Foluke's African Skies
Subscribe
Archives
Decolonisation and Legal Knowledge: Out Now!
May 12, 2023
So, I spent most of the lockdown and post lockdown periods in a most "enjoyable" manner... writing a book! Looking back, I have no idea why I decided to...
We Should Stop Researching Sub-Saharan Africa
November 16, 2022
What does Sub-Saharan Africa mean? In practice, ‘Sub-Sahara Africa’ (SSA) refers to all of Africa except the five predominantly Arab states of North Africa...
Reflections on Africa My Africa by David Diop
November 15, 2022
David Léon Mandessi Diop was born in 1927 in Bordeaux, France, to a Senegalese father and a Cameroonian mother. During his literary career, he was a...
Coming soon
November 11, 2022
This is Foluke's African Skies Substack, a newsletter about Africa, Education, law, decolonisation, racism, music. Subscribe now
Foluke Adebisi’s Publications
October 27, 2022
A list of my published materials in chronologically descending order. Do let me know if there is anything you are unable to access. I have…
Corona: Or writing through catastrophe
March 19, 2020
My mind is numb. Pictures, videos, emails, messages and tweets from around the world. Fear, panic, dread, loss and uncertainty. And a…
Black History, Knowledge, Memory & Future II
June 25, 2019
Can this wretched earth learn freedom again?
Black History, Knowledge, Memory & Future I
June 24, 2019
Getting to African Futures by Revisiting African Pasts
Palm Trees in the Snow
September 17, 2018
I am constantly looking for films set in colonial Africa. For some reason they are very rare. I wonder why? There is an old movie starring…
The Meaning of ‘Together’
July 18, 2018
‘Together’ is the rhythm of all African music,
My favourite article of yours.
June 20, 2018
My favourite article of yours.
Museum Talk: Benin Bronzes — a controversial past and present.
May 22, 2018
On the 20th of May 2018, I was invited by the Bristol Museum to give a museum talk about the Benin bronzes on display there. I was…
Writing ‘Africa’
April 30, 2018
Africa and Africans have a long history of being written into darkness. The written word has weighed heavy on us. Used to name and label…
Dancing in African
March 30, 2018
We dance.
The Unfinished Project of Freedom
March 28, 2018
Most freedom movements are unfinished projects. The declarative moment of ending an oppression is not the same as actually ending it.
A Open Letter to Naija Students Coming to the UK
March 26, 2018
[I wrote this while I was doing my Master’s degree: 2007–2008.]
The Middle Passage: or what we lost to the waters
March 19, 2018
The Middle Passage… Such innocent sounding words for a 400-year campaign of catastrophe against African bodies…
Always Remember: Women have inherent value
March 8, 2018
Today is international women’s day. And while I understand why we have to have such a day, it is sometimes hard to celebrate its existence…
What Black Panther & Wakanda Mean to Foluke
February 19, 2018
There are going to be a million think-pieces on Black Panther — negative and many, many positive. I am going to throw mine in the ring…
Where is the World’s Moral Compass? North or South?
February 12, 2018
One of the things we constantly seem to debate is who is right or who is wrong. What side of a argument is morally right? Who holds the…
It Happened … A Long Time Ago
February 6, 2018
Often when we talk about atrocities we perceive to be ‘historical,’ we are presented with one of two views about them. The first is the…
The Making of Shitholes
January 29, 2018
When shithole-gate landed (or opened), the intial furore was about whether the words had been said or not. The debate that followed swiftly…
Foluke’s Blogging Commandments 2018
January 3, 2018
Okay. So we are done with 2017. Thank goodness! That was some year. Despite received knowledge, it was not all bad. Foluke’s African Skies…
The Definition of She
August 14, 2017
She
Joy!
August 3, 2017
‘Each morning redefines impossibility
Love AFRICA
July 27, 2017
Walk down the forested paths of the Congolese forest,
Borderlands and the Colonial
July 27, 2017
Every time I convince myself to stop talking about the colonial, something happens to drag me back. In a way, I suppose my continuous…
Speaking of Africa, Again
July 27, 2017
I read a fascinating article a few days ago, asking whether it was time to change the name of ‘Africa.’ I must admit that after reading it…
Black Women & the Promised Land
July 27, 2017
Black women who overcome draw a line in the sand,
Misogynoir: Did Not Start with Saartjie, Will Not End with Serena
June 15, 2017
This was not an easy one to write. But we must confront our devils and our demons. Silence is how black women die. We fall into the world’s…
Finding My Africa, Finding Myself
March 15, 2017
I have had a fractious relationship with my African identity. I spent a part of my early childhood in the UK. My parents were among that…
A Tribute to My Grandmother
March 8, 2017
When my grandmother was about 13 years old, she was introduced to the man that had been chosen by her parents, for her to marry. Even now…
A Review of the ROOTS Remake
March 3, 2017
‘You can’t buy a slave, you have to make a slave’ Connelly the Foreman on the Waller plantation
I Don’t Want to Hear Another Non-Apology
March 1, 2017
I have been thinking about whether or not to write this for a while. Yoruba people say that you do not comment on everything you see…
I Still Don’t Want to Talk About Racism
February 22, 2017
We cannot end Racism, without speaking about it,
Timbuktu: Site of 1st African University
February 19, 2017
Many Africans and non-Africans believe that the quest for knowledge originated outside the continent. I would like to present the evidence…
A World of Falling Skies & Dominator Culture
February 12, 2017
Women hold up half the sky — Mao Zedong
How & Why Intersectionality Matters
January 3, 2017
I write for young girls of color, for girls who don’t even exist yet, so that there is something there for them when they arrive. Ntozake…
Foluke’s African Skies: 2016’s gone now
December 28, 2016
Summary of 2016
The Ugandan Bridge Schools & Education as Freedom
December 10, 2016
On the 4th of November 2016, a Uganda High Court judge (in the case of Bridge International Academies Ltd v. Attorney General Uganda)…
Decolonization in the 21st Century
December 10, 2016
What is Decolonisation in the 21st Century?
Language in African Education
December 10, 2016
“Let no one be fooled by the fact that we may write in English for we intend to do unheard of things with it.” Chinua Achebe
The 512 Languages Spoken in Nigeria
November 23, 2016
According to Ethnologue 512 languages are spoken in Nigeria. There does, however, seem to be some confusion between dialects and languages…
The Big Chop: Intersecting the personal and the political
October 24, 2016
So I am contemplating ‘The Big Chop’… I have been turning it over in mind for many weeks, months, years… The Big Chop is a cornerstone of…
May We Wake One by One
October 8, 2016
A very good friend of mine used to say that prayer to me. I was quite perplexed the first time I heard her say it. ‘May we wake one by…
We Are Not Yet Free: Nigeria’s Independence Day
September 29, 2016
Every 1st of October , Nigerians celebrate freedom,
I Am More
September 8, 2016
I am more than my skin,
Freedom and Love and Peace
September 2, 2016
oppression is an anchor
Black Women Run with a Million Dreams
August 25, 2016
women of colour run with a million dreams on their backs
Why Black Girls are Magic
August 25, 2016
Dorothy Dandridge dipped one toe into one end of a swimming pool and panic ensued,
Older archives