Chimurenga

Chimurenga 15: The Curriculum is Everything- Out Now!

What could the curriculum be – if it was designed by the people who dropped out of school so that they could breathe? Inside: Amiri Baraka waxes poetic on the theoretics of Be-Bop; Coco Fusco flips the CIA’s teaching manual for female torturers; Karen Press and Steve Coleman instruct in folk-dancing; Dambudzo Marechera proposes a “guide to the earth”; Dominique Malaquais designs the museum we won’t build; through self-portraits Phillip Tabane and Johnny Dyani offer method to the Skanga; and Winston Mankunku refuses to teach. Other contributors include Binyavanga Wainaina, Akin Adesokan, Isoje Chou, Sean O’Toole, Pradip Krishen, E.C. Osundu, Salim Washington, Sefi Atta, Ed Pavlic, Neo Muyanga, Henri-Michel Yere, Medu Arts Ensemble, Aryan Kaganof, Khulile Nxumalo and Walter Mosley amongst others.

Cover by Johnny “Mbizo” Dyani.

The curriculum is everything - details here.

Pilgrimages

Pilgrimages, a creation of the Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists at Bard College and Chimurenga Magazine, will send 14 African writers to 13 African cities and one city in Brazil, for two weeks to explore the complexities of disparate urban landscapes. The writers will create 13 nonfiction travel-writing books about their trips that will capture each city as South Africa hosts Africa’s first World Cup. Details here.

Chimurenga Online

 Olufemi Terry’s 'Stickfighting Days' published in Chimurenga Vol 12/13 Dr. Satan's Echo Chamber has won the 2010 Caine Prize for African Writing. Terry was born in Sierra Leone of African and Antillean parentage. He grew up in Nigeria, the U.K, and Cote d'Ivoire before attending university in New York. Subsequently, Olufemi lived in Kenya and worked as a journalist and analyst in Somalia and Uganda. He lives in Cape Town where he is writing his first novel. More here. 

  Rest in peace Busi Mhlongo, queen of modern Zulu music, who died as a result of breast cancer on Tuesday, 15 June 2010. A virtuoso, a singer, a dancer, a composer whose music defies categorization, Busi was born in 1947 in Natal, South Africa.... More here. 

 "Our planet has reached a tipping point where climate change threatens the very existence of humanity. And this massive shift in our climate is due to the greed and never-ending ‘growth’ dogma of politicians and corporations. Should we give them the power to redesign the world? Should one give razors to a suicidal maniac?" Like words for weapons, an interview with Samm Farai Monro aka Comrade Fatso by Unathi L Sondiyazi.

Call for submissions for the AFRICAN CITIES READER II: Mobilities & Fixtures: "It seems apparent to us that African cities are quintessentially defined by incessant mobilities. And as people make their way in cities that are incapable of dealing with their presence, they continuously come to terms with the fact that the way of the city is a game of hide-and-seek..." Deadline April 30, 2010. Details here.

Chris Abani, Nuruddin Farah, Akin Adesokan, Gabeba Baderoon, Karen Press, José Eduardo Agualusa, Ashraf Jamal, Dominique Malaquais, Annie Paul, Teju Cole, Achal Prabhala and more explore "Pan-African Practices" in the Launch Issue of the African Cities Reader. [A creation of the African Centre for Cities & Chimurenga Magazine].

Pan African Space Station

The Pan African Space Station is a 30-day music intervention from September 12 - October 12, on radio and the internet, as well as venues across greater Cape Town.

Listen to PASSCAST from last year's festival, including world renowned groove tastemaker, DJ Andy Williams' PASS 2009 radio and DJ session; Raps Reloaded edutainment; DJ Ntone, Real Rozzano and Boeta Gee; Nonkululeko Godana, Plan Be and more.

 Chimurenga Library

The Chimurenga Library is an online archive of pan African, independent periodicals.  It focuses on cultural and literary magazines, both living and extinct, which have been influential platforms for dissent and which have broadened the scope for print publishing on art, new writing and ideas in and about Africa.

View samples issues of Civil Lines, Ecrans d'Afrique, Frank Talk, Glendora Review, Hambone, Hei Voetsek!, Molotov Cocktail, Moto, Savacou, Staffrider, Wietie and more.