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 [...]

Bessie Head is one of my favorite African writers. Her books, though not numerous, have had a huge impact on both how I see Southern Africa and how I see myself in relation to a part of the world that I deeply cherish. In case you don’t know who Bessie Head is, here are some [...]

This is a short paper I wrote for a course on Women in Modern Africa. I think there are some interesting debates on how life histories should be interpreted and analyzed here, so I’m posting it on my website hoping that it might be of interest to young scholars and researchers who are are doing [...]

I haven’t been that active on my blogs lately because I’ve been working on a long overdue academic article on my research in Tanzania, on “China in Africa”. Things should go back to normal next week. In the meantime, I managed to make a list of all the Africa-related books that I own. These books [...]

Today I participated in a radio debate on BBC Africa Have Your Say. It was an actual debate in which I argued against the opinions of the editor-in-chief from Zimbabwean Independent. The subject was active citizen participation in radio programs all over Africa. The journalist from Zimbabwe argued that call-ins are generally a waste of [...]

Angelique Kidjo is one of my favorite African singer along with Salif Keita and Cesaria Evora. Of those who are no longer among us, I also love Miriam Makeba, Lucky Dube and Brenda Fassie. Last night, Angelique Kidjo had a concert in Chicago and I obviously went to the performance. The ticket was 30 dollars [...]

New scam email got into my inbox today.  And it’s pretty disgusting. However, one can only wonder how people fall for this in the first place. One day I’ll tell you the story about the first scam email I ever received way back when I was a 15 year old student in Galati, Romania. And [...]

On February 10th Victor Ponta, a young member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies was elected President of the Romanian Social Democrat Party (SDP) during an extraordinary party congress that took place in Bucharest. He narrowly defeated Mircea Geoana, the candidate who lost elections against Traian Basescu in the recent presidential elections that took place [...]

This is what I consider a food-for-thought essay. It’s a little long (3.5 pages single-spaced) but I think it’s worth reading it. “New Situations Demand New Magic…”[1] In Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande, E.E.  Evans Pritchard analyzes a society which is broadly characterized by unchanging traditions. However, various events that are out of [...]

Who’s your hero? A Swedish company created one of the most popular viral short clips in history. It’s a customizable one, that is you can choose who will have the honor to be represented in it. I chose one of the obvious characters and the result is here. Just click here, watch it and then [...]