CULTURE & ARTS

Asake sold out The O2 in London. Afrobeats is no longer just for the diaspora. It is part of the city's culture.

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 the African diaspora, the idea of “going home” carries enormous emotional weight. For descendants of people displaced through slavery, colonialism or later migration, Africa can represent ancestry, identity and a connection interrupted across generations. In recent years, improved travel links, social media and deliberate outreach from African countries have made that connection increasingly tangible. Ghana's Year of Return brought global attention to the idea in 2019,

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