“In 1953, the NAACP denounced Amos 'n' Andy because
its world was “loud, rowdy, and raucous”—and segregated. Only a cynic could have predicted
it at the time, but this would be black television's
burden for the next fifty years: how black is too
black?”
—from Kelefa Sanneh's “Black in the Box”
TRANSITION 88: Table of Contents
DISPATCHES____________________
Out on a Limb
Cripples. Police hate them, local businesses are scared
of them, and their own families will have nothing
to do with them. But if you need to get something
through customs, their tricked-out tricycles may be
your best bet. Michela Wrong reports on Congo's
union of disabled dockworkers.
Little Poland
In 1803, a small group of Polish mercenaries helped
Jean-Jacques Dessalines win the Haitian Revolution.
Two centuries later, their descendants live in a poor
mountain village near Port-au-Prince, dreaming of
repatriation. Riccardo Orizio pays a visit
to Haiti's off-white minority.
POSITION____________________
The TrialIt all began when an Angolan journalist wrote an essay criticizing the country's endless civil war. The government sued for libel, and what followed was both brutal and inept—a surreal odyssey through Angola's legal system. Rafael Marques pens a firsthand account of censorship in southern Africa.
With a report on press freedom in Angola by Yves Sorokobi.
UNDER REVIEW____________________
Black in the BoxFrom Amos 'n' Andy to Martin, from Sanford and Son to Diff'rent Strokes, the history of African Americans on television is a history of segregation and sexual harassment, heartbreaking poverty and interracial adoption. And that's just the comedies. Kelefa Sanneh wonders what's so funny about black TV.
FICTION____________________
Blood for BloodStaring at the son.
By Yvette Christiansë
The Wood of the Moon
Incense and sensibility.
By Abdulrazak Gurnah
People love to hate Hanif Kureishi. The man who reinvented British literature has been assailed by militant Muslims, peevish feminists, and just about everyone elsehis aunt once called him a “poofter.” Amitava Kumar talks to the author of My Son the Fanatic about sodomy, punk rock, and other British hobbies.
Ready to Wear
Everybody in Mali knows the drill. First you get decked
out in your best clothes. Then you select a prop:
a radio, a motorcycle, maybe a sheep. And then—if you're lucky—Malick Sidibé takes
your picture. Michelle Lamunière talks
with him about the sincerest form of flattery.