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MsAfropolitan

FEMINISM. PAN-AFRICA. SOCIAL CRITICISM. DIASPORA. CULTURE.

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Stereotypical portrayals of African women in the media

May 13, 2019 By MsAfropolitan 1 Comment

My TEDx Talk has become a book! It’s only available in Spanish for now with a foreword by Raquel Lainde. As I revisited the talk, it occurred to me that I’ve not published it here on the blog by which it is inspired. The talk conceptualised three key stereotypical and limiting representations of African women…

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Filed Under: Africa, feminism, Pop Culture, Social Criticism Tagged With: feminism, instagram, Marriage, motherhood, pop culture, stereotypes, womanhood

5 things my vagina does not make me. A guest blog by Doreen Akiyo Yomoah

April 19, 2014 By MsAfropolitan 18 Comments

“You’re a woman.” These three words are quite possibly my least favorite words strung together in the English language. When people repeat them to me it’s usually to judge how I can or cannot behave, or how I should or shouldn’t behave. But aside from the genitalia that I was born with, no other assumptions…

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Filed Under: feminism, Guest Posts Tagged With: African feminism, chimamanda ngozi adichie, gender, Ghana, identity, stereotypes, women's issues

The difference between feminism and humanism

January 23, 2014 By MsAfropolitan 28 Comments

When it comes to labels, I like mine earnest but not intransigent. So there is something almost moving about someone (most often a man) asking a self-declared feminist like myself why I call myself a feminist and not a humanist. Almost. What prevents me from exultingly throwing my hands up in the air when a…

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Filed Under: feminism, Social Criticism Tagged With: African feminism, feminism, gender, humanism, identity, Life, stereotypes, women's issues

We need to eroticise society

September 5, 2013 By MsAfropolitan 12 Comments

I know what you’re thinking: What do I mean by “eroticise” society and why on earth should we do that? Surely we are obsessed with sex as it is! Well, yes, sex is everywhere but Eros, i.e. Erotic love, isn’t. Our sexual culture is either prudish or pornographic. On one end, we are surrounded by explicit…

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Filed Under: feminism, Pop Culture, Social Criticism Tagged With: feminism, gallery, Life, sex, stereotypes

Guest blog: My mother and the marriage question

June 24, 2013 By MsAfropolitan 22 Comments

This is a guest blog by Stephanie Kimou (pictured) who blogs at A Black Girl in the World   **** Most of my American friends do not think about marriage until around 33. Particularly those who I went to graduate school with in DC, they would laugh at the crazy stories that I would share about my mother. Her…

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Filed Under: feminism Tagged With: African women, feminism, Life, stereotypes, Young Women

Apart from Chinua Achebe, which other African writers deserve the Nobel Prize in Literature?

May 23, 2013 By MsAfropolitan 12 Comments

In the lead up to the short list announcement for the Nobel Prize in Literature on 30 May, headlines this week brought to the fore the problematic obsession that some people have with the Nobel Prize in Literature being awarded to the late Chinua Achebe. For years, the pre-announcement period has seen speculations demands as to whether…

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Filed Under: Africa, Decolonisation, feminism, Pop Culture Tagged With: African women, feminism, gender, literature, stereotypes, writing

Africa is a great country – new photography exhibition in Sweden

March 20, 2013 By MsAfropolitan 5 Comments

On April 11th, I’m in Stockholm as one of four keynote speakers at the launch of Africa is a Great Country, a photography exhibition by Jens Assur, taking place at Liljevalchs. I’ll be speaking alongside Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Richard Dowden and Hans Rosling and my speech is titled “Images of African women“. Africa is a Great Country is about seeing Africa…

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Filed Under: events Tagged With: Africa, African women, gender, identity, stereotypes, women's issues

What do Oscar Pistorius, men’s liberation and asteroids have in common?

February 20, 2013 By MsAfropolitan 6 Comments

Four things happened on February 14th, 2013, that were strung together in an eerie way. These were the celebration of Valentine’s day, the One Billion Rising protests in over 200 countries around the world, the murder of Reeva Stenkamp by Oscar Pistorius, and, Asteroid 2012 DA14 almost wiping us all out. You probably agree that there…

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Filed Under: feminism, Social Criticism Tagged With: African feminism, gender, happiness, masculinity, stereotypes

Barack Obama, villain or hero?

January 23, 2013 By MsAfropolitan 5 Comments

When it comes to places, the affection that I have for my hometown, Lagos, is matched only by a sort of nostalgia that I harbour towards Tampere, the Finnish city I’m from, which shapes many of my memories but in which I’ve never lived. Yet, my being Scandinavian feels like a secret. Not from anyone, I…

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Filed Under: Decolonisation, Social Criticism Tagged With: decolonisation, identity, mixed race, politics, stereotypes

In praise of, Beyoncé.

January 17, 2013 By MsAfropolitan 18 Comments

I can’t believe I fell for your schemes, I’m smarter than that/So dumb and naive to believe that with me you’re a changed man/Foolish of me to compete when you cheat with those women /It took me some time, but now I moved on/Cause I realized I got/Me, myself and I/That’s all I got in…

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Filed Under: feminism, Pop Culture Tagged With: beauty ideals, celebrities, feminism, stereotypes, style icons, women's issues

Why Spike Lee was right about Django Unchained

January 3, 2013 By MsAfropolitan 54 Comments

Spike Lee did the right thing in publicly taking issue with Django Unchained, the latest Quentin Tarantino movie about a freed African slave who embarks on a violent journey to save his wife. The wife character, Broomhilda, played by Kerry Washington is monotonous to discuss for hers is a shockingly flat role. Her character serves…

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Filed Under: Decolonisation, Pop Culture Tagged With: african diaspora, African history, Decolonisation, Django Unchained, slavery, Spike Lee, stereotypes

Who is an African woman?

September 20, 2012 By MsAfropolitan 41 Comments

When people ask me what I do, and I respond that I’m a blogger, and that I blog about topics that primarily concern African women, quite often they proceed to either tell me about an humanitarian or developmental cause they are involved with or have read about. Sometimes they ask me how my blog reaches…

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Filed Under: Africa, Decolonisation, feminism, Social Criticism Tagged With: african diaspora, African feminism, African women, identity, stereotypes, women's issues

On Bitch Bad by Lupe Fiasco

August 23, 2012 By MsAfropolitan 22 Comments

Lupe Fiasco has just released the video for the ‘Bitch Bad’ track off the ‘Food & Liquor 2 ‘ album. The video (embedded below) examines the impact of the word ‘bitch’ in hip hop and how it negatively affects children and society at large. The chorus line is “Bitch bad, woman good, lady better, they…

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Filed Under: feminism, Pop Culture Tagged With: Afrocentric, gender, identity, stereotypes

Huffington Post: Hair-Raising Conversations

August 6, 2012 By MsAfropolitan 3 Comments

Following another week of hair-related scandals in entertainment and sports, my latest HuffPo article argues that there is more to the black hair conversation than shallowness or self loathing and that as long as black hair aesthetics are part of a complex social structure we should engage with the conversations critically rather than silence them or…

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Filed Under: Pop Culture, Social Criticism Tagged With: African women, Afro hair, beauty ideals, black hair, celebrities, decolonisation, identity, stereotypes

Beyonce, skin colour and carrots

April 27, 2012 By MsAfropolitan 13 Comments

Beyonce was crowned most beautiful woman in the world by People Magazine this week and that resurfaced the skin colour topic with many debating whether the light skinned Beyonce is an accurate representation of “Black Beauty”. The skin colour conversation is important, crucial even, for similar reasons that I think we should upkeep the hair conversation….

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Filed Under: Decolonisation, feminism Tagged With: african diaspora, African women, beauty ideals, decolonisation, gender, happiness, identity, Life, stereotypes, style icons, women's issues

The power of images – African women and Swedish politicians

April 18, 2012 By MsAfropolitan 12 Comments

I don’t tend to get surprised about racist acts, at least not when it’s so stereotypical as this whole tragic ordeal with the Swedish culture minister eating a cake of what is supposed to be a mutilated African woman. As a mixed race person I’ve experienced racism from the places where it possibly chafes the…

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Filed Under: Africa, Decolonisation, feminism Tagged With: African women, gender, stereotypes, women's issues

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Feminism. African Studies. Social Criticism.

Hi! I'm Minna Salami, I'm a Nigerian-Finnish and Swedish writer and social critic, and the founder of this blog. Read my full bio here

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more articles

Black feminism and the polycrisis

March 17, 2023 By MsAfropolitan Leave a Comment

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New writing on the Eco Gender Gap

February 16, 2023 By MsAfropolitan Leave a Comment

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