“If there was no longer a monumental force of evil named apartheid in the new South Africa, there was no massive countervailing force of good, either. Witches flourished.”

—from Adam Ashforth's “The Soweto Witch Project”

 

TRANSITION 81/82: Table of Contents

 

DISPATCHES____________________

Pilgrims
In the forests of Northern Thailand, a band of Buddhist nuns embarks on a spiritual journey—to the antiseptic confines of the city morgue. Faith Adiele reflects on race, decay, and the importance of being afraid.

Citizens of Sorrow
One hundred years after the Italians colonized Somalia, the Somalis are colonizing Italy. It's not easy: they have to reckon with racist airlines, zealous immigration officers, and sleazy couriers. The lucky ones subsist in dingy apartments, getting high and killing time. Nuruddin Farah visits the bastards of empire.

MEMOIRS____________________

The Soweto Witch Project
Democracy in South Africa has brought economic opportunity and crack cocaine, a cultural renaissance and a crime wave. It's also brought witchcraft: the sorcery rate has skyrocketed, and faith healers have all but declared a state of emergency. Adam Ashforth tells the story of his best friend Madumo, a man possessed.

On Packing My Library
To a young boy who dreamed of becoming a writer, coming of age in Mexico meant guns, human sacrifice, and a shadowy Jewish paramilitary organization called Bitakhon. More than anything else, it meant coming to America. Ilan Stavans revisits a life in literature.

POSITIONS____________________

Black Fascism
When Marcus Garvey claimed he had inspired Benito Mussolini, was he proud—or just jealous? When the rapper Ice Cube espouses racial separatism and then makes a movie with George Clooney, is he a hypocrite—or just a race man? Paul Gilroy considers the demagogues of the black diaspora.

The Emperor Mobutu
When Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga fled Zaire, he left behind a shattered empire of toilet seats, plastic antiques, and predatory soldiers. How did Africa's last mythic tyrant come to such an inglorious end? Michela Wrong rummages through the great dictator's detritus.

UNDER REVIEW____________________

Hate Crimes
After genocide, what? In Rwanda, survivors and killers, Tutsi and Hutu, grapple with the aftershocks. But can Rwanda's Tutsi leadership put peace before vengeance? Should they? Rene Lemarchand rethinks truth and reconciliation in Rwanda.

FICTION____________________

Street of Lost Footsteps
A man, a madman, a city in flames.
By Lyonel Trouillot

SPECIAL SELECTION____________________

The Latin Sound
Before Jennifer Lopez, there was the mambo mania of the 1950s—and before that, the rumba craze of the 1920s. It's like clockwork: for every generation, a Latin invasion. Tim Brennan charts the legacy of Alejo Carpentier, godfather of Cuban soul.

Music in Cuba
Rumberas and Haitian refugees. Yoruba priests and Creole bandleaders. Salon dancers and sailors. Free blacks and modernist poets. The story of Cuban music is the story of the Americas: a tiny island nation became a cauldron of invention. In this never-before-translated work, the late Alejo Carpentier reconstructs the world the slaves made in Cuba.

Cuban Music: A Beginner's Guide
By Timothy Brennan

PORTFOLIO____________________

A Fraction of Time
“When Zimbabwe's National Gallery first requested submissions for an exhibition of local photography, the response was overwhelming, especially in the townships. People came to the gallery from miles around, many of them for the first time; they brought photographs wrapped in milk bags and handkerchiefs and presented them with cautious confidence . . .”
Compiled by Yvonne Vera

CONVERSATION____________________

John Brown's Body
Conscientious objector? Religious fanatic? Freedom fighter? Crypto-fascist? On the two hundredth anniversary of John Brown's birth, Russell Banks assesses the legacy of Harper's Ferry. Plus: a never-before-published conversation with James Baldwin on John Brown and the problem with white folks.

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