The Conversation - Sisi Afrika Magazine

he Conversation Africa is an independent source of news and views from the academic and research community, delivered direct to the public.

Our team of professional editors work with university and research institute experts to unlock their knowledge for use by the wider public.

Access to independent, high quality, authenticated, explanatory journalism underpins a functioning democracy. Our aim is to promote better understanding of current affairs and complex issues. And hopefully allow for a better quality of public discourse and conversation.

Music & Film

How Burna Boy Set the World Alight With His Mixed Brew of Influences

Burna Boy’s Kuti credentials appear impeccable. His maternal grandfather, the broadcaster and jazz enthusiast Benson Idonije, had managed Kuti in the 1960s. In one interview, his mother and manager, business woman Bose Ogulu, reportedly refers to Kuti as the closest thing she had to a godfather.

Visual Art

A Street Art Mural in Zimbabwe Exposes a Divided Society

This continued marginalisation of Matabeleland (a region in southwestern Zimbabwe inhabited mainly by the Ndebele people) by the ZANU-PF-led government has rendered Zimbabwe so fragile a nation that even a street mural can expose its disunity.

Book Reviews & Literary Criticism

The 100-year-old story of South Africa’s first history book in the isiZulu language

This year marks the centenary of the publication in 1922 of Abantu Abamnyama Lapa Bavela Ngakona (The Black People and Whence They Came), the first book-length history of black people written in isiZulu.

Music & Film

Rudy Gomis: A Masterful Collaborator Who Kept the Diversity of Senegalese Music Alive

The world has lost one of the great pioneers of the post-independence movement of modern popular music in Senegal.

Space Science

African Scientists and Technology Could Drive Future Black Hole Discoveries

We were the only two of more than 300 EHT team members based on the African continent. The continent doesn’t host any EHT telescopes – we were brought on board because of expertise we’ve developed in preparation for the world’s largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), to be co-hosted by South Africa and Australia.

Art & Culture Fiction & Poetry

Antjie Krog and the role of the poet in South Africa’s public life

This year Antjie Krog turns 70 and her passions and commitments, forged in the 1970s, show no waning. For decades she has represented the important role that a poet can play in public life in a fractured country.

Science & Health

South African Community’s Request for its Genetic Data Raises Questions about Ethical and Equitable Research

Scientists conduct helicopter research when they collect data from developing countries and marginalized communities with little to no involvement from local researchers and community members.

Human Rights & Freedoms Politics & Economy

Rising Vigilantism: South Africa is Reaping the Fruits of Misrule

Popular embrace of nationalism, street justice, and anti-immigrant activism reflects the ascendency of an extra-legal order. That regime is a mix of formal institutions and local fiefdoms held together by patronage and coercion. That system is now unravelling.

Art & Culture Music & Film

2022 Grammys: What Fela Kuti Has to do with West Africa’s Growing Pop Fame

It is interesting to observe the dissemination of Fela’s legacy in the form of the varied work of his numerous musical children many of whom pay direct homage to him by copious sampling and outright imitation.

African Leaders Politics & Economy

Algorithms, Bots and Elections in Africa: How Social Media Influences Political Choices

Algorithms watch your behaviour when you interact with certain content in the platform, make assumptions and predictions on your preferences, and then recommend similar content in your feed.