Stories about Arts & Culture from March, 2019
A magical image of a Carnival stilt-walker asserts the legitimacy of public breastfeeding in Trinidad & Tobago
"Eating in public spaces is normal and natural regardless of whether you’re eating off of a plate, a banana leaf or your mother’s breasts."
A Brazilian funk DJ was sentenced to prison, but many believe his musical genre made him a target
"I think the racial issue, and the issue of inequality and historical prejudice, are all implicit in those charges."
Colombian social networks rally behind a local street poet fined for ‘trafficking poems’
Jesús Espicasa's story made waves on Colombian social networks, sparking a nationwide debate about the role of poetry in public life.
‘Representation is not feeling different when I read or see something,’ says scriptwriter of comic with black lead character
"It is my existence not being tied only to slavery, as schools seem to say and TV shows repeat. It is feeling part of the world on an equal footing."
Website fighting against body-shaming proves Carnival is for #everyBODY
"Thanks to masqueraders like Candice Santana and our followers, we can shed a different light on what true representation of masqueraders looks like."
Biryani Stories: How Dhaka’s Biryani went from being the food of the elites to the dish everyone eats
After a period of Mughal rule in the greater Indian subcontinent, many foods were added to Bengal's culinary culture, including the delicious Biryani of Dhaka.
Hundreds gather in Nigeria to mourn professor Pius Adesanmi: ‘A juggernaut of African thought’
"A thousand years from now, I am hoping that fragments of my writing survive: not all accepted to live as slaves of the most irresponsible rulers of their era."
Teen theatre production banned by Russian authorities for promoting ‘non-traditional family relations’
Russia has recently passed a series of socially conservative laws targeting activists, advocacy groups and online media for anything that can be construed as "promoting homosexuality to minors."
#ViernesTradicional highlights and safeguards Mexico's rich cultural diversity found in clothing
A social media campaign celebrates Mexico's rich cultural diversity found in traditional clothing and raises awareness to protect against threat of plagiarism.
Carnival may bring out latent body-shaming in Trinidad & Tobago, but this masquerader is having none of it
"My band ran a campaign endorsing all sizes, shapes and shades. This excited me on many levels because truth be told we are a body shaming society."
Nigerians grieve the death of Pius Adesanmi, postcolonial scholar and public intellectual
"A towering intellectual with a mind that cut through issues like a scalpel who still remained curious about the issues of a younger would-be thinker ..."
A palace on stilts: Guyanese novelist Wilson Harris returns to life in Trinidad & Tobago's Carnival
"Everywhere in Harris’ book we are asked to look up. At the sky, at the sun, at houses built on stilts."
Carnival in Brazil looked extra orange this year as people protested ‘Bolsogate’ scandal
In Brazil, the Portuguese word for orange, "laranja,” is also slang for intermediaries of fraudulent financial schemes.
For the love of language: The first book of stories printed in Mro language
Bangladeshi organization prints first book in Mro language to support the growth of indigenous languages.