Wearing ‘African’ print is more than just covering one’s body

From the Garden of Eden, what human beings use to cover their bodies, and their poodles’ bodies, has never been simply to cover the body. Dresses, skirts, shirts, earrings, hats, necklaces, wrist-watches, trousers, blankets, coats, jackets and everything else you can think of that humans put on their bodies is part of how they communicate, whether they do so intentionally or … Continue reading →

Media Alters Perception: Watch, Listen and Read with Critical Mind

http://www.upworthy.com/the-next-time-someone-says-sexism-isnt-real-show-them-these-shocking-role-reversal-images?c=ufb1 Continue reading →

The Icelandic Penis Museum – Apparently The Only One Of Its Kind In The World

  I didn’t get to visit the Penis Museum while I was in Iceland over a week ago. At the time, I didn’t think there would be anything to see. I am starting to feel that it might not have been good idea to give it a skip. I seem to have been influenced by … Continue reading →

Jody Bieber’s Quiet Portrays Men in South Africa in their Underwear

At the least it seems to me that what takes place in the intimate spaces of the home, while often neglected in studies of society, is as consequential as that which occurs in the public, in the more overtly political, history-making spaces of political rallies, parliament, companies, courts, stadiums. What we do when are alone or with our close … Continue reading →

Two Views of A Tree: We Become What We Do, Hear and See

    Here are two views of a tree.  Now it is my intention to write about the Traditions Panels I convened in Ghana as part of International Conference on African Studies held at the University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana, October 24-26, 2013. Quite an important moment, I think. The best pitso of the three I have … Continue reading →

I Feel Masculine Because I Study Philosophy, Not Literature

When do you most feel masculine? What does masculinity mean to you? Does it mean working with your hands? Under the ground, digging for minerals, or in the boardroom making decisions? Or do you feel more manly when you are out on rig in the middle of the dangerous ocean? Fishing? Looking after your cattle? Driving an … Continue reading →

The Great Wall of Vagina and the Black Penis Project

Last year at the Open Society’s Money, Sex, Power Forum held in May in Cape Town, I suggested to a well-known photographer a collaborative photo-documentary visual project on hundreds penises were we to get money to undertake such work. I was pleasantly surprised when, despite expressing a few reservations about what her established audiences would say about her … Continue reading →

New African Men

New African Men Word Cloud. Created with Worditout today, July 11, 2013.  I shouldn’t feel so proud because, well, it’s so simple. But I do, I do. And so tingly too. Still, to find out that this sort of thing doesn’t take long at all, well, you can put me in chains and call me a fetishist. Anyhow, all one had to do was insert the blog’s URL. Remove … Continue reading →

Men and Love in Africa, no.5

I have just arrived back in Cape Town from Ghana where I saw and was reminded in the faces of the people of a certain beauty I have always found difficult to communicate without resorting to stereotype. So I am not going to try. Not today anyway. But it a startling beauty – to me. … Continue reading →

Men and Love in Africa, no. 4

The 4th image in the series on men and love in Africa. Ah, young unafraid love! Like. The image was taken on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 21, 2012. March 21 is a public holiday in South Africa. Human Rights Day. A thought: why do human rights have nothing to do with love? Why can’t … Continue reading →