Kim Harrisberg Published: October 12, 2022
JOHANNESBURG – For more than a decade, musician Thomas Nhassavele has been busking next to the parking payment machine at Johannesburg’s Rosebank Mall, where drivers often dropped their change into his guitar case. Continue reading
Adam Haupt, University of Cape Town
Die Antwoord is a South African band that uses hip-hop music to create a style it calls “zef”. Since it first appeared in 2009, Die Antwoord has been criticised for cultural appropriation (using cultural elements of a minority group in an exploitative way). It’s accused of copying the lyrics and styles of Cape Town artists rapping in South Africa’s Kaaps language, and of mimicking the visual styles of Cape Flats gang members. Adam Haupt has researched and written extensively on hip-hop and identity. He discusses cultural appropriation and the role of power in interactions between dominant and marginalised subjects in a case like Die Antwoord’s.
By Kimberly Mutandiro
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – John first heard of cryptocurrency three years ago, when the teenager came across slick YouTube videos and Facebook posts of other South Africans claiming to have become wealthy overnight with bitcoin.
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On the wooded hill above the Stan Terg lead and zinc mine in Kosovo, there is an old concrete diving platform looming over what was once an open-air swimming pool. Before the break-up of Yugoslavia, people who worked at the mine would bring their families here to swim, sunbathe on the wide terrace with its view across the valley, and picnic among the trees. Now the pool is slowly disappearing into the forest, the view obscured by birch saplings.
By Nazih Osseiran
BEIRUT, Sept 2 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A Saudi app that lets ordinary people “play the role of a police officer” may have alerted authorities to the tweets of a student whose sentencing to 34 years in jail has drawn international condemnation.
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By Kim Harrisberg
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Moss Marakalala was 11 when he first used a laptop at an after-school programme in Johannesburg, sparking an interest in technology that inspired him to provide young people like himself from South African townships with digital education. Continue reading
By Kim Harrisberg
At the start of each school day, South African teacher Lori Cooperman prepares her lessons, plans students’ meals and – most importantly – checks an app to see if there will be electricity. Continue reading
James Chikomborero Paradza, University of Pretoria
Beyoncé has released her seventh solo studio album, titled Renaissance (2022). The album, an event in global popular culture, is the first of a three-part project by the US artist. Her previous outing, the visual album Black is King (2020), collaborated with a host of African artists. Renaissance pays tribute to black dance music and again features African artists, including Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems, who is having a global moment of her own.
By Kim Harrisberg and Nita Bhalla
JOHANNESBURG/NAIROBI, Aug 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Social media used to be a source of light entertainment for Nora, a 47-year-old Zimbabwean domestic worker living in South Africa. But lately, it has become a source of fear.
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By Kagondu Njagi
NAIROBI, July 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A sculpture of a giant tap spewing plastic waste greeted delegates at U.N. environment talks in Kenya earlier this year – a reminder of the urgent need for them to agree a global pact to curb plastic pollution.