I was in Chicago last week for the African Studies Association Meeting at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers. Walking around on a windy night in downtown Chicago, looking up at the tall buildings in the foggy night, I had the feeling that I was on a movie set. I remembered reading somewhere that Gotham City… Read More »
After 10 months in West Africa (Nigeria, Bénin, Togo), I am back in Germany. I did not have much time for blogging during the 10 months cos I was moving around a lot, cos I did not have very reliable internet connection, and cos my work did not allow me to spend so much time… Read More »
My time in Benin came to an end a couple of weeks ago, and I left the cute, not-even-anyway-near-as-rowdy-as-Lagos-but-busy-enough-to-be-called-a-city Cotonou. I spent a couple of days in Lagos and then went to the University of Nigeria Nsukka for some work. That was my second time in southeastern Nigeria and I decided to go by road… Read More »
October last year I was at the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart. There is a floor dedicated to Africa, and a tiny section of that floor has some items from Nigeria. I took some pictures of the items. Who remembers/recognises the items in the pictures below?
I decided this morning to quit Facebook. I agree that it has its uses, but it recently struck me that there are probably more people – my facebook ‘friends’ – who have access to information about me than I would normally want. So yesterday I started restricting access to my profile information. But then I… Read More »
It is always interesting to speak Yoruba with Beninese Yoruba speakers. I – like most Nigerian Yoruba speakers – don’t speak Yoruba without code-mixing, and the other language in the mélange is almost always English. Therefore, when I am speaking with a Beninese Yoruba speaker, I am very careful not to add in English words.… Read More »
Here in Cotonou, the easiest way – and in many ways the most practical way – to get around is by Zemidjan, the commercial motorcycle operators. Today, on my way from the market, the Zem rider tried to dodge another one on the new Honda Grom, realized that he was going to run into a… Read More »
Image via Wikipedia The topic used to be taboo in Germany… mere mention of the name even gets people cringing. But it seems the Germans are learning to deal with their history. I just heard the news that some German movie makers are making a film of Hitler’s early years. They are even naming the… Read More »
While in Ilorin last weekend I asked my friends about the tourist attractions in the city. They told me that there was one museum, which was not opened on a Satruday. Above is a picture of a part of the museum – The Moremi Ajasoro National Museum Hair-Do Centre. And oh yea, the other important… Read More »
First some cases I had been thinking about writing about this for a while, but due to work I have not had the time to do it, until now, that is. I got to Nigeria to learn that a friend who got married and whose wife gave birth while I was away was a wife… Read More »