Cultural Diplomacy

A Pan-African Editorial Season Gains Momentum In an era in which soft power is increasingly mediated through books, the Paris-based house L’Harmattan has unveiled a formidable African list for its …

Ya Vhos and the Resonance of the Sanza Henri Ndonga’s deceptively small instrument—the thumb piano locals call sanza—created a sonic bridge between rural memory and urban modernity. Long before his …

A Congolese Appeal Resonates in Paris When Marcellin Mounzéo-Ngoyo, president of the Brazzaville-based Maison de la Mémoire Africaine, dispatched an open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron on 15 August, …

Maruisca’s Twelve-Year Artistic Trajectory Maruisca, born Marielle Mavoungou in Pointe-Noire, emerged on the urban arts scene in 2013, when slam was still a fringe genre in Central Africa. After founding …

Diaspora Notes and National Resonance When Congolese musicians relocate to Paris, they rarely sever the umbilical cord that links them to Brazzaville. Rather, they extend the nation’s cultural frontier, engaging …

A Timely Instrument of Cultural Soft Power Few nations can claim that a family board game speaks the language of public diplomacy, yet the Republic of Congo has ventured precisely …