Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

“Kwaito” Music Moves South African Youth
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
06 Jul 2020
🖨️ Print Article

Margaret Kimberley · “Kwaito” Music Moves South African Youth

Xavier Livermon, professor of African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, sees “many parallels” between the US-based Hip Hop phenomenon and the Kwaito music beloved by young South Africans. LIvermon is author of the book, “Kwaito Bodies: Remastering Space and Subjectivity in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Livermon doesn’t see Kwaito as purely commercial and self-commodification. “South African youth play with and engage the system,” he said, “but also push back against it.”

South Africa

Related Podcasts

BAR Radio Logo
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio July 17, 2026
17 July 2026
In this week’s segment, we discuss the Supreme Court ruling that ends Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants.
South Africa
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
The Anti-Immigration Movement in South Africa
17 July 2026
What is behind this South African movement that drives immigrants out of the country?
Global March to Gaza
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Nkosi Mandela on the Global March to Gaza
13 June 2025
Our guest is Nkosi Mandela. He is the tribal chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council and the grandson of Nelson Mandela.

More Stories


  • Getting Ethiopia Dead Wrong
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Getting Ethiopia Dead Wrong
    20 Sep 2023
    Rasmus Sonderriis's book is a thorough exposé of the West's destructively deceitful narrative about Ethiopia's two-year Tigray War.
  • BAR Book Forum: Celeste Winston’s Book “How to Lose the Hounds”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Celeste Winston’s Book “How to Lose the Hounds”
    20 Sep 2023
    This week’s featured author is Celeste Winston.
  • Understanding the White Supremacy at the Center of the 'Class Over Race' Debate
    Jon Jeter
    Understanding the White Supremacy at the Center of the 'Class Over Race' Debate
    20 Sep 2023
    Any talk of discussing class instead of racism is disingenuous in a country which uses every opportunity to indulge in anti-Black racism. The history of racism in the labor movement is just one…
  • Libya’s disastrous flooding… Causes and hope?
    Essam Elkorghli
    Libya’s disastrous flooding… Causes and hope?
    20 Sep 2023
    The U.S./NATO destruction of the Libyan state in 2011 was followed unilateral coercive measures, sanctions, which rendered that nation unable to maintain dams which failed during a recent storm.…
  • Whiter than Green: How a Not So Secret Listserv Exercises white “Supremacy” Ideology In Lieu of Climate and Racial Justice
    Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    Whiter than Green: How a Not So Secret Listserv Exercises white “Supremacy” Ideology In Lieu of Climate and Racial Justice
    20 Sep 2023
    Liberalism impacts every movement in the U.S. and climate justice organizations are not exempt. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us