How large is Africa?
January 30th, 2012 § 5 Comments
I seem to be on a roll with the geographic posts these days – but this map, brought to my attention by Tom of A View From the Cave, was too cool not to share! Via Information is Beautiful.
Know your African countries
January 27th, 2012 § 8 Comments
I’ve been fiddling with this idea for a poster project for a while, and here are some early results:
What do you think?
Unpublished favorites from Ghana in Hipstamatic
October 28th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
What it says on the tin: the best of the rest from the Ghana in Hipstamatic series.
Making medication meaningful in Africa
Beads for sale
Hilarious Services
Urban Ghana in Hipstamatic
October 24th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Since we’ve already done rural Ghana, I thought I’d continue the Ghana in Hipstamatic series with its urban counterpart:
Newspaper stand in Kumasi
Internet cafe in Accra
Urban agriculture in Tamale
The view from my hotel window in Accra
Ghanaian transport in Hipstamatic
October 20th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Today in Ghana in Hipstamatic: the wide and wonderful world of transport.
Bicycles: the all-purpose mode of transport
Motos for sale
The practical application of all those childhood games of sardines
Repurposed railway
Ghanaian portraits in Hipstamatic
October 16th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I’m more comfortable photographing landscapes than people, so most of the portraits I have from Ghana were incidental. But I thought this handful turned out well:
A man exiting a mosque in Tamale
Women under an umbrella at the Tamale market
Young boy supporting Obama
Women selling charcoal
Ghanaian murals in Hipstamatic
October 12th, 2011 § 1 Comment
I don’t think I’d fully realized how many interesting murals there were until I took these shots for the Ghana in Hipstamatic series:
Hairdresser in Accra
President Atta Mills, in need of some renovation
Laocoon en Afrique
Rural Ghana in Hipstamatic
October 8th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
A look at some of the smaller towns outside of Tamale in Hipstamatic:
Tiller
Maize
Playing in the shea nuts
Pres. Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi at the Wilson Center
October 6th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Went to see a decently interesting discussion with Burundian president Pierre Nkurunziza at the Wilson Center last week. (There’s video of an interview he later conducted at the Center here.) As speeches by politicians tend to be, his presentation was a polished and upbeat discourse on Burundi’s post-war reconstruction, focusing on the country’s provision of free primary education and healthcare, and the success of consociationalism at keeping the peace. Perhaps due to the fact that he’s not up for re-election any time soon, the questions were considerably gentler than those thrown at DRC presidential candidate Leon Kengo wa Dondo during a speech he gave at SAIS a few days previously.
(Adding to my collection of blurry photos of African politicians)
That said, I was interested to note that the first commentator pre-empted my own question by asking about whether the country’s ethnic reconciliation would be durable. The responses given by both Nkurunziza and former Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region Howard Wolpe fit the simplified formula I’m investigating in my thesis very well: powersharing + war fatigue = ethnic reconciliation. No discussion of mechanisms at all, although I didn’t really expect such in this type of public forum.
