I love how creative with hairstyles African societies are

Reference

Photographed by Gabriel Lerat

original post by African crowns

Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac (2026) Collections - musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac.

the jerusalem post article : https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-907011

siting africaintelligence report (pay wall): https://www.africaintelligence.com/eastern-africa-and-the-horn/2026/08/28/rsf-head-hemeti-secretly-cultivates-ties-with-israel,110866696-art

99.97% of refugees admitted to the US in 2026 are South African.

Refugees from South Africa make up almost all the refugees to the U.S. so far in fiscal 2026. Before this fiscal year, South Africans never appeared among the top origin groups. In fact, fiscal 2025 was the first year that the U.S. admitted more than just one or two South African refugees.

The large increase in South African refugees reflects an executive order Trump signed in 2025 that said the federal government would prioritize resettling Afrikaners – an ethnic group descended from mainly Dutch, German and French colonial settlers in South Africa. The executive order said the group faced “government-sponsored race-based discrimination” in South Africa, including the government seizure of farms owned by White South Africans. Those claims have been disputed.

The influx of refugees from South Africa marks a major change in the makeup of refugees to the U.S.

Source: Pew Research Center ( https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/08/17/refugee-admissions-to-the-us-are-dropping-sharply-in-trumps-second-term/ )

The low IQ rhetoric is an agenda pushed by racist eugenics scientists like Richard Lynn, a psychologist and Tatu Vanhanen a Finnish political scientist. These claims relied on non verbal reasoning tests like Ravens progressive matrices, vocabulary assessments and basic school achievement exams but the results were misleading because these tests do not measure fixed or innate intelligence but measured formal education and familiarity with specific testing formats, even when the tests did not use words. Importantly, when they carried out the analysis, they reviewed over 100 published studies and it was later found that the bigots used selective data and ignored data from africans with high tests scores, used tiny and unrepresentative samples like testing a few dozen people from a village somewhere and claiming that it was a representation of a whole nation. Not surprising. Some of the social issues that try to argue is that the low IQ predicts violence, wealth, economic development among other outcomes so one of his conclusions was that higher intelligence = more civilized/less violent societies. But if that argument is true, then european history creates an enormous problem because they are the same people who designed auschwitz, chemical weapons, strategic bombing campaigns, 2 world wars, wars of conquest and religious warfare within europe itself and so on. I mean how intelligent does a society have to be before it stops producing extraordinary sophisticated ways of killing people. When something sounds fishy, always look it up. The aim is and has always been to create a social ladder that keeps black people and especially Africans at the bottom of the ladder and dehumanize us so as to justify the crimes committed against us.

Ghanaian casket craftsmanship is well known the world over – custom-made coffins shaped like objects that depict the deceased’s profession, status, or aspirations. But they have a much longer history.

In southern Ghana, figurative palanquins called akpakai have long played an important role in Ga culture. These ceremonial carriers, used by chiefs and other traditional leaders, are carved in the shapes of animals, objects, or family symbols. Each design reflects the identity of a family or clan and carries spiritual meaning.

Traditionally, family members would be buried under the floors of their houses. This was so that the spirit of the deceased could find their way home.

During colonial rule, this and many other traditional practices were outlawed. Instead, authorities enforced Christian practices and families were forced to bury their deceased in cemeteries.

The distinctive figurative forms of the palanquins gained popularity as coffins in the 1950s, particularly after Ghana gained independence in 1957. Skilled craftsmen such as Ataa Owuo and Seth Kane Kwei helped to develop the tradition.

The object depicted might be a family totem, such as a lion, eagle or leopard. Or it may just be an elaborate design of something the deceased would have liked to be remembered for.

Today, some funerals are accompanied by dancers whom the family hire to entertain mourners. But some people disagree with this practice as they consider it inappropriate and too boisterous. The caskets can take 10 days to be handcrafted, adding to the logistical challenges of the funeral. Their craftsmanship has been recognised internationally and the coffins have featured in prominent exhibitions.

Photos: Regula Tschumi Archive/Heritage Images/Olympia de Maismont/AFP

l personally love it, l think it's chic and is a perfect geographic descriptor. Southern Africa doesn't work bc it leaves out the west and east. And i get that people may not like the sub part but it just means below. I love the name and l love being south of the Sahara. I don't know it's history or whether or not it was intended to be offensive but it's just a neutral term that we can reclaim.

I have noticed that a significant portion of African internet users come from less affluent rural areas，I don't mean to be discriminatory, but I'm just genuinely curious why people in rural areas of Africa, where basic needs like food and shelter are not even met, would rather go hungry than buy a mobile phone？

C.A.R. Inaugurates 50 MW Solar Plant with 15MWh battery storage.

After the genocide, Rwanda began to rebuild from the ruins by establishing the right institutions，Corruption and security issues are the least in all of Africa，However, Rwanda frequently attacks the Democratic Republic of Congo. I would like to ask my African friends, what are your thoughts on Rwanda?

Morocco is expanding water infrastructure in the south. A large-capacity desalination plant is under study between Tiznit and Chtouka-Aït Baha, in the Souss-Massa region.

The investment is about 15 billion DH. Planned capacity is 350 million m³ a year, 250 million for irrigation and 100 million for drinking water, powered by renewables. Tiznit, Chtouka-Aït Baha and Taroudant would benefit.

Technical, environmental and land studies are already underway. This follows the Chtouka plant and shows Morocco acting on drought to keep farms and cities standing.

Disclosure: We're Guzotech, a UK and technology company developing Guzotech Research, a long-term applied R&D programme exploring culture, digital preservation, and immersive media.

Our first featured project, 2D→4DGS XR, explores how ordinary video of African dance, fashion, performance, and oral storytelling might become navigable 4D/XR experiences while keeping consent, cultural context, and attribution at the centre.

We value feedback from African artists, performers, archivists, technologists, and diaspora researchers:

1. What should responsible consent look like?
2. What cultural context must never be lost?
3. What would make an immersive archive feel useful rather than extractive?

We’re publishing the research at https://research.guzo.tech/projects/2dto4dgsxr

Niger requested assistance from Russia's Africa Corps after an attempted mutiny at a key military base in Niamey.

The uprising involved Nigerien soldiers trying to confine comrades and opening fire at strategic sites in the capital.

Nigerien forces regained control, and the incident highlighted the base's importance due to its uranium stockpile and location.

The mutiny highlights Niger's rapid shift toward Russia for security support since the 2023 coup and expulsion of Western forces.

Lately, I’ve been feeling like Côte d’Ivoire is really starting to take over the African music scene, especially in urban music.
Artists like Himra, Didi B, TRK, Dopelym, Team Paiya and many others are getting more and more attention, not only in Côte d’Ivoire but across Francophone Africa and beyond.
Nigeria and South Africa have traditionally been the biggest African music powerhouses internationally. But could Côte d’Ivoire now be becoming the third major force?
I’m curious to hear from people outside Côte d’Ivoire:
Do you feel like Ivorian music is currently taking over Africa? 🇨🇮🔥
Or am I just seeing it this way because I’m Ivorian? 😂
Which African country do you think currently has the strongest music scene?

I’m honestly sick of social media. There isn’t a single platform I can go on without seeing racists attacking Black people. I left twitter for good but seems all platforms are becoming racist

I’m a Black African who moved to the US a year and a couple of months ago, and honestly, I’m already exhausted by it. I’m about to graduate with a Master’s in Computer Science from an Ivy League university, and as a software engineer, I started thinking: what if we built a social media platform for Black people who just want to enjoy social media without constantly dealing with racism and harassment?

Personally, I use social media to chill and pass time—scrolling, watching people dance, GRWMs, sharing random updates, memes, and just enjoying fun content. Sometimes I don’t want to open a comment section expecting people to be supportive, only to find people mocking Black people, degrading us, or calling us slurs.

I want a space where we can actually celebrate each other. We should be able to celebrate our graduates, engineers, doctors, scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, and all the amazing things Black people are doing without someone immediately coming into the comments to tear us down.

The idea would be to create a space focused on having fun, connecting, celebrating, and sharing our lives. There would be strict community rules, an invitation-based joining system, and strong moderation. Racist posts and comments wouldn’t be tolerated, and people who post racist content would be banned—including Black people who are racist toward other Black people. The goal isn’t to create a space for hate; it’s to create a space where racism and harassment aren’t welcome.

It could still have everything you’d normally find on social media—people sharing updates, posting videos, dancing, GRWMs, memes, celebrating achievements, etc. Black-owned businesses could also have a space to promote their products and services.

Basically, take the existing social media business model and build it around a community where Black people can actually relax, have fun, support each other, and celebrate each other without constantly dealing with racism.

If you’re someone who uses social media mostly for fun and you’d love a space like this, let me know. I’m genuinely curious whether other people feel the same way.

And if you’re a software engineer, designer, product person, or anyone who thinks they could help me build this, please feel free to comment or DM me. I’m seriously considering turning this into something real.

People can still use TikTok and other platforms, especially for things like brand deals. This new app would simply exist for those moments when you want to have fun, chill, and interact with other Black people without constantly receiving hate. There also wouldn’t be hate directed at other races on the platform. we’d have strict rules against racism and harassment in any direction. And maybe later on, we could have brand deals and other opportunities on our app too.

NB: Please don’t tell me this idea is racist. I honestly don’t care about that argument. If you’re not Black, you don’t know what it feels like to open the comments expecting people to be supportive, only to find people mocking you, degrading you, or calling you racial slurs. It gets exhausting. Sometimes you just want a space where you can exist, have fun, celebrate your people, and enjoy yourself without having to deal with that.

English is not my first language, so I run my posts through ChatGPT for grammar corrections because I wanted this to be very clear, but the wording and ideas are mine :)

So basically, I found out about this trend called "Natasha doll" in China, where black baby dolls are being used by Chinese social media users as stress toys, with people filming themselves squeezing, scratching, and brutalizing these dolls for entertainment. When one user was specifically asked why the dolls are black and not, say, white, his response was that a white baby would look too "human," and people would feel bad for hurting it.

This type of behavior isn't uncommon. This isn't the first time I've heard a story about black Africans being treated horribly in countries that our African leaders call "allies," claiming that they are different from the West, that they see us as equals. But from what I've seen, they're not so different from the West. They're just using us for their own personal gain. They don't care about Africa or the African people — they just care about the resources and making as much profit off us as possible, which I guess isn't really surprising.

But it's time we stop calling those people our allies. They're not. We shouldn't be dependent on them. We shouldn't rely on them, because they don't even see us as human, let alone as partners. We as a continent need to be more independent. We should start producing and manufacturing with our own resources instead of just exporting raw materials to them. We should own the value chain that we create. We should start investing African money and African savings into African companies and infrastructure, and stop depending on foreign investment. We should stop depending on foreign technological infrastructure and capability, and start becoming more technologically independent and capable in things like AI, cybersecurity, semiconductors, electronics, and data centers.

It's hard, challenging, and hard to envision. But great things take time. Great things are hard to do. The future is in our hands — the future and the present are in our hands. We can't fight the past, but we can fight for our future.

So yeah, those are just some thoughts I gathered from this whole trend. One more thing: I saw a comment that said we should fight fire with fire — if they act racist, we should act racist back. He posted an image of a racist Chinese meme. The reply to that comment said we shouldn't fight racism with racism, because it doesn't solve the underlying problem — it makes us no different from the people who started the racist trend in the first place.

So yes, I do agree with the fact that fighting racist behavior with more racist behavior doesn't solve the underlying problem. But I also don't think it's good to be passive and let the other side discriminate against you while you just sit there and watch. Sometimes fighting fire with fire does address the issue — maybe we should think more about that.

#AfricaUnited

Julius Mokaya, 34, cosplaying as Enjin, a character from the manga Gachiakuta, ahead of the Otamatsuri convention in Nairobi earlier this month. Over 4,000 fans of anime, video games and manga attended the con this year. .

Photo: Luis Tato/AFP

When we talk about “Black unity,” I think we sometimes project a modern racial identity onto the past.
Black people were certainly united at different points in history, but usually within specific kingdoms, nations, clans, ethnic groups, communities, or political movements. That is very different from saying Black people, as one racial collective, were historically united.
Africa has always been incredibly diverse. People had different languages, cultures, political systems, identities, interests and loyalties. In many cases, those local identities were far stronger than any broader idea of racial solidarity.
Even today, the idea of universal Black unity faces the same reality: being Black does not automatically mean people share the same nationality, culture, ideology, class interests or political goals.
So when I say “Black unity existed in pockets, not as a single racial collective,” I’m not saying Black people never cooperated or stood together. I’m saying we should distinguish between local unity and universal racial unity. Those are two very different things.

. I’m African, and I come from an ethnic minority. Lately, I’ve been struggling with the idea that I might not end up with someone from my country and from the same ethnic group as me.
It’s not really family pressure. My family wouldn’t necessarily care if I married someone from another country or ethnicity. But somehow, I feel this internal sense of duty. Almost like I’m supposed to marry someone from my country and my ethnicity because we’re a minority, and I’m supposed to “keep it going,” have children who are from back home, and pass that part of myself on to the next generation.
I know it sounds strange when I put it that way, but it genuinely feels like something I’m supposed to accomplish for my people and my country. Not necessarily an obligation, but a responsibility.
So whenever I meet a man from another country and I genuinely like him, part of me is happy, but another part immediately thinks, “Damn… I wish he were from my country. I wish he were from my ethnic group.” Almost as if marrying someone from my own background would mean I had already checked off this huge box in my life.
And I don’t even know if I would actually be happier with someone from my own background. That’s the weird part. I just have this idea in my head that I would be fulfilling something important if I did.
I would really love to hear from other Africans, or anyone who comes from a small ethnic minority, who has experienced something similar. Especially if you’ve ever felt this desire or almost this responsibility to “multiply” and preserve your people through your children.
I know the way I’m describing it might sound harsh or weird, but I’m genuinely trying to understand where this feeling comes from and whether other people experience it too.

In a statement read out on public television and signed by Defence Minister General Salifou Mody, the authorities called on the public to "remain calm and freely go about their business".

Sustained gunfire and explosions rang out early Saturday across several areas of Niger's capital Niamey, including the airport and near the presidency, in an attack by mutinous soldiers. A West Africa-based security source told AFP the presidential guard continued to repel mutineers at the palace.

Niger's defense ministry said that mutinous ‌soldiers ⁠from ‌a base ⁠in Niamey opened fire on "sensitive sites" ‌in the city, ‌confirming that an attack that lasted for hours was perpetrated by members of the armed forces.

Malian singer and songwriter Salif Keita has cancelled his upcoming commercial performances in South Africa over reports of xenophobic violence against African migrants, his spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday.

He described the cancellation as a “painful decision”, but stressed that his action was not directed at South Africans or the country itself.

“To be clear, I am not closing the door on South Africa. I am closing the door on violence,” he said.

“When I see migrants being attacked, I don’t see ‘politics’. I see people searching for work, safety, and dignity. That does not match the South Africa I know, the South Africa that stood firm with Mali, and the South Africa that Nelson Mandela built,” he said.

I hve been looking into higher education options lately. The contrast between applying to universities in the West versus across Africa is honestly mind-boggling.

In places like the UK, US, and Europe, the application process is pretty straightforward. You submit your transcripts online, write a statement, upload references, and you r set. Systems like UCAS or Common App make it simple.

Applying to universities in Africa feels like navigating a maze of red tape instead.

First, you have the endless equivalency requirements. You have to jump through hoops just to convert foreign qualifications through national boards. The paperwork, the fees, and the months of waiting just to prove your diploma is real are ridiculous.

On top of that, so many institutions still rely on outdated frameworks. They do not offer modern flexibilities like transferable credits or simple online verification.

You are also stuck dealing with actual physical paperwork. In a world where everything should be a quick upload, you often need notarized hard copies, manual bank deposits, and endlessly unhelpful admin offices.

It feels like the whole system is built to gatekeep rather than welcome students.

Has anyone else run into this wall? Why are these systems still stuck in the past? I would love to hear your experiences if you have tried navigating this process.