Category archives for: Artcultainment

Artistic exchange between Brazil and Angola aims to reclaim colonial ties

For the first time in its 73-year history, the Sao Paulo Biennial is taking artworks to the African continent with a traveling showcase in Angola. The event’s curators told RFI they hope the project will highlight long-standing correspondences between Angola and Brazil, united by a shared colonial past. MELISSA CHEMAM The 35th Biennial is the […]

Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity

A BOOK BY DIARMAID MAcCULLOCH How odd Christian beliefs about sex shape the world, despite their shaky grounding in scripture The worry was the Virgin Mary’s vagina. Early Christians were very clear on some things. They knew that the Holy Spirit had made the Virgin Mary pregnant but that she was still a virgin. What […]

East Africa’s Swahili coast grapples with legacy of slave trade

BASTIEN RENOUIL, ELODIE COUSIN, OLIVIA BIZOT Dotting East Africa’s Swahili coast, Zanzibar, Lamu and Mombasa are synonymous with pristine waters and white sandy beaches. But many tourists are unaware that these UNESCO World Heritage Sites were the scene of a gruesome chapter in history. For centuries, the Swahili coast was central to the slave trade. […]

‘American African’ identity is explored by U.S. artist with Ghanaian/Nigerian roots

KAHWIT TELA How do I describe my cultural identity: African American or American African? As someone grew up in a Congolese family in Nashville, Tennessee, this is a question I often asked myself. Despite being born and raised in the U.S., I felt as if I belonged to my parent’s home country of the Democratic […]

Let’s create eco-friendly environment through Fashion Design – Bee Arthur

The colors, styles, and designs of fabrics are key indicators of a person’s identity and the community that the person belongs to. Fashion, as a function of society is therefore an integral part by which the strengths, standards, and weaknesses of a community can be measured. This observation was made by Ms. Beatrice “Bee” Arthur, […]

Contemporary Akan names with ancient/Egyptian origin

KOFI AYIM NAME MEANING AKAN/GHANA 1 Adam the feminine source; of the red earth   Odame (red as in akoko dame) 2 Asar or Asir (Greek’s Osiris) bird bennu asar, mythical tree        Asare 3 Asari a god of the Sumerians in Babylon which means “the strong one”  Asare 4 Nti out of Nti 5 Sefa inundation […]

At 91, Nigerian artist who reimagined the crucifixion is celebrated at Smithsonian

EMMANUEL AKINWOTU Bruce Onobrakpeya’s home and studio, partly shielded by trees, sits discreetly along a frenetic side street in Mushin — a working-class neighborhood of Lagos, dense with small manufacturing businesses, artisanal workshops and old detached houses. But on a generous plot, his three-story, concrete modernist home where he’s lived since 1976 is a quiet […]

Libation – its misconception in contemporary Christianity in Ghana

Ancient Africans believed in the existence of an unseen superpower that manifested itself through daylight and nighttime, lightning and thunder, earthquakes and seasonal changes, as affirmations of its omnipresence. They acknowledged and sought his protection in every function and facet of life through prayers. Libation, utilizing liquid as an offering for invocation, is the most […]

Repatriation: why Western museums should return African artifacts

YIRGA GELAW WOLDEYES A large number of artifacts held in Western museums and libraries are known to have been appropriated over the ages through conquest and colonialism. The looting of African objects anthropologists, curators and private collectors took place in war as well as in peaceful times. It was justified as an act of benevolence; […]

The performativity of Akan libation

A comment by SJAAK VAN dcr GEEST, University of Amsterdam The act of libation contains a rich mixture of religious, social and cultural ingredients. It is a prayer to the ancestors and gods for their blessing; it is a social ritual binding together the members of the audience by emphasizing their common roots; it is […]

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