MeFi Projects

In the past few months, I've been providing answers for the r/askhistorians subreddit, mostly (but not only) to questions about French history. A question about the presence of Africans in France in the late 19th century prompted me to investigate this topic, which has been little studied by academia: there are works on Africans before and after the 19th century, and, for that century, works on Afro-Caribbean people, but not so much on Africa-born residents. So I did a little bit of research and wrote this 8000-word essay which includes a few stories (found in newspapers) about some African people who lived in France in last quarter of the century, decades before African immigration began. [more inside]
posted by elgilito on Aug 27, 2021 - 1 comment

Proud to announce my first collaboration with fellow Mefite glasseyes - we met in an AskMe about textiles and ethnic fashions a few years ago, and this is teh culmination of months of work. Join us in this journey through fabric shops and fashion magazines to see how brands are built through word of mouth and hard work in the informal economy.
posted by infini on Apr 14, 2017 - 5 comments

Dicho Ilunga’s Dancing with Cannibals brings an African perspective to telling the story of the most horrifying chapter in the European colonization of the African continent. [more inside]
posted by morganw on Apr 27, 2015 - 0 comments

The Prepaid Economy: African edition began as a means to track notes on the rise of Africa as an investment opportunity back in January 2010. Today it has over 28,000 readers on Tumblr, engaging an audience of young Afropolitans. We will be beginning a new series of discussion posts where engagement from our readers is encouraged. This Friday (25th January) we will be having our very first moderated conversation and the topic at hand will be “China’s presence in Africa.” If there are any particular article links or thoughts that you would like to see addressed in the discussion, feel free to share them and we’ll be sure to integrate them into the post. We look forward to hearing your input and hosting a productive conversation on the effects of China’s presence in Africa. Your moderator will be Beulah Osueke, currently Masters Degree student at LaSalle University, Philadelphia
posted by infini on Jan 24, 2013 - 0 comments

This is a video about a math camp in Maseno, Kenya, that I've helped coordinate for the last two years. The idea is to give secondary school students a new perspective on mathematics, and expose teachers to activity-based teaching methods. We're aiming to get across the idea that math is about the concepts rather than the drills, understanding rather than mindless computation, beauty rather than grades. The video runs about 13 minutes, but there's a catchy song at the beginning to rope you in and get the idea across more quickly. Finally, there's a blog post here outlining a bit of the work we've been up to this year. [more inside]
posted by kaibutsu on Oct 22, 2012 - 0 comments

A short film documenting my recent trip across the Republic of Mali to record indigenous and regional music. After the kidnappings and murder in Timbuktu in December 2011, I had forfeited all plans to go to the northern half of the country ... until the day I was piled into a 4x4, completely unplanned, and swept away to Timbuktu as the personal guest of a Malian gendarme. This film documents my early work in Mali ... and the utterly unique experiences that awaited me in Timbuktu. [more inside]
posted by mykescipark on Jan 26, 2012 - 1 comment

The idea behind Kids Draw for East Africa is simple - we auction children's art to raise funds for UNICEF to help alleviate the famine in East Africa. [more inside]
posted by johnny novak on Oct 18, 2011 - 4 comments

My book Crossing the Heart of Africa just came out today. It's about retracing the 1898-1900 route of the British explorer Ewart Grogan from South Africa to Sudan. He did it to prove to his girlfriend's stepfather that he was worthy of marriage; I did it in part to dispel my own pre-wedding jitters. So it's an adventure-travel-history-romance-memoir. There's a photo gallery, animated map and excerpt. (For anyone who noticed a strange theme to my AskMe questions over the years - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 - this is why. And thanks!)
posted by gottabefunky on Dec 7, 2010 - 3 comments

Currently based in Nouakchott, Mauritania and armed with a portable digital recorder and a guitar, I'm meeting and recording musicians - Hassinya folk musicians, Puular rappers, and the sometimes spontaneous music that one encounters while walking around the town. [more inside]
posted by iamck on Feb 5, 2009 - 0 comments