Last week, the spate of police brutality, gun violence and racial profiling against America’s black community came to a head with the deaths of 37-year old father of five Alton Sterling and 32-year old school cafeteria worker Philando Castile, resurfacing the debate on racism in America. Two men,…
By HAKEEM ADAM In his powerful poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers, Langston Hughes mentions “rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins”. Prolific Congolese soukous aficionado Siama Matuzungidi borrows this theme in his latest album aptly titled Rivers:…
In one of my favourite Whatsapp chat groups, we often find ourselves debating topics ranging from politics to artificial intelligence to Valentine’s day plans. Often, our debates about Ghana orbit around problems with ‘the system’ and ways we can solve them. No system has been spared our wrath;…
When was the last time an African film struck you? Would that film fall into your top ten African Films? Are you even able to remember that list? Considering how great a role film plays in our lives today, you should definitely know more about African films. Let…
A Rwandan friend recently sent me a 9-minute speech via Whatsapp, thinking I might have already heard it. About a week later, I finally listened to it for the first time. I’m glad I did. Attributed to Kenya’s Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba – current Kenya School of…
Africa is the hot topic these days; everyone is trying to get a bite of the pie. This interest has led to an increase in the number of groups reporting on happenings on the continent, yet the same one-dimensional, stagnant (read, negative), and often inaccurate narrative of Africa…
All it takes is a word like Motherfuckitude to give a whiff of what to expect – discomfort, candor, truth, courage. Delve deeper and you’ll find that ‘unapologetic’ might be the most appropriate word in the English dictionary to describe Poetra Asantewa’s debut. Doused in cleverly strung words,…
The Ghanaian music scene is rediscovering the appeal of thought provoking sounds that do more than make you move. The kind of rhythm and soul that is the foundation of the high life and hip life genres and gave birth to the likes of Osibisa, Obrafour, Nana Ampadu…
It’s the digital era and Africa is buzzing with opportunity, creativity and standouts. Thanks to our friends over at Accra[dot]ALT Radio, you can experience it all in a weekend of art, adrenaline, conversation, design, fashion, food, and experiential flavor at Accra’s most anticipated street art festival: the 5th…
I cannot remember whom or what prompted me to read Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, but I am so glad I did. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is not an enigma. She is an intelligent and strong woman with one of life’s most uncanny stories. As my eyes turned…
If you follow Circumspecte on Twitter and Facebook – and you really should if you aren’t – you’ve probably seen a couple of posts related to Brainpickings. There’s a wealth of (potentially life-changing) information and insights that are clearly and cleverly written – quite simply, we’re smitten! …
In chapter three of A Room of One’s Own, 20th century self-educated literary critic Virginia Woolf makes a compelling humanist argument; one, which is not smudged with the many “isms”, seeking bias, that seem to have found residency on the web. Woolf analyzes gender inequality in Elizabethan English…