The Fufu sessions: Conversations with women who empower is a quarterly interview series where inspiring women of African heritage share their views on work and life. Fufu is a dish typical to a vast amount of African countries albeit sometimes under another name (eg. pap, nshima etc). It is empowering food. It is also the type of…
Archives for October 2012
The untimely death of feminism
It’s madly depressing that the same week that a survey by netmums led to a chain of reviews questioning whether feminism is dead was also the week that Panorama aired a documentary about how “an unprecedented scale of child sexual exploitation” by television presenter Jimmy Saville was covered up by the BBC. I’m not going to write about the…
Seven things about gorillas and Africa
Why write about gorillas and Africa? Because there is an alarm about Gorillas in the midst of Congo conflict /////// One ~ Tourists will generally shy away from unstable regions but this is not the case when it comes to regions with gorillas so I was wondering about touristic ideas of Africa and its gorillas….
Black History Month reminds us that it is time to revive the dialogue on racism in the UK
Twenty-five years ago Black History Month was officially launched in the UK with an aim to “Promote race equality, equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups”. The premise was that it would eventually be eliminated when black history became fundamental to general history. Since then, year after year, come October, black…
Houses that heal and where conversations happen
Last weekend I was in Germany and while there I visited a house known as the Green Citadel of Magdeburg (pictured above). It was designed by Friedenreich Hundertwasser, who saw himself as an ‘Architect Doctor’ and a healer of sick buildings. While at the Green Citadel, I could literally feel a part of my…
International day of the girl, speed mentoring on the London Eye with WOW Girls
This October 11th marks the first ever International Day of the Girl and people and organisations all around the world will take the day to raise their voices about the significance of supporting girls to feel empowered in the choices and challenges they face in their lives. Meetings and festivities will be taking place across the globe and…
On Vagina by Naomi Wolf and the reviews that followed
The release of Naomi Wolf’s “Vagina: A New Biography” was met with scathing criticisms from feminists like Laurie Penny, Ariel Levy and Zoe Heller. These influential writers all bring up some valid arguments about problematic ideas presented in the book. Vagina is indeed a book that in many ways feels unfinished and often naïve. It…
The Guardian Africa Network, multiple perspectives about African affairs
I’m delighted to share that MsAfropolitan is one of the dozen blogs that make up the just launched Guardian Africa Network. “The Guardian’s new Africa Network will join the debate – around contentious issues such as quality of leadership, the legacy of colonialism, identity politics that pitch women’s and homosexuals’ rights against a form of cultural…