Motherhood and the possibility of becoming pregnant is a major difference between women and men and yet, or perhaps therefore, it is also a concept that every Tom, Dick and Harry judges women by. We hear the accusations so often we are numb to them. Comments like; you aren’t “mom enough” if you don’t breastfeed your child [...]

Even in a society were polygamy is practiced, with twenty-seven wives, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti—one of the greatest men to have lived—had unusually many women in his life. But there are two particular women that the Fela story wouldn’t be complete without. His mother, women’s rights champion Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti and Sandra Izsadore, his lady, and the woman who [...]

From May 22 – 24, the OpenForum 2012 in Cape Town will provide an unprecedented opportunity for activists, academics, businesspeople and policy-makers to take a critical look at the factors that will influence the African democracy and governance agenda over the next decade, debate the paradox of unequal growth and turn innovative ideas into action [...]

                                            On Sunday, I will be presenting a photographic and discursive journey of fashion history in Africa to explore and incorporate into our social and political memory ideas of womanhood through looking at fashion. We [...]

Three of my pidgin/brokin English poems have been featured in a new anthology titled ‘IF YU HIE SE A DE PRIZIN’’ (Antoloji of puem-dem fo Naija) edited by Edwin Eriata Oribhabor This anthology contains 93 poems and themes of the poems span all fields of human endeavour; love, politics, the environment, corruption and the Niger Delta [...]

Beyonce was crowned most beautiful woman in the world by People Magazine this week and that resurfaced the skin colour topic with many debating whether the light skinned Beyonce is an accurate representation of “Black Beauty”. The skin colour conversation is important, crucial even, for similar reasons that I think we should upkeep the hair conversation. [...]

Cross-Post with Black Feminists UK and Honestly Abroad We the undersigned women of African /African descent and  our supporters, which include anti-racist activists, scholars community leaders and Faith leaders wish to address the Swedish  Venus Hottentot Cake Incident.  First, we commend our Swedish friends and colleagues, and those from the African-Swedish Diaspora for their substantial contribution to [...]

I don’t tend to get surprised about racist acts, at least not when it’s so stereotypical as this whole tragic ordeal with the Swedish culture minister eating a cake of what is supposed to be a mutilated African woman. As a mixed race person I’ve experienced racism from the places where it possibly chafes the [...]

Supporters keh. Forget this country. How many year have you lived here?… Your English is better than the Queen’s and they still call you… I’m looking forward to my upcoming theatre date with bloggers @IamIola and @IamNicholeBlack. We are heading to the Royal Court Theatre to see the new play by Bola Agbaje, writer of [...]

In the unlikely case that you missed actress Ashley Judd’s smashing op-ed piece on media’s misogynist practices, then start by reading it here. It’s truly a landmark piece in its bringing to the mainstream forefront both the f-word (feminism) and the p-word (patriarchy) and the ways in which the latter impacts relationships not only between [...]

Last week, Joyce Banda became the second female head of state in Africa. This kind of development is significant for the continent. Not only is Banda female, which accounts for progress in more equally gendered leadership, but she’s also got a solid background which should help get Malawi out of the economic and political mess [...]

I’m looking forward to attending the LAGOS BLACK HERITAGE FESTIVAL this week, which this year is mapping out the black African presence in the Mediterranean with a cultural exploration of the Afro-Italian connection. Nigerian connections with Italy appear to go back a long way! Amongst other things the festival will highlight similarities between the Italian Commedia dell’Arte, and the [...]

When I posted an article somewhat up against hair weaves some weeks ago, one of my close friends was in a salon getting a weave. In fact she was reading the post as the hair was getting sewn. Later on that night when we met up, I was expecting to see a woman feeling fly off [...]

Upon hearing the term African feminist, many African men and women will say, we as Africans don’t need feminism, we just need to return to our roots to see that there was harmony between the genders. The first problem with such a statement is that Africa is not that simple. African pasts are complex and [...]

The power of an image became viscerally clear to me recently when I changed my blog profile photo. In the previous one I had this sassy don’t-mess-with-me look, which I do sometimes like to sport in “real” life, but I’m much better represented in this new one. It surprised me that I felt so relieved [...]

The choice to use the term feminist to describe a significant part of my personality is greatly because, although it’s not a fashionable term, it’s the one that describes the inner revolution caused by the anger, or rage even, and the sadness that I feel about our world being often detrimentally defined by “his-story”. And [...]

The WOW – Women of the World festival returns to the UK’s largest arts centre, Southbank Centre, on Thursday 8th of March coinciding with International Women’s Day. Throughout history, many women’s achievements have gone unnoticed or unsung. I created WOW – Women of the World Festival to celebrate the formidable power of women to make [...]

Sex Havelock Ellis, one of the most successful sexologists of the 20th century believed that sexual intercourse between men and women was based on animal courtship which he defined as “the pursuit and conquest of the male”. The female, he said, plays a game where she pretends to resist in order to be caught. He [...]

I’m participating in BE.BOP 2012- BLACK EUROPE BODY POLITICS, an international screening program and transdisciplinary roundtable on Black European citizenship in connection to recent moving image and performative practices. My presentation is on race, sisterhood and citizenship. BE.BOP 2012 aims at facilitating a long-term exchange between specialists and time-based art practitioners of different contexts and [...]

Starting with the words of Indian professor Homi K Bhabha who said: Our existence today is marked by a tenebrous sense of survival, living on the borderlines of the ‘present’, for which there seems to be no proper name other than the current and controversial shiftiness of the prefix ‘post’: postmodernism, postcolonialism, postfeminism… Another post-prefix that feels [...]

It’s been a few months since the last MsAfropolitan Boutique Interview (with Jessica Huie of Colorblind Cards) and I’m delighted to resume the series. In case it’s your first time here, the MsAfropolitan Boutique is an online shop launched as a tribute to the African Women’s Decade 2010 – 2020 and selling design made by [...]

January is turning out to be a fashionable month over here. First I blogged about Afropolitan fashion then my shoot with Essentials Magazine then the new MsAfropolitan Boutique website and NOW my first attempt at fashion blogging! After agreeing to the Remedi sponsoring this post, I got quite stressed about it. I don’t necessarily love being in front of [...]

Launched as a tribute to the African Women’s Decade 2010 – 2020, The MsAfropolitan Boutique celebrates the entrepreneurship of Africa and diaspora women as a one-stop shop for fashion, accessories, art and gift collections made by women of African heritage. In 2011, it was featured in the Huffington Post, catchavibe, SOAS World Magazine, Women of the [...]

Occasionally I worry I’ll hurt my mum with some of the stuff that I write about white people, or that my dad will be offended by my criticism of African men. Then I visit them in Lagos and I’m reminded of how, and why, my concerns are completely unnecessary. They expected, and are pleased, with [...]

I was recently featured in Essentials magazine in an article about women whose style reflects who they are. Here are some photos from the shoot. How would you describe your style? Who are your favourite African designers? Anything else fashion related come to mind?_______________________________ MsAfropolitan is the blog of Minna Salami, writer and commentator on [...]

When it comes to the ongoing protests and the labour strike in Nigeria it isn’t easy to get a clear perspective of the situation without being in the country. There are many articles by journalists and bloggers who unfortunately aren’t bothering to understand the contextual particularities of the bombings and of the #OccupyNigeria protests. As [...]

When we look back at Afropolitanism in the future, 2011 will certainly stick out as a landmark year. It was the year the Afropolitan movement reached both virtual and actual spaces that define global culture. For example, Afropolitanism got a wikipedia listing. ARISE, the magazine that brought Afropolitanism to the mainstream, hosted ARISE Nigeria Fashion [...]

Dear reader, On January 1st I wrote a post titled 7 ways to love yourself more in 2011. I didn’t have any specific new year’s resolutions but rather ongoing aspirations like learning to trust my intuition, to keep enjoying and exploring sex, to be financially astute etc., things that contribute to loving myself more. And loved [...]

Since 1960 Nigeria has had no more than eleven years of unbroken civilian rule. Out of those, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) now led by Goodluck Jonathan has held a tight grip on power whilst barely contributing to any growth. Shell has just admitted that thousands of barrels of oil have spilt in the Bonga oil leak, the worst [...]

I’m pleased to share that the first edition of the MsAfropolitan Mixtapes is here. Courtesy of Broadcite Music, an esteemed independent label committed to creating unique sounds for the musically aware, we are going on an Afropolitan ride from Ghana to South Africa fusing highlife, juju, afrobeat and more with Detroit House and the edgy beats of underground London. [...]