· September, 2007

Stories about Ethnicity & Race from September, 2007

Trinidad & Tobago: Talking with Filmmaker Frances-Anne Solomon

  30 September 2007

Trinidad-born Frances-Anne Solomon is a blogger and award winning filmmaker who has just completed her most recent project, A Winter Tale. Set in the violent downtown Toronto community of Parkdale, the story begins with the gathering of a black men’s support group, which was formed after a bullet meant for...

Morocco: Berbers can be blonde

  30 September 2007

Major media outlets and bloggers went into a frenzy a few days ago when a blurry photograph taken by a Spanish tourist in Morocco's Rif mountain region showed a small blonde girl bearing a strong resemblance to missing British child Madeleine McCann perched on the back of a Moroccan woman. As it turns out, the photo was not of Maddie but of a 2-year-old Moroccan girl. What do Moroccans think of this matter? Jillian York has the story.

Ramadaning in Kuwait

  24 September 2007

Ramadan, food and shopping were top priorities among Kuwaiti bloggers last week. Abdullatif AlOmar takes us on a tour of Kuwaiti blogs which include a shopping trip at a hypermarket where even the shampoo looks interesting when you are fasting!

Ukraine: The Language Issue

  23 September 2007

Victor Yanukovych's Party of the Regions is pushing for a referendum on granting Russian official status as a national language, in addition to Ukrainian. Below is a selection of views on the "language issue" from the Ukrainian blogosphere.

Japan: Nuclear Power and Discrimination

  22 September 2007

An English translation of an interview with Koide Hiroaki, a researcher and long-time anti-nuclear power activist, has been posted at gyaku. Mr. Koide talks about how he joined the movement against nuclear power in Japan 40 years ago, the contrast between the dream of nuclear power and the reality, and...

Confronting Euro-American media biases against Africa

  21 September 2007

Malawian blogger on africa-aphukira (African Rebirth), Steven Sharra, chronicles serious biases by Euro-American media and scholars against Africa in not crediting the recent archeological finding to a Kenyan palentologist, Fredrick Manthi. He writes, "The question for us now becomes how to move beyond the cliché that describes the blatant anti-Africa biases not only in the EuroAmerican media, but also in the entire knowledge enterprise. "

Europe: Romani Culture

  18 September 2007

TOL's Romantic writes about Lojze Podobnik, a Slovenian author whose works focus on Romani culture. Pesha's Blog links to Professor Steve Balkin's compilation of online resources on Romani culture.

Moldova: Transnistria

  18 September 2007

Douglas Muir of A Fistful of Euros writes about Transnistria, “a sort of post-Communist gangster state”: “Travellers unanimously agree that Transnistria is weirdly fascinating for the first hour or two, then just depressing and boring.”

Iranian bloggers stirred over cockroach cartoon

  18 September 2007

About a week ago, a Chicago newspaper, The Colombus Dispatch, published a cartoon that depicts Iran as a sewer with cockroaches crawling out of it. The cartoon has created intense discussion among Iranian bloggers, especially those living in North America. Iranians as cockroaches Iranian Truth says, it is no small...

Lebanon: Maids Abused

  14 September 2007

Sursock and UrShalim posted excerpts and links to reports of cases of abuse as well as dire working conditions that some maids from Africa experience while working in Lebanon.