Africa is a Country Moves

Not the continent. Just the blog. I am blogging here now.

Please bookmark my new site.

— Sean

taking a break is good for you

I am going on vacation from Africa is a Country for a bit. It’s supposed to be summer in New York City–that’s if it can stop raining–so I am also taking a break from the site.

BTW, I changed my day job: If you read this site, you’ll know I have taught for the last four years at the University of Michigan in An Arbor. One of those years involving commuting between here in New York City and Michigan. So I applied and got hired as an assistant professor of International Affairs at the New School in Manhattan. My wife, who has been teaching at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, got a tenure track position (that’s academic jargon for full-time job) at Marymount Manhattan College.

So everybody is happy in my house.

* I am moving Africa is a Country over here and reverting to an old design here from August 1. Please adjust your bookmarks, RSS, and Links.

luis moreno ocampo is apparently a piece of work

That’s essentially the conclusion of a long piece by Julie Flint and Alex de Waal in the most recent issue of World Affairs Journal about the first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. They describe his controversial past in Argentina, his media-driven personality, his disastrous management of his office, how he miscalculated with his indictment of Sudanese President, Omar Al-Bashir (and fuels unhelpful perceptions of the Court in Africa), and other more controversial charges against him.

Here.

Yinka Shonibare on film

Clip of Shonibare from TV series, Art 21 (William Kentridge also stars). See also this profile of Shonibare in The New York Times.

A retrospective of his work opens at the Brooklyn Museum this week.

it takes a woman

A few weeks ago (at a screening arranged by the International Documentary Foundation) I saw “Rough Aunties,” a film by director Kim Longinotto about a group of women in Durban, South Africa, who work with police to apprehend child rapists and molesters, as well as run a home for abused and molested women.  The women, a mix of white middle class and black working class women, also make up a family of sorts. The film can be intense at moments (at one point I left the theater to take a break). There’s a lot of violence in the film.

In his review of the film, David Poland of Hot Blog describes the film as “emotionally over-powering.” (He also speculates on what the Hollywood remake would look like.)

I really liked the film and hopes it gets a wider airing.

In the clips below, you can see the aunties at work.

frederick chiluba’s shoes

The former Zambian President, who was a darling of the West and the Christian right, is in court for defrauding the state while in office. Details of his extravagant lifestyle include the following, are emerging in court: “Mr. Chiluba owned more than 100 pairs of size 6 shoes, many affixed with his initials in brass. He is just a little over five feet tall, and each pair has heels close to two inches high.

More from The New York Times

Akoya Afrobeat Ensemble

Sample here.

Yinka Shonibare in Brooklyn

Retrospective of his art the Brooklyn Museum through September 20, 2009.

Youssou N’Dour

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Senegalese-born N’Dour talks about his career and “I Bring What I Love“, the new documentary film about his music, on Canadian TV program, Studio Q.

the id book

Photograph by (Canadian-Briton) Jonathan Hyams