My new project

Well maybe project isn't the best word, more like obsession. I've jumped on the microblogging bandwagon and started a Tumblr site--African Media--to bookmark and document my adventures (so colonial I know) in consuming, well, African media.

So far there's a lot of stuff on African literary journals, glossy magazines and the launching of high-speed internet in the east. Use it as a list of bookmarks for rad stuff from around the continent.

A year's worth of Drum Magazine, Ghana 1969

Ghanaian blogger Koranteng Ofosu-Amaah managed to scan a years worth (1969 to be exact) of images from the Ghanaian edition of Drum magazine and post them on his blog with commentary. The mise-en-scène is of an affluent society interested in both socialism and mini skirts, traditional wear and sex education, international politics and the end of Ghanaian one party rule.

But Drum was actually a South African magazine (read about it here) with franchises around the continent. A quick search led to an exhibition of images from the South African edition 1976-1980 which, it turns out, is far more lurid with photo essays documenting stabbings, war, and social unrest. This is the difference, I suppose, between Ghana 1969 and South Africa during the most vicious days of apartheid.

The Journalists for Human Rights Blog

I'll be posting articles, journals and photo essays on the JHR website from time to time. There's plenty of other great stuff there as well. Right now, I have photos and a journal entry about going to rural Zambia to look at some development projects.