuing his rhyming talents towards MC stardom, to becoming a post-punk, cockney troubadour (think a hardcore The Streets). En route, Baker also served a two-year stint in prison. It was whilst behind bars that he started taking guitar lessons, and thus changed trajectory. This is the starting point for DEADHORSES production’s documentary, Hakeem, filmed over the course of five years.
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Dec 4, 2024 | 
afropean.com | Tola Ositelu
Western beauty standards are still the norm, even on a continent as diverse as Africa. In his short documentary, ‘Crown or Class‘, director Kwaku Agyekum Sikahene-Adarkwa investigates why that is. The film aims to highlight profound societal pressures that influence popular perceptions of beauty and their impact on African womens’ identity and self-expression.
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Nov 8, 2024 | 
afropean.com | Tola Ositelu
© Kate HockenhullAs the fresh optimism of the Arab Spring hangs in the air, four strangers forge a fast and deep bond at a wedding in Tunisia. Returning from exile in the West, Amira (Antonia Salib) is a revolutionary who helped spearhead the uprisings in her own country. Eve (Gamze Sanli) is a peripatetic Turkish journalist, aspiring to write her first novel. Maryam (Livia Arditti) is a churlish Egyptian academic whose irritability hides a greater torment.
