In the past decade, no place has been as over-represented and as under-understood than Sudan and the newly formed South Sudan…
- © Steve Evans/Flickr : « South Sudan », 2011
« War may be serious business, but you would never know it from the casual manner in which African wars tend to be reported in the Western media, » Ugandan intellectual Mahmood Mamdani observes in his book about the Darfur crisis. « Africa is usually the entry point for a novice reporter on the international desk, a learning laboratory where he or she is expected to gain experience. Reporting from Africa is a low-risk job: Not only are mistakes expected and tolerated, but often they are not even noticed… As a rule African tragedies happen in isolation and silence, under the cover of the night. »
In the past decade, no place has been as over-represented and as under-understood than Sudan and the newly formed South Sudan. From a barrage of news articles to a flurry of op-eds, from millions of dollars spent on advertising and brand-management for Darfur activism to insipid, shallow visits from Hollywood celebrities to troubled areas, not a stone has been left unturned in the media hype that is called Sudan (…)
[Read Bhakti Shringarpure’s Preface to the Retrospective]
The retrospective (new literary landscapes) :
Souvenir
by Leila Aboulela
Casualty
by Edward Eremugo Luka
Cities without Palms (an excerpt)
by Tarek Eltayeb
Seiko Five
by David L. Lukudu
The Drift Latitudes (an excerpt)
by Jamal Mahjoub
Cry of the Owl (an excerpt)
by Francis Deng
[Ce billet est également publié sur le portail de la revue Africultures]