The Revolutionary Tour Guides of Burkina Faso
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso – On Nov. 1, 2014, the day after Blaise Compaoré resigned as Burkina Faso’s president and fled the capital in a convoy, abruptly ending his nearly three-decade hold on power, a 40-year-old man named Prosper looked on as an opposition lawmaker exulted over the autocrat’s hasty departure while giving a radio interview
Talk That Talk: On Narratives and Elections in Lagos
LAGOS, Nigeria–Election day dawned cloudy and cool in Lagos; an odd tranquility filtered through my window. I heard birds, and the wind, rather than the normal honking and hawking—the ambient sounds that permeate the air here, fueling what seems to be endemic insomnia among its residents. The silence was particularly notable after the clamor
Portrait of an Improbable Politician
By Allyn Gaestel AG-1 / NIGERIA / FEBRUARY 2015 LAGOS – Comrade Agbodemu Ishola Musbau strode through Ebute-Metta, a bustling neighborhood of concrete block homes interspersed with fading colonial houses, their deep brown, mint green and mustard yellow stucco walls stained with watermarks and exhaust fumes. Weaving between bright yellow vans and golf carts—the
A West African protest novel
ABIDJAN – Thiossane and Moctar meet in classic West African fashion. Trying to send a text message one day to an old friend from school, Thiossane, an educated but unemployed resident of Dakar, the capital of Senegal, enters the number incorrectly and instead reaches Moctar, an uneducated grave-digger who has recently lost his job. Moctar
“Yo no soy Charlie”: Spanish Muslims react to the Paris attacks
Malia Politzer January 2015 \MP-16 PARIS, France – Earlier this month, France experienced its worst terrorist attack in 50 years. It started the morning on the 7th of January, at approximately 11:30am, when two men wearing balaclavas and bulletproofed vests, and armed with Kalashnikovs, forced their way into the editorial meeting of the Paris-based
Jonathan Guyer in the Media
In the wake of the tragic Charlie Hebdo attack, newly appointed ICWA Fellow Jonathan Guyer has become a media sensation. A specialist on Arabic cartoons and culture, Jonathan is ideally suited to supply a unique Middle East-based perspective on developments. Most recently Jonathan authored a piece for Guernica Magazine. He has written several other articles, including
Introducing Jonathan Guyer
Based in Cairo, Jonathan’s Fellowship will be focused on art, mass media, and satire. Watch our video to find out more about Jonathan and his plans for his ICWA Fellowship.