Sunday, 11 May 2025
Tag: Chinua Achebe

Africa, Kampala and the Irony of Progress

The biennale’s theme “Progressive Africa” is at once a mirror and a clarion call. It enables the organisers and participants to take a critical look at the past and face up to the future with renewed hope and enthusiasm. In other words, it straddles the past, present, and future in its philosophic and metaphoric essences.

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Child Soldier - Deanna Tyson Image © Kara Blackmore

Capturing Conflict in Congo: Tyson’s Proverbial Attempt

If Tyson is speaking the parroted sound bite based language of East and Central Africa’s conflicts then who addresses relevant political tensions in meaningful ways?

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Xenson talking at Wazo, Kampala 2013.

Wazo 10: Xenson tells his story

On April 2nd 2013, the guest speaker for Wazo 10 was conceptual and visual artist, musician, filmmaker and poet, Ssenkaaba Samson, who goes by the name Xenson. In his introduction the moderator, David Kaiza, described Xenson as someone whose varied work in fashion, music, poetry and the visual arts has exponentially expanded what we call art and the art space in Uganda.

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Chinua Achebe speaking at Asbury Hall, Buffalo, as part of the "Babel: Season 2" series by Just Buffalo Literary Center, Hallwalls, & the International Institute. Photo by Stuart C. Shapiro.

Debunking the Chinua Achebe legacy

Unarguably he was one of the most-read writers from the African continent, selling more than 8 million copies. His book Things Fall Apart is the most widely read book in African literature and the most translated. While a whirlwind of tributes has poured in in the wake of Achebe’s death, we have been left to ponder his contributions to African literature and the literature body generally, and to see if he rightfully deserved the continent’s honor: The father of modern African literature. And while at it, also weigh the relevance of his work to the present generation.

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Illustration by Jackson. © All rights reserved 2013.

“His Skin Lost Its Soup” | A Survey of Memory Loss

Kadongo Kamu is a musical subculture within Uganda which roots began in the 1950s with the guitarists Christopher Sebadduka and Elly Wamala. This article deals with how this culture has been subverted from mainstream culture through active technological and infrastructural modernization in Uganda from the 1960s till present.

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