Video: What It Means To Be Human By Chris Abani

Video: What It Means To Be Human By Chris Abani

[embed width="620"][/embed]


“The world is never saved by grand messianic gestures but in the simple accumulation of gentle, soft, almost invisible, acts of compassion” says writer/poet Chris Abani (of "Graceland" fame) in this tender-hearted TEDTalk given a few years ago. Part-biographical, part-philosophical exploration on what it means to be human, Abani shares anecdotes about growing up under a military dictatorship in Nigeria in the 1980s and sharing a prison cell with inmates on death row. Throughout all this he discovers one important truth: “there is no way for us to be human without other people.”

​Photo illustration by Kaushik Kalidindi, Okayplayer.
Poetry

The 10 Best African Poems of All Time

These are the lines that have woken imaginations and stirred souls across the continent and beyond.

A still of Tamy Moyo in the visualizer for her latest single. She is in a garden of roses, gazing straight at the camera while wearing an orange dress.
Music

The Best Southern African Songs Right Now: July 2025 Edition

For the music highlights from Southern Africa in July, we dig into alternative genres from Eswatini, South Africa, Mozambique, and beyond.