Chimurenga Chronic

In order to increase awareness of the art scenes and cultural debates in African countries, the Federal Cultural Foundation is cooperating with the art and cultural magazine “Chimurenga” for the first time as part of its new focus on Africa.

Launched in 2002 by Ntone Edjabe and winner of the internationally renowned Prince Claus Award, Chimurenga boast a wide circulation in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. It is widely recognized as a one of the most interesting pan-African publications of a new generation of African intellectuals which addresses subjects related to art, pop, politics and cultural theory. In his review of Chimurenga for the Financial Times, Simon Kuper wrote, “I'd always thought the zenith of journalism was The New Yorker, but in parts, Chimurenga is better. Perhaps Chimurenga is art, or else it’s just as good. (…) Edjabe has found something that print does better than the Internet: long-form journalism.”
Its publisher and editorial team develop new editorial models and approaches for each new issue. For example, issue 14 (2009) resembled a book manuscript, while issue 15 (2010) came in the form of a collection of research materials. In addition to their journalistic work, the Chimurenga team has initiated a number of projects, e.g. the Chimurenga Library, an online archive of independent journals from African countries, the online radio project Pan-African Space Station (PASS) and the African Cities Reader, a journal about urban life in Africa, published every two years.

Chimurenga Chronic

The new publication Chimurenga Chronic was developed in 2013. The English-language gazette is distributed and marketed in Cape Town, Lagos, Nairobi and several European cities. Each issue comes with its own literary supplement titled “Chronic Books”. The Chimurenga Chronic is produced in cooperation with the Federal Cultural Foundation and the Goethe-Institut in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The latest issue of the Chimurenga Chronic (autumn 2016), explores ideas around mythscience, science fiction and graphic storytelling. Like previous editions of the Chronic, this edition is borne out of an urgent need to write our world differently – beyond the dogma of growth and development.

A german edition of the Chronic appeared in autumn 2016 and spring 2014 as a supplement to the Magazine (opens in a new window) of the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

For an overview of all the past issues, visit the Chronic archive (external link, opens in a new window).