Dynamic Africa
Formerly, "This is Africa/fyeahAfrica".
(Profile Photo by Mama Casset)
DISCLAIMER:
I do not endorse any of the products or opinions shared on this site, nor do I claim any of the work posted here to be my own - except where stated. All posts originally made by me are credited. If no credit is given then the work is either my own/written by me or reblogged from another source.
A LITTLE ABOUT ME:
Student, 24
Based in Cape Town, South Africa
From Lagos, Nigeria
Want to advertise through us? Send an email to dynamicafricablog@gmail.com
(As an unemployed media student, all donations go into ensuring my survival in this cruel world and future projects I hope to embark on).
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(since Oct. 21th 2012)
As a child, Award-winning South African photographer Neo Ntsoma was only exposed to negative images of black people and as a result, Ntsoma dreamed of taking more positive and holistic images of black people and black life, something the Apartheid regime barred by maintaining a firm grip over the country’s media.
Transitioning from a systematically racially oppressive country to a nation with new possibilities for change, Ntsoma retraces the 20-something year journey of some of her closest friends, colleagues and peers as a way of celebrating the progress of black South Africans in popular culture.
FILM OF THE DAY: Guelwaar (Dir. Ousmane Sembene)
Burial of a Christian political activist in a Muslim cemetery forces a conflict imbued with religious fervor. A satiric portrayal of religion and politics, sometimes humorous, sometimes deadly serious.
Saki Mafundikwa is a maverick visionary who left a successful design career in New York to return to his native Zimbabwe and open that country’s first school of graphic design and new media. Mafundikwa is the author of Afrikan Alphabets, a comprehensive review of African writing systems. He has participated in exhibitions and workshops around the world, contributed to a variety of publications and lectured about the globalization of design and the African aesthetic. In going home and opening his school, Mafundikwa’s ambition is nothing less than to jump-start an African renaissance. (aiga.org)
“I returned home last year after an absence that totalled twenty years, going to school and then working in the US. I decided to come back home to start ZIVA, a New Media Arts school. ZIVA, besides being an acronym for Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts, is also a Shona word meaning “knowledge.”…
At the heart of ZIVA’s mission is a desire to create a new visual language – a language inspired by history, a language that is informed by but not dictated to or confined by European design, a language that is inspired by all the arts (sculpture, textiles, painting and Afrikan religion), a language whose inspiration is Afrikan. We are at a crossroads in the history of design right now with the young designers of the Western world rejecting the straitjacket confines of what design is and is not.
“African alphabets debunk the myth of the dark continent, they lay to rest the lies born out of ignorance that have been leveled at our beautiful Mama Africa” - Saki Mafundikwa
This less than 6-minute video is packed with so much information and essential knowledge about the history and importance of certain African writing systems and their value. As Saki emphasizes, this sort of information holds an incredible amount of weight in relation to our identities, and retracing these histories is of paramount importance.
The only area that I disagree with him on is when he says that the lies propagated about Africa(ns) were born out of ignorance - I’d be a little more specific and say that they were conceived from a place of hatred. Those who enslaved and colonized us despised us too.
Also, I love his subtle rejection of the word ‘tribe’.
Earlier this year, the History Channel released ‘Miracle Rising’ - a documentary that looks at the painful transitional period in South Africa’s history, from a violently racially segregated nation to a country that, through the sociopolitical structures offered by democracy, established a crucial vehicle to obtaining peace and documenting important historical voids: The Truth and Reconciliation Committee.
Through personal accounts from South African and international figureheads, ‘Miracle Rising’ retraces the dismantling of the Apartheid regime in South Africa, and the unique and complex years that followed.
TW: violence, mentions of torture, skeletal remains, racism.
Derrick Watts & The Sunday Blues team headed down to Justin Bieber’s first ever South African concert at the Cape Town Stadium to interview some die-hard Beliebers.
That is how we became they
They became those
Those became it
That is how a race was born
A race begun
Healthy black monster
Five finger, with thumb
Useful animal, so minimal
That is how the unknown became hostage
Simplicity became hostile
Healthy black monster, a different kind monkey
That is how culture became ritual
People became tribe… primitive
Language, no
Writing, no
How ignorance did become history
Well… so you I It thought so, well told story
Healthy black monster
Angolan artist Nastio Mosquito’s captivating multimedia short video makes use of a range of historical images that depict the enslavement of African peoples throughout the continent, as well as European colonization, stereotypes propagated by various forms of popular culture, and more recent post-colonial history, and merges these disturbing and unsettling visuals with a through-provoking and poignant narrated piece to illustrate how “ignorance did become history”.
Truly incredible.
The Tanzanian government has ordered thousands of Masai to abandon traditional grazing lands to make way for a conservation site.
But the Maasai are refusing to leave their ancestral land. They say the real reason they are being forced out is to give a Dubai-based hunting company exclusive access.
Wildlife Instead, the hunting company, says that it will bring clients in for a six-month season and the Maasai can graze their cattle out of season. However, researchers say that the livestock are a part of the area’s ecosystem.
Al Jazeera’s Peter Greste reports from Lolyondo in northern Tanzania.
Cameroon prosecutes people for consensual same-sex conduct more aggressively than almost any country in the world.
One of our favorite TEDxEuston talks came from Trevor Ncube. His inspirational talk was entitled Embracing Life’s Challenges.
In discussing his own life and the challenges he faced, Ncube reminds us not to underestimate the importance of good teachers’s role as people who believe in young people and raise their self esteem.
He said, “[T]eachers can build or destroy…we all need someone who believes in us, we all need affirmation.”
This is such an important video to watch.
As part of the ‘Studio Africa’ project, i-D sat down with Spoek Mathambo at the Boiler Room event to talk about DJing, the beginnings of the South African house music scene, and the racial divide that exists within the SA house music world and is in turn a reflection of the country’s racial categories.
A Gateway into Kano
This documentary follows the story of a Kano monument as it undergoes over 200 years of renovations. As the monument changes, so too does the city.
This story brings to light the reality of modernization in this African city. Some challenges have been overcome; some have led to failure.
The real-life stories shared by these citizens push us to ask the hard questions regarding change, culture, and community.
A behind the scenes look at Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui at work whilst shooting the 2012 ‘You & Gueliz’ series that pays homage to the downtown Marrakech district that the project is named after, by photographing 30 different individuals from all walks of life that live and/or work in Gueliz.
[FRENCH w/ NO SUBTITLES]
All the elements are right in this video: the music, the model, the location, the clothes and make-up, and the atmosphere these factors create.
The only thing I don’t dig is the bindi-like accessories the model has adorned on his forehead.
Chico Leco is a Kenyan fashion brand.
An interview (in French and Arabic) with Algerian reporter, novelist and playwright Mustapha Benfodil.
Come read his nonfiction “The Last Six Days of Baghdad” In the April 2013: Iraq, Ten Years Later Issue of Words without Borders.
Unfortunately, I cannot understand the Arabic portions of the interview and as a result, I have no idea what the bulk of the interview is about. If anyone would like to translate or summarize it, I’d really appreciate that.
This is a short film i got a chance to help shoot a while back, it got the Judges Mention Award and was nominated for Best Scriptwriting and Best Film in our group at the the 2012 48Hr Film Fest
Directed By Tebogo Phalane
Produced By Linda Nkosi
DOP: Tebogo Phalane and Jeffrey Rikhotso
Art Direction By George Matsheke
Script By Zwo Farisani
Actors: Zwo, Sarah, Goerge and Talitha
Production House: Soot Production
Really enjoyed the comedic aspect of the film and the circular narrative.
Great job!
