Ivory Coast Crisis 2011
It is a bitterly cold afternoon. A few blocks from the Champs Elysees, about 20 Ivorians are crowded in front of a building guarded by French police. This building is Ivory Coast’s embassy in Paris.
But the French government no longer recognizes the ambassador, who was appointed by Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo. The French foreign ministry says it is waiting for the man widely believed to have won Ivory Coast’s presidential elections, Alassane Ouattara, to appoint a new envoy.
Egypt Revolution 2011
What’s Going On In Egypt?: Protests started on Tuesday, January 25, when — inspired by the successful revolution in Tunisia — thousands began taking to the streets to protest poverty, rampant unemployment, government corruption and autocratic governance of President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled the country for 30 years. These were the first protests on such a large scale in Egypt since the 1970s.
Wangari Maathai
Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya (Africa) in 1940. The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964). She subsequently earned a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh (1966). Professor Maathai pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi, obtaining a Ph.D. (1971) from the University of Nairobi where she also taught veterinary anatomy. She became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region.
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa on July 18, 1918. His father was Chief Henry Mandela of the Tembu Tribe. Mandela himself was educated at University College of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand and qualified in law in 1942. He joined the African National Congress in 1944 and was engaged in resistance against the ruling National Party’s apartheid policies after 1948. He went on trial for treason in 1956-1961 and was acquitted in 1961.
Art by Yinka Shonibare
I was thinking: Okay, so where do I stand? I live in England. I’m from Nigeria. Nigeria was colonised by the British. The Victorian era was the height of colonialism in Africa. How do I relate to the repressive Victorian regime?
So Victoriana for me actually means conquest and imperialism. And so, in a sense, it is actually my fear. So what I then decided to do was to actually confront my fear and face my fear. And the way to confront my fear is to actually parody that fear. A lot of the works came out of my desire to face my fear and to turn it into parody.
