Njeri Wangari is the Global Voices Regional co-Editor for Sub-Saharan Africa. She is a poet, writer and communications specialist who frequently writes on Africa, technology, internet culture and the arts.
Latest posts by Njeri Wangari
World Record Store Day: These Kenyan DJs are keeping the art of vinyl alive in the digital age
Kenya’s vinyl collectors community has reimagined the day they come together to share in the joy of buying, collecting and listening to all manner of Vinyl records.
Shagz Chronicles: The Kenyan podcast that wants you to fall in love with the Kikuyu language and culture
Translation of the Kikuyu language continues to be a major challenge. Shagz Chronicles wants to normalize both the oral and written Kikuyu in everyday life, both online and off.
Africa's heritage restitution debate extends to audio and visual archives
Unlike artifacts whose functionality and value do not depend on the medium they can be accessed through, visual and sound recordings are subject to the vagaries of technology.
Feminist music icons from around Africa to celebrate this International Women's Day
Whether it is speaking out against sexual abuse, female genital mutilation (FGM), celebrating sexual identity, or promoting gender equality, to these African feminist singers, music is the ultimate weapon.
Seven African comics and graphic novels that center Black experiences are being adapted to film
While locally produced superhero comics written by Africans for Africans have been gaining fandom since the late 1980s, the popularity of African comics skyrocketed in 2016.
From the Nyayo car to the Opibus, Kenya’s motor innovation and manufacturing history
Cars are often seen as the ultimate symbol of a nation's industrial development. Opibus is the latest in a long line of homegrown automobile manufacturers in Kenya.
As Kenyans prepare for a general election, how will officials combat fake news?
Is this election likely to be any different? These fact-checking startups have recently stepped up their efforts to counter fake news and prevent a hijack of Kenya's democracy.
These podcasters are carrying African Languages into the new audio world
When it comes to podcasting language, English is the dominant choice for many African podcasters due to its broad appeal at both a continental and global level
July 7 declared World Kiswahili Language Day: A new project seeks to better understand present day dialectal variations in Swahili
"Our hope is also for Swahili to be celebrated in its complexity — with its many varieties and dialects, with the diverse groups of Swahili speakers..." –The Project Team.
How ‘Squid Game’ hijacked Halloween and a traditional Kenyan wedding ceremony
Despite the criticism that the series has received for its violence and gore, it has unquestionably become a global cultural phenomenon, exporting Korean pop culture to the world.
How Namadingo is uniting generations of Malawian musicians through Reggae duet mashups
The duets have also introduced younger fans to an older generation of musicians, including Giddes Chalamanda, the oldest living legend in Malawian music today.
Preserving Africa’s musical heritage by combining traditional folk music with modern sounds
There has been a lot of renewed interest among African musicologists, historians, and enthusiasts to record, digitize, and archive traditional music and ancient sounds from indigenous communities in Africa.
Khaby Lame exposes Italy’s citizenship flaws and the plight of Black content creators on TikTok
Lame’s rise to stardom comes at a time when, for every Black TikTok sensation like him, there are several white influencers on the app that are making far more money.
#FreeRebecca: Global Voices Sub-Saharan Africa condemns the arbitrary arrest and detention of Cameroon’s tech leader Rebecca Enonchong
Global Voices Sub-Saharan Africa demands the unconditional release of Rebecca Enonchong from detention.
These African animators are saving their native languages using cartoons
Animation is an effective way of teaching young Africans life skills and languages that are often not taught in schools, as most African governments adopt official languages while discouraging native ones.
How ‘Yasuke’ offers a new perspective on the history and current relations of Africans in Japan
The revelation that an actual African Samurai did indeed exist has triggered important conversations about his origins and the experience of the African diaspora in Japan today.
Privacy and IP concerns as Kenyans find new ways to cash in on their internet fame
However, concerns are arising regarding the right to privacy, copyright legalities, value to content creators, and the unintended consequences of such overnight fame and success
Netflix’s new series on Yasuke, the African samurai, is a new dawn for Black characters in animation
Rather than a biography of the African Samurai, the a six-part series takes the void of knowledge post-1582 as a starting point to a re-imagined alternate reality and fantastical story.
These female African content creators are using TikTok for more than just dance videos
These women are showing that TikTok has the potential to become the Twitter of its generation -- a medium for discussion about pertinent issues, in ways that prompt real-life action and change.
Kenya’s chaotic COVID-19 vaccine roll out exposes rich-poor divide
Businessmen and politicians have found a way to get the jab early while poor, elderly Kenyans wait in long lines.
Kenyan activists intimidated as irked citizens stage online protest against IMF loans
Using hashtags #StopLoaningKenya and #StopGivingKenyaLoans, Kenyans expressed frustration at the IMF for approving additional debt intended to fund a response to COVID-19. State intimidates social media users to quit dissent.
