Spreading Swahili

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 20 June 2022 > In the News

7 July will be the first edition of World Kiswahili Language Day. The United Nations designated the official day in recognition of a language that is spoken by 200 million people across Africa. It is gaining in popularity and could one day replace English and French as a lingua franca native to the continent. In … Continue reading “Spreading Swahili”

Barbados Elects its First President

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 22 October 2021 > In the News

On 21 October, the Caribbean nation of Barbados took the first step towards becoming a republic when the joint houses of Parliament chose Dame Sandra Mason as the country’s first president, to replace Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. Ms Mason, a trained lawyer and former magistrate, has been the Governor-General of Barbados since … Continue reading “Barbados Elects its First President”

2021 Nobel Prize for Literature Turns the Spotlight on East Africa

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 07 October 2021 > What's On

The 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to Abdulrazak Gurnah from Tanzania, whose own experience of colonialism and exile have informed his ten novels as well as short stories and academic works. Gurnah was born in 1948 and brought in the island nation of Zanzibar off the coast of East Africa. At the … Continue reading “2021 Nobel Prize for Literature Turns the Spotlight on East Africa”

Discovering Oceania

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 08 April 2019 > What's On

A new exhibition at the Musée Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac explores the vast continent of Oceania, where water is omnipresent in real and metaphorical senses. The exhibition was originated at the Royal Academy in London to commemorate the journeys of James Cook in search of a mythical southern continent in the late Eighteenth Century. Cook never … Continue reading “Discovering Oceania”

Australia Day

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 15 December 2016 > Celebrate

Australians celebrate their national day on 26 January, the anniversary of the first British colonisation of the continent in 1788. On 26 January, 1788, the British flag was first flown over the penal colony that was to be established at Sydney Cove. It marked the end of a nine-month journey for the 1,500 people, half … Continue reading “Australia Day”