CULTURE & ARTS

For more than a century, some of Africa's most important cultural objects have been displayed thousands of miles from the societies that created them. Museums across Europe and North America hold sculptures, royal objects, manuscripts, masks and ceremonial works acquired during colonial rule. Some were purchased or exchanged, while others were removed through military expeditions, looting or circumstances in which the balance of power was profoundly unequal. Today, a growing

Across Africa, storytelling has long been more than entertainment. Before histories were recorded in books, communities preserved knowledge through spoken words — passing histories, beliefs, genealogies, music and collective memory from one generation to another. From griots in West Africa to praise poets in Southern Africa, oral traditions have played an important role in documenting societies. Storytellers were not simply performers; many served as historians, cultural guar

Ghana has become one of Africa’s most recognisable destinations for travellers from the global African diaspora. Over the past several years, the country has positioned itself not simply as somewhere to visit, but as a place to reconnect — with history, culture and a contemporary African identity that extends far beyond the traditional tourist experience. Much of that international attention accelerated with the Year of Return in 2019, which marked 400 years since the arrival

Walk into a cultural centre anywhere from Nairobi to Lagos, and you’ll find them staring back at you: masks carved generations ago, their painted eyes still holding whatever story they were made to tell. That’s the thing about African art. It was rarely made just to be looked at. It was made to do something: to protect, to remember, to speak for people who couldn’t. That’s the spirit running through this continent’s cultural heritage, and it’s worth understanding properly, no