Afropolitan

[3] Originally published in March 2005 in the Africa Issue of the LIP Magazine,[4] the essay defines an Afropolitan identity, sensibility and experience.

It was a contribution to an essay collection entitled Africa Remix – Contemporary Art of a Continent [9] that accompanied a touring exhibition of the same name.

Movement (to, from and across the continent) and encounters naturally lead to Afropolitanism’s essential characteristic: a “broad-mindedness”, which enables creative and critical thinking with relevance for local and global contexts.

[9] After the circulation of Selasi and Mbembe’s essays on Afropolitanism, the term has gained visibility mainly through the literary works of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Teju Cole, NoViolet Bulawayo and a few other celebrity authors.

[20] Ade Bantu is the co-creator of the monthly concert series Afropolitan Vibes which holds at Freedom Park Lagos, Nigeria.

[10] But more variety can be found: Birgit Neumann's essay on Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor's novel Dust addresses the almost entirely overlooked circulation of Africans inside of Africa.