It’s my birthday today. I’ve given myself two birthday presents. One was a day with nature. I started the day with a long and playful walk in the woods. The forests in Finland (where I am right now) make me feel like a little girl; the strawberries you can pick and munch on as you…
Is feminism really un-African?
As my feminist consciousness has developed the more I’ve become aware, both explicitly and implicitly, that there is a popular notion that feminism is un-African. Every time I write a post about feminism in an African context, I get at least one response about how feminism is this flawed, white supremacist ideology. The internet is rife…
Listed as 1 of 7 African diaspora women using fashion for change
Do you know of the Africa Centre in London’s Covent Garden? If you don’t it’s a kind of home away from home for Africans in London. It hosts regular events of interest to diaspora groups, it sells books and other lovely products and it’s of historic significance. Despite this, it was revealed this year that…
Breaking it down – V&A Friday Late Afropolitans
Last Friday MsAfropolitan and I (some split-personality going on) participated in a wonderful event at the V&A Museum in London. We presented a fashion show and a panel discussion to a visitor count of over 5,000 people. Here are some of our, okay my, thoughts on the event. By the way, if you’re new to…
MsAfropolitan presents – Fashion and Talks at the V&A Friday Late: Afropolitans
MsAfropolitan is taking part in Friday Late: Afropolitans at the V&A, the world’s largest museum of art and design. In “MsAfropolitan presents – The rise of Afropolitan Fashion” myself with the help of creative director Ola Shobowalewill conceptualize the contemporary creativity and beauty of Afropolitan fashion for women. Visitors will be able to experience the fusion of bold African patterns and…
Rihanna gets it right with Man Down
I am feeling Rihanna’s new song ‘Man Down’ and the accompanying video. The actual song makes me feel like dirty dancing with a pleasant male specimen with the wind and sunshine cocooning us from the rest of the world. YUP! The video is not similarly inciting. Rihanna acts the role of a woman who follows up…
African witchcraft and western psychology
There are those who believe that Oprah is a prophet of Satan, spreading a message against Christianity. Then there are a growing group who similarly to Oprah, or maybe even because of her, are keen to explore alternative ways of connecting with divinity, not by dismissing the teachings of Jesus but by understanding them in…
How to use isms to be more open-minded
It is by acts and not by ideas that people live. Anatole France ~ Coming from an unapologetic feminist it may seem contradictory to say that I am weary of labels. I think that labels are somewhat like tampons; they exist not because they are necessary but because they are useful. It helps to know…
An Afropolitan between worlds
Bright red double-decker buses. I don’t know why these particular vehicles have come to represent any sense of alienation that I feel in England. Nevertheless, the reflection of one against my window feels unwelcoming. I miss Lagos. It started last week, I began to prefix all my actions with the word ‘last’. I ate my…
Fela in Lagos, reflections and ruminations
I don’t know what to make of the Finnish elections last weekend, where the nationalist True Finns party won 39 seats of a 200-seat parliament. The Nigerian elections, which have led to violent clashes in Northern Nigeria where hundreds of people have now died, sadden me even more so. To make sense of things, I…
Bad luck with sweets, Goodluck with presidents
There comes a point during my stays in Lagos when I feel like I’m going to have a nervous breakdown. I dare say that most people who live in the developed world and travel to the developing world will experience a similar frustration if they stay long enough. Usually it is something trivial that triggers…
Is masculinity in crisis?
Recently, two elderly men came into the same crowded train carriage as me. One had a walking stick so the other assisted him on to the train and on to the seat which I stood up to offer. I’d guess the men were in their early 80s but I’m not good at predicting the ages…
African women writers and stories that raise awareness
Writing down some of my new year’s resolutions earlier this year inspired me so much I’ve been maintaining the practice by making ‘new month’s resolutions’. In March my goal was to sleep more and as a result feel more energetic and reconnected with mother and father earth but I failed miserably. Instead March was a…
The melodious song of longing, Baaba Maal – In Praise of the female voice
Apart from lyrical gratification, what do you get when you fill the Royal Festival Hall in London Southbank with artists like Senegalese superstar and advocate of women’s rights Baaba Maal, Speech Debelle, VV Brown, Eska, Krystle Warren and Annie Flore? You get a powerful evening of inspirational female voices from across three continents aptly title…
Listen. Risk. Help. One woman’s thoughts on how to do career.
I eavesdrop a lot, my ears are like antennas picking up conversations that I’m not supposed to hear. It might be indecent but hey, it’s fodder for my craft. So the other day whilst enjoying a coffee at Starbucks, I pretended to read an article on my ipad, but in reality I was occupied by…
Is Halle Berry’s daughter black?
The world of science has on several occasions declared that race is biologically meaningless, but yet accepting this idea as general knowledge seems curiously hard to accomplish. The sooner we can understand the fallacious construct of race, the sooner we might begin to speak about multi-racialism with the kind of sensible thinking that it requires. However, the…