August/September 2021

Event: Nigeria – A New History Prof. Toyin Falola’s Independence Day Lecture

The RepublicSeptember 24, 2021

Join Nigerian leading historian, Prof. Toyin Falola, as he discusses Nigeria’s independence, where we are today and what lessons we can draw from history as we plan for the future, especially through civic and social movements.

August/September 2021Events

‘I Take Slow Time Very Seriously.’ Mpho Matsipa’s First Draft

Mpho MatsipaSeptember 24, 2021

Founder and curator of African Mobilities, Mpho Matsipa, has been thinking about colonial urban histories and the relationship between blackness, landscapes and the environment. Read our interview.

August/September 2021First DraftInterviews

Who Is Shade Thomas-Fahm?

Tomisin AwosikaSeptember 23, 2021

Folashade Thomas-Fahm is reputed for being the first professionally-trained fashion designer in Nigeria. Read more.

August/September 2021International Women's Day - IconsNigeria

From Well-Worn Fatigues to Well-Tailored Suits Joseph Garba’s ‘Diplomatic Soldiering’

Afolabi AdekaiyaojaSeptember 22, 2021

In ‘Diplomatic Soldiering’, the late General Joseph Garba, one of Nigeria’s earliest foreign ministers, presents a case for the tacit but present ‘Big Brother’ role that Nigeria has sought to play across Africa. Read more.

AngolaAugust/September 2021Editors Picks: Independence DayEthiopiaNigeria

Grieving From a Distance A Transatlantic Memorial for My Grandfather

Damilola OyedeleSeptember 15, 2021

My grandfather passed away from COVID-19. Not being able to grieve physically with my family due to the pandemic’s lockdowns was cruel irony. Read more.

August/September 2021The Black Atlantic

‘Tell an African Story!’ Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo’s First Draft

Nnenna Ifeanyi-AjufoSeptember 8, 2021

Academic and author of ‘Gender, Anti-Colonialism and Nationalism: Discussing the Legacies of African Women’, Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo, believes it is important that Africans tell our own stories. Read our interview.

August/September 2021First DraftInterviewsNigeriavol5-no3

‘Changing Your Mind Is Underrated.’ Bomi Fagbemi’s First Draft

Bomi FagbemiSeptember 8, 2021

Author of ‘The Shadow of Saint-Domingue’, Bomi Fagbemi, finds its difficult to separate good writing from a good story. Read our interview.

August/September 2021First DraftInterviewsNigeriavol5-no3

Genesis of a Revolutionary Robert Mugabe’s Political Formation

Brooks MarmonSeptember 8, 2021

Robert Mugabe, the dictator who ruled Zimbabwe for more than three decades, had revolutionary beginnings. He was shaped by a tumultuous brew of pan-African nationalism, associated authoritarianism, and his own startling yet grossly under-discussed political rise. Read more.

August/September 2021South Africavol5-no3Zimbabwe

The Inevitable Revolutionary How Thomas Sankara Weaponized Coloniality

Kai MoraSeptember 8, 2021

Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara, as a close reading of Frantz Fanon’s decolonization theories suggests, was an inevitable revolutionary. Sankara evidenced and ultimately turned the contradictions of the colonial system against itself. Read more.

August/September 2021Best of 2021: Essays

Who Was Ojukwu? The Many Perceptions of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

Charles EkpoSeptember 8, 2021

Before he died in 2011, leader of the Biafran secessionist movement, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, had assumed four personalities: he was a hero, a villain, a rebel, and even a ‘one-Nigerianist’. Read more.

August/September 2021BiafraEditors Picks: Independence DayNigeriavol5-no3