Art & Culture

Art & CultureReligion

Pope Leo’s Africa tour underscores continent’s rising weight in global Catholicism

Africa’s rising Catholic population frames Pope Leo’s tour amid conflict, inequality and questions of church leadership
A man wearing a white cassock and zucchetto sits in a high-backed chair while holding a sheet of paper.
Art & CultureTechnology sector

The sound of the scam — how Afrobeats became a moral text for cybercrime

A study of 40 Afrobeats songs finds their lyrics actively rationalise cybercrime, dehumanise victims, and frame fraud as divine favour
A group of young people dancing at a crowded nighttime event.
Art & Culture

Joshua Baraka tops Spotify charts in Uganda as Nigerian artists dominate

Joshua Baraka outperforms Davido and Kendrick Lamar on Uganda's Spotify charts, but West African dominance persists across albums and artists; a closer look at the numbers
The Spotify logo displayed on a television screen in a darkened room, illuminated by green ambient backlighting with a game controller visible in the foreground.
Art & CultureDigital EconomyTechnology sector

Why news influencers matter more in Africa than Europe – and what that means for journalism

Traditional news outlets dominate legacy platforms like Facebook, but face growing competition from creators on video-heavy networks like TikTok and Instagram
A close-up of a smartphone displaying social media icons on its screen.
Art & Culture

Which African countries are prospering? Scientists have devised a new method of measuring well-being

Psychologists and social scientists have recently started focusing on the idea of 'flourishing', which is defined as a sense of well-being that goes beyond mere happiness or success
Four young men walking down a road in Kampala
Art & Culture

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o taught me three things: that language matters, that stories are universal and that Africa can thrive

The celebrated Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o passed away on 28 May. While many tributes and obituaries have been written, we wanted to learn more about Ngũgĩ himself and his thoughts, so we sought out a leading scholar of his work
An elderly man smilles while he stands reading at a dais
Art & Culture

The unchecked power of Africa’s pastors

The last 20 years have seen an unprecedented rise of charismatic Pentecostal prophets in Africa and their unchecked influence on social, economic, and political institutions
Nigeria's TB Joshua preaching in Mexico in 2015. Three years after his death, a BBC investigation in January 2024 accused the world-famous televangelist and Pentecostal pastor of rape, torture and abuse of his followers over a 20-year period.
Art & Culture

From Buganda’s queen to Tanzania’s master: 4 must-read books from East Africa in 2023

In her memoir, published earlier this year, the Nnaabagereka recounts her journey from New York, where she spent most of her childhood, to her unconventional courtship with the Kabaka
The Nnaabagereka, Sylvia Nagginda Luswata, left, and the US Ambassador to Uganda, Natalie Brown, at the launch of the Nnaabagereka's autobiography, March 2023
Art & CultureTravel & Tourism

Nyege Nyege keeps on dancing, too fast for the moral police — and terrorists(?)

Annual music festival returns, with moral hysteria and bans replaced by terror warnings
A performance stage at the Nyege Nyege festival in Bujagali, Jinja, October 2015