Tessera
Folgen

Charl Blignaut

@poptartology.bsky.social

Writer, reader, editor, poptart, flaming queer.

220 Posts171 Follower141 Folgt
Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 3d ago

"Instead of merely stating 'sex work is work', my research identifies the labour processes that differentiate digital and traditional sex work. This is to argue for how labouring on digital sexual spaces is a legitimate form of gig economy work." - Phiwokazi Qoza theconversation.com/onlyfans-in-...

OnlyFans in South Africa: what creators say about sex work, personal safety and the gig economy

While some creators proudly embrace the label of sex worker, many others reject it outright.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · last wk.

"In many ways, my book is about the encounter between skyrocketing land prices caused by Nairobi’s expansion and a terrain of land poverty that has its roots in British colonial rule, something that was never rectified after independence." by Peter Lockwood theconversation.com/nairobis-exp...

Nairobi’s expansion is swallowing up rural land: new book reveals the impacts on families

Urbanisation is experienced through growing tensions within families over precious yet meagre plots of land.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 3w ago

"Prayer camps challenge stereotypes of African cities as deficient and Nigerian cities as sites of religious conflict. They provide viable urban alternatives to Lagos, fostering coexistence and everyday forms of conviviality. " - Marloes Janson theconversation.com/along-nigeri...

Along Nigeria’s ‘spiritual highway’, prayer camps create a new urban future

The vast prayer camps challenge stereotypes of Nigerian cities as chaotic, dysfunctional, and driven by religious tension.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 3w ago

"It would be too simple to read this restitution solely through the lens of former coloniser versus formerly colonised. That decolonial framing has real merit ... but it can also obscure internal power relations." - Maurizio Esposito La Rossa theconversation.com/returning-bo...

Returning bones to Madagascar doesn’t just right a colonial wrong: why a royal skull still has power

Royal relics in Madagascar confer legitimacy on rulers.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 4w ago

"The experiments with genre and language continue: today, you can hear English, Yoruba and Nigerian Pidgin being creatively mixed in popular music genres such as Afrobeat, fuji and rap, as well as in Nollywood films and fiction blogs." By Karin Barber theconversation.com/how-lagos-pi...

How Lagos pioneers built a vibrant Yoruba print culture in the 1920s – at the height of colonialism

English was imposed as Nigeria’s official language, but the British had no way of controlling what people did with it.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · last mo.

"Its ability to draw from other musical influences and morph into different forms while maintaining its identity is the reason the music endures and is starting to go global." theconversation.com/zed-beats-ho...

Zed Beats: how home studios reinvented Zambian pop music and gave young people a voice

Zed Beats artists aren’t known for political songs, but they’ve become so popular that they’re used to mobilise voters during elections.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · last mo.

"In my own ongoing research, I have heard of powerful music professors or teachers who abused their students. Of male orchestral players and conductors forcing themselves onto women players. Of teachers trading in manipulation and humiliation." theconversation.com/abuse-and-si...

Abuse and silence in South Africa’s classical music culture: what a student’s story reveals

Not even the #MeToo movement and a reckoning with sexual abuse could rupture the sound-proof walls of South African classical music.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"The question of whether Bastian Schweinsteiger is a racist or not is not the crucial one ... The key question is rather why these stereotypes are repeatedly expressed in football and why, for many, they seem to reflect reality rather than appear problematic." theconversation.com/racism-at-th...

Racism at the World Cup is an ugly reality. How to understand where it comes from

Tired colonial tropes paint Africans as untamed, unrestrained, and lacking in intelligence.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"Western society has developed in a context that often seeks to define and establish separate religious and secular aspects of life. But, African knowledge systems generally treat what we might call science, religion, medicine and art as parts of a unified whole." theconversation.com/what-ghanas-...

What Ghana’s World Cup ‘juju man’ tells us about sport and spirituality in Africa

Although it may seem strange to westerners, soccer and esoteric rituals go hand in hand in Africa.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"The translation demonstrates that African languages are not simply vehicles for local experience; they are capable of engaging the most complex works of world literature while bringing new meanings to them." by Tinashe Mushakavanhu theconversation.com/ulysses-in-i...

Ulysses in isiZulu: why an African translation of the classic Irish novel matters in today’s world

Writers from very different places can grapple with the same questions.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"This mixing and matching is locally described as “religious shopping”. According to the hundreds of self-identified religious shoppers I’ve interviewed over the past 15 years, those seeking health and wealth cannot afford to be picky." - Dr Marloes Janson theconversation.com/shopping-for...

Shopping for God in Lagos: what is Chrislam?

To secure health and wealth, many people combine elements from different religious traditions. One such movement is Chrislam.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"As South Africa became remote as a physical presence, however, it gained presence in the poetics of Ibrahim’s sound and discourse. These early years of his absence from South Africa present the lesser known corners of his musical career." theconversation.com/abdullah-ibr...

Abdullah Ibrahim in the 1960s: how the famous pianist began to shape an African jazz sound

In exile, he imagined a different Africa in his music, while being exposed to new realities abroad.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"Long before the first Phoenician ships sailed the western Mediterranean, communities in what is now Morocco were farming and herding animals. They were also crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and participating in long-distance exchanges." theconversation.com/moroccos-hid...

Morocco’s hidden history: archaeology, DNA and carbon dating rewrite the story of the ancient world

New research shows northwest African communities actively shaped connections and exchange between many cultures.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"According to a study on how AI companionship develops, 68% of AI chatbot users perceive these tools as “somewhat” or “fully” humanlike, 90% believe chatbots are intelligent, 78% believe chatbots are empathetic, and 75% believe they’re conscious." theconversation.com/people-are-m...

People are marrying holograms and making friends with chatbots. But can AI bring true happiness?

According to one study, 75% of respondents believe chatbots are conscious.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"Ma Vesta’s passionate, community-based activism matters because it reveals the importance of “everyday politics” – the small acts of resistance, often outside official politics, that foster personal and collective emancipation." theconversation.com/ma-vesta-smi...

Ma Vesta Smith: why this unsung activist matters 50 years after the Soweto uprising

She was a trusted mentor to young militants whose 1976 uprising shaped the country forever.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"Focusing only on victimhood or elite stars does no justice to the more common realities, aspirations and challenges of migrants who are reshaping today’s Europe and its football." theconversation.com/world-cup-20...

World Cup 2026: the real story of the resilient African migrants reshaping global football

The World Cup is selling football as inclusive and diverse. It’s not so for the African players migrating to play overseas.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"Half a century later, the words of the song still have lessons about the events of June 16. The story of its creation teaches too: about a shared African history in which borders did not define humanity." theconversation.com/the-story-be...

The story behind Soweto Blues, Miriam Makeba’s famous song about the June 16 uprising

The song was written hot, as the news of the massacre reached the world. Its creators spanned the continent.

theconversation.com

Charl Blignaut@poptartology.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"At 90, when playing this same piece his hands traced notes sporadically and gently on the keyboard, like a ghost, with the tune in his right hand occasionally ahead of the change of chords in the left. Minimal." #RIPAbdullahIbrahim theconversation.com/abdullah-ibr...

Abdullah Ibrahim: South Africa’s master pianist who was still touring the world at 90

In his work Abdullah Ibrahim looked to the past to offer a vision of the future.

theconversation.com