Posted on 19 December 2011 by Codrin Arsene
Renowned West-African singer, Cesaria Evora passed away on Saturday in her native country of Cape Verde of cardiorespiratory insufficiency and hypertension. Credited for putting Cape Verde on the world map, Evora was often known as the “Barefoot Diva”. She always sang barefoot, a way for her to express her solidarity with poor women all over [...]
Posted on 13 May 2011 by Codrin Arsene
While it is true that everywhere from Hollywood to Nollywood producers have their say in what goes into a film, nowhere are they as arrogant and paternalistic as in African cinema funded by France
Posted on 03 May 2011 by Codrin Arsene
As expected, the news that Osama bin Laden has been killed made it around the world in a heartbeat. In the light of this event, some Romanian journalists did some research and discovered that there is a church in the western part of Romania (Timisoara) where an image of Osama bin Laden is actually painted [...]
Posted on 25 April 2011 by Codrin Arsene
As a journalist, I instinctively hope that the deaths of Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros were not in vain. But I also know that the products of their work are the long-lasting testimony of lives well lived.
Posted on 17 April 2011 by Codrin Arsene
All modern languages have an African origin, recent study shows.
Posted on 14 December 2010 by Codrin Arsene
I just finished reading a very interesting report published last year by the World Tourism Organization. It’s called Tourism and Migration: Exploring the Relationship between Two Global Phenomena. As the title of the report suggests, the authors are interested in dealing with the relationship between tourism and migration, given the fact that both phenomena involve [...]
Posted on 14 December 2010 by Codrin Arsene
Dar es Salaam, the main economic center of Tanzania, is one of the most congested cities I have ever been to and lived in. Traffic in the city is, for the lack of a better word, a real clusterfuck. If you expect to drive from Maktaba Street (downtown) to Mikoceni B, via Ali Hassan Road [...]
Posted on 09 December 2010 by Codrin Arsene
The Economist recently ran a story on women’s tastes towards men based on a series of scientific studies recently published in academic journals. To cut to the chase, Professor Lisa DeBruine, of the University of Aberdeen, published a paper in which she argues that women in developing countries with precarious health conditions (which basically means [...]
Posted on 08 December 2010 by Codrin Arsene
Brain drain and Africa are old acquaintances. For as long as we have heard of post-colonial Africa, we’ve known of people leaving the continent, willingly or not (or better said because they had no other choice), in search for a better place. And the problem with a phenomenon like brain drain is that it is [...]
Posted on 17 October 2010 by Codrin Arsene
Brenda Fassie is, arguably, one of the greatest African singers of the last 20 years. Widely considered the Queen of African Pop (in South Africa and beyond), Fassie is often seen as one of the most remarkable artists who has successfully appealed to a wide audience made of both disfranchised, poor people and middle-class Africans, [...]