African Boys, Men and Masculinities Reimagined – Programme

  Two weeks ago we posted an announcement for the Symposium on African Boys, Men and Masculinities to be held at the University of Western Cape (UWC) on May 4, 2016. Here is the draft Programme Since the announcement a new speaker, Monique Huysamen, had been added to the programme. A doctoral candidate at UCT, Ms Huysamen … Continue reading →

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 →

Telling the Untold Stories of Black Fatherhood with Sensitivity

It never ends. Thinking about manhood. Finding a way to think about black manhood. Trying to understand how a man understand being a black father. If you believe that all men are then same, then there is nothing to understand: all men are dogs. But if you think every man and every woman has a story to tell it … Continue reading →

What is Africa, who is African, why African men?

Along with what does being a man precisely entail,  and why is there a need to, borrowing from Biko, pump life into manhood, the question who is an African underlies this blog. It is to be expected then when the question, formulated in different ways, who is an African man, comes up when individuals learn about the … Continue reading →

Obama: “Sometimes I Sold Myself Short”

So as Christian mentioned, during my visit, they’re in a circle and I sat down in the circle, and we went around, led by their counselor, and guys talked about their lives, talked about their stories. They talked about what they were struggling with, and how they were trying to do the right thing, and … Continue reading →

South African President Zuma Promises Free WiFi in Informal Settlements and a Focus on African Boys in His State of the Nation Address

On Tuesday night, June 17, President Jacob Zuma gave the State of the Nation Address. If I’m correct this was Zuma’s sixth State of the Nation Address in total and first of his second term as Head of State. But you wouldn’t say. South Africans have become used to headman Zuma and his uninspiring, compromised, leadership. He is cunning, Zuma. That’s why he … Continue reading →

What We Learn in Foreign Lands

When I was young I used to like the idea of traveling to foreign places. Travel tied into the desire to learn about places other than home. Home was where the hatred was, as Esther Phillips might say, in that painfully nostalgic rendition of Gil Scott-Heron’s song that she makes it hers. For a long … Continue reading →