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Posts tagged "culture" (Page 3)

Village of Witches

Traditional religion and accusations of witchcraft in West Africa. Centuries after the introduction of Islam and Christianity to Sub-Saharan Africa, traditional religions may have been relegated to the margins in much of the continent but they still have a powerful hold over the culture of many Africans. Traditional religions, or at least elements of them, are often practiced alongside peoples’ professed faith, despite the best efforts of Imams and priests to paint the acts as haram or heretical. However, the…

Next time someone tells you Africans are lazy, send them to Ouagadougou

Its 40C, what do you fancy doing? Sitting in the shade, drinking some ice-cold beer, going for a swim? Work wouldn’t be at the top of your list would it? If you had to work, you’d probably envision some kind of air conditioned environment and a source of ice cubes for your cold drinks. You bone idle slob! What about lugging a pile of granite on your head up a steep slope or swinging a bloody great sledge-hammer all day,…

More shop art from Burkina Faso

The wonders of African shop art. I may be in a small group of weirdo aficionados of African shop art but I can’t get enough of it so here are a few more examples from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, for my fellow weirdos. This was certainly enough to convince me I had to buy a beer in this bar The art form always has to catch up with new technology, though it has to be said that solar panels provide little…

Want to know the meaning of hospitality? Come to Pakistan

A simple list of the things I was given by locals in one day of walking on the streets of Multan in the Punjab, Pakistan will give you a very clear insight into the generosity at the heart of its culture. 1 Orange 1 Fruit juice 1 Bag of pickles 2 Cups of tea (several more refused due to risk of overdose) 1 Gigantic poppadom 1 Chicken Biryani 1 Bottle of Coke 1 Veggie Samosa (obliged to turn down a…

Raving in the name of Allah

The first, deep resonant boom of the bass drum echoed around the courtyard, the cue for the men to begin to stand. The second boom commenced a slow deliberate beat, soon all were standing, swaying, letting the rhythm gently guide their motion. Little by little the beat picked up pace, the dancers responding to its energy until it morphed into an insistent roll and the movements became more agitated. The beat dropped into the breakdown, the piercing, discordant wail of…

I went to Oman and all I got were these bloody doors and a chicken tikka massala.

I’d love to tell you about Omani culture but after ten days in the country I still hadn’t really seen any. If I was significantly more wealthy I would have done, as I could have hired a car and driver to go and find all the wonderful historical places that are denied the pleasure of public transport. Struggling to find any kind of accommodation under $40 a night didn’t leave much of a budget to do anything else, especially after…

Soul of the city: Alexandria, Egypt

Digging under the surface of Egypt’s famous city Probably the most important thing about Egypt’s second city according to its residents, is that it certainly isn’t Cairo. In particular they’ll tell you that it’s not as busy, dirty or noisy as the capital, which might come as a bit of a surprise to a westerner arriving in Alexandria who had yet to see Cairo, for by European standards it is all these things, even if it pales in comparison…

Nine Glimpses of Lebanon

Things aren’t always what you might think they would be in Lebanon 1. The Chevrolet Camaro is a man’s car, a real man’s car. Its muscular solidity just shouts America! at you. There’s no mistaking its form for some limp wristed, feminine, European design. But this is Lebanon, not Buttfuck Tenessee and the driver isn’t a hooch swilling redneck but an immaculately dressed Muslim lady, her head a mass of impossibly elegant hijab folds, a dazzle of shimmering colour. Her…

Divided by similarities in Kurdistan

The people of Iraqi Kurdistan show us that just as much divides Kurdish people as unites them. Trying to decipher the goings on in the Kurdish regions spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran is confusing battle of acronyms: PKK, PYG, PUKD, YPG, KNC etc etc. Each region has its own jumbles of letters representing political parties and military groups, some of whose interests cross borders to link with other groups of capital letters. Sometimes they work together, sometimes they…

Forgotten dreams in Tunisia

The hopes born of the Tunisian revolution seem distant memories now You’ll struggle to find many Tunisians with a good word to say about their government these days. In fact, in five weeks in the country I found precisely none. Students, taxi drivers, businessmen, builders, beggars and more, all had varying tales of dissatisfaction, often bordering on despair of their leaders. Corrupt and self-serving was the general theme of the complaints that have left many in a slump, resigned to…

Tag: culture

Village of Witches

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Next time someone tells you Africans are lazy, send them to Ouagadougou

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More shop art from Burkina Faso

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Want to know the meaning of hospitality? Come to Pakistan

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Raving in the name of Allah

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I went to Oman and all I got were these bloody doors and a chicken tikka massala.

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Soul of the city: Alexandria, Egypt

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Nine Glimpses of Lebanon

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Divided by similarities in Kurdistan

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Forgotten dreams in Tunisia

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